Chorsay hadn’t closed his index since they arrived back in Vraxridge.

  “They’re safe. We’re fine.”

  He had said it multiple times.

  At first, Sofia assumed he was talking about Egnatia, Olena, Nastya, and Voolyn, all of whom were still alive, but she was confused as to why Chorsay would care about any of those heroes.

  After hearing it for a third time and noticing the relief in the old man’s voice, Sofia finally put it together. Who would feel relief and tranquility when walking through a roasted city?

  Vraxridge was burnt to a crisp, but nothing was destroyed. The 7 Shard Hero had detonated one of her infamous bombs without breaking anything. Nothing Sofia had seen. A film covered everything. At first, she hadn’t seen it. Her steps out of the portal crunched, breaking the surface. If it hadn’t been on the portal platform, she would have guessed it was some layer on the buildings that had crumbled aftering protecting them from the explosion. Since it was on the portal platforms, it had to be residue from whatever the bomb was constructed out of, meaning it could be volatile.

  Sofia scooped some of it up, tested it between her fingers, then stuffed a vial full into her bag. She wasn’t an alchemist. Not even close. The attribute balance someone had to have at fifteen to get alchemist was impossible. Apparently, it wasn’t, but it felt impossible. She wasn’t an alchemist, but a claverstan engineer was probably the next closest thing.

  It occurred, as they were nearing Althowin Alegarra’s compound, that Chorsay wasn’t talking about the heroes who had attacked. He was talking about the goblin and the Maimed Magus. After abandoning them in the wilds, he was worried. Nothing more. He was like a weird old grandpa worried about his ugly goblin grandchild.

  She laughed to herself as the front door of Althowin’s flew open. The 7 Shard Hero herself stood there, looking like she had just survived the world’s biggest bomb.

  Oh. Wait.

  Althowin’s hair was frizzy and covered in soot. When she moved, her skin cracked like the ground, breaking the layer of film left over from the explosion. “Glad you got out.” Her clothes were entirely blackened and crumbling even as she playfully punched Chorsay in the arm.

  “It took me longer to realize than I expected.” Chorsay ushered Althowin back toward the door. “Can we talk inside?”

  “No one’s going to bother us, but sure, yeah, whatever.” She walked back in where a silent man who Sofia had never seen immediately handed Althowin a new white and pink lab coat. His face was a scowl, which looked as though it had been there for some time. Althowin tossed her burnt, crumbling jacket onto the nearby desk and slipped the new one on without a word.

  “They survived,” she said as she continued into a sitting room. As soon as she sat and put her leg up, her prosthetic snapped at the ankle. “Huh.” She tapped her metal hand on her lap, which snapped at the wrist. “Interesting.”

  “Are you okay?” Chorsay asked as he sat himself directly beside her.

  Arkasti lingered in the doorway with Sofia. He looked concerned, but stoic. Quiet. He was a difficult one to read. Most Golden Bulls were so over the top, but he was the only one who had quit when Andres Orben was killed.

  “Never better.” Althowin held up her metal stump. “I’ll get Miya to help me replace it with a basic, and I can improve it from there. Not a big deal.”

  “It is if they attack again,” Arkasti said.

  Althowin gave him a look that did little to hide her amusement. She may as well have called him a moron. “There’s not a whole lot of them left to attack.”

  “They all lived,” Arkasti said.

  “Right. Alive. But uh.” She lifted her leg and shook it until her metal foot fully fell off. “If I’m in this shape, imagine how they look.”

  Arkasti nodded, satisfied.

  “You’re sure?” Chorsay asked.

  “Stop doubting me.” Althowin finally fixed her gaze on Sofia. “The Rat. You here to kill me too?”

  “No,” Sofia said quickly.

  “Sure. Bounty hunter just stops by for a visit—”

  “Ma’am,” Sofia blurted.

  “What?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Althowin raised a single eyebrow. “Sure. Why are you here? What do you need?”

  Sofia ignored the knowing looks from Arkasti and Chorsay.

  “Well, ma’am.” Sofia took a step forward. “I’m in debt.”

  Althowin groaned.

  ***

  Being in a sewer reminded Owin of the labyrinth secret more than anything else he had done. Wading through water, fighting rats, and wishing he was anywhere else was a good reminder of the horror he felt when he thought he would drown.

  “Look at this,” Shade said, picking up the corpse of a monstrous rat by the tail. He flung it to the side, smacking it loudly against the metal tube.

  “What am I looking at?”

  Shade held it up again. “A dead rat. Come on, Owin. This should be obvious.”

  Maybe it didn’t remind him that much of the labyrinth. Artivan never would have flung a dead rat around.

  “Okay. I get it.”

  “I don’t think you do.” Shade smacked the rat against the pipe again. A wet squelch echoed down the pipe. “Get it now?”

  Owin stared blankly at the skeleton.

  “You make me feel like I’m the stupid one,” Shade said.

  “My intelligence isn’t low!” As Owin yelled, he heard the noise of more rats scurrying over sludge somewhere ahead. “Stop making me yell!”

  “I don’t control you!”

  Owin took the dead rat from Shade, turned, and chucked it back down the pipe. It smacked into the metal wall before plopping into the water somewhere far behind.

  “Now what am I going to do to occupy myself?”

  A rat jumped from the water behind Shade, latching onto his skull. It chomped with oversized teeth, which clacked against the bone.

  “Ah! I can’t shoot it with my bow like this! You have to protect hunters, Owin!”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Owin jumped out of the water, grabbed the rat by the tail, landed, and chucked it back where he had thrown the other one.

  0 Experience

  “I might kill you so you aren’t a hunter anymore.”

  Shade shook his head quickly. “At least let me use the bow once.”

  “You can’t even get an arrow to fit.”

  Shade ducked as another rat lunged. Owin used his free hand to grab the Darkblade and slash. He cleaved the rat in half, dashed past Shade, and stabbed another as it jumped from the water.

  Shade patted Owin’s head, tapping his fingers on the chitin helmet. “Well done. I trained you well, but not well enough. Luckily for you, we still have a little bit of first floor left to practice.” The skeleton turned and started strutting deeper into the sewer.

  “Zezog said I shouldn’t use the dungeons for training. He said to treat the entire thing like I am fighting for my life. Or something. I don’t remember exactly what he said.”

  Shade pivoted and crouched, nearly losing his balance as he flailed in the water. As soon as he regained his footing, he leaned uncomfortably close to Owin. “I knew it!”

  “You can’t tell anyone.”

  “Who am I going to tell, Owin? Do you think I have friends?”

  “Althowin didn’t even want you to know.” Owin made the skeleton stand again and dragged him onward. “I don’t want to make her angry.”

  “Oh, neither do I. Trust me. The last thing I need is an angry fox trying to gnaw my leg off.” He tried lifting his leg out of the water, lost his balance, and fell backward. After splashing for a moment, he sat up.

  “Shouldn’t your dexterity be higher than normal if you’re a hunter?” Owin grabbed his hand and yanked, pulling Shade straight to his feet.

  “Look here, goblin boy. A high dexterity skill does not equate to balance. Or intelligence. What am I saying? You think I can stand because of my incredible archery skills? Watch this.” Shade drew an arrow from the quiver and immediately snapped it as he tried to place it in the bow. He watched the broken arrow fall and slowly sink into the dank sewer water.

  Owin opened his index. It was for dramatic effect, but he would never admit that to Shade. The skeleton’s eye sockets widened as soon as he saw the yellow light appear.

  “No! My archery skills!”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Owin looked around the suddenly very quiet, very empty sewer pipe. “Okay,” he said to himself as he waded forward. Before long, he rounded a bend and froze. There was a mass filling the pipe, blocking his way. At first, it looked like a ball of fat that had gotten lodged against the walls, but as he neared, the screeching of rats was clear.

  Fortress Mob

  Rat King

  Level 12

  One Shard Active

  Water sloshed as the rat king tried to roll toward Owin, but it could only wobble before it got stuck in place once again.

  Level 12, even with a shard active, was hardly something to worry over. He started moving the Thunderstrike Maul, causing it to illuminate the interior of the pipe. Something like Magma Mine with his wand could easily kill the giant rat mob, but it would probably destroy the pipe or it would freeze into stone like it did in the Ocean, which would make it more difficult to pass. Discharge could also work, but while standing in water, it seemed like it could also fry Owin, and he had already hurt himself enough times with that spell.

  A simple hit with the charged hammer would probably kill the creature. Hopefully.

  As he neared, he started seeing all the different glowing eyes and the flailing limbs. It wasn’t a single creature but hundreds of rats entangled. They all started screaming and thrashing as he neared.

  There had been times Owin had thought about killing a mob. He had left the olm in the Ocean alone because he had felt guilty for killing them. Upon seeing this mess, he felt no guilt. It was horrendous.

  It didn’t take long to charge the Thunderstrike Maul, and a swing that utilized his full strength and his shard was beyond enough. Light flashed as the charged hammerhead crashed against the rats.

  0 Experience

  Rats, dead and alive, were launched deeper into the pipe. The Rat King had been killed, but plenty of the rats, especially on the outer edge, had survived the attack. Instead of rushing Owin, they scattered, vanishing into the murky water and around the bends of the sewer pipes. Blood and hair clung to the upper side of the pipe as far as he could see.

  “Ew.”

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Shade appeared with his index open. “A mender.” His head ignited with luminous fire. “What did I do? Ah!” The skeleton looked up as rat blood dripped off the ceiling and splashed on his cheek bone. “What did I do?”

  “That was me,” Owin said.

  Shade turned, skull on fire. The rat blood sizzled and boiled off his bone. “I don’t remember Nikoletta using this ability. How do I turn it off?”

  Owin opened his index and looked through the spells. Not only was it going to help Shade, it could also give him an insight into a mender’s spells for the next time he had to fight one.

  Mana was draining steadily from Owin, meaning whatever had lit Shade’s head on fire was a spell, not an ability. There were both for menders, and the list was dense.

  “Is it Ethereal Might? It says—” Before Owin could even finish reading the description, his mana ran out and the flames vanished, leaving the sewer dark once again.

  “Ethereal Might is Power 5 and that spell lasted for about thirty seconds. I’d say with how bad of a wizard you are, I’m surprised it lasted that long. Actually, menders use wisdom, and, well, that’s not your highest attribute, is it?” Shade ran his hands over his skull. “I wonder if we still use your intelligence score if it is just draining mana. What do you think?”

  “Uh.”

  “You don’t know a lot about other classes. Do you?”

  “I don’t know a lot about wizards either, Shade.”

  The skeleton crouched to eye level. “Maybe that’s how we can pass the time. I was thinking about teaching you how to read, but we’d need a book or something for that, and honestly, I can’t be bothered to keep track. Whenever I’m a new class, which might be often if you are this picky, I can spout off what I know.”

  Owin smiled. “Okay. What do you know about menders?”

  “Oh, almost nothing.”

  Owin sighed.

  “What’s this button do?” Shade reached to the side and pressed part of the metal pipe. A square pressed inward and clicked.

  “How did you see that?”

  Shade shoved his fingers into his empty eye sockets.

  “Oh, right.”

  Part of the pipe opened, causing water to rush into the new area. It lowered the level a little before settling. Inside was a simple metal chest.

  “Is this the secret?” Shade asked. He stepped in and flinched. When nothing happened, he flipped the top of the chest open.

  “I killed a boss right before you came back. I think it was a boss.”

  Shade turned his head all the way around without turning his torso. “That would explain the horrific amount of blood on the ceiling.” He spun his head back and picked up a gray, dusty bone. “I’d say this is a secret.”

  “What’s a new one going to do?”

  Shade shrugged and tossed it over his shoulder. As soon as Owin caught it, Shade vanished in a puff of smoke.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Cooldown: 120 seconds

  Owin walked through the gray dust sitting on top of the water and leaned into the chest. There was a constitution buff and some gold. He took the purple potion out and immediately drank it.

  Constitution +20

  Constitution: 330

  He watched his health bar grow, just slightly. A journeyman buff was good, but he needed to find more. It had been too long since his attributes had increased.

  “I’ll just bring him back next floor,” Owin said to himself. He didn’t want to sit in the water any longer. Part of his excitement for the Fortress had been to avoid sitting in water all day.

  He marched on, trying to avoid slipping on the rat corpses hidden in the murky water. After a few minutes, the pipe split. Rat sounds echoed from the right, and nothing but water came from the left.

  Owin looked back and forth a few times before finally going left. It only took a few short minutes to reach the outside of the wall. The pipe drained into the moat, flowing in a steady stream. When he looked up, he made eye contact with a goblin guard.

  Owin pulled a wand out and pointed up. “Arcane Blast.” The purple spell swirled to life and shot up into the goblin’s face. Blood splashed into the air as the goblin was launched backward off the wall.

  Other goblins started shouting, so Owin turned and walked back into the pipe. In the other direction, he found some normal giant rats that he killed before seeing a void nexus on the opposite end of a deeper pool.

  A large, mutated rat swam slowly toward him. Its face was covered in bumps, its eyes glowed green, and the hair that wasn’t matted down was covered in sludge.

  What could a void nexus lead to? It wasn’t marked as an exit. Owin looked around the room, trying to spot anything else. It looked like the rest of the sewer, apart from the deeper water.

  He stuck his hands in the water and cast Discharge. In the deeper pool, most of the electricity arced away from him, frying the massive rat as it swam closer. Some electricity came back and zapped his feet, but his chitin boots blocked most of the damage. It was good his mana was already low from whatever spell Shade had used earlier.

  Swimming across wasn’t an option, so he took a few steps back, sprinted as best he could in the water, and leapt. His history of running and jumping did have some perks. He passed right through the black doorway, vanishing.