The team had opted for a wagon on their way to hunt the giant cancrorum. It was a half-day’s journey from the city that way, and over some unpleasant, wet terrain. The beasts were to the South-West, a section of the kingdom Ethan hadn’t needed to spend much time in, which wasn’t much of a surprise after he saw it for himself.

  It was essentially open swampland, many of the rivers from the mountains terminating here, and it created something like a bog. It reminded Ethan of the fire swamp where he’d fought the giant frog and earned his first learned ability, except it was said to be far more dangerous. The Dawn rank monsters in the swamp tended to appear in the dozens, and their Dusk rank counterparts were bordering on plentiful.

  Things were made even less pleasant by how deep the water could get, easily hiding the fifteen foot crabs they were Hunting for. Ethan was in the back of the wagon with Selina, Valanor driving. Savilar had his own oxsteed and was out in front, while Cara had predictably disappeared to look for threats and signs of their prey.

  Ethan didn’t mind the long trip, his mind still being overly full with the revelations from two days earlier. That Calevaro expected him to escape–even seemed to want that outcome was a surprise. Ellevaro elevating herself to some kind of royal representative of the Church was another. Seeing both his enemies combined into one was making it even harder for Ethan to consider the long term, safer play.

  He really wanted revenge, and was having a harder and harder time pushing himself toward plans he might survive, but without getting justice. Unsurprisingly the old saying of revenge being ‘best served cold’, was little comfort. He also wasn’t ready to accept that murder or slaughter were reasonable avenues to pursue. He was growing to accept that killing was necessary in this world, but there were still lines, and degrees. He feared the day he might not recognize them anymore.

  Trying to keep himself more hopeful, he continually tried to turn his thoughts back to Tomo’s theories on where his memories and knowledge of medicine had gone. The demon was quite convinced that the Astral still held some piece of what had been taken from him, but as yet they had no idea how to pursue it. Ethan had tried inspecting the right hand of his Spiritual reflection, but had only seen one more burning scar among countless others.

  “You haven’t spoken in a long, long time,” Selina said gravely.

  Ethan looked up, smiling slightly at the Rune Mage. “You’re welcome?”

  “It’s disturbing,” Valanor called over his shoulder.

  “Long trips are good for thinking,” Ethan insisted, then examined their surroundings. They were on a poorly maintained road running through the swamp, and there was a cool fog obscuring everything more than a few dozen paces away.

  “You already think too much,” Valanor said. “We could be attacked at any moment, or Cara could come rushing back with a cancrorum on her tail. Time to get back to actually doing something.”

  “You’re the boss,” Ethan said, then sent out spectral versions of Deevee to search. “I think Cara was right though, I have no idea how to move around in terrain like this.”

  “Float!” Selina said brightly, then began removing items from her inventory.

  “Float?” Ethan asked.

  “Float!” Selina repeated, then a rune circle burst into being in the center of the wagon. “It’ll let us walk on a cushion of air instead of the ground–even over the water! I should probably use it now, as you’ll want some time to get used to it before the fighting begins.”

  “That sounds helpful, but messes with my head a bit. What if we need to dive into the water?”

  “Do not dive into the water,” Valanor commanded. “There are monsters down there that won’t surface, but will pull you under. We don’t need to complicate things.”

  “Don’t worry,” Selina said, “if you fall down, you’ll still just land on a cushion of air. It uses up the spell’s mana faster though, so try not to fall over too much.” She began casting, and Ethan waited, trying to think if there were any other ways that not being in contact with the ground might be a problem.

  When the rune circle glowed brightly, Ethan felt his feet rise slightly into the air, though it still felt like they were on solid ground. “This is weird,” he said, stomping his feet to try to get used to the feeling.

  “Walk until it’s not,” Valanor said from the front of the wagon. Ethan did so, hopping lightly to the road, only for his feet to ‘land’ too quickly, causing him to nearly fall immediately.

  “It’s like missing the bottom step,” he complained, then hurried to catch up to the wagon. He quickly found that if he didn’t actually look down, he could barely tell the difference. That changed when he forced himself to walk out over a small murky pond, and he nearly fell again.

  Thankfully he had a half hour of practice before Cara seemed to materialize out of the fog like a specter. “There’s something big ahead. I can sense it in the Astral, but just barely.” Astral Hunting was another skill she’d promised to work on with Ethan, but for now he’d have to take her word.

  “That has to be our mark. Anything Dawn rank you’d be able to sense clearly, and there aren’t any other large Dusk rank monsters in this area,” Savilar said.

  “What’s the terrain like?” Valanor asked, then hopped down from the wagon.

  “There’s a lake up ahead, with small hills surrounding it. The road goes the other way, but there’s a relatively dry path that leads right to it.”

  “And the crab is in this lake?” Ethan asked.

  “It’s deep, strangely deep,” Cara said. “I could only sense the monster when I got closer than I’d like.”

  “They dig. That’s definitely our target,” Savilar said, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Starting positions shouldn’t be a surprise. I’ll raise some pillars of earth for Selina and Cara to use as they see fit. Valanor draws the creature out, with Ethan and I hanging back until it shows itself.”

  “Remember,” Valanor cut in, “it’s big and slow, but powerful. We shouldn’t have much trouble with this, so long as I can keep its attention on me. We picked the cancrorum for a reason, but don’t get complacent. Use this as an opportunity to learn, and try to work on building your awareness of the team around you.”

  “If we get company, I’ll do my best to draw them in,” Savilar said. “Remember to take greater care if Selina is attacked. She’s Bonded now, but not yet Dawn rank. I’d rather be forced to retreat than risk her.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’ll do my best not to need rescuing,” Selina said, looking uncomfortable at being so clearly called out as the weakest link. “The cancrorum uses water and earth attacks, so I’ll be focusing on keeping protections in place for those elements. I also have my shield now, but I need a good line of sight to use it, so try to stay visible if you need help.”

  “That’s about as much as we can strategize before the battle starts,” Valanor said. “Remember that its most common attacks will be physical–big powerful strikes with its claws and legs, but at Dusk rank it’s bound to have some surprises. Be wary, be ready, and look out for one another.”

  The group exchanged nods, some more confident than others. Selina then went around casting their pre-battle buffs as promised, though Cara turned down the opportunity to float. She preferred her own light feet, her elven agility apparently more than capable of handling the swamp.

  Finally the group secured the oxsteeds in a small coral made of conjured earth, then followed Cara down the road. After a few more twists, the shape of a small hill appeared in the dense fog, and she led them carefully up it. Ethan was grateful not to need to touch the ground as they made their way through the tall grass, knowing he couldn’t replicate Cara’s ability to step on the damp mud without sinking in.

  Finally they crested the hill, revealing the dark, strangely ominous lake. It was much closer to a pond, really, being only a hundred paces or so wide, but the black waters promised unusually remarkable depths. There really wasn’t more to see than what Cara had described, and so wordlessly the team moved into position.

  Savilar summoned a half dozen pillars of earth as promised, giving the Archer and Rune Mage a height advantage beyond what the small hill could provide. Both scrambled up, but kept their bodies low as they waited. Ethan and Savilar went in separate directions as they moved closer to the water, Ethan vanishing from sight as the Rift Hunter drew his twin maces.

  Finally Valanor stepped a few paces out into the lake, already sheathed in his heavy armor, shield and warhammer at the ready. With a gesture, Sylvie the steel crab appeared in front of him, nearly as large as a car, and immediately sank into the lake. Her shining carapace disappeared after only a few moments, the dark water swallowing her completely.

  The group waited, feeling varying degrees of anticipation as the moments ticked by. It was humid in the swamp, despite the fog feeling cool against his skin, and the sounds of insects surrounded them. Ethan had to force himself to unclench his muscles as they waited. At last Valanor banged his shield once, the signal that the fight was about to begin. He backed away nearly to the bottom of the hill, then braced himself.

  Ethan jumped slightly as a massive claw burst out of the water, snapping at the empty air. The water level seemed to rise for a moment as the shell of the enormous creature rose up a second later. It was nearly a dozen feet wide, and as the eight gargantuan legs were revealed, it looked even larger. It was shades of gray, though its disturbing face and underbelly were closer to pink, and numerous eyestalks moved around in search of what had disturbed it.

  Ethan quickly activated [Predator’s Gaze], searching for weaknesses. Some were predictable, the eyes and vertical mouth standing out, and he was relieved to find that the leg joints were likewise vulnerable. Oddly he noticed something strange on the back of its shell, but it was out of sight a moment later as the creature rose to its full height.

  Thankfully Valanor was keeping it mostly in the water, its legs still half submerged, so the three melee attackers would be able to strike at places other than its toes. The knight was banging his shield now, drawing the large monster to him, warily eyeing its two deadly claws. The left was considerably bigger than the right, but either would be capable of gripping Valanor if he wasn’t careful.

  The battle truly started when a warhammer crashed into one of the beast’s eyes, causing it to let out a deep, vibrating sound that caused ripples in the water. Ethan felt it more than heard it, and watched as the cancrorum moved the last few steps forward to lash out at the shield knight. Ethan wondered if it was surprised when its enormous left claw was caught by a twelve foot onyx figure, which grasped it tightly.

  The rest of the team moved in then, knowing it was finally time to get to work. Savilar glowed like the sun for a moment as his aura pulsed over the group, invigorating them as his maces went to work on the monster’s legs on its right side. Ethan likewise attacked from the left, the power of ruin carving into the weaker flesh between the hardened joints.

  He immediately backed away after striking, pulling daggers with red strips of cloth tied to them. After quickly repositioning himself, he tossed them uncharged into key locations–the weaker areas he’d identified earlier. They were obvious points, and there were actually arrows already sticking out of eyestalk he hit, but it was an agreed-upon strategy, and he wanted to perform the way they’d trained.

  Moving back to the legs, Ethan encountered an unexpected problem. Several of the crab’s numerous eyes followed him. Disturbingly, they grew out like tentacles to follow him even when he tried to get out of sight behind the monster’s legs. He threw a few knives–even some exploding ones–to blind them, but at least one was always watching, preventing him from moving back into stealth.

  Irritated, he summoned [Hydra’s Reflection] and focused on slow, sustained damage. He’d have to wait for an opportunity to take advantage of his abilities that only worked while unseen. The rest of the group was likewise finding difficulties.

  Valanor was heavily reliant on Toby to deal with one of the claws. While the knight was supremely capable at fending off direct attacks, being gripped by an enormous claw was apparently a lot more difficult. He had to continually reposition himself, and couldn’t simply block with his shield, as the massive crab would simply lift him by it. That left a lot of pressure on the obsidian Familiar, who was being pummeled mercilessly by a claw nearly as large as the golem itself.

  Toby was particularly susceptible to bludgeoning attacks, and the colossal claw kept crashing into him. Likely Sylvie would have been better able to handle the attacks, but she was so low to the ground as to be unable to protect Valanor from the overhead strikes.

  This meant that Selina was forced to turn her entire attention to Toby, her light shield being all that kept him from being shattered. The Rune Mage was acting valiantly, and was an undeniable asset in the fight, but she was expending a lot of mana keeping the light beam on the shield to replenish its strength.

  Altogether this had turned one of their biggest strengths–Valanor’s defenses–into a house of cards. If any one of the three failed, the whole fight would devolve into chaos. Savilar had clearly taken notice of this, and had been calling out to the team for support.

  First he summoned his own Earth Familiar to help, but that only prompted the monster to use its first elemental attack. A blast of compressed water burst from its mouth, almost bisecting the Familiar, and sending it retreating back into Savilar just before it was destroyed. All the Rift Hunter could do then was keep attacking, between shouts for Ethan and Cara to do…something.

  Ethan simply couldn’t hear the man, and communication was an immediate and obvious problem. Between the beast’s rumblings, its enormous feet splashing in the water, weapons crashing into its carapace, and the claws beating against Valanor’s shield, Sav’s orders were barely audible. Unsure of the specifics, Ethan tried to do what the man had spoken of in training: act selfishly.

  He dismissed his reflection, and in a flash appeared on the other side of the immense crab. Savilar’s weapons were far more capable of breaking through the tough carapace than Ethan’s were, and one of the legs was already looking battered. Ethan dropped from above, drawing Last Resort and channeling the power of Ruin, ready to Obliterate the limb.

  Something struck him in the shoulder instead, and he missed the strike, almost dropping his katana in the process. He landed on his feet thanks to Revan’s Bond, but found his left arm numb from pain. He danced backward across the surface of the lake, awkwardly sheathing his blade as he did so. Finally he reached back, pulling an arrow free. He turned a glare on Cara, but the Archer didn’t even acknowledge him.

  “Ethan! Stay on your own bloody side!” Savilar roared. “I called for Cara’s draining arrow!”

  Ethan growled, preparing to call back that he was only doing what the man had taught him, when he saw the crab shift suddenly. “Look out, Sav!” he shouted instead, but he was too late. The cancrorum had spun, right claw whipping out to strike the Rift Hunter directly in the midsection, and driving him under the water with terrible force. Selina’s Float spell was clearly overwhelmed as the man disappeared into the black depths behind the crab.

  Ethan ran toward where he saw the splash, though truthfully he had no idea how to help. He slid to a halt, then hurriedly used a rift to retreat when the dark water before him seemed to explode. Savilar had apparently disturbed some other unseen monsters, and the water was suddenly alive with them. Ethan appeared on the shore, just in time to see countless tentacles reaching up from beneath the surface, dozens of unknown monsters splashing their way toward them.

  It appeared that the easy battle, meant to be little more than a training exercise, had changed.