“Flash!”

Micah jolted in the direction of their leader and cast a blinding flash down the full length of the path. The cultists’ movements slowed and became sloppy enough for the leather cloaked leader to cut a few rows of them apart with his greatsword. Fire, frost, even acid did little to slow down the fanatical enemies, leaving Greater Flash as the most effective support skill in his arsenal.

Seeing Ivan regain dominance on his side, the freckled faced wizard glanced around the other four tunnels from the center of the intersection they found themselves in. Each of the other three had two front line fighters as none but their leader could handle a swarm on their own, and beside him stood his fellow casters and support, Dolores an old conjurer and Ekow their healer.

A frost undine floated behind one side, their weakest, casting frostball after frostball at the center of the horde, giving their scout and shieldbearer slight breaks inbetween the endless fighting. The two had been paired as Cheng was their best vanguard and Jordan possessed little combat ability in comparison, evident by desperate flailing. A fireball destroyed the Frost Undine and Dolores frowned, calling another immediately, this one a gray wind element.

“Help!”

The side to their left started to fall back as the cultists overwhelmed them. Micah shot another flash and Dolores sent her undine, but a scream brought their attention to the weakest side, Jordan recoiling with half an arm. Ekow started healing in an instant but it would take time to regenerate an injury and the wave was pushing Cheng back.

A third flash blared down the corridor to assist him but Cheng’s pummeling could only do so much damage. Micah started to conjurer wisping purple mist and stopped himself. The last time he had done so, it had been shouted back at them, causing just as much harm as it had help.

A man crashed into the ground next to him, the swordsman of the final corridor, clutching a broken arm. Their archer shot arrows in rapid succession as she backed away, the cultists gaining ground with every second. Micah froze in fear, the lines breaking down from all sides, mad eyed cultists roaring with jubilation.

Shin and Donny broke through their weakest side, a trail of corpses behind them. A quick glance sent Shin rushing to the archer’s side, a siren appearing above him, knocking over the horde with a piercing scream. Donny burst left, hacking down the enemies alongside their tired leader, and Yen flew out to the left, blasting away her share with a single firebolt.

Mere seconds was all it took for the three of them to massacre the wave they had struggled so desperately against. Kamala followed behind on angel wings, adding her heal to the scout, tripling the speed his arm regrew. Shin hopped back to the side of the forester and Yen joined him back on the ground. Donny flourished the blood off his axe as he walked over, keeping a casual vigilance on Ivan until he too had regrouped.

Yen placed a hand on her hip as she stood at the helm of the party with domineering confidence. “Stand guard for us while we train, and we’ll protect you.”

“We can protect ourselves.” A deep gruff voice came from the grim faced leader.

[Human Executioner (epic) - Greater Lord]

“Clearly you can’t.” Yen brushed an equally intense stare over him, her demeanor certain and unfazed.

“You should watch your mouth.” Ivan stepped to her, his hostility growing.

“Wait, wait!” Cheng put a hand on the executioner’s chest to stop him. “We can all be friends here.”

“I-it’s a good idea. We need some time to recover.” Micah sputtered out support for Cheng’s sentiment.

“There’s no need to fight.” Ekow offered his persuasion to Ivan, who glanced around at his party and silently backed down.

“It’s been a while.” Micah awkwardly greeted the party.

“Good to see you, Freckles.”

“Pushing your luck trying to fight the last boss.” Yen added. “I thought you were smarter than this.”

“Ah… well…” Micah’s response smothered out before hastily changing the subject. “We saw you at the bazaar but didn’t get a chance to properly introduce ourselves. This is Wolfsbane, because thieves are like wolves, you know.”

Yen perked up just slightly. “We are Nova.”

“We don’t have a name.” The orange haired mage shot an annoyed glance at the hollow eyed boy ruining her image.

“Everyone in Ladron called you guys Vagabond. Because you just kind of went wherever you wanted and didn’t have to follow Chato’s rules.”

“They’re all dead except Grenda.” The casual tone of Shin’s sudden reveal caught them off guard, realization delayed on their faces. “Cesar sacrificed everyone to turn himself and his group into demons and we killed them.”

“Cesar is Chato.” Donny added, for their benefit.

“What about Matthew?!” The gray haired mage broke her stern bearing as she pressed Shin.

Shin tilted his head. “Who is that?”

Dolores froze in a state just before grief, with something else swelling inside her.

“If they were in the town, they’re dead.” Donny stepped in before anything more could be said on the matter. The old mage looked at him for a moment but remained silent.

“Do you find any traps?” Shin asked Micah, unconcerned with the detour of the conversation.

“No.” Micah responded on reflex.

Shin summoned three floating eyes and sent them down random paths, staying quiet for a while before pointing straight ahead. “That way.”

---

The party sat and stood around in a corner focusing on their skills, Wolfsbane split into two groups of five at either direction. Some of the recently made underlings shot dissatisfied glances their way which were either ignored or fell unnoticed all together.

Shin focused within, feeling for the difference between mana and aura. Mana was like a cool flowing breeze permeating himself and all around as naturally as air, while Aura was a simmering heat contained within his body. Shin felt each in turns, randomly and whimsical, and then the bond between stamina and the energy of life.

[Galvanize has upgraded to epic tier Invigoration.]

‘Convert mana into aura. Efficiency: 0.1.’

It’s efficiency was terrible at level 1, but Shin had succeeded. Now he could focus solely on Spirit over Vitality, but as for immediate goals, he had another fusion he desired.

Ivan stared at the boy with restrained venom. “They treat us like servants.” He said freely under the veil of silence.

“They acted like they owned the place back then too.” Dolores added, her demeanor sour.

“B-but this is better for us.” Micah stammered. “We can deal with the hordes now and it’s easier to train and we have a kind of safety net and, you know…” Hostile looks frayed his nerves as he resorted to spewing out his reasoning, trying to relieve the hostility.

“You like being an intern for them?” Jordan snapped, flustering the mage into broken sentences.

“Are you in my party or theirs?” Ivan stepped to him, bearing down with a pressure Micah crumbled under.

“Yours…”

“Good. We-”

A draconic wail cut the Executioner off and a patrol of seven charged. A firebolt eviscerated all seven but rumbling from both directions soon followed. The party of four burst into action, joining the side of Wolfsbane lending only assistance as the other ten bore the brunt of the horde.

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Shin struck a cultist with a fist enveloped in wisping green mana. The cultist staggered but took three more strikes until life left its body and it fell dead. A weak skill, Shin thought, too weak to be useful right now but training would change that. Beside him, a force shot a cultist straight back into the ground. Yen’s skill was not a striking force but a form of limited telekinesis. A warrior charged and she pulled a second cultist back to crash into him.

Neither skill did much but inconvenience their mad enemies but still the pyromancer continued using only those skills, the result of discussion among the four concluding that training their new uncommon tier skills against the horde would be more productive, now that they could leave the heavy lifting to another party.

Soon the last of the cultists fell dead. A small tremoring and the sound of cracking stone came from the other side and soon the same reached them, as large roots enveloped the corpses, dragging them into the ground, small plants and herbs sprouting up in their place, steadily growing. The party returned to their corner back to training without a word, Micah watching with a difficult and hesitant expression.

---

A dense translucent mist of blue mana surrounded Shin as he focused on the crackling of two skills in front. Mana Meditation had already been maxed now on this 28th day, quadrupling his recovery. It was though he were back in the training grounds, albeit at the cost of some strain on his mind. Donny and Kamala had already succeeded in their skill upgrades and were now resting up in preparation for what lay ahead, waiting for him and Yen.

[Greater Spirit Orb and Greater Spiral have fused into epic tier Spirit Gyro.]

‘Conjure a dense orb of spiralling ether.’

The two skills in his hands broke into light and a green orb appeared before him. Looking carefully, the entire sphere was a cluster of green threads rotating violently and spinning on an axis of the center. Shin casually pushed his palm into the orb and it sheered down his fingers on contact. It was just as useful as he envisioned, Shin thought as he cast rejuvenation on his hand, though he would need a better test than his measly 65 Constitution to know exactly how useful. Shin scanned the result of the last few days of training.

[Human Onmyoji (epic) - Greater Lord]

Strength - 200 (260)

Agility - 600 (780)

Constitution - 50 (65)

Vitality - 115 (149)

Dexterity - 33 (43)

Perception - 300 (390)

Force - 24 (31)

Spirit - 578 (751)

Control - 150 (195)

Willpower - 100 (130)

Skills:

Heal lvl. 3, Mystic Protection lvl. 10, Summon Mystic Kitsune Guardian lvl. 10, Grand Martial Combat lvl. 10, Rapid lvl. 10, Befriend Spirit lvl. 10, Mana Meditation lvl. 10, Invigoration lvl. 2, Harvest Spirit lvl. 6, Invoke lvl. 10, Tremor lvl. 10, Condense lvl. 10, Spirit Gyro lvl. 1, Ward lvl. 1, Soul Fusion lvl. 1, Soul Strike lvl. 7, See Through Spirits lvl. 2,

Traits:

Body Supremacy, Eyes of the Spirit King, Ethereal Soul, Spiritkeeper,

Gyro would need to be his priority for the next few days as his only ranged magic attack but he would like to see Soul Strike maxed and upgraded, along with Condense to enhance the potency of trump card in Tremor. The shatter of a dim flash of light behind him stole his attention away.

“Ha!” Yen celebrated her skill upgrade, fueled by a sense of competitiveness and some frustration of being last. A thick semi spherical shield of mana hovered in the air before her.

“Thought you would get another fire skill for sure.”

“I need something to block dragon breath. You know, from the boss. In case you haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Yeah no, I couldn’t wrap my head around the mystery of the dragon cultists until just now.”

Shin sent out two floating eyes in search of their next path as the two fell into another duel of quips.

“Um…”

Shin looked up to find Micah coming to a stop before him, nervous and awkward.

“Can I join you?” The moment the wizard asked he seemed to lose confidence and panic slightly. “I’m not that strong, b-but I have a lot of support skills. I can be a real asset from the backline and make things easier and stuff and, and I can get whatever skills you want me to-”

“You can’t follow me.” Shin cut him off, and Micah lost his voice. “You’re not enough.”

Micah’s face fell into silent devastation, his posture becoming listless as though something broke inside him. He lingered for a moment, unable to bring himself to respond at all, before walking away without a word.

“That was harsh…” Yen watch him leave with a trace of pity. “Look at him, you crushed his soul.”

“Better to get the hard truth direct.” Donny commented.

“Yeah, but you could be like, tactful or something… Anyway, I need you to help me level Shield.” Yen directed at Shin.

“We’re going on our own.” Ivan approached in the middle of their conversation, stern and aggressive.

“Eager to run into a party less generous than us?” Pity left the mage’s eyes. “Do you even know what’s out there?”

“It’s not your business.”

“Found a room.” Shin announced from his seat on the floor, before she could reply.

“Find a way around it.” Yen shot back immediately.

“There’s something inside. Looks important.”

“...what’s guarding this important thing.”

“50 cultists. Four dragonborn.”

“Can you two handle four?”

“Alone, yeah.” Donny answered. “Fifty masks makes it difficult, but we could manage with some angels.”

“It is doable. But they are costly. If we run into a strong party shortly after, I won’t have much left.”

“If your team takes out the cultists, we’ll give you a rare tier item each.” Donny looked towards Ivan. The tall executioner showed some interest but didn’t respond. “My fault. Didn’t realize you were in a position where you could pass that up.”

“Two. Each.”

Donny almost laughed. “Are you mad? That’s 500 gold.”

“Okay.” Both glanced at the boy rising to his feet, looking Ivan in the eyes. “Two each if you kill the cultists.”

Ivan nodded and returned to his party, filling them in on what he decided, as the four of them readied for a tough fight, no one showing any complaints at Shin’s offer. Ivan brought his people to heel and the two parties made their way to the treasure room Shin found without delay. Ivan and his party gave each other a glance and then to them before rushing around the corner and through the doorway.

Ivan cleaved through two cultists with a single swing and pressed the line further as Cheng bashed all who came near his advance, doing the same. The archer followed behind first, thinning the crowd of cultists arrow by arrow to control the swarm as the remaining three frontline members joined the vanguard.

The dragonborn unleashed empowering roars and Donny blitzed into one, sending it crashing into the one behind. Shin flickered in front of the other by his side and a condensed tremor sent it flying into the pair just as they start to rise. A firebolt straining nearly to its limits exploded on all three as the remaining dragonborn burst towards Shin. Its viscous swing halted completely as Mara appeared to fray the creature’s mind just long enough for Shin to sink his estoc through its eye.

Two dragonborn burst out of the blaze, charred and a few scales missing but vigor and ferocity emanated from their scaled physiques. Shin lunged forward to meet his second as it froze in place, and his estoc clanged off the iron coating spread across the creature’s eyes. Its sword rent the air as Shin ducked and a flurry followed. Shin darted and dodged but the dragonborn followed him doggedly, fling its blade with deadly precision even through the blindness.

Roots shot up around the dragonborn, hardening in an instant and coating over like stone. Frost gathered in its maw as a screech from a siren above and fist coated in swirling deep blue mana struck at the same time. Its breath skill stalled with the impact on its mind and soul. Thin green mana covered Shin’s fists as he struck again twice. The monster’s skill cancelled fully as it grimaced.

Three strikes at uncommon tier had been enough to kill an ordinary cultist, a far cry from the effect its greater variant had on this dragonborn but the difference was substantial compared to the first he had tried it on. Shin punched again and again, pummeling the monster’s soul until iron coating left its lifeless eyes. Eight in total it had taken. At 20 mana each, it was not a cheap death, but Shin took value in the fact that it was feasible, even at this low level.

Donny feinted a swing of his axe at the dragonborn’s bloody side, scales blasted off by the firebolt prior, and cleaved through its wounded neck, the iron coating at its side faded away uselessly. The two assessed the room. Yen and Kamala had found a corner at the back where they couldn’t be ambushed from behind, maintaining vigilance as Wolfsbane finished up their role.

Shin flickered to the treasure he had spotted atop a stone altar. A bluish white orb with a golden frame circling its center, seven flat bars rising its surface to the top encrusted with a brilliant gem deeper than the orb and glowing splendidly.

[Frost Globus]

He took shug form and plucked the item from its perch, bursting back immediately. He waited for a moment before dispelling the invoke and storing the jeweled orb after a cursory inspection.

“Our items.” Ivan spoke, Wolfsbane having gathered together, most among them tense.

“What kinds do you want?” No sooner had Shin spoken the words had a section of the wall behind Wolfsbane dropped into a doorway and a rumble sounded within.

Cultists swarmed out first backing down the unfortunate party near, followed by four dragon born warriors, mightier and better equip than their ordinary peers, and behind them still, a scaled monstrosity. The upper body of a dragonborn and the lower body of a drake, each larger and more hulky than either, donning items and finery of immense wealth.

[Drakotaur Treasure Guardian (epic) - Greater Lord]

“Go.” The other three sped off at Shin’s word, louder than normal, and he followed behind.

Ivan burst after them, disregarding his party entirely, and a towering paper golem appeared in front. He slashed through with ease, finding only a paper talisman cut in two, but the pause in his actions twice over gave the party enough time to pass through the doorway, a narrow ward filling it whole the instant Shin crossed through.

Ivan raised his greatsword still, and the talismans he missed on the floor locked him to the floor for a brief moment. He tore them out by the power of his strength but it was too late. Cultists barreling towards him forced his focus and the threat of the dragonborn drove him further still. He slashed futilely, back against the wall, roaring with rage and desperation.

“Fuck, I can’t believe we ditched Freckles!”

“Had to be done.”

“Still though. It felt like hitting a cat with your car. Hey Shin, we could have handled that.”

“And run out of mana.” Kamala retorted.

Yen couldn’t dispute it nor would she try. They had taken on the room less than full to begin with. None of them expected a second wave, let alone one much more dangerous. Shin led the way, darting through paths at random to reach the sensory cut off point before his ward feel and the horde followed. He rounded a corner and came to a stop in an instant, posture leaning forward ready to lunge. The others stopped behind him and faced the party of ten. At the front stood a short old woman, shoulder length gray hair parted down to the side, arms held dignified behind her back.

[Human Shaolin (epic) - Greater Lord]

“Hand over your bags.”