“That is not a turtle,” Zeke muttered, gaping in awe at the creature cutting a path through the fiery lake. “It’s a freaking dinosaur.”

Half a mile away, the monster was at the edge of his range, but Zeke could still inspect it. The results made his heart pound a bit faster.

Fireback Turtle – Level 25 (M)

A monarch-tier creature. The pinnacle of power in the Radiant Isles. Zeke had only fought a handful of elite- and boss-tier monsters, but even those took extraordinary effort to defeat. And monarchs were on an entirely different level. They were just a step above the other tiers; rather, from everything he’d read and heard, a monarch’s superiority to the other special tiers was immeasurable. Some, like the thunderbirds, had even achieved sapience, but even the ones whose behavior remained animalistic were powerful enough to give even Zeke pause.

Could he defeat such a creature? Maybe, but it would be a long, drawn-out affair, the outcome of which was more of a coin flip than a certainty. Even if everything went right, he wasn’t convinced he could come out on top – especially because he’d have to fight it alone.

Pudge, who, like Zeke, was lying on his stomach and peeking over a rocky ridge, snorted. Not alone, he thought.

“Right. Sorry, buddy,” Zeke said, absently scratching the bear’s snout. He could feel the heat wafting off of Pudge’s thick hide, but with his fire resistance, it wasn’t bothersome. “I don’t ever have to be alone again.”

That seemed to mollify the bear, who went back to studying the turtle. Or pretending to, at least. Zeke had a suspicion that Pudge, who was still barely more than an adolescent, despite his size and combat capability, was only mimicking Zeke’s own actions. Given Zeke’s propensity for leaping into danger without considering the consequences, the idea that someone would look at him as a role model was troubling indeed.

Zeke was well aware that most of his success was due to a unique situation. Without a thousand little things going his way, he’d have been dead a hundred times over. Whether it was during his climb to the top of the troll caves, the fights against the undead, or their recent foray into the demon realm, he’d leaned on his unique advantages to come out alive. Even then, each situation had pushed him to his limits, and he knew just how easily things could have gone wrong.

The situation with Fiona was a good reminder of that. Like him, she had made most of her choices with all the best intentions. She only wanted to save her sister. But instead of accomplishing that goal, she’d thrown her life away. Zeke couldn’t be sure, but given how much the toxic atmosphere had degraded the woman’s body – and probably her mind, too – she didn’t have much longer to live. If it weren’t for a host of things going Zeke’s way, he could have easily ended up in a similar situation. And though he didn’t intend to stop pushing forward, he was very aware that he stood a good chance of leading his friends into ruin. It had already happened with Tucker, and he couldn’t help but wonder which one of his friends would come next.

No. He had to trust that they could take care of themselves. That was the path he’d chosen. He couldn’t be their protector. Not only was he ill-suited to the role, but it was a decidedly unhealthy mentality. Taking responsibility for everyone else’s safety was a good way to drive himself crazy.

That wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t help. He would. And if the situation called for it, he would throw himself at anything that threatened his friends. However, the distinction lay in the fact that he wouldn’t wrap his entire life’s purpose in martyrdom and sacrifice. Down that road lay madness.

Of course, just because he’d decided on his path didn’t mean he didn’t second guess himself. He did, and frequently. He just had to trust himself to stay on track.

Those thoughts played across his mind as he continued to observe the giant turtle. It was at least half a football field in length, and probably just as wide. The huge creature skated along the lake’s surface, and like an iceberg, much of its bulk was hidden. Only the crown of its shell, looking like a flaming island, poked above the surface. Every now and then, its enormous head, which was at least twice Pudge’s size, emerged from the water, but the rest of it remained submerged.

As the creature made its way closer to the blackened and pitted shore, Zeke hoped that would change. He’d been watching it drift around for a few hours now, and only recently had it changed course.

Zeke could interpret the reason.

On the shore lounged a few giant lizards. They were the size of saltwater crocodiles, but beyond their basic shape, they bore no resemblance to their Earthly counterparts. Instead of rigid scales, their hides were smooth, moist, and a vivid read, patterned in black and orange. To Zeke, they looked more like geckos or salamanders – a resemblance borne out by his use of [Inspect]:

Fiery Salamander – Level 25 (E)

There were four of them, and they didn’t notice the turtle’s approach until the last possible moment. By then, it was far too late. The fireback turtle’s head erupted from the flaming lake, almost too fast for Zeke to track. Its beak snapped around one of the salamanders, and the thing disappeared down the turtle’s gullet a moment later.

Finally, the salamanders reacted, skittering across the scorched rocks with impressive speed. As fast as they were, though, it was all for naught. Once. Twice. Three times, the turtle struck, all in the space of an instant, and when it finally retreated back into the water, the lizards were all gone.

“Damn.”

Fast, Pudge agreed.

The display was as good of a reminder as any that he couldn’t stand up to a monarch-tier creature. Not if he wanted to fight it head-on. No – he needed to actually think, for once. The turtle hadn’t displayed anything but sheer animalistic instinct, and Zeke felt comfortable in assuming that it was no more intelligent than the lake’s other monstrous denizens. That didn’t make it less dangerous, but it did open up a few possibilities.

“Alright, buddy – we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Zeke said after deciding what to do. “Let’s find a good spot.”

With that, he started circling the lake. The thing was huge, but the turtle tended to patrol a relatively small bit of the shore. So, Zeke confined his search to a few miles on either side of the site of the salamander massacre. It took a few hours, but eventually, Zeke found a likely spot about sixty yards from the shore.

“Ready to dig?” Zeke asked.

Dig! Pudge replied. Then, the infernal bear did just that, digging through the scorched earth with reckless enthusiasm. Zeke, for his part, was a bit more controlled. Summoning his mace, he proceeded to mark off a huge square by repeatedly banging this weapon against the ground. It wasn’t as efficient as Pudge’s claws, but it got the job done. Eventually, he’d marked the boundary of his pit, and when he did, he summoned a shovel from his spatial storage and got to work.

It wasn’t difficult. His strength and endurance saw to that. But it was tedious work that took him the better part of an entire day. By the time he’d finished, the sun had dipped below the horizon. Luckily, the light from the flaming lake cast its surroundings in an eerie glow, so he was able to keep going until he’d finished the task.

Standing at the bottom of the pit, he put his hands on his hips and looked up. The walls were sheer and almost a hundred-and-fifty feet high. Zeke would have preferred to go a bit deeper, but he’d spent the past few hours digging through extremely dense rock. Besides, he expected that the giant pit would serve his purposes well enough.

The only question was whether or not he wanted to attempt to kill the thing. Sure, the competitive part of him wanted to do just that, but the more reasonable part told him that he only needed the moss that was supposed to grow on the monster’s back. If his trap worked the way he hoped it would, there was no reason to do anything but gather what he needed and retreat back to the safety of his tower.

The idea of doing that just rubbed Zeke the wrong way, though. Sure, it was the sensible path. Certainly, it had the best chance of survival. But it also left a bad taste in his mouth, like if he ran away, it would make him a coward. A silly thought, sure, but it was there all the same.

Besides, he had no illusions about how well his makeshift pit would hold the monster. With its size, he had no doubts that it would eventually escape. When it did, would it use its freedom to track him down? If it did, he’d have to fight it on its terms.

Flimsy reasoning, but it still swayed Zeke all the same. He would try to kill the creature, but if it looked like it wasn’t going to work, he’d retreat. The best of both worlds.

First, though, he needed bait.

To that end, Zeke began his arduous climb out of the pit. At first, he was worried that Pudge wouldn’t be able to follow, but the bear made it look easy. By the time Zeke made it to the top, Pudge was waiting on him.

Slow, the bear thought.

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up,” Zeke muttered, dusting himself off. Once he was mostly free of dust and dirt, he summoned his [Juggernaut Armor] and went on the hunt. The turtle had displayed a preference for the salamanders, so Zeke limited his hunt to the elite-tier monsters. Luckily, they were plentiful, so he didn’t have to look very far.

Six of the creatures were lying right next to a sizable corpse. Zeke thought it looked like a trailer-sized frog, but the salamanders had eaten enough of the thing that it was little more than a guess. In the past, the idea of starting a fight with six elite-tier monsters would have been unthinkable. However, Zeke had grown quite a bit of late, and he thought it was a risk worth taking.

Still, he did wish he had his companions with him. If he’d had Talia and Abby there, let alone Carlos, he wouldn’t have even hesitated. But aside from Pudge, he was alone. The caustic atmosphere saw to that. And after seeing the effect it had had on Fiona, he didn’t want to subject his friends to the toxic air.

In any case, he needed some bait. Otherwise, he’d have little hope of getting the quest item he needed.

With a sigh, he rolled his shoulders. “You ready, buddy?” he asked, glancing at Pudge.

Always, was the bear’s reply.

“Alright, then,” Zeke said. “I’ll hit ‘em head on. You come in from the side. Try to focus on whichever one ends up in the back and work your way toward me. Got it?”

Pudge replied in the affirmative, then padded off to Zeke’s right, intending to circle around. The bear had ample experience as a flanker, so Zeke trusted him to do what needed to be done. Just before Pudge got out of range, Zeke remembered to apply [Avatar of the Beast] to his companion, enhancing the bear’s physical stats.

With that done, Zeke added [Heart of the Berserker], boosting his own stats to a frightening degree. With the armor linked to the skill, becoming more durable when it was active, he didn’t have to fear using [Heart of the Berserker] so much. Instead of a last-resort kind of ability, he wanted it to become a core part of his skillset. He had other ideas for how to make that happen, but they would have to wait until his expertise as a runecrafter progressed. For now, the armor would have to do.

Feeling the influx of power, as well as the slightly more aggressive mindset that came with the skill, Zeke kicked off the ground and rushed toward the salamanders. The monsters reacted quickly, but Zeke was on them before they could mount a defense. So, his first strike – an overhand, two-handed attack – easily found its mark. The mace descended with herculean force, connecting with the first salamander’s skull with a sickening crunch. The sound of shattering bone and squelching flesh soon gave way to a deep, resonating thud as the mace hit the blackened rocks where it dug a sizable divot.

The earth rolled and buckled, knocking the other salamanders off balance by the small, localized earthquake, and Zeke wasted no time in taking advantage of the distraction. In the space of a second, his mace was already on its way to the nearest living salamander. But these were elite-tier monsters, and they hadn’t gained that designation by being easy marks – a fact that was driven home by the salamander’s quick reaction.

It slithered away, its movements sinuous and graceful, but it wasn’t quick enough to avoid the blow entirely. Zeke’s mace clipped it in the side, and it rolled a few yards away. He would have taken that opportunity to pounce on the stunned monster, but one of its fellows – the biggest of the bunch – chose that moment to launch itself at Zeke.

He barely got an arm up in time to fend off its jaws, but the force of the tackle sent him sprawling onto the ground. The salamander went with him, its jaws snapping at him the whole way. Zeke knew that, even with his armor, enduring one of the monster’s bites would be more than just painful. So, after dismissing his mace, he grabbed the salamander’s jaws and wrenched them apart. The creature resisted, but Zeke’s strength was insurmountable. Inevitable. He channeled his martial path, and even though he wasn’t carrying his mace, it lent him power.

Zeke roared his mingled fury and refusal to give in, and a second later, he was rewarded with a loud crack as the salamander’s jaws broke. He didn’t stop, ripping the monster’s head apart and showering himself with vivid, red blood.

The battle wasn’t through, though. Two were down. Four were left.

Pudge let out a roar to echo Zeke’s own, and he looked up to see the bear ripping the throat from another salamander.

Three left, then.

Zeke re-summoned his mac and waded back into battle. However, the salamanders were having none of it. With three of their number having already succumbed, they were smart enough to recognize an unwinnable fight. So, they scattered. One went to the left, another went to the right. The final creature fled into the nearby water.

“Shit!” Zeke growled, heading to his right. Mentally, he commanded Pudge to go in the opposite direction. And thus, the chase began. Luckily, Zeke’s dexterity and agility were almost as high as his strength, so it didn’t take him long to catch up to the fleeing monster.

Knowing it couldn’t escape, the salamander wheeled around and launched itself at Zeke. He was ready for it, though, and even as it flew through the air, Zeke’s mace was already cutting through the air in a very familiar swing. He caught it in the face, and its head splattered like an overripe melon.

A few seconds later, Pudge confirmed that he’d taken care of the other fleeing monster. Of the one who had slipped beneath the flaming water, there was no sign. His breath heaving, Zeke gathered the corpses – he didn’t loot them; instead, he put them into his storage space – and started making his way back to the pit.

Five was a good start, but it was only just that – a start. He had many more battles ahead of him before he was ready to tangle with the turtle.