I was getting used to keeping an eye on the map in the corner of my vision. Small stories played out all over the dungeon, represented by dots and “X” marks. I found myself getting invested in certain clumps of dots and their struggles—internally cheering when a group cleared through some red dots without suffering any casualties. I also watched the purple dot, the greenish-yellow dot, and the group with the half-changed Iron dot like the villains in a horror movie. Every time they came close to other groups, I clenched up with worry, hoping nobody was about to get killed.

My current theory on the purple dot felt pretty obvious, but likely. Given the matching color of crystals on the nightmaw, I thought it could be a person who had been taken over by the dark mana in here. Bloody Steve had mentioned getting more aggressive over time in dungeons and feeling his mind slipping away. Maybe the dot was somebody who had lost themselves to the dungeon, and now they were going around on a killing rampage.

The dot could also be a roaming dungeon boss. Then again, I wasn’t sure there was a meaningful distinction between a wandering dungeon boss and a dark-mana-fueled person on a killing rampage.

The greenish-yellow dot could be a Forsaken. The color didn’t match any of the ranks Circa had listed, and behaved strangely. Unlike the purple dot, which was wandering around and appearing to kill any human it passed, the greenish-yellow dot was avoiding people. I had seen it spending time near the “X” marks several times, though.

Feeding on the mana of the dead, maybe?

A fresh surge of red dots was also hammering the dungeon's entrance. Every half hour or so, another wave came, and each was larger than the last. Unlike the other red dots, these ones simply popped into existence in a large cavern at the end of the passageway.

Some kind of queen and eggs situation? Maybe? Or I supposed it could be a summoner-type enemy sending waves of attackers at the dungeon entrance.

More and more adventurers seemed to be gathering there to hold back the assault. It reminded me of those blue-cloaked rich kids we had seen. Maybe their barricades had been in preparation for the attacks that were coming now?

Maybe they had already noticed the pattern of increasingly strong attacks and were preparing when we came in. Sometimes, the groups of friendly colored dots pushed into the passageway, but waves of red eventually pushed them back to the entrance again.

I finished relaying everything I saw to Lyria, who scowled in thought. She seemed more worried about the waves of enemies trying to flood the entrance than the mysterious colored dots.

“Let’s hope they hold the entrance,” she said.

“Is the entrance of a dungeon normally attacked like that?” I asked.

“There’s not much that ‘normally’ happens in dungeons. Dark mana is weird. All I know is we’ll have to fight our way out of here if they fail. Or we’ll risk bad guys coming up on us from behind.”

“Good thing somebody caused a cave-in, huh?” I asked.

Lyria grinned. “Yeah. I’m sure whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing.”

“Definitely,” I agreed with a small smile. I checked my map. “It’s not much farther.” I noticed the Wood dots in the passage, which I thought might be underground ahead, but they still hadn’t emptied into our tunnel. It looked like they could continue straight through if they chose.

“Alright, take this,” I said. I handed Lyria a Silver Scream arrow loaded with Healing Potion.

We had gone through a few plans of attack. My favorite was the “kite and run” approach. I would shoot whatever we saw. Then, we would both run for our lives, hoping to buy enough time for the Silver Scream arrow to detonate.

We decided to call that “Plan A.” By my guess, the biggest risks of Plan A were that I would miss my shot or the enemy would catch up with us faster than we planned. We didn’t have an unlimited distance to run, after all. We would hit the cave-in after maybe only a minute of fast jogging. If the creature kept up—which, to be honest, I had no doubt it could—we’d have to turn and fight with our backs to a wall then.

But we thought Lyria might be able to use her Gust skill to delay the enemy and buy us time.

Either way, I decided Viperlilly was the safest potion to load my Silver Scream arrow with for this fight. Since I might miss, I infused two arrows with Viperlilly.

The third arrow was for “Plan B,” which would activate when something inevitably went wrong with Plan A.

“Alright,” I said, carefully handing the Silver Scream arrow infused with Healing Potion to Lyria. “Remember… you wait until my arrow hits the enemy before you jab yourself with this. Otherwise, you won’t have any way to know when two minutes are up.”

“Trust me,” Lyria said. “I remember. I’m not in a hurry to drown by Healing Potion.”

We had both agreed that the nightmaw might have choked to death or died from internal damage with the sheer quantity of liquid the Silver Scream detonation caused.

In other words, if Lyria stabbed herself with that arrow and didn’t pull it out before Silver Scream detonated at the two-minute mark, she might choke to death or her circulatory system could explode. There was a chance the nature of a healing potion would repair the damage and keep her alive, but it wasn’t a risk we wanted to take.

If she simply stabbed herself with the arrow, it would pump more and more Healing Potion into her over time. If it started to feel dangerous, she could tug it out. A slowly growing amount of liquid in her system was something she could react to.

“Which one did you decide?” I asked. “Shoulder or leg?”

We had debated the ideal places for self-inflicted arrow wounds during a fight. I was too worried about the arrow getting jostled or pushed in during a fight to want to risk her torso. Technically, I could think of a place or two that would avoid any vital organs. But any torquing motion while she fought could open up new internal wounds. If she fell on it or was hit directly on the arrow, it could also punch too deep and damage something else.

For me, that left the legs, so long as we avoided major arteries. The arm was also an option. It just depended if Lyria felt more comfortable hampering her ability to move quickly or attack quickly.

“It’ll depend on the situation,” she said. “If our back is to the cave-in, I’ll do my leg. If shit goes wrong before that, I’ll do the arm, in case we still need to run.”

I nodded. “Alright. Sounds smart. Are we ready?”

Lyria took a few rapid breaths, nodded, and stalked ahead with her Basilisk Shield raised high. She had her sword in the other hand.

I had my Silver Scream Bow ready with a Viperlilly-infused arrow nocked but not drawn. Keeping an arrow drawn was tiring as hell. My arms, back, and shoulders already felt weak from my practice so far.

The tunnel curved ahead, and the dangling moss thickened. The ground became a tangle of roots thicker than my thigh, meaning we had to look down to avoid constantly tripping.

Not ideal footing for a fight.

Then we saw it.

The creature was another nightmaw with the same description and level, but this one was mutated. One arm was almost twice as thick as the other and crusted with purple crystals like barnacles on the underside of a boat.

“What is that?” Lyria whispered.

“Something we need to kill,” I said, drawing my bow.

It hadn’t seen us, yet, but it was only a matter of time. It was walking slowly with its back to us, hunched and hairy.

“Three,” I whispered. “Two…”

The nightmaw turned, purple-tinged eyes cutting through the gloom in the tunnel as they locked on me.

Shit.

I released the string.

Thwack.

The arrow sailed through the dark cave, punching straight into the nightmaw’s chest.

I sensed a sudden gathering of hostile mana in the nightmaw’s direction.

“Ears!” I hissed.

We both crouched, hands over our ears as it roared in protest. I felt the shockwave of sound pass over us. There was still a sharp pain and a high-pitched ringing in my ears, but the damage wasn’t complete.

We got back to our feet just as the nightmaw looked down at the arrow and tugged it free. The glass and green potion crunched in its massive fist, trickling to the ground with a hiss.

“Plan B,” I whispered.

I let instinct take over. Another arrow to its chest would probably get pulled out. I needed to get one in the center of its back—somewhere it couldn’t reach.

“When I say,” I said carefully. “I want you to petrify it. Okay?”

Lyria shot me a sideways look. Her shield was up and her sword was drawn. She was inching sideways as the beast waited, claws bared as it stalked closer.

It was twenty feet away. It could be on top of us in a blink, and the tension was palpable.

“What are you going to do?”

“Just trust me,” I said.

Her jaw ticked, but Lyria nodded, eyes still locked on the nightmaw.

I drew another Viperlilly arrow, nocked it, and then sprinted toward the nightmaw with terror thumping in my chest.

The nightmaw seemed surprised to see the puny human charging its way. It bared tangled teeth, crouching low and opening its arms, ten sharp claws glistening in the torchlight.

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“Now!” I shouted.

Stone snapped over the beast just as I was within arm’s reach. It was so big that my only way to get behind it was to slide like a baseball player. I threw one leg forward and skidded beneath its legs, rolling and stumbling to my feet behind it.

I heard the sound of stone cracking apart as I was turning, bow drawn.

The nightmaw’s head turned from side to side, giving me the chance to line up my shot.

Breathe. Draw…

Thwack.

The string snapped, and the arrow punched deep into the center of the nightmaw’s muscular back. It arched its body, arms scrabbling for the arrow and failing to find it.

Lyria rushed forward, magical yellow wind snapping into place in front of her body.

The nightmaw didn’t approach slowly like the last one. This one used its long arms and fists like a gorilla, yanking itself through the passage toward us in two powerful leaps.

The sudden explosion of movement caught both of us by surprise.

There wasn’t even time to project poison on it before it reached her.

Lyria managed to duck the first powerful swipe of its crystal-studded arm. She leaned back and the huge arm whistled over her head, smashing into the wall with a spray of dust and shattered rock.

Shit!

I felt helpless, but remembered my mana shield ability. In our hour of practice, I had confirmed I could form it in distant places with a technique similar to my Forge Echo. Keeping it in place was mana-intensive and concentration-heavy, but possible.

Lyria used her shield to bash away a second strike from the nightmaw’s normal arm, which seemed to pack much less of a punch.

I reached my mind out, forming a mana shield in the shape of Lyria’s body, trying to make it float just behind her Wind Wall.

It wasn’t perfect and felt more like raising my hands to block a moving target. Every time she moved or dodged, I had to adjust the positioning of the shield to cover her.

Instead, I focused on my mana shield, slipping it beneath Lyria’s Wind Wall ability.

I didn’t dare divide my attention in case one of those powerful blows landed on her. If I tried to project poison or use Forge Echo right now, I might not have the shield in place to protect her. The longer Lyria could tank and draw its attention, the longer my Silver Scream had to work its magic.

Lyria gracefully spun backward, pulled out the Silver Scream arrow loaded with Healing Potion, and jabbed it in her left shoulder.

Good.

The nightmaw snarled in irritation. It was powerful and fast, but Lyria was doing a good job of staying just outside its reach. The beast probably wondered why she wasn’t in more of a hurry to wound it. Without the Silver Scream ticking like a time bomb, it would likely be too risky to waste energy without trying to land blows.

The nightmaw didn’t know that.

I was starting to think we had it right where we wanted when it suddenly seemed to remember the little human who had vanished. I saw its head turn and its flat nose twitch.

Oh, shit.

The beast spun, gripped the ceiling and wall, then flung itself toward me in one fluid movement.

I dropped Lyria’s Mana Shield and threw a huge glob of mana at my Abyss Walker boots.

I saw the world go gray just as the nightmaw’s crystal arm slammed down where I was standing, sending up a shockwave of dust and leaving a small crater.

I stumbled in the void world, rolling through the nightmaw’s body and running as fast as I could toward Lyria.

I snapped back into the physical realm—to Lyria’s obvious relief.

She stepped in front of me, shield raised. “You good?” she asked, voice clipped.

“I’m fine. It should be detonating soon. Right?”

“No idea,” Lyria said. “This plan sucks, by the way.”

“Next time, you ca—”

I snapped my mouth shut in sudden concentration, forming a hasty Mana Shield in front of Lyria.

The nightmaw launched itself toward both of us like a gorilla. Lyria tried to duck, but its attack was a feint. The nightmaw spun through the faked attack with its crystal arm and backhanded her with the normal arm.

I saw the Wind Wall try and fail to push the attack away and felt the resistance of my Mana Shield give way.

The nightmaw struck Lyria from the side, sending her flying like a human baseball.

Lyria bounced off the wall with a crunch of metal armor and landed face-first, struggling to rise.

Fuck. Without our shields, that attack might have killed her outright.

I gripped a flask of Viperlilly poison and sprayed it on the beast, which looked like it was sweating beads of green. I thought it was breathing heavily, but I was unsure if I was imagining that.

If it came for me, I would ju—

The magic barely left my hand before the nightmaw shoved me into the wall.

I didn’t even see it move.

The protective bubble of my ring flared to life, probably saving me from instant death.

Its massive, dark hand was pressed into my chest, piercing me with several glowing purple crystals. I felt them punching into my skin and the warm trickle of blood. The breath was being crushed out of me as it pushed harder and harder.

I blinked through the pain, desperately trying to make my brain work. I was gripping the thick arm, but it was like trying to move solid steel.

Dark, emotionless eyes stared at me above a twisted mess of yellowed teeth. Rotten skin and foul-smelling, wet fur filled my view.

You’re going to die if you don’t do something. Fucking do something, Brynn.

I couldn’t see what Lyria was doing. My vision was going black at the edges.

I let instinct take over.

My hand scrabbled into my pouch for the spot I knew my Bombroot vial was. I echoed it instantly, forming it just above the nightmaw’s purple crystal shoulder.

I mentally urged the Echo to drip a thin line of Bombroot across the creature’s shoulder.

A split second later, I was gripping a flask of Dragon’s Tail.

My vision was a pinhole now, and I could barely breathe. Something vital on my insides was shutting down. I could feel the cold creeping out from my core in every direction.

I could feel my mana draining as I used Devour Mana reflexively, barely holding back what should have been deadly damage.

I sprayed burning flames across the nightmaw’s arm and heard a sound like a bucket of water being dumped on the ground. Warm blood splattered across my face and the pressure suddenly let up.

One moment, I was pinned to the wall by its arm; the next, I was on my knees, gasping for air, and the arm was there, too. Except it was shredded and detached.

Lyria was screaming and stabbing the one-armed nightmaw, but the sound was muffled, and my vision was blurry.

I coughed, choking as I reached inward and tried to heal more of the damage with Devour Mana.

I struggled to my feet and tried to shift behind the fight.

Lyria was covered in a shell of yellowish wind again. I watched her sidestep a swipe and then blast one of the nightmaw’s legs with a huge burst of wind magic. The nightmaw was knocked sideways.

Lyria screamed, jabbing her sword deep in its chest.

It roared and swatted her away, making her fly and slam into the wall again with a crunch of metal.

I saw her cough, and blood came from her mouth. The Silver Scream arrow in her arm was broken, leaving nothing but a nub of empty glass sticking out of her arm.

Shit.

The nightmaw was getting to its feet. More green Viperlilly poison was dripping from it now. The wounds from Lyria and the accumulating poison were taking their toll, though.

I knew I might regret it if the creature got a hold of me again, but I gripped the Dragon’s Tail flask and unleashed a torrent of flame on the nightmaw before it could charge me.

The cave glowed with bright orange light as a jet of fire sprayed from my hands, landing on the nightmaw in clumps that instantly ignited.

The flames burned green where they touched the Viperlilly still gushing from its body.

The nightmaw flailed its arm, roaring and standing in place as it tried and failed to do something about the flames.

I turned and ran to Lyria while it was distracted, skidding on my knees as I put my hands on her and searched for the damage. She had several broken ribs and internal bleeding.

I was distantly grateful that she could either control her ability that vented deadly wind from her wounds or she simply hadn’t unlocked it yet. Either way, I wasn’t getting holes blasted into me at the moment, which I took for a rare win.

Lyria had nearly tapped out her mana reserves, so I focused on the bleeding first.

I was about to urge her to drink when I saw her eyes widen. Behind me, the tunnel was getting brighter, and I could feel a warm rush on my back.

I spun in time to see a flame-bathed nightmare staggering toward us.

Then, the silver ghost of a skull rose from its back and screamed.

Green flames burst from every one of its orifices as the smell of burnt hair and smoke filled the narrow passage.

The nightmaw coughed up green that instantly lit into flames. I saw its eyes melt away, replaced by poison flames from inside its skull and its mouth.

Holy shit. Apparently, Viper Lilly is flammable?

The beast made a choked sound that stopped abruptly as it fell heavily to its knees, then flopped down on its face and lay motionless.

Green flame cracked and popped as it roasted the foul fur and melted skin.

“Drink this,” I said, looking away and projecting some healing potion into Lyria’s mouth.

She drank gladly, closing her eyes with relief.

“Hey,” I said. “You leveled up. Congrats.”

“Yay, me,” Lyria said, still wincing with pain. “Why do all your plans end in disaster?”

“We’re alive,” I reminded her.

She sighed. “That was good thinking when you got behind it. I’m not sure what we would have done if you didn’t get that arrow in its back.”

“Yeah, well, you weren’t so bad yourself. We need you to learn that Venting Wounds passive of yours. Do you think you’ll be able to stop from blasting me when I try to heal you, though?”

She grinned. “We’ll see. If not, maybe I can try to aim it away from you with Wind Wall. I think I might be able to reinforce specific parts of the wall. I might even be able to change the direction of the wind.”

“That’s good,” I said. “I guess I could try to protect myself with a piece of Mana Shield, too.”

“It broke through both our shields in one strike,” Lyria said doubtfully. “That wasn’t exactly encouraging.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But we’re fighting a level 50 Wood with corestones we just equipped. If we had been using these since level 1, I think maybe our shields would stand up to its attacks better.”

We spent a little while longer going over things we could improve for the next fight. When the flames finally died down in the tunnel, I looked around for leftover dark mana crystals. The only ones I could see were all on the severed arm.

“Um,” I said. “Do you mind not looking when I do this?”

“What? Why?” Lyria asked.

“It’s kind of weird.”

“Now I have to watch.”

I sighed. I should’ve seen that coming.

I summoned my bedroll in front of the arm and took a large step back. “Go ahead, boy. Eat up.”

“You’re talking to it, now?” Lyria asked.

“I thought maybe if I got on its good side, it would hesitate before eating me if it ever awakens.”

“Except it won’t awaken because you’ll divinely smite it, right?” Lyria asked pointedly.

I bulged my eyes at her. “Maybe let’s not talk about that in front of the cursed bedroll?”

She gave me an incredulous laugh. “I really doubt it’s listening, Brynn, it’s just—”

The bedroll made a groaning sound like a baby waking from a nap. The leather straps flopped around briefly, and then it opened its hidden mouth. A carpet of bedbugs rolled out like a tongue, lifted the entire arm, and carried it inside the bedroll.

Lyria watched with wide-eyed horror as the mouth closed and the arm vanished inside the bedroll, even though it should have been too large to fit.

There were a few meaty crunches, and then the bed burped.

Nice.

I carefully sent it back to my slip space and checked the hunger.

[Hunger, 23%]

Nice. At this rate, I thought we might even be able to get it down to 0% soon. That would be a huge relief.

I also had a… corestone notification?

[New Corestone Ability Evolution. View now?]

I was about to check the notification when my attention shifted to the map, and then I saw the group of Woods who had been within the hidden tunnels were now in our passageway. They were coming our way fast, and two red dots were behind them.

That’s… probably not good.