Luc opened his mouth, ready to call Bones back. However, a noise stopped him – a wheezing, half-croak, barely audible. Keeping a safe distance away, Luc tossed a glowing mushroom towards the eyes. As light illuminated the area, Luc saw that the toad monster was sprawled on the floor, tongue hanging out the side of its mouth. Red blood trickled down its chin, and ragged breaths shook its chest.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Luc turned to go. But before he did, a thought came to mind. Since the monster is close to death, I should be able to control it with [Kneel], right?

Curiosity getting the better of him, Luc turned back to the toad monster.

“[Kneel].”

/

[Kneel] was successful.

The now familiar pain pulsed through Luc’s head. Having gotten used to the feeling, he managed to bear it with just a small grimace. In front of him, the toad monster had struggled to its feet, dipping its head towards him in a bow. Closing his eyes for a moment, Luc saw the toad monster’s Status displayed in front of him.

/

Name:

Species: Bladetoad

Titles:

Bloodline Skills:

[Blade Tongue]: Harden the tongue to the strength and sharpness of a metal blade.

Skills:

[Harpoon]: Shoot the hardened tongue forward with enough speed to pierce stone.

At least this monster seems more useful than the last two. A second Status message popped up in front of Luc, making him jump.

/

Will you name your new subject?

Luc thought for a moment, waiting for the spark of inspiration to hit him. As usual, it never did. Scowling, Luc resorted to reaching into his usual bag of trite names.

“Your name is Hopper.”

An aura of white light surrounded the toad monster, wrapping it in a sphere of brightness. Using an arm to shield his face, Luc turned away and waited for the ball of white light to pulsate and explode, as it had with Bones.

/

Hopper is evolving! Dictate the evolution of your follower:

Toxitoad Swordstoad Armortoad

Luc frowned. That’s new. Judging by the way it’s worded, it must be because I leveled up [The Inseverable Bond]. Tapping his chin, Luc glanced over the options. There wasn’t any more information about the evolutions, so Luc didn’t have much to base his decision off of. But there was one ability he was looking for that would maximize his chances of making it out of this place alive.

The ability to kill monsters.

“Swordstoad,” said Luc.

The ball of swirling white light that surrounded Hopper expanded and contracted. Then, it detonated, sending air rushing past Luc. Shielding his face, Luc watched as the light faded from the tunnel. Where the ball of light had been, Hopper knelt on one knee. At first glance, Luc saw that the toad monster had gotten a lot slimmer than before. It had grown to about three feet tall and was about half as wide as before. Instead of walking on four feet, it now balanced on two. Its skin remained the same grayish hue, blending in with the rock, as did the swirly black pattern on its back. Closing his eyes, Luc viewed its new Status.

/

Name: Hopper

Species: Swordstoad

Titles:

{The Emperor’s Subject}: All skills powered up when in proximity of the Emperor.

Bloodline Skills:

[Blade Tongue]: Harden the tongue to the strength and sharpness of a metal blade. [Tonguesword]: Wield the hardened tongue as a sword.

Skills:

[Harpoon]: Shoot the hardened tongue forward with enough speed to pierce stone.

Standing there, Luc felt an immense pressure weighing down on his mind. Wincing, he opened his eyes and looked at the white words floating above Hopper’s head:

/

Name: Hopper

Species: Swordstoad

Evolution: 0%

Loyalty: 7%

Seven percent Loyalty? It seemed that his hypothesis about Loyalty determining his ease of control of the monsters was correct. He desperately wanted to try to increase the Loyalty of Hopper, but with his current level of stamina, he reckoned that it would not end well.

“Into the pendant,” said Luc, trying his best to stay on his feet.

Hopper half walked, half hopped his way towards the pendant, which opened into the circle of white mist. As soon as the monster hopped in, Luc felt the pressure recede, and he could stand up straight again.

/

[Kneel] Level 3 learned!

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Luc took another glance around the tunnel. The glow of the mushrooms had started to fade, and he couldn’t see what was hidden in the darkness of the tunnel. Taking one of the remaining mushrooms, he hurled it as far as he could into the darkness. It smacked into a rocky wall a distance away and fell limply to the ground.

Seems like this cavern isn’t as big as I thought. Luc remembered Faro’s words about how there was only one true path among many dead ends. From the toad monster to the observed size of the chamber, Luc reckoned that this was one of those dead ends. That means that the other tunnel is the correct way to go.

Satisfied with his deductions, Luc headed out of the cavern and began the long trek back. The walk back to the rest of the team was longer than expected. Maybe it was because of his fatigue, maybe it was because of his poor timekeeping. Either way, by the time Luc reached the others, he was out of breath and sweating.

“Do you have any idea how long you were gone?” Tissa roared as soon as Luc entered the clearing.

Luc glanced around. Faro and Rith were sitting by a clump of glowing mushrooms, immediately rushing up to him when he arrived. Tissa had been pacing back and forth, practicing his lance movements. Gray stood far away from the others, silent and still.

“A-are you okay?” asked Rith, eyes flying down to the bloody hole in Luc’s tunic.

“Shut up!’ said Tissa, shoving Rith aside. He grabbed Luc by the collar, nearly lifting him off his feet. “You were gone for two hours. Two whole hours! Are you trying to make us fail the Gauntlet?”

Luc sneered. “Unhand me, peasant. Unlike you, I’ve made progress towards getting us out of this dump in the past two hours.”

Tissa glared at Luc for a long moment. Then he released Luc’s tunic and walked away, muttering to himself.

“You have found the path?” asked Faro, not looking hurried in the slightest.

Luc nodded.

Faro gave him a long look. Then he placed a hand on Luc’s shoulder before turning to face the rest of the team.

“Prepare to leave!”

Preparations were done in an instant, as none of them carried much more than what was on their backs. As soon as they were ready to leave, Luc began leading them into the Chasm. Even though the team remained silent as they walked, just having other people alongside made the trip a lot shorter than before for Luc. Before he knew it, they were standing in front of the two tunnels once more.

“It’s the right entrance,” said Luc.

Faro walked up to his side and glanced between the two, tapping his chin.

“Are you sure?” asked Tissa, narrowing his eyes. “How do we know you’re not making this up?”

Luc ignored him. I don’t have to respond to those below me.

“Hey!” said Tissa, walking up to Luc. “I don’t like the way you act!”

Faro stepped in between them, holding up his arms. “Must I remind you that you are being evaluated right now?”

At that, Tissa stepped back, but not before sparing a glance of contempt in Luc’s direction.

“We will listen to the Scout,” said Faro. “As members of the same exploration team, we must have full trust in each other.”

Picking up a clump of glowing mushrooms, Faro gestured at the others to do the same. When they had all done so, the five of them entered the right tunnel. As they entered, Luc noticed that the chamber was a lot larger than the one on the left. The stalactites that had been so prevalent on the other side where nowhere to be seen. Ahead, Luc could hear a rhythmic sloshing sound.

“What is that?” asked Tissa, glancing around. “Is there a lake?”

Luc tossed one of his mushrooms ahead. It bounced several times on the ground before plopping into what looked like dark, murky water.

“Looks like it,” said Luc.

“What do you mean ‘looks like it’?” said Tissa. “I thought you explored this place!”

Luc ignored him once again.

“Don’t ignore me!” shouted Tissa, storming towards Luc.

Faro halted him with a hand, placing a finger to his lips. He walked forwards to the body of water, closing his eyes and inhaling, holding his breath. For a moment, all was still, besides the faint sloshing of water.

Wait, thought Luc. The sound isn’t the same.

The sloshing was the same as before, the rhythmic back and forth movement of water brushing against the shore. But now, Luc realized he had two pressing questions. First, what was causing the back and forth movement of water underground? And second, what was the faint dripping sound he heard alongside the sloshing?

“Get out!” screamed Faro, breaking the silence. “Hurry!”

Before Luc could react, a monstrous tentacle, as thick as a tree trunk, slammed down on top of Faro. The ground shook with the impact, knocking Luc onto the ground. Lifting his head, Luc saw as the tentacle retracted into the water, sliding into the murky darkness with a splash.

Underneath the tentacle, where Faro had been standing, was nothing but a smear of red.