Like many other dungeons, the Garnet Grotto had very scarce "natural" lighting. As soon as we took a few steps away from the Sign of the Gate, our eyes had to adjust to the surrounding dimness. The only and, at the same time, rather weak source of light in the Grotto turned out to be sparse growths of luminescent moss, whose colonies were more often found on the walls but sometimes could be spotted on the ceiling and even on the floor. However, these small patches of moss emitting a dim pale light were clearly not enough to illuminate the surrounding cave sufficiently. Standing at the edge of the darkness, I gestured for Katashi to stop and turned to the Shadows, hoping that the shadow sense would replace my sight on this expedition. Alas, the Shadows were silent and could not help, as everything around felt like ordinary stone without a trace of magic.

"I can summon fire that will serve as a torch," offered the Japanese, standing next to me.

"I have a better option," I dismissed. "Squint for a moment."

Pushing the Shadow further into the Core, I turned to the Light and activated a "flashlight," brightly illuminating the space ahead. Then, playing with the currents of mana, I weakened the spell's power so that the magical light did not blind us and allowed us to discern at least something even beyond the area lit by magic.

"You can open your eyes," I said, having finished adjusting the spell. "Is it blinding?"

"It's fine," Katashi briefly replied, after blinking for a while to allow his eyes to adjust to the new light.

Without moving, I looked around and, noticing a detail of interest, pointed at it with the tip of my crowbar:

"Do you see the dark spot on the wall about two meters from the floor?"

"Yes."

"The illumination spell I use comes from the Light of Antares, and the Gray moss, which Ilakris warned us about, is a spawn of dark forces. Due to its dark nature, this moss does not accept 'pure' light."

"And it can be noticed as a black spot on the stones, like a gap in the wall," Katashi finished my thought. "Got it."

"Move carefully, no rush. I'll lead; you follow a step and a half behind and keep to the right. My sector is the floor and the left wall; you watch the right wall and the ceiling. In case of a threat, we stop ahead of time and think about how to deal with it. If the attack is unexpected, we'll act according to the situation. And also, keep your shield ready; there might be a situation where I need to retreat quickly, and you'll cover me in that case."

"Understood," replied the Japanese curtly.

He took my command on this expedition well, understanding that I was far more experienced than him in this matter. In this aspect, it was quite easy with him, as "the memory of the future" suggested, because the Japanese respected both his own skills and knowledge, as well as those of others. And, consequently, he did not rush to command in the presence of more competent people.

We didn't have to wait long for the first attack. We hadn't made even a couple of dozen steps along the wide, natural stone corridor with a high, about five meters, ceiling when a sharp cry from the blacksmith made me jump back. As Ilakris had warned us, noticing the stone spiders before they started moving was incredibly difficult. I had just scanned that section of the ceiling a second ago but saw nothing unusual. And only my Perception aura, pushed to the limit, allowed me to hear a very quiet scraping of stones rubbing against each other just a fraction of a second before Katashi's cry warned me of the danger.

The stone spider resembled a granite boulder slightly larger than a basketball, from which several long legs made of stones ranging in size from a fist to a walnut extended. These legs, which the creature spread out as it fell, spanned up to one and a half meters in "reach," and getting hit by them could result in at least severe injuries. In an unfortunate set of circumstances, one could even get their neck broken. An ordinary person in my place, even upon seeing the danger, would hardly have been able to completely dodge it. After all, even a regular stone needs very little time to fall from a height of five meters. However, a Wootz warrior, in terms of physical capabilities, including reaction speed, far surpasses such an "ordinary" person, so I managed not just to jump to the side but also did it quite gracefully and somewhat theatrically, using my gymnastic skills.

Intentionally not breaking the distance completely with the creature falling from the ceiling, I dodged the double strike of its long legs with a spiral rotation of my body, and when they passed by, I made a thrust. My attack hit precisely at the moment when the stone spider, so to speak, landed and could not change its position or otherwise defend itself from the assault. The spear-crowbar struck right in the center of the monster's granite body, but instead of shattering the stone into pieces, it slid off, leaving a deep groove on its surface, and, knocking off one of the creature's legs, bounced to the floor. The stone spider immediately took advantage of this hitch. With one of its legs, it struck at the spear, trying, apparently, to knock it out of my hands, and at the same time, curled its remaining limbs into a sphere around its main boulder and, accelerating sharply, rolled towards me. Most likely, the monster hoped to knock me down, but such an attack, although unexpected, was quite straightforward, and it was not difficult for me to avoid it by simply jumping up. However, the creature was not so easy to deal with, and when I soared above it, the stone spider quickly and sharply "shot" two legs, aiming at my knees. If I had not been expecting something like this, this expedition could have ended for me before it really even began, as the hit from the granite limbs would have simply torn off my unprotected legs.

Despite Ilakris calling the stone spiders the simplest dungeon monsters, they were still creatures of Wootz level. This meant they were quite a significant threat and could maim or kill an incautious tunneller who made a mistake with just one or two hits. Thanks to the extensive experience from my "previous life" and what I had already learned in this Cycle on my own, I expected such an attack. And as soon as the spider reached out to me with its "tentacles," the spear-crowbar, tracing a semicircle, due to its mass, broke that pair of attacking limbs by simply crushing the stones comprising them.

Then Katashi showed his skills. The smith took a quick step forward, simultaneously lowering his shield and pressing its bottom edge into the ground. By doing so, he stopped the charge of the creature, which crashed into this barrier but couldn't move it an inch. But as soon as the monster stopped, it immediately turned its remaining limbs for an attack, thus leaving its main stone defenseless. The Japanese took advantage of this. With a sharp and precise strike of the war hammer, right at the center of the boulder, he split the body of the stone spider into several unequal parts. And as soon as this happened, all those stones, previously bound together with the dungeon's magic in the spider shape, just crumbled into a pile of rubble on the cave floor.

"Is the shield alright?" I asked, as from the side, the hit from the rolling monster seemed quite substantial.

"What would happen to it?" The Japanese responded to my question with his own. "It's made of armor-grade steel, nine-tenths of an inch thick, and the wooden backing is made of larch, serving not so much for protection but for shock absorption."

So, I wasn't wrong when I estimated the weight of Katashi's shield to be around ten kilograms. However, if I correctly recall the stories of the Roman legionnaires' heavy shields told by Ronin, their weight reached the same figure. True, the Japanese's shield was about half the size in area compared to a scutum, but if ordinary legionnaires could handle such weight, then the Japanese, being at Wootz, would manage even more easily.

I had just turned around and taken a step further into the depths of the dungeon when Katashi stopped me:

"Wait a minute, I want to check something."

With those words, the Japanese squatted next to the pile of stones left from the spider, and began to closely examine the shards. He peered into them, felt them, picking up different stones, tapping them against each other... Not really understanding what had so interested the blacksmith, I, nevertheless, did not interrupt or hurry him. About five minutes passed like this, and then Katashi got to his feet.

"At first, I thought that something like wire held the limbs of this creature together," said the Japanese. "But, having examined the stones, I didn't find any trace of such a fastening."

"Just magic," I shrugged.

"Magic, of course," the blacksmith nodded and then showed me two small shards of the creature, no larger than a nail. "But look." He began to slowly bring these shards closer, and when there was less than a centimeter left between them, they "jumped" to each other, joining into one whole. "Natural magnets," explained Katashi. "The body of this monster consists of stone rich in ferromagnetic ore." Tossing the merged stones in his palm, the Japanese added, "It's clear that ordinary natural magnetism wouldn't provide such cohesion and strength. But still, the fact that the creature is made exactly of stones rich in ferromagnetics is also clearly not by chance. I think the local magic simply greatly enhanced these natural properties of the mineral, rather than just binding the stones together 'just like that' and 'out of nowhere'... Intriguing."

"I'm no expert," I shrugged.

The conclusion made by Katashi seemed curious to me, but I didn't see any practical application for myself in it. Nevertheless, I knew someone who was indeed interested in such observations.

"However... Perhaps you're right in that magic sometimes acts as an amplifier for natural phenomena. Not long ago, I met a fascinating individual. She calls herself Arien, and as far as I know, she was quite a famous scientist on Earth. Observations of this kind could greatly appeal to her, given her focus on related matters. And as far as I know, she's trying to understand the nature of magic..." Then, infusing my voice with a hint of surprise, I added: "Moreover, she's even making some progress in this area."

"Interesting," said the Japanese, rolling natural magnets in his hand, and after a short pause, continued, "Will you tell me about her when we get out of here?"

"I like your 'when,' not 'if'," I replied with a smile instead of a direct answer and, turning around, started walking forward.

Katashi, loudly snorting behind me, hurried after me without saying a word.

The next attack didn't take long to come. We hadn't taken more than thirty steps from where we first encountered one of the stone spiders when we stumbled upon a pair of the same creatures. Moreover, if one attacked from above, the other lay in wait on the floor. Step on such a "rock," and a sharp sweep of its legs will easily sever yours. Somehow, Katashi noticed this ambush in advance and managed to warn me.

With an accurate throw of a stone picked up from the ground, the Japanese provoked the spiders to attack. And this time, although there were two monsters instead of one, because their attack wasn't as unexpected, we managed much easier. First, having learned from the initial unsuccessful experience, I struck with my spear-crowbar at a more direct angle. And second, I enhanced that thrust with the "Bull's Strength" spell. The main boulder, forming the "body" of the stone spider, didn't "survive" such an attack, and the remains of the creature crumbled onto the cave floor in a now-familiar heap.

I deliberately left the second monster to Kay. And the Japanese didn't disappoint: timely shifting to the side, he deflected the charging spider's movement so that it, sliding off the shield, crashed into the cave wall. Then, the blacksmith, with one precise blow of the war hammer, split the central boulder into pieces.

The third spider ambush revealed itself as a black spot of Grey Moss, which spread across the ceiling and somewhat resembled a one-and-a-half-meter octopus in shape. Since this spot was quite noticeable in the light of the "flashlight," and none of us believed it was a coincidence that the moss itself took such a form, we, without getting too close, threw stones at the creature hiding under the dark patch. This naturally lured the stone spider out of its hiding place and forced it to attack us. This time, not wanting to take risks, with a couple of wide sweeps of my spear-crowbar, I tore off the monster's front legs, which it recklessly and boldly stretched towards me. After that, taking a wide step forward, Katashi finished off the stone spider in his characteristically succinct manner.

The "generated" cave corridor we were moving through from the Gate seemed quite long, subjectively just under a kilometer. Moreover, it wasn't straight throughout but smoothly curved like a snake frozen in motion. During our walk through it, we encountered several more spider ambushes, which we managed to deal with quite easily since we already knew what to expect. Moreover, somehow, the Japanese learned to recognize them almost ten steps away. Such early detection deprived these monsters of the lion's share of the danger they presented, attacking unexpectedly and literally falling on the heads of the tunnelers passing beneath them or tearing off the legs of those careless enough to step on them.

It was my first time going through a standard dungeon with a Shard, and for some reason, I felt that such a long corridor, which allowed one to "get into the groove" of clearing it and get accustomed to the dangers of the dungeon, didn't form just by chance but was another manifestation of the luck inherent to Shards. It's entirely possible that I made all this up, and the dungeon's architecture this time just happened to arrange itself this way. After all, the Garnet Grotto was a second-type dungeon, and its layout changed after each clearing. So, such a configuration could indeed have occurred without the intervention of this strange "luck."

Eliminating the seventh ambush, I caught myself enjoying clearing the dungeon with Katashi. Despite the Japanese not having much experience in this Cycle yet, he still behaved much more competently than many local tunnellers, who had dozens, if not hundreds, of similar expeditions under their belts. The blacksmith didn't act recklessly, didn't try to show off, didn't boast about his skill and ability. He also didn't shy away from danger, using his shield where needed to protect. He simply did the job he was taken on for and tried to do it well. And importantly, something I couldn't help but notice, he was always learning. With each ambush we passed, Katashi gained experience. He analyzed the enemies and, from one fight to the next, became more and more prepared and knowledgeable about what to do.

After all, the "memory of the future" didn't deceive me, and despite Katashi's primary calling being blacksmithing, it wasn't for nothing that he was considered one of the best fighters among earthlings in the Last Cycle. For example, "the past me," in a duel between Katashi and Nate, would have bet on the blacksmith, not on the future God of War. And now, watching the Japanese's actions, how quickly he learned and adapted, the present me began to understand the past me.

But everything eventually comes to an end, and so did this corridor, which seemed endless, leading us to the entrance of a dark cave with towering ceilings, three full stories high. The light from the few chunks of moss was so dim that the opposite wall was barely discernible. Before stepping into the cave, I paused for a moment to adjust my disheveled gambeson and belt that had slipped down a bit. While I was busy with this, Katashi stood with his eyes closed, leaning his palm against the stone wall. It seemed like he was just resting, but when I was ready to step forward, the Japanese said:

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"There are many 'living' stones ahead. Seems like they are all not very big. Most likely, spiders again, as well as those jumpers the tunneller talked about. I feel nothing larger that could match the 'living' mass of granite trolls or spitting toads."

"Wait." Hearing him, I couldn't hold back. "How do you do that? I'm peering into the cave's darkness and can't see anything no matter how hard I try."

"It's simple," the blacksmith shrugged, removing his hand from the wall and turning it towards me. "The Stone Rune. I apply it to my palm and touch the wall. Then, I start sending energy through the Rune in waves and watch for the 'response.' It works like a magical echolocator, where the Rune acts as the receiver. Animated by magic, stones, such as spiders, feel different in this 'response' than regular granite or any other inanimate rock."

"How did you come up with such a use for Runes?" My astonishment was genuine, as no one had used the Signs of Divine Speech in this way, even in the Last Cycle.

"What's so special about it?" Katashi asked, tilting his head, and after a short pause, added, "It was this kind of application of the Metal Rune that helped me better feel the materials and allowed me to master weaving silver and gold. I similarly applied the Rune on my palm and, by channeling energy through it, listened to the metal's response and directed the magic accordingly."

"I can't do that," I admitted with undeniable regret, having heard the answer.

"How many Talent Stars do you have in Runes?" the Japanese asked with what seemed to me a mild curiosity.

"Three," I replied honestly, seeing no need to withhold.

"Then maybe it's simply beyond you?" The blacksmith said without a hint of mockery, as if stating an unpleasant fact.

"Beyond me? And how many Stars do you have in that Talent?"

"Five," Katashi answered briefly, calmly meeting my gaze. "I didn't get interested in Runes out of nowhere. As soon as I went through the Ritual of Self-Knowledge, I immediately remembered what Lan Lin said and recalled the pattern she drew in the sand. I had worked on this even before but put it aside for a while, and upon learning about my predisposition to this magic, I started studying it with renewed vigor." Shrugging, the Japanese added, "I couldn't let five Talent Stars go to waste. And from what I understand about the workings of this world, your three Stars might simply not be enough for full use of Runes and unlocking all the possibilities of this branch of Magic."

And so, the main flaw of the Japanese revealed itself. The reason why he didn't become the leader of all earthlings, despite all his talents, incredible luck, and simply inhuman productivity. Alas, Katashi did not understand diplomacy at all and didn't grasp that excessive straightforwardness can often be harmful. Of course, his words didn't offend me because I knew this trait of the blacksmith, thanks to the memory of the future. But many others, hearing such things said about them, would interpret it as nothing less than an insult or an attempt to demean them.

"Perhaps you're right," I returned his indifferent shrug. "But I'm interested in the Runes themselves, so I won't give up studying and understanding them."

"A strange choice on your part. As a warrior, you are clearly head and shoulders above a scholar." No, he definitely didn't understand when it's better to remain silent.

"I have my reasons for such interest." Catching myself beginning to get annoyed, I wrapped up the conversation. "Ready to move forward?"

"Ready."

"Then let's go!"

In the Last Cycle, Katashi didn't elaborate on how his Talents were distributed. So, it was a revelation for me to learn about his five Stars in Runes. Though, on second thought, it was quite logical. Who, if not a future God of Labor, would understand the magic of Runes, which ancient masters applied in their crafts almost universally? And in earth mythology, blacksmith gods usually have a good understanding of various Signs, Runes, and Symbols.

These thoughts were quite interesting, but to dwell on them at that moment was still a mistake. This nuance was clearly and vividly demonstrated to me by a pair of rockjaws that tried to roll into my legs and knock me down to the floor as soon as I left the corridor and entered the cave. These creatures, as Ilakris described, looked like ordinary rocks covered with a thick layer of green moss. If, of course, you can call "ordinary" the boulders that move on their own, capable of jumping like mad rabbits, and also have a stone maw with teeth made of the sharpest slate. Yes, unlike the stone spiders, these rockjaws had no legs, but they were almost three times larger in size and, most unpleasantly, moved significantly faster.

The sudden attack of a pair of rockjaws instantly cleared my mind, forcing me to discard any extraneous thoughts. I dodged the first monster like an experienced toreador, but the second one approached from a convenient direction, so I counterattacked it. My spear-crowbar, with its blunt but nonetheless faceted and tempered tip, struck the boulder, sparked, and carved a deep groove on its surface, nearly slicing off all the moss on one side of the stone. But that was it. And yet, I had struck well, having accurately calculated timing and force. However, even such a heavy weapon as the two-meter crowbar provided by Katashi did not guarantee the destruction of such creatures. Though, in some way, my counterattack was successful, it disrupted the rockjaw's movement, causing it to miss and fly past me. I had hoped this miss would slow the creature down, as there was a wall behind me, and hitting it would force it to lose momentum, which I would use to deliver an even stronger and more precise strike. Alas, my calculations were wrong, as the rockjaw, after colliding with the cave wall, did not stop but bounced off it like a rubber ball directly toward me. And what's more, its speed after bouncing off even increased! A gaping maw full of sharp stone teeth rushed towards me, and my body automatically responded. The numerous training sessions were not in vain; my brain had not fully realized what exactly happened and how nearly a forty-pound stone so swiftly bounced off the wall, but my hands struck on their own. This time, the spear, hitting precisely in the open maw, did not fail, splitting the stone body of the rockjaw into two unequal parts. To my great relief, such damage proved to be fatal for the creature, and falling to the cave floor, the two halves of the monster showed no signs of "life" anymore.

As I was dealing with the first stone creature, it seemed like the entire cave "came to life." The air hummed, low, disturbingly. Here and there, boulders that had been lying on the floor began to move. And there were quite a few of these reviving stones at first glance, no less than a couple of dozen! My imagination quickly painted a mental picture of what would happen if all these creatures rushed at us and trapped us at the cave entrance. We would simply be swept away as if by an unstoppable rockslide! And even if we managed to dodge the first, most dangerous attack, rebounding off the walls behind us, they would just pile on again.

"Stay away from the walls!" I shouted to Katashi and dashed forward.

My sudden acceleration was completely unexpected for the nearest monster, and it missed. I let another three attackers go under, gracefully leaping over them. This jump was followed by a roll, turning into a spiral rotation, and I reached my goal. Namely, I took the center of the cave, a place that seemed equidistant from the walls. Now, I wasn't particularly afraid that, missing, a creature would hit a wall and then immediately attack me from behind or the side. However, this position had its downside, as most of the rockjaws chose me as their target.

For a while, all I did was dodge. I swung like a pendulum, jumped, and spun around like a top, not even attempting to attack myself. Too many rockjaws, bouncing around the cave like crazy ping-pong balls but made of granite, tried to either ram me or bite off a significant part of me with their sharp teeth, leaving me no chance to do anything besides simply dodging.

Thanks to my dash, Katashi was in relative safety, and only two monsters out of more than a couple dozen attacked him. The Japanese took the first rockjaw's charge on his shield, stopping the creature, but the force of the blow threw him against the wall, and his left arm hung limply by his side. However, even with such an injury, Katashi did not lose his composure. Pushing off the wall with his back, he sharply bent over, letting the second creature pass over his head, and quickly stepped toward the first rockjaw attacking it. The monster, stopped by the shield, remained immobile for about a second, which the blacksmith took advantage of. The Japanese did not try to strike with his war hammer; instead, he threw his weapon aside and, at the moment the rockjaw began to show signs of life, touched it with his bare hand. Katashi's lips silently uttered a familiar word, and the creature's body immediately covered in a network of deep cracks and crumbled into coarse sand and small stone shards. Again dodging the attack of the second monster, which inertia eventually carried in my direction, Katashi used the respite to drink a medium Healing potion.

Still not fully recovered, wounded, with his left hand poorly functioning, the Japanese, nevertheless, not only did not attempt to flee the battle but instead headed in my direction, apparently wishing to help and divert at least some of the monsters onto himself.

"Stop!" I yelled. "Keep your distance!"

If he got close and, for example, covered my back, which, as it seemed to me, was his intention, it would only significantly worsen my situation. While I am alone, I can dodge as I please without worrying about where a missed rockjaw might hit. But if Katashi stood next to me, it would immediately deprive me of the advantage of freedom to maneuver. Not only would he be covering my back, but I would also have to do the same for the blacksmith. And with creatures like rockjaws, whose main weapon is a speed ram, a joint defense, at the expense of dodging, is clearly not the best tactic. To my relief, hearing my shout, Katashi accurately assessed the situation and moved closer to the entrance of the cave again, not forgetting to pick up his war hammer. For nearly a minute, the Japanese tried not to attract the monsters' attention. Fortunately, this was not so difficult, as all the creatures focused on me like mad, as if there was no other goal for them in principle.

With each moment, with each breath, it became increasingly easier for me. To my relief, once the rockjaws picked up speed, they couldn't maneuver and moved in a straight line. And when bouncing off the walls, they obeyed the law of reflection, the very one stating that the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence. These two observations allowed me to calculate all possible trajectories of the creatures in advance. And the longer I watched them, the more freedom I reclaimed. Yes, for now, I only had time to dodge, but I felt that, in another minute or two, I would be able to find an opportunity for a counterattack. I just had to hold on until then and not make any mistakes.

The most challenging aspect for me in this situation was not avoiding deadly strikes, which, of course, was difficult and required utmost concentration and attention, but rather resisting the temptation to unleash the Dance. I naturally feared that by activating this skill, I might lose control over myself and enter a berserk state, not distinguishing friend from foe. And in a case where one of the Shards was nearby, especially one like Katashi, whom I considered the most important of the four known to me who reached the Divino Stairway, the risk of using the Dance seemed excessive. And without this largely ultimate skill, despite the relative predictability of the rockjaws' movement, even just to dodge, I had to give it my all. At one point, I even had to throw away my spear-crowbar, as this heavy weapon, due to its inertia, was more of a hindrance than a help.

It had been a minute and a half since I took the center of the cave, and it seemed I had finally calculated the exact time to strike. During the last five attacks, I positioned myself so that at some point, two rockjaws, bouncing off the cave walls at different points, aiming to hit me, would collide. Leading to such a "coincidence" wasn't easy, but since I was constantly attacked by more than two dozen creatures, such a situation was bound to occur on its own eventually. To make it happen, I had to perform a back bend supported by one hand. As soon as I did that, two rockjaws, accelerated to their maximum speed, collided right above me. The impact was so strong that my ears were blocked for a moment by the crack. Alas, even such a powerful collision didn't split the rockjaws apart; it only knocked out half of their teeth and added some cracks, that's all. However, I didn't expect them to split. My free right hand shot up. A touch to the cold surface of the stone with my open palm, marked with the illusion of the Rune of Destruction, and my lips whispered, "Des!"

I was immediately pelted by a slew of small stone chips. One monster down, which meant, even if not by much, it became slightly easier to breathe! The second creature involved in the collision fell just half a meter from me. To avoid its stone teeth, I rolled to the side, painfully hitting my right shoulder against a rocky outcrop on the cave floor. Pushing the pain aside, I jumped to my feet, only to duck again, letting another rockjaw pass over me. I needed about five seconds to assess how the movement of the creatures had changed after one of them was taken out and the other temporarily lost speed. But I didn't get to start this analysis of the battle situation when I heard Katashi's sharp cry:

"Above!!!"

Damn! How could I forget about the stone spiders?! No one told us these creatures only dwell in the corridors! One such monster had been hanging from the ceiling almost in the center of the cave, patiently waiting for me to move slightly in its direction. And as soon as I did, it detached itself and, spreading its legs like a net, swooped down.

Honestly, I don't know if I could have handled it myself or not; the attack was too sudden. Moreover, it happened at the worst possible time, when I was busy dodging two rockjaws, and then this creature fell from above! And that spider almost got me... One of its legs was already reaching for my shoulder when a war hammer, thrown by a skilled hand, flew across the cave and struck right in the center of the spider's body, knocking the monster slightly to the side. Just by half a meter, but that was more than enough for me. A roll, and before the spider could get back on its legs, my hand reached it.

"Des!"

And somehow, it just happened that in the next move, the handle of the war hammer, which Katashi had thrown so timely, just fit into my hand. Gripping this unfamiliar weapon more firmly, I quickly straightened up and struck at the approaching rockjaw. I hit it simply and without frills, like with a baseball bat, not forgetting to empower myself with "Bull's Strength." As a result, the blow was so powerful that the weapon was torn from my hands. But the creature fared no better; it was literally blown to pieces, showering me with numerous fragments, one of which scratched my cheek to blood. However, I ignored such a trifle, and with a couple of rolls and pirouettes, I returned to the very center of the cave, logically assuming that if a spider had been lurking there, it would have attacked me by now, which meant that spot was safe from an unexpected ambush.

During this time, Katashi had fully recovered and not only helped me with his precise throw against the spider but also managed to deal with two rockjaws. Moreover, he did it quite cleverly. The Japanese, like me, predicted the creatures' movement and moved along the wall so that he could ambush a rockjaw the wall at the right moment. When this happened, he used his shield to absorb the rebound energy, trapping the creature between the wall and the steel precisely at the moment of the rockjaw's collision with the stone surface. The perfect timing allowed the blacksmith to immobilize the creature and easily finish it off with the Rune of Destruction.

Appreciating the accuracy and effectiveness of the Japanese's actions, I chose the moment and shouted:

"Three, right!"

I didn't have time to say more, yet Katashi understood me correctly. Moving three steps to the right, he found himself next to the point on the wall where the rockjaw, whose trajectory I had managed to predict as the monster flew past me, was supposed to crash. A shield strike, a touch of the hand, and another creature crumbled into dust under the Japanese's feet.

"Six, left!" I shouted again.

And once again, our simple combination worked perfectly.

"Five, right!"

"Four, right!"

After each of my shouts, not a second passed before the number of rockjaws in the cave was reduced by one.

Somehow, it naturally happened that our duo found a great rhythm and tactic. Being in the center of movement and the primary target of the rockjaws, I dodged and evaluated where each creature would fly, and if its trajectory was near Katashi, I shouted to the Japanese. And the blacksmith, in turn, quickly got to where he needed to be and performed a simple combination by immobilizing the rockjaw with his shield, then finishing it off with the Rune of Des. As a result, it didn't take a couple of minutes before the rockjaws in the cave were simply gone.

After finishing off the last creature, Katashi looked around skeptically. Then he listened. But besides our heavy breathing, there were no other sounds.

"None left?" the Japanese asked doubtfully, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying.

"It seems so," I agreed. "Although there might still be stone spiders here."

As I suspected, those creatures were indeed still here, and as we moved in a spiral from the center of the cave, we eventually found and then killed them one by one. Only after clearing them out did I pick up my spear-crowbar from the floor, and the blacksmith found his war hammer, which, to my surprise, hadn't broken from the impact. After examining his weapon, Katashi nodded with satisfaction and, hanging it on his belt, looked at me intently:

"I don't get it, how did you manage? They were flying through the cave like shells, and you seemed to just stand in the center, yet not a single creature hit you!"

Was it my imagination, or did I detect notes of admiration in his tone? No, that can't be, I must have imagined it. Shrugging, I replied:

"Habit. I used to love playing dodgeball in school."

"What?" His constant control over his facial expressions and emotions faltered, and the Japanese allowed himself to show noticeable surprise. "How is that related?"

"It's simple. Just like in dodgeball, where they try to hit you with a ball, it was the same here. The only difference is that in dodgeball there's one ball, and here there were a bit more than twenty." And patting the silent blacksmith on the shoulder as I walked past, I added, "Basically, it's all about habit."

"I wouldn't be able to do that," Katashi shook his head.

I should have kept quiet, but at that moment, I couldn't resist and still said:

"Maybe it's simply beyond you?"