I used the sword to scout out the rest of the area surrounding me. Now that I knew what the ‘doorways’ looked like, I found myself finding them all over the place. Most of those rooms were empty. Aside from one that was large and nearly as featureless as the rest, except for a large hole in the floor. The hole was filled in by a stone tub – which had been filled by water leaking through the ceiling.

The other thing I learned fairly quickly was that the doors came down hard and made a lot of noise. I’d set off a timer by opening and closing them, the monster would use it’s hearing to try and track me down. That was just fine by me. I also realized that there was little chance of me finding Cali and Tahar again in this maze-like complex. I needed to rely on myself to get rid of the thing and deal the finishing blow.

I plotted my route carefully. I had a rough idea of where it would be coming from. I needed to get its attention and draw it to my ambush location.

“Do you need me to use my power, Master?”

I wanted to save that for if my second plan failed.

“No. I’ve got this.”

I held up the precursor blade to one of the doors and opened it before backing away again. I repeated this process several times, standing on the very edge of its detection range. After each round, I would stop for a second and listen out for any noises. About half of the time I could hear the monster skittering closer. Even with a split face it was capable of moving around on some level.

Again. And Again. And Again. Each time I felt that nervous energy growing stronger and stronger. This was what it was like to fight a life or death battle, wits and strength were everything. My body was a live wire. I could feel the adrenaline flowing through my body all over again. In the darkness just beyond the grasp of my lantern’s light, I saw a shifting form approaching.

“Come on you fucking bastard, your meal’s over here,” I whispered. It didn’t move.

I stepped back into the doorway and allowed it to open one last time. It saw me, because in that moment it burst back into action and started charging at me, full speed. I turned tail and ran as fast as my stubby human legs could carry me. Down the winding halls of the Tall School we went once more. But I’d already memorized my way – this wasn’t a chase.

I found the room was I looking for. I slid under the still-opening panel and prepared myself. I had already drawn a line in the sand just beyond the entrance, a line that measured the exact distance that the door could be opened and closed using the sword.

I stood guard and waited, another agonizing wait on top of the others. I knew that at any moment it’s ugly mug would peer through and greet me. I’d be shocked and scared, no doubt, and that scare would make me take one, fatal step backward.

Just as I expected, the bleeding, gaping hole that it once called a face stared dead at me. And then it moved to enter the chamber and finish me off.

“Got you.”

I stepped back, having teased the edge of the sword’s activation range. The glowing symbols around the doorway faded, and the mechanism released the heavy stone block, allowing gravity to pull it back down to the ground. The monster was totally ignorant to my plan, and continued to walk towards me – placing its neck and back firmly within the remit of the falling hammer.

On the point of impact, there was a tremendous bang and snap as the door slid down the grooves and crushed the monster’s neck. The force of the stone slab was such that it was slammed down to the ground, crunching the bone and spinal column of the already injured foe. The gaping wound left on it’s face spurted a fresh flow of blood into the dirt.

It struggled, trying desperately to release the pressure from its back, but it was futile. The last ebbs of life left its eyes, clouding them over once and for all. I drew Stigma and approached the fallen beast.

“[Consume.]”

I’d been waiting a long time for this feeling. Stigma lit up in an insidious red as the life and spirit was drained from the monster. I immediately opened my menu to check what I had gained. To say I was happy with the result was an understatement. Killing such a high-level beast, combined with taking its experience as my own had rocketed me up the level tree and nearly doubled my power.

Ren Kageyama Level 64 Grandmaster Mercenary [Cursed] HP: 60/350 Strength: 96 Intelligence: 121 Endurance: 120 Perception: 130

Those risks had rewards, and I had been very aptly rewarded.

Stigma appeared and studied the body of the monster closely, “Strange, this creature had less soul energy than an untrained human…”

“What does that mean? We didn’t get any extra time?”

“A day, at most.”

I threw up my arms in protest, “But it was so strong!”

“Not every powerful foe has a matching magical source, though in this case it is very unusual. I suspect that it was altered via outside means to possess such a strength.”

No skin off my back. I already had many months to play with – and the experience I had earned was a good consolation prize. It would make it easier for me to gather time later. My eyes followed hers to the same spot on the surface of its milky white leather hide. A pair of circular red marks had been burned into the skin, one inside the other. In fact, there were several identical injures in various locations on its body. They were too deliberate to be accidental. They were spaced perfectly.

Stigma was right, this was an artificial monster.

These people were more advanced than I had first thought. Was this a guard dog left behind when their race came to an unfortunate end? And was that end an accident or caused by their own hubris? If something like this was let loose anywhere else, it would cause a huge amount of carnage.

“May I suggest taking proof of your victory before the body rots away?” Stigma prodded.

I returned to the front of the beast and sized up my options. I could carry any body part easily enough now that my stats had grown even more – but dragging the entire corpse with me through the School was a stupid idea. I settled on what was in front of me, the tongue. It had been hanging free from a split jaw since my first strike.

With a burlap sack filled with a huge tongue, I finally had a moment to calm myself. I needed to find my way out of the school. I had no idea where I was. “Cali! Tahar!” I yelled. My voice echoed through the halls. I looked down to the floor and noticed that the beast had left a trail of blood behind… how convenient for me.

I followed it. There wasn’t much to see during the trip. Any objects that used to be here had been stolen or rotted away over the ages. This was a skeleton of a building, filled with nothing but ghosts. I started to recognize my location after twenty minutes of following the bloody path. This was where we had attacked it originally.

“Tahar, Cali!” I tried again.

I heard a response, “Over here!”

“It came from down there,” Stigma added, pointing down another corridor.

I was extremely relieved when I found them both again, hiding behind a corner. Cali and Tahar were no worse for wear. Though to be concerned about a travelling companion was a new and novel feeling. Usually the only thing I felt with other people was mistrust. It helped that Cali was seemingly incapable of lying.

I held up the bag with a smirk, “One monster tongue, freshly cut.”

“You killed it?” Tahar asked with disbelief in her voice, “You killed it!”

“Course I did, who do you think you’re dealing with?” If you ignored the fact that I got lucky by bringing a looted sword along…

“Good. Can we leave? I am beginning to become distressed from this place,” Cali stated.

I agreed, I’d seen enough white corridors and empty rooms for one lifetime.

Tahar took my hands in her own and jumped up and down for joy, “Return to village as conqueror! Great reward!”

“Yeah, we will – let’s tell Benadora that the place is clear first.”

“And if it isn’t?” Cali asked.

“…Fuck knows. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

When we found Benadora at the camp an hour later, she was flat on her face with dozens of empty booze bottles surrounding her, wearing a nightie and a pair of long stockings. While I appreciated her attempt at modern instillation art; it wasn’t conductive to a proper research expedition that the lead scholar was getting totally blasted at every opportunity.

So I dumped a bucket of cold water over her.

“Wah, cold, cold!”

She leaped off the floor and stumbled through the sea of bottles, coming to a crash landing over the nearby log. Confident that she was now very much awake, I stood over her and crossed my arms like a disappointed parental figure.

“Nice to see you’ve been having fun while we were risking our arses clearing that bloody place, Dora.”

She held up a finger to make a pointed statement, “I’m not a fighter. I’m a lover.”

“A lover of alcohol, maybe.” She clutched her head as the sickness and hangover swept over her. I snapped my fingers to get her attention. “We did it, the Tall School’s safe to enter. Take your guys in there and get what you need.”

She blinked, “Really?”

“Really.”

“Really?”

“Really, for fucks sake. Get up.”

Cali grabbed Dora by the arm and lifted her onto the fireside bench. Typical that the moment we get the place ready for them, they’ve all drunk themselves under the proverbial table. None of them seemed to be in much of a state to record pages and pages of glyphs scribbled onto the walls. I was never a heavy drinker, so picking my brain for hangover remedies was a waste of time.

Cali decided that a more constructive use of the cold-water storage was to hand her something to drink. Benadora chugged down the entire tankard in one go. “Good job, all of you… sorry for going a little overboard. I was scared that we weren’t going to get anything done! Even after coming all this way.”

Adrian emerged from one of the tents, “Hopefully cooler heads will prevail from now on. You can leave her with me. I’ll organize the scholars and get things moving.”

Tahar was moving like she had ants in her pants. She seemed really eager to go back to the village and show off our kill. I picked my tongue-sack back up and hefted it over my shoulder, “Okay Tahar, let’s go tell the village the good news.”

I could be sure of one thing, I much preferred being out in the open fields and the savannah to being stuck down in those cold, dark, damp tunnels. Benadora and Adrian saw things differently – it was paradise, filled with knowledge from a long dead race of unknown creatures. I’d visited the village so many times over the past few days that I’d started to look forward to my trips there.

Tahar led us through the centre of the township and to a hut we hadn’t visited before. It was more permanent than the others, built with a more solid foundation and mud walls. Inside was a small throne, in which an older gentleman sat with a headdress of multicoloured feathers. Tahar bowed her head respectfully and presented me with her arms.

I did the same and approached him. He was the village elder. When I placed the sack down and unfurled it to reveal what was inside, his cool eyes lit up and he leaned forwards in his seat. He was very, very happy to see that tongue. He stepped down from the dais and took my hands in his own, squeezing them together.

“Ah stol vahn terman!”

“You bring great boon to village. Fallen warriors, avenged.”

In a whirlwind of movement, Cali and I were escorted back outside by Tahar and the Elder. He retrieved a wooden horn from his personal belongings and blew it, releasing a baritone note that rumbled through the entire hamlet. Almost immediately, dozens and dozens of people gathered in the open area to witness what had occurred, with more filtering in even as he started to speak.

The Elder spoke with a grave tone, but his words buoyed the spirits of the tribespeople. He presented me to them, pushing me forward into the centre of their attention. They cheered and clapped. Truss even walked over patted me on the back for a job well done. I’d done right by his teachings somehow.

The speech continued for several minutes – allowing time for every person in the village to stop by and celebrate the hunt. I found myself surrounded by unfamiliar faces, who all wanted to thank me for my work. When the well-wishing finally came to an end, the elder had one last thing to say. He turned back to face me, summoning Tahar to his side. Her face was an unreadable mix of excitement and anxiety.

When he finished, she took a deep breath and translated.

“Strong warrior. Great victory! Your reward, Tahar Shul Hel Ten.”

I blinked.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Tahar tried again, “Strong warriors must pass spirit to children. Reward for great hunt is village woman.”

Cali looked to me with mock joy, “Congratulations on your marriage, Ren.”

My brain had stopped functioning.

“What?”