Additional Resource has been retrieved. Packaging will commence. WARNING: Additional Resource has been marked as potentially dangerous. Handle with care. Advanced packaging protocols utilized.

“I don’t fucking believe it…”

Rory had been pacing back and forth as they approached, Seba and Elijah leaning against each other for support while Niels flew above. The wind mage blasted away the occasional monster, but otherwise was mostly there to ward off the various monsters they could hear out in the dark. He had left his crown with Theo and Rory, but had constantly pumped out an insane amount of Mana and Ki to make up for it. The monsters had gotten the message.

“Theo, Theo get out here! It’s Seba. He’s fucking alive!”

Niels landed in a spray of dust, cold wind whipping around him and causing Elijah to shiver. The man gave Rory a firm look, one that showed his disappointment.

“What have I said about the swearing Rory? It is unprofessional.” He looked toward Seba and grinned, “Not that I do not understand your excitement. And I suppose it is only the team here.”

Seba shifted and Elijah’s side, “Seriously? You’re going to offer Elijah a permanent spot?”

Theo left the cave, eyes wide with wonder, as Niels turned back to look at the two beaten and bloody men.

“Well, I was hoping to surprised him with that offer, but yes. I can hardly deny he deserves a spot after that display! He fought a field boss to try to save you Seba. After already going out into a dungeon alone, knowing there were monsters that could kill him, to search for you.”

Elijah was stunned. He’d been hoping for a more permanent arrangement with this group, at least at some level, but he hadn’t really expected anything to come of that hope. Niels had helped him, yes, but he obviously had years of hard work and practice to do before he would catch up with the rest of the team when it came to individual capability.

He couldn’t lie, he felt some amount of trepidation with the offer. He’d seen how easily Seba had nearly died, and the fact that Niels had a log book with other dead teammates didn’t speak incredibly well to the professions safety. Still though, he had also everyone saving each other more times than he could count.

And what other options did he have, realistically? Outside this dungeon he didn’t have some way to make money. He didn’t have an apartment to go back to. He didn’t even know what country he was in!

Besides, even with the danger he couldn’t deny that he didn’t enjoy this work. It felt meaningful, pushing into dangerous places to do things other people couldn’t. Keeping his friends, the closest thing to family he had in this world really, alive and well. Being their solid shield so they could do what needed to be done.

All of these thoughts and more passed through his head in a moment, flashing before his vision as he contemplated the offer. The fear and confusion he’d felt when he first arrived. The sheer relief in encountering another person when he had run into them by chance. The small moment of relaxation and enjoyment he had shared with Theo and Seba. The training he had gone through. All of that could be his life moving forward.

Arranging his emotions, Elijah began to speak, “I would be honored to join Hidden Opportunities. You all saved my life. Without you, I’d probably be dead and filling the bellies of a ghoul rat swarm by now. A place on your team…it’s a chance at a new life. Something I never could have imagined before, but something I definitely want to explore. Are you sure I’m strong enough though? I’ve been taking short cuts to be useful to the team. We all know that. On my own…won’t I bring your reputation down?”

Theo snorted at that, “Decrease are reputation? Hardly. Yeah, you’ve got a ways to go to catch up to us on individual ability, but you’re hardly helpless. And your job means you aren’t going to be doing much on your own anyway.”

Seba smacked him lightly, nearly sending both of them falling over in their exhaustion, “Yeah. Not much point to a meatshield if there’s no one important around to guard!”

He laughed at his own joke for a moment, before being interrupted by a hacking cough that left him clutching at his ribs. Instantly, Theo was by their side and taking Seba’s weight off of Elijah. Elijah himself stumbled over to lean against a tree as he watched Theo pull out a handful of potions and down them.

The man looked over Seba’s chest critically before pulling three more potions from his bandolier. Two looked reminiscent of the health potions he’d given Elijah previously, but with slightly different shades to the color. The last was an angry red color that seemed to glow, and Elijah swore he saw sparks flicking through the liquid. He pushed the third into Seba’s hand first.

“Drink this. I don’t know what you did, but it looks like you have fluid around your lungs. It’s a good thing it wasn’t any worse or you never would have made it this far…”

Past the two, Niels approach Rory and said something Elijah couldn’t make out. He held out his hand and Rory passed the bone crown back to the wind mage. The leader of Hidden opportunities, his new boss Elijah supposed, gestured for him to join older man, and Elijah left Seba and Theo to their own conversation. Theo would probably track him down to ask questions about the improvised Thoracostomy he’d performed, but that could come later.

Elijah and Niels wandered past the fall back camp, standing just under the dead, crooked branches that formed the edge of the clearing. There was a slight surprised when Niels pulled out what looked like a metal tin of hand rolled cigarettes. Lighting up, the man briefly looked like an old school stockbroker or other gentleman. He held out the pack to Elijah, who declined the offer.

“Stressful day. I try not to smoke these too much, some of the herbs I add to them are expensive. Still, nothing quite like a smoke after a day like today.”

“I suppose with how many healing potions you take in a given week, lung damage probably isn’t much of a concern huh?”

“Oh, you know about that? I’m surprised, mostly its only healers and researchers like Theo who know that sort of thing.” Niels took a long drag before releasing a large cloud of smoke, “Yeah, Theo makes me take a specialized healing potion once a month to make absolutely sure there isn’t a problem. Pretty sure he’s writing a paper on the long term affects!”

Niels let out a soft chuckle, eyes going blank as he obviously allowed his mind to take him somewhere else. It only lasted for a moment, before he snapped back and focused on Elijah. There was something there that made him a little nervous. A hard, ungiving edge that made Elijah feel like he was about to be lectured by his new boss.

“I want to start by thanking you for what you did. If not for your actions, Seba would probably be dead right now. I had to use up a few of Theo’s more expensive potions to get to you two in time and to enhance myself for that first attack, but it cost fewer resources than I expected and Seba survived. That is a good trade in my book.”

Niels took a breath, and that hard edge pushed its way into his voice, “But you also abandoned the camp and left us, however briefly vulnerable with no one on watch. Things worked out this time, but we could very easily be having a different conversation right now. One that quite possibly could have ended with me putting a sword through your chest. Never do that again.”

Niels paused, looking out at the sky and puffing his way through the cigarette. The smoke smelled strange, almost like cinnamon, and left Elijah with a feeling of warmth. Elijah merely watched, waiting for Niels to continue.

“If you can’t follow orders, I’ll have to kick you off the team. Especially if you ever put the team as a whole in that much danger while doing so. And that would be the best outcome. Keep that in mind.”

#

With all the events surrounding Seba’s near death and survival, most of the party had forgotten about what all that suffering had paid for. Looking to push their excitement even further, Niels had been quick to remind them and the tone had gone from celebratory to downright elated. Niels had sent Rory to go collect his backpack, bringing their haul from the boss burrow into full view for the first time.

Like children at Christmas, the group quickly crowded over the pack. Each shoving against their neighbors as they sought a better view or to see the haul a moment sooner. Niels reached toward the bag and began pulling objects out one at a time.

The first was a strange, twisted branch. Two large, thick knots broke the length of the pale wood into roughly thirds. The grain of the wood grew in looping swirls. Altogether, the strange wand appeared to be a horrifyingly stretched finger of bone, slightly curled. Combined with the cold radiating from the wands tip, Elijah could almost see it as the finger of death, beckoning in the hard winter to snuff out lives.

“The system calls it ‘Frostwood’s Draw’. It’s a wand, obviously, but I don’t think any of us can make much use of it. Supposedly it will enhance ice and necromantic spells, especially when being used to kill plant life. The system is telling me it has a few hidden properties, but I haven’t unlocked that information yet. I’ll need to do a deeper analysis of it if you don’t mind Niels.”

“Go ahead Theo. Let Rory use it a bit too though. Most of his spells are not offensive in nature, but he might be able to get some use out of the thing. Otherwise, we will see if our contractee wants it. Might be worth some extra coin at the end of all this.”

The rest of the team agreed, and Niels reached back into the bag. With a grimace, he pulled the next item from the bag. At first, Elijah thought it was some kind of raisin or other dehydrated fruit, then he looked a little closer.

The mummified eye had an unnaturally blue iris that almost looked like a ring of sapphire. On the opposite side, the optic nerve protruded like shrunken, wrinkly tails. Elijah could feel mana within the thing, but didn’t get any particular feel from it.

“The system calls it ‘Winter’s Gaze’, I’m not getting much else though,” Theo said.

The man seemed flummoxed, and Elijah couldn’t blame him. In his experience, the system rarely limited itself to only giving a name. It made him think the object was probably rare and fairly important. It could just be the creation of a powerful mage though, enchanted to prevent prying.

“I am feeling some wind mana from it,” Niels spoke up. “There are other elements present too though. The mana is so faint and mixed that it is hard to make anything out though.”

“At least some of it is ice mana.” Rory added with a frown, “Not a lot though. Just a small touch.”

“Add it to your list of things to research Theo. I have a feeling this will come in useful later. There is something in the mana that feels similar to the dungeon.”

“I’ll do what I can Niels, but no promises. It doesn’t even have an obvious purpose, so actually researching the thing will be a little difficult. I have a few potions I could try though.”

With that, another object disappeared into Theo’s personal pack. After that, most of what Niels pulled out was various weapons, jewelry, and coins. Almost everything was damaged, worth nothing more than some additional gold when the job was over and they could sell the stuff. To be fair, that gold would be substantial. It just didn’t help them right now.

The only other thing of note didn’t make its way out of the bag until nearly the very end, and once again it left Niels grimacing as he pulled it out. It was a blackened and twisted heart, hardened into an almost stonelike consistency and pierced with spikes of what Elijah at first thought was ruby. When he looked closer, he realized it was crystalized blood, piercing out from the inner chambers of the heart.

Looking at the description the system gave it, he read the name out loud, “Lost Heart of the Winter Maiden. It says this is a potion ingredient.”

Theo perked up at that, “What does a potion made from it do?”

“According to this, you can collect one drop of blood from the heart a day. Mixing it with a healing potion and a few other ingredients, you can create a potion that returns the pain of life to a ghoul.”

When Theo asked him what the other ingredients were, Elijah had slowly listed each out for the alchemist.

“Damn. That potion is going to be pretty expensive. I am willing to bet it would incapacitate a lot of the monsters we have come across so far though. The ghouls claws and teeth are not designed with comfort in mind. The pain of tearing their own bodies apart every time they move would likely be overwhelming. Still, a little disappointing if that is all the heart does.”

Shaking his head, Elijah read the next bit, “No, that’s not all. If the heart is used as a focus, it will increase the power of blood magic targeted at undead creatures. There’s some other stuff too, but the system is telling me I haven’t discovered other applications for the heart yet.”

“Well, you’ll just have to see if you can figure out those ‘other applications’,” Niels spoke up. “You are the obvious pick for that thing, and it should help us out as we push further into the dungeon. You’ll need to give the daily drop of blood to Theo though.”

Elijah shrugged, seeing to reason to disagree, “Works for me. Not sure how I am going to carry it around though. It’s kind of awkward.”

Seba laughed, coming over to pat Elijah on the back. Reaching over, he took the heart from Elijah and examined it from every angle before passing it back. He briefly looked over Elijah’s supplies, considering things.

“I’ll see if I can jury-rig something together for you. We can probably attach it to the shield or your armor somewhere. Won’t be as easy to use as a focus as holding the thing, but you should manage with some practice. Best thing to do would be to mount it in a staff, but we don’t have the time to do that manually and paying for it with points is…excessively wasteful. Something to look forward to for when the job is done!”

“Oh great. Another thing to make me look like a horror movie reject.”

“No idea what that is, but you should not complain so much. Good equipment is good equipment, and it will probably keep you alive. You will just have to make do until you find a less…morbidly artistic dungeon.”

Elijah knew Niels was only being sensical, but he still wished he had any other option. It was starting to feel like he belonged in an AC/DC, Knight’s of the Round Table crossover fanfiction. Things could be worse though. At least he wasn’t a necromancer.

“Alright, let’s see the rest of the loot!” Rory called out, “I’m hoping somewhere in there is a half decent ring. I’ve been saving up, and I just about have enough for that enchantment I’ve been wanting. I need something nice to put it on!”

After that, things had gotten even rowdier when Niels approved breaking out one of their celebratory beer kegs. Elijah had agreed to be lookout for the night, equipped with an overabundance of sobriety potions and keeping an eye out so the rest could have fun. It was fine, he’d never been much of a partier. In the end, he was just happy they were happy.

#

From there, Hidden Opportunities had decided to stop with their slow and steady approach. Their contract wasn’t coming due, but the near death of Seba had taken a lot of fun out of the dungeon for everyone. Rather than slowly wandering the dungeon, seeking to maximize profit and give Elijah plenty of time to grow in strength, they began to cut their way through obstacles with a level of brutal efficiency that reinforced to Elijah the strength of his new co-workers.

There wasn’t so much an increase in power or skill as there was a narrowing of focus, that left each team member’s action seeming to ripple further than would normally be the case. Each action led into the next, which led into the next. Passing from team member to team member to elicit a result greater than the sum of its parts.

Before, the party had felt more like enthusiasts. Good at what they did, and well acquainted with the work. Capable, but more than willing to let things play out just to see what would happen. Now they were professionals, here to perform a job as quickly and cleanly as possible.

Elijah was convinced their inexorable march toward the center of the dungeon would pause for nothing. That Niels was about to railroad their way right up to the boss, and then right back out. It had felt like their advance was unstoppable and unflinching, right up until they once again hit a border between seasons.

It was obvious where winter truly began. A perfect line of snow on the ground, starting at a mere dusting and rapidly compiling into drifts four or five feet deep after two or three hundred feet. When they saw the border, Niels had increased their pace and Elijah had thought the man planned to charge right in.

Instead, the man had run them parallel to the boarder for several hours. Every once in a while, he or Seba would call a halt and the two would spend long minutes staring into the forest on the other side of the border. Neither crossed though, something Elijah asked about as they began to jog away from their latest stop.

“We’ve got to be careful in there,” Seba explained. “According to everything we’ve found, Winter is head and shoulders more dangerous than the other parts of the dungeon. There were a few references to traps under the snow and the temperature drops significantly. Some of those traps solidify the border between winter and fall, at least for a little while.”

“Ah, that makes sense. We just got you back. Don’t want to have you wandering off and getting stuck.”

“Exactly! Especially since Theo hasn’t passed out any of his warmth potions yet. Also, we’re looking for a path in. Those drifts are going to be a problem, but supposedly there are various game trails cutting through the snow that we can use to get deeper in.”

“Sounds like you have a bit more information about this part of the dungeon?”

“A bit more. We told you this dungeon isn’t super popular, so there isn’t as much information to find in the first place. Add in the fact it hasn’t been surveyed in so long and the lack of any local monitoring groups, plus the short time frame we had to get out here…”

Seba shrugged, continuing sweep the other side of the boundary for a path in, “We spent most of our time and money looking for information on the area most likely to kill us. Still wasn’t much and what we do know could be years out of date. Better than nothing though.”

They ran for a while longer, Elijah deciding to focus on not falling over from exhaustion rather than sating his curiosity. Nothing really seemed to change as they moved. Row after row of death, leafless trees. Waves of white snow just barely lit by the night sky.

Eventually Niels called for a stop and had them set up camp. Almost robotically, Elijah started to prepare food for the team. In exchange, Seba and Rory put up his tent before their own and Theo went to collect firewood. Things had gotten steadily colder and everyone appreciated the fire a little more each day.

Calling back to Seba as he began to mix a bowl of various spices, flour, and salt, he asked “So do you know what the boss of the dungeon is then? I never thought to ask.”

Between grunts of frustration as one of the tent poles fought him, Seba replied, “Yeah, we know what it is. Something called a Frostwood Willow. It’s a kind of undead nature spirit. The reanimated tree of a willow dryad who died to the winter. Real powerful, while also being pretty robust. Thankfully, they’re rooted in place.

“The thing has a few defenses against long range spells, and the dungeon provides it with even more. That said, we think most of those defenses won’t protect it from something dropping down from above. When we get to the boss, Theo is going to mix up a bunch of firebombs. Then Niels is going to fly up above the thing and drop the bombs on it. Rinse and repeat until it dies.”

“Wow. I mean, it seems like it will work but that is an expensive solution.”

“Not too bad. Most of Theo’s bombs may require a constant injection of his mana to keep from blowing, but they should stay stable just long enough for Niels to deliver them. That will be significantly cheaper, though even then we’ll be throwing a lot of money at the problem to make it go away.”

“We have a plan to slowly expand a fortress into the tree’s range if we need to,” Theo spoke up. “Decrease the distance to the tree to give Niels more time to throw the bombs. Rory will have to be constantly repairing the structure, but we don’t believe a Frostwood Willow will be strong enough to break through. Not without leaving itself entirely open to attack from Niels.”

“Which would probably be the last mistake it ever made.”

“Hah, hopefully. Hard to say for sure though, Niels magic isn’t as good against anything really sturdy. Wind magic’s advantage is finding cracks in the armor and exploiting week spots.”

The two had moved away from the subject after that, continuing to prepare the dinner and the camp. After they ate, Theo had quickly dismissed himself to run experiments on all three of their mystery items and Niels had walked off muttering. Elijah and Rory, meanwhile, spent the evening losing money to Seba.

#

A trail had eventually been found the next day. A tiny path, barely wide enough for them to pass. While still preferable to trying to forge their own route through the snow, it was not an extremely pleasant experience. Elijah, constantly happy he had kept his winter coat when selected as a beta tester, was likely the best off and he still felt the biting cold every time he brushed against the flakes.

He'd been concerned about wearing the coat, unsure if he could fit it under the ghoul bone armor he’d received when he killed bear. Thankfully, for only two evolution points he had been able to enchant the armor with “adjustable”, a magic that would ensure the armor always fit. Now the bones and leather sat layered outside his thick, parka style coat. It even sat in such a way that he still had access to the massive pockets on the front of the coat, giving him an easy place to store the Heart of the Winter Maiden. Not ideal, but better than Seba’s first suggestion to tie the heart to his armor with some rope.

The problem was that it wasn’t just normal snow, which would have been bad enough. This stuff was so cold, it would start causing frostbite if contact was maintained for even only a handful second. Even worse, the cold was more than just physical. Some malicious magic in the stuff would sap your strength as you maintained contact, draining the energy right out of you along with your Ki and Mana.

Thankfully Theo had been brewing warmth potions the entire time they were in the dungeon, and even with the addition of Elijah they had a large enough supply to last weeks. Each lasted around ten hours, causing a pleasing warmth to radiate from the belly and suffuse every limb. The potion’s efficiency was affected by the user and the clothes worn, adjusting itself to keep the wearer what Elijah’s sergeant had called “comfortably cool”. The right blend of warm enough that he wasn’t suffering negative affects from the temperature, but cool enough that strenuous activity wouldn’t cause him to start sweating.

Thanks to Elijah’s multiple, thick layers, he got almost twelve entire hours out of one potion. Niels on the other hand, in significantly thinner clothes and flying around at high speeds, barely got eight hours of use out of the potion. Rory hadn’t even needed one, though he took one for additional comfort. His inherent ice magic came with a body enhancement spell that allowed him to more efficiently retain heat and ignore the cold. That, combined with some inherent magic to his Elvish heritage, meant he would be functional, if not comfortable, even in a blizzard.

Something Elijah was more than a little jealous of.

Somehow though, even through the biting external cold, that feeling in his chest he’d had ever since entering the dungeon was still there. A chill pulling at him from the center of the forest. Occasionally sending a shiver down his spine when he focused on it. Even Rory’s magic couldn’t protect someone from it.

Besides the cramped confines, the game trail they were following was a meandering, winding mess with no regard for destination. Like natural game trails, they wandered between places of interest to the local wildlife. Areas where the local stream ran too quickly to freeze or small burrows lead underground for warmth.

During the scant few hours that constituted a day this deep in the forest, they would come across the occasional rabbit or deer on the path. The animals would flee at the sight of them, more often than not into the snow. This would usually be followed by the horrifying sight of the poor animal freezing to death in minutes, until all that was left was a frozen zombie a few dozen feet from the path.

At night, the route would be rife with ghouls. The smaller ones were all but wiped out at this point, leaving only the larger creatures like deer and wolves. Even the rats, up until now a constant presence, were missing. Elijah assumed their small bodies simply couldn’t survive the environmental dangers of the surrounding dungeon.

The flying ghouls were more common out here however. Birds and bats could be seen filling the trees, warded off by the power of the crowns. Smaller than what he had encountered before, but apparently making up for it with pure viciousness. The things thankfully couldn’t truly fly, saving the group from constant harrying. They could, however, glide and were very skilled at flinging themselves from treetop to treetop. The chittering, skittering sound of bare wing bones striking wood became a constant background noise and the creatures would not hesitate to strike if the group was ever distracted.

As bad as that threat was, however, there were a few advantages. More than once a ghoul wolf of lynx they came across decided the birds were easier prey. The large ghouls seemed impervious to the snow, freely traversing wide swathes of the dungeon Hidden Opportunities couldn’t approach without significant risk. It was a constant danger that one would come leaping onto their game trail, but teamwork and months of practiced coordination meant they could make short work of the dangers.

It wasn’t until their third day that they came across something truly threatening.

It was long after nightfall, and the team had been carefully advancing along the path for hours. The time to stop for their next meal was approaching. They had sandwiches made from the leftovers of the previous day’s dinner and all of their training couldn’t compete with the rumbling of their stomach as they thought of the meal to come.

Their surroundings were the same as any other day. Snow up to their waist on either side of a thin trail, winding its way between dead trees. Somewhere nearby, Elijah could hear the sound of rushing water. Likely the destination of this particular part of the game trail. In the trees above, he could make out dark shapes again the sky. Skittering from branch to branch and tree to tree.

Tall snowdrifts rose to either side, building around the tree trunks until some were even taller than Elijah himself. Ice hung from the branches, seemingly impossibly sharp when they reflected the glow from Theo’s light spell.

The route itself was perfectly clear. Trampled snow mixed with frozen mud. No sign of what was to come, clear of sticks, rocks, or any other distinguishing marks. No bloodstains, as they had occasionally come across while hiking along. Violent splatterings of red, like an animal had simply exploded in the trail. There weren’t even any strange lumps, implying something hidden beneath the slush.

It had happened as they passed out of a small ravine, tall snowdrifts flanking each side. A short stone ledge on one side and a particularly thick copse of trees on the other creating a wind tunnel that packed the snow high on either side. The sound of the wind blotting out any tiny noises the group might have otherwise heard and the surrounding terrain trapping the group even more than the snow normally would.

Seba, leading the group, had passed out of the small ravine first. Scouting the area ahead for danger, and doing his best to guide them deeper in. There were only so many splits in the path and so much he could do on that front, but with Niels scouting from the air they had only had to turn back once so far.

Niels himself was around one hundred and fifty feet up. He had to stay above the tree tops, or else even the crown couldn’t keep him from being swarmed by the flying menaces. They weren’t really a danger to the powerful mage, but they were a nuisance and a distraction the team didn’t need. He kept an eye on the wider area, though between the height and the cover of the surrounding branches, he was only so much help.

Elijah had passed through next, buckler up and ready to be expanded out into a small shield with his blood art. He’d gotten better about maintaining awareness of the situation and having his spells ready at a moment’s notice, but in these moments before they stopped for lunch, he had allowed himself to lapse on some level. Scanning for anything that might be charging from the woods, he missed the real threat.

It happened as Theo passed the center of the two large drifts. From the left, spears of bone exploded from within the snow. Each flung through the air with savage speed, ready to pincushion their alchemist. At the first flicker of movement, the man had a potion in his hand and coming to his lips.

Even then it wouldn’t have been enough if not for Rory. The younger mage threw up several thin walls of ice, the most of the spears punching through the first and second. Fewer and fewer spears made it through the following walls until the very last came to a stop impaled in the final one.

There wasn’t time to celebrate however, as at the same time more bones emerged from the opposite bank. These were slower, slowly forcing their way out until they revealed themselves as three skeletal monstrosities. Each was a grotesque caricature of a human skeleton, apparently created from the scrounged bones of whatever died nearby. The random sourcing of bones had resulted in each being unique.

The first appeared to have a human rib cage, though it was attached to the front half of a deer’s body. The spinal cord dangled like a particularly gruesome tail. For a head, the thing had a wolf skull with sharp, though not monstrous, teeth. Each arm seemed to come from a ghoul lynx, being far too short. Each limb was still heavily armored in the bone plating and vicious claws tipped the ends. The overall impression was like if someone had attempted to use a teleportation device to create a miniature tyrannosaurus skeleton.

The second had the human skeleton’s arms, shoulders, and head. It held a rusted and pitted knife in one hand, and had a heavy rock in the other. It had no torso, instead using the remainder of the deer skeleton for legs and a tiny spine. The thing ran like a gorilla, using the knuckles for balance and additional speed.

The last was hulking, far taller than the rest of them. It had appeared to luck out by having most of a bear skeleton for chest and arms. Its legs were the last of the human skeleton, and for a head it had claimed the deer skull. A single antler remained attached, giving the looming shape and lopsided appearance.

As Rory dealt with the flying spears, Theo had just enough time to down the potion he had taken. The violet liquid caused scales to erupt from his skin, thickening into something halfway between lizard skin and thick scab. When the bear skeleton slammed a paw into his chest, he was sent flying into the stone ledge but stood with no apparent injury.

The other two had gone for Rory as he was distracted with his spell casting. The wolf skulled one managed to bite onto Rory’s arm, but he had pulled it away before too much damage could be done. The knife wielding satyr thing, meanwhile, only managed a light scratch across Rory’s thigh before he leapt away.

It all happened so fast, that Elijah had barely had time to react. One second nothing, and then an explosion of snow and bone as his teammates shouted. One in pain, the other calling for assistance. He charged the creatures, activating his aura as the surrounding ghoul birds took the opportunity to dive bomb the party.

His aura had no affect on the skeletons, of course. They didn’t even turn away from their quarry, continuing to stock the two ranged combatants. The birds and bats, however, shrieked in outrage. Especially as he began to rapidly burn mana to empower the spell as far as possible. They broke away in their dive, instead focusing on Seba as he stood outside of Elijah’s range.

“Go help them! I can deal with the fliers for at least a little while.”

Elijah didn’t need to be told twice. He dropped a shoulder, let out a bellow, and charged the bear thing as it advanced on Theo. Tackling into its side, he was briefly surprised how light the thing was before remembering just how little of the bodies weight bones actually accounted for.

The two of them went flying, slamming into the tyrannosaurus thing and rolling in a tangle of limbs. Small bits of frozen flesh still hung from some of the bones, and Elijah had to hold back a gag as he worked to keep his arms and legs away from the snapping jaws of the skeletal abominations.

Behind him he heard a boom and more yelling. The shrieks of the dozens of flying ghouls and the wail of wind screaming through the air. As he rolled, he saw a spike of ice explode out of the ground, something wriggling on the tip before beginning to slide down the side. Eventually Elijah and the two skeletons came to a stop, well past the more vulnerable members of his team.

Elijah had suffered a number of cuts and bruises in the tackle, but he had come out mostly without injury. The bear was possibly in even better shape than himself, though the remaining antler had snapped off and found itself entangled in the tyrannosaurus’s ribs. Speaking of, the strangest of the skeletons had suffered multiple broken bones, including on of its legs. Elijah doubted it would be able to stand, the break making the legs too lopsided for a stable gait.

Pulling back his buckler, he slammed it into the face of the tyrannosaurus, jamming the metal plate into its jaws. Tiny arms flailed, attempting to remove the hindrance but unable to turn enough to reach with the bone plates in the way. He had lost a defensive tool, but now the thing was essentially incapable of hurting him as long as he kept a little distance.

The bear returned to standing. In a living creature, such a large torso on such tiny legs would have been horrifically unbalanced and incapable of standing. As a skeleton though, the legs had more than enough strength and stability for the light load they carried.

The thing reared back and Elijah threw his arms up in a block for the coming downward swipe of the heavy bone paws. Based off the weight of the thing, and the ponderous nature of most of its movements so far, he expected he could brush off the attack. Instead, it felt like he was hit by a sledge hammer as the falling paw slammed him into the ground.

Groaning, he barely had the focus to roll to the side, avoiding the monsters next swing but once again tangling himself up with the tyrannosaurus skeleton. Kicking it in the face, he sent the second skeleton flying into the bear. As they untangled themselves, the tyrannosaurus once more taking a beating as the bear simply ripped the weaker monster away without regard for the smaller monster’s safety, Elijah brought his sword chopping down at the bear skeleton’s head.

Seeing him, it swung wildly with large arms while dropping the other skeleton to the ground at its feet. The blow sent Elijah flying back, but along the way he buried the sword deep in the offending limb and splintered large pieces of the humerus away. The skeleton didn’t scream or bellow, but it clacked it’s jaw in what Elijah could only interpret as rage.

Falling forward onto all fours, it crushed the tyrannosaurus’s rib cage the large bear paws before charging at Elijah. The weaker skeleton rattled and gnashed its teeth, but only the upper body was moving. It appeared the bear had smashed any bones connecting it to its lower body and had, at least temporarily, put the thing out of commission.

Not that he had much time to think about that with the more dangerous of the two bearing down at him. He’d been flung into the snow, and could feel his face freezing over. Quickly, he brushed away the flakes from his exposed skin while climbing to his feet. Preparing for the things charged, he dropped down at the last minute and grabbed at the monsters chest.

Doing his best to avoid touching his face against the massive, disgusting ribs or mummified patches of skin and flesh, he heaved. Using the monsters own momentum and weight to bring it over his shoulder, he slammed the monster headfirst into the snow drift he had been thrown into.

Checking just long enough to see the skeleton scrambling to get its bearings, he charged the broken and battered t-rex. The thing swiped futilely at him, but he leapt past the grasping limbs and landed right by the wolf skull still choked by his buckler. Lifting his right leg, he brought it down.

Curbstomping the skeleton, he smashed the snout into pieced and put deep cracks along the cranium with his first kick. His second missed, thrown off as the skeleton shuddered and jittered beneath him. The third landed solidly on the dome of the beast, smashing through and pulverizing what remained.

Then the bones went still.

Which was when Elijah was once again sent airborne, hip checked by the bear after it finally escaped the drift. He landed hard, watching as the skeleton grabbed pieces of its fallen comrade and held them to various areas of its body. As he watched the spinal cord that had formed the things “tail” was grafted onto the monster’s hip bones, resulting in a strange centaur chimera. The smaller arms were mounted onto the creature’s sternum, a second set of tearing limbs where its pecks would be.

That didn’t seem that threatening at first, then the creature spread its arms wide and approached slowly, making wide grasping motions. The thing was planning to pin him against its chest in a deadly bear hug, leaving the smaller arms to gut him. With the monster’s insane strength, he’d never escape once he had been caught.

Just as he started to worry about what do next, the monsters head seemed to simply pop off. The mass of threatening bones collapsed to the ground, barely even twitching, as a pair of hands caught the falling skull. Behind the hulking body, Niels stood with a grim grin on his face. With a flex, the head was pulverized.

“Well now, this is something we weren’t warned about.”