“Eric, fuck! They’re coming right for us. Set your spear! Eric?”

But Eric had already tuned out the panicking Drake as not the expected one or two, but a full half dozen mutated dogs the size of leopards came roaring and charging down the wide grey stone tunnel that arched to a roof studded in stalactites and near insensate stone bats above, and seemed to go on for miles, according to Morlekai.

Tunnels that shouldn’t exist at all.

Anymore than creatures mutating so quickly in even the shallowest reaches of the deep, that they had already altered in ways monstrous and strange.

Yet somehow, they did.

And despite how fearsome they looked and fast they raced, with blackened teeth that could effortlessly snap through bone, a crossbow bolt streaking through the air at 375 feet per second could still tear right through the thickened hide of their necks, rupturing organs and causing one to collapse to the ground, Eric’s infravision allowing him to make out his prey far better than the panicked lugs flanking him. Even his foe’s organs blazed brightly in the gloom as lungs and heart were pierced, before ricocheting through bone and entrails, the beast collapsing with a final yelp.

You have successfully slain Tunnel Jackal! Experience Earned!

Eric flashed a cold smile as he became one with his second target, gently squeezing the trigger of his double shot, and a second Tunnel Jackal fell with a bolt tearing completely through its throat, spraying blood that momentarily threw off its pack-mates as it yelped and writhed.

A seconds distraction that spelled the dogs’ doom. Because two seconds was all Eric needed to trade one double-shot for another, fingers squeezing death for a third hound, and injuring a fourth, the kill shot deflected off ribs infravision had spotted, but he hadn’t quite had it in him to know exactly where his foe was going to twist and weave without using True Strike, a finishing move best used when he could afford a moment’s daze afterwards. Which, right now, he dare not risk at all.

But it had been damn close.

And for the Stone Jackals, it was the end.

“Eric.” A single cool word from a not at all flustered Morlekai and Eric immediately understood, stepping back as Alice immediately took his place, wand already crackling with energy as she struck.

“Forzare!”

The gloom was momentarily ablaze with blinding light as a bolt fit to do any thunderstorm proud chained through each of the now sizzling hounds. And Eric could see the look of rapture on Alice's face as she trembled with the sweet rush of crimson power flooding into her soul from her kills.

A fellow party member has successfully killed 3 Stone Jackals. You have earned partial kill experience! Congratulations! Experience threshold reached!

And Eric finally understood why she always looked so smug whenever she confessed putting far too many of her level-up points into her Mana Pool alone, without worrying about Mana Regeneration at all. Partly it was because Elves and a number of other fey races had them all so beat in that department that there was hardly any point in it at all. And any reserves expended, no matter how great, would be fully restored after 4 hours of meditation or sleep.

But mostly, it was because she didn't have to.

“Yes, three kills and fully recharged, baby!” She raised her fist, crackling wand still in place, sharing a high five with Alex with her other hand. “Wand bitch, and crossbow boy. Two great killers that kill great together!”

“Sure, let’s go with that!” Eric laughed, also feeling the ebullient high of the moment, shivering with a rush that left him profoundly connected with the tunnels they dared to explore, at one with the strange environment of dampness and stone, moss, and the increasing number of beasts that fed upon the mana-saturated growths of this burgeoning ecosystem… and the predacious beasts that fed upon them all.

For he had just fed upon the greatest surge of potency they had savored all day. More than ready to level up after a day's worth of glorious hunting in the tunnels from their first three foot long snuffling rat to the giant centipedal horror that had died to a blood-red murder of crows. And of course there was the pair of alligators that had been truly terrifying to behold, before their bardiches made short work of them, absolutely tearing through their scaly hides.

Eric couldn’t be certain, but he was shivering with so much potency, a crackling blaze of potential lighting up his soul with such brilliance that it was both pleasure and pain, that he was pretty damn sure he was more than halfway to level 7 as well.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Alice said in her husky voice. “You’re just like us. That rush… better than fucking sex.”

Eric winced past his euphoria. “Yeah, no comment, with the way your boyfriend’s glaring at me...”

Louie flashed a hard smile, hands tight on his Bardiche. “Good thing I owe you my life, bro.”

“...But were Delvers. We’re all fucking blood mage vampires when you think about it,” Eric finished.

Drake chuckled. “Blood Mage Vampires because we can level up. Shit, that sounds sweet. Can we roll with that Morlekai? No? Okay, you’re the boss.”

But Alice was solemnly shaking her head. “No, Eric. It’s more than that. You felt it. Just like I did… just like Morlekai did.”

“Shut up, Alice,” Morlekai glared, before his features smoothed into a satisfied nod. “Good. Damn good hunt today, kid. And save for the dogs...”

“System Interface coined them as Tunnel Jackals.”

“Sure, whatever. Point is, save for the dogs, you used the weapons you’ve been training with every fucking day since you got here, Bardiche, crossbow, and Bow. Because why the fuck not master them all?” He chuckled fondly. “You’re a fighter after my own heart, Eric. Now gather up the kills. It’s time to head back.”

“But boss...”

Morlekai glared at a suddenly wincing Drake. “We've gone far enough today, and you and Louie are starting to get sloppy. No way in hell we're going any deeper into new territory until you guys have had your six hours of fuckin' shuteye." He shook his head. "And I expect you boneheads to be using those pells and practicing your forms. See if you can't earn another percentage point or two in your favorite weapons, after literally fighting for your life with those things."

Drake bowed his head. “Right, boss. We’ll hit Journeyman before you know it.”

“Sure you will.” Morlekai glared at the kills Eric gathered within seconds before going for his crossbow bolts. "That was a pack of six. The earlier packs were never more than two or three. Which means we gotta be razor-sharp from this point forward, when we come back here tomorrow.”

“Eric, kid, where the fuck did you go? Get back here before the gloom gets you!” said a suddenly anxious Drake.

"Relax, Drake, Eric knows what he's doing," Alice soothed. "He sees in the dark as well as me and Morlekai do. Haven't you figured that out by now?”

“I, well, yeah. I guess that makes sense. I didn’t know if it was him being some sort of archer class that allowed him to shoot in the dark like that.”

"I halfway wondered if he was one myself," Alice admitted. "But how many who even survived those damned pods got anything but the most basic Conscript class? Fuckin’ bullshit, but there you go.”

“But wait, you and boss-man...”

“We were a lot more than noobs, long before the System flooded this world with so much arcane juice it made my teeth itch before I finally embraced the Path of the Wand,” Alice said in a voice devoid of her normal wry humor. “Even that damned System had to acknowledge it with the Professions it gave us, along with our shit-tier adventuring class. Even though we’re the farthest thing from fuckin’ bone-raisers.”

She chuckled softly, wry humor returning. "But I played the stupid-ass System to the hilt. All my points in Mana Pool, high enough so that my teeth no longer itch, and this alien form of magic now just feels… good. And every sweet kill I make? Shows the fuckin' world why this wand-wielding bitch is at least as good as any would-be wizard who thinks he can play with my heart, then lock me up and treat me like a fuckin’ lab experiment! Too bad he wasn’t any match for Morlekai’s blood-crows.”

“Babe!” Louie snapped.

“Shut up, Louie. You know damn well we were on break! You were with that sweet piece of caramel ass, right when the world was coming to an end. And where is she now? Back in Freetown? Hiding with every other normie too afraid to risk it all for power? Thought so."

“That's because I told her not to risk it!" Louie snapped. "Out of all your father's crew, we're the only one's still alive, Alice! If you don't recall, we were all forced into that fucking pod! It was either that, or get summarily executed as wanted felons by the government. And anyone who had ever served time in their past for any bullshit crime were summarily categorized as wanted felons! Which was a pretty neat trick, with all the computer systems down."

A returning Eric blinked at those words. "Shit, are you serious? Our own government wasn't just hyping up those deathtraps on the AM stations? They've actually resorted to forcing people into those pods?”

Drake nodded in agreement as they slowly made their way back through the tunnels. "It was a fucking witch-hunt, Eric. Government needs soldiers, and you don't have a useful trade, or you're not connected to the right people, or you catch the eyes of an angry beat-cop pissed he could never get the goods on you, back when that shit mattered? You're branded a wanted felon. So you either get thrown in a pod and fight for Uncle Sam, or you die." He chuckled softly. "Too damn bad the bars of the cages locking those of us who had actually survived were no match for Morlekai!"

Louie shivered and spat a curse. “Fuck. I still can’t believe there’s an Oathbinder profession. Fucker was going to force us into lifetime oaths to serve our government as front-line soldiers. Fighting the good fight to preserve our freedoms, they called it. What absolute bullshit! Those desperate fuckers were killing just as many people as the goddamned orcs! Till militias started forming up, and I thought it was going to be a fucking civil war!”

“Which is why we got smart and ducked low. Safe hunting, no crazy bullshit," said Drake. He furrowed his brow, stealing furtive glances all around. "Or it was safe hunting, at least on the one trail we actually used. But these packs are starting to get bigger." He shrugged his powerfully built shoulders and smiled. "Well, on the bright side, strong as we are now, there's no way those jackboot shitheads are rounding us up ever again. Not unless they get some seriously powerful classers willing to play fucking slavers in the name of freedom, and how fucking twisted is that?"

“You're right. The critters are getting bigger. Because no one is cleaning out these tunnels. Which is why we do our fucking job!" Morlekai snapped. "We keep the tunnel clean between Junk Town and the freedom trail, and we gather every scrap of Glow-Moss and Gloom Weed we can find. That'll keep the beasts down here from growing too big in the tunnels we use almost every day, and we might just get something useful, if our Greenmages can ever make those potions with the herbs they keep swearing they're just a level or two away from being able to achieve."

“Yeah, but ours is just one small corner of the underdark, boss," Drake noted. "What about the rest of these tunnels? They could go on forever."

Alice shrugged. “We’re just one small crew, Drake. All we can do is keep the freedom trail somewhat clean, now that we can’t even trust fucking normies not to try to bolt us in the back!”

She glared down the tunnel they were currently in. "And according to the Mayor, with his connection to this territory, this is the route to the incursion seed. So this is one more trail we'll have to scour. Our focus this week is thinning down as much shit as we can, so that by the time Smith gives us the good stuff, and maybe we've gained a couple more levels, we might actually clear that nest without getting ourselves killed. With any luck, this whole area will then revert to the mayor. Maybe? Fuck. All I know is he swears this area will become something of a safe zone. Or at least he thinks. If nothing else, he'll owe us some serious fucking favors, in addition to the vault."

“That’s a lot of fuckin’ maybes, Alice,” said a frowning Louie.

“You think I don’t know that, bonehead?” Alice snapped. “We do it because it’s what needs to happen for the sake of the town depending on us for abso-fucking-lutely everything, the idiots!” She sighed, and Eric just knew she was swallowing tears. “But if the area stabilizes, at least they’ll be safe. Who knows? With the hunter Jeffrey and a few others, maybe they’ll actually make it. Because once the Mayor finally gives up the fucking codes and keys, we’re cracking open that reserve vault, and filling our pockets with gold!”

Words that earned rough cheers from all, and even Eric was smiling in the gloom, having learned more about his friends in those few minutes of unguarded chatter than he had in weeks. But he could tell by Morlekai’s sudden furrowed brow that he could sense Eric as well as Eric could sense them, even in absolute darkness. So he quickly bent down as if he hadn’t been eavesdropping, picking up a final quarrel still a dull red contrast to the light blue stone floor before jogging back to his companions, all of them patiently waiting while he methodically reloaded his crossbows, carefully checked them over one last time, then placed them in storage, before finally heading back the way they had come at a jog.

And it seemed like their hallway cleansing had done some good, since they only encountered one pair of Tunnel Jackals on the way back, and no one minded him putting his war blade bardiche to good use.

You have critically struck 1 Tunnel Jackal.

Target decapitated!

Roundhouse sweep keeps second Jackal at bay.

Eric immediately took the offensive, charging his foes as he swung his weapon in a vicious downward sweeping chop that hardly felt any resistance at all before tearing through fur, flesh and bone. Expertly pulling his weapon inward as he cut, centrifugal force increasing momentum even as the microserrations effortlessly sawed through his target, decapitating his prey with far greater ease than he could tear through a full inch of enchanted rawhide, and all his lessons spent slowly mastering that frustratingly difficult feat translated to absolutely devastating cuts against far less protected foes, such that he was able to whip his blade around for a space clearing sweep, his weapon now dancing around with near the same speed and grace as that used by HEMA practitioners slicing through the air with their montantes with such devastating grace it was almost a dance, for all that a single swing would have torn right through any foolish observer who dared get too close.

Eric’s bardiche on the other hand… most definitely moved slower. Like great powerful sweeps with an axe. But the swings were also deceptively powerful and graceful, flowing from one movement to the next, such that when the second Jackal leaped for Eric’s throat, he had already step-slid away, whipping his devastating weapon around so that by the time the Jackal’s teeth snapped on empty air, right where Eric had been a split second ago, the poor beast had already been cleaved completely in two.

And the cavern was deathly silent, save for panting breaths that eased in just seconds, and the soft splatter of blood against the damp stone floor and the neatly cleaved body that gave an odd twisted shudder, yellow eyes going wide before dimming forevermore.

And with just a quick handful of touches, the violently shredded remains of two more Tunnel Jackals were gone, the stench of ruptured offal and the iron tang of blood in the air instantly fading as well.

“Sweet kill!” Drake said a few moments later. “I felt that surge, though, and you’ve gotta be ready to level up by now.”

“So much that it hurts,” Eric said with a soft chuckle, as he took a look at the update to his interface that put a smile on his face, his adventures that day having finally pushed him through his bottleneck.

Congratulations! Strength is now 14(86%)!

Bardiche (Glaive) is Rank 9!

Bardiche (War Blade) is Rank 9!

Bow (Yew Longbow) is Rank 9!

Stealth is Rank 8!

Find Weakness is Rank 4!

He was both surprised and pleased to see his Strength going up even a single percentage point, wondering if perhaps all the potency he was channeling from his skills would slowly help beef him up much the way Testosterone boosts would empower Strength training, only without risking damage to his liver and heart. And as much as he frowned at the lack of improvement with his Compound bow, which he hadn’t used at all, and his crossbow, which was already at Journeyman tier, and he had only used once, he couldn’t help but think that, all in all, this had been a very productive day.

Now the only question remaining was whether or not he'd put points into Strength now, or wait until he had locked in that final stubborn point?

A question instantly rendered moot when the corridor shook with a bone-jarring roar, and not one but two Greater Cave Lizards tore around the bend just a quarter-mile ahead, hissing and tasting the air as they approached their prey.