I fired the Nova-3 again, this time focusing on a single point, searing through the fur it deployed as armor and penetrating the creature’s side. It finally stilled.

///XP: 350/350

///LEVEL UP: LEVEL 7

My arm swung like a pendulum as I carried the goat, using it as a mobile battery to recharge between rooms.

///XP: 100/400

In my hands, the goat stilled, right as my energy topped off again, and in time for me to stare down at a lake. The entire room below was full of water, various plants creeping up from the earth below to poke out of the water. Lilly-pads covered the surface, some in full bloom, showing a variety of dazzling colors from pink to blue to yellow.

At the edge of the room, something screamed. It sounded almost human — maybe enough to fool one, even. Looking in that direction, I could see a human arm poking out of the water, hand extended, as if asking for help. There was something distinctly wrong with it. It was pink and fleshy, undamaged, and clean of dirt. The fingers lacked fingernails, ending in nubs with no crease lines. Details you could easily miss from this distance. Its screaming stopped, then started again. My visual suite was more complicated than a set of eyes — I could at least partially see through the water despite the bright reflection. Between that and radar, I had a clear idea of what was happening.

That was a fish. The human arm was a lure breaking the water’s surface. And the screaming was a mimicry to lure in prey. All the creatures of the dungeon seemed to feature some amount of human characteristics. I wondered how many humans this dungeon had eaten.

I leveled the Nova-3, aimed, and fired. The fish dashed through the water at the second of contact, and I tracked it, but the water caused the heat from the Nova-3 to dissipate the water into steam, causing only surface level damage. Its lure, the fake, fleshy arm, dipped below water. This tactic wouldn’t work.

#Drag both of the fish out of water.

The undead complied, moving as a unit towards the fish, jumping right into the water. With no need to breathe and covered in heavy armor, they simply walked across the bottom, blood staining the water. The undead bone golem lumbered behind them.

One of the fish rammed into the group, biting onto one of the Templar bodies, but immediately finding itself covered in sword wounds, four weapons having prodded into its side during that time. As one, the undead Templars began dragging it to the wall, only a few feet away. The bone golem reached down, pulling the fish out with Templars and all.

This time, the Nova-3 shot through the fish in one blast.

///XP: 300/400

We repeated the process for the other fish, using the undead as lures.

///XP: 400/400

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL UP: LEVEL 8

///ENERGY: 80%

My frame was waterproof, so I walked along the surface along with the undead. Only the bone golem was tall enough to remain above the water, and only barely. The next rooms offered no surprises, other than the constantly growing level of vegetation. We cleared an additional room of fish, setting me at 400/450 XP, and another room containing a sheep, which set me at 0/500 XP.

We approached the last room of the floor.

The bowls had circled all the way around. Gradually, the shadow of the overarching structure crept over us until we were under it, wrapped in the dark. Vines hung from above, and the fauna of the forest was now 4 feet tall, well enough to obstruct the Templars slightly, slowing their movements. At the peak of the stairway to the next room, we could see there was only one exit on the opposite side of me. It climbed upwards, a sheer face double as high as any other stairway leading directly to the next floor. Vines clung to it, hanging down around it.

We descended into the last room of the floor. A version of the goat creatures stared back at me — I quickly designated GOAT01B. It appeared to be more of a subspecies, or perhaps an adult of the species where the others were juvenile.

The white swirls of fur on its body took on an electric blue hue, interspersed with a deeper gray, and it rose to probably 10 feet tall, trying to balance itself as it rose to its feet. Electrical sparks arced off its horns. I wouldn’t risk myself in direct combat with it.

After all, if I died, or took serious damage, who would protect Tobias?

GOAT01B looked directly at me.

#CHARGE

I ordered the undead in first to test the creature. It looked between them, then towards me, intelligence clear in its eyes.

Electricity arced between its horns.

The Templars ran at it, bone golem shambling after. It ignored them, dashing right for me.

I retreated at a 45-degree angle to its approach, moving so that the undead would be between me and it.

It slapped one of the Templars that had gotten too close out of the way, bleating loudly as it charged me. I approaching the wall, moving at my maximum speed, and then jumped, pressing my feet against it and running along the side. The goat slapped into the wall, electricity arcing away from it and slamming into the ground. It bleated, and the bone golem finally caught it, ramming it over with a slap of three of its limbs.

The other undead converged, hacking at its legs, but they were stronger and tougher. The creature rose to its feet, bleating with a second burst of electricity that momentarily stunned the undead, then turning to charge at me.

I fired the Nova-3.

Instantly, I burned a hole through the creature’s chest, and it staggered in its charge. The undead laid on arms, bringing it back to its knees, and I approached. Their hacks failed to cut through its legs. I released my prybar, bringing it through the creature’s chest, jumping back at the slightest indication of sparks.

We repeated this dance; GOAT01B released a shock wave. I stabbed and dodged back. I minimized damage to its body, ensuring that it would be useful as an undead.

///XP: 450/500

Unfortunately, the creature left me just short of the necessary XP to level up and gain a new class. I examined the path deeper into the dungeon.

Each floor of a dungeon became exponentially more dangerous, not linearly so. This was a way to bait in adventurers, luring them with their confidence in succeeding on the first floor. Without a more reliable regiment of undead, I was unwilling to go farther, and OFF03 was not even an off-type combat unit.

But I only needed 50 more XP.

Another level, and being able to upgrade my class, could accelerate the plans I needed to protect Tobias. As it was, he was too much at risk, even having to come here and expose himself to the dungeon or other threats. I turned to the headless undead, thinking about how Tobias had sacrificed Eve.

I stabbed my prybar into the headless Templar’s torso. Loyal to Tobias, and therefore loyal to me, they did not react as I brought the prybar down, splitting it cleanly in half.

///XP: 500/500

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL 10: CLASS UP!