Remicra surveyed the group assembled before her, her dragon tail flicking with slight irritation.

Her eyes scanned Dave, who held an arbalest, clad in sturdy bakelite armor and camouflaged with various foliage. Then she examined Svenn who was commanding a small division of ten elkin, all adorned in bakelite plate armor and armed with magisteel-tipped spears.

With a look of mild disapproval, she turned her attention to Cedez, who seemed content with basic leather armor.

As her gaze shifted beyond the group, she beheld islands shrouded in mist, their peaks poking through the cloudy veil. The air was thick with the scent of bamboo, their towering stalks swaying in the wind, creating an ethereal atmosphere across the vast chasm made centuries ago by a spell of some archmage who failed to bring down Shandria.

As she looked beyond the group, Remicra's mind drifted to the chasm that lay before them. It was a place she had frequented in the past, before she was bound fully to the lighthouse smithy. Memories of the treacherous, albeit fun descent within flashed through her mind, making her heart pulse quicker.

"So, who exactly are we hunting?" Dave asked curiously.

Remicra's eyes focused on her companion, her metal-gloved fingers flexing. With a swift motion, she pulled out a massive magisteel sword from her back. As she expertly swung it through the air, the sword emitted a resonating hum.

"Stripe-worms," she replied. "They are normally peaceful herbivores, feeding on bamboo. However, if their territory is encroached on, they get miffy and tend to bite."

A mischievous smile played on Cedez's face as she swished her tail, taking a step closer to Dave than Remicra deemed necessary.

"And why are you here?” The dragoness addressed the fox.

"Oh? Am I not allowed to join this adventure?" Cedez responded slyly.

Remicra's gaze locked with Cedez's. "You don't even have a weapon," she pointed out, her tone laced with annoyance.

Cedez rolled her eyes, dismissing Remicra's concern. "Don't need one," she retorted.

“Are you going to get in the way then?” Remicra asked.

“I’ve got a pretty good mouth on me,” Cedez shot back. “I bet I can subjugate more of these worms than you with your big, shiny sword, darling.”

“As if,” Remicra huffed. “Charming the stripe-worms with charisma bullshit won’t work, they don’t have ears.”

“Charisma is more than words, Remy,” Cedez rolled her eyes. “It’s resonance magic, vibration, touch… besides I’m a pretty good Shadow mage too with two years experience under my belt.”

“Shadows?” Remicra raised an eyebrow.

“I can make a shadow blade sharper than your magisteel one,” Cedez nodded. “Why don’t we make it a fun game? Whoever can cut down more worms gets a kiss from Dave.”

“What?” Remicra’s eye twitched.

“What?” Cedez grinned. She leaned against a bamboo stalk, arms folded across her chest, her confident grin never wavering. “Afraid to lose?”

“Lose? To a scrawny fox?” Remicra bristled. “I think not.”

Gripping her magisteel sword tightly, she clenched her jaw, shooting an irate glance at Dave, mentally demanding him to reject the ridiculous game premise.

Dave, for this part, didn’t say anything. Caught in the crossfire of the two women's challenging gazes, his mind racing to process the sudden turn of events. He looked at Svenn, hoping for some form of rescue, but the elkin merely shrugged, a smirk playing on his ten undead lips.

"Alright, Cedez," Remicra declared, breaking the silence. "Prepare to lose. Don’t come crying to me if you get bit in half by a stripe-worm."

Cedez pushed off the bamboo stalk, her tail swishing. "We'll see about that, love."

The group moved down the slope, treading lightly among the fallen bamboo leaves. It wasn't long before they encountered their first stripe-worm. The creature had a large, long serpentine body covered in black and white stripes, twisting and writhing around the bamboo stalks.

With a screech, it suddenly leapt at Remicra, its leech-like mouth open wide. The stripe-worm aimed to bite the dragoness’ head off, but Remicra was quicker. She swung her sword, splitting it in two with a detonation of violet blood.

"One," she announced proudly, sparing Cedez a pitiful glance.

Cedez walked confidently to the front, facing the bamboo forest ahead. She pulled her leather gloves off and sang a deep, long, resonant note.

Several worms emerged out of the forest, one after the other, heading towards Cedez. The dark foxgirl raised both of her hands into the air, tracing a line between them.

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The pyramidal gemstone on her neck ignited with a cerulean pulse. A hundred other blue gems momentarily flashed all around her, sparkling with radiant flashes of magic through her armor and between her fur.

A blade of pure void, similar to the sword-claws of the shadow kitten manifested in the air. It flashed forward, cutting through the worms, rocks and bamboo alike, cleaving everything in its path in twain.

Dave’s mouth fell open as the blade of darkness decimated everything in its path and kept going.

A single worm had avoided its doom and rushed towards Cedez.

Instead of fighting or running, Cedez swung around and simply hugged the worm, wrapping her dark hands around its body. The worm’s entire frame trembled as the absolute charisma pulse went through its nerves. It collapsed on the ground, flailing weakly.

As Dave wondered what sort of a future the worm saw, Cedez pulled a small knife blade out of nowhere and struck it in the head.

“Nine,” she shot a wink at Remicra as the stripe-worm beneath her stilled.

The dragoness momentarily stood frozen, her grip tightening around the magisteel sword. Indignation and disbelief coursed through her veins, but she wasn't ready to back down.

With a huff, Remicra sprang into action, her magisteel sword gleaming under the sunlight. She rushed through bamboo stalks with ease, her movements swift and precise, her blade thrumming. Before long, she had taken down another three stripe-worms, bringing her total to four.

As the group went deeper into the forest, worms encroached at them from all sides and Dave had to resort to using his arbalest, while Svenn pierced the beasts with pikes. Cedez mostly stuck close to Svenn and Dave, conserving her magic. It seemed that while her all-cutting blade was incredibly potent, she couldn’t constantly keep firing it off into the forest.

. . .

Dave paused as his arbalest struck through the head of another worm. He felt a rush of sparks running through his sweaty, tired body. The hunt with his companions at his side had been exhausting, albeit fun.

“What was that?” He blinked.

"Your Phantomancy is now level six," Archmage Alaster commented with the hum of deep tunnels. “Your soul has absorbed the spilling life of the beasts and grown stronger.”

“Ah,” Dave nodded.

“Hey Svenn, what level are you?” he asked curiously in a break between fighting.

“Fourteen,” the nearest elkin answered.

“Damn,” Dave whistled.

“I have killed many to survive the trials set by the fat bastard in the coliseum of bone and brought some beasts the wilds after,” the elkin shrugged. “Taking life makes one stronger.”

A rather large family of worms distracted them, emerging from the holes in the ground and nipping at their heels. A particularly massive worm burst from the underbrush. Using its thick tail as a blunt weapon it managed to knock down half of the group. Cedez grabbed at it with her hands, but the beast did not stop, simply knocking her away.

Remicra’s magisteel sword cleaved it in half, but the top half of the creature kept moving with the power of a freight train. It slammed at Remicra knocking her sword right out of her hands, its monstrous teeth scraping against armor. Dave shot a bolt at the monster, but the arrow didn’t seem to stop it. Ten pikes pierced it, but the worm kept trying to gnaw the dragoness.

Remicra growled, magisteel gloves slamming again and again into the thing’s head, leaving deeper and deeper dents. In a few minutes of dangerous contest between giant worm and armored dragoness, the worm finally stopped thrashing.

The dragoness stood in the bamboo clearing made by the worm’s trashing, panting and covered in violet blood of the creature.

“Damn,” Dave whistled, getting up and looking over the long corpse.

“That was… a brood-mother,” Remicra commented as she retrieved her sword, her hands visibly shaking. “I… think that’s enough for today.”

“Indeed,” Cedez said, emerging from behind a mossy rock. “That thing was huge. You’re one tough cookie. Sixty eight to forty three, not bad. If we’re done, then I win, hrmmm?”

She sauntered over to Dave, clearly intent on claiming her prize, pulling her leather gloves back on.

“I don’t think so,” Remicra sliced the brood worm’s thick body. Hundreds of eggs poured out of it. The hatchlings hissed as they perished when Remicra slashed the numerous egg sacks with her sword.

“Boo, not fair,” Cedez huffed as she rotated to discover what Remicra was doing, letting go of Dave.

One of Svenn’s bodies bent down to pick up an egg cocoon. The elkin’s glassy, dead eyes stared at the switching striped worm inside the egg.

“Think you could infect it?” Dave asked. “It’s pretty young and small.”

“Perhaps,” Svenn shrugged. “I just went up a level, so it should be possible for me to take on another minute body.”

“A few smaller creatures would be handy to have instead of another single humanoid body,” Dave nodded. “The worm could make a pretty handy burrowing scout and a metal bug could scout the air for us.”

“Now that’s an excellent idea, Sir Dave,” Svenn smiled.

Remicra stepped closer to Dave, sheathing her oversized sword. It didn’t seem like she was capable of making public displays of affection, especially not covered head to toe in worm brain-matter.

“I’m going to need a bath,” she exhaled after a deep pause.

“That was fun,” Dave quipped. “Thanks for bringing us here.”

“Yeah,” the dragoness nodded. “See, we can all level up without you losing your mind to dungeon cores.”

“It’s still too slow,” Dave sighed, pulling his Bakelite helmet off to have a drink of water from a leather wineskin pouch. “The Dragon Emperor summons millions, constantly increasing his army while we fight a few worms.”

“I’ll claim the crown… soon, perhaps in a day or two,” Cedez said, momentarily burying her face in Dave’s neck. “I… I think… I’m ready. Taking the city is our best chance to survive the coming future.”

“Can’t wait to be the Queen of Shandria, hrmm?” Remicra glared at the foxgirl.

“Not really,” Cedez said.

“Why not?” Dave asked. “Is the procedure not straightforward?”

“Nah,” Cedez shook her head, looking sullen. “Empress Nox designed the Crown Tower to be impregnable to all but herself. There are tests designed to break what I am, to awaken what she is. I’m worried…”

“About?” Dave pressed as the foxgirl fell silent.

“Worried that I’ll lose myself at the trial of the Tower,” Cedez shuddered. “Worried that I’ll remember what kind of a monster I really am.”

“You’re already her freaking Divine Shadow at night,” Remicra said. “How much worse could it be?”

“Unimaginably worse,” Cedez said, her eyes distant. “Empress Nox clawed her way to power at a great cost, drowning herself in the blood of both her enemies and her followers. From what I recall, the Tower Arcane Crown trials were designed to fully make me into her. Seventeen years ago, my first reincarnation, Nilix Astrix went into the tower. She really did not enjoy her ascent… it changed who she was, made her more powerful but also more foolish, more careless, a pinch insane as she lost her companions one by one.”

“We’ll be at your side every step of the way,” Dave offered. “You won’t be alone.”

“Indeed,” Svenn nodded with ten heads.

Remicra offered a small nod for her part.

“Thank you,” Cedez whispered softly. “I’m… really glad to have some real friends this time around.”