Long shadows cast themselves around every corner, the buildings around us creaking ominously as leaves and mould-like vines waving in the wind appeared as enemies moving just out of sight.

I had to give it to them, Borant and the AI made sure that these alleys looked creepy and dangerous.

“Damn it, Ben! Stop killing all the things, we’re here for ME to grind!” Alexa shouted into the darkness, the little girl clearly not affected by the spooky ambiance.

“But they’re so easy, and this area is so great for my skills!” Ben said cheerily, equally unimpressed. “I’m killing so many creatures before they even realise I’m here!”

“Ben, we’re here to increase Alexa’s stats and skills.” I said. “Even if the mobs are easy, especially if they’re easy, you should scout to notify us of their presence but let Alexa take care of them.”

“Fine…” Ben sulked.

“Thanks, Darryl.” Alexa said.

Ben faded back into the shadows and we heard something die a minute later.

“Damn it, Ben!” Alexa said.

Ben: There were two, one incoming.

A boar-like humanoid with black antlers appeared from around the corner, roared when it saw me and got on all six before charging in. Given the narrow alleys, charging creatures were indeed quite dangerous around here.

I raised my shield to stop it, but Alexa jumped off my shoulder and flew at the creature.

“Alexa, sta-” I shouted.

Alexa did a barrel roll through the boar’s antlers and grabbed the long tufts of hair on its back. Her rapier appeared in her other hand and she stabbed into its spine.

The boar broke off its charge and started to buck and jump to get her off. Alexa squealed in delight as she planted her feet onto its back and held on, and I quickly rushed towards her and the monster that might try to smear her over the wall any moment now.

Alexa struggled but managed to pull the rapier back out, and stabbed again. Another sliver of the boar’s health faded, but it was going to take a while this way.

The same thing occurred to Alexa, because she flew up into the air. The boar bucked a few more times before realising she was gone, and stood up to face me. It bared its fangs to me and menacingly held out all four of its arms as if it was planning to grapple me. The bottom pair of arms had cloven hooves on them same as the creature’s feet, but the top pair of hands were thick and short-fingered human hands with long black nails.

Meh, I’ve seen worse.

Alexa flew down from her vantage point and rammed her rapier into the creature’s eye. This time she shaved off a lot more health, courtesy of using the rapier-enhancing skill that her outfit granted her. The boar shrieked and began thrashing again in a blind panic.

I realised I hadn’t checked what this thing was, and looked at the little information pop-up bubble hovering between its eyes.

Third-generation Tannaruk Demoar thin-blood

Level 9

Who doesn’t like demon summoning? Well, most people. In fact, they get quite miffed when someone even dares to do it in their general vicinity. But a few people do it regardless. A mad diabolist who just wants to wreak havoc, a noble seeking to cut inadvisable deals with demon lords, a desperate army that summons expendable shock troops to hold off an enemy they cannot defeat by themselves. One way or another, if people know how to summon demons then someone will be stupid enough to do it. And then be surprised when it blows up in their face!

Whenever demons are summoned into this world, they only intend to kill, eat, rape, pillage and then kill some more! Occasionally they spice things up with some desecration, but these tend to be a demon’s big 5 things to do on a road trip! What you’re looking at here is the result of option number 3, the outcome of a demoar getting it on with an orc and letting her live afterwards for whatever reason. Considering the average demoar’s appearance, I can assure you it wasn’t consensual! Then the demon-spawn had some kids of themselves, and those kids managed to get laid as well. That might sound like an impressive feat for creatures looking like this, until you learn that Tannaruk can also plough boars to produce offspring.

If they are naked, look and behave like animals and have four hooves, they’ve probably been raised by their boar mother. If they are naked, animalistic and have three hooves, then they’re the result of inbreeding. If they only have two hooves, someone must’ve cut off a limb or two.

I quickly dismissed the text as I heard Alexa scream, the AI continuing to narrate the text regardless. I could hear the shit-eating grin in their voice as they pitched it to be a bit louder and harder to tune out.

I quickly ran and grabbed the boar’s antlers as it tried to pounce on Alexa, her rapier still embedded into their eye. The boar had grabbed her and tossed her against the wall, but without my intervention it would’ve just rammed its horns against the wall where she was a second ago rather than squish her.

Still, I quickly pulled the boar back from her and pushed it against the opposite wall. Alexa shook her head and got back on her feet. Just being thrown against the wall sheared off half of her health, and she clearly looked disoriented.

The boar was struggling in my grip, but failed to shake itself loose. It punched and clawed at me, but its attacks were weak and fut-

I grunted as it angled itself more towards me and kicked me with its lower arms. Their second pair of arms were boar legs, but the damn creature could kick like a horse. Literally. I felt the dent where the boar managed to land a direct hit, and actually took some noticeable damage this time.

Then Alexa began to throw magic orbs at the mob, swinging her new magical schoolgirl sceptre wildly and summoning a red orb of light with every swing. The projectiles were about as fast as throwing darts and only did superficial damage when they splashed against a surface like raindrops, but there were a lot of them.

The boar struggled and screamed, but their health steadily diminished while I kept them in place.

“And one. Final. Smite!” Alexa said, raising her sceptre above her head as the crystal began to glow and then rise in intensity rapidly. She threw the orb at the boar with an overhead swing, and the orb shot out with enough light to leave an afterimage.

Alexa cursed loudly as the supercharged orb struck the pavement between the boar’s legs, and charged up again. She repeated the manoeuvre, but the dramatic part of the finisher was gone.

Darryl: Level 9 Third-generation Tannaruk Demoar thin-bloods.

Livia: Regular mobs, no need to worry. You’re not going to see any actual demons on this floor, unless it’s a production. Thin-bloods means that the mob is three generations separated from a full-blooded demon, with just mundane creatures diluting the bloodline. With three or more generations, it’s just a reference to the storyline serving as filler mobs for the quest-free ruins.

Livia: There’s a second generation thin-blood Neighbourhood Boss somewhere nearby spawning these things, but they need not be close. Mobs on the third floor are a lot more migratory than the ones from the tidy square neighbourhoods of the first two, so this mob could have travelled three neighbourhoods for all we know. If you run into the boss, they’re usually just a big brute with a greatsword or a club. Draw his attention while Alexa stays at least 15ft in the air, and you can fight him no problem.

Livia: On that matter. Alexa, dear…?

Alexa sighed and braced herself.

Livia: Don’t forget to change into your idol schoolgirl outfit before using your sceptre, okay? Your Quickling outfit buffs your speed and gives you a rapier skill, but it’s not doing much for your intelligence and flash orbs.

“I know. There just wasn’t time to transform.” Alexa said.

Livia: Darryl had a good hold on the demoar, and you need to train your transformation skill to make it go faster. This was a perfect time to do it.

Alexa couldn’t refute it, so she just grumbled under her breathe. “Stupid Rev-Up Manager CCTV skill, I bet that the other crawlers don’t have their managers breathing down their neck the entire time.”

Livia: Grumble a bit louder, dear. The viewers might not hear you like this. And be sure to clarify enough of our conversation for them to know what’s going on, they cannot see this chat. I think this rebelling against an overbearing manager act we’ve got going will work for most of your fans. I’ll be sure to act accordingly when we’re talking in person!

‘It’s not an act.’ Alexa mouthed to me, lips quirking a bit as she said it but otherwise kept her face straight. She pulled her rapier out of the boar’s eye and looted the two gold coins before I lifted up the body to loot it whole.

I wasn’t sure if Livia was acting, either. I knew that Alexa’s mild rebelling was genuine, but Livia’s behaviour predated Alexa’s and she claimed it to be an act after Alexa refused her and her ‘suggestions’.

I believed her claims about dismissing Thomas and Ben being false, if only because the chance of a weaker and newer team member convincing two party members to be kicked out of the group for the sake of views were slim to none.

Whether she truly suggmanded us to do that so that Alexa could refuse her and appear as a kind crawler who stuck up for her friends, as she claimed was her intent all along, was something everyone had doubts about. But her suggestions coming off as too strong and forceful and her believing that her suggestions were so good that we needn’t argue against them, sure, that might just be her personality.

But I wasn’t sure about the rest. In fact, I wasn’t sure that Livia knew either. Her real behaviour towards Alexa seemed to be very close to her act, if a bit warmer and more lenient. A little bit. I wonder how much was the real her vs her ‘act’, and if she knew where this line was herself.

“You guys weren’t done with that one yet?” Ben teased, rising from the ground after his shadow ran past us. “Because I already found you another one!”

“Alexa, behind me.” I said, looking at the boarman charging at us.

“I know his moves this time, I’ll…” Alexa said.

“I need to grind some things too.” I said.

Alexa shrugged and flew behind me, frowning as I turned my back to the boar.

I activated my Phantom Phalanx, and a moment later I staggered forwards as the boar rammed into me and took a good chunk of my health.

I quickly turned around, and saw that I spawned two phantoms this time. One hugging the corner to my left staring at the wall, and the other mirroring them to the right. Which allowed the boar to just run between them and attack me.

That one was on me, I guess. I knew the skill levelled up since the Excavator battle, I just hadn’t thought about what one more phantom entailed.

Alexa dropped down and stabbed her rapier into the boar’s eye, a tactic I was starting to think she really liked doing. This time however she quickly flew back up instead of overcommitting, and began to do a little dance while her figure turned into a night sky cut-out surrounded by bright colours on a pink background. Her old clothes disappeared and new ones popped into existence.

I grabbed the boar’s antlers again and this time I pushed it against one of my phantoms. Maybe the skill would level up if I used them to kill? Well, worth a shot. I began to repeatedly ram the boar’s head against my semi-permeable lime-green back, noting small cracks appearing as I kept bashing.

Well, it made sense that these phantoms weren’t completely invulnerable. In fact, it was probably better that they would slowly break down, instead of disappearing instantly once enough damage was dealt to them. Like this I would get a decent warning of when the enemies would break through.

I grunted as the boar began to horse kick me again, but fortunately the head bashing and constant ragged movements threw off its aim.

“Darryl, hold him still!” Alexa shouted.

Having learned from her mistakes, she floated closer as she held her overcharged wand over her head before throwing it down. The boar saw her coming and began to struggle more frantically to break loose, but I wasn’t letting go.

Shouldn’t have been born with such convenient handholds, kiddo.

One of the horns broke off and the boar managed to move out of the way before I could readjust my grip, and Alexa’s magic glanced off the boar’s neck and back leaving a shallow flesh wound. She cursed loudly and charged up to try again.

Instead of letting myself get kicked again, I took the boar off-guard as I pulled along with its struggles and pushed them onto the ground before putting my entire weight on its back. The boar struggled and bucked, and I had to take care not to be thrown off.

Livia: You might want to give up on those super-charged attacks, dear.

Alexa: But they look so cool!

Livia: You missed twice, the second time because of what might seem like sheer bad luck. At this point, the AI might want to make it a running gag that you always miss those when it would be cool. Best to leave them for now, train your aiming skills and try again later.

Alexa grumbled, but I already knew her well enough to know that this time she grumbled at Livia having a point, rather than being told what to do. She flew up higher and began transforming.

Livia: Alexa, dear. Use your rapier or sceptre, don’t…

Alexa finished her transformation and cannonballed down upon the boar with the full weight of her heavy armour, bouncing off the beastman’s thick head and taking more damage than the creature. Relatively, at least.

“Ouch. That wasn’t as fun and cool as I expected it to be.” Alexa said.

“Well, you can always get the achievement for beating an enemy with a severed part of themselves.” I said, holding the broken horn out to her.

Alexa’s eyes were shining as she took the makeshift club.