“Now the biggest thing you’re gonna wanna be watching out for is the rats.” The guildsmaster was all smiles once Zoe showed up with the appropriate legal documents. Not literally—his lifeless expression was closer to a perpetual frown, if anything. The point was that he went from insurmountably stubborn to more than willing. “The tunneler rats aren’t much of a problem on their own—they can still make you bleed, though, mind you. But they get real dangerous when you have a lot of them.”

  Zoe wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying. She was busy fiddling with the mechanical bits and bobs of the elevator-thing that would descend into the mine. The contraption was an open platform, with a grated metal floor and only four low railings for safety. It was more rust than metal by volume, though, and Zoe couldn’t figure out what the controls she was poking at were supposed to do.

  The old man slapped her hand away. “Ow!” Cradling the abused appendage, Zoe shot the cranky geezer a glare. She still didn’t know his name—everyone called him ‘the Guildsmaster’ or ‘Old Thunder.’ “That hurt!”

  “Bah. You’re a healer, girl. Don’t give me that. Besides.” He made a meaningful glance toward the earthen darkness below. “You’ll likely find worse things than a washed up adventurer down there.”

  Point taken. “So what now? We just ride it down to the bottom?” Zoe didn’t see how that was going to happen. It was already a minor miracle that the lift was still standing. Actually operating it wouldn’t take a miracle—it would take a divine intervention—and a sacrificial goat to be sure.

  “We? No, I don’t think so. You ride it down to the bottom. I’d rather not see you get mangled. The echo down there is strong enough I ought to be able to get by on just the screams.”

  That’s lovely. “Then let’s get on with it. I’ve waited a long time for this, you know.”

  The old man stepped off the platform without another word. Grabbing a big metal lever, he braced his feet against the ground and heaved. The squealing, ripping sound it made did little to increase Zoe’s confidence in the machinery. “What now?” Zoe pointed at the rust-caked controls on the platform itself. “Do I have to mess with any of these?”

  “Touch any of those and I’ll fry you.” Releasing the lever, the lightning elementalist walked over to the other side of the entrance and placed both hands on a set of metal rods. Sparks snapped at his fingertips as he activated a skill and the sudden current burned through the accumulated dirt and rust. So that’s how he powers it, Zoe mused. Then the floor fell out.

  The fall lasted for about two seconds. She then slammed back onto the platform as it ground to a sudden, shuddering halt. From there, the descent was both slower and more consistent—if not exactly smooth.

  This better be worth it. Zoe was going to be pissed if she went through all of this, only to get stuck spelunking for a few hours without encountering monsters or treasure. I need worthy opponents.

  “I feel like you should also be pissed if we encounter something really strong and get horribly maimed. That could happen too, you know.”

  It was only fitting that Lilith chose this moment to resume an active role in Zoe’s consciousness. The pesky parasite had been quiet for weeks, and it was becoming annoying.

  “I distinctly recall you saying I’m annoying when I do talk, so I’m not sure what you want from me. Also, if you think I’m annoying, that means you think you’re annoying, because I am you and you are—“

  “Yes, I know the phrase,” Zoe growled. The platform shuddered to a stop, and Zoe’s improved night vision as a demon revealed they’d reached the bottom—as opposed to some unintended stopping point. “If you want to be useful, tell me what you know about these tunneler rats.”

  While Zoe got the feeling the Guildsmaster was mostly doing his best to spook her, she wasn’t going to be a total idiot and disregard his one substantive warning. Of all the kinds of advice you could ignore, ‘don’t underestimate this’ would be one of the worst—and also the most ironic.

  “I dunno, but I would expect them to be a rodent type monster with an evolution focused on living underground and digging through stone.”

  Stepping off the platform, Zoe scanned her surroundings for immediate danger. Once she was far enough that she couldn’t see the opening at the top of the shaft, she stopped. So a ‘tunnel rat’ is a rodent that lives underground and digs? Huh. That’s very helpful, thanks. It certainly wasn’t obvious and there’s no way I could have figure it out. Not caring for a response, Zoe double checked that she was out of view, then activated one of her newest skills.

  Hellfire Blast!

  By ‘new,’ she meant three weeks old. Zoe obtained most of her current skills within the first week of being in this world.

  The blast of unruly, crimson magic revealed the extend of the current cave area in spooky red tones. Streaking through the air at a pace that was both fast and still possible to track, it traveled a few tens of meters before splashing over a cluster of stalagmites. The far wall wasn’t much further.

  While the altered biology that came with Zoe’s new nature as a demon came with greatly improved low-light vision, her eyes did still use light. Better sensitivity and adjustment speed in the dark didn’t make extra illumination useless.

  It didn’t look like there was anything of note in this area. That didn’t mean there wasn’t—and Zoe would still take a minute or so to go through and check. But this first expanse looked to be devoid of monsters as well as anything else unique or valuable.

  As Zoe moved forward, the magic levels her antennae picked up were only a moderate amount higher than the norm. That being said, they also indicated a sharp increase in both strength and variety wafting up from the crude tunnel straight ahead.

  If Zoe’s level and skills had lagged a bit since she arrived in Blossomfell, one thing that hadn’t was her skill and instinct with using her ‘arcane antennae.’ One of the more useful traits from her demonic transformation, they looked and felt like the typical demonic horns. In fact, that’s what Zoe assumed at first. As it turned out, they were functionally more akin to insectoid antennae—except they sensed magic rather than chemicals. The horn-like appearance was a of from the tough, hard, outer protective layer.

  The effect of shifting to look fully human with her lesser disguise skill hampered their ability somewhat, though, and that was one of the things Zoe trained nearly constantly during her stay here so far. According to Lilith, interpreting and relying on the feedback from her antennae was natural instinct for most demons. For Zoe, it was something that she needed to learn deliberately, since she’d grown up as an ordinary human.

  Zoe stopped upon reaching the end of the downward sloping tunnel. She was no longer alone—and she didn’t need her new sixth sense or any kind of skill to realize that. It was hard to ignore the upright human skeletons shuffling around under their own power.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Since this mine was just a mana rich hole in the ground and not a real dungeon, Zoe doubted the skeletons had just spawned in like videogame enemies. A real dungeon was a place where the labyrinthine and planet-spanning underworld rose up to breach the surface. This place, meanwhile, was no different from an abandoned mine back on earth—except that the bats and other critters could mutate into magic-wielding monsters.

  The skeletons themselves wore an assortment of old work clothes and mining gear. Zoe was no expert in mining, but it didn’t take a genius to recognize mining helmets and pickaxes. The one thing that marked them as magical in nature—aside from walking around while dead—were the eerie, teal flames flickering within their rib cages and licking up into their skulls. That must be the magic animating them. Or maybe its their souls.

  Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural. The flames were too quiet, too dim, and somehow wrong in their movement. It’s like fire in slow motion, Zoe realized. One of the skeletons took notice of her. It raised its pickaxe and charged.

  Perhaps Zoe should have felt alarm, but the sight of a glowing green skeleton waddling towards her like an angry security guard made her laugh. The creature was far from agile.

  “Careful, though. That pick is still sharp enough to carve through our skull.”

  Zoe scoffed. “I doubt that will be an issue when I’ve already survived one decapitation.”

  But the skeleton was almost upon her. Dropping the banter, Zoe ducked, darted around the shambling monster, and swung out with her leg. The skeleton stumbled, but Zoe didn’t come out unscathed. The mass of bones was far heavier than it had any right to be. She should have swept the skeleton clean off its feet, yet it was able to right itself, and her shin felt bruised.

  Zoe hurried to get some distance and glared at it. “How the hell did you get that solid? Dairy-based combat enhancers?”

  Not being much of a conversation partner, the skeleton elected to swing its pick from the side this time. It would have gored her through the kidney if she stayed still, but Zoe wasn’t that oblivious. Deciding to take a gamble, she stepped forward instead of back, planted herself, and braced to catch the weapon by the handle.

  “Damn!” It worked, but she felt her arms shudder. Zoe’s 233 points in Power felt like they should put her near or even above the upper range of mundane human strength—and that was with her slender frame and utter lack of technique. And while she’d caught the handle and held her ground, she was really leaning into it.

  The good news? The skeleton had now lost its weapon. Or so I thought. Please let go already. Their dance macabre had degenerated from an elegant waltz to a petulant tug-of-war game. The skeleton couldn’t overpower Zoe—if anything, she was the stronger one. But she wasn’t strong enough to yank it free, or perhaps the skeleton just had too good a grip. It seemed they had reached an impasse.

  But unlike Zoe, the skeleton wasn’t alone.

  “I’d pay more attention to our surroundings,” Lilith remarked as Zoe released the pick just in time to avoid a shovel to the head. Skeleton Two snuck up behind her, getting close enough to attack before Zoe’s antennae alerted her to it.

  That left Skeleton One free to use its pick again, and Skeleton Three hadn’t been sitting around—it was closing in too, and it dual wielded a pair of wrenches. Skeleton Four, however, was content to sit around, having yet to take a break from picking up rocks and throwing them down a hole.

  Which was good, but there were still three others surrounding Zoe, and they continued to press closer. “Big mistake, bone boys. Everyone knows clustering up makes it easy to use the AoE.”

  Hellfire Eruption!

  Angry red embers exploded from Zoe’s body like with billowing crimson flames trailing behind them. Within a second, scorching ash engulfed the air and ground within a sphere a few meters wide. The force of the magical blast pushed the skeletons away, and Zoe took the chance to escape.

  Hellfire Eruption has reached level 2!

  The monsters weren’t finished yet—but it wouldn’t be much longer. They were on fire, after all.

  Zoe didn’t understand how old bones could actively burn, but burn they did. The dim, cool, sedate glow of the strange magic animating the skeletons had erupted into a raging crimson inferno. Yellowed bones turned black, then turned to pale ash. They stumbled for a second or two, but then one by one her three assailants collapsed even as they continued to disintegrate. Even once the hellfire had consumed the bones utterly, three ruby flames remained in midair, containing the final desperate struggle of whatever invisible fuel burned within.

  You have leveled up! You are now level 31.

  +15 stat points

  +3% core progression

  “Ashes to ashes, huh?” Zoe eyed the thin layer of ash strewn about the cave. “Turns out fire really is effective against undead, I guess.” They weren’t just burnt to a crisp—the crisp was burnt too.

  “That’s generally true,” Lilith said as she popped into existence besides Zoe. Well, the apparition wasn’t really there. She was, as far as Zoe could tell, an involuntary projection of her imagination. “But also, hellfire is generally effective against most things. It was pretty cool getting to see it visibly consume their souls.”

  Zoe was midway through raising her hand to blast the remaining skeleton when she paused. Wait. What? “Wait, hold up. Burn their souls?” Lilith nodded. Zoe eyed Skeleton Four, who was still tossing the remaining rocks down the hole, either oblivious or uncaring to the fate of its fellows. “Is that teal fire their spirit, then?”

  “Yes, it is,” Lilith confirmed. “Or something like it, at least.”

  Zoe nodded. She wasn’t surprised, even though she didn’t know it beforehand. Perhaps the more interesting bit was that her fire could burn even something as ephemeral and abstract as a soul.

  Zoe’s hellfire skills were her most recently obtained skills, along with mana manipulation. After gaining all three in one incident on the way to Blossomfell, she hadn’t had a good opportunity to test them at their full power. Hellfire blast had been limited to risking tiny bursts in a tightly controlled area, and she never got a chance to use hellfire eruption at all.

  But now? Now, there was nothing holding Zoe back. She raised her hand to the one remaining skeleton. “Still moving those rocks, huh? Must have worked yourself to the bone by now…”

  Hellfire Blast!

  “So I hope you don’t mind getting a posthumous retirement.” It took all of Zoe’s willpower to keep a straight face as her skill blasted the undead miner apart. Remember, she chanted to herself, it doesn’t work if you can’t take your own one-liners seriously. Yes, Zoe was still determined to improve her ability to make remarks during combat, and this area was a great place to practice.

  Lilith cleared her throat. She didn’t have a throat to physically clear, so Zoe knew it was a calculated move. “Uh, I’d rather you not. That was really bad. Having my consciousness chained to a bumbling idiot is bad enough. I don’t need to deal with acute secondhand embarrassment on top.”

  Predictably, the troglodyte demon was incapable of appreciating Zoe’s unique genius. But that was okay. Zoe would have more time to practice. The cave system continued deeper, and the sensation of magic only continued to grow in intensity. Walking past the ashen remains of her foes, Zoe pondered what to try next.

  Aside from training her overall combat technique and leveling up her skills and class, there were a few specific skills she still needed to understand. The two that stood out most were life ray and reap. Both had languished at level one, with Zoe unable to figure out what they did.

  It seems like there are going to be a lot of undead monsters down here. Life ray didn’t have any effect when I used it on normal humans, but what about undead? Maybe it's like a death ray, but for things that are dead instead of alive.

  Zoe would find out soon enough. And then? Then, she’d re-examine all her awakening gems and put together a concrete plan for her advancement to Rank E.