“May I?” Rielle asked, waving an arm at the Lesser Plated Demon that was sitting cross-legged in front of the broken door that led into the Dungeon. Its rusted sword lay over its lap as it waited in the center of a circle of around twelve pudgy little Squash Demons. The little larval-form demons were slapping at its armored plates anywhere they could reach and seemed to do little, if anything, to bother it.

Colin nodded, curious himself how she’d dispatch these things. Especially since the Golem’s started invading the city, Rielle had been acting more as a skirmisher and support with little chance to shine in her own right. This wasn’t going to be a challenge, skill-wise, for her; that didn’t mean that he did not want to see her style.

Putting away her bow, Rielle drew her sword and stepped ahead of Larry with Paladin staying next to the Incubus.

When she got to around ten meters away from the mass of bodies, the Lesser Plated Demon looked up at her and took the sword from its lap as it stood. Its exoskeletal frame chittered and scratched as it stood, with the plated and segmented tail kept the Squash Demons back as it gained its footing.

The dozen-ish little Demon’s around it backed away in a hurry as the Lesser Plated Demon turned its head back towards one of them and barked out a short phrase in its three-pronged tongue. From his distance, Colin couldn’t tell what they said, but something about the words turned in his brain; maybe it had something to do with his Demonology Skill? Either way, he watched with Mythic Xiphos drawn, just in case.

All of the Squash Demons fled from the area, their half-hopping gait comical as they fled the area. The Demon saluted the young Fey woman before it with its raised sword, then lowered it into a ready stance. Rielle did the same, but the moment her sword fell to the ready position, she spoke quietly and reverently. “Spirits, I ask one of thee to possess my sword and allow my mana to fuel your existence for a time.”

As she spoke, the Lesser Plate Demon approached, still as slow as Colin remembered but still as well defended. It kept its sword raised in the ready position as it moved forward, its dark exoskeleton catching the light that the torches around them gave off.

After long moments, the Death Fey’s sword edge ignited into a sharpened line of pale blue light that dripped with sparks. The hum of power that came from it was rather ominous as well, but he grinned at the sight of it.

“What is that-?” Paladin started before Rielle closed the distance between herself and the Demon.

Their blades clashed, a flash of white-blue light radiating from the attack, and the Demon pulled back. With room to move, it whipped its sword around a few times, using its reach and momentum, not to mention its own weight advantage to overpower her. It was almost laughable how easily Rielle would deflect an attack, move with it, and be ready for the next attack. An aspect of her Rogue Class in action.

Again and again, the light show occurred until the Lesser Plated Demon took several extra steps back. It looked down at its weapon and dropped it to the floor, the already uncared-for weapon breaking in half upon hitting the ground.

Rielle’s glowing sword edge never abated as she walked forward. With the Demon now disarmed, she wasn’t sure what to expect from it. But with the enhancement to her attack, if she got a direct and critical hit, it might be able to kill it now. Her MP was falling slowly as she maintained the effect, but she would have to lower it soon.

Activating a One-handed sword technique, she said, “Shear,” and stepped into the Lesser Plated Demon’s range. Her arms moved with purpose as she pulled the sword back, and mana was poured into the activation cost for the technique. The swing was wide, but she hoped that the Demon would step into the attack since she was doing something similar to it.

Right before she truly committed to the attack, Rielle also added her Heavenly Blight to the attack, trying to maximize the damage if it hit.

The Demon screeched at her as it widened its carapace-covered fingers and released talons that were ready to tear. It stepped into the swing just before its enemy’s sword ignited with green-gold fire, and it was too late. Her blow met it mid-chest and did not stop cutting as her full-powered attack ripped through it like its exoskeleton was aluminum foil.

Now Larry was gawking at the Death Fey, “how in Heaven’s Flying Circus did she do that?”

Colin looked at his Familiar and grinned, “what? She never told you her subclass?”

Nox’s cackling could be heard from inside Colin’s shadow, and the Antagonist himself couldn’t help himself and joined in. Seconds passed before Paladin shook his head and raised his hand to get Colin’s attention and hopefully get them to calm down. The man calmed down as Rielle walked back and was cleaning the Demon blood from her sword before resheathing it.

“What’s going on?” she asked, perplexed at Colin’s mirth. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, nothing wrong. In fact, you did so well that these two are stumped. They have no idea what you did or how,” Colin said, gesturing to both the Incubus and Sumo. “Would you like to explain or leave them in the dark? Your choice.”

Rielle gave Colin a little side-eye as she turned to the two newer members of the group. “I don’t mind sharing. I have no idea why Walker thought that was funny, but I’ll put his strange sense of humor aside for now. I chose the Druid Subclass,” she stated, as she mentally opened her menu. “This will be easier than explaining,” she said, willing a screen to appear before all three men’s eyes.

The Druid Class.

Many in the world find that the ways of the more civilized places just do not fit in with them on a spiritual level. The reasons for this may vary. Some find peace in natural areas, some understand the natural realms easier than the civilized ones, and others simply are drawn to the power that nature offers. In any case, the Druid path offers the path of Shamans, Witch Doctors, and Spirit Callers. The power of the natural world is waiting for those who can claim it.

“Might as well show you this too,” Rielle said, sending another screen before anyone could question her powers.

Spirit’s Plea Level 3. With a minor exertion of mana, application of will, and application of prayer, a Spirit may come and help. Spirits are not servants, Familiars, or monsters; they are extensions of nature and embody nature in its many forms but are generally invisible to the naked eye. With this Skill, you put out a call to the surroundings and ask if there is a Spirit that can help you and is willing to assist.

There are many kinds of Spirits with various levels of power, and any can answer your Plea if they can help. Be warned that most will have an actual personality if they are above a certain level. They will take offense if you ask for help with something abhorrent or lie about your purpose.

Three things must be present for the Plea to work. Mana to draw the Spirit, A force of will designating your purpose, and a vessel for the Spirit to inhabit. Some Spirits are not picky and will not require a vessel attuned to their power or element. While others will need it, be warned that an optimal Spirit may not come if you do not have an appropriate Vessel.

Minimum Mana/ Second used until Spirit arrives: 1/sec.

Maximum Mana/ Second that can be used until Spirit arrives: 3/sec.

Chance of Calling a Least level Spirit: 100%

Chance of Calling a Lesser Level Spirit: 3%

Mana per second cost depends on the Spirit that answers the call, and you can always turn the Spirit down without repercussion if the cost is too high.

“Holy Shit,” Larry said, reading the prompt and looking over Rielle in a new light. This is a great Skill; why have I not heard of this before?” the Demon asked curiously.

She shrugged, “it said something about the normal level restriction for this skill being lifted due to being one of the Fey,” Rielle explained, shrugging.

Paladin spoke next, “what about the free ability you also get with your subclass?”

“It’s called Spirit Pocket; it lets me store some willing Spirits in there for me to use again at a later date. They won’t stay forever if unused, but this little guy seems to like me so far,” Rielle said, gesturing at her sheathed sword.

“What kind of Spirit was that?” Colin asked. He’d known about her new powers since she’d gotten them before the whole Golem Invasion started, and he’d let her decide what she wanted. After doing the research for a week, she decided to go with Druid on her own. After seeing what she could do, Colin could only admit that it was a good choice.

“It’s a Lesser Astral Spirit,” Rielle answered, patting her sheathed sword. “Apparently, it’s fine with almost any Non-elementally attuned vessel.”

“Interesting,” Paladin said, looking at the liquifying halves of the Lesser Plated Demon. “It certainly is effective.”

She nodded, “I’m almost at level 15, so I am hoping to get something good to enhance it further.”

“Alright, you guys. We better get moving,” Colin said, getting everyone back on track. “Rielle, good job, but let’s keep focussing on progression. We can’t forget about your Heavenly Blight Skill, okay? I have a strong feeling about that Skill.”

She nodded and went to her usual place in the formation, towards the back with her bow drawn and ready. Colin took his place behind the tanks, with Larry the disposable in front and Paladin behind and to his side. Prepared to assist if necessary.

It was in this order that the group walked through the broken front door and into the lobby of the Fortress itself. Nothing had changed since the first time he was here, with the long passageway before them leading to a barred wall with an open door. Next to the door stood a Squash Demon with a Spine Whip that it was waving around.

Colin remembered that Asshole. An instant of phantom pain on his bicep from that sting made him grumble and just blast the Demon from afar. A single Ice Shard later and the Demon slumped over with a frozen hole in its chest. He ignored the damage notification simply because the number was so small it was almost insignificant.

A howl echoed as Larry passed through the opening to a passage that Colin remembered with fondness. It was here that he’d gotten his Assassination Skill and spent time getting experience and grinding that Skill. The empty receptionist desk was still there to the left; multiple doors going to nearby offices and storerooms were on the left and right. The only new feature was the Juvenile Dracowolf just right of where they entered.

This Demon stood around one-and-a-half meters tall, was covered in fur that was colored various shades of gray, and was leaning onto its over-long arms as it howled. Colin knew from previous experience that its underside was covered in hard scales. When it opened its eyes from the howl, its red eyes practically glowed in the perfect Dungeon illumination.

It backed at them once before sprinting on all fours towards Larry, the first in the formation, and opened its jaws wide at him. Its large teeth met only a HellRime shield as Larry conjured a thin buckler that shattered after the initial impact. The Dracowolf crumpled to the floor in a whining heap for a long moment while Larry summoned a more respectable triangular shield and smashed it down on the dracowolf face.

The Demon let out a growl as it scrambled to get away from the attacks attempting to end it, only to find another two impacting it. One was an arrow from Rielle that hit it square in the chest, and the other was a Force Bolt spell that slammed right into its scaly gut. The Demon died moments later, and again he dismissed the experience info without looking. Without a skill level up, this low amount of experience was not worth even looking for.

“Everyone, let’s take a quick look around to make sure we’ve properly looted the area,” Colin told them, starting his search at the nearest door. Opening it to find nothing of real value beyond cleaning supplies. Everyone else did the same, returning a few minutes later with little more than a few Copper Bits that was someone’s pocket change.

There were two doors that they could use to move forward, left or right. Other than what laid beyond them, that was all that was different beyond them. The last time Colin was here, he had managed to explore most, if not all, of this floor, and he knew Janaxi was here somewhere. Most likely warned by that Dracowolf’s howl.

So after a brief discussion with the other three, they all decided to go right. There was no real reason beyond a coin flip, essentially. All of them, including Nox, agreed that Janaxi was most likely waiting for him somewhere. But unless they knew where it was, it was pointless to think too hard about it.

To that end, Colin took the lead due to his Earth Magic subskill, Tremorsensing. The Skill would let him detect anything touching the ground within a specific range of him via Earth Magic, but it wasn’t that well developed yet. But they all agreed it was better than nothing, so Colin used it at the door. As usual, the Skill sent waves of Earth Magic into the ground underneath him that radiated out for the whole seven meters of its range. When the magic returned, Colin knew where everything was in the hall beyond the door and that it extended beyond the subskill’s reach.

Colin shook his head and then shrugged, the group understanding that he didn’t detect anything, but he still was not sure. Larry stepped in front of Colin, opened the door without hesitation, and stepped behind his shield to prepare for something happening. When nothing did, Larry observed the room beyond and shrugged.

“All clear, Master.”

“Good, let’s keep going,” Colin said, urging the Demon forward.

They kept advancing through the Fortress’s first level; everything they encountered was only small pieces of resistance. A trio of Squash Demons here, a Lesser Armored Demon there, A Dracowolf pouncing on Colin from the ceiling. All taken care of without much fuss.

The longer they went without seeing Janaxi or another named Demon, the more antsy Colin felt about this. The first floor wasn’t so big that there were many more places to hide for the faceless Demon, so what is he thinking. Was it possible that Colin himself was overthinking this, and Janaxi wasn’t just preparing a major ambush for Colin.

At least their search hadn’t left Colin and the gang without anything to show for their troubles. A bag of Caltrops, a ten-foot length of chain, a sealed jar of Lantern Oil, two doses of general-purpose Antitoxin, A bottle of ink and its brass quill, a box of matches, and even a full deck of playing cards. Most of what they had found was very mundane but could be helpful in the right situation. All were non-magical except the last item, which Paladin found after pulling out a desk drawer to look underneath it to see it strapped to the back.

Ring of Wise Choices. Weight: 10 grams. Item Quality: 8.

This Ring was considered the masterwork of a middling Enchanter who knew not what else to do than turn to his magic. This Ring supposedly turned his life around. No more gambling, drinking, and busty wenches from the nearby tavern for him was his new phrase. For three weeks, he supposedly made the best decisions that anyone would in his position.

At least until that Carriage ran him down.

This Ring increases the wearer’s wisdom score by two points and grants the ability Wisdom of Hindsight.

Wisdom of Hindsight Ability. Grants the user the ability to know if a choice will be a wise choice for him at the time or for at least the next 24 hours later. This ability does not work in combat, Dungeons, or for anything related to character choices.

Colin sighed. It was a good ring but not as useful as he had initially hoped. He still slipped on the Ring, given that it gave a bonus to his Wisdom Attribute. That boost would assist with several of his statuses passively, Like Mana Regen Rate and the Hubris Chance percentage.

That settled; Colin knew what was behind the final door of the first floor that laid in front of him. He’d seen beyond it once before when he completed this first floor with Rielle when he got the Skill Gem that gave him the Channel Effigy Skill. It was a good-sized room with a moderately large staircase that would lead down farther than Colin had seen yet of the Dungeon.

Colin activated Tremorsensing and swallowed as a cold sweat hit him.

“So, we have a problem,” Colin started, using Tremorsensing one more time to confirm the reading. “You know how we haven’t encountered more than a few Demon’s on this floor so far? Well, that just changed,” Colin told them.

“How bad is it?” Paladin asked.

“Well,” Colin started. “I got about a half dozen Lesser Armored Demons, over a dozen Dracowolves, over twenty of the Squash Demons, and those are just what my Skill can detect. I would be shocked if there weren’t a lot more beyond what I can detect, including the Roaming Boss and at least one named Demon.”

Paladin grinned, “I may not be an actual Paladin, but me and Larry here can take the brunt of the weaker ones without too much issue. And-”

“No!” Larry announced, turning to face the large human with rage-filled eyes. “No, I HAVE to suffer through the Master calling me Larry. I even allow his slave to call me that because she might as well be an extension of his will. But NO! Not you! You will call me Larrimortias, Mortias, or even by my last name of LaGrelle, but I will not have you call me-”

“Larry, knock it off,” Colin ordered him, grinning at the frustration on the Demon’s almost snarling face. “It’s just a nickname, nothing to be that pissed off about.”

The Demon took a deep breath before speaking, “Master. Calling me Larry makes me sound like I am some backwoods hick from the other side of the hills. I am a trained HellRime Knight, Hollow Incubus of the sixth circle, and I do not want word going around Hell saying that I like being called, ‘bleh,’ Larry.”

Colin sighed, then shook his head, “sorry, Larry. I cannot force Paladin to call you anything, and I will not ask him to. Just stop ranting about a nickname, and let’s move on. We have an ambush waiting to get to, and I have been thinking about this for some time, and I think I have a solution that will save us all a lot of trouble.”

“Master, be reasonable. I have been a good Familiar, have I not? I have literally died several times for you and your party. Can’t I get some kind of consideration for all the help I’ve given?” Larry pleaded, trying to get Colin to see reason.

Turning to Larry to stress his point, the Antagonist glared at his Familiar. “Do you remember why I started calling you Larry? I started calling you Larry because you acted like a dog who didn’t know when to eat or what to eat. No, until I believe that you have learned your lesson from this, I will continue to do what I believe will drive the point in. Which is to call you Larry, and maybe I’ll spread it around to other Demons as soon as I believe you didn’t learn your lesson. Do you understand?” Colin hissed.

After a moment, the Demon grumbled and stepped back from his Master, not going to pursue the subject further right now.

Turning back to the group as a whole again, Colin was about to speak when he noticed Paladin’s concerned look.

“What?” Colin asked.

Larry tried… to eat Rielle?” Paladin asked, giving the Demon a warning look.

“Yeah, but Walker took care of it,” Rielle assured him.

“Ooookay,” Paladin said, elongating the word to stress his thoughts on the matter.

“So, ready?” Colin asked everybody.

All members of the party nodded, with Larry being more enthusiastic than the rest. Guess he really needed to kill something. Colin could work with that.

In fact…

Colin smiled as the thought occurred to him of a new plan that Larry was uniquely suited for.

“Paladin, do you have any idea how much you can lift and throw?” Colin asked, his smile widening as the Sumo gave him a confused look.

“A lot, why?”

“We are going to go with Plan Y,” Colin said, thoroughly enjoying the confusion that everyone was projecting at him.

<><><><><>

Rielle pulled the door open as Paladin pulled back his arm and threw a fully HellRime armored Larry through the opening. The ice-covered Incubus missile through the door as the first three Juvenile Dracowolves pounced. Larry cannoned into them, knocking all three away like bowling pins and landing in the middle of a cluster of Lesser Plated Demons.

“Plan Yeet the Demon was a success!” Paladin announced. “Go!”

Colin, Rielle, and Paladin hurried into the room after his announcement and immediately started attacking. The Sumo ran over to keep Larry from being overwhelmed since several more of the demons were still coming. Rielle started focussing her Bow fire at any Demon that got too close to her or the Antagonist.

Pausing after killing a Squash Demon, he looked up and towards the back of the room where the stairs led down. Among a group of three other Demons, there stood Janaxi in his deep crimson robes with a smile being the only thing altering his visage. The smooth skin that covered his empty eye sockets and his smoothed-down nose only confirmed that it was the Demon.

Around him stood two Lesser Plated Demons, one wearing a tattered beige cloak that Colin recognized and the other wielding an Estoc and buckler. The last was a Squash Demon wearing a starry sky robe and holding a wand in each hand that dribbled prismatic sparks.

With the Demon’s streaming around his Party, Colin announced the spell, “Burning Breath!” and opened his maw. A gout of fire escaped his mouth as he expelled the flames at as many of the demons encircling him as possible. The liquid flames stuck to a group of Demons around him, killing a few Squash Demons.

“You know what?!” Janaxi announced, glee filling his voice. “I don’t think I can wait until the riff-raff tires you out. Mamon’s Coils!” he shouted, conjuring a writhing staff and slamming it into the ground.

Three coils of burning black barbed wire sprang out of the ground and grabbed at Colin’s limbs, limiting his movement as both his legs and his sword arm were wrapped up.

You have taken 5 points of damage and now have 549/600 health remaining. You are suffering from Binding Greed. You have been rooted and take 5 points of damage every five seconds until either the spell wears off or you break loose.

“The rest of you, Go!” Janaxi ordered, gesturing towards the group with the disturbing staff in its hand.

The Squash Demon and the two unique Lesser Armored Demons started to move in to join the battle. The cloaked Plated Demon moved towards Larry, who was taking on two of its less special Brethren. The Squash Demon with the Wands rushed towards Colin, hopping forward, going from one foot to the other in a weird gait. The Estoc and Buckler wielding Lesser Plated Demon was intercepted by Paladin, who immediately took a thrust when the Demon attacked.

The Squash Demon raised one of its wands dramatically at Colin, a beam of red light pouring from one of the wands. Being restrained, Colin took the attack but was astounded at what happened.

You have taken 68 points of damage and now have 506/600 health remaining. You are now suffering from the ailment, Red Light Athema. All Infernal Damage deals an additional 50% Damage for the next 3 minutes.

Colin took a quick look at the amount of Damage that Mamon’s Coils was dealing, and it had suddenly bumped up to seven points instead of five.

You have taken 7 points of damage and now have 492/600 remaining.

Colin pointed his free hand at the wand-wielding Squash Demon and announced, “Shadow Bolt!” and a shaft of solid shadow flew towards the Demon. The annoying little thing had the audacity to bounce to the side, making Colin’s spell miss. Spell after spell, Colin fired and missed at the dancing Squash Demon.

Janaxi had shifted his attention to Paladin, trying to slow the other Outworlder down to allow the named Demon a chance to kill him. Larry was dueling with the other Lesser Plated Demon and was matching it with reasonable ease.

“Rielle, Heavenly Blight this thing!” Colin told her, to which she complied without hesitation. The prancing Demon lit up with Heavenly Blight; it screamed and fell back onto its backside in surprise. With it unable to dodge, Colin hit it with several Ice Shard spells until it stopped moving.

You have taken 7 points of damage and now have 471/600 health remaining.

“Shit!” Colin yelled, unable to break free from the Coils that were holding him still. Yet another type of spell he needed to create when he had room for another spell in his books. He needed a way to break these sorts of things in the future.

Colin took his Mythic Xiphos from his main hand and started swinging it at the coil binding him. Sawing at the hell metal, Colin cut through one, then moved onto the other.

Larry swung the frozen sword in his hand, catching the Lesser Plated Demon’s weapon on his own before twisting it around. Then he shoved the shield in his other hand and punched the Plated Demon back. When the Plated Demon was forced a step back, Larry stepped in and thrust his HellRime Blade into the Demon’s neck.

In the meantime, Paladin was being more agile than he had any right to be, dodging the Estoc and grabbing the blade with the orange power of his Ki. With little effort, he snapped the thin blade and slammed the Lesser Plated Demon’s head with his palm. The attack might as well have been a bitch slap because it was knocked away, and its head shattered with his massive slap.

“Fuck you!” Janaxi screamed as he slammed his staff into the ground several times. “I’ll get you on the next floor, your rotten fucking mortals!” he cursed, turning and fleeing down the stairs, with little care for the few Demons that were quickly getting picked off by Rielle.

Congratulations! Your party has killed 7 Lesser Plated Demons, 14 Juvenile Dracowolves, and 27 Squash Demons and have gained 2035 EXP. You now have 102,358/256,914 until level 21. You have killed three different named enemies and have gained 1327 EXP. You now have 103,685/256,914 until level 21. Your Water Magic Manipulation Skill is now Level 8. Your Short Blades Skill is now Level 10. Your damage, attack speed, and reaction time with short blades has increased by a small margin. You can now craft techniques for your Short Blades. Your Ravenous Mythic Xiphos has gained enough experience to attain level 11. The minimum and maximum damage has increased. Your summoning Magic Skill is now level 6. The available options for free and directed summons have increased. Your Summon Familiar subskill is now level 6. The capabilities of your familiar have increased by a small margin. Resummon time decreased to 94 minutes.

“Oh, hey. My Heavenly Blight skill leveled up,” Rielle chirped happily.

“Awesome,” Colin said, looking at his own gains one more time before dismissing it. “What level?”

“Ten,” she answered, staring into space as if reading something.

Colin couldn’t help but crack a small smile. “Get anything good?”

“Actually, yes. The mana efficiency went up, not by much, it’s only a mana less per second, but still, it’s helpful,” she said, dismissing the prompt and going through more of her prompts.

Colin nodded, trying not to think too hard about someone else’s build. If this was just the start of the trend, and her mana efficiency with the Skill rose every ten levels, that would make it easier and easier to use. This Skill, in his opinion, was her ticket to being the strongest member of his party once it got high enough. Instead of voicing that to not influence her character build too much, Colin burned to the bleeding Sumo. “How’re you doing, Paladin?” He asked.

“A little banged up but not bad. My accelerated healing will fix me up, so I’ll be good in a minute or five,” Paladin told him, waving off Colin’s concerns. “How’re you? You look a little beat to Hell,” Paladin stated, looking Colin up and down.

Colin shrugged, “same as you, I guess. Larry?!” Colin called out, watching as Larry threw up a fist then gave Colin a thumbs up. “Awesome.”

“We’re going to take a short break to heal up before we go down to the next floor. Around twenty minutes, then, we’ll continue,” Colin told them, watching as the bodies of the monsters melt into a black-red fluid. Oozing together until it became one congealed mass that condensed into an orb. The dropbox from a battle like this would be pretty intense, Colin thought as he stared at the item.

“Ugh, five minutes,” Colin told himself as he sat down and just breathed. The dropbox could wait five minutes.