Chapter 18

Noticing neither Phillipe nor Kassandra had light sources of their own, Markus enchanted their belt buckles the same as he had done for Aela.

Phillipe smiled his thanks, but his sister remained determinedly silent.

Remembering one of his intended experiments, Markus held up his shield, activated the dungeon mana detection enchantment and directed the shield towards the pair of Trolls Aela had felled.

The first Troll glowed faintly amber-gold and was fading by the moment, the second Troll on the other hand still glowed brightly, brighter still around the source of the hole Aela had made in its back.

Markus waved to get Aela’s attention, “Aela, come take a look at this,” he kept his shield pointed towards the second Troll.

Aela took one look and hissed in irritation, “Mother said they were sneaky,” she made to stomp back over and finish the Troll off when Markus grabbed Aela’s arm to stop her.

“Wait, this is probably a good chance to test one of the knives,” Markus pulled the first of the three enchanted knives from his belt and held it by the blade for Aela to take. So far as he knew, a cut from the knife would do nothing to him beyond sting a little and make him bleed depending on how deep it cut, but he had no real idea what it would do to her, so it was better to play it safe.

Aela took the proffered knife in her left hand in a reverse grip and instead of handing her pollaxe off to Markus like he had expected her to, she just brought her grip higher up the stave. As she stalked towards the immobile Troll, Markus considered himself a coward, there was little reason why he should not have done this test himself given how easy the strike would be against a nearly helpless victim.

As Aela drew close enough to strike the Troll with the knife, it seemed to realize it had been discovered. So the Troll pushed itself up onto its squat legs and flailed blindly in Aela’s general direction. But Aela ducked back from the blow and drove the knife into its forearm.

The Troll froze, convulsed and fell to the ground, its arms thrashing and mouth-foaming as if in the grips of a severe seizure.

Markus was nearly so transfixed by the sight that he almost missed his chance to see what the enchantment was doing to the monster’s mana. Raising his shield, Markus was surprised to see the Troll's internal mana veins fluctuating wildly as the core or heart of its being that served as its original reserve, now flooded through its veins with no real rhyme or reason.

“Kill it!” Markus barked.

Aela was only too happy to oblige, driving her pollaxe down through its head this time to be sure.

Markus sighed and trotted forward to retrieve the knife himself, now absolutely certain he didn’t want it anywhere near Aela. Yanking the knife free of the Troll’s arm, Markus calmed himself and checked the mana level against the other two and shook his head. It was a failure, the knife had lost some mana instead of gaining any.

Altering the enchantment from the sigils to render the knife benign, Markus sheathed it on his belt and wondered if it had been a good idea to attempt these experiments in the first place. If this first result was anything to go by, there was a great deal more he needed to learn. Still, the enchantment wasn’t exactly a failure, it could have its uses.

“Did it work?” Aela asked.

Markus shook his head, “That was not something I had expected to happen. Definitely not what I wanted."

“Erm, Markus?” Phillipe asked politely, “What in the abyss was that?"

Markus considered lying but settled on a half-truth instead, “I am testing enchantments for fighting dungeon monsters,” he replied. It was fundamentally true if not completely accurate.

“Ah,” that seemed to put Phillipe at ease, “I have not known many Artificers, so I did not mean to presume. It was strange, so I had thought it best to ask just in case."

Markus shrugged, if Phillipe talked to anyone about what he had seen, he was sure no one would correctly assume what Markus was actually trying to do.

“An enchantment to incapacitate a monster, that is truly a triumph of innovation,” Phillipe praised. His timely and incorrect deduction helped to put Markus at ease.

“It isn’t quite right yet,” Markus thought it best to mislead him a little further for good measure with another half-truth. After all, it was better no one so much as suspected what he was attempting, “I assume I can rely on your discretion?” Markus looked pointedly at Phillipe and then to his sister.

“Of course,” Phillipe smiled conspiratorially, no doubt now considering how he could best capitalize his relationship with Markus for personal gain.

Markus was fine with that, greed was a reliable and predictable motivator when it came to the nobility and it could be leveraged for your own benefit provided you pay attention.

With Aela taking up the lead again, Markus and Phillipe standing a few paces behind and either side of her, and Kassandra taking up the rear, they continued down the passage.

“Two more are up ahead and to the left,” Markus said quietly, pointing to the shadowy recess where the Trolls were hiding.

Aela nodded and shifted her grip to give herself more reach to better counter that of the Trolls waiting in ambush.

“Should I drive them out?” Phillipe asked.

Even though Phillipe had asked Aela, she, in turn, deferred to Markus.

“Sure, let’s see what you can do," Markus had expected Phillipe to hurl another ball of fire, which he did, but Markus had not expected such a different outcome.

The alcove exploded, chunks of dirt, rock and a hail of smaller debris flew out into the passage, accompanied by two smouldering Trolls who were desperately howling and pawing at their hairy bodies.

Aela rushed forward and drove the spike of her pollaxe through the neck of the first Troll before quickly retreating again.

The second Troll had recovered far faster than its fellow, realized what was happening and narrowly missed striking her with its filthy claws.

Bouncing on her toes, Aela lept right back in again and skewered the Troll’s nose before hopping back out of reach again.

Markus readied his longsword and tried to get a feel for Aela’s rhythm, he would be of little help if he just got in her way. Cautiously approaching the Troll from Aela’s left flank, Markus struck the flat of the blade against his shield to try and divide the Troll’s attention.

It worked only too well, the Troll’s beady red eyes glaring evilly at Markus as it greedily reached for him with outstretched arms.

Just as Markus was beginning to reconsider his choices, Aela leapt back in again and skewered the Troll through the ear and into its brain.

The Troll took a few seconds to realize what had happened, pawing at the blood trickling from its ear and looking at Aela with an accusatory glare before toppling over.

Checking the Troll with his shield first to make sure it was indeed dying, Markus, sheathed his sword and withdrew the second enchanted knife. “Better than nothing,” Markus muttered as he stabbed it into the back of the beast. Markus was thankful he was wearing protective gauntlets, the hide of the Troll proving thicker and provided more resistance than he had accounted for. It very nearly caused the knife handle to slip in his grip.

Cursing his luck, Markus made to get a firmer grip on the handle but paused as he noticed something odd. He had initially managed to drive the blade of the knife about an inch into the Troll’s back, but now it was at least two inches deep and still sinking. That wasn’t all either, thin black trails of what looked like smoke were trailing from the wound around the blade.

Taking a look through the panel of his shield Markus was surprised even further to find that the mana around the knife wound had intensified while the peripheral mana veins had faded almost entirely. Corresponding with the depletion of mana, the Troll’s extremities had begun to disintegrate. Excited that he had succeeded in his attempt at a conversion enchantment, Markus calmed himself so he could concentrate and check the mana levels in the knife.

Unfortunately, similarly to the first enchantment, this too was a failure. The enchantment only seemed to be capable of drawing the dungeon mana to itself and had already depleted nearly all its mana to accomplish it.

Sighing heavily, Markus yanked the knife free of the Troll’s back and rendered the enchantment inert. Even though it was technically another failure, this enchantment, much like the first, could still have some use against dungeon monsters in the future.

Just as he was about to get up and rejoin the group, Markus considered what the second enchantment had managed to accomplish and drew the third and final enchanted knife. Taking particular care to have a firm grip this time, he drove it into the wound left by the previous knife.

Almost immediately, the Troll’s body began to disintegrate. Similar to the second enchantment, the Trolls extremities disintegrated first, evaporating in a haze of nearly invisible black smoke. Within seconds the remaining flesh around the blade had evaporated and other than the impressions it had left where it fell, no sign of the Troll remained.

Checking the mana level present in the knife, Markus found that it had indeed risen ever so slightly over its initial level. While not the groundbreaking triumph he had wanted, it was definitely a step in the right direction. Stabbing the body of the other Troll, the process repeated again, the body of the creature collapsing in on itself and disappearing before his eyes.

Markus wondered what effect it would have on the dungeon itself since it was commonly believed that after spawning its original brood of monsters, the heart did not create more without substantial time to grow stronger, instead, recycling the bodies of the dead until either the adventurers or itself were destroyed.

If Markus had found a way to deprive a dungeon of one of its ability to spawn new monsters, wouldn't that make clearing dungeons a far less time-sensitive issue for the adventurers inside of it?

To better prepare for testing his theory later, Markus motioned for Aela to follow him back a short way to drain the first three Trolls.

“I take it you have met with some unexpected success?” Phillipe asked as Markus hurried back down the passage.

“I think so,” Markus replied as he drove the knife into the first Troll, “Or perhaps, even if I haven’t, the possible unintended consequence of this enchantment could still prove somewhat beneficial,” somewhat distracted, Markus almost hadn’t realized he had failed to penetrate the Troll’s hide and its body was still collapsing beneath the blade. Now that was interesting. Interesting and dangerous.

Even more paranoid than before, after disposing of the last of the Troll corpses, Markus sheathed the knife and leaned in close to Aela and whispered quietly so only she could hear him, “You need to stay away from this knife Aela, okay? If I drop it, don’t pick it up, don’t go near it. I’m worried what it might do if you get too close."

Aela nodded but said nothing.

Before he could try using this enchantment in any practical sense, he would need to figure out a counter enchantment to keep Aela safe from its effects.

Taking formation again, they delved deeper down the passageway and soon enough Aela’s prediction was vindicated when one additional passage forked to the left and other to the right, now making three in total.

Checking with his shield for ambushes, Markus couldn’t see any Trolls waiting in ambush down any of the passages, so he turned back to the group to see what they would do.

“We should take the left passage,” Phillipe declared confidently, “With a labyrinth or maze, it’s always the left passage."

Aela wasn’t paying particular attention, instead carefully considering each passage in turn.

“Since when?” Kassandra demanded petulantly, “So far as I remember, you have only defeated one dungeon that could even come close to being labelled a labyrinth!"

Phillipe rolled his eyes, “While that is true, dear sister, I also listen to what other adventurers have to say about the dungeons they themselves have experienced, and a common theme amongst those that are relevant, is when presented with a choice, go left."

Markus was sceptical but kept out of it, barring real evidence to help him make a choice, one passage was as good as another.

“It’s left,” Aela said suddenly.

Everyone, Markus included waited for Aela to explain herself, but she was just nodding to herself.

It was then Markus remembered that Svala and Aela had generally known the direction of the other dungeon’s boss monster that housed the dungeon heart. Something about the chimaera gave them a special sense for dungeons, perhaps the dungeon mana fused into their bodies could recognise the familiar currents within the dungeons? It would be worth looking into in more detail later.

With three of them now in agreement, the group began making its way down the left-most passage.

“Three more in ambush to the right and two more just further down the passage,” Markus pointed to each group in turn just beyond the reach of the light and limbered his sword arm.

“I see them,” Aela then pointed slightly higher than Markus had done, “Another passage above, probably a trap."

Markus had nearly forgotten that the dungeon could do that, a familiar twinge of fear caused an involuntary shiver as he remembered what happened in the first dungeon. Feeling a great deal more paranoid, Markus made sure to check behind them and was glad he had done so, “Seven Trolls approaching from the rear!" He called out warily.

Phillipe and Kassandra cursed in unison, “Bloody abyss!"

It was clear that after they engaged one group, the other would rush them from behind.

“I can hold them off for a short while, but I will not be able to help on the front,” Phillipe’s eyes turned deep blue and crimson as he fixed his attention back down the passageway.

“Alright, Aela and I will provoke the group ahead, while you two hold off the group behind,” Markus agreed. It was disturbing how confident he sounded compared to how scared he felt at the prospect of fighting so many of them. The Trolls had already shown themselves capable of being able to force Aela onto the defensive because of their absurd reach. But that thought also gave Markus an idea.

“Aela, don’t strike unless you are certain of a mortal wound or if I am in immediate danger, I’ll bait them as we did with that Troll from before okay?” Markus didn’t know why exactly the dungeon monsters preferred him as a target, but they could use that to their advantage now at the very least.

Aela nodded and readied her pollaxe to strike from overhead like a scorpion.

Mustering his foundering courage, Markus took a few calming breaths and slowly made his way forward with Aela a half dozen steps behind and the Pascal siblings a dozen or so behind her. Looking through his shield, Markus could tell that his plan had clearly excited the Trolls.

The Trolls were jostling one another and preemptively shielding their eyes with their trunklike arms. When Markus’s light stripped away the cover of darkness, they hooted and growled, dark eyes twinkling like malevolent stars, but they were not blinded as the first Trolls had been.

Motioning for Aela to hold, Markus continued another half dozen steps and turned his back on them, as if he had not noticed the Trolls in the passageway. Markus felt monumentally stupid and foolhardy. If all five Trolls rushed at once, it would not be difficult for at least one of them to lay him low with a blow to his legs or just bodily knocking him down.

Taking the bait, two or more of the Trolls quickly began stomping towards Markus from behind. The seven Trolls flanking the party from behind then barrelled into the light as well but their hooting and snarls turned to wails of pain and fear as a blue wall of flames erupted from Phillipe’s extended hand and drove them back.

Aela dove at Markus, her pollaxe narrowly missing the top of his head and eliciting an inhuman shriek from one of the Trolls that were now apparently right behind him. He had not expected them to move so quickly on their stumpy little legs.

Shield raised and sword at the ready, Markus quickly turned to face his would-be ambushers. He nearly lost his nerve then and there, as all five of the Trolls rushed at him, the first of them now hanging limp on the spike of Aela’s pollaxe, embedded in its neck, eyes darting wildly and lips spitting unintelligible curses.

As Aela retracted the spike, the Troll spasmed briefly as it fell to the ground, but made no other movements.

The next Troll trampled over its fallen companion, nearly tripping and falling when its stumpy legs proved unfit to clear the mound of hairy flesh in a single bound.

Aela struck again, but missed her mark and instead drove it back into its fellows and temporarily arrested their advance.

Now facing the Trolls, Markus stood his ground. He really didn’t want to be on the front line against these monsters, but he also didn’t have much of a choice. The Trolls had more or less proven his theory regarding how the dungeon prioritized its victims. Although he still wasn’t sure if Aela was left relatively ignored because she was a chimaera or because she was not an adventurer.

Ignoring its injury and very nearly thrown forward by its companions from behind, the wounded Troll stumbled over its crippled ally and battered its fist into Markus’s readied shield. Surprised that the blow hadn’t so much as shaken him, the Troll growled in frustration and raised its fists high to hammer Markus from above.

Seizing her chance, Aela drove her pollaxe through the left side of the Troll’s ribcage and twisted the spike before retracting it again.

Three of the other Trolls pushed past their wounded companion and each tried to claw and bash at Markus but they were too eager and undisciplined for the cramped space that would only have allowed two monsters of their size and bulk to fight effectively side by side. So the trio of Trolls jabbed, swiped and clawed futilely at Markus's shield as he slowly backed away from them.

Aela continued striking over Markus’s shoulders and to either side of him. Even though she was not delivering fatal wounds with the blade and spike of her weapon, the Trolls were quickly tiring as the myriad of injuries inflicted took their toll.

Unable to divert his attention from the Trolls in front of him, Markus could hear a fight breaking out behind. Remembering the seven Trolls that had been stalking in behind them, he had to assume at least one of them had pushed through Phillipe’s wall of fire. “How are they doing back there?” Markus asked, his anxiety over the uncertainty of the situation very nearly matching his anxiety in facing the trio of hulking brutes in front of him.

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“Only two,” Aela caught one of the Trolls in its mouth, the spike of pollaxe erupting from the back of its skull before she retracted it again. “But more are coming,” she swiped with the spike and tore out the centre Troll’s right eye.

“I’ll hold these last two off, go help the others!” Markus chopped at the blindside of the Troll and cut one of the tendons supporting its knee, causing the Troll to fall alongside the three others dispatched by Aela.

Even though he couldn’t take his attention away from the last ambulatory Troll, Markus could tell Aela was hesitating.

“We could use some help over here!” Phillipe shouted, his cry accompanied by the sound of a sword being drawn and a hot wave of air rushing down the passage.

Markus heard Aela turn away and join the fight back up the passage. This situation was hardly ideal, but he would make the best of it. The last Troll capable of standing was tripping over the bodies of the others and very nearly collapsing with each desperate flailing blow against Markus's shield. But the problem as he saw it was a matter of unknowns.

Stepping back further, Markus took the opportunity to check the Troll’s mana level and was not surprised to find that the Troll’s mana was just as bright as before with only a few exceptions localized around its more prominent injuries. With little time to consider the nuances of this information, Markus stepped to one side and chopped at the Troll’s arm as it lunged at him.

While the blade had not bitten deep, it appeared that Markus had managed to damage its tendons. The Troll wailed and moved to batter against his shield again, but as Markus brought it up to protect himself, the Troll grabbed at his sword instead.

Surprised, Markus tried to keep hold of the grip but with one vicious pull, the Troll yanked it free from his hand and threw the sword over its shoulder. Bereft of his primary weapon, Markus's first instinct was to call for help, but the sounds of combat intensified behind him all but guaranteed the others were not in a position to help him anyway.

Markus pulled the third enchanted knife from its sheath and squared off against the wounded Troll. Even though it was somewhat crippled, the Troll’s superior reach made it a daunting opponent all the same. He couldn’t just rely on his shield to keep taking hits either, sooner or later its mana would be depleted. It would stop absorbing and dissipating what were almost certainly teeth jarring impacts and it’d be battered to splinters.

The Troll’s eyes glittered malevolently, no doubt revelling in Markus perceived defenselessness. It clumsily swiped at him with its damaged hand but missed as its limp wrist misdirected the attack. The Troll grumbled, snarled and swiped at Markus with its other hand instead.

Slashing at the Troll’s arm as he narrowly avoided the monster’s yellowed claws, Markus was disheartened when the cut was ignored outright and he was forced to cower behind his shield again. Markus couldn't back up any further without risking bumping into the others, So he ground his teeth and decided to try and drive the Troll back instead.

His sudden shift from defence to offence seemed to work at first, the Troll stumbled backwards and lacked the proper momentum or position to make a meaningful retaliatory strike of its own. But it didn't last. Using its injured arm as a shield, the Troll caught Markus’s knife in the meat of its forearm and knocked him away.

Cursing his poor luck Markus went to draw one of the two remaining knives, hoping he could shift his grip in time to use it properly before the Troll followed through on its counterattack. But as he shifted his attention back to the Troll, Markus was surprised to find that it was not paying attention to him but was fixated on the knife embedded in its forearm.

Thin trails of smoke were winding upwards from around the blade. Mesmerised, the Troll was ignoring Markus entirely, much to the frustration of its crippled companion that was trying to drag itself forward but was barred from doing so. The crippled Troll crawling on the ground grabbed hold of the other Troll and moved to yank it off its feet to clear its path to Markus. However, once its filthy fingers locked onto its companion's ankle, the crippled Troll stiffened and its eyes drifted upwards to the knife. The open wounds on both Trolls had begun to trail the same smoke that twisted from around the knife.

Markus found himself staring in surprise for a few moments before regaining his senses. Glancing behind to see how the others were faring, but not so far that the pair of Trolls left his sight, things were not looking very good.

Phillipe’s wall of fire had been smothered or had otherwise been dissipated and he was now hurling small orbs of fire over Aela and Kassandra's shoulders into the hairy horde beyond. Hard-pressed by sheer bulk and weight of numbers, Aela and Kassandra’s armour was taking repeated glancing blows from the Trolls, but the combination of enchantments and the cramped conditions limiting the Troll’s striking power had prevented any obvious injuries. However, the same was true for the Trolls, who had similarly taken minimal damage in return since Aela and Kassandra could do little more than parry and make small retaliatory strikes to drive them back.

In just a few seconds of diverted attention, the pair of Trolls on Markus's side had undergone noticeable changes. Large, open sores had formed around their previous injuries, revealing pale bloodless flesh beneath. Both Trolls were each in the process of losing a limb, the standing Troll’s crippled hand had disappeared and the crawling Troll had lost more than half of its thigh.

Looking past the Trolls, Markus tried to look for his sword and was disappointed to find it at least a dozen feet further down the passageway. He would not be able to retrieve it until he was sure all the Trolls were dead and preferably destroyed outright. Mustering his nerve, Markus gripped his knife tight and slashed at the standing Troll’s other arm. He nearly lost his balance as the knife sheared through the Troll’s thick hide and muscle like water. Quickly retreating and raising his shield, Markus expected one of the Trolls to retaliate, but they didn't.

Both Trolls had collapsed in on themselves and disappeared in a final puff of black smoke, leaving the enchanted knife to fall to the ground.

Markus sheathed his knife then retrieved the experimental one. He quickly checked the bodies of the other three Trolls piled in front of him, and Markus confirmed that only one was still alive. Gingerly stabbing this Troll in the leg, Markus had immediately retreated again, unwilling to risk the behaviour of the other two Trolls as reliable. Then he remembered that Aela’s attack had damaged the monster's spine, so it probably couldn't move anyway and he felt a momentary surge of shame for his cowardice.

Cursing himself for being foolish, Markus gingerly skirted the bodies of the Trolls to retrieve his sword. As he was picking it up, Markus caught a glimpse of movement down the passageway, but as he made an active attempt to look for its origin, he found nothing. Retreating back around the small pile of Trolls, Markus tried looking through the quartzite panel of his shield to find what was responsible for the movement he had seen, but couldn't find anything. Whatever it had been, it was gone now.

Feeling far more confident with his sword in hand, Markus drove the point of the blade into the paralyzed Troll’s chest and just like before, his strike passed through the monster with minimal resistance. Just like the previous pair, the trio of Trolls rapidly deteriorated and disintegrated.

Sheathing his longsword and retrieving the knife, Markus backed up towards the group but kept an eye on the passage, subconsciously understanding that whatever it had been was just waiting for such a moment to make its move. “Phillipe, the Trolls are dead, trade places with me,” Markus said without turning around, “I think there is something else down there so someone needs to keep an eye out."

“On it!” Phillipe moved past Markus with his own sword drawn, he looked a little tired and was possibly running low on mana.

Still reluctant to turn his back on the passage, Markus grit his teeth and suppressed his fear. The melee was going just as poorly as before, only now it was Aela who was almost single-handedly maintaining the line, bodily shoving the Trolls back with the stave of her pollaxe.

Kassandra was still trying to help but she looked exhausted and was breathing heavily. If the siege wasn't broken soon, they would be overrun.

“Kassandra,” Markus moved up and waved his shield to get her attention, “Move back to your brother, I’ll take your place.”

Perhaps too tired to argue, or just unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kassandra nodded and staggered away from the front line.

Contrary to what he had expected given the state of the other two, Aela was still in peak fighting form. If she was not stuck holding the hairy tide of Trolls back, Aela would probably have dealt with most of them on her own by now.

With that in mind, Markus raised his shield and stepped in on her right side, sure to keep the knife as far from her as possible. “Fall back three steps on my count!” Markus had to shout to make himself heard over the snarls and whooping of the Trolls.

Aela glanced at him and then nodded, subtly shifting her grip and stance to better disengage.

Because the timing was so important, Markus took a moment to recall the right words then counted down in the northern tongue to be certain Aela understood and withdrew at the right time. “Five!-Four!-Three!-Two!-One!-NOW!"

Aela suddenly shifted her pollaxe from horizontal to vertical and hopped backwards, lowering the head of her weapon to meet the expected charge of one of the Trolls. Aela no doubt had expected to use the same strategy they had practised earlier, where Markus distracted them while she harried and picked them off.

But this was not Markus’s plan, well, it wasn't his intended plan anyway. As Aela had disengaged, Markus had thrust the knife forward, relying on the momentum of the Trolls rather than his own strength, and focused hard on keeping his grip on the handle.

The Troll directly in front of Markus had ploughed forward just as he had expected it to and drove the blade into its own gut through unarrested momentum. Within seconds the passage had grown quiet, the rowdy Troll horde now silent and still.

Thoroughly relieved that it had worked, Markus stepped back towards Aela and released the breath he had not realized he was holding.

Aela stayed at the ready but didn't attack, “What is happening?” She asked, just like the Trolls her attention was fixed on the enchanted knife buried in the Troll’s gut.

“I'm not exactly sure,” Markus admitted, drawing his sword and limbering up his shoulder, “But it seems like the enchantment paralyses them, they don't seem to need to touch the knife directly either. It somehow binds them all together, here I’ll show you,” Markus circled around Aela from behind and raised his shield. Just as he had said, the mana veins had seemingly fused where the Trolls were in contact with one another and were flooding mana towards the knife.

Unlike the earlier Trolls, the amount of smoke streaming around the knife was surprisingly significant and Markus began to worry about the potential ill effects of breathing it in. “Let’s back up a bit,” he suggested nervously and was grateful when Aela didn't complain.

Phillipe and Kassandra were each leaning against the walls of the passage and while Philipe was doing as Markus had asked and was keeping an eye out, Kassandra was staring at the immobile horde.

“How?...” Kassandra demanded, removing her helm to be sure of what she was seeing.

Markus shrugged, “Magic,” he replied offhandedly, unwilling to reveal anything that might be relayed to another Artificer.

Kassandra scowled at his flippant response, glanced back at the immobile Trolls, and her scowl slipped away. She was no doubt just thankful to no longer be stuck fighting for her life.

“Am I correct in assuming that the ravening horde has been halted?” Philippe asked hopefully.

Aela and Markus shared a look.

“More or less,” Markus agreed, “For now. Any sign of something moving down there?"

Phillipe shook his head, “No, but I feel like something has been watching all the same."

Feeling both strangely vindicated and concerned, Markus drew his longsword and moved back towards the Trolls, “Hang back,” he told Aela when she began following him, “Stay ready but don't hit the Trolls,” Markus was worried that the unknown watcher had somehow circled around them, so he wasn't foolish enough to demand she back off entirely.

It took longer than he expected. Markus was somewhat winded by the frantic exercise of hacking at the immobile Trolls for roughly a solid minute. However, just like before, the Trolls disintegrated and the knife fell to the ground.

Retrieving the knife, Markus resheathed it and returned to the group. “Are you two good to keep going?” He asked.

Phillipe, still facing away and down the passage, sighed and was about to say something when his sister cut him off.

“Of course!” Kassandra declared proudly, “I, erm, just needed a moment to catch my breath was all!” The way she was carrying herself at that moment was nearly in direct opposition to her slouched and somewhat defeated posture from a few moments before.

Markus sighed quietly, knowing that the young woman was almost definitely low on mana, but also unwilling to get into an argument over it. “What about you Phil?"

Philippe shifted uncomfortably for a moment, cursing under his breath and shaking his head before replying, “I would like a few more minutes at least before pushing on, but-” He glanced briefly at his sister, “-I should be able to push on. There shouldn't be too many monsters left in a dungeon this low level anyway."

Now that got Markus’s attention, “Do low-level dungeons normally only have small numbers of monsters in them?” He only had one other dungeon as a reference, and that one had been aberrant so Markus couldn't take anything from it for granted.

Phillipe nodded, “Yes, generally low-level dungeons lack the strength to produce many monsters, particularly ones so large. So it is very likely that there are few if any left and they are almost guaranteed to be guarding the dungeon heart itself."

Aela nodded as well, “Mother often spoke of weak dungeons as preferable.” it made sense since the chimaera only wanted the dungeon heart itself, so fewer obstacles in acquiring it was certainly to be expected as preferable.

“Alright, we will take a short break before pushing on to the dungeon heart,” Markus agreed, “Aela, could you keep watch in that direction?” He pointed back towards the entrance.

“Alright,” Aela agreed. She leaned against the passage wall and made herself comfortable.

Attempting to do the same, Markus was surprised at how easy she had made it seem. Ultimately, he could not manage to make himself comfortable and just slowly paced back and forth to pass the time instead.

Kassandra seemed annoyed by his restless meandering but said nothing, instead she was darting venomous glances toward her brother.

Phillipe was leaning with his back against the wall but kept his attention fixed down the passageway.

Markus respected his dedication and humility in persisting with the request for so long.

“Okay, I think I have replenished enough mana to avoid fainting,” Philippe declared cheerily, though his shoulders were still slouching somewhat.

“Finally,” Kassandra muttered, rolling her shoulders and readying her longsword.

“Ready to move out?” Markus asked Aela.

She nodded and moved away from the wall, “I am ready,"

“Alright, let’s head out,” Markus began slowly moving down the passageway, giving the others time to take formation behind and ahead of him.

Aela quickly caught up and maintained a half-dozen pace lead, while Philippe and Kassandra both took up the rear a half dozen paces behind Markus.

It didn't take long before they came to another crossroads, only this time there were more than two dozen tunnels branching out in each direction.

Aela paused and carefully considered each passage in turn and after a short while began slowly shaking her head, although it wasn't clear whether it was in confusion or frustration.

“What is it?” Markus asked.

Pointing to four passages on the far wall, Aela shook her head “The heart is that way, but I am not sure which path will take us there."

“That seems about right,” Phillipe lamented. “The dungeon is designed to play to its strengths, wasting our time so it can spawn new monsters."

“So what? If you think it’s down one of those passages, Pick one and let's go already,” Kassandra complained, clearly impatient to be done with the dungeon.

Aela looked to Markus, clearly expecting him to make the decision.

Markus shrugged and pointed to the leftmost passage, “When in doubt, go left right?"

Phillipe laughed, Kassandra groaned and Aela smiled.

Markus knew the group was under a lot of stress and felt like it was a good idea to lighten the mood a bit. Besides, he didn’t know which passage to choose anyway.

After following the passage for another ten minutes or so and finding no sign of any monsters, they encountered another forked passage.

Aela seemed excited as she pointed to the leftmost passage, “We are close, not far now!"

Judging by Kassandra’s infuriated groan, Markus could tell without looking that Phillipe was no doubt grinning from ear to ear in response to Aela’s choice of direction and imminent proof of his theory for traversing labyrinthine dungeons.

With renewed vigour, Aela led them a short way down the left passage and into a cavernous grotto.

The moment Aela stepped over the threshold, four black tentacles whipped down from above her head and wrapped themselves tightly while trying to lift Aela off her feet. However, Aela proved heavier than the monster had expected. Discarding her weapon, Aela took hold of the tentacles and threw her weight forwards into the cavern.

A writhing slimy creature with far too many eyes and a roughly spherical gelatinous body splatted wetly against the ground nearby.

Caught off guard it took Markus a moment to realize what was even happening, but before he could take a step forward to help Aela, a ball of fire whipped past Markus and set the blob monster ablaze.

The creature immediately released Aela, writhing and undulating in an attempt to extinguish itself, but to no avail, and within a handful of seconds it was reduced to a smouldering pile of burnt mush.

Back on her feet, Aela spat at the monster’s remains with disgust.

“I’m impressed,” Phillipe said, perhaps a little too loudly, “Not many people could react quickly enough to drag a choker out of hiding."

Choker? Markus thought about the ambush tactic the monster had attempted and had to agree that the name was well deserved. He doubted very much that if he had been the first to enter the room that the outcome would have been nearly so favourable.

Looking at the choker’s remains through his shield, Markus was surprised that it was still somewhat alive. Drawing his enchanted knife and stabbing the largest portion of its ruined body, Markus patiently waited until it finished disintegrating.

Scanning the rest of the cavern through the quartzite panel of the shield, Markus saw no other signs of any monsters, but a powerful source of dungeon mana emanating from the pool at the far end of the grotto made it clear where the dungeon heart was hiding.

Markus pointed to the pool, “The heart is over there. I don't see any other monsters, but I think it would be best if Aela destroys the heart.” Markus made a point of seeming more tired than he actually was as he continued, “I don't know about you two, but I don't think I am in good enough condition to risk swimming right now."

Aela was facing away from Phillipe and Kassandra, so they didn't see the smirk on her face and gleam in her eyes as Markus secured the heart for her.

“Fine by me,” Philippe agreed, “Besides, we still have to walk out of the dungeon afterwards, so you don't need to convince me to stay dry."

“Whatever,” Kassandra waved her free hand, “Let's just get this over with,” she seemed genuinely relieved it would soon be over.

Unbuckling her belt and stripping off her gambeson, Aela unceremoniously discarded both in a heap alongside her pollaxe. Gingerly approaching the pool and briefly checking the murky depths for danger, Aela waded into the water. She had gone no further than a dozen or so paces but had already descended deep enough to cover her waist. Aela only continued a little further before she stopped and dunked bodily beneath the water.

Slightly concerned, Markus raised his shield to see what was happening. Although a little faint, Markus could make out the branching veins of Aela’s mana and beside hers a radiant sphere of blinding crimson light. Satisfied that there were no monsters in the water, Markus was now curious to see how chimaera absorbed a dungeon heart.

As near as he could tell, Aela had taken hold of the heart between both hands and held it there. Markus was beginning to wonder why, when suddenly Aela’s hands surged towards one another and the sphere suddenly ruptured, its mana radiating outward in every direction. The mana swept outward in a solid wave of energy and Markus took an involuntary step backwards as it washed over him. Aela’s mana had changed and was now less amber and more golden in colour.

Aela rose up out of the water and took a deep breath, within moments her attention fixed on Markus. Wading out of the pool, her soaked shirt and pants were plastered to her body as closely as a second skin.

Markus awkwardly looked away and picked up Aela’s gambeson and shook it vigorously to clean it for her so the dark soil wouldn't stain her wet clothes. He was going to hand it back to her when Phillipe suddenly spoke up.

“Would you like me to make a fire so you can warm yourself?” Phillipe offered.

Aela only briefly diverted her attention from Markus to narrow her eyes at Phillipe, “No,” she answered cooly.

Unperturbed, Phillipe pressed the issue a little “You must be cold. Even though I am running low on mana, I could still-”

“No,” Aela repeated, interrupting him. She drew closer to Markus, “Markus keeps me warm,” Aela briefly brushed her hand over the dragon brooch pinned to her shirt.

Markus felt embarrassed and offered Aela her gambeson back, but she wouldn't take it.

“Carry it for me, I-I want to dry first,” she said, then leaned down in front of him to pick up her belt and pollaxe. Faint trails of steam had begun rising from her clothes as the brooch fought to heat them up.

With the distinct impression that she had made such an action to better show off her figure, Markus only became more embarrassed. “Right, erm, we should probably get going before the dungeon collapses."

Phillipe chuckled quietly, nodded and slowly began walking back the way they had come from, his sister not far behind.

Markus was about to follow them when Aela pulled on the sleeve of his gambeson. Thinking she wanted her armour back, after all, Markus turned and was going to say something but stopped awkwardly when he nearly bumped into her.

Aela had stepped in closer as she had gotten Markus's attention and now leaned in closer still. Her tongue darted uncomfortably close to his face, very nearly licking Markus’s cheek, “Thank you,” Aela said quietly.

Markus's mouth had become dry and he was having trouble forming a reply, so he just shrugged and wished his face would cool off a few hundred degrees.

Smiling, Aela giggled and began walking down the passage to catch up to the others.

Hurrying to catch up, Markus couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be purposefully swinging her hips, which besides being provocative, also prevented Markus from properly catching up, as he was now forced to avoid her energetically swinging tail.

Sighing inwardly Markus figured he would at least spend his time productively and slung Aela’s gambeson over his shoulder to free up his right hand. Fishing the ruby pendant out of his shirt, Markus carefully examined the mana level inside. Ignoring the tiny amount of mana he had invested into it himself for the enchantments to function, the ruby was very nearly full. Markus couldn't help but smile.

If he was being honest with himself, Markus had expected the experiment to fail or at best manage to fill an eighth of the ruby from such a weak dungeon, so this was a welcome surprise indeed. But the danger of the enchantment for chimaera was still unknown and Markus was reluctant to test its effects, particularly since any damage inflicted could prove fatal or in Aela’s case emotionally harmful. It was a problem that Markus could only see had one real solution, he would need to make a protective counter enchantment and use a dungeon monster to test it.

A second idea occurred to Markus, but much like the other, he would not be able to prove his theory without a lot of coins or the appearance of another dungeon. If all chimaeras needed from the dungeon heart was a single intense exposure to its mana, Markus wondered if he could replicate it using either stored monster mana or by converting his own or another adventurer’s mana into dungeon mana.

Witnessing the destruction of the dungeon heart first-hand had also raised further questions for Markus. It was common knowledge that clearing dungeons and destroying dungeon hearts would permanently strengthen an adventurer’s mana reserves determined by the strength of the dungeon. Did that mean that all adventurers were changed like chimaeras were when exposed to large doses of dungeon mana?

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Both mana sources were at least tangentially compatible and capable of converting into one another. Furthermore, the class crystals that gave adventurers their classes and abilities were found in high-level dungeons, albeit rarely. So it seemed in a way that adventurers and chimaera had more in common with each other than with regular people.

This raised another question, were adventurers initially as sterile as chimaeras? It would hardly be something the nobility would freely talk about, so it made sense that he didn't have a ready example to draw on one way or the other. But unlike chimaeras, so far as he was aware, adventurers did not breed true, their children were as normal as anyone else. Were these two sources of mana really so different?

Markus spent the half-hour or so walking out of the dungeon in deep thought and very nearly didn't notice when he had stepped out into the sun again.

“It feels good to breath fresh air and feel the sun again,” Phillipe said as he rolled his shoulders, “Don't you think?"

Kassandra snorted derisively and removed her helmet but otherwise said nothing.

Markus had not really noticed that much of a difference in the dungeon, particularly since the field they were standing in was quite fragrant, to say the least, so he just shrugged noncommittally.

“Would you like to join us for a celebratory drink at the guild?” Phillipe asked, “My treat."

Shaking his head Markus smiled wryly, “I’m not much of a drinker. I think I’m just going to head home and get some rest."

Phillipe looked a little disappointed, “Oh well, perhaps next time. We will be touring the nearby towns for the rest of the year, no doubt we shall see each other again,” he smiled amiably, waved goodbye and began heading out of the field toward the dirt path to the road.

Kassandra said nothing, but pursed her lips and nodded to them, perhaps in thanks or just by way of farewell, then she joined her brother.

Concentrating on Phillipe’s right hand, Markus reconfigured the enchantments to allow for sensory perception.

After five dozen paces, Phillipe stumbled and nearly fell. He removed his glove with his teeth and recoiled, quite probably too used to misjudging the distance and only now feeling the sensation of biting his fingers for the first time in who knew how long. Phillipe was excitedly explaining something to his sister while his attention was fixed on his hand. He turned back and waved excitedly at Markus before heading on his way again.

The prospect of working alongside Phillipe again wasn't a bad idea. He had proven reliable if a little underwhelming, but perhaps this dungeon had not been a good fit for his skill set. Altering the enchantments on his hand had taken very little if any effort on Markus's part and certainly hadn’t cost him anything, so he was happy to do Phillipe a small favour in return for helping with the dungeon, and it would hopefully buy his silence if Markus was lucky.

“Did the experiment work?” Aela asked.

Markus was surprised by her sudden interest, but at least it was a pleasant surprise, “Yes, I think it went quite well all things considered."

Aela nodded, “That’s good,” she seemed happy.

“There are some other enchantments I want to work on before I use this one again though,” Markus remembered that he hadn't removed the current mana converting enchantment and quickly did so.

Raising an eyebrow, Aela’s attention flicked briefly to his belt before meeting his eyes again, “More experiments?” She asked, expressing greater interest and enthusiasm.

Markus nodded, “I want to see if I can store dungeon mana, that one won’t be too hard to prove, I can just convert my own mana over, I think, so I will probably do that tomorrow. Also, next time we are in a dungeon and have the monsters cleared out, I want to take a closer look at the heart, see what makes it different from the monsters and why.” Seeing Aela was trying to show interest but not really following what he was saying, Markus smiled a little, appreciative of her effort, “I also want to try and figure out a counter enchantment to the one I used in the dungeon."

Aela looked puzzled, “Why would you want to do that?” She asked, no doubt wondering why he would want to develop the means for countering his admittedly devastating enchantment.

“I don't know how it will affect chimaeras, and I can't risk something happening to you,” Markus felt a little embarrassed and glanced away as he continued speaking, “So I need to figure out a counter enchantment."

“For me?” Aela asked warmly.

Doing his best to suppress his embarrassment, Markus stopped looking away, “Y-yeah,” his mouth was becoming dry again and he was having trouble concentrating.

Aela’s cheeks flushed and she smiled wide as she stepped in closer, “Thank you,” she murmured, her own cheeks flushing as brightly as his own.

“R-right, um, we should probably head home,” Markus was really struggling to get his thoughts in order now.

Aela leaned in again and moved as if to kiss him again, but smiled wider and flicked her tongue in Markus’s face mischievously. She grabbed her gambeson off his shoulder and started pulling it on and sauntered off in the direction of the path.

Aela was swinging her hips again, only this time she had glanced back and caught him staring.

“Well...Frick...” Markus muttered and slowly trudged after her. It was going to be a long walk home.