I ran back through the mist for a good minute straight, rubbing my lightly injured left arm in pain, before I found the rest of the group. For the first dozen seconds, the [ghost] kept speaking to me from afar, saying, “The black...my lungs...this mine...they will die. They will feel this pain too.”

I had no idea what the lunatic was saying, but I knew better than to converse with a manic [ghost] and wasted no time getting back to the entrance of the room. I heard footsteps and yelling through the mist as I got closer, people trying to find each other, so I signed to Cobaltio to yell out.

I saw flickers of ghosts all about, briskly walking after me and moaning roughly about the same things. Death, pollution, lungs, that sort of thing. One even threw its pickaxe at me!

I made my way to the voice of Keen since he was the most in danger out of all of us...maybe. When I got to him, he was wildly running away from a group of three [ghost]s.

When he saw me, he quickly ran to my side. “S...it started with an S...what was your name again?” he asked.

I wrote, {Saya} with my [Seraph slate], only to realize that it might also be a holy item. I put my hand in front of the kid who was so small I wondered how he was only three years younger than me, then readied my blackboard to attack the three [ghost]s quickly approaching me.

After looking around for any other threats to Keen, I ran into action, my ultimate weapon prepared. When I got in range, two of them leaped at me with their picks, so I covered my shield with my [soul cusion], hoping it would work if I needed it, dodged one attack, then tried to collide my slate with the other.

The sound of wood clacking against wood resounded when they contacted, confirming my hope. I chuckled as my plan came to fruition, then swept the surprisingly weak [ghost]’s pick aside and ducked to the side as the third swung at me.

Quickly, I deflected another pick’s swing, then decked the undead on the head as hard as I could, causing it to stumble and fall to the ground, letting go of its pickaxe in the process and causing it to fall presumably to the center of the earth.

It wasn’t too hard to disarm the two others, as I was about twice as quick as they were, and my blackboard was as sturdy as it got since it was magically reinforced.

Trying to kill them wouldn’t be easy, so I ran back to Keen when I had the chance. When I found him in the mist, Symantha had just arrived and apparently brought some phantasmal company.

I wasted no time rushing the two ghosts and disarming them with my slate. “Saya, we need to find everyone else. Could you lead the way? I don’t...I can’t hit these things,” Symantha said as I backpedaled.

I nodded, and we went on the run again, following Dota’s voice since he was still impaired. He was much harder to track down as I heard Milo running across the room, away from us. Eventually, Dota heard Symantha yelling for him, so he managed to steer Milo into us, where the mule stopped.

“Just a question,” Dota said as he came to a stop, “Why are you spinning that slate like a flail?”

I had begun using the slate’s wrist strap as a pivot to fling the slate in a circle, which I thought looked pretty badass. I just shrugged, then quickly used it to bop a nearby disarmed ghost on his skull, making him tumble onto the stone.

“Case and point,” he said amusedly. “Could be I heard Thraisly further down that way.”

We quickly followed where he pointed for a half minute and found thraisly yelling for help, huddling in the air atop a [barrier] and over a horde of [ghost]s.

“We’re here to rescue you!” Keen yelled as we saw her.

“Milo!” Thraisly said, ignoring the kid, “Milo, let me jump on you!”

The mule trod near the horde as Dota slowly got off her, and I walked in front to defend, and when she got close enough, Thraisly leaped from her [barrier] onto the mule.

“Yee-haw!”

“Oh, I love you too, Milo!” she said, scratching her thin mane. “Let’s get going, you all. I think the exit’s that way.”

I sent one, then two ghosts flying, but the whole exercise was getting draining -my slate was unfortunately a sub-par weapon.

Dota traded places with Thraisly when he got the chance, and we ran as quick as we could to the exit, leaving behind the moans of angry spirits.

I defended against the spirits as we did so since I was apparently the only person with holy artifacts(despite also being the only [oathbreaker]), while everyone else focused exclusively on getting away, not sweating speed too much.

Finally, we made it to the end of the room and ran through the misty caves, not looking back.

{Yeah, that was really wierd} I wrote, joining in on a torchlight conversation. {Is it normal to see [ghost]s in dungeons?}

Everyone had gathered around the torch -the second to last one we had prepared- in a random alcove that wasn’t too misty.

“I don’t know if it’s common, but I have heard of it happening before,” Dota said. “Ghosts are known to reside in places where lots of people died, so maybe they died in the monster outbreak?”

There was a wave of dissension to that possibility; everyone had heard what they were talking about. Thraisly shook her head. “Those souls blamed someone for killing them, not something. And unless they all collectively had their lungs ripped out by a monster, I’m not sure why they would all complain about their lungs.”

{It could be a poison gas.} I noted.

“But that doesn’t explain why they were blaming someone in particular. Oh, Symantha, do you know how many people died in the outbreak?”

Symantha shook her head, her expression darker than the rest of ours, besides Keen, who looked quite uncomfortable. “Fifteen were missing in action or killed according to master Luxo. I heard something else from the [ghost]s too, though. They said something about a sickness.”

“So, what?” Thraisly asked, “Does that mean some disease targeted their lungs?”

Symantha shrugged while Dota pitched in his thoughts, “It could have been a class ability, like one that spreads disease.”

“There’s no class that does that, Dota.”

“Perhaps, but it could be a new class.”

Symantha looked unconvinced. “If there were a new class that could-” She suddenly digressed after she saw Cobaltio. “Saya, what’s your [drake] doing?”

I glanced to Cobaltio, who was playing on Milo like a playgym, stretching like I did every morning. {He’s just playing around.}

“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Regardless, I doubt the gods would make a new class like that if they haven’t made one already, its a pretty silly idea. Besides, I think that the young master would know if something like that happened on the premises. Luxo tends to keep him well informed on matters like that.”

We looked to the kid to see if he knew anything, and he shook himself out of a trance when he realized he was in the spotlight. “I-uhh, n-no, I don’t think that ever happened.”

“Well, an idea’s all it is,” Dota said.

After a small pause, Symanta motioned to me, making conversation. “Nice use of the slate I gave you, Saya. I wasn’t expecting you to use it as a weapon.”

I chuckled, then jokingly swung it towards her.

“Oh?” Thraisly said, “I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

Symantha leaned back out of her usual, more refined posture. “No, we only met in passing a few days ago. She was staying at Luxo’s mansion with Maladrain, who was the one to pass the quest onto you all.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Speaking of which,” she said, leaning back up. “How many of you know Maladrain?”

Everyone but keen raised their hands, and Dota said, “He was the one who recruited Saya and me in the first place, as well as Julius and a few other newbies. Everyone loves that guy.”

“Really?” Symantha asked, averting her eyes in uncertainty. “He makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Dota’s three eyes converged in what I thought looked like an aggressive expression. “Uncomfortable?” he asked, his soft tone betraying my initial impressions.

The other adventurers and I also found it a strange complaint, and our faces probably showed it, but Symantha pressed the issue a little further. “He’s always up in my grill! Ever since I first met him a few years ago, the guy’s found every opportunity to be at Luxo’s place. He even went to my classing-up ceremony, and I don’t get why.”

That was, admittedly, somewhat strange.

“He also acts like he’s familiar with me, which he isn’t. I barely know him!”

“Hmm.” Dota scratched his head, flaking off clay-like dead skin. “Maybe you’re just not used to him. The adventurer’s guild is a very buddy-buddy place. Just tell him to buzz off if it bothers you.”

Symantha rolled her eyes, then took a swig of her canteen dismissively. “If you say so.”

“Well, if you want me to, I can talk to him for you. Regardless I think we should save this sort of discussion for after we get out of this place. Saya, is your [drake]’s [fire breath] ready yet?”

It had been a little more than 30 minutes since we were attacked by the snake swarm, and his [fire breath] had become tier 2, which meant it needed only an hour to recharge now, so I wrote, {In another 30 or so minutes.}

“Ok, then we will stay here for another twenty. That should give it time to recharge while we’re on the road.”

“And that’s how you make the circle. Now, you try.”

Thraisly had drawn the circle for [cure wounds] and handed me the chalk I needed to make the circle myself.

We had determined that since I could also cast spells, I ought to be using my mana to heal the rest of the party. With no reason not to learn the ritual, I agreed to help. It would be really rude not to, considering just about everybody had been injured at this point.

She helped me through drawing the circle and was surprised when she saw I could draw the runes inside of it at a blitzing pace. My skills helping me draw it even faster than she could after using it hundreds of times in the past.

It was pretty satisfying to see her flustered over it.

The runes themselves were things I was familiar with already, too. To cast a spell for the first time, adding it to one’s spell list, it takes three steps.

1: learn the runes needed for the spell. In the case of [flame manipulation], I needed the rune for fire, move, left, right, up, down, forward, backward, and amplify, and every number(which consisted of 0-9).

To ‘learn’ a rune, it takes thousands of repetitions, drawing the rune over and over again until you ‘etch’ it into your memory. If I refused to focus on my studies, my old tutor would send me to the cliff I got my chalk from and make me spend my waking hours drawing on the dirt and trees.

2: after that, I needed to learn the spell, drawing the whole spell in the same way until I could easily remember the rune’s sequential order like the back of my hand. This process was about as time-consuming as learning all the runes but could be even more difficult. Speaking of which, some people actually draw runes on the back of their hands to remember them.

3: once I learned the rune sequence, all it took was the ability to cast spells of a particular tier in the first place, and I could cast the spell. After that, the spell got added to my menu.

As far as gaining the ability to cast magic is concerned, that’s a tangent for later.

I was disappointed, as I finished the circle, that I had only learned eight of the twelve runes I inscribed in it. I knew quite a few runes since I had told my tutor that I wanted to focus on runes more than learning actual spells, as it would help me identify enemy spells easier. He reluctantly changed my curriculum to be intellect-focused, justifying the change by saying that the knowledge would help me choose and learn new spells better when I finally ‘stop being a stick in the mud’.

I conveyed my disappointment to Thraisly, who sighed, unsurprised. “I guess that means you won’t be healing us since you don’t know the circle’s runes. Dota, its a bust. She doesn’t know the runes.”

“Well, that’s a shame, I assume,” the clay bird thing said, slurping dried meat up his beak. “In that case, we can finally go.”

Everyone seemed to be fine with that, so I ushered Cobaltio over, packed up what I needed to, then we all got going.

Reco slowly stepped backward, regretting her choices as she saw what just trotted in front of her. “Why is there an armored, oversized hippo?!”

Julius, on her back, snidely remarked, “I don’t know, Mrs.‘Rockin Adventurer’, you should know what monster this is!”

“I, uhh, don’t know what it is,” she said like it was obvious.

“For being so highly regarded, you sure come off as nothing more than a fight-hungry-” Rita, by Reco’s side, said before being interrupted by the hippo.

“Yaaaah!” The hippo roared before rushing at the trio.

Reco gritted her teeth, then suddenly grabbed Ritta and flung him over her head before he could protest. She rushed away as quickly as she could, hardly burdened by her luggage.

“Ow,” Julius said as Ritta was flung atop him.

“Wha-What are you doing!?” Ritta asked indignantly, despite not jumping off.

“I’m saving your ass. That thing’s low level, but its way too dangerous for me or especially you to handle!” Reco looked behind herself after using her [level search] skill to check its level(13), and wasn’t surprised to find that the creature was actually keeping up, despite her abilities to reduce the load people put on her.

“By the gods, that thing’s fast!” Ritta said, seeing how it kept up despite its small legs.

“And I’m crippled,” Julius said in annoyance, clearly still bothered by his inability to walk.

Reco was less afraid of the enemy since she already knew where the stairs were and more afraid of its existence on this floor in the first place.

She had chosen not to go to the stairs, hoping she could find the children(and strangely old clay-birds) she was meant to protect, but instead, she’d found this monstrosity lurking in the tunnels.

Most monsters, she knew from her time dungeon-delving, didn’t stray from their assigned rooms. There were a few, like boss monsters, that could roam the dungeon freely, and wouldn’t let anyone who passed them leave without a fight for life. Not just that, but the boss monster would teleport to the final room if anyone made it there.

If it was a boss monster, then it would get lair actions, and those were as dangerous as they got.

For a good minute, she ran full speed ahead, not looking back. When the stairs got in view, Ritta said, “Why does that thing have...a cut on its eye? No, no -there’s a slice in its neck, too, if I’m not seeing things.”

[decapitate]?

Reco dashed down the stairs, hoping the magical barrier that separated the floors would stop the beast. If it didn’t...

“Yahhhh!”

Reco felt the ground beneath her tremble.

She dashed through the stairs and looked back only to see the hippo bound down the steps after her. “Oh no...Ritta, I’m leaving the rest to you. Take Julius down the stairs, and if you don’t see me come back, find a way out of this hellhole, you got it?”

His eyes widened as she said that. Despite his words, Ritta looked up to the adventurer’s power and confidence. “W-wait, you mean that thing could do you i-”

Reco slid the two young men off her shoulder, and Ritta had to quickly concentrate on hitting the ground running as the creature was gaining on them.

Reco slowed down. “Not a chance in hell am I going down in anything but a blaze of glory, kiddo. If I die, I’m going to die with people cheering or jeering, not in this dingy place!”

Just as the creature got close enough, Reco activated [grappler tier 3], [heavy lifter], [strong strikes], [tenacity], [bloodied strength], [deadly charm], [unarmed attacker tier 4], [balance tier 4], [duelist], [anti-grapple], and [sure footed] together, raised her palms, and as the hippo flung itself at her, she pressed against its snout and stood her ground.

The sheer weight and power of the creature wasn’t what made Reco move when they collided. Under Reco’s feet, the stairs beneath her crumbled to rubble, her body refusing to budge as her ‘balance’ was so great that even the weight of a colossus like the [boss] wouldn’t send her flying if she refused to let it. She slid through a dozen wide stairs as she halted the creature’s dash and was left heaving and aching, having done a great feat she wasn’t even sure she was capable of doing.

All of this was to stop it from attacking the fleeing children.

The shit she did to look cool...she didn’t even know if they had seen it(though, since [deadly charm] worked, they probably had.)

As the creature finally opened its jaw, she continued to abuse her [strong strikes], and pounded on the creature’s mouth, barely making the creature flinch even with her double damage.

Rocks tumbled from the ceiling as the earth quaked, so Reco was forced to dodge out of one of the rock’s way, conveniently also avoiding a devastating snap of the boss’s jaws.

If she didn’t get out quickly, the whole place would collapse again.

The creature reeled its head to the side, then tried to slam it into Reco, so she ducked closer to its body, only for it to use its momentum to try toppling onto her. She jumped out, but before she could do anything, one of the spikes on the creature’s shell grew instantly, blocking her path out before she could react.

The spike hit the wall, helping the hippo back onto its feet. Before Reco got the opportunity to dash down the stairs, it quickly tumbled around her to block her path down the stairs.

Reco gritted her teeth in a facsimile of a smile. Damn, this thing is smart.

Seeing her fists just wouldn’t cut it, even with [strong strikes], Reco pulled her flail out, then ran at the creature. Just as she did, it roared, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling above Reco.

It hoped to scare Reco into making a wrong move, but the Rockin’ Adventurer only got scared for other people, not herself! Seeing that its mouth was still open, ready to crush her between its oversized molars, Reco spun in preparation to jump, activating [dancer’s grace] as she got ready for a ‘ballet jump’ feining an attempt to leap over it, then blasted off to its side, spinning midair as she did so so her legs would hit the wall, then kicked off, sending herself careening over the beast, and hitting it with the ol’ driveby flail!

The creature screeched as her flail hit the daylights into its forehead, then sent three of its spikes careening at Reco in an attempt to stop her from getting behind it. In response, Reco just went for its head again, kicking off the wall once more and flying towards its jaw as it moved to look at her.

Her flail its tooth dead-on, cracking it and making the molar fall out, dangling by a nerve. As Reco hit the ground, narrowly avoiding a tumbling rock and hitting aside another, it roared once more.

Three more spikes shot towards her, making her dodge closer to the creature’s jaw. Reco unconsciously sensed danger and looked back, only to see a dozen small boulders floating in midair.

They were flung at her, of course.

One after another, Reco danced out of the way of each of them, struggling to keep her distance from its jaw. Then, when it threatened to close in on her and all of the boulders had been thrown, leaving her between a wall of collapsed rocks and a giant hippo, she ran straight at it.

The creature opened its jaw and bounded forward, ready to snap its jaw, so Reco slid beneath it.

She came out the other side just as it tried to sit on her and flipped out from underneath, dashing as fast as she could down the stairs as the ceiling collapsed above her, running against the clock.

Eventually, she hit level ground, entered a misty hallway, and ran after the kids, outpacing the falling boulders.

“And hopefully,” she began as she ran away, “I’ll never see it again.”

She sighed as she accepted the truth.

“But it never happens that way, does it?”