A bright flash followed and Randall suddenly appeared by Triss’ side and hit Mikke’s sword away with his halberd. The Luminary then shot off straight into the dust with another golden burst and pushed the armoured man out of the dust cloud.

Randall had to rotate further mid-swing during the scuffle to deflect two swords attacking him from behind. He blasted them away with a shot of light and hit away another floating sword. He found Mikke rushing at him from above with the remaining two greatswords in his hand.

The Luminary adeptly maneuvered himself backward to evade the swords that came crashing down on the earth to form a crater. He shot forward again and gave no time for Mikke to react as he thrusted the halberd forward with a glowing light.

The weapon barely wedged itself inside the heavy armour of his foe. Mikke grabbed its pole as he let go of his swords and flew forward, using Randall’s weapon against him. They launched into the air as Randall clung tightly with his weapon and all six of Mikke’s swords followed him.

Randall propelled himself forward against Mikke’s momentum. The sky was marked with the brightness of day as Randall spun himself around and inverted his orientation around the halberd’s pole allowing himself to kick Mikke in the head with the full capability of a Luminary’s abilities. Their entire bodies were weapons every bit as strong as the halberds that they wielded.

The blindingly fast kick shot Mikke down to the ground and formed another crater. His swords fell aimlessly from the air due to his lapse in concentration and Randall shot forward once again aiming for the head.

Returning to his senses, Mikke’s swords flew behind Randall as all six of them aimed for the Luminary. They looked like they were stuck in a short stalemate but Randall adjusted his course to swerve around in an arc in his midair trajectory and approach the downed Mikke from the side. The six swords crashed into the ground as Randall had already dashed off with Mikke in tow in another direction. The Luminary’s Class represented the nature of light very well in the speed that it allowed them.

Triss clasped his hand around his neck and felt the warmth of his own blood that dripped from the superficial wound. The awe in his eyes represented the same starstruck kid watching the Luminaries fight as he grew up. He had momentarily forgotten his circumstances in the doghouse as he admired Randall.

Randall was standing on top of a fallen Mikke and pointed the tip of his halberd at the man’s neck. Mikke was sorely defeated and Randall was ready to finish him, with his only hesitation stemming from the choice to either sever or impale Mikke’s head.

“Keep him pinned, and don’t kill him,” Veles ordered after the battle.

Tala would have clapped if she had two arms. It was like watching the success of a child she had raised to a certain extent, even though Randall was older than she was. All she had done was beat him up, though.

Veles walked to Mikke’s companion. She was also standing awestruck at the scene and it didn’t even register to her that it was her ally who was defeated.

The damage from the impact seemed to have been minimal as she was mostly recovered. Black mist emanated from the parts of her body that should have been broken, like one of her arms and wings. The mists were slowly condensing back to her normal body parts.

She spoke some words in a language that Veles did not understand covered her mouth with her hands as she realised what had just happened to Mikke. This Falca was still a fledgling, much like Triss was.

“Do you understand me?” Veles asked her.

“I… Yes. I am Caela, adopted daughter of Guardian Eupi. In her stead, I request you, please let Mikke go. Mother will be unhappy,” she asked Veles.

“Release him,” Veles ordered.

Randall jumped backward to free Mikke. He could fight that same fight multiple more times, it had barely registered as a warmup compared to his training with other Luminaries.

Mikke flew straight to Veles without even attempting to get back his swords.

“What is the meaning of this, Veles?” He asked in anger. “We were both attacked. Do you truly not fear the Guardian?”

“Please, you were the one who attacked my companion,” Veles stated as he pointed to Triss. “All he had done was take care of a possible threat. I should applaud him for it.”

“You dare? That was clear hostility towards us no matter how I see it!” Mikke scoffed.

“To answer your earlier question, no, I am not afraid of your imposing hen mother. To correct your statement thereafter, an unknown flying at dangerous speeds towards us while making no attempts at concealment, is the indication of hostility that you have indicated towards us. Blame your companion’s inexperience,” Veles retorted with a complete explanation.

“I’m in the wrong,” Caela accepted without hesitation. “Let it go, Mikke. If they wanted to, they could kill us before mother ever finds out.”

Mikke acquiesced and floated back to retrieve his swords. The girl wasn’t done with Veles, though.

“But I still want to get back at whomever it was who hit me. Can I hit them once?” She asked Veles and betrayed the maturity she had shown just before.

“Just don’t kill him, it’s that kid,” Veles accepted without much deliberation and gave Triss up despite his staunch defence of him earlier.

She went closer to Triss and waved her hand in front of her face in a disgusted motion as she looked away from the horrific state of his armour. No one would be able to tell its original colour anymore.

Triss observed Caela in turn carefully. She was still recovering with black mists that reminded him of Eupi soon after he had attacked her. It sounded like terrible news to him if the woman ever found out about this.

Caela sported messy silver hair that went down to her chest and two pairs of black wings. The lower wings looked more like disjoint tail feathers. Maybe they grew more wings as they got to live as long as a High Human civilisation?

“I’m sorry,” he told her without much consideration. He’d rather swallow his pride to save his own skin.

“Your old man said I could hit you,” she said as she ignored his apology.

“He’s not my old man, and—” he was cut off.

“You have horns,” she observed and tilted her head.

“And you have talons… And wings. How am I the weird one here?” He asked as if she was making fun of him.

“But that guy doesn’t… Why’s he so freaking tall anyway? And that girl? And that other guy?” She asked in a sequence and ignored his own observations.

“You don’t have High Humans around here?” Triss asked, somewhat surprised.

“High… What? I mean some of the Humans here have a habit of—” she went off in an unexpected tangent before Triss corrected her.

“No, no, they’re like a race that’s supposed to be descended from Elves and Humans both,” Triss shuffled an impromptu explanation and ended her train of thought. Sarva had spoken to him a little too much on the subject of narcotic substances in his months on the island.

Caela seemed repulsed by thinking about that. “What are you, then? Human and goat?” She asked a bit insensitively.

“Enough. Petulant children. We’re leaving now,” Veles intonated.

“Okay,” Caela responded as her fist turned into black mist.

She punched straight at Triss’ chest. He failed to react in time and was hit. She immediately pulled back, however, looking disgusted by having to actually touch his armour. It didn’t hurt him much, but his bandolier was ruined and fell off. He tried to salvage it but it was corroded beyond repair and he had to leave it behind. He didn’t necessarily have time to consider his options, though.

The group’s flight from that point onward had Triss piggyback on Mikke and have Tala carried by Randall in the same vein. It was incredibly uncomfortable strapping himself to the back of a man who tried to kill him mere minutes ago but what Veles said was what had to be done.

As Mikke flew, his swords formed a cone in front of him in an effort to reduce drag. It helped shield Triss from the winds somewhat. He already had enough trouble walking on water, there was no way he would attempt the same midair that.

Randall charged ahead in long reaching fast jumps, waiting for some time in between for the rest of the group to catch up. Caela was the slowest to fly, and the others were slower as a result.

They constantly flew in a particular direction without stopping until dawn, after which they had made a quick pitstop. It was again for the young Falca, who was strained from the long journey.

Veles was not the definition of benevolent, though, and picked a riverside Dungeon as the spot to descend. Triss would not have rest, it seemed. He didn’t do much on Mikke’s back but travel was tiring nonetheless.

It didn’t help him knowing that they would reach the Threat’s borders after two more such legs in the journey, either. At their rate, they were set to arrive after one more night.

“This Dungeon,” Veles said as he observed, “it looks to be quite new.”

“You seem disappointed,” Mikke responded.

“The kid cannot grow in such a stale environment,” Veles lamented.

Dungeons and their strength correlated with age. There was no settlement nor any ruins around the area, making it seem very young. Veles was sure there were people who used to live in the region not too long back.

“You overestimate his capability,” Mikke commented. “The Dungeon is young yet but the scent is foul, its meals have been nutritious. Look.”

He pointed at the far end of the river. There was something underwater that was not directly visible.

“The purely physical have no chance,” Veles replied. “Its Will is still weak, and the record is sure to be raw.”

“That is a perilous and barbarian method to grow stronger, Veles,” Mikke remarked.

“There is no time. This will not do at all,” Veles said.

“Play the fool for all I care,” Mikke said.

He wandered off to check on things with Caela. They conversed in their native tongue to conceal their complaints.

“Tala, bring up the Core,” Veles ordered in a hush tone. “Luminary, you keep a watch on the other two. Do not let them interrupt.”

“Bitch!” Tala yelled at him.

She didn’t waste time after, though, and got to work. She knelt down and punched down at the ground with a surge strong enough to cause a small earthquake.

The startled Mikke and Caela flew away from the scene as Randall passively observed them.

“Uncle Mikke, what are they doing?” Caela asked.

“Killing the Dungeon,” Mikke murmured. “Your mother is the only one who has done it in all of Tyrdia to my knowledge.”

Is the old man going to do it? Caela pondered. It couldn’t have been the woman or the battered knight.

An eruption surfaced soon after next to the river bed. A humongous boulder-like object came out as a molten hand massive enough to match it had held it up in the air. The lava soon lost form and collapsed downward back down the eruption site and sealed it. The object laid atop the ground.

The mana in the air became denser extremely quickly. Golden and crimson spikes of rock protruded outward from the Dungeon Core. They slowly shifted form as they writhed like tentacles for brief moments before solidifying repeatedly. It did not look like anything natural from the world.

“Are you up for this?” Veles challenged Triss.

The boy immediately recognised the feeling that he got from the Dungeon Core. It was similar to the presence of the Threat’s lieutenant. Does this mean it can spawn monsters using fucking Dungeons?

He was sure to not mistake it as remnants from Tala’s magic. That had been too weak in comparison to the imposing presence he had felt. But her magic had still helped him recognise the feeling.

“I’d die,” he whispered. Two gigantic feathered crocodiles were already next to the Core. Another was coming up from the ground.

“Kill it or die trying,” Veles ordered coldly and vanished. Tala had disappeared as well, both presumably using their masks’ concealment. Randall had shot off to the sky.

The Core was aiming for him first. The newest monster to have spawned ran for him with an open jaw.

Triss shot a wraith each at all four enemies to test the waters. The reaction was much more minimal than he had expected. The monsters were physically strong but this Dungeon was supposed to be weaker than the one on Klatakos. It was similar to when he had tried to fight off Eupi’s mists—there was something deeply wrong with his magic.

He used the little time he had gained from the initial attack to send out another batch of wraiths in panic. And again after that. He couldn’t think straight as to why his skill was not effective, so he barraged the enemy. But it seemed that it only stalled the monsters, and a new one spawned much closer to Triss during the onslaught.

The maw of the creature attempted to entrap Triss as a particularly strong wraith shattered to stop it. In his panic, the wraith did not contain the feeling of his agony but the same fear that he had when Eupi had stood behind him.

The bite turned into a roar as the monster turned to observe him cautiously. But the sound of it was erratic, with the noise disappearing momentarily in between. Its own senses hadn’t been affected, though, as with the previous wraiths. The other monsters echoed the same sounds.

It was the added effect of his wraiths interacting with the world that resulted from his attempt to nullify sounds. He recovered from his own ailing due to the wraith and ran away in a random direction.

One thing that he had understood was that his magic still worked, and it could still attack the Core from afar. He considered getting away and attempting to deal with the monsters through the one chasing him. The other three cowered and surrounded the Core as if to protect it.

It became clear to him that he couldn’t damage the Will of the Dungeon with the projection of his own agony, however, he could still assault the Core itself physically through its Will.

It was a pain dealing with such ideas. He had to always keep thinking to stay on top of things and his current situation with no sleep nor rest had made it especially difficult. He’d reached a conclusion, though, and would work with it.

He turned back the next moment and, almost at the point of crying, quickly ran under the monster chasing him after hitting it with a regular wraith. With the last bit of his courage, he projected a lightsword with all of his remaining mana, similar to when he had attacked Eupi. This time, though, he recollected his morbid awakening in full detail as he stabbed the monster with his dagger.

The result of his efforts met the bare minimum standard for success. He looked up at the blue sky above with his hands extending his dagger upwards. He only briefly registered the overwhelming pain to both his body and psyche as he collapsed with eyes open on the ground.

Blood flowed down his eyes and nose. His muscles were torn and insides were bleeding. But no one could tell, as he was covered with the blood and guts of the shredded monster that sprawled around him. Both his hearts were on the verge of giving up as a flood of golden light rose as a pillar into the sky.

The Dungeon Core had survived quite easily. It was, however, halved in size with a slash of the Luminary’s halberd and started to pulse mana with a rampant rhythm. The rest of its spawn were decimated as well.

The light that erupted from around Randall’s body converged into a dome around him. Left foot forward and right foot affixed to the ground, he pointed his halberd towards the ailing Core.

In the next instant, he was seen far on the other side of the river. A trail of explosions followed him in the attack that spent a great deal of the Luminary’s mana reserves. The Core was left as nothing but a pile of malformed rocks scattered on the ground. The mana that it let off was also gone, its Will extinguished.

Veles reappeared amidst the mess and crouched to inspect Triss. Mikke and Caela came down to do the same.

“As good as dead,” Mikke spoke.

“Not quite. The portion of the Dungeon’s record that went to him managed to save the last strand of his Will, I reckon,” Veles said.

“Monster,” Caela murmured inaudibly.

“It is ridiculous,” Mikke said, “how someone at that stage could kill a Dungeon. I would never have believed your knight’s power if I hadn’t experienced it twice now.”

“Oh, please. Even the boy damaged it a fair deal, does killing a young Dungeon surprise you so? There is an entire army of people of that man’s caliber, many much stronger than him,” Veles boasted. “He is nothing but a mutt being re-educated.”

The knight in question soon appeared in front of the trio. Kneeling down, a faint dome of light surrounded him and Triss. The boy was being healed slowly, but Randall was losing focus. The last attack had drained almost all of his energy, and they had already been flying for hours.

Caela stepped forward and imitated the man’s posture. A silver-black dome of light covered her and Triss, similar to the one that Randall was failing to maintain.

“We rest,” she spoke solemnly, “we rest until he’s fully recovered. Understood, old man?”

Veles observed the scene with intrigue. “You speak as if I would ask a corpse to fight tomorrow, girl. I am satisfied enough with the progress to wait,” he said before walking away.

Interesting toy you’ve found, Guardian of Tyrdia, he mused and approached the remnants of the Dungeon’s Core.