“Obviously, I didn’t stay long,” Liz said as she worked the grease out of her hand onto her knee. “I hoped to get the bonus, but I didn’t make it in time. When I was running to the portal, a freaking raccoon tried to get me. It had big claws—kinda like yours, but without the fire. It was feral. I was hearing screaming and shouting everywhere. Gerald said there were crows spitting acid on people.”

Ethan listened quietly, eyes wide, while Liz continued her retelling.

“They just… went crazy. I hope cats and dogs didn’t lose it as well… otherwise…”

She let that thought linger, and Ethan had to nod. He hadn’t thought of that. He’d known there was going to be some chaos, sure. But he never thought animals would turn against everyone.

“It’s going to be dangerous when we get back out there,” Ethan said after a moment.

Liz snorted. “You mean if? Who knows how long this is going to take? And who says they’ll let us head back to our world after? Remember that ‘inhabited realms’ line when this all started? God knows what’s out there…”

She shook her head. “Anyway. I’ll let you do your business. Whatever it was you were doing before I interrupted. Just let us know when you want to leave, okay? Thanks. Really. We owe you one. I owe you one.”

And with that, she left. Ethan watched her make her way back toward the others, then shook his head.

I hope the old bastard got out alright… But as he would say, can’t help others if you don’t help yourself first.

Ethan brought up his wand menu and eyed the available upgrades.

Available wand upgrades:

[Tier: 1 to 2 - 100 fragments]

[Unique Trait: 20 fragments]

[Capacity: Increase by 1 - 10 fragments]

[Stat Bonus: Increase by 2 - 10 fragments]

[Cast refresh: Reduce by 0.25 - 1 fragments]

[Mana regeneration: Increase by 0.10 - 3 fragments]

I don’t have enough for the unique trait just yet. I would have if I hadn’t gotten the stat bonus upgrade but then again, those stats are probably important as well. I’ll need to sit down and test their effect soon.

It wasn’t a big deal. He just needed a couple of lizardlings and he’d have enough for the unique trait upgrade. Now that he’d gotten a preview of what traits could be, he was excited to see what the wand upgrade would give him.

I wonder what’s the difference between my traits and wand traits.

He examined his stats for a few seconds more, and noticed the percentage of his mana regeneration had dropped. Which made sense, considering his regeneration rate was still the same while his capacity had grown.

Ethan dismissed the menu. He’d rather get the unique trait before he started investing in everything else. Who knows? Maybe he’d get a trait that would net him more fragments.

With that out of the way, Ethan stood up. He felt good. His injuries were mostly faded into the background. He could certainly use a good shower and a nap, but he was far from exhausted. He could still go for a few more hours.

Heading toward the trio, he found them sitting quietly in their corner. All three focused on him when he approached, with the man pursing his lips and looking away.

I should just leave his ass right here.

Liz stood up and gave Ethan a wide smile. “Ready to go, boss?”

Ethan nodded and held off his sigh. At least, if they found more people, he could find out if they’d learned something he hadn’t. And once that’s done, he’d be on his way.

With the trio trailing right behind him, Ethan headed back to the tunnel he’d come from.

The old man would be laughing at him right about now.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

***

A couple of minutes after passing the dead lizardlings Ethan had left near the second stairs, the group came upon another flight of stairs leading down. No torches lit this one up, though there was enough light filtering from some light wells. A few dead lizardlings here and there. A dead older man with a pool of blood under his head, which made the trio pale. Martha was hiccuping for a few minutes after they went past him.

Ethan sometimes forgot that most people didn’t experience death this closely.

A couple of corridors later, they reached another wide room full of dead lizardlings.

In fact, they weren’t just dead. They’d been massacred. Most were dismembered in one fashion or another, and no cut was clean, while a few had their heads crushed.

And the blood hadn’t dried yet.

Ethan was still in the corridor looking for movement, for any hint at what caused this, when Liz spoke, almost making him jump out of his skin. “Was this you?”

The voice was quiet, and Ethan noticed the three of them—especially Martha and the other prick—were standing further away than usual.

“No. But whatever did this might still be around. If you want to stay safe, stay back.”

Ethan began walking forward, then stopped. He needed to make something clear, in case it wasn’t. He looked Liz and the other two in the eyes. “If something shows up, I can’t protect you. I might not even be able to. Don’t forget it.”

And with that, he turned and walked into the room. He was a bit intrigued by what had caused this, and wanted to find the perpetrator. With his recently acquired trait and boost, he believed he could take whatever it was. Lizardlings weren’t that strong, so outside of the gore, this wasn’t that impressive of a display.

But it probably got a good boost from the kills. The fragments were gone. If this was a monster, would it give out more fragments when he killed it?

Maybe.

Behind him, Liz followed, but the other two didn’t.

“Do you even know where you’re taking us?” asked the man.

Ethan didn’t stop. “No clue. But you’re welcome to find your own way if that bothers you.”

That shut him up. A few seconds later, he heard the two trailing participants huffing and whispering to each other as they followed.

“Are you trying to find what killed them?” whispered Liz.

Ethan looked sideways at her. She seemed a bit incredulous, but clearly, the nerves were affecting her as well. “Yup. Probably worth the experience. And the fragments.”

She was quiet for a moment, then she asked, “Can I help?”

Well, he hadn’t expected that. He gave her a begrudging look and nodded. Though that reminded him of something. “Did you get a kill notification on that lizardling I killed? The level 8?”

“Yes.”

Ethan nodded, eyes scanning the corridor ahead. That was good to know. People cooperate and take down stronger targets and each would get a share of the levels, at least. There might be a way to do the same with Fragments. He glanced sideways at the woman and down at the glowing bolt in her crossbow. “Good. Now, let’s—”

His voice cut off as a loud croak filled the hall

Ethan ignited his arms and leaned lower to the ground, ready to dodge, while the others froze. “Back up. Quickly,” he said, eyes on the dark tunnel ahead.

A heavy shuffle reached his ear. A loud plop sound, before another loud call filled the hall. Then another plopping sound that made Ethan think of something heavy and soft and a second later, the monster was out.

[Toad - Level 16]

A brown-skinned giant toad stepped out of the dark tunnel. Blood was still marring its face, while two large, yellow eyes stared dumbly at Ethan. It was easily as tall as he was, and significantly larger.

Stay on it. Keep it busy, Ethan thought to himself as he stared at the monstrous beast. He didn’t even dare to blink and he hoped the others backed up fast enough, because he couldn’t stop this. His throat felt dry, but he didn’t dare twitch a muscle. He was waiting. Waiting for the attack he’d have to dodge.

The toad’s mouth opened, and a blob of pink peeked out—

Ethan threw himself aside and rolled. Behind him, there was an impact, then a loud scream filled the hall, followed by a sickly sounding squelch.

Ethan got to his feet and didn’t dare look away from his target. Instead, he surged forward, running full speed at the toad while its tongue was still out.

A blue bolt hit the monster in its off-white stomach, but it barely cut through the thick hide. Still, the toad didn’t enjoy that—both of its eyes swiveled to the left. Toward Liz. It pulled back its tongue, and Ethan felt a shiver at the dismembered human hand sticking to it, barely a couple of feet away from him.

The distracted toad turned his attention back to him, its yellow eye swiveling to track him. It began opening its mouth to bite or maybe shoot its tongue at him, but Ethan was already upon it. He shoved his clawed finger into its eyes and the talons sunk into them with a sizzling squelch that was both satisfying and disturbing.

The toad squealed and tried to bite down on him, but he’d already jumped back. Its tongue shot out in his general direction, but its aim was off, considering the missing eye.

Another bolt landed, and this time, it almost hit the left eye. Another squeal of rage escaped the toad as Ethan, capitalizing on the monster’s distraction, jumped up and landed on the beast’s back and as soon as his knees hit the tough—and uncomfortably wet—skin of the monster, he began tearing into it. It screeched, and Ethan, using his left arm as anchor, leaned forward and shoved his flaming right claws into its right eye socket as well.

The beast shrieked while Ethan took a second to survey the scene. From this angle, he could see the other three.

Liz was to the toad’s left, eyes wide but focused as she prepared another bolt, while in the center of the room, Gerald was dragging a bleeding and dismembered Martha back. She was pale. Passed out.

The toad had ripped her arm off at the shoulder.

Whatever this toad was, it seemed to have put most of its effort and magic into its tongue. Ethan looked down at the smoking and torn hide of the toad and began clawing his way toward its brain, through its burst eye.

The toad squealed even louder, and Ethan’s world was filled with blood and the smell of burnt flesh.