31.

  The platform was silent as they slowly regathered their strength. The boss had been tough, but manageable. Trevor and Bo had been somewhat useful, pulling his attention enough for him to regroup. Duncan sitting there slowly digesting the pieces of shadow he had ripped free from the [Earthshadow Elemental]. There was a certain bravado to being able to willingly risk your life by trying to upgrade your affinity in the middle of a fight.

  Santi still wanted to punt him off the platform and into the chasm.

  Tank stood up and let Trevor get to his feet slowly. Tank walked over to Santi while Trevor just stood there for a moment, shaken by what had just happened. Duncan didn’t try to offer him any sort of support, just letting him stand there alone.

  Trevor’s eyes were filled with impotent rage and fear, the last moments of the fight filling his vision as he had been pulled away from death’s doorstep. Then it vanished, flashed away in a puff of self discipline as Trevor mastered himself. Even with his higher stats, Santi had to look for the indications of the man’s rage and hatred, so masterfully hidden.

  Duncan started walking, crossing the scarred platform and further into the dungeon now that Trevor was walking. Santi wanted to wait, let the other man recover, but it wasn’t his rodeo. Both he and Tank were still on their feet and with most of their mana in reserve. Santi wasn’t willing to rock the boat this close to the end.

  “He’s a dick. Even if he hadn’t done all that shit, I still wouldn’t want him around,” Tank said. The healer didn’t bother to lower his voice and both of them knew the Apostate could hear him.

  “Well, he’s who we’re stuck with. We clear this, he gets the loot, we get the riftheart.”

  Trevor and Bo followed after their boss while Santi and Tank slowly skulked forward. The boss monster was little more than a stain of scattered oily shadows but Santi kept the location in mind. If he had his full team they could farm this area fairly easily, especially after he accessed the markets through the pillar and had them properly equipped.

  Then harvesting monsters like this would become worthwhile. He’d have to keep his eyes open for someone who could be an [Alchemist] or something similar. Proper supplies for harvesting too. The thought of the wealth of gear was intoxicating. The thought of all his liquid wealth disappearing in a few minutes to provide said gear was sobering.

  “What are you sighing about?” Tank asked as they started off of the platform.

  “Just how much shit I need to buy to really get up and running. It’s going to be expensive.”

  “I mean, you’re just investing right? In the long run you’ll make your money back and then some.”

  “Hey, just let me mope for a minute about all my hard earned money leaving.”

  “Ohhh, you’re in one of those moods. Bet if Chloe was here you wouldn’t be all mopey.”

  “Wrong. I’d be even more mopey and dramatic,” Santi said, smiling brightly at his friend. The two of them chuckled as they left the pale light of the platform and entered the dank tunnel to go further into the dungeon. Bo and Trevor were stopped a few feet in and Ducan’s form was hardly visible in the poor lighting just a few feet further in.

  “Looks like the dungeon changes up from here on out. Labyrinth,” Duncan said as they all clustered up. Santi peered past him and whistled softly at the maze they were staring down at.

  There was a small trail, no larger than a footpath, that led down and into a maze carved into the stone. From their vantage they could only see the first few switchbacks and dead ends before the gloom blocked the rest of their view.

  “More traps, probably enemy mobs, and of course the maze itself. Pass me some fresh paint,” Duncan said, holding a hand out. Trevor unslung his bag and handed two cans of yellow paint to Duncan before restrapping his bag to his back.

  “I’ll push forward and explore the routes. Santi is on guard duty. Should be similar to what we went through in the caves. Move slowly and carefully. Unless it’s time to move fast,” Duncan’s last words were said with a sardonic smile as he started down the trail and into the labyrinth.

  “I want to hit him with my club. Repeatedly,” Trevor hissed quietly. The look his cousin shot him told Santi that Trevor hadn't been quiet enough.

  “I’ll lead, then Tank, then you two. Stick close together. Nobody gets lost today, alright. Stick tight and we will get through this,” Santi gave his encouragement and then was moving down the path after giving Duncan a minute or three head start.

  The path led directly into the narrow ravines of the labyrinth's walls, hardly more than four feet wide and soaring up to touch the roof of the cavern. The slight dip in the floor was hardly noticeable, but they were continuing to move further and further downward with every step.

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  Higher and higher the walls rose up and over them. Thin strips of lichen glowing blue gave the only light and it was hardly enough to break the grip of darkness. Tank’s labored breaths behind him and the soft chatter of the cousins were the only sounds he heard. Santi strained his eyes, looking for the tell tale sign of Duncan’s paint.

  Thin passageways broke off every ten to fifteen feet, spidering away and twisting in ways so he couldn’t see further in. There was a sense of claustrophobia in the maze, as the dark and tight walls pressed in on him. Santi had to focus on moving straight and not worrying about what may be laying around a corner.

  With the solid rock all around him, his spell forms were nearly useless and he was as blind as he had ever been since the integration had started. Each careful step forward was another bolt of excitement and fear as he waited for something to come lashing out from the darkness towards him.

  “This sucks,” Tanks whispered. Santi could have kissed him. The sudden break in tension was enough for him to let out a shaky sigh and laugh silently. He pursed his lips in sudden thought and started expanding his mana, sending it out of him and around the small group.

  He faced immediate resistance.

  “There’s some type of spell or magic working in here. It’s probably why we’re all so fucking jumpy rn. I can push it back a bit, but I can’t keep a shield around us and keep moving forward. Let me know when you need a break and we can stop and catch our breath.”

  There was a sense of heaviness, oppression, of weight bearing down that emanated from the environment. His own mana, stained by his wind affinity, pushed against it naturally, rebelling and seeking freedom and the ability to move.

  Santi formed a small bubble around their group, but the strain was telling. The dungeon was higher level than him and massive. He was a powerful mage with deep wells of power, but he couldn’t face the entire weight of a dungeon by himself. At least not for long.

  After a few minutes Santi drew his mana back into himself. There was an audible groan from one of the cousins and Santi couldn’t blame him. The dread weight settled back on him, his heartbeat spiking as fear pulsed through him. It was worse than when they had originally stepped into the labyrinth.

  “I have a feeling it’s like going into water. The pressure gets heavier the further in you go,” Santi said. They had taken a few minutes to come out of the pressure, but suddenly slamming it back was different versus acclimating to it as they walked. A much more jarring and disturbing change.

  They continued forward and a few minutes later they found Duncan’s first mark that pulled them off the main trail and into a side passage. The gulley narrowed somehow and Santi had to twist and turn at places, the larger men behind him grunting and groaning as they had to contort themselves.

  A deactivated and dismantled trap was set on top of a rock near eye level, the sharp blades sitting there without any marking. Santi glanced at the alcove they had been pulled from and realized the long scythe blade would have struck his head from torso as he passed by.

  “Careful where you step,” Santi whispered behind him and kept pushing.

  More traps showed up, broken down and dismantled. Two more yellow markers, forcing them in more and more narrow passageways to the point even Santi was having a hard time of them.

  “This is fucking ridiculous. We need to get out of here. This isn’t working. Let’s go!” Bo was chanting behind Santi as they came up to another marker. This time is seemed to show them the main passageway again, much wider than the cramped confines they had just been in.

  “Let’s take a minute here,” Santi said and Trevor grabbed his cousin around the shoulder and two of them took their heavy packs off as Santi slowly built a mana bubble around them. It was harder now. The weight of the earth and shadows so heavy that even as he strained against it, pushing more and more mana out of himself, there was hardly a difference.

  It was enough for the others who all groaned in relief, slumping against walls while Santi kept his eyes peeled. Just because there hadn’t been any monsters in the tight confines of the chasm maze, didn’t mean there couldn’t be.

  “Taking a break already?” Duncan’s voice came out of the darkness as the average looking man walked into the temporary camp.

  “Needed it,” Santi replied. Duncan stopped right outside of the limits of Santi’s bubble, not stepping into it.

  “It’s worse when you take breaks like this. The weight becomes bearable the longer you hold it.”

  “Needed to stop or we wouldn’t be combat capable,” Trevor said. He was still clutching his cousin's shoulder, the two men leaning on each other.

  “Combat will be coming soon enough. There’s a widening spot in the ravine not much further from here. Some type of lizard inside of it. I’ll stick with you guys, you’ll trigger the ambush, and I’ll ambush the ambushers.”

  “You got it,” Santi said, giving him a cheery smile and a thumbs up. Duncan scowled at him.

  “I really dislike you,” Duncan said.

  “I know. Your dislike has cost you an arm and I’m sure I can price in a leg in the next few days.”

  “If it wasn’t for that cursed horde, I’d have spilled your blood the minute you walked outside of your camp. You wouldn’t have even noticed you were dead before you hit the earth.”

  “Possibly. Or I could have kicked your ass again and this time, there wouldn’t have been anyone to save you from me.”

  “Hey, knock that shit off. We need to work together for another few days. Then you two can stab each other to your heart’s delight,” Tank broke their staring contest with rational thought. Something Santi wasn’t appreciative of.

  “Hey, let me be toxic. I’m enjoying the threats,” Santi said with a half smile.

  “The rest of us aren’t. And while you two aren’t threatened by this, for whatever reason, this is dangerous for us. Our lives are in danger and the threat is real to us. We can’t have the two of you stabbing each other while laughing while this shit is going on. Save it for outside of the dungeon.”

  Tank was right of course. There had been so few true threats to Santi lately, that he had lapsed a bit. He had forgotten the edge of the knife they all perched on. At the end of the day, he could have always fled. His skills and power made it a near certainty that if he needed to, he could escape if a fight went south. The last time he had truly been pushed beyond his limits, when death was walking beside him, was when he had crossed blades with Duncan.

  “Alright. I’ll be the bigger man here. Until we’re done with our business. We’re professionals,” Santi said. Duncan sneered, a retort on his lips. Then he let it fade away and nodded in accord.