The tunnel was much like the other one she had traveled through. Uneven floors and a winding passageway. There was one difference though, and that was that she was heading uphill, if only slightly. She could just barely feel the incline and thought that maybe this meant a way out of the dark underground, but she didn’t get her hopes up too much.

She also noticed a bit of a change from her new passive ‘Heightened Senses’. It wasn’t much of a difference, but she did find herself noticing small things about her surroundings that she was pretty sure she never would have paid attention to in the past.

She let her orb of light travel a good distance ahead of her just in case there was another beast lurking around, but so far she hadn’t come across any trouble. Just the ominous feeling of being underground accompanied her, along with Whisper of course.

The two kept silent though, thinking there would be better places to carry out their conversations later. Kass still had a lot of questions but they could wait. For now, she stayed focused on her goals. Don’t die, get stronger, get the hell out of the underground.

After around half an hour of walking, the passageway narrowed, and she found herself having to move her shoulders to the side in order to squeeze through. Kass thought about turning around then, but hesitated since she had already come so far.

After a few more minutes of shimmying through, she finally spotted another cavern opening. She made it to the edge and sent her light out so she could scout the new area. What she found surprised even her.

She was standing in a crack in the wall about twenty feet off the ground and from her vantage point she looked upon some sort of ancient ruins. Kass figured this cavern was even bigger than the last one. Pillars and more pillars lined the unnaturally straight walls below, with unlit braziers placed in between them.

Most of the pillars were cracked and crumbling, others collapsed completely and lay in a pile of rubble. There were buildings too, spread throughout the cavern with a cobblestone road between them. Most looked to be in the same state of disrepair. Every roof caved in, walls missing, and it seemed to Kass that a lot of the stone was blackened from fire. Looks like some sort of creepy village.

She took it all in quickly, and then her orb of light illuminated another building farther back. This one was much larger than the rest and made of a darker stone. It was built above the others, the floor almost at eye level with Kass, with stone steps leading up to it. It too had pillars that lined its perimeter, holding up the roof that was surprisingly still intact.

To Kass, it looked like something the ancient Greeks would have built. Although less grandiose and more menacing. She could just make out the creepy looking statues spread out on the roof. It made her shiver and she blinked away the images.

Movement caught her eye and startled her, still thinking of evil gargoyle statues trying to eat her. What she saw instead was...equally terrifying.

Within the broken buildings stood what could only be described as a mostly decayed corpse. Bone shone through the torn clothing and in other areas where the skin had sloughed off. Only chunks here and there remained of the darkened flesh.

The thing turned its head and Kass got a glimpse of its white glowing eyes. Another shiver shot through her and she backed away from the edge and back into the narrow tunnel.

“Breathe K. Just breathe,” she whispered to herself. “It didn’t see you…” Once she calmed down a bit she thought about what to do next. It was either going down there or going all the way back, and into the other tunnel where the Jagursaw had been.

You can’t keep running away from everything that scares you...that’s not going to work here like it did back home. You need to get stronger.

“What do you think Whisper? Think we have a shot?”

“I am uncertain. We do not know the level of this monster, and there may be more.”

“So you saw it too?”

“Through you, yes.”

“Wait you can do that? Why am I always explaining what I’m seeing to you then?”

“I...do not know how. It could be that our connection has grown in our time together. Though that is just a speculation.”

“So like, our binding leveled up? I didn’t see anything that said that.”

“That is what I believe, though I do not know.”

“Well either way this is going to be helpful. So what do you think we should do?”

“It is a difficult decision due to how fragile you are. One mistake could lead to our doom.”

“Yeah you’re right. Maybe I should have taken that skill that healed me a bit after battle…”

“Do not dwell on the past. Let us move onward. The only way for you to get stronger is to fight. So let us fight.”

“You sure about this, sword?”

“Quite. I believe in you Kassandra.”

The blade’s words penetrated the thick shell of self doubt Kass had built up, compromising her defenses. Like a bubble it popped and vanished, replaced with self worth and a sudden confidence.

“Yeah, you’re right, we can do this. I don’t know what that thing is down there, but I know we can kill it. Let’s go.”

Kass moved back to the edge and scanned once more the floor below. She didn’t see any movement this time though and focused her attention on how she was going to get down there.

She found a pillar almost directly below her, still mostly intact. She guessed it was about eight feet down. Not bad. That’s doable. From there she could hang from the edge and drop down to the ground. If it holds my weight that is...looks a bit...unsturdy.

Without any other options available she went for it. She slowly lowered herself down from the crack in the wall and then dropped to the pillar. She landed and was relieved when it took her weight.

She copied the maneuver and dropped from the pillar to the ground, trying not to make too much noise as well as not break her ankles at the same time. Once on the ground she moved to the nearest brazier to hide behind.

Nothing seemed to have noticed her, and after waiting a full minute she figured it was safe enough. She stepped out from behind cover and moved quickly to the side of one of the stone buildings, put her back to it and listening for any sounds around her.

She noticed a faint clacking sound coming from the street to her left along with the occasional scuffle. Sounds like just one. There’s got to be more than one down here, right? She crept quietly to the edge of the building and peered around the corner, her orb of light still floating above to illuminate the area.

There it stood, unmoving. The clacking noise continued though, but she could tell it was coming from the monster. Now that she was closer she could make out the finer details, like the claws that extended from its fingers. Those don’t look dangerous at all…

It was facing away from her,and Kass looked at its skull that was partially crushed and covered with patches of hair. It was terrifying, but this time she didn’t back down. She had to be strong, had to fight. If anything, she was stubborn, and she wouldn’t let herself run this time.

Kass used her identify skill.

Crypt Ghoul

Level Unknown

Health Unknown

Weaknesses: Unknown

Abilities: Unknown

Undead.

As if I didn’t already know it was undead… She took a deep breath and as carefully as she could she drew Whisper from its sheath and moved out from behind the building, glancing around her to make sure there weren’t any other ghouls to surprise her. She didn’t see anything and so she continued, sneaking up behind the immobile creature.

When Kass was just a few feet behind the thing, the clacking suddenly stopped. It was so abrupt that she too paused, staying completely still. The ghoul rotated its upper torso in a wide arc for a second, as if it were hula hooping with its shoulders, and then went still once more.

Still freaked out by what just happened and still standing in the middle of the street, she stepped closer. Another two steps and she was in striking range. Kass wondered where would be the best place to slash this thing, and decided that a diagonal cut from shoulder to hip would be best. As long as she could cut clean through…

Whisper is sharp enough. It’ll cut. Don’t want to chop off the head only to have the thing’s body still run at me like in every movie ever…

With quick movements Kass brought the sword over her head and drove it down at an angle. The blade connected and sliced through the bone easily, her momentum still carrying it farther. In less than a second the body of the ghoul fell to the ground, bisected.

She wasn’t too surprised when the body still twitched and moved, especially the half the head was on. The ghoul opened its mouth and began to screech but Kass silenced it with a thrust to the skull. The light disappearing from the monster’s eyes.

Okay so the head then. I guess I’ve left Jurassic Park and entered the zombie apocalypse. Great.

Nothing seemed to have been alerted and so she moved back to the building she started at and took a quick at her log.

*You have entered Saulthron’s Crypt

*You have successfully identified Crypt Ghoul

*You have defeated Crypt Ghoul level 64.

Level 64, so not too strong then, that’s good. She didn’t doubt the thing could have torn her to bits, but it was still something that she was close in level to the creature. She didn’t know how much of a difference each level made, especially for monsters, but she was definitely more comfortable fighting something closer to her own level at this point. Although I didn’t get a level up from that...not even bonus experience. Hmm…

She stepped out once again from the building and worked her way down the street, listening for the telltale clacking sounds. It didn’t take long to find another ghoul, this one shuffling back and forth across the road parallel to where the other had been, just a bit further down.

With a more active target Kass wasn’t sure what to do. She could dash in and slash at the things skull to try and kill it quickly, but she didn’t want to waste mana. At least not yet. Guess I’ll have to move quick while it’s facing away from me.

She waited for the right time, and when the monster turned to cross to the other side, she moved in behind it. She was almost to where she needed to be when she accidentally kicked a small pebble, sending it rolling across the ground. The ghoul stopped cold and snapped its head back unnaturally to look at her.

It too began to screech and Kass lunged at it then, driving the sword through its open mouth and out the other side. Sound still escaped it though before the light left its eyes, and Kass knew that couldn’t have been good. She waited a few seconds, unmoving, blade still sticking through the head of the ghoul that had collapsed to the floor.

Nothing happened. She released the breath she had been holding and slid the blade free, a dark ooze dripping from it. After wiping off the goo she was about to resheath Whisper when a screech cut through the cavern. It came from a few buildings over and Kass looked in that direction, stunned.

Another screech soon answered the first. Then another, and another. The sounds came from all around her and Kass knew she was in major trouble.

Nowhere to run… gotta fight.

“You ready Whisper? I have a feeling this is going to get ugly…”

“I am with you. Let us cleanse the world of these foul creatures.”