Lucius swiped from range. A discharge of ether released from his claws. A projectile shot out.

The charging fangling stopped in place. Five claw marks slashed deep into its exoskeleton. The monster fell.

Vivi blinked. The fangling had been ten feet away from Lucius when the blow landed. The claws hadn’t even been close to hitting. Yet, the fangling had died. Lucius’s claws had gained range.

“My evolved form,” Lucius said, taking a proud pose. “It still takes a lot of ether and effort to charge up, but it’s powerful. I can one-shot fanglings with a clean hit. The claws will evolve again at around a thousand ether.”

A thousand ether. Vivi couldn’t believe they were speaking about such insane numbers. She was already past the three hundred ether limit. The Stewards would punish her if they found out.

“That’s powerful,” Vivi admitted. “I think your claws have outranked my sword.”

Lucius grinned from the compliment. “That’s enough proof that we’ll survive deeper, no? We’re growing strong.”

“I’m not saying we’ll die,” Vivi said. “But we’ve been fighting for hours. I kind of want to rest.”

“Ah, human issues,” Lucius said. He crossed his paws. “Listen, Vivi. How long do you think dungeon runs usually last for?”

Vivi didn’t respond. She mentally prepared for another lecture.

“Days. Weeks. Sometimes months. We’ve spent mere hours. You’re still standing with energy to spare. With each kill, our ether reserves grow. How will we ever survive in Zand if we don’t go all out?”

“I’m just trying to be cautious,” Vivi said. “It’s better to kill monsters off of the perimeters before rushing straight into the monsters’ lair. We should set up camp where monsters don’t surround us and constantly attack us while we sleep.”

“Monsters don’t know what sleep is,” Lucius said. “They aren’t smart enough to gather forces while you sleep. If monsters do attack, they’ll do so in uncoordinated charges, just like they have been doing so far. If an ether hunter must rest, they do so in the heart of danger, sleeping where monsters most commonly attack. Because that way, the defense force can gather the most ether while their comrades sleep.”

“And who will protect us while we sleep?” Vivi asked.

“I will,” Lucius said. “I’ll slash away the monsters before they can touch you. Just like this.”

He charged another attack, ether welling up in his claws. Then, he released the swipe at the tunnel leading downward.

A fangling charged in at the exact moment. Its head was immediately crushed by Lucius’s claws.

“See?” Lucius asked. He collected the ten ether from the monster’s corpse.

Vivi stared at him. “You plan on using me as bait right in the middle of a fangling lair so that you can gather ether from the monsters that try to kill me in my sleep?”

“Yes,” Lucius said. “I used to use a similar trick with my old wielder.”

Vivi rolled her eyes. She could already imagine the nightmares she’d see, sleeping in this damned place. And those nightmares would all be real.

But if Lucius could truly protect her in her sleep, the night would grant them a load of ether. Their current pace was already fast—they’d gained over fifty ether each hour. Deeper, they could easily double, if not triple that. At the cost of risking their lives.

“I don’t know if I can follow your idea for sleeping,” Vivi said. “But you’re right. We’ll need to head deeper. We’re further away from the blue-cloaks deeper in the dungeon.”

Lucius grinned. He flew back into Vivi’s core and said, “You’ll need to learn how to use the ranged claws. For the next fangling, I will leave the job entirely to you.”

You mean, you won’t protect me from attacks?

“Protecting you will be inconvenient,” Lucius said. “I’ll need to focus on strengthening our offense.”

A fangling could be heard from down below. Their light footsteps sounded like brushes tapping on dirt.

Her nails turned to claws. Ether welled up in her fingers in the form of pure power. The sensation was similar to her hand burning. Concentrated ether had pressure, too. The ether in Vivi’s hand wished to be released. The claws glowed red.

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The fangling showed itself. “Go!” Lucius ordered.

Vivi swiped at the fangling from range. Ether blasted with force, freeing her hand from the pressure. The ranged claws wielded more weight than a sword swing from a practiced guardsman.

The fangling’s left arm fell off, slashed in half. Vivi had missed the rest of her target.

“Block!” Lucius shouted.

The fangling counter-attacked with its remaining arm. Vivi panicked, but managed to meet its claws with her sword.

Again, ether welled up in her left hand. Loading up an attack took around two seconds.

Two seconds was a lot in the middle of combat. The fangling attacked Vivi with its venomous fangs.

Vivi released her attack, the discharge of ether cutting open the fangling before its attack could connect. The monster was ripped into pieces as Lucius’s claws cut through.

“Jeez,” Lucius said. “You scare me, Vivi. Did you really just miss?”

Vivi stared at the corpse. She pushed herself up. That was close. The venomouis fangs had been inches from killing her. Again. Uh, sorry…

Lucius let out a sigh. “You’re slowly turning into a fighter, but we’ll need a lot more practice. And ether. Practice and ether, Vivi. Let’s go.”

***

By “practice,” Lucius meant descending deeper into the dungeon to fight harder monsters.

The fangling lair awaited below. Their territory was marked with silk-like web. The web was subtle at first, thin strings lining the ceiling. Deeper down, the infestation of webs grew worse, until entire rooms were covered in web.

Vivi hadn’t expected the fanglings to be the type of monster to use webs. However, she quickly understood why webs were an optimal fighting ground for the creatures.

A fangling’s limbs didn’t stick to their own webs, of course, but the real advantages came from the fanglings’ maneuverability and agility. Their nimbleness almost made it look like they could pass through webs. Their turf was like an obstacle course they could pass through with perfect agility, while any invaders would be stuck in sticky web.

Luckily, Lucius’s evolved claws were a perfect counter to the webs. One swipe could cut through a cluster of webs without an issue. The evolved claws were incredibly powerful, and they were gaining sharpness with each monster Vivi killed. The claws took less and less time to charge.

Still, each swing exhausted a lot of Lucius’s ether. A fully charged attack exhausted over twenty wisps that wouldn’t be recovered before tomorrow. Killing monsters regained that ether, of course, but Vivi couldn’t use the claws nonchalantly. She fought with her sword first, using the claws only when she absolutely had to, or when she could secure multiple kills with one swipe.

Monsters were more common, but not impossibly so. At most, Vivi had to fight five or six fanglings at the same time. Killing them wasn’t too difficult with the help of the evolved claws. Lucius's reserves grew to 500, and quickly to 600 from there. Double the allowed limit.

Isn’t it a bit quiet here? Vivi thought. We’re deep into their territory, but they’re barely defending?

“Fanglings are still ether-reanimated monsters,” Lucius said. “They’re not coordinated. A queen’s or a boss’s command can taunt them, calling many into a reckless charge. The little critters only sense action happening a few caverns away.”

Makes sense… Vivi thought.

Despite Lucius’s words, Vivi approached the web-covered caverns carefully. She spent minutes clearing every nook and cranny, making sure they couldn’t get surrounded.

As the web clusters grew thicker still, Vivi entered a larger chamber. She stepped in cautiously, expecting an ambush to come. The room seemed quiet.

She squinted, spotting something at the back of the cave. A dark looming figure, standing perfectly still, blocking the path down. Its details were hard to make out, but its shadow covered most of the room. It must have been twice Vivi’s height.

Lucius? Vivi asked. What’s that?

“Looks like a fang tanker,” Lucius said. “It’s sleeping. That’s good. We’ll have to try a different path.”

You don’t want to charge in and fight it?

Lucius considered his words for a moment. “If we hit it, it will become active. There’s other prey we should hunt before this one.”

Vivi raised her eyebrows. Lucius hadn’t once backed out from a fight yet, with the exception of the shaman boss on the fourth level. If Lucius said something was too difficult, Vivi didn’t need to argue twice. Is that the boss? she asked.

“A floor boss, perhaps,” Lucius said. “Leave this room, Vivi. We’re not ready to mess with that one yet. Let’s not activate it.”

Vivi nodded. She turned around, ready to leave.

Suddenly, an elite fangling screeched from nowhere, dashing for her from deeper within the room.

In a panic, Vivi turned around and threw a claw-swipe at the monster. She hit the fangling, cutting it in half.

The ranged claws passed through the fangling, cutting webs along the way. The claws eventually landed on the tanker’s exo-skeleton.