He fought off three more swarms of the smaller monsters as he made his way further down the slope. None of them were any more successful than the first one; if anything, he landed even more shots against them in the initial pass. Their continual failure to stop him didn't prevent them from continuing to try, however, and he was getting progressively more irritated by their presence as he reached the bottom of the mountainside.

There, Clay found a ravine that separated the mountain he stood on from the next one in the range. He spent a moment staring down into it, his view blocked by the nearly bare branches of the trees clinging to the steep sides of the obstacle. His ethereal senses were already warning him that there were more creatures waiting for him inside.

The signs that had given him hints about the monsters had gradually disappeared in the past little while. He wondered if that was because Syr Katherine hadn't mapped out this part of the Dungeon's territory, or if it was because the adventurer was focused elsewhere. Either way, he'd likely be approaching the next portion of the area more or less blind. It was hard not to feel unhappy about that fact.

With a distinct amount of reluctance, Clay descended into the ravine, trying not to let his feet slip on the carpet of wet leaves that coated the sides. It took an effort not to send a cascade of slithering leaves down the slope or create a miniature avalanche of pebbles when he stumbled. Between that effort and the need to scan the sky constantly, he found himself fighting to divide his attention.

As such, it was no surprise that the first of the new swarms nearly caught him off guard. The half dozen shapes were nearly overhead when he tried to hide. This time, with his enemies on the wing, he wanted the chance to examine them thoroughly.

Unfortunately, he had no such luck. A whisper of sound, just barely audible as a small chirp, reached his ears, and the bats above him suddenly dipped in their flight. All six of them turned back towards him, angling to the spot where he had taken cover behind a tree.

Clay grimaced and started the Refrain, hoping he'd have the chance to hit them before they got too close. Another chirp reached his ear, something that continued to repeat faster and faster as the bats drew close. He realized, suddenly, that he didn't know how they had located him. Had they seen him, or was it some kind of magic?

He drew out his bow and nocked an arrow. It was one of the plain ones that he had requested from Dorthmead's armory that morning; he didn't think he'd need to waste one of the Pellsglade arrows on these monsters. Clay drew in a deep breath, and then swung out from behind the tree, already aiming for the nearest bat.

As he did, he heard a shriek of displaced air as two blasts of light struck the trunk of the tree he had just abandoned. The bursts of magic shattered bark and turned the wood beneath into a cloud of splinters. Clay flinched away, but none of them slipped beneath his helmet or did more than bounce off his armor.

A low, deep warble reached him, the audible fragments of a bellow that seemed to vibrate the air inside his chest. Clay grimaced as he felt the noise start to disrupt his [Chant], but the monsters had waited too long. Before they reached him, he already had the spears formed and streaking towards them.

To his grim surprise, the bats jerked to the side in an attempt to evade the attack. He'd thrown at least two spears at each target, so it was not an easy task. One glowing bat, the size of a larger dog or small pony, failed completely and was speared through the head by both icicles. Two others, their mouths wide and their eyes nearly blind, attempted to evade, only to be sent tumbling as their wings were shredded. Another glowing bat broke off, its wings somehow catching the air in a way that helped it duck out to the side, completely untouched.

Clay saw the notifications flash before his eyes, even as he realized that two of the bats had reacted fast enough to not even need to change course. A flip of the wings had pushed them out of a direct path for the spears, and then they had tucked their wings in close to their bodies, increasing their speed as they slipped between the teeth of his attack.

{Senior Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Senior Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Senior Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

He had just enough time to take a step back and draw his bowstring to his ear before the monsters were on him. Clay loosed the arrow and twisted, trying desperately to avoid the strike.

His arrow punched straight into the wide-open mouth of the first diving bat. The impact was enough to knock it off course and kill it instantly. Unfortunately, it didn't knock it far enough off course. Its dead body still hurtled in at him like a battering ram. When it slammed into him, it knocked him flying off his feet.

{Senior Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

Clay's back was still rebounding off the soil of the slope behind him when the second of the two bats crashed into him. Unlike its former friend, it was not a simple missile of dead weight. Instead, its wide open, multi-fanged mouth gaped wide and tried to clamp shut on his shoulder, only to be foiled by his armor. The claws on the tips of its wings raked his chest, scratching against hardened fabric and sturdy steel plates. One slashing attack struck sparks from Clay's helmet, making him flinch.

Yet he didn't hesitate as he dropped one hand to his side and drew his knife. Clay brought his hand up and around, just as the bat reared back and opened its mouth to try again, this time aiming for his head. He struck first, stabbing into the thing's throat. Brilliant red blood sprayed from the wound, and the bat gave a sudden, panicked cough as its eyes went wide. It still tried to lunge forward, but Clay reached up with his other hand and shoved it back, even as he stabbed again and again.

The bat thrashed against him, clawing at him even as he tore the lifeblood from it. Yet it went limp a few moments later before it had managed to do more than scratch his armor and bleed all over him.

{Senior Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

Clay shoved it, and then the corpse of the first fanged bat aside, giving himself space to sit up. His chest ached from where the first bat had slammed into him, but he could already feel it fading a little. He spotted his bow a short distance away, where it had been thrown by the impact.

Then he heard a flapping sound above him and threw himself to the side on pure instinct.

A blast of light streaked past him, hitting one of the bat corpses. It exploded in a wash of blood and flesh, even as the final bat shot past, obviously hoping to have struck him before he realized he was still in danger. Clay tracked its path as it rose again into the sky, and then darted over to his bow. The words for the Refrain were already on his lips.

By the time the last bat came around for yet another strike, he shot it from the sky before it had the chance to come near him. He felt a vindictive flare of triumph as it fell.

{Senior Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

Even as it tumbled away, Clay heard new warbling bellows echo throughout the rest of the ravine. Clearly, the other bats had noticed their companions going down. He turned towards the path he'd been following and tried to limp down the slope a little faster. As happy as he was to keep killing these things, he could use a bit of time between fights. As the calls continued to echo overhead, he slipped away between the trees, looking for a place to recover.

Unfortunately, as he discovered during his next few fights, hiding from the senior howler bats was close to impossible.

It was as if they didn't even need to be looking in his direction. One moment, they would be winging their way through the air in formation with the other bats. The next, he would hear those almost-inaudible chirps, and the entire group would spin back around to strike at him. It took him three attempts to remain hidden before he just decided to abandon the attempt.

By the time the fourth group turned towards him, Clay was already beyond frustrated. He'd just barely reached the long-dry riverbed at the bottom of the ravine, after fighting through more bats than he cared to count. It seemed like the Canticle simply wasn't able to kill them quickly enough, especially since he couldn't line up his shots without them seeing them. He needed to catch them off guard, with something they couldn't expect.

So instead of reciting the same [Chant] yet again, Clay sprinted forward and used the Ballad of Air. He dodged back and forth, avoiding the chest-sized bolts of light that the blast bats shot at him. The explosions sent dirt and smoke flying, but Clay concentrated on his spell, watching as the bats drew closer. The warbling roars of the howlers, the glow of the blast bats charging for a second shot, and the increasing speed of the fanged bats lent his efforts an additional urgency.

Then, as they leveled out on their final dives, Clay finished the [Chant]. He reached out with the invisible tendrils of air, unseen by the approaching monsters. Unlike with the Canticle, the bats didn't dodge or try to evade. They just dove at him, secure in their attack.

From the perspective of the bats, it must have seemed like a massive fist of wind had grasped them by a wing. Their shockingly fast dives became panicked tumbles, accompanied by agonized squeals and the noise of shattered bone. A half-dozen monsters pinwheeled out of the sky, unable to correct their course or avoid the ground rushing up to meet them.

Clay glanced back in time to see them slam into the soil behind him, impacting with a shocking suddenness. It sounded like hunks of wet meat slapping into the ground after they'd been dropped.

{Senior Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Senior Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 20% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 40% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, and Senior Fanged Bats.}

{Senior Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Senior Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Senior Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 25% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 50% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, Senior Fanged Bats, and Senior Howler Bats.}

{Senior Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 30% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 60% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, Senior Fanged Bats, Senior Howler Bats, and Senior Blast Bats.}

As he turned to leave, he heard more warbling cries all around him. The bats were already flocking to strike at him again, and if he didn't move soon, he'd be swarmed. Shaking his head, he started off up the other side of the ravine, scrambling up the steep slope. More challenges were waiting ahead.

He had to kill another three groups of the mid-ranked bats before he reached the next mountain. The Ballad made it much easier to accomplish the task, but it was just as clear that the bats hadn't completely given up on killing him before he clambered out of the gorge and started up the slightly less inclined slope of the next mountain.

The terrain had changed around him as he had climbed the gorge, however. He hadn't noticed it at first, but some of the trees were covered in a crawling vine that sprouted pale white flowers. As he went further up the slope, more and more flowers appeared, along with something else that didn't bode well. Fog gathered around the flowers, hiding the plants in patches of unnatural mist that resisted any breeze meant to disperse it.

It wasn't the only change, however. He noticed clouds overhead, ones that were steel grey and threatening. At first, a part of him had wondered how the weather had turned so quickly, but then he noticed that other, more natural clouds were moving past them while these new ones seemed unmoved by the wind.

When he crossed into the shadow of one of those clouds, it seemed like the sun had been eclipsed completely, leaving the ground below in deep shadow. It was a vast relief to leave those patches of darkness and emerge back into the daylight, and he felt a hint of foreboding as they continued to thicken and gather in the air above him.

As he left the ravine behind, he heard the cries of the howlers shift away from him. Part of him wondered if they were turning their attention to Olivia more, or if he'd finally proved that they were wasting their lives.

His answer arrived a few minutes later, as he was looking for a way around a sharp cliff face. The rock rose up in front of him in a plain wall of stone. Clay knew he could climb it, but leaving him with his back to the open air against enemies that struck from the sky seemed… unwise. Better to find a way around the obstacle than try to ignore the problem.

Clay was still looking around at the cliff when he heard the chirps again. He sighed, turning to look at the sky, searching for the signs of incoming bats. The words for the Refrain came to him almost instinctively.

He found the enemy a moment later, and it was not the same mid-ranked monsters he'd been fighting. Not at all.

There were only three of them, all nearly the size of a horse, with wingspans that could have spanned his father's house. They were flying straight for him, and Clay grimaced as they accelerated. As big as they were, he'd need to hit each one with multiple tendrils of air. Luckily, it seemed like they were going to be just as foolish as the ones that had attacked him before, so he should be able to…

His thoughts trailed off as the bat on the right began to glow. Clearly it was the elite version of the blast bat, but it was glowing from much farther out than the others had. As the light intensified, Clay's eyes narrowed. The delay was a lot longer than the other bats' attacks had been. Was it going to hurl an entire barrage? He shifted his feet, preparing to dodge a lot further than he normally did.

Then the bats on either flank suddenly back-winged, hovering in place. A sudden wave of sound struck him, something that howled and warbled right inside his own head. Clay lost hold of the [Chant] immediately; his vision doubled as the intensity of the attack intensified.

It meant that when the blast bat unleashed its attack, he saw, for a moment, two streams of light reaching out for him. He reacted by throwing himself to the right, hoping that the thing would miss. The ringing blast of sound suddenly faded as he moved. Had the howler bat been focused on a single spot? Clay hit the ground and rolled, regaining his feet in an instant.

A blinding ray of light swept past him and burned into the cliffside. Then, to Clay's horror, it swung back towards him, like a bar of hot steel that sizzled and smoked through the leaves and dirt. He made a second, desperate leap over it, just barely tucking in his legs to avoid having them scythed off at the shins. There was an echo of the painful sonic attack as he hit the ground and leaped a second time, lunging through the spot where he'd been.

Behind him, the beam abruptly cut off. He had just enough time to wonder why when the third bat suddenly made its appearance.

It struck at him with a high, ringing cry of triumph, one that seared Clay's ears for a moment. One moment he was flinching back from the sound, wondering if the howler bat had managed to change frequencies. The next, a shadow fell over him and a pair of claws locked around his shoulders. He yelled in alarm as the ground fell away and the bat carried him up into the open air. His spear fell out of his hands, tumbling to the dirt as he reached for it.

He heard the monster give a second ringing cry and grimaced, trying to measure how far he was from the ground. Clay pulled his knife from his sheath and twisted, feeling the claws scrape and tug at his armor. Another look at the receding ground convinced him to pause for a moment, at least long enough to start the [Chant] of Floating Step.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Their skyward momentum slowed. A glance upward told him the bat was hovering in midair, its mouth gaping open in a nightmare of fangs and saliva. It bent over, clearly intending on starting its feast immediately.

Clay snarled at it and stabbed his Pell knife into the clawed foot, sinking the heavy blade halfway into its leathery flesh. The bat jerked and snapped at him, but the foot had lost its hold and Clay fell a little outside its reach. He dangled in midair by the remaining claw, even as he swiped at the bat's flat face with his knife.

As the bat jerked back, a stream of blood falling from a cut on its nose, Clay reached up with his free hand and wrenched at the claw still holding him. It peeled away from his shoulder slowly, and he half-fell again, this time holding onto the claw with one hand. The bat bent nearly in half to snap at him again, and Clay timed his next slash perfectly, cutting it above the clashing fangs.

Then he let go, allowing himself to fall back towards the ground. Even as he fell, he heard the bat's furious screech from above.

Unfortunately, it was echoed by a deep warble from his right, along with the sudden glow of magic. He looked to the side and saw the blast bat charging another attack. The howler bat was actually streaking straight at him, as if it intended to snatch him up. Clay felt the sudden pressure of the thing's deep cry in his ears and chest, threatening his [Chant]'s stability.

He reacted instantly, throwing his Pell knife at the thing's head. It jerked upright, but not fast enough. The heavy blade buried itself partway into its face, right above the eyes, and the howl cut off with a baffled, pained chirp as the thing swung away.

The ground was hurtling towards him as the cliff face rushed by him. Clay twisted to shove off from the stone with his feet, just as the [Chant] began. He felt the cushion of the spell buffer his feet from the splinters of rock beside him, and his trajectory turned from a fall straight down to a curve that followed the slope of the mountain.

He twisted again as he reached the dirt, letting his feet make impact first. Floating Step handled the impact perfectly; it was as if he'd landed on a pile of slippery pillows. Clay fought for his balance as he began to slide downhill, pulling out his bow and looking upward.

Clay stabilized his slide just as the blast bat unleashed another spear of light. The beam blasted the mountain just above him before it clawed its way down the slope after him as the monster tried to track his progress. His speed increased as Floating Step carried him down the hill, making it that much harder to predict his course, especially as he began to push off and alter his path.

Unfortunately, the bat had no such advantage. It was a perfect target, hovering in midair. Clay pulled an arrow from his quiver—one of the Pellsglade variety, not the ones from Dorthmead—and fitted it to his bowstring. He pulled the string back and loosed the shaft in a heartbeat, sending it streaking through the autumn sky.

The blast bat was struck before it knew it was in danger. Clay had used a broadhead shaft, and the arrow punched through the thing's glowing chest as if it were nothing but parchment. Light suddenly burst from the wound, an explosion of light and magic that made Clay flinch away. It was as fierce and brief as a thunderbolt.

When he looked back, the blast bat was already falling, smoke trailing from the carcass.

{Ancient Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 60}

{Valor has increased by 1!}

Clay released the [Chant] and let his feet reach the dirt. He skidded for a few moments as his momentum bled away, but he was already searching for new targets. Something told him the other two weren't going to give up when their companion died.

His hunch was correct. He found the two bats already winging around to come after him, trailing small streams of blood. Clay's eyes narrowed as he saw a glint of steel from the howler bat. Then he smiled and started the Cycle of Return, keeping his eye on the bat's angle of approach.

The fanged bat came at him first, though, so Clay had to discourage it. He fired a single, normal arrow at it, not expecting it to hit. To his surprise, the shot came far closer than he'd expected; only a panicked dodge at the last moment saved the creature from more pain, but it did manage to roll out of the way. Its wings beat the air as it swung around for another approach.

A glance told Clay the howler was still making an arc around him. The angle wasn't quite right, so Clay shot at it as well. The howler saw the arrow coming with plenty of time. It swerved out and away from Clay, letting the arrow pass it by far to its left while it flew directly away from him.

Then Clay finished the Cycle of Return, and the howler bat's flight came to an abrupt halt. It gave a single choked-off grunt, and then a sliver of shining death tore its way out of the thing and shot towards Clay. The notification arrived just before the knife did.

{Ancient Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 60}

Clay caught his knife and spun around, half-expecting the fanged bat to be swooping in at him. Instead, there was only the quiet forest. If his ethereal senses hadn't been screaming at him, he might have thought he was alone.

He started a new [Chant] and ran for his spear. The first time, the fanged bat had managed to sneak up on him. Its wings had to be quieter than the others to pull something like that off. If he had to guess, the thing would probably wait until his back was turned and try to pick him up a second time, this time likely with the intent to just drop him instead of trying to bite at him.

The bat hadn't made an appearance again by the time he reached his spear. The only sign it was still around was his ethereal senses, aside from an almost silent rush of air as it passed around the trees. Even as he put his knife away, Clay started to doubt that he'd predicted things correctly.

Then the bat's shadow fell over him, and Clay grimaced as he finished his [Chant] and braced himself.

A pair of dewclaws grasped him on the shoulders, ready to carry him skyward. There was another screech of triumph, this one almost vindictive. The wings above him beat in a single, furious gust of dirt, leaves, and air as the bat sought to lunge for the sky.

Yet Clay didn't move. Anchored to the ground by the [Chant] of Firm Step, he felt a burst of discomfort as the creature pulled at him, but he'd faced worse when he'd been weaker and facing the elder troll spiders. The bat's terrible cry became a cough of shock as its victorious plunge became a sudden crash, momentum sending it smashing into the ground in front of Clay before it could recover.

The sound of snapping bones and crunching gristle made Clay grimace, but it at least made him feel better about the low ache in his back and shoulders. He released the [Chant] and jogged forward, already leveling his spear at the wreckage of a monster in front of him. It had smashed up against a low tree, its eyes dazed and bloody, and it didn't recover before he reached it. A single strong thrust finished things, and then it slumped and lay still.

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 60}

Clay stood back from the kill, breathing a little hard. It had been a harder fight than he liked to admit, especially given how he'd been able to handle the last batch of elite monsters. Something about fighting them in the air made things far less pleasant.

He shook his head and turned back to the cliff, debating which way to go around. A few more fights like that, and he'd be done for the day. Something told him it would be a good idea to find a better way to deal with the threats.

Clay continued to climb the mountain, fighting his way past another handful of ambushes from the ancient bats. Not all of them went as poorly as the first encounter; his discovery that the blast bats were vulnerable when they attacked, and that the fanged bats never expected their prey to resist their attempts to carry them off did wonders for his responses.

The howler bats remained a problem, at least until he gained a bit of [Will] by fighting his way through their attacks. They seemed the most fragile, but also the cleverest, and he remained convinced that it was them who kept detecting him and alerting the others to his position.

His patience with the entire thing grew thin by the time he was attacked by a doubled group later that day. He carved his way through all six of them, slaughtering them one after another, and was left with a ringing in his ears and a sudden lack of desire to deal with anything else. The fact that his ethereal senses were filled with the howl of the Dungeon itself didn't help matters.

All the same, Clay found himself pressing forward, heading up past the treeline. The sudden lack of trees made him worry about being spotted, but there were explosions and warbles coming from further down the mountainside that he was sure marked Olivia's progress. He didn't feel entirely right about hoping that she would distract the creatures, but he just wanted to find some cover before they returned.

To his faint surprise, as he continued upwards, he started to see faint hints of snow on the ground, but it was the least of his worries. The unnatural clouds were thicker, here, almost forming a solid sheet of grey, and it left the mountainside below shrouded in unnatural twilight. It made the circling bats even harder to see, and he noted that the higher he climbed, the closer those clouds seemed to be.

His breath came in shorter gasps as he continued upwards, his eyes sharp for any signs of incoming batwings. Clay could hear them further ahead, though they remained unseen to him. The screams of the Dungeon itself occupied a bit more of his thoughts, though he didn't want to admit it.

When he reached the crest of the mountain, it seemed… wrong somehow. It was too sharp, too even, as if something had leveled off the peak of the mountain with a file. He paused, taking cover behind a rock, for what it was worth.

He could see the door for the Dungeon there, a disturbing arch made of wood that twisted up out of the ground. Within it, he could see a wall of darkness that conflicted with the bright autumn day that still peeked through the edges of the clouds above. Clay could see the hint of a wooden floor, but unlike the first Dungeon he'd seen, it seemed to be open to the sky above, though he could see nothing but more darkness.

The door lay in the center of a small plateau, where bare rock stretched as far as the eye could see. Small piles of snow were scattered about, but what captured his attention were the handful of trees that seemed to be growing over the rock. Their roots plunged into the ground easily, as if they were forcing their way through pliant soil instead of solid stone. All of them seemed old, with their wood dark and aged, and although none of them had leaves, they were all heavy with some sort of dark fruit.

There was a shift of the howl in his ethereal senses, and Clay glanced up to find the Dungeon's sentries. There were at least a dozen ancient bats fluttering around above, their patrols leading them in a long, casual sweep of the sky above as they wove in and out of the unnatural clouds. Their shapes were indistinct in the darkness, only really visible thanks to the motion of their wings. He watched them for a moment, wondering why they didn't attack him, only to realize that they likely wouldn't move on him until he ran for the door.

Of course, he wasn't about to give them the same courtesy. Clay started the Anthem of Thunder and poured everything he had into it. Seven repetitions in, and with the sheer strength of it burning in his chest, Clay focused on those patrolling sentries, and let the [Chant] take them.

Lightning struck, and bats fell like broken dolls from the sky.

{Ancient Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Commoner reaches Level 22!}

{Maximum level for all Stats is now 37!}

{Experience gained (Knife Expert: Gain 10% to damage when wielding a knife.)}

{Experience gained (Mountaineer: Gain 5% bonus to all skills inside of a mountainous area. Gain extra 15% bonus to the Tracking skill in a mountainous area.)}

{Achievement Unlocked! Weapon Master: Gain 5% bonus to speed and damage in combat. Gain 15% speed and damage when using a spear, bow, or knife.}

{Achievement Reinforced! Traveler: Gain 10% faster movement speed. Gain additional 25% movement speed in forests, tunnels, hills, swamps, and mountains.}

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Ancient Blast Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 35% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 70% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, Senior Fanged Bats, Senior Howler Bats, Senior Blast Bats, and Ancient Blast Bats.}

{Ancient Howler Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 40% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 80% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, Senior Fanged Bats, Senior Howler Bats, Senior Blast Bats, Ancient Blast Bats, and Ancient Howler Bats.}

{Ancient Fanged Bat slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Achievement Reinforced! Batsbane: 45% increase to all skills and damage against bats. Bonus increases to 90% versus Junior Fanged Bats, Junior Howler Bats, Junior Blast Bats, Senior Fanged Bats, Senior Howler Bats, Senior Blast Bats, Ancient Blast Bats, Ancient Howler Bats, and Ancient Fanged Bats.}

He blinked at the notifications; he actually hadn't been keeping track of how close he had been to the next level. The fact that he'd made it there already only made him recognize he had quite a ways to go before he reached the limits of his new state. If Syr Katherine didn't have them running patrols constantly, he'd need to set aside some focused training with Olivia and the Ruffians.

As the lightning and thunder faded away, Clay gave the Dungeon's gate one last look. A part of him was tempted to head inside, to see what kind of nightmares were waiting within.

Yet at the same time, Olivia was still fighting her way here, and he still hadn't met Syr Katherine. If either of them needed help, they'd likely have called, but he didn't want to risk it.

Besides, the possibility of entering a Dungeon alone just seemed… unwise.

Shaking his head, Clay turned to head back down the slope. There was a group of bats already fluttering around one spot further down. It would be a good spot to start looking, at least.

It took Clay a while to get back down below the treeline. There were at least two groups of ancient bats that tried to kill him on the way down, though it seemed like they were moving far slower than before. The bonuses from [Batsbane] were apparently significant enough to outweigh his fatigue.

Once he was back below the trees, he started to move a bit faster. The bats were distracted, now, and it was easy enough to see why. Someone else was fighting their way through their hordes, and they were making about as much noise as he had. Perhaps more.

Yet as… enthusiastic as Olivia might have been, Clay suspected that more was happening. He slowed to a stealthy crawl as he approached the source of all the noise, looking for signs of someone else moving in the woods ahead of Olivia's trail. If Syr Katherine was up to what he expected her to be, then she'd be here soon.

He'd nearly reached Olivia when he saw movement in the woods to his left. Clay paused, ducking behind a tree and watching. A quick glance overhead told him that there were no bats closing with him, though his senses told him there were plenty more on the way.

Clay waited for a moment longer, and then he saw a figure moving through the trees. She was doing a fairly decent job of staying concealed. For an adventurer with a [Class] meant to use far more upfront and flashy methods, Syr Katherine was being far more careful and quieter than Clay had ever anticipated. Her armor, usually pristine and well-cared for, now showed signs of hard use, and a new coating of paint seemed to help her blend in with the foliage.

The [Calculator] crept through the trees, her movements fast, but silent. She stepped over to a nearby tree and then bent to arrange a pair of sticks. Beneath them, she dug a small hole and buried something in the dirt before once again creeping away. Syr Katherine took up a new position a short distance away, her hand near her sword.

A moment later, Olivia came moving through the trees. She seemed far more exhausted than he did, which wasn't all that much of a surprise. As tired as she might have been, she caught sight of the arrangement of sticks almost immediately. He saw her perk up, looking around in clear curiosity. There was a hint of suspicion and resentment in her expression as she stepped over and took up a position over the sticks, watching the skies.

Moments later, the bats arrived, two of each kind of ancient. He tensed up as they closed with her, but Olivia seemed unconcerned. She had been muttering under her breath, and as the blast bats dove, she raised her hand. A boulder gathered over her head, making Clay's eyes go wide. Clearly, she'd broken through to the next level of combat [Chants], at the very least.

Olivia hurled the boulder at the nearest blast bat. Both creatures unleashed their magic on it, clearly hoping to destroy it before it could reach them. The boulder shattered, but the shards of it still ripped through the wings of her target, sending it crashing to the ground. By the time the second one started to move, Olivia had already sent a second boulder in its direction, knocking it pinwheeling from the sky.

The air filled with a warbling roar, but Olivia's eyes just narrowed. She grimaced a little, tapping at her ears, and Clay realized she must have plugged them rather than dealing with the harassment from the howlers. One of the fanged bats tried to swoop on her, but she stayed close enough to the tree that the branches got in the way. A third boulder crashed through it before it could escape.

One by one, Olivia picked off the incoming bats, her motions showing a kind of weary familiarity. Clearly, Syr Katherine had been passing her hints, teaching her how to deal with the bats without making her learn the hard way. All without being seen, like an unseen patron.

Or like a [Mentor].

He grimaced as his suspicions were confirmed. Syr Katherine was attempting to use Olivia to reach the [Experience] he'd gained by directly copying his methods. While he hadn't used monster parts to lure enemies to attack his friends, he had baited some of the spiders into running into the Pellsglade adventurers, so there wasn't much difference. There was no reason for him to feel quite so frustrated about it, even as he watched Olivia use the Madrigal of Ash to choke and blind the other fanged bat before she killed it.

Somehow, though, he still did.

Clay looked over at Syr Katherine, only to find her staring at him. Her eyes were locked on his position, like chips of crystal. Moving slowly, she raised a finger to her mouth.

Then she turned and moved further up the mountain, ahead of Olivia. Clay gave her retreating form a glare and then looked back at Olivia. She was finishing off the last howler bat, having somehow driven it mad. It was still snapping at the air and lashing out at nothing when her slingstones snapped its wings and brought it within reach of her scythe.

He hung his head and sighed. Then he started out after Syr Katherine. The [Calculator] had a head start, but he knew he'd be able to catch up. Maybe by then he'd finally get some answers out of her.

To his growing resentment, Syr Katherine didn't seem to want to speak with him. She moved away from him, keeping her distance and focusing on her tasks. When Clay approached, she held up a hand to warn him off and then refocused back on Olivia.

Fortunately, it seemed like Olivia was making quick progress. Unlike with Clay, she was already taking on the ancients in larger groups without difficulty. He watched two more battles. By the third, the ancients were coming in groups of three each, but when it was finished, Olivia came to a halt rather than continuing forward. She muttered a [Chant] under her breath and a heartbeat later, he heard her voice in his ear.

"Clay, I've gotten the [Achievement] reinforced completely. I am heading back. I haven't seen any sign of Syr Katherine, aside from some old tracks, and I haven't heard from you yet. If you don't show at the rendezvous, I'll head back in to find you." She paused. "You had better not have gone into the Dungeon without me."

With the implied threat left unsaid, she broke the connection and started to stalk back in the direction of Dorthmead. Clay watched her go, partly amused and partly exasperated.

Then he turned to look back at Syr Katherine, only to find her gone. A moment's search told him she was headed towards the Dungeon gate.

Part of him wanted to chase after her, but the adventurer knew what she was doing. Better that he watch for her to come back and cover her retreat. It pained him to let Olivia go back alone almost as much as it pained him to let her think she'd won, but it was better than risking Syr Katherine's goals by telling her what had happened. Otherwise, who knew what the [Calculator] would do?

He shook his head and started back up the mountain at a sedate pace. At the very least, he'd keep the gate clear of monsters and wait for her to emerge. Then he'd finally be able to get some answers.

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