The Bearmole next to Gob roared the moment Curan pointed his torch at him. The human looked shocked. He barely managed to get a hold of the situation when the other monster leaped at him from the shadows.

Curan managed to step back in time and swung his sword at the creature, but the slash wasn’t lethal. The monster stood on two feet and tried to reach him with its huge claw like fingers. He tried to step back, but the only place he could go was the small passage behind him. As he stepped inside the traps set up in the walls sprung sending spikes at his direction.

In a dramatic attempt Curan dodged forward straight into giant beast claws. The Bearmole roared and tried to maul Curan to death, but he was too quick. With yet another slash he pierced the monster's skin.

The beast wailed in pain. Sudden shock made it swing its large arms in quick succession. Curan didn’t came out of this rampage unscathed. One of the hits pushed him on the ground. When he stood back up he realized that his torch was gone. He dropped it while falling.

Gob stood silently until the other bear rushed for Curan’s light. The bears seemed to be focused only on the torch. It gave Gob a moment to move and hide behind the altar. The bear closer to him looked at his direction, but then ignored him completely.

The altar reeked of ether. Whatever spell was cast here Gob wasn’t sure, but it did keep the monsters at bay. For now…

Curan rolled on the ground to keep the distance from the monsters, but it didn’t prove necessary. The bear that startled Gob was loudly roaring at the fire. It seemed to fear the flames. Meanwhile the other monster wounded by his attacks was trying to flee. Curan had just enough time to finish it.

As he now clearly saw the monster illuminated in the light from the dropped torch he approached it without fear. It was just a big bear living in the ground. The only difference from its above-ground counterpart was that it had giant mole claws for hands. It surely dug the tunnels they saw earlier.

Curan closed the remaining distance and targeted at the beast’s neck with a powerful strike. The Bearmole made a gurgling sound as the last breath of air left its lungs. As it fell down Curan’s sword tangled in the halfway cut corpse fell with it.

Curan cursed and grabbed the hilt, but in this very moment the other bear distracted by its companion death stomped on the torch leaving the dungeon in complete darkness.

As the light perished Gob was the first one to adapt to the sudden darkness. The Bearmole was frantically sniffing the air around himself. He must have been almost blind, as he seemed to rely on his sense of smell to move around.

Gob wanted to just run away, but the sudden sound of metal made him look at Curan. He was blinded by darkness trying to focus on the other bear whereabouts. His backpack was lost somewhere. Gob couldn’t tell if Curan could see anything at all.

The stench was terrible, but the Bearmole still found its way towards the human. He must have felt the scent of blood coming from the corpse. Gob could probably just leave the room. The bear was big, but he didn’t move too fast. He could outrun him.

As Curan flayed the sword in the air trying to face the unseen monster Gob pondered once more. What was to be gained? Should he endanger himself even more? He was meant to be sold. Why should he help this human now?

After he caged him. After he made him walk on traps?

He kept thinking. Meanwhile the Bearmole almost reached Curan.

“Sword to the left.”

As he spoke Curran moved his sword towards his voice missing the bear completely. He looked comical swinging in the dark.

“Too much. Try a little less.”

As Curan reached the proper direction the bear turned to face Gob. So it wasn’t deaf. While it slowly began to march towards the altar Gob asked.

“Why should I help?”

The bear was somewhere between them when Curan replied.

“I will give you freedom.”

“I am free..”

The bear was confused. He stopped in the middle and started to silently growl. Curan stood still looking in the darkness. The bead of sweat uncomfortable dripped down his neck.

“Whatever you want I will give you.”

He sounded desperate even in his own mind. After a short while he added.

“I never break my promises.”

Gob sighted and before the bear changed his direction he shouted.

“Kill Him In One Strike!!!”

It was time to act. Gob moved to face the Bearmole head on. As he continued to shout the monster rushed towards him. He could see Curan walking towards his voice. The loud stampede of the bear was easy to follow.

Gob banked on the beast stopping before the altar, but the bear kept pushing despite the ether. He was truly furious. It was now or never. As the bear reached for Gob he raised his hand open.

The flame wasn’t big, but in the pitch black darkness it was blinding. The Bearmole stopped surprised and flung his claws at Gob, but he wasn’t there. Sudden use of magic made him lose focus and sit down. The attack missed his head by an inch grazing his ear instead.

As Gob remembered the pain the humans left him with he crumbled, his flame extinguished. He looked at the Bearmole. It was imposingly standing on two feet readying the next attack.

Curan was right behind the monster, but in the darkness he couldn’t just randomly swing.

Then Gob felt that something was pulling his arm up to face the monster.

Small figure of Fishcatcher with a pair of wings was chugging from this exercise.

“You never give up right!?”

With this Gob focused the mana in his hand. Right. He didn’t give up. He wasn’t scared. He stood up.

The flame in his hand flashed once more. In this moment Gob’s mind was consumed by the symbols Hestia once drew on his hand. Without one.

The fire moved from Gob’s palm reaching the Bearmole with blazing heat. As it made contact with the fur it engulfed even more making the monster clearly visible in the giant cave. It was all Curan needed.

With perfect timing he performed a swirling movement in the air. The clean cut so sharp that it even reached and cracked the floor beneath the monster reflected the light creating a myriad of shadows on the dungeon walls.

The Bear now cut in half from the top of his head to his left leg fell down in two separate chunks. He didn’t made any other sound.

Two warriors looked at each other. Gob still had a small flame wiggling in his hand. His fingers were burnt a little, but he didn’t mind it that much.

Curan sat down tired. He was ghostly pale with sweat over his body. His sword was warped in a weird way. His breathing was hard, but he didn’t take his eyes off Gob.

As the two looked at each other without a word a strange feeling was forming in Gob’s hearth. He was grateful somehow. It felt right that the human lived.

The fire in Gob’s hand dwindled and went away. He felt tired. Still they could look at each other over the embers that still remained on the Bearmole’s corpse. It suddenly became gloomy.

“Can’t you keep the light up?”

Curan’s voice was tired.

“Will get the bag.”

Gob responded shortly and went to the other corpse. The bag was entangled under its arms.

The moment he returned Curan took out a new torch and lit it with a small flint he took of his pocket. Gob wasn’t sure, but it looked like he wasn’t hurt. Curan’s coat was bloodied, but he himself didn’t sustain any injuries.

“You owe me a sword.”

“You owe me life.”

Curan couldn’t answer with a straight face so he just changed the topic.

“How did you do this fire thing?”

“I don’t know. How did you do this sword thing?”

They both looked at each other and simultaneously said “ Magic.” while nodding their heads. They both didn’t feel like talking so they just moved from there. Curan discarded his misshapen sword and after a simple “What now?” from Gob he moved towards the trapped passage.

It wasn’t actually dangerous as the spikes were stuck halfway through. He just panicked earlier and jumped at the bear while he could just walk further inside.

Still he remained cautious. There weren’t any monsters in the holes they uncovered. Burrows and tunnels seemed to go deep underground. Curan hoped that no other adults were around.

“Why didn’t you say that there might be Molerats inside?”

“First I didn’t know what was inside. The offerings were left outside and secondly Mole Rats? We called them Bearmoles or Bermot in short.”

“Well they dig like moles.”

“That doesn’t make them rats.”

“They do have tails like rats.”

“Good point, but what rat could be the size of a bear?”

“Molerats just rolls off the tongue better.”

“Maybe in human. I think Bermot sounds way better.”

As the unlikely duo approached the chest they stood in silence. Curan let the adrenaline rush fade and spoke in a more fitting manner.

“Would you care to open it?”

“No.”

He looked at Gob and gave him the torch.

“Figured as much.”