That night I had horrible nightmares. Shadows chased me through different worlds, never letting me quite catch my breath. Through the empty streets of Boston at night, for some reason only a small fraction of streetlights working. The slithering sounds of scales scraping across concrete chased me between islands of light, each beckoning sanctum flickering as soon as I entered. A flash caught the corner of my eye, and I swerved just as the hairs on the back of my neck rose. I heard a hiss of frustration from a very near miss, as I was running down the main street of Three Rivers. From the side streets shambled forth burned bodies of the dead adventurers who had tried to kill me so long ago. Forced to slow down and swerve around their clutching hands, I knew whatever was chasing me was gaining ground again. I hurled myself around a corner, desperate to evade only to be thrown backward by the snaked tail of the avatar of Apophis. Arrayed in front of him with glassy eyes were Elendria, Danielle, and Isabelle.

“So glad you could join usssssss.” Apophis hissed, gently stroking Elendria’s hair. She shuddered under his touch. “I almost lost myself to my hunger and started early. That wouldn’t do.”

“Nnnn.” I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn’t work. As I struggled, Apophis chuckled.

“Tell me. Sssshould I sstart with a daughter as an appetizer? Her mother assssss the main coursssse maybe? Or a delectable elven dessert?”

“GAH!” I managed to grunt in pain as I tried to surge forward only to feel the sharp sting as a snake latched on to each of my limbs. Immediately they fell numb, rendering me helpless. I struggled, raged, as Apophis’ jaw unhinged. He lowered it agonizingly slowly, saliva dripping onto my daughter’s shoulders as laughter glinted in his eye.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Ugh.” I woke up panting, wincing in pain.

“What the hell was that Sean?” Elendria hissed, mad because I had accidentally headbutted her as I woke up.

“Sorry hun. Bad dream.” I said. Though the imagery was rapidly fading, the adrenaline pumping through my veins had me wide awake. Elendria squirmed as she rolled over to face me, stroking the side of my face with her hand.

“Are you ok?” She asked, full of concern. I smiled as I looked down.

“Who wouldn’t be with this view?” I smirked, running my hand along her spine.

“Perve.” She smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss. “Are you going to stay and hold me for a while?”

“Just for a moment.” I said, letting myself relax for a bit. “I want to head to the dungeon today.”

“Seriously?” She groaned. “We just got back after admitting our feelings, and you are going to go to that dungeon?”

“I’m sorry.” I apologized. “It’s just…” I trailed off.

“It’s ok.” She said, lowering her head to my shoulder. I shuddered as her breath slid across my neck. “I understand.” I wrapped her up, enjoying the feel of her body on mine until her breathing evened out. I gave the top of her head a gentle kiss.

“Thanks.” I said with a smile, realizing what she was doing. She hadn’t fallen asleep, as she had an adorable little snore that I hadn’t told her about. I slipped out of bed and quietly got dressed, heading downstairs. I nodded to Annette as I claimed a small table.

“Here you go, early bird.” She said as she slid a plate in front of me a few minutes later.

“Smells divine as usual.” I said, inhaling the aroma of perfectly seared sausage. Spicy squares of a potato like vegetable made a delicious hash, and two eggs over medium. She just smiled and walked away, pleased with the compliment. I silently dug in after breaking the eggs over the hash to let the yolk coat everything.

“Did you hear? Someone managed to nick the Rising Storm set!” The rogue at the table next to me was incredibly excited about something.

“Bullshit.” His friend replied. “I heard there was an attempt, but after someone half assed it they went overboard with the security. Ain’t no way it got nicked.”

“Yeah, I heard that too, but this guy must have had balls that clang.” The original rogue was getting animated, talking with his hands. He even used a bit of speared sausage to emphasize his point. “Seriously, he not only got through the upgraded security, but he did it without being able to scout it at all.”

“Yeah? Just how bad could they have amped up the stuff?”

“Well. A front assault was always doomed. Two eternal watcher statues and a few guards with several hidden alarm spells. The walls are higher than the surrounding mansions, so you can’t get a boost over the walls without exposing yourself. Three staggered shifts of guards at randomized walking schedules, with nothing being uncovered for over ten minutes. Plus increased security statues in the sewers.”

“Huh, that would be a tough nut to crack. What do you think, earth mage somehow?”

“No way. Every decent mansion has tremor spells. Nobody knows how he got in, but they say he managed to escape down the privy!”

“Excuse me.” I interrupted, getting caught up in their story. “I haven’t heard of this set. What’s the big deal with it?”

“Seriously?” The first guy asked.

“Eh, take it easy.” The second one responded. “Not everyone likes to follow specialized equipment. Besides, from what I hear they would be useless to him.” He turned to me and continued, “The Rising Storm set is a pair of gauntlets with a necklace and diadem. There are two rubies, one emerald and one topaz. The gems help people learn about their specific elements. Fire for the rubies, air for the emerald, and light for the topaz. They also combine and help learn lightning, hence the name.”

“Damn.” I said, fairly impressed.

“Yeah. Pity, the demons were going to use it to train up a bunch of youngsters. Supposedly they are thinking there’s going to be another incursion soon.” Their conversation dropped off fairly quickly. I finished my breakfast, leaving a small tip for Annette before heading out to the dungeon. There were issues I had to work out, and the best way to perfect some things was through combat. I only had on eday of rest to use, and I was going to make the most of it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

True to its word, the dungeon immediately transported me to level six. I was in a small cave, with an incredibly complex diagram rapidly fading. Outside, it was gently snowing. Far in the distance I could see a dark grey area where the blizzard was raging on the mountain. These levels were a bit different from the goblin levels, which were obviously segregated into separate levels. Instead, they were set out like a target, with the bullseye being the mountain. The closer you got, the denser the monster population, and the higher the level was considered.

I stepped out into the snow, and immediately started making preparations. Featherlight spell so that I didn’t leave tracks, though I was also planning on using a bit of antigravity to help me float between tree branches at some point. My mana armor received a small bit of change, as an application of air magic prevented any molecules larger than carbon dioxide escape. Hopefully that would prevent me from leaving a scent on anything without suffocating myself. An occasional bit of fire magic to warm the air trapped in my shield and keep me warm, though with most of it trapped I didn’t have to do that as often as I assumed. I wanted to try something to block heat vision, but wasn’t having any good ideas. I could surround myself with a bit of mana at ambient temperature, but that would also block any sight from me.

Preparations set up, I began hunting. I didn’t bother with the spear, as the last battle with Apophis had shaken me rather badly. I realized just how ruthless of an enemy I had, and just how complacent I had become. What was I doing, spreading myself so thin? I was just going to become mediocre at everything, and die in the end because I didn’t have a strong enough trump card. I needed to focus on my magic, and how to better use it. What was the point of a flashy spell, if you were wasting mana and intelligence on making it look like a dragon?

Perfect, a group of three wolves. I casually flew above them, circling around so that they were downwind of me. Their lack of reaction told me all I needed to know, my odor shield was working perfectly. Three spears of ice appeared above their heads, slamming down through the top of their skull and killing them instantly. Two dropped minor pelts, while the last dropped a pair of lesser fangs. While the pelts weren’t worth much, the fangs would make some nice arrow tips.

Instead of hunting, I headed deeper. The drops were better, but even more importantly they would challenge my new skills and help me perfect them. I also worked on becoming far more ruthless. Groups that weren’t moving got a silent killer. A wall of mana just higher than the wolves, but wouldn’t let air in or out. It was low enough that it only minimally affected the snow, making it extremely hard to detect. A bit of magic and I was able to slowly fill the area with carbon monoxide. Silent and painless, the spell also let me recover a bit of mana while it went to work.

An unexpected bonus from those kills was that the pelts and fangs were in pristine condition, and some of them were upgraded. Others died from a pierced skull, though it was getting harder to take them down with such a method. Not wanting to slow down, I wanted to switch spells. Long ago, Elendria had used an empowered ice lance spell. If I couldn’t figure it out on my own, I would have to see what she had to say on it later today. I tried simply infusing the spears with more ice mana, but that didn’t do anything but make them expand.

Shrugging my mental shoulders, I headed towards the next group. They had grown as I neared the mountain, from groups of three to groups of five to seven. This one, something was different. I couldn’t tell from my angle, but there were three wolves of the seven that gave me a sinking feeling in my chest. I took out the rest of the pack with ease, but these three had the ice actually shatter on impact with their skulls. Snarling, they started twisting around, trying to find what dared to attack them. I lowered myself from the trees, finally setting foot on the ground for the first time in roughly an hour.

“Hmmm, blue stone in the forehead? You must have evolved.” I said as the leader snarled at me. He was the only one with a stone, but the other two had the faintest glimmer. They spread out a bit, but the trees kept them from encircling me completely. “That’s fine, if I can’t pierce you from above, how ‘bout from below?” I asked as I was casting the ice equivalent of earth spike. The leader and the one to my right obviously felt the magic and took evasive action. The leader got off scott free, while the other only had a small scratch on his flank. The one on my left decided to charge, and ended up disemboweled and whimpering on the dungeon floor.

“Damn, not quick enough.” I muttered to myself as I sent a smaller spike up through the bottom of the disemboweled wolf’s head to finish it off.

“AaahWOOOOOO!” The wolf to my right threw its head back to howl, and in return got a spear of ice through the heart.

“rrrrRRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!” The leader roared at me, sending a cone of freezing air in my direction.

“Ice wall!” I had half the spell completed when it shattered under the onslaught of the wolf’s spell, sending razor sharp shards of ice in my direction. Thank god I had decided to keep my mana armor active, or I would have been shredded by my own spell! As I was thrown backwards against a tree, the wolf charged. I immediately created a set of icy spears in retaliation. One aimed directly toward the wolf, but slightly high in case it tried to leap on me. The other two were lower and to the sides, preventing the wolf from dodging. It took the smart choice, and retreated for a bit, giving me time to recover.

I climbed to my feet, and we stared at each other in a standoff. I didn’t want to give the wolf a chance for reinforcements, as I was fairly certain that was the point of the underling’s howl. I charged forward, baiting the wolf. It counter charged, leaping toward my throat. The slight layer of black ice that I had formed over my right fist erupted forth, impaling the chest of the wolf as I smashed it with an uppercut.

“Unnng.” I groaned as I forced the heavy corpse off of me. While I managed to cause the black ice to sprout branches like a tree within the wolf, it’s momentum still knocked me on my ass. As I struggled to my feet in the deep snow, I strained my ears to see if anything was coming. All I heard was wind, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Looting the corpses netted me the usual spread, though the leader did drop an ice wolf core. A small blue gem the size of a robin’s egg, I dropped it into my inventory and took to the trees again. I was glad I did, as there were at least three groups that passed close by me on my way closer to the mountain, all headed toward the previous battle.

Twenty minutes later, and I was forced to slow down and take some extra precautions. I was near enough to the base of the mountain that I was coming across hunting groups, and had entered what the adventurer’s agreed was roughly level eight of the dungeon. At the base of the mountain was a small hunting camp of yetis, and each yeti had one or two wolves to hunt with them. The yeti were similar to what I had expected, roughly eight to nine feet tall and massively muscled with a spear tipped with ice. Their hair looked more like a polar bear, and they walked upright like a human would. They were also a lot more observant than the wolves, paying close attention to how the snow fell.

I followed the first group for a bit, wanting to see how they interacted. The wolves would cast about, searching for a scent, but would always stay within twenty feet of the yeti. I created an invisible mana shield, and sent it looping around to one side of the yeti. Sure enough, once I had raised it high enough the yeti launched its spear with incredible accuracy, smashing through the shield. The wolves immediately charged off to find whatever their master may have found, and I let them take off. Once they were gone, I launched a smaller version of the comet spear I had used against Apophis. This one was made from black ice just in case the yeti could detect magic, and it impaled it through the middle of the chest.

“Oooonngg.” The yeti tried to speak, but quickly fell to its knees, followed by its face. The wolves came back soon, each one getting a similar spear of black ice to the base of their skulls when they went in to check on their master. The yeti dropped a large bit of fur, but that was it. I kept hunting, using similar tactics. Most of the yeti preferred a spear, but a few had several throwing axes. They tended to drop a crude bandolier with holes fitted for throwing axes, made from some unknown leather. Not that I was really an expert on leather, but it seemed a bit thicker and more robust than what I was used to.

I managed to take out several groups with my distraction techniques before I came to a clearing. Across the way, I could see several hide huts clustered around several fire pits. Several yeti moved through the camp, grunting in their guttural language at each other. There were plenty of wolves roaming around, and I decided to call it a day. Somewhere inside there was the huntsmaster, a sort of mini boss. He could summon spectral wolves with a special horn, as well as provide buffs to the group. It most definitely wasn’t a group I was prepared for just yet. Instead, I headed to the tops of the trees and made my way back to the waypoint, my journey made all the easier by the dungeon itself. There were several teleport pads spread around the circumference of level six, each one had a beacon that you could see through the blizzard. What took me several hours to hunt through only took an hour to escape, and I was more than happy to finally be able to drop my shield and feel the sunshine on my face as I exited the dungeon.