Brian’s giant club swung in an uppercut into the Forest Drake’s head, snapping it backwards. The creature roared, the lower jaw jammed into the upper. It had been about to use its breath attack, the swing stopping it. The beast hopped back a couple feet, shaking its head. Brian didn’t give it a chance to recover. A vicious sideswing slammed into the head, bones breaking. The head dropped to the ground, the body following, as the creature died.

The twins, Brent and Trent, were moving around another Forest Drake. One would stab with his spear. When the Drake turned to snap, the other would move and attack. The creature was unable to attack or defend, constantly moving between the two. It was growing frustrated, making mistakes, which the twins were taking advantage of. The two moved without talking, knowing when the other was going to attack and which way the other would dodge.

Loch watched the battle from the edge, Breaker’s Banner active behind him, casting the entire cavern in a green tint. It was a large cavern, the sides covered in moss, vines hanging down from the ceiling above. Unlike most dungeon caverns he’d been in, which were cool, this one was hot like a jungle. Flowers grew from the moss, pools of water dotting the grassy floor.

The new Dungeon was called The Mossy Caves. It had been found a couple days ago by one of the hunting teams, only a day from the school just past Northwood Meadows. A cave entrance had appeared on the side of a hill, just off the road. The hunter had investigated and found the first monster in the entrance to be stronger than they were, at least Level Twelve. They’d quickly left, running back to the Clanhold to report.

With wanting everyone to get stronger before the clash with the giants, Loch had it would be worth taking some of his people through it. They were the highest Leveled, so if the Dungeon was dangerous, they would be the ones better suited to survive. And it could make good training and experience. They’d gotten a couple of Objectives, the whole Dungeon seeming pretty straightforward. Kill 40 Forest Drakes. Find and defeat the Tamer.

The story that went with the Dungeon, and Loch was still not used to Dungeons having stories or themes, was that the Tamer had found this cavern of Forest Drakes, and other creatures, creating a plan to raise an army to attack with. Attack who, Loch wasn’t sure, but assumed the idea would be those outside the Dungeon. Not that those inside could get out.

As a gamer he could appreciate the Dungeon stories. But in real life, he found them useless. The Objectives were nice for extra experience but that was all the benefit they had.

Elora dashed forward, sliding under the attack of a Forest Drake, slashing with her blade. It speared into the creature’s long neck, blood trailing as she pulled it out. Grabbing onto one of the spiked legs, she swung onto the Drake’s back, stabbing down with her sword.

Loch turned as one of the twins yelped in pain. Trent, or was it Brent, stepped back with blood leaking down his arm. The other twin increased their attacks, drawing the Drake away from their wounded brother. A blue light enveloped the wounded twin, healing the arm. With a wave toward Julia, standing a few feet away from Loch, he went back to the attack.

A black something fought against the last of the cavern’s Forest Drakes. Loch couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be, or had been. Piper had been experimenting with different things in her sketchbook, trying to find different ways to use her powers. She was tired of just summoning ink versions of animals. The wall she had made in the gaunt siege had been a huge help and she wanted to do more of that. Cerie had said her Class should have some versitiliaty to it. Loch had given her the okay to experiment in the Dungeon. The latest inksummon was less detailed but seemed to have more functionality. It wrapped around the Forest Drake, covering the creature. The long neck turned snapping at the black material. It pulled away from the body, snapping back like rubber. The Drake tried breathing its noxious gas attack, but it did nothing against the inksummon.

The Forest Drakes were long and skinny. No wings, their bodies were only a couple feet wide, but almost fifteen feet long with a tail that was almost as long. The tail kept whipping back and forth, but the Drake was unable to bring it forward to attack, which Loch thought odd. Why couldn’t it attack with the tail? It didn’t look like the tail was needed for balance. The six legs were short, bent almost ninety degrees off the side of the body, with long claws that dug into the grass, helping the things move. They were very fast. The head was at the end of a long neck, that could bend almost across the back of its own body. Sharp teeth, long front fangs, came from the thin snout, with two red eyes in a low head. No horns. The things were just long and sleek.

And fast.

Loch tensed as the Drake got tired of pulling at the ink, the neck springing the head quickly toward Piper. A blast from her wand caught it under the jaw, snapping it back. The monster growled, starting to run forward but the inksummon squeezed. The monster yelped in surprise and pain, turning back to snap at the inksummon again.

Relaxing Loch kept an eye on the far tunnel, the exit from the cavern, making sure no reinforcements arrived. They were making good progress through the dungeon, even without Loch helping. He wanted to get some more experience, he could feel how close he was getting to Level Twenty-Seven. Killing Hoskia had pushed him most the way through Level Twenty-Six. He wanted that last bit but this Dungeon run was about getting the others more experience. And for Loch to work on Breaker’s Banner.

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Since stepping foot in the Dungeon, Loch had kept Aura Of Attack and Breaker’s Banner constantly Active. It was draining even his eye Spirit Reserves, but it helped the others and helped him gain in strength in both. Both gaining in Rank would help his people when they attacked the giants.

He still wanted to fight one of the Drakes.

Piper created another Inksummon. Instead of being something almost alive, or at least capable of action, the new summon was long and skinny, and something she held. Piper had created a spear. The tip dipped as she adjusted her grip on the weapon. She said something to Cerie, the fairy hovering just over her shoulder, but was too far away for Loch to hear. The spear was about eight feet long and skinny, tapering to a point. It was really more of a sharpened stick.

The first inksummon spread out across the Drake’s body and onto the ground. Pulling at the summon, the Drake tried to move but couldn’t. The inkcreature was anchoring it to the ground. Piper moved to the side, watching the head that kept snapping at the inksummon. Holding the spear, the tip raised, she charged. The inkspear stabbed into the Drake’s neck, just below the head. Ink and blood erupted from the impact point. The weapon fell apart, the ink dripping to the ground where it disappeared. Piper jumped back, drawing her wand as the Drake’s head twisted at the end of the neck. Blood dripped from the wound.

Loch took a couple steps closer, summoning Onyx. He was pretty sure he could throw the weapon and decapitate the Drake before it attacked. A Windstep would get him there with Bulwark if needed. But he didn’t need to do anything. Piper summoned a shield. It was large and thick looking, but she held it easily. A tower shield, a rectangle with the ends curving back a little. Piper hid behind it as the Drake’s head slammed into the ink. Little drops split off, but the inkshield held. The head reared back, ready to attack again. Piper summoned another inkcreature.

A large jet black cat appeared, immediately jumping at the Forest Drake. It tore at the monster, having a hard time at first as the Drake was so thin, but the inkcat figured it out. More an inkpanther, Loch thought, watching the thing. He had to resist the urge to jump in and help Piper out.

She wouldn’t forgive him. He knew she was experimenting, trying to develop her Abilities in new ways. Unlike most Classes, she only had one Ability. Inksummoning. All she could do was related to that. It was time she learned the extents of the Classes capabilities.

Loch just hated that she had to put herself in danger to grow her Class.

The solid wall she had made during the gaunt siege had given her ideas. All her summons acted like what she had drawn. They had substance, even the wall. It had acted like a wall. So why couldn’t she make armor out of ink?

It had taken Piper some time to get to the point of making an actual shield. It wasn’t the same as just drawing the image and hoping it would work. Drawing a fire breathing dragon and making an ink version was easy. If she drew it breathing fire, it would do so. But how to draw something protecting from attacks?

The wall had been easy. It was a wall. Drawing a wall created the wall, and if it was drawn to be made of stone, it would be made of stone and that inksummon would have the properties of a stone wall.

With how busy they’d all been since the gaunt siege, Piper couldn’t find the time to really work out the problem. Cerie could only do so much, as Piper’s Class was unheard of in the data of the Silver Bark. She had combed that data, finding everything she could on Summoners and other relevant Classes, taking that information and trying to find something that Piper could use. Summoners were rare in the Silver Bark.

The shield she hid behind had not been her first attempt. Loch and Kelly, had drawn the line at Piper’s trying it in a Dungeon or against a monster. She had sparred with lower Leveled members of the Clan first, working on the shield until she got the final version.

And it was working.

Loch could see Piper’s huge smile behind the shield. It had worked. He smiled too, watching Piper unsummon the shield. It lost detail, the edges turning to liquid and dropping to the ground where it puddled before disappearing.

She took a couple steps back and to the side, watching as the inkpanther fought against the snapping and whipping head of the Forest Drake. Holding out her hand, Piper created a crossbow made out of ink. It was small, sized for her.

Taking aim, an arrow shot out, striking the Forest Drake in the shoulder. It roared, head turning toward her, giving the inkpanther an opening. It tore the Drake’s throat to pieces, blood and scales falling to the ground. The head at the end of the long neck hung limp, the whole thing dropping to the ground.

Multi-colored sparks of energy danced up from the body, twirling around and streaking into Piper as she dismissed her inksummons. Smiling, she took a step toward Loch but stumbled. She recovered quickly.

“That took a bit out of me,” she said. “Don’t usually do that many summons in a row.”

“That was spectacular honey,” Loch said. “Really proud of you.”

“Thanks dad,” she said, smiling as she pulled open the Spatial Bag, collecting the loot.