I huffed out a tired breath, angrily kicking the dead monster in front of me. The armored carapace blunting my foot as much as it had my damn staff attacks. I had been forced to use the cannon to kill the creature, which pissed me off.

The stupid monster was only level eight but my limited mobility had hampered my usual fighting style and prevented me from cracking it open through sheer might. Even my elemental powers had been useless. The creature’s tough stone armor radiated heat making lava attacks useless, my main go-to for dealing with heavily armored foes. But the pure magic of my cannon speared through the creature like a hot knife through butter as well as the stone behind the creature.

The resulting damage had left a haze of smoke and rock in the air and left my ears ringing. I made a mental note to add some sort of power selector to the cannon, this was overkill for most things. For now, I only charged the gem up twenty percent. I looted the creature and got back to jogging down the tunnel. I still had three days to go until I reached the fortress.

***

“You lost him?” Miss Farley said in annoyance.

“Apologies Mam, he slipped away while we were distracted by the aftermath of the battle.”

“Any reports from the guards at the wall or the ones watching his flying device?”

“No, mam. He did not leave the city as far as we are aware. And the people at the landing site have not been able to gain entrance to the vehicle.”

Annabelle Farley tapped her hand on the table. It was risky to try and gain entry to the obviously magical construct but it couldn’t be helped. The council demanded to know what it was and what it was capable of. The fact that she didn’t know disturbed her and was part of the reason she didn’t push against attempts to gain entry, not that she had much say in the matter. If it came down to it, the Mohai would use their earth magic to get inside.

As for the man himself she had no doubt where he had gone. The fact that he so easily slipped away was annoying and gave her another black mark in the eyes of the council. If she kept screwing up to this degree she might as well flee the town. The council didn’t suffer fools long.

“It’s obvious Mr. Fuller has gone into the tunnel to retrieve his friends. It appears he doesn’t put much faith in our abilities or our promise to keep them safe. Send word to Mid Point and see if they can speed up their reunion. We don’t need someone of Mr. Fuller’s capabilities or influence on our bad side.”

“And if our other agents encounter him?”

“Observe at a distance, do not engage or follow out of the safe zones.”

“I will see to it right away,” the man responded, giving a respectful bow before he turned and left the room.

Annabelle deflated after the man left the room. Wrangling all these type-A personalities was worse than her previous job as an executive assistant. At least back then the men were only power-hungry and demanding. Now the men were power-hungry, powerful, and demanding. If she stepped wrong around these juggernauts they would squash her beneath their ambitions and not even realize nor care.

She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a small locked box. She popped it open and a tinkling of music started to play as the tiny ballerina started to twirl. She pulled the dancing figure out and slid the peg of the leg into an imperceptible hole in the side of the box. A small tray popped open revealing a small token.

Early on in the city's establishment, she had gotten Borlas to make her this teleportation token and a portable array. It had cost her her dignity but that wasn’t the first time she had paid using her body. She had hidden the target array in the basement of an abandoned house, somewhere to the West. Until now she had felt it safer in this box than on her person, in case the Council wanted to search her storage items. Which they had done on a few occasions. But now with everything falling apart, she wanted her escape route readily available. She had a feeling this whole plan to force Mr. Fuller to work for them would blow up spectacularly. And she didn’t want to be around to take the blame.

***

I finally arrived at the fortress. I was tired, dirty, and in a real shitty mood. I was allowed entry but there were more than a few looks of surprise at my solo entrance. I only noticed this because I was keeping my eyes open for those not surprised to see me. I spotted a few of those, noting their faces.

Wandering over to a quiet spot near the wall, I checked on the tracking stone. The arrow for Ska was fluctuating. I took that to mean he was getting closer. I sighed quietly. I was prepared to push on to Mid Point but I needed rest. I could still meet them in the tunnels after I rested.

I was startled awake by the sounds of the gate being opened. Even the occasional sounds of battle against the dewgon hadn’t woken me. I knew they only even opened the gate for travelers coming or going.

I stood up, shaking off the stiffness of sleep as a group of twelve people entered the fort. I spotted Ska immediately and felt my spirits lighten.

“Someone missed us,” a breathy voice whispered in my ear, followed by a breath of cold air and a chuckle.

I just rolled my eyes and whispered back. “Bout time, I was getting bored of waiting. Let’s find a quiet spot to have a chat.”

Ska bounded over, escaping the ring of people protecting him. The people looked over at me but didn’t approach. I watched them though, as they dispersed near the far side of the fort.

We walked until I was sure nobody was in earshot. Not that spells couldn’t pick up what we said, but I couldn’t make it any better… or could I?

I held up my hand, forestalling any conversation as I pulled out a sheet of paper and my magical pen and ink. I scribbled out a simple runic obfuscation spell and fed it mana. The sounds around us faded as everything took on a slightly blurry appearance.

“Ok, this should keep us from being overheard for a minute or so. First, I’m glad you two are ok. We can catch up later but right now we need to leave the fortress quietly and make our way down to that dungeon below.”

“Is that wise?” Fiona asked.

“Maybe not, but we need to get stronger, faster. There is no telling when the Black Dragon will strike at us again. And now that I can’t grow my hand back, I might be more of a liability in any further encounters.”

Fiona gasped at that revelation and Ska growled.

“Yes, we need more strength,” Ska stated.

Fiona let out an exasperated sigh but nodded as well.

“Good, split up and meet me at the Northern edge of this cavern. I will carve a way down.”

The three of us broke up as the sounds started coming back. There were some glares sent our way but nobody had been close enough to disrupt our conversation before we finished. I glared back at a few who had come towards us, causing them to back off.

It took me a little over an hour to sneak out of the fortress unnoticed. Stealth was not my strong suit and it had taken an attack of dewgon to free me from my observers.

Avoiding the critters had been easy as I simply flew high above them. When I landed at the far end of the deep scar in the Earth, Fiona and Ska were already there. I hadn’t even known Ska had managed to slip out yet.

“You’re slow,” Ska hissed in delight.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Just keep an eye out while I use my magic to carve stairs down.

It took two hours to mold the stone into a passable staircase to the bottom, or close enough to it that we wouldn’t die by falling.

Going all the way down would have been an issue as the entire floor was crawling with dewgon.

“There are far less than when I was last here,” Fiona said.

I nodded, “West Exit had a monster tide, caused by these bastards. I estimated at least half of the creatures, if not more, attacked the tunnel exit there.”

“You think we can take this many?”

“Normally, no but I learned a few things during the hours of fighting. And we only need to get to the dungeon. Come on, we don’t have much time before those idiots in the fortress realize we’re gone.”

I jumped down, my staff Imbued with ice and water. I killed the closest bugs with my staff then whipped out Stunning Gusts of freezing water. The insects that weren’t hit, skittered away from the zones of cold. It was much easier to control the insects down here than the ones that had mindlessly attacked the town. I figured it had something to do with that nesting drive, seeing as these weren’t all that aggressive… yet.

Ska dropped down beside me, flexing his claws.

“Stick close or they will overwhelm you quickly.”

He nodded, kicking away one of the more curious bugs. My ability to keep them away wasn’t perfect and a few still made their way through the warmer areas. I wasn’t too worried about a swarm. They seemed to be slowing down going by the time I had spent in the fortress. I figured we had another forty minutes to clear a path to the dungeon before the next swarm started. Being caught down here during that would not be good.

Knowing that, I left larger gaps between the cold spots. I alternated between Shockwave and Stunning Gust. Shockwave wasn’t as effective, it scattered the cold as it impacted, leaving a larger area of cold but it didn’t last very long.

We slowly crept toward the location that Fiona pointed out. The Northern end of the cavern above had been the closest we could get to the dungeon from above. It was tucked away below an outcropping of rock that ran for hundreds of meters. We got about two-thirds of the way to the dungeon when I realized we weren’t going to make it in time. There was no going back either, we would have to lay a fresh trail to block the monsters.

Ska hissed in agitation and I turned to look. The insects had all stopped moving, all except their antennae. Those were flicking back and forth in agitation.

“Shit, run for the dungeon!”

Ska didn’t have to be told twice as he sprinted across and through the bugs. They made no move to stop him as he smashed them aside. I ran behind watching the antennae flick faster and faster. Then those stopped as well. There was no pause or hesitation as the bugs swarmed toward the three of us.

“Ska, keep going,” I yelled, smashing bugs away as I took to the air. I had to kick a few clingers off me as I flapped frantically toward Ska. He hadn’t been able to make it to the entrance and was furiously fighting off the bugs.

I landed behind him. “Stay close, I'm going to use Eye of the Storm.”

He nodded, ducking his head as my mechanical hand made the staff blur above my head.

At first, the storm was a whiteout blizzard but that soon changed into deadly projectile ice that killed anything that got close. I exhaled and my breath came out as white vapor, telling me the temperature had dropped below freezing in the surrounding area. I canceled the spell and slammed the end of my staff down toward the dungeon, activating Disruption. A wave of rock and freezing ice shot up, scattering the bugs in our path.

“Go, now!”

Ska ran and Fiona and I were right behind him. We passed through a dark opening and I got a message.

You have entered The Swarm Tunnels: Level 13 dungeon. Recommended team size 4 people of level 16 or higher

I breathed out in relief. While we weren’t safe it was far better to be in here than outside surround by the dewgon. Or that’s what I hoped.

I could already hear the click of legs and the buzz as the first wave approached us.

Five human-sized dewgon with scythe-like appendages stomped up the tunnel with another fifteen of the smaller dewgon. That’s when I recalled the man at the fort saying they had only been fighting drones this whole time.

I hit Ska with a Healing Touch and got to work. We weren’t leaving this dungeon without a full set of attributes. And this time I had prepared.