Jag’thar’s army of level six skeletons troops had been split across the dungeon’s four corners. Now they converged into a single battalion that marched into the alley that led to our lift’s shaft.

  So, thoughtful.

  It was nice being recognized for the threat that I was rather than underestimated. Still, I doubted his quantity over quality philosophy, evident in both the dungeon’s design and the composition of his forces.

  I channeled Void Seer across the darkness, and seeped through the ceiling into Jag'thar's chamber. The lich had changed out of his simple black robes and into a full body suit of heavy obsidian armor. He paced back and forth in front of his two Abyssal Enforcers, holding his volcanic glass staff in hand. He went down the line, tapping them on their shoulders like he was knighting them.

  "Moron."

  "Brainless."

  I watched their statuses change in real time, reflecting their new names.

  "Now that I have wasted the mana to name you fools and further deepen our bond, listen and listen closely." Jag'thar pointed the tip of his staff to the broadcast of me zoned out on the lift as it slowly climbed toward the dungeon’s surface.

  "See him?" Jag'thar snapped his finger and the oval mirage zoomed in with a grainy CCTV quality picture of me, drool running out of the corner of my mouth, chin lifelessly bobbing against my chest as the janky lift cranked higher. "I'm certain he's the one responsible for Mari's death. I command you all to crush him at once. Use the army as your shield. Understand?"

  "Kill humans," the Abyssal Enforcers said in unison.

  "Yes, kill humans, but most importantly this specific human. He's your main target." Jag'thar poked my likeness with his staff, causing ripples in the oval mirage. "Do you fools understand?"

  "Kill human?"

  "Realize my wishes. Recognize my mana flowing through your essence. Hold nothing back. Eliminate him by any means necessary. Now go."

  "Kill humans!"

  The Abyssal Enforcers lurched into action, shaking the chamber as they stomped down the winding spiral staircase in the center of the room.

  "Absurd. I don't know how Mari allowed herself to be slain by a human." The lich laughed, his tattered cheeks flapping. "Enjoy your sweet slumber, human. For when you wake on the next floor you will only know dread, pain, and then death."

  Thanks, Jag'thar. I appreciate your efforts in curating such an amazing feast.

  "Who's there?" Jag'thar spun around in his clunky armor, sweeping the room with his staff pointed at the corner. "Pale one, is that you?"

  But there was nothing.

  Only shadows.

  ***

  My eyes snapped open and I rose to my feet. The lift had carried us halfway, but by the time we would reach the surface Jag’thar’s army would already have set up our welcome party, balloon animals and all. There was little doubt I could escape, but Naila, Wedgmund, and Pearl Banner’s runts would be squashed.

  "I sense they're trying to surround us," I said.

  "Slow down, sleepy. Naila would've already detected them," Wedgmund said.

  "He's right." Naila whispered as she closed her eyes and focused. "There's an overwhelming amount of fragmented mana on the move above us. It seems they all have the same mana signature. Only a lich of immense power could bend such vast numbers to its will."

  "Excuse me. How many?" Aleathornato squeaked out.

  "An insurmountable number," Naila said, voice stern like she had already come to terms with her fate.

  "That's pure folly. What about the sea of demon blood on the first floor? You said it indicated a demon lord or a blightmare creature was the boss," Wedgmund said. "Tell me you're wrong."

  Naila smiled, and squeezed her colleague's shoulder. "Make peace with Galdir. We fight until our dying—"

  I yawned at an obnoxious volume, cutting her off before she landed the killing blow on the party's deflated morale. The Pearl Banner trio was already teetering between vomiting and passing out. But I wanted the cannon fodder to remain alive until Jag'thar or his enforcers emerged, not rollover and die.

  "When the lift stops, hang a right at the alley’s intersection, then run straight and you should find Lexington and my apprentice. From there, head toward the courtyard underneath the tower to the north. I'll meet you all there. Steer clear of Griffin and Nassir. They're thugs Westcott hired to have me killed. Right, Ale Tornado?"

  He froze, pupils looking for an escape hatch when his associate answered for him. "It's true..."

  "Scheming bastards. I'll file a complaint with the Gilded Boar and with Ingcaster's Official Guild Registrar if we get out of here." Naila wore her disgust like she'd been ambushed by pigeon shit. "How could the three of you dare fathom stabbing a fellow adventurer in the back? Does Pearl Banner not have an oath?"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The trio exchanged nervous glances until Aleathornato took a deep breath and said, "I pledge my blade and breath to Pearl Banner's ascent. I shall not harm our profits nor influence. I will always abide by my seniors orders and never break rank. In my brethren I trust. Together our strength may never falter."

  I yawned again, this time unintentionally. "That night in the pit with the sludgecrawlers, you three were present, weren't you?"

  I struck a nerve, confirming my loosely held suspicions.

  "We were just following orders. I never pointed my blade in your direction!" Aleathornato shouted.

  "Relax, as much as I want to, I won't hold your face to this wall and grind flesh to bone." I gently pat Ale's shoulder, careful not to implode his armor and joints on accident. "That night was Pearl Banner's only chance to kill me. Try again if you like. I have permission from the Gilded Boar to bury the lot of you down here if you move against me. Oh, and when you see Westcott, be sure to tell him I'm only here because there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be."

  '"Cyprus!" Wedgmund squeezed between us. "Hold your tongue. We must band together or we'll all perish."

  Speak for yourself.

  I grabbed the canteen from the side strap of my traveler's pack and took a long sip. The pillar's upward churn played an overture to the silence. I regretted saying too much, realizing everyone would've been better off listening to Naila's "We're all gonna die" monologue.

  Minutes from reaching the surface, the chaotic thud of mass movements shook the ground overhead.

  "Just remember my directions, and try to stay alive." I slipped my socks and boots back on, prepared to take my leave.

  "Is your confidence true?" Naila asked. "If not, it's wiser to stand together than making a pointless sacrifice."

  "I'll clear the way. Don't stop moving when you reach the surface. Good luck."

  I kicked off the platform, and shot straight up the shaft, clearing the rest of the way with Dagger Step. I popped out into the alley's intersection, flipped, and landed beside the shaft's opening. Skeletons marched in from all sides. They were equipped with a variety of weapons ranging from broad swords to spears and daggers, but Jag'thar had forgone supplying them with armor.

  At level six, they posed no significant threat to me. But I had seen how even Naila and Wedgmund struggled with their numbers. Even without armor, I had witnessed them take multiple blows to their bare skulls before going down.

  Archers lined the tiered walkways and the tops of the degraded structures above.

  I dropped my traveler's pack at my feet and adjusted Filter to only display targets with exactly -650 karma. Out of a hundred possible targets, I only cared about one–the undead bat broadcasting my movements from above. Tattered wings flapped purely for aesthetics as an unknown force piloted the bat straight up and away.

  As foes flooded toward me, I kicked off the wall and used Dagger Step's second charge, chasing the bat up and over the alley.

  I chopped through the decrepit creature with my right hand, splitting it in half.

  Shadow Weave.

  Neon green flames licked skyward from braziers scattered across the dungeon. Jag'thar had nailed the spooky atmosphere with the eerie mood lighting but at an unforeseen cost. The braziers were few and far between, leaving most of the dungeon drenched in darkness. The entire floor couldn't have been a better playground for my powers if I had designed it myself.

  I clapped in mid-air, sweeping walls of shadows through the middle of the alley pulverizing a massive portion of their legion.

  Whew.

  I landed and blew out a quick breath, swiping arrows out of my face with one hand, and running a shadow thread through the archer's necks with another. Skulls cascaded down followed by the rattling collapse of bony bodies.

  I had thinned the herd, and cleared the alley for Valor and Glory, but countless reinforcements rushed in from behind. A cold, rigid elbow broke itself against the side of my head as the lift finally arrived.

  "Run," I shouted.

  They looked my way, but our line of sight was swallowed by reinforcements, who only seemed interested in me. In the corner of my eye, I saw several monsters brush past Wedgmund as they turned the corner, faithfully following my direction.

  I played it slow and conserved stamina by falling into a smooth martial rhythm. Dodge. Counter. Feint. Straight. Bones piled up at my feet. More archers arrived on the ledges above, congratulating me with arrows.

  I could've cleared them with Shadow Weave but decided against it after witnessing their frequent friendly fire. Several minutes later, I had gained ground and pushed out of the alley, ripping my way up a wide staircase toward a squad of archers atop an adjacent courtyard.

  The skeleton's thin frames allowed them to surround me nearly 10 to 1 without getting too much in each other's way. Though, for every baker's dozen I dispatched, two fell from a friendly arrow or an ally's loose warhammer control.

  Pointed arrowheads thudded against my skin, leaving tiny welts like I'd been struck by heavy duty rubber bands. I ducked underneath a flurry of blades, grabbed onto a random ribcage and heaved the skeleton overhead, tossing him into a row of archers. They all collapsed in an instant, like their bone structures were held together by children’s arts and crafts glue.

  It was obvious how much my passive damage boost made a difference after watching Naila's group struggle with the infantry despite their own level advantage. Soon, the courtyard was littered with splintered bones and dented skulls.

  Suddenly, the tiles beneath my feet exploded and a giant steel club came soaring in from below. As I lost my balance, I threw up my guard and tanked the blow with a mixture of my arms and torso. The violent impact sent me flying out of the courtyard, past several structures below until I crashed into a pillar, eating total shit.

  What the fuck was that?

  An enforcer?

  Whatever it was had hit hard and fast. Blood trickled from my nose. I pushed myself to my feet, despite my muscle's protests, still vibrating from the blunt weapon's impact.

  I realized I had been thrown through a wall before hitting the pillar and I was now standing in some strange multi-level structure. Like an ancient parking garage. Wasting no time, I retrieved a healing potion from my supply satchel and drained it.

  The ground shook and I lunged backward. Tiles exploded, and the floor caved in as the steel club swung through it. But the same trick didn't work twice. I outran the crumbling floor and dove over a ledge, out of the structure.

  Filter off.

  Karma's Gaze pinged the level 11 enforcer charging through dust and debris. I landed into a sprint toward a wall of skeletal infantry, who were gathered on a massive landing. The giant armored skeleton slammed through the bottom of the multi-level structure, causing its collapse.

  I slowed down as I approached the dense wall of infantry, sandwiched between them and the heat-seeking enforcer.

  Shadow Weave.

  I grasped threads of darkness with my finger tips, dragging them from the back line of their ranks.

  Twist and pull.

  The threads snapped tight, cutting the army down and eliminating the annoying overload of status information. As the Abyssal Enforcer stomped forward, I turned on my heels and drew a line through its knees.

  The armored goliath crashed on its face and I raised my hands, fingers splayed out. I swung my palms down, dropping a razor sharp shadow net over the behemoth, fragmenting his bones into countless pieces.

  +9,275 XP

  +2155 Karma