The following day, after his afternoon lesson with Master deBouteville, Duncan flew at his new top speed East towards the Hidden Forest dungeon. The blade-aspected mana that cut the wind at the tip of his flying sword made a real difference – instead of being buffeted by the wind as he picked up speed, he was able to stand comfortably as the wind parted and passed by. It wasn’t a perfect wind break, but it allowed him to go much faster than he’d flown before.

After about an hour’s travel, he pulled out the wooden disk that showed the direction to the beacon and laid it on his palm. Sure enough, a small light appeared on the edge of the disk, about fifteen degrees to the right of straight ahead. He adjusted his course so that the light was pointing out over the tip of his sword and continued on. He checked the direction every five minutes or so and backtracked a bit when he found the light had switched to point behind him. He flew lower and slower, looking for the distinctive silvery-grey dungeon entrance, but the tree cover was thick and he saw nothing until the light switched to point behind him again and he dropped down to the ground to search.

The entrance hung in the space between two massive trees. There was nothing to indicate its location at all. How did they find this in the first place? The forest looks the same in every direction. Grateful for the beacon, Duncan stepped into the dungeon.

Inside, he had to double check that he had actually entered a dungeon. It looked exactly the same as the forest surrounding the entrance outside. That’s uncanny. How do I find my way back to here? He checked his wooden token, but there was no light visible on it at all. Guess it doesn’t work from inside the dungeon. Oh! I wonder if the guild sells beacons… I could place one at the entrance in here and pick it up when I leave.

With no easy way to find the exit, Duncan resolved to stay fairly close on his first visit, and not get lost in the dungeon. Being lost wasn’t really a problem for him, but he only had about nine hours before he had to be flying back to Lanport if he was to attend class on time.

He moved away from the exit in a straight line, using Extract Resources on random plants, and was rewarded with several pouches of herbs and vials of sap (or some other liquid) that may or may not have had any value. He marked trees along his path with his sword, leaving visible scars on the trunks so he could hopefully find his way back to the exit.

After about five minutes’ travel, he was struck from behind by something. He staggered forward a step, taken by surprise, and was struck again. He Blinked forward about ten meters, changing his facing to see what was behind him. The damage to his back seemed superficial – whatever had hit him hadn’t penetrated his armor.

Flying about five meters off the ground were two creatures which looked like eagles from the waist down, and like human women from the waist up, but with large wings instead of arms and a beak instead of a mouth and nose. They were flying towards him, talons outstretched.

Duncan equipped his dragontooth sword and his rose quartz shield and leapt to meet them. The first harpy’s talons slammed into his shield and the creature’s momentum stopped dead. It flapped its wings madly as it tried to recover, and Duncan slammed a vicious cut into its side, five Blade Echoes biting deep. Duncan’s Assessment passive let him know the creature was badly wounded from just that one attack. These are fairly weak, then.

The second harpy screeched, and Duncan’s ears felt like they were bursting. There was a second element to the attack, too - mental or spiritual, perhaps – he couldn’t tell which. The harpy followed its screech with a shard of ice that formed in front of it and shot towards Duncan. The missile shattered on Duncan’s shield. The wounded harpy folded its wings around itself and began radiating waves of cold.

Duncan Blinked forward ten meters and appeared facing the backs of the harpies. He stabbed the wounded one in the back through a fold in space, and it fell, dead. The other harpy looked around wildly for a moment before seeing him. It launched a stream of icicles at him, and Duncan sheltered behind his shield. This probably wouldn’t hurt me, but why pick up bad habits?

He hit the harpy with a Mind Spike, then thrust through a fold in space, making a mess of the harpy’s neck. It fell to the ground, thrashed for a short while, and stopped. His Leech Mana Technique returned maybe a hundred mana over the course of the fight, but that was definitely better than nothing, and would only improve over time.

Duncan used Extract Resources on the corpses and received a little box of something that he chose not to examine, simply storing it with the herbs he’d picked up earlier. I didn’t even have to heal myself in that fight. I wonder if this place is easy enough for the group. I don’t think they could get here in a timely fashion, though.

He continued on, finding and killing several more pairs of harpies before finding what appeared to be a little harpy village – dozens of nests in adjacent trees produced probably forty harpies that attacked him en masse. Duncan swept around on his flying sword, Blinking across the village from time to time when the mass of incoming icicles threatened to become dangerous. He used Bladestorm repeatedly – it didn’t do a lot of damage, but it’d never advance if he didn’t use it in combat. Similarly, he used Cage of Blades whenever an opportunity presented itself, and he kept Leech Mana active as much as he could.

The battle was lengthy due to the sheer number of harpies but Duncan never truly felt threatened. Individually, the harpies could barely harm him, and even the accumulation of their attacks wasn’t dangerous. Once he’d cleared the village, he used Extract Resources on the corpses and checked the nests for loot, finding none.

Moving on, Duncan kept an eye on the canopy above. Master deBouteville had said this dungeon had harpies, wyverns, and weebles. Of those, the wyverns sounded the most threatening. So Duncan was taken completely by surprise when something smashed heavily into his back. Great claws shredded his dragonskin armor and his flesh beneath it. His ribs were gouged but not shattered, which likely saved his lungs. A crushing pressure closed on the back of his neck as fangs pierced his armor there too.

Duncan Blinked forward and rotated his facing to see what was attacking him, using Destrin’s Restoration to fully heal in an instant. Again, claws slammed into his back and fangs closed on his neck. What is going on? Duncan Blinked straight up eighty meters, stood on his flying sword, and healed himself again, flying swiftly so as not to be caught standing still again, even eighty meters in the air.

He flew down below the canopy, scanning the area to see what had attacked him. There was nothing in sight, his Shadow Sight passive notwithstanding. Something truly invisible then? Whatever it is, it hits really hard. It shredded my armor like paper. Still, I have a vertical escape route, so let’s try this again, shall we?

Duncan landed and promptly opened a fold in space with one side at his back and the other at his front. As he did, a massive beast that had been trying to repeat its attack on his back partly fell through the fold – Duncan could see the back of its head and shoulders. He ended the Technique, but instead of the animal being cut in half by the fold in space being removed, it flowed forward and turned to face him, a mighty black cat very similar to the first rare monster spawn he’d ever encountered, back in the Valley; the one that gave him his space affinity. The fold in space snapped shut after the creature had passed completely through it.

The cat lashed at him with its claws and Duncan blocked with his shield and struck back with his dragontooth sword. The blade and its five Echoes struck the cat’s chest but left only shallow wounds. Duncan’s Assessment technique showed the cat was barely wounded. That’s… not good. I killed the last one by stabbing it in the mouth, but it had been taking damage from Pyotr and Mairi, too.

The cat Blinked away, out of Duncan’s sight. Duncan opened a small fold in space that showed him what was behind him. The cat seemed to be an ambush predator – he was sure it would appear behind him again. It Blinked behind him and he hit it with a Mind Spike through the fold in space then spun and struck it twice with his dragontooth sword. The moment the cat started to move, he hit it with another Mind Spike and switched to his spirit sword, striking it again.

The cat disappeared and claws ravaged Duncan’s back again, even as he Blinked up a few meters and summoned a sword from his Personal Space Pocket to stand on. His Assessment showed that his spirit sword had been more effective than his dragontooth sword, even with one less Blade Echo. Then the cat Blinked away, and Duncan could no longer see it.

The cat is sturdier than me and can essentially control whether or not we engage, and when. I’m clearly missing a good perception Technique, and it’s probably too late to fix it. On the other hand, I can escape because I can Blink up and fly away, and I can regenerate instantly, while it doesn’t appear to have a way to heal in combat. And it’s a dungeon monster, so it’s going to keep attacking me until one of us is dead if I stay to fight. My mana will determine the outcome of the fight – if I can keep healing long enough to whittle it down, I’ll defeat it. It won’t be a glamorous fight, and my skill with a blade won’t really help much. If I can’t whittle it down before I run low on mana, I will just fly away. Takes all the glory and some of the danger away – I mean, if it crushes my skull with one of those ambushes, I can still die. But if I don’t make any stupid mistakes, I will win. And that will have to be enough for now.

Duncan Blinked back to the ground, storing his flying sword. He ducked low and spun, just as the cat Blinked to attack his back. Duncan’s spirit sword passed through the cat’s body as its claws slammed into his momentum-eating shield. The cat bore down on the shield – it cancelled momentum, not mass – and Duncan angled the shield so the monster’s paws slid off, using a Mind Spike to stun it and striking it twice more with his spirit sword. It was starting to look somewhat dazed now, its reaction speed slowed by the accumulating spiritual damage.

Its claws were as fast as ever though, and it swept his feet out from under him with a cunning attack at his ankles. Duncan tried to Blink away but something blocked the attempt. The cat raked at his legs and groin, unable to reach his torso thanks to his shield. Duncan hit it with a Mind Spike, then regenerated his wounds. I am not thinking about what it just did to me. I am NOT thinking about it ripping off my testicles. I am not.

Duncan Blinked out from under the cat, whatever it was doing to block his Blinks interrupted by the stun. The cat disappeared and Duncan Blinked three meters back, appearing right behind the cat which had appeared right behind where Duncan had been. He swung at it, but it Blinked away again. He ducked and spun, putting as much of his body as he could behind his shield as the cat appeared behind his new position and attacked.

Another Mind Spike and two more slashes with his spirit sword, and the cat collapsed. Duncan hit it twice more with the spirit sword, just to be sure, then took a deep breath as he considered the fight. Better than me with Space Techniques. Its Blinks were faster and more accurate, and I don’t know where it disappeared to after some of them. And it could suppress my Blink with its own Technique. That was a little unnerving. He checked his crotch. He knew he was at full health, but the cat had shredded his groin, and high-level adventurer or not, he was still an eighteen-year-old man – he needed reassurance that he was intact.

An arrow struck his exposed genitals and he gagged in horror. Half a dozen other arrows struck his torso a split second later, most rendered ineffective by his armor. His back armor had been shredded but his chest armor was unscathed from the battle with the cat. He Blinked beside a tree about twenty meters away and used Destrin’s Restoration. His regenerating flesh pushed the arrows out, and he stood good as new.

He summoned his dragontooth sword and shield, looking to see what was attacking him. A spear of wood shot out from the tree he was standing beside, impacting his armor, but not breaking through. Roots grabbed at his ankles, seeking to hold him in place. Several more arrows struck him, doing no damage.

His attackers were humanoids, wearing leather or hide armor, with vaguely feline features. There were maybe eight of them, most using bows, but two wielding a brace of swords. The archers all had swords sheathed at their sides.

Duncan cast a Bladestorm covering the group and Blinked to the edge of it, attacking one of the archers. The weebles were no sturdier than the harpies – his attack left the creature badly wounded. Duncan dropped it with a second attack, then Blinked across the group to attack another archer on the far side. He repeated the strategy several times, whittling down the archers whilst avoiding the sword-wielders. He ignored the roots that attempted to bind his feet, Blinking out of the entanglement every time he changed targets.

When it was just the two swordsmen left, Duncan swapped his shield for his sword of the guardian and stepped to meet the creatures head on. They were skilled, but he was stronger than them, faster than them, and better than them, and he had Blade Sense on top of all that. He circled to his left to keep the second from being able to reach him immediately, Blinking a few inches at a time to escape the grasping roots seeking to entangle his feet, and took the first one down with a single thrust through an eye. Even as it was falling to the ground he stepped past it, parrying the second weeble’s outside sword across its body with his right-hand sword and taking its head clean off with a beautiful reverso.

He reattached his groin protection to his armor, then looted the corpses and used Extract Resources on the cat, which yielded its skin, claws, teeth, and an organ of some sort which he stored without examining too closely. The loot appeared mostly underwhelming, but there was a stone on a collar on the cat, and he had high hopes that it would be valuable, given the last time he’d fought one of these, he’d received an affinity stone. He spent an hour feeding mana into his living armor to repair it – the cat had almost destroyed the backplate entirely. He spent another hour meditating to recover his mana, then moved deeper into the dungeon, deciding he still had time for a few more encounters.

He had just begun to move deeper into the dungeon when he heard something moving in the trees behind him. A menacing aura swept over him. He turned to see a massive ten-meter-long scaly lizard with a wide head and a mouth full of sharp teeth approaching. If that thing is a wyvern, my monster identification class has been useless, and this dungeon is definitely not suitable for level sixty adventurers. Some sort of dragon-kin perhaps?

Duncan equipped his dragontooth sword and his shield, then Blinked forward past the monster as the area around him was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of decay. Tree trunks rotted and sagged dangerously under the corrosive effect. Duncan was only in the cloud for a moment, but even after his Blink, he felt his body and gear decaying. He used Remove Affliction and felt the strain it took to remove the decay. That can’t be good for my mana supply.

He used a Mind Spike on the monster, which wasn’t stunned, and his Assessment showed it did very little damage. The monster’s tail whipped at him almost faster than he could see. It slammed into the edge of his shield, and if the shield hadn’t utterly negated the attack’s momentum, it would have knocked the shield aside and plunged a wicked-looking stinger into Duncan’s body.

Duncan stabbed the tail with his sword, and the blade just skittered off the scales, as did the Blade Echoes that followed. Uh oh.

A cloud of decay burst out from the monster’s body, and Duncan had to Blink away, remove the affliction, and regenerate. The trees around the creature dissolved in the cloud. It’s clearing a space to fight. He switched to his dragonslayer sword and stabbed the creature through a fold in space, hitting it behind a foreleg. Again, the blade failed to penetrate the scaly hide. His spirit sword did penetrate the hide, but did a tiny amount of damage, even with Blade Echoes. Running out of options here.

He realized he didn’t have an enchanted mace of any kind. Of all the idiotic things to do. I kept a pair of gauntlets of mace mastery in case I run into something that is only vulnerable to blunt damage, but I don’t have a mace or a hammer or even a club in my huge storage spaces. Alright, if I can’t exploit a potential vulnerability to blunt weapons, maybe I can exploit vulnerable places on its body. Eyes, belly, groin, maybe?

Duncan kept out of range of the creature’s tail and jaws, flying low on his sword and trying to keep a few healthy trees between himself and the bulky monster. He paused to open a fold in space, targeting a spot right over one of the dinner-plate-sized eyes, and thrust his dragontooth sword at the eye with all the power he could muster. The creature’s eyelid slammed shut the moment the fold appeared, and Duncan’s blade struck skin instead of eyeball. The skin was weaker there than the tail or torso, though, and the blade penetrated just a little. The five Blade Echoes that followed did the same. His Assessment showed he’d done an utterly negligible amount of damage to the monster.

His body suddenly started to decay. There had been no indication of an attack from the monster, just the onset of decay. Did that happen because I hurt it, or does it have a Technique that inflicts an affliction at range without a projectile or cloud? Removing the affliction took a lot of effort. My mana pool isn’t going to outlast this – I can barely scratch it, while it can inflict a scary amount of decay at range.

Reluctantly, Duncan decided to disengage. He Blinked up above the canopy and flew back towards the exit portal, or, at least, in that general direction. After a few minutes’ flight, he descended and began looking for signs of his earlier passage. Eventually he found a tree he’d marked, and he followed the trail back to the exit. Well, if the gods gave me those rare monsters to help me grow, I missed something with that one. It felt like I had no way of winning that fight.