Yoshitsune led me to the end of the world. As we approached it, the black rocky teeth that made up the maw of this realm’s infernal mouth grew ever taller to serve as the impenetrable border that hems all us in. To climb to the other side was to fall off the face of the world entirely and tumble down into endless infinity.

At the moment, we were taking out a series of cave entrances from a vantage point atop some dunes. Yoshitsune had remained perfectly still for, what felt like, days as she observed the openings with whatever form of perception she did possess.

As for myself, I had managed to get my stats maxed up to reach Level 12. However, it was clear that things were beginning to grind to a halt. There were only so many beasts to hunt and XP now exchanged numerous layers of contracts before it finally reached our pockets at the top. Conflict between the groups was inevitable. It was too bad that I did not get to watch it, but I knew that the resulting death would obliterate our passive income for some time.

I had also learned that there was a variety of entertainment available for purchase in the store. Tomes upon tomes written by the creatives of the damned were made available for me to indulge in.

“There hasn’t been any movement since we got here,” Yoshitsune said with a frustrated tone. “Did they move?”

“I think we should look inside,” I suggested as I looked up from my book. With a single thought, the book evaporated from my hand and returned to my inventory. “Sitting around out here is not changing anything.”

Yoshitsune nodded in agreement and rose from her kneeling position. A quick flick of her kimono blasted the sand off the cloth and peppered me with the errant grains. She began to walk down the dune and towards the cave she used to call home. A war that raged between rage and nerves made her body tremble in anticipation.

“So, what kind of demons are the targets?” I asked as I began to plan my strategy around a fight back in the caves.

“When I was killed, there were only four of us remaining from our original group,” Yoshitsune explained. “Uragoe is the strongest of us and my former leader. He can create blades out of the air itself and fly a limited distance; maybe fifty or so shaku. Jarek fights much in the same way as you do, Ishmael-san; up close with their hands. There is also Raffa who uses stealth by manipulating shadow.”

“Do you think they recruited more after your death?” I asked.

“No,” she answered quickly. “After we left the Bowels and had a few fights in the Tar Gardens, Uragoe became far more frustrated with our performance. He believed that the members of our group that did not make it to the other side with us were traitors who abandoned us intentionally. I believe that he regretted his decision to leave our position of power within the Bowels. That’s why he slowly turned on the rest of us to eliminate the weakest of us. I should have tried to leave far earlier.”

We made our way into the cave entrance and Yoshitsune’s blade crept from her sleeve. The low ceilings and glowing moss reminded me of the constricted tunnels of the Bowels. I ran a claw along the walls of the cave and that heinous odor entered my nose.

“Do these tunnels connect to the Bowels?” I asked. “Did we even have to use a Portal?”

“They do connect,” Yoshitsune confirmed. “However, even if you did reach a connection, there is an invisible barrier that prevents you from crossing to the other side without the use of a Portal. It was a miracle that six of us out of thirty managed to arrive in the same place.”

“You all arrived in the same place?” I asked in confusion. ‘If others had been with me, would they have seen what I saw?’

“Close enough that a few of us remained in a party and tracked each other down,” Yoshitsune confirmed. “However, that was the last bit of fortune that ever came our group’s way.”

A shallow bend led us to a small cavern. Yoshitsune came to a halt at the bare rock floors. She knelt down to inspect the ground. Her fingers passed over the stone to try to discover any sort of clues available.

“Empty,” Yoshitsune said with bitter disappointment.

“Had you moved before?” I asked.

“No,” Yoshitsune said definitively. “Uragoe would have had to be driven out before he gave up a place that he considered his.”

I lowered myself to the floor to do my own investigative work. I sniffed the rock to find only more bad odors. However, there was something else mixed in with the conflicted scents. I took a deeper breath and cursed at the burning that took over my nose. But, fortunately, the scent persisted. I looked in the direction of the tunnel that we entered from but saw nothing.

I decided to follow the scent towards the tunnel. It became stronger as I moved backwards. Before I could get close enough, some rocks jostled out of place and I heard footprints pattering directly in front of me.

“Someone’s here!” I called out as I blindly swiped at the wall. They must have ducked below my hands. Rocks fell away and blasted me with the terrible stench.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

My eyes went black and a timer of a crossed-out eye appeared above my health bar. I placed my hand on the wall to stabilize myself as the short timer wound down.

“Raffa!” Yoshitsune shouted as she sprinted up the tunnel.

As soon as my eyesight returned, I moved to follow her. That proved to be difficult because her smaller stature and high agility stats made it far easier for her to navigate these tight corridors. She quickly disappeared from sight in order to hunt down her quarry. I cursed under my breath and hunched my posture to barrel down the rest of the tunnel and burst out the other side.

However, as I did so, I found that I was alone and the chase had long since left me behind. I opened my map to see Yoshitsune rapidly moving off towards the tar lakes. With the map open to track our locations, I ran to catch up with the hunt. My hulking frame prevented me from closing the distance.

Are we being led towards a trap? I examined the map for any locations that seemed to be suitable. But that did not make sense; it would have been smarter to ambush us inside of the cave.

A bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder from Yoshitsune’s direction derailed my train of thought. I continued to sprint onwards to support Yoshitsune if things took a turn for the worse.

Another lightning bolt cracked the sky and illuminated two figures. As I grew closer, I saw that the thunderbolts were Yoshitsune’s doing. She opened the sky to deliver punishment onto the traitor. She stood over its steaming body with her blade raised high into the air. With a swift motion, she swung the weapon down and slit the demon’s throat.

“Yoshitsune!” I called out to get her attention. When she turned to face me, I noticed that her clothes and face were covered in an inky liquid and pierced with brown feathers. Her health sat just below half.

“Ishmael-san, apologies that I left you behind. Raffa is quick and I could not afford to wait for you,” Yoshitsune explained. “We will need to bind her before she wakes up again.”

I summoned my chain and stood over Raffa. Brown plumage framed her owl-like face and her still open eyes were dyed black with shadow. Her body was unnaturally light and binding her limbs with the chains snapped her hollow bones.

It was not long before life returned to those blackened pupils and Raffa revived. Upon seeing us, she tried to scuttle away only to find that her body was bound by a heavy chain. She winced in pain as her fragile bones creaked from the biting metal and her body slouched in acceptance at her position.

“Yoshitsune,” Raffa greeted. “You have done well for yourself by getting out so soon. Uragoe had Jarek throw you so far that it should have taken decades for you to crawl out, if ever.”

“Where is Uragoe, Raffa?” Yoshitsune asked pointedly.

Raffa laughed with the eyes of a person who knew they were doomed. I had seen it many times during my previous work. It does not matter if it is man or beast; the creature that knows that it is dead will do anything to screw over the ones that attacked it to ensure it has the last laugh. Terry often bitched about a deer he shot that flung itself in the river with its dying breath so he couldn’t have the meat.

“I’d love to tell you, Yoshitsune, but Uragoe left me behind not long ago,” Raffa answered bitterly. “He said that I was too useless to keep around any longer and that the group was no more.”

“I’m sure that you have some idea of where he is, don’t you?” Yoshitsune pressed. She prodded the tip of her blade into Raffa’s flesh; blood pooled from the wound.

Raffa sucked air through her beak and sharply cooed in pain. However, she did not crack under the pressure of the blade. Instead, she appeared to be almost tranquil; an ability to think that can only be created when one is brought to the brink.

“What happens after I answer the question?” Raffa asked.

“You’ll get to feel what I felt,” Yoshitsune replied.

Raffa laughed again. This time, it was a manic, wide-eyed ecstasy.

“You know that I helped kill you to maintain my own position, Yoshitsune,” Raffa hissed. “Hypocrite. What about all those people that we killed in the Bowels? What about Rock, who you slew with your own hands under Uragoe’s orders? You think you are justified to extract vengeance from me?”

“Who cares about something like justification?” Yoshitsune barked angrily at Raffa. “It is only my own selfish desires that drive me to do this. It is because I have the tools to do it that I pursue this. I will not lie down and accept my fate if someone comes to do the same to me. I’m doing this because I hate all of you and want you to suffer.”

“Then get it over with already!” Raffa spat.

“Throw her in,” Yoshitsune ordered.

Silently, I gripped the chain and hurled Raffa into the nearest tar lake. A quick scream of pain vanished in the tar’s heavy grasp. I felt tugging on the chain as Raffa futilely tried to wriggle herself free from her shackles.

“Pull her out,” Yoshitsune commanded.

I reeled Raffa back in. The owl teetered between life and death. Her flesh and black liquid dripped all over. I could hear soft, overwhelmed sobbing coming from the half-drowned bird as her body steamed.

“Are you ready to cooperate, Raffa?” Yoshitsune asked again. “If you tell me, I’ll leave you in the shallows.”

“T-they went to c-challenge the Dungeon,” Raffa sputtered, her cool façade obliterated upon her brief encounter with the tar.

Tip: Dungeons are designated challenge areas in the world that allow you to gain additional stats, items, and abilities depending on the monster at the end. User did not find any of the Dungeons inside of the Bowels.

I was silently glad that the wiretapping demon in my head was listening to the conversation and prevented me from asking questions. Now that I thought about it, Pýlicles likely got his spear from a Dungeon. It was the only weapon that I saw. My streamlined approach to clearing the Bowels made me wonder what else I had missed in my haste.

“Drowned Giant?” Yoshitsune asked through gritted teeth as Raffa nodded. “Why are they challenging it now instead of when it was suggested ages ago?”

“T-they met some new people who were quite s-strong,” Raffa replied. “U-Uragoe said that t-this is what he needed to fix his mistakes. I got left behind because he didn’t want to share with someone like me whose ability would drag the rest down. They should still be down there. Please, the pain is unbeara-“

Yoshitsune plunged her blade into Raffa’s neck and the owl went limp. She stood over the corpse of her former comrade and regarded the body with a somber expression. Her natural disposition conflicted with the person she forced herself to be to gain satisfaction.

“Toss her in the shallows,” Yoshitsune said. “If she tries hard enough, she won’t die again.”

“So, are we going to go to this Dungeon?” I asked as I freed Raffa’s body from my chains. I hefted the owl over my shoulder and tossed her only a few feet into the lake. Her body slowly sunk beneath the surface.

Yoshitsune stood quietly for a moment and weighed her options.

“I cannot allow them to earn anything from the Dungeon,” Yoshitsune said scornfully. “Let’s ruin their fun.”