‘Did you also…’ I began but Caei and Aki just nodded.

‘Sooo…’ Aki tried to say something but paused unsure.

‘Let’s worry about that once we get out of here… shall we?’ I suggested.

Nobody had any better idea so we continued. I was leading our trio since I was our tank, Caeileera was in the middle while Aki closed our “formation”. I saw she was holding her gun. Still… despite me telling the girls not to worry about the issue, my mind was working in overdrive mode because I couldn't help but think I was overlooking something.

One: The shrine appeared to be tended. There were candles lit and a flower offering. The former could potentially be due to magic, the source of which remains undetermined. The latter would likely require someone to place them.

Two: The route between the shrine and the Tower has opened today.

Current Time: 18:05 CET (18:25 local)

The explosions took place around six hours ago and were very loud.

Three: It is currently impossible to determine how long ago any potential custodian of the shrine visited it. The original size of the candles and rate of burning remains unknown. The state of the flowers would suggest it has been at least a few days.

Four: Surface was accessible via Goblintown.

Corollary to points three and four: The surface is likely accessible from the shrine, independent from the Tower of Trials. If two exits (1. Main; 2. Goblintown) exist, there being a third one is very likely.

Five: It is unknown what beings, if any, inhabit the theorised network of tunnels between the shrine and the exit.

Six: The shrine had deleterious effects on our party. There being a custodian implies not all beings are affected equally.

Seven: The status report mentioned unknown entities present in the dungeon. The sensor network likely didn't function after the cascade failure. It is not known whether the scanning range extended into the shrine.

Conclusion: There is at least one potentially hostile unknown entity present in the Tower of Trials. The presence of another route leading to the surface implies there could be more. At least one of them is sentient.

Extreme caution is advised.

I started to signal for a stop but it was too late. Sounds of heavy footsteps and something heavy being dragged started coming from ahead of us. We readied our weapons, Aki still opting for the Lance of Longinus, and assumed combat formation: me in the front, while my girlfriend fighting at range and Caei as support with a longer weapon in the back.

What emerged out of the darkness in front of us was a massive black-scaled lizard that blocked most of the corridor. At least, I thought that was a lizard. It had a fairly short, but a metre-wide snout and two clusters of twelve reptile’ish eyes. The lizard’s paws ended with razor-sharp twenty-centimetre-long claws, and it had two bony crests starting at its head and running down the length of its body. It roared upon seeing us, drops of spittle flying all around and revealing that instead of a normal mouth, it had one that opened like a flower with four petals, the inside of which was covered with sharp teeth. The unfolded flaps revealed another toothy maw flanked by a pair of mandibles. I couldn’t quite place the sound of the creature's roar. It was a heavily-discovered mix of a lion's roar and a ship’s fog horn. The sheer volume of it made my entire body hurt and I saw both Caei and Aki wince painfully. It was hard to tell, but I think the entire corridor shook slightly, and dust particles and small pieces of rock dislodged from the stone walls and ceiling. There was smoke rising wherever the spittle fell.

That’s definitely not the custodian, flashed through my mind.

Aki shot a lance out of her gun, while Caei threw some kind of a crimson lance at it, but both attacks dissipated harmlessly against the monster’s skin. I did regain some mana after the fight and Gaar’rinver, plus I got a small potion from Caei’s stash, but I didn’t think any of my spells would fare much better.

‘RUN! To the shrine room! There’s another exit there!’ I shouted, realising that there was likely nothing we could do to damage the creautre.

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To their credit, the girls didn’t protest. The hungry-hungry croc monster with acidic spittle was a trump card that overruled any possible counterpoints. So we turned and ran. The heavy footsteps soon started following us.

As I’ve always said: when in doubt - just leg it.

We weren’t that far from the hole in the wall. We quickly entered it, and to our surprise discovered that the statue was gone. Instead, we found ourselves in a large mountainside cavern connected by a wide cracked rock bridge with a massive stone pillar of some kind.

What the fuck?

I pointed to the bridge and we all sprinted towards it. I saw that it was suspended over a deep chasm. I let Aki and Caei get first on it, while I covered their retreat. Just as Aki stepped on it the wall exploded inwards and the croc burst into the cavern. All of its twenty-four eyes were laser-focused on me. It let out another roar causing the surroundings to shake and what’s worse the bridge cracked some more. Aki stumbled but Caei was there to catch her.

‘GO!’ I screamed at them, realising that, at least for me, it was likely the end of the line.

There was no way all three of us could run away from this thing. But… if I bought them enough time then maybe the two of them could escape. Still was this the right place for it? I had no idea whether there was any way off the pillar. I didn’t want to get myself stupidly killed only for the girls to join me moments afterwards. If we reached a dead end… best to try to fight then. Yes. That was a good plan.

Filled with calm, I waited for Caei and Aki to be on the other side before I got on the bridge. I got maybe two-thirds of the way across and saw there were other paths leading away from the pillar. Good. So this would be where I would make my stand. I turned around to face the monster. The croc was at the entrance to the bridge now.

‘Aki! Caei! I shouted.

They turned towards me.

‘Take care of yourselves for me,’ I continued. ‘Beat Laachersain and live.’

They started shouting something, but I didn’t listen to them.

‘Just fucking go!’

Tears were starting to fill my eyes, but I had to be strong.

The monster walked on the bridge. The petals of its mouth opened and a long tongue shot out, wrapping itself around my body.

I hope I give you indigestion motherfucker.

Time slowed. I heard Aki and Caei nearing the bridge. Stupid girls. Then another sound reached me: a loud cracking of stone. I smiled. So they would be able to get away.

The bridge gave way and the monster and I plummeted down into the depths below. I looked up and saw both girls leaning over the edge of the broken bridge, shouting my name, tears filling their eyes.

Just escape and live. I thought and turned my attention back to my impending demise. Suddenly, I felt the constriction around me loosen. The croc was probably so shocked that it let go of me. It quickly regained its wits and tried to regain its hold on me, but using the Gust of Wind I pushed it back away from me. I suddenly felt a massive amount of pressure against the front of my body, but I managed to definitely get out of its range. And I think I slowed my fall.

Oh right. Wind.

I launched another Gust of Wind in the direction of the ground and once again the G-Forces hit me, but I did manage to shed some of my velocity. So I launched another one and another one, the paper doll getting progressively redder with each cast.

At some point, the creature must have impacted the ground as I received a notification.

Level 44 Greater Corrupted Darhun has been slain

You have earned 1466 experience points (3766/2500 total experience points progress to level 5)

You are now Level 5 (1266/3000 total experience points progress to level 6)

Your total health has increased

Your total stamina has increased

Your total mana has increased

You have received 2 perk points (Current Number of Perk Points: 2)

Notice: Colour me impressed. You have actually somehow managed to kill a monster 40 levels above you. (Though the ground did most of the work.) You have received 2 perk points for this achievement (Current Number of Perk Points: 4)

Now live long enough to spend these.

I didn’t pay much attention to the message. Still… couldn’t I increase an attribute with four perk points? I knew both Intelligence and Willpower increased my mana but the former didn’t feel like the main attribute for that.

So… willpower maybe?

Your Willpower Attribute has increased to level 15 (0% total progress to level 16)

Your total mana has increased

You have spent 4 Perk Points (Current Number of Perk Points: 0)

I felt somewhat rejuvenated which meant that it was a good choice. Still… two more casts of the Gust of Wind and I was out of mana. The ground was getting close, and I still felt I was going too fast. So I launched another Gust of Wind. It felt like both my body and brain were going to explode due to this.

Almost… there… Just… one… more…

Suddenly I heard a giddy female voice in my head and the time visibly slowed down again.

‘If you swear yourself to me, I will help you survive.’

Who… are… you…

‘Is it really that important to you right now? Yes or no. You are running out of time.’

I sighed internally.

Yes, I thought, praying I wasn’t making some horrible mistake.

‘Great. I’m sure we’re both going to enjoy this. Still, I can help you channel more mana. You still will only get one shot at this. So make it a good one.’

With the rest of my strength, I’ve decided to try the Fist of Wind, but, rather than use only one of my hands, I pointed both towards the ground and channelled the spell. It felt as if my entire body was on fire, as more mana than I could have imagined went through it and what seemed to be a small tornado blew out of my hands. The last thing I heard before losing consciousness from the strain and G-Forces was the same female voice say:

‘Good choice. I’ll…’

I never heard the rest of it.