The long, winding hallway I led Ferrisdae and Serily into had doors lining either side. Kobolds peeked out at us with curiosity as we proceeded. Some were about my height while others were obviously children. They all slammed their doors shut as we approached them even though I had retracted my blade so they wouldn’t feel threatened.

  It didn’t matter; they didn’t often see people from the outside world like this. It was natural to be afraid.

  The further we went, the more the doors slammed, the worse my mood became.

  “We already know something's wrong, Badger,” Ferrisdae said soothingly. “You don't have to get yourself worked up about this.”

  I huffed, but nodded without turning to face her. She was right, of course. The dungeon irked me, but in the grand scheme of things we were saving a lot of time here. I had plans for when we faced Oristrella, however. Getting through this dungeon with only one combat would mean we'd be faster than any inspector for a long time.

  That would be worth rubbing into Sophia's face when we got back.

  My mood started to stabilize, giving me a sense of clarity. I understood why they didn't want to let the adventurers in here even without the dungeon being complete. Not all of them were righteous heroes, and while killing non-combatants in a dungeon was illegal it didn't stop some of them from doing so. It took a special kind of person to be an adventurer, but it didn't necessarily take a good one.

  The hallway ended by opening up onto a large cavern. The center was filled with a shallow pool of glowing water, filling the room with cold, dancing light. Kneeling in the water was Corez, eyes closed as if in prayer and holding a two-handed morning star in front of him.

  “This is as far as I go,” Serily said from behind us. “Warchief Corez was very adamant about facing you two alone, and I'll respect his wishes. Should you win, the key will allow you to pass through the door on the other end of the cavern.”

  I looked past Corez, but all I could see was darkness. The glowing water was coming from that direction in a small stream, but it was too dim for me to make out any details from this distance.

  “The boss door,” Ferrisdae said, and I turned to see her squinting. “I can barely make it out but it looks quite lovely.”

  “Yes, we're quite proud of it,” Serily claimed. “I was the one to commission and retrieve it, actually. We had it made special from the Elves of Althir and gave it to our queen for her 300th dungeon anniversary.”

  “I'm sure it's fantastic,” I said to them both. “But we need to keep moving. Aren't you in a rush, Ferrisdae?”

  Ferrisdae sucked in a breath and clutched her wand tightly in her hand. “That's right, we have to get to Razorbeak's caravan,” she said. I could see the resolve in her eyes as she looked down at me. That kind of youthful determination was trouble, but that's something I wouldn't try to take out of her during this apprenticeship.

  “Stay on your toes,” I told her, holding my hilt but not having any blade summoned. “I'll try to take it easy so you have a chance to shine.”

  “You think you're strong enough to take it easy, Inspector?” Serily snorted. “Warchief Corez has been protecting that door for decades, and he's only been beaten by teams much larger than yours.”

  “I can take it easy,” I said. Not bragging, just stating a fact. “If it weren't for my junior being foisted on me, I'd have been sent alone to handle this dungeon.” Without waiting for a response, I began walking towards Corez.

  I got a response anyway. “Well that's rude,” Ferrisdae huffed. I heard her follow after me, however, quick steps echoing through the cavern until she was right behind me.

  “Stay out of the water,” I told her, ignoring her comment. “I'll keep him in it so that you can shoot spells from a safe distance.”

  “I'm not a little princess to be displayed in a glass case, you know,” Ferrisdae snorted. “I can fight.”

  I stopped and shot her a confused look. “You're a Dungeon Inspector,” I said like it was obvious. Because it was. “Of course you can fight. But I’m a defender and you’re a spellcaster. Let’s stick to our roles, shall we?”

  Some of the wind left her sail. “Um, right,” she said with a nod. Apparently, that seemed to be some kind of trigger for her.

  “If you two are done bickering…” Corez’s rumbling voice started. He hadn’t even looked up yet and we were standing by the edge of his pool. We both turned our attention to him. “I have a request before we begin.”

  “Go ahead, Warchief Corez,” Ferrisdae said. She stood up straight and watched the Kobold for any signs of deception.

  Corez opened his eyes and began standing up. “These Dungeon Inspectors are honorable, that is good.”

  “We wouldn't even be fighting you if you had the sense to ditch tradition and stand aside,” I scoffed. Ferrisdae gave me a look, but I ignored it.

  Despite being the one who had insisted on us slogging through the dungeon, Corez nodded. “I do agree, but Dungeon Inspectors make good combat practice. The one assigned to us previously, though, liked to do so with petty tricks and sneaky spells. Fighting you should be worth it.”

  “I know what you mean,” I groaned, shaking my head. “Sophia never knew how to get into a fair fight.”

  “Sorry, petty tricks?” Ferrisdae asked.

  “I guess you wouldn't know,” I said, looking towards her. “Sophia is a spellcaster focusing on enchantments and illusions. She couldn't fight her way through a toddler if it came to it.”

  Corez snorted amusement. “Yes, that was always my assessment. It was so frustrating losing to her year after year.”

  I nodded. “I completely understand, she's terrible.”

  “You shouldn't bad mouth your coworkers,” Ferrisdae chided. “Does this even have anything to do with the request?”

  “No,” Corez admitted with a shake of his head. “I humbly request that, should I be bested, you two try to talk our queen out of her dalliance with this strange Human. He is unknown and highly suspicious.” The Kobold began to shake in rage. “What right does he have? To come in here and offer gifts to our queen and steal the rights to her dungeon? Just look at the trouble he is putting the Coldspring Clan through. Who does he think he is?”

  I saw Ferrisdae start opening her mouth and, guessing what she was going to say, spoke up first. “We'll attempt to the best of my ability,” I said. “It's not exactly out of our way and I already have plans to say something about it. I make no promises, though.”

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  “That is all I need to hear,” Corez said. He spun his two-handed morning star in his hands before pointing it in our direction. “Then there's nothing else to say. Come, attack me!”

  Ferrisdae and I looked at each other. I noted the steely look in her eyes. Corez wasn't a bad guy, but someone who was seriously concerned about his leader and the state of his warren. I had held some concern about whether she would hesitate to take down a dungeon's denizen she’d interacted with—something that came up a lot with new juniors—but I could see in her gaze that she wouldn't.

  Raising my shield, I ran into the shallow pool towards Corez. True to its name, the water of the Coldspring was freezing. I felt it splash into my shoes and onto the legs of my pants, squishing and clinging uncomfortably. I once again praised my magical gear for granting me resistance to the elements like this. For me it was only uncomfortable; I wouldn't have to worry about frostbite or hypothermia in the battles to come.

  I kept my head down behind the cover my shield provided. The Kobold's eyes shifted from the bladeless hilt in my hand, to Ferrisdae, and back. It was natural to be wary of a blade he couldn't see as well as the spellcaster. He raised his morningstar in front of him and gave an exploratory poke.

  Ducking, I met his thrust with my shield. The large spikes of his weapon didn't cause so much as a scratch as I knocked it into the air, trying to throw Corez off balance. His eyes widened as the maneuver worked, and the realization that he underestimated me was clear in his eyes. I had a clear path to his neck and could have taken his head then.

  Instead of following up, I raised my shield. This was a fight for me to see how Ferrisdae would act, not claim victory in the first move. With no follow up to be worried about, Corez raised his massive clawed foot into the air and brought it down on my shield.

  His claws clamped down over the top with an iron grip and tried to push my protection and, by extension me, to the ground. I went to one knee to help against his size and weight, but managed to hold firm. The ground wasn't too far down for me, anyway. Instead of trying to withdraw the shield into its buckler form, I slowly, deliberately, raised my hilt into a striking position. I aimed for his leg.

  Corez was still wary of my sword, and rightfully so. Invisible blades weren't common by any means, but he had to have encountered at least a few in his time. He released his grip on my shield, planting his foot firmly back on the ground, and swung his arm towards my sword. Ice seemed to ooze out from between his scales to form armor.

  The look on Corez’s face when his arm slammed into nothing soothed me on a deep level. His momentum set him on the wrong foot, causing him to stumble. I finished the arc of my swing low to the ground, and reached out with the hilt to snag Corez’s leg. Then, I pulled.

  The Kobold became unbalanced, but only for a moment. His powerful tail struck the water behind him and acted as another leg to stabilize him. He stepped inwards to match my pull, his foot going over mine, and pivoted. His tail swung towards me from the left. That was my shield arm, so I wasn't worried about damage, but despite my efforts I couldn't move my foot.

  Leaning against Corez’s leg, I used it as a brace as I took the blow head on with my shield. My ankle hurt from the angle that put it in, but most of the damage had been mitigated. Corez leapt back without warning. His claws were clamped down on my shoe, but that was something I noticed too late. I was dragged into the air foot first only to be let go halfway through the Kobold's lengthy jump.

  A glowing, spinning yellow star veered around my head, Ferrisdae's Shooting Star spell. A moment of panic flitted through my mind as I remembered the sheer destructive power of the spell, but it went right around me without harm. Corez had tried to use me to intercept it, the sly bastard.

  I controlled my landing to the best of my ability, twisting in the air, and managed to hit the ground running. By the time I scrambled to a stop, the spell had struck Corez dead center on his chest to fight against his ice armor.

  It continued spinning brutally. Blood flung off with every rapid rotation, dyeing the pool we stood in red. He screamed as his ice armor and even scales from his chest were shredded off of his body. Shooting Star was doing a number on him, but the spell ended before it could finish the job. The Kobold's back arched, and his wound glowed with an icy light.

  “Martial art!” I called out on reflex.

  Martial arts were the spell equivalents that the less magically inclined classes had, and just like spells they had countless varied effects. This one appeared to cause Corez’s blood to coagulate as it drew in the remains of his ice armor. They formed into spikes that grew out of the wound, each pointing at Ferrisdae.

  I sprang into action and ran towards the Elf. She looked ready to cast another spell, but I wasn't sure if she'd make it in time. With a glance back at Corez, I tried my best to time my cover.

  The bloody icicles fired from the wound directly towards Ferrisdae like arrows, but I was there. During my jump I pulled my limbs in close to hide them behind my shield. I had put myself in harm's way, and several of the icicles slammed into my shield. The force knocked me back into Ferrisdae, who in turn stumbled as we both landed on the ground. I managed to block the majority, but she was still hit. A grimace plastered itself on her face as she gingerly touched the icicles, one in her shoulder and the other near her liver.

  “That's some really sturdy armor, Corez,” I told him, standing up. I wasn’t worried about Ferrisdae’s wounds, though. She'd drink a potion if need be, but I didn't expect she would go down from just two blows like that.

  Corez breathed heavily and traced his hand across his wound. Ice covered it, staunching the bleeding. The blood he had already spilled covered his torso and stained the water underneath him. Regardless of the wound, he stood up straight and looked back at us.

  “That would have cut me in half if I had not stopped it,” Corez noted. “Your brutality is impressive, Elf.”

  Ferrisdae still hadn’t stood up yet, but I could hear her breathing heavily and grunting as she shifted into a new position. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of Corez. “Plenty more where… that came from,” she managed to say through gritted teeth.

  The Kobold smirked and started to draw in air, puffing out his chest. I immediately recognized it as the start of a breath attack. That confirmed it for me; Corez had to be a half-dragon. It certainly make sense given his size.

  Putting that aside, I rushed forward, shield before me, in an attempt to head it off. This time, Ferrisdae was one step ahead of me.

  I heard her short incantation and slid to a stop as shining dust exploded into existence around Corez. It coated him from head to toe, mucking up the water. More importantly than that, he had just breathed in a whole lot of it.

  The Warchief started hacking and coughing as his breath weapon was interrupted, frozen dust spitting out from his mouth. That was certainly one way to stop the attack, and I heard Ferrisdae snort in amusement behind me.

  Blinded and choking, Corez stumbled backwards and swung his morningstar in front of him to fend me off should I approach in his moment of vulnerability. That didn’t stop me, though. I resumed my approach and summoned my flaming sword from the hilt. He could hear me stomping through the water, but didn’t seem able to pinpoint my exact location.

  I ducked low again as Corez swung his morningstar at where he thought I was, bouncing it off of my shield into the air. He used his tail for balance again, but I ignited my sword and thrust it through the ice covering his chest. My blade sank into the Warchief, though not without considerable effort to break through his magic armor.

  The Kobold slumped to the ground; his heart pierced.

  “Is he dead?” Ferrisdae asked from dry land.

  I turned to face her, and I saw her back on her feet, trying to remove the icicles that were still embedded. The Elf had already pulled out the one in her side. Only the one in her shoulder was still there, and she looked like she was having trouble preparing herself for the pain.

  I returned my blade to the Hilt of Holding, which was easier than pulling it out of a dead Kobold, and moved to help her. Behind me, Corez's body slumped into the water.

  “Yes. Good thinking with the Glitterdust,” I said. Retracting my shield, I grabbed the icicle. She winced. “Get a potion ready.”

  With a nod, she did as I said. “Another variant,” she explained.

  Variant spells were rare in new spellcasters. Generally, it took a lot of practice in order to raise a base spell into something both new and specialized in a magic user’s manner of spellcasting. In her case, what she called a Star Sorceress. It was, frankly, impressive that she had two.

  “That’s neat,” I said, making sure I wasn’t looking directly at the spikes still embedded in her. “Tell me more.”

  Despite her injuries, Ferrisdae perked up slightly. “This one’s called Stardust, and it acts as an irritant to skin in addition to- AHH!”

  While Ferrisdae was distracted, I pulled the icicle out of her shoulder. She screamed in pain, but immediately drank the healing potion. I watched as her wounds started to close on their own. Her starry robe also started to stitch itself back together, the bloodstains starting to fade. Cleaning and reconstruction were always useful enchantments to place on your clothes when adventuring and inspecting were on the table.

  “You’re a mean son of a bitch, you know that?” Ferrisdae said through gritted teeth. I couldn’t help but smirk at her.