Thraz grit his teeth. He powered the Earth Shard he had gained from… eating rocks, and slammed his axe into the ground. The earth split, and spikes erupted upward, skewering the bunch of undead zombies like rotten kebabs.

It used a lot of fuel inside him, and he generally used it only when he really needed it, but it was effective. And it just happened he needed it now.

The earth had suspended their bodies in the air, allowing him to easily chop their skulls.

A roar from Krall caused Thraz to turn. Eyes filled with bloodlust, Noah’s tamed monster crashed into his own opponents. Swatting them to the ground with his beastly body, he made quick work of them by chomping their craniums. A sparkle shone from within, which was then eaten by Krall in one swift motion.

Thraz ended the battle with one last axe swing. Silence filled the room as the rumbling walls stopped as the last zombie was defeated.

Embedding his hax into the floor, he pried their skulls open to reveal the core within. If Noah’s tamed monster was eating them, then so would he.

If there was one thing he understood about the human, is that his scoundrel ways were growing on him. And that meant that Krall, the corrupted, also had his smarts.

Is Krall smarter than me? Thraz scoffed at the thought. No one was smarter than he, a great dragonborn.

Core mixed with brain, he plopped it into his mouth, then chomped down on it. Only for a sharp pain to assault the roof of his mouth. Crack. A chipped tooth followed.

He glared at Krall. Why didn’t he tell him that it was harder than metal?

“Stupid corrupted.” Thraz muttered under his breath.

Not wanting to be bested by an oversized, warped kobold, Thraz spat out the fragmented tooth, and swallowed the core.

The moment he fell into his stomach, a heat swirled within, practically bubbled in his insides. Driven by pure instinct, he drove it around his container, like when his mother had rubbed his stomach when he was just a hatchling… to make himself puke.

Although this time, he resisted the urge to empty the contents of his stomach. If the corrupted could hold it, then so could he.

Soon, he discovered something amazing. The core he just ingested slowly restored the energy that he had just used during the battle. And with it, he was ready for more fighting.

He could still smell the stench of the wolf-man. A deep sense of anger seethed against his teeth. Victor had not only attempted to murder Noah, but in the process, the non-human had almost taken his own life.

It wasn’t something he could ever overlook. His proud dragonheart wouldn’t allow it, and neither would his sponsor: Bor the dragon king.

With the enemies dead, Krall looked lost. Eyes flitting from one door, to the next. Frantic. Thraz deduced that he might be missing Noah, who by all accounts was pretty dead.

Thraz also felt it was a shame. Noah, although a rogue that used dishonourable methods to win a fight, was a true warrior. The young human had taught him that not every fight was an honourable one. But most importantly, he showed him that it was right to stand up for himself. To stand up for his own cause.

Sighing, he looked at Krall, and Krall caught his vision. If its owner was not dead, did that make him in charge?

Krall turned away with a snort. Without waiting for Thraz to make a decision, he was already heading through another door.

Guess not. Grumbling, Thraz was forced to follow. He didn’t know if Noah was alive, but he knew one thing for certain.

Victor was ahead.

----------------------------------------

It was a long way up to the surface. Noah half expected there to be dozens, maybe even hundreds of floors, but there wasn’t even a single one.

There goes the chance of reaching level fifty… Despite the thought, and the never ending staircase, Noah was in high spirits.

He now had a tamed monster capable of flight. Flight. Noah couldn’t wipe the grin from his face, nor did he want to. Who knew when he would next be in a fight to his death, or if Victor showed up with his ugly, furry face. So right now, he wanted to bask in the happy feelings while he could.

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It wasn’t just the flight either. But Gluttony was more like a whole package, rather than a specialist type of mount like Krall was. It had high speed, low rate of detection with its light steps, and dark coat. And it was fast. Really fast as it bounded ahead of Noah like a supernatural whippet.

“Hey, wait up!” Noah caught his breath, then picked up the pace. Taking eight steps at a time, he soon caught up to Gluttony thanks to the level difference between them.

But that wasn’t why he caught up. Gluttony had stopped. Noah was too busy watching his feet so he didn’t miss a step to realise that the stairs had ended. Or, technically they began since they headed down. Regardless of the technicality, he had reached a new door, and his new tamed monster had patiently waited for him.

Gluttony looked up with wide, glossy eyes. He was expecting something.

“Good boy,” Noah said as he fed him a morsel of meat leftover from a tin.

Placing his hands on the door, Gluttony stood behind him, hackles raised along his spine. He expected danger.

Noah smiled. His training was working. Gluttony didn’t really expect danger, but along the way, Noah had taught him to prepare for anything. Thankfully, he was intelligent, and quick learning was only a fraction of what his little tamed wolf-bat was capable of.

Opening the door, it groaned open, revealing a new room… filled with skeletons. Sighing, he half hoped that it would have been a different enemy. Not only that, he could tell they were weaker than the ones down at the bottom.

If it continued down, then that means I was halfway down in that case. Noah nodded to himself, happy about his deduction.

But it seemed the undead didn’t reciprocate those same feelings as they creaked toward him.

Noah ducked underneath a powerful axe swing, and cracked its skull open with a sharp thrust of his mace.

Gluttony attempted to help him with the others, attacking in between his own strikes, but they didn’t do anything. It was like using a pen against a steel wall, his little claws weren’t capable of even making a scratch.

But it wouldn’t last long. The moment Noah killed the first skeleton, Gluttony rose a good few levels in an instant.

It didn’t take Noah long to wipe out the room of twelve skeletons. If it was before when he was down underground then he would have had to be extra careful because of their numbers. But since he outlevelled them, it was easy to outmanoeuvre their low combat speed. It wasn’t that the skeletons were slow, far from it as their attacks tore through the air because of their high strength.

[Shadow Blink] had evolved the way he was able to fight. Noah could put himself in vulnerable positions in order to quickly defeat his enemies. He just wondered how it would work with Krall, or Gluttony.

Unfortunately, even though he had defeated all the undead in the room, he still hadn’t levelled up to fifty. Defeating monsters above one's level was truly the best way to level.

If he had to make a rough estimate, he would have to kill hundreds of skeletons if he wanted to reach the next level.

So there has to be some sort of multiplier on experience from higher levelled monsters. Noah thought as he walked into the next room.

However, he had to stop his train of thoughts as the room was different. Like the Corpse Bride room, but… different.

Two, four, eight, Noah lost count how many pillars filled the room of hardened sand. It was like the colosseum, but the entire thing was casted in a shadow. Even the light above the room was dark, like a torch through obsidian–if it was see through.

He honestly didn’t know how to describe it, but where the shadows were the darkest, even Noah with his darkvision couldn’t see within.

Noah clicked his tongue but he wasn’t too worried. The monsters up on the surface of the castle were easier than down below. It meant that whatever resided within this room couldn’t be compared to the undead down there, especially not the corpse bride.

Or so he thought, but [Hunting Instincts] caused his heart to lurch. His eyes snapped to a certain area in the darkness, but then danger moved. His skill wasn’t perfect. Something was looking at him from the darkness.

Grip tightening around the shaft of his spear, Noah prepared for something to leap out.

Gluttony was the same. His body that now almost reached his waist stood close by his side, although he was a little behind for safety. It was what Noah had taught him.

Something within the room snapped, almost like a bow string; but more powerful.

Noah twitched, he took a step back. A hot sensation licked his face as it shot past and thudded against the wall behind him.

He didn’t have to look at the projectile, he had seen it out of the corner of his eye. It was black and pointed, like a lance covered in dark paint. However, the most important part was that he didn’t even sense it with his skill: [Hunting Instincts].

Despite the attack, the monster responsible still hadn’t shown itself. Not wanting to remain a sitting duck for a predator, Noah bolted into the shadows.

Noah was aware he was most likely within its domain, but so was it.

I also like the shadows. Noah thought, but the dark provided by the pillars in the room were darker than he originally thought.

He couldn’t see anything. Nothing in front of him, or the surrounding area. It was like something had taken away his vision entirely.

Another snap resounded out from within the room. Noah leapt to the side, almost eating a face full of dirt, but he was able to agilely roll, and shoot to his feet.

Ten seconds, fifteen seconds, twenty–another snap as Noah dodged once more.

Noah had twenty seconds in between attacks. It was time to hunt an enemy he couldn’t see, smell, or sense.