Fifteen skeletons powered by thirteen thousand ether each.

One ally—a demon who Vivi barely trusted—and a closed door behind them.

"Aang, take this!" Vivi said through gritted teeth. She summoned her new two-runed greatsword and handed it to Aang. They wouldn't live if Aang fought with his sloppy outside-carved sword. Now wasn't the time to worry about betrayals or useless nonsense. They had to win.

Vivi summoned Abyss Destroyer and activated her ascension skill. Five hundred ether wasn't much, but she felt herself growing noticeably stronger. Her vision got brighter, and her perception of the battlefield improved.

The four archers on the hills loosed their bow strings. Their bows were built entirely of ether, shining like the wings of a fiery eagle. Each arrow flew with enough power to pierce hardstone.

Vivi dodged the first one. The arrow pierced deep into the wall next to her with an ear-piercing crash. The second one was aimed straight at her; she swung at it with her sword. Abyss Destroyer won, but a jolt shot through Vivi's body. Over two hundred wisps dimmed out from Lucius's reserves.

Every exchange required everything Vivi had. She wouldn't last long. "We need to kill them quickly and recharge ether!" Vivi said. "We won't endure."

"Agreed," Aang said. "I'll see what I can do."

Aang's full aura erupted. His eyes shined bright and his demonic skin glowed with dark wisps of ether. The tattoos across his upper body came alive.

Then the gang leader charged directly into the fray. His blade moved like a gust of wind. The strength runes of Vivi's sword made contact with the first skeleton. Its bones cracked like glass, wisps of ether spraying into the air. A gaping wound was left on its ribs. The skeleton swung its sword clumsily before collapsing from its wounds.

Arrows shot at Aang from four sides at once. He jumped, dodging each arrow, before landing in the middle of three skeletons.

He slashed wide around himself. One of the skeletons died; the second managed to block. The third thrust a spear at his chest.

Aang pushed the spear out of the way with his free hand. Then he punched the skeleton in the face.

Vivi watched in awe. Lucius…? You said my swords are the same as bringing someone up two elevations?

"Never mind that, you're standing still, Vivi!"

Two skeletons were approaching from the right side. One was a bulky skeleton carrying a heavy giant slayer sword. The other was an assassin with two daggers. The assassin disappeared from her vision.

Only her sixth sense saved her from the attack. Vivi felt a surge of ether aimed at her head from the right. She slashed in the direction with her sword.

The assassin ducked under the attack and redirected its knife at Vivi's stomach. Her heart dropped.

Lucius appeared from her core, forming a shield. Cracks formed as the dagger made contact, but the shield held. Lucius dimmed over a thousand wisps. Vivi counter-attacked, but the assassin had already jumped back.

Vivi focused ether into her eyes. Watch for its movements. Feel its ether…

The assassin still moved like a flash of light. But Vivi could see the flashes. And more importantly, she could feel the skeleton's ether in the air as it dashed around her. She followed its movements, searching for patterns, until the assassin charged again.

There! Vivi thought. She activated Shadow Swipe negatively, hiding her sword, and swung at the skeleton's location.

This time, the assassin didn't have time to duck. Vivi's sword cut it cleanly in half. Lucius collected its ether, recharging 1389 of his dimmed out wisps.

More enemies were closing in around her. Bows and arrows to the right. A bulky charging skeleton to the left. A spear ahead. She felt hostile ether behind her as well.

Lucius panicked within her, shouting orders. Vivi was barely listening. She didn't have time for hesitations. Stopping for a fraction of a second would have led to her death. Attempting to defend would have led to her death. She couldn't protect herself from four skeletons at once.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She could only continue charging forward. She swiped with her sword, cutting an arrow that would have hit her shoulder. Then she called off her sword, switching it for her hammer, and faced the spear-skeleton ahead.

Outrange this! Vivi shouted in her head as she swung her hammer. The asmite hammer crashed into the skeleton's face, cracking its jaw and crushing it to the ground.

A sword swing came next. It threw an overhead swing at Vivi.

Vivi grimaced and planted her feet to the ground for a strong footing. She resummoned Abyss Destroyer and countered with a swing of her own.

The impact came. Vivi's body trembled from the shockwave, hair flaring out. Abyss Destroyer glowed bright.

A crack sounded from the skeleton's ethereal greatsword. Vivi's sword was far stronger, and her swing carried much more force. The skeleton was blasted backward, flying until crashing into a mound. Its sword stayed in one piece, but with a huge crack in the middle.

She ran forth to finish the job. The fallen skeleton held its sword in an attempt to block. But it was already cracked. Vivi swung at the damaged spot, cracking it in half before cutting down the skeleton. It disintegrated to ether.

Behind her, another surge of ether was aimed at her head. She growled, turned around and swung at the same time, cutting an oncoming arrow.

Then she raised her sword and threw.

The venerium blade landed in the archer's skeleton's mouth. The purple rot enveloped her opponent, eating it alive.

With the skeleton dead, Lucius recalled her sword back to spatial storage from range. They collected the ether from their kills. A total of 3707 ether.

Vivi wiped her forehead and caught her breath. She'd exerted herself to her limits. Lucius's reserves were back to full after collecting fresh ether, but that was only barely. They'd dimmed out over three thousand wisps in that fight alone.

Lucius was cackling in her head. "I thought you were dead! You're insane, Vivi!"

She looked down at the main path. Aang was finishing up the last skeletons on the leftmost hills. Thousands of ether sizzled from the skeletons he'd killed. Aang's face was bloody, cuts and bruises having turned his shirt into a rag, but he had won.

Vivi stepped down to the main path. Thousands of ether sizzled, ready to be collected. Aang glowed in the middle of it all. His figure was dark and demonic. Meeting his eyes, Vivi flinched, holding up her weapon.

"It's me," Aang said. He walked out of the ethereal mist with a limp step. His horns glowed, and the scorched spots on his face were cracking. He looked more and more like a demon. "The door still isn't open. I suggest I collect the rest of the ether until we're sure of our survival."

"Ah, yes…" Vivi said. "You did kill them all…"

Aang studied their surroundings. "The third level was different before. The castle was still here, but it wasn't filled with lava."

"If the exit still hasn't opened…" Vivi said in concern.

"There's something we still need to kill," Aang finished. "Curse the Trickster God, but we did enter his domain."

"We didn't struggle with the first room," Lucius said. "We can move deeper. Maybe we can even defeat the boss."

We'll probably die, Vivi thought. But it looks like we have no choice.

"Let's see how deep we have to move," Vivi said. "We'll exit the moment the doors open."

Approaching the portcullis, an uneasy feeling welled in Vivi's stomach. Lava dripped beside the main bridge, seeping from cracks in the ceiling and overflowing from the battlements. The air wasn't as hot as Vivi would have expected. The lava was mostly made of wisps of ether. The liquid was still hot, and falling into the lake would kill, but it didn't seem like the lava was entirely real.

The walls were silent, and the view behind the portcullis was pitch black. No monsters appeared out of thin air, and no explosions caused the bridge to collapse. The group made it to the portcullis without issues.

"The third level is most likely the last," Aang said. "A structure of this scale rarely leads to an even larger structure. The main boss is probably inside. We'll have to hope to dear Tyvlan that there's a squadron boss before the main one. It's too early to clear Zand for good."

"I can sense a lot of ether," Lucius said. "Aang is right. The boss is in that castle."

Vivi stayed quiet and on alert. She would have liked to hear some comforting words, but all she had was Lucius and his excitement at moving ever closer to the boss.

They passed the bridge. The portcullis was large, as if intended for giants. The squares between the bars were wide enough that Eem could have squeezed through. I hope that little idiot is doing better than we are…

Aang stood before the gates, staring up at the portcullis, as if expecting it to open. He waited there for ten seconds, expression growing increasingly troubled. He tried stepping closer. When nothing happened, he said, "Well, that's not good."

"What is it?" Vivi asked.

"Probably a puzzle," Aang said. "In dungeons, the way forward usually opens when you step close enough. If it doesn't open, there's usually some sort of condition that needs to be met."

"You mean, like a riddle we need to solve?"

"That, or there might be a monster we need to kill," Aang said. "A smaller boss of sorts that might hold a key or an item we need to bring here for the gates to open."

"But the way back is blocked," Vivi said.

"We can try cutting our way in," Aang said. "Your runeswords might be strong enough to cheat the rules."

"Feel free," Vivi said. "That sword is a backup. If it breaks, I won't mind."

Aang nodded. He raised the sword and took a swing. A cling resounded. Ether moved within the weird black material of the portcullis, but not a scratch was left on its surface. A runesword sword couldn't cut through. Aang wore a troubled expression.

"There are always different solutions," Lucius said. "I can fly past the squares and sneak in. But that would reveal me."

Vivi thought about it for a second. "Aang," she began, "could you turn around? I can try something, but it can't be seen."

The gang leader raised his eyebrows, but turned away. "Very well."

Lucius revealed himself. He flew between the squares, inside the castle. His red figure glowed slightly, lighting a circle underneath himself. The ground was made of boring bricks. "Maybe there's a switch or something here…"

Suddenly, Lucius let out a screeching scream. A hand grabbed his tail and pulled him deeper into the castle.

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