Evran felt weak. Exhaustion plagued his every step as he struggled to carry Kaila through the labyrinth, Narro leading the way. Though his mana pool had recovered substantially, the physical toll of the constant running and fighting was finally catching up with him.

  But he was also weak in another sense. Once more, powerful monsters had claimed the lives of people he cared about. It was unfair. In the years following his mother’s death, Evran had done everything he could to avoid truly dangerous fights. He traveled on well-armed ships to reach Aldea, and once there, found powerful friends to fight alongside. He had been relying on the strength of others to keep himself safe in a dangerous world. Today, that strength failed him.

  The notion that Evran would find himself running through a labyrinth was laughable. He had sworn to never enter another and had never imagined a scenario in which he would have to. But Evran lived in an insane world, one with Ravagers, liches, and dragons. His weakness had pushed him here and allowed his best friend to die. A dark part of him wished he had died as well.

  If not for Narro and Kaila, Evran might have gone back to fight the dragon, not caring if he succeeded or not. It would have been easy to just let it all go, discarding the burden of grieving for his friend. But it wasn’t so simple. Despite his anguish, Evran resolved to struggle onward — not for his own sake, but for his friends. He wouldn’t let anyone else he cared about die.

  To protect his friends, Evran would need to change. He didn’t just need to get stronger, but alter his entire approach. Gone were the days of slacking off. He would work harder, study harder, and push himself to the absolute limit. Someday, he would become so powerful that not even a dragon could face him. But first, he needed to escape his current predicament.

  The labyrinth had fewer monsters lurking about than expected. Narro fought and killed the occasional skeleton or zombie they came across, even managing to take down a ghost along the way. Those normally pose an issue for pure melee fighters, but not for a spellblade. He was tempted to think the lack of monsters was because of the adventurers clearing the way earlier, but Evran suspected a different reason. His fears were soon confirmed as the familiar clamor of creaking bones filled the path ahead.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” said Narro, glancing back at his friends.

  Undead monsters tended to form hordes. What few monsters they had found were just newly spawned mobs that hadn’t yet found one to join with, and from the sound of it, one such horde lay ahead.

  After rounding a bend in the labyrinth, the three survivors spotted a teeming mass of undead. The passage beyond opened up into a large chamber filled with at least two dozen skeletons and zombies, each wielding a multitude of different weapons, including spears and bows. It was a proper army.

  Evran cursed under his breath. There was no way to avoid using magic in this fight, and every effort he’d made to conserve his mana would be rendered meaningless. He clenched his fists on his staff, the injustice of his circumstances enraging him.

  After kneeling to let Kaila off his back, Evran and Narro silently approached the opening as Kaila awkwardly wobbled her way into a hiding spot farther back. They crept along the cavern wall, not wanting to alert the horde to their presence quite yet. This fight would differ greatly from their previous encounter with the small squad of six. For one, Evran would need to use magic, and quite a bit of it. If his first strike didn’t thin out the undead substantially, their numbers would have a real chance at overwhelming the two of them.

  “I count four mages, and three archers,” Evran whispered. The undead had terrible perception at a distance, but once they got close enough, their senses were nearly perfect. “They’re spread out, so I won’t be able to take them all out with an opening attack.”

  Narro nodded in understanding. Evran explored his options for an opening attack. He still wanted to conserve mana where possible, but by now he had a little over half remaining. That would have been enough to produce a fireball similar to the one Kaila used against the osteomorph, but such an attack would be too wasteful, albeit highly effective. No, he would need to take a more measured approach.

  Noticing a particularly menacing array of stalactites hanging above the center of the horde, Evran contemplated the obvious idea of dropping them on the undead monsters. Normally, he was hesitant to cause a cave in, as that could easily bring down far more rock than expected, but only breaking stalactites wouldn’t carry such a risk. So that’s exactly what he did.

  Evran pointed his staff at the cavern ceiling above the skeletons and flared his mana. This instantly caught their attention, though it was too late for them to stop him. One by one, Evran severed the stalactites, sending them down atop the undead horde. They pierced through skulls and crashed over clavicles, killing almost two-fifths of the enemy. Evran proudly smiled at the effectiveness of his opening before launching stone shards at the surviving mobs, prioritizing the mages and archers.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Not to be outdone, Narro charged into the fray, hacking his way through the front line of zombies. Unlike the living, undead do not suffer from confusion or lack of morale from losing allies. If they could, Narro’s assault would have had them running in fear. The talented young spellblade seemingly modified his style to make greater use of his new sword, primarily using it for striking while blocking with his old one.

  The undead army fell at a rapid pace, as well-aimed stone shards blasted through skulls and skysteel slashed through bone like butter. The enemy mages and archers focused their attacks on Narro, simply because he was out in the open cavern while Evran fought from the passage entrance. His mana-enhanced speed made dodging seem effortless, but a few attacks managed to find their mark here and there. The first few crashed harmlessly against his reactive barrier before his amulet ran out of its mana charge. Eventually, an ice shard managed to make its way past his defense and deliver a forceful blow to Narro’s armor. It absorbed the impact, but sent Narro tumbling to the cavern floor.

  Noticing his friend’s condition, Evran raised a thin earth wall between Narro and a pair of approaching skeleton knights. It wasn’t meant to block much, but it was a less expensive way to buy Narro some time to recover on his own. Unfortunately for Evran, the remaining archers finally took notice of an enemy mage in their midst and began firing arrows at him.

  Evran was still of the mindset to conserve mana, and was already disappointed with himself for spending what he had. He wouldn’t hesitate to use it to defend Narro, but the fact remained that the earth wall had cost him. Feeling miserly, Evran decided to try to dodge the arrows instead, and rely on his reactive barrier for when he failed. After all, he could have Narro use his seemingly endless supply to recharge it instead of wasting his own.

  This decision had been a mistake. Evran lacked Narro’s talent for dodging, plus he wasn’t boosting his speed with mana as the spellblade did. He managed to dodge a few while exchanging stone shards with the skeleton archers, but his barrier amulet exhausted its charge and an arrow found its way into Evran’s left forearm before the last archer fell to his magic.

  Despite their setbacks, they were clearly winning. Evran fought through the minor pain and put down the final skeleton mage harrying Narro, which freed the spellblade up to go fully on the offensive against the remaining skeleton knights and zombies. When Evran felt the victory was at hand, he ceased his attacks and allowed Narro to finish off the last few foes.

  He was back to conserving his mana, having expended half of the half of his pool that remained. It was a substantial setback, which could prove fatal if the osteomorph were to catch back up with them — something which seemed like an inevitability.

  When the final zombie fell, Evran ran over to Narro to get his arm fixed. He held out his arm with the arrow sticking out of it, and Narro obliged by cutting the fletchings off the end. Evran pulled the remaining shaft through the wound before Narro set to work healing it with magic.

  “Good opening,” he said. “Sucks we needed your magic, though. How much do you have left?”

  “About a quarter,” Evran replied. “That thing should be reviving soon, and we haven’t been making the best time with Kaila on my back.”

  “You aren’t thinking about leaving her behind, are you?” he said, throwing him a harsh look.

  “Gods no, I’d sooner die than abandon her! I’m just saying, we have to move faster.”

  “Glad to hear it, Ev!” said Kaila, as she slowly dragged Lerrum’s bag over to the boys. She seemed to be in much better condition now. At the very least, she didn’t have too much trouble walking on her own, but she would still need a shoulder to lean on.

  “Hey, don’t push yourself,” he replied, running over to help her out.

  Once more, Narro had managed to close Evran’s wound, but it still needed some work once they were back on the move. With Kaila able to walk with some help, the burden of carrying Lerrum’s pack fell to him, freeing up their fighter for what he did best.

  The three survivors continued their journey deeper into the labyrinth, desperately searching for the salvation of a safe zone. Their pace was hardly better than when Evran carried Kaila, though Lerrum’s pack was much lighter and less tiring to carry.

  “I can feel myself starting to recover mana now,” Kaila announced. Her exhaustion had dissipated, and she could safely use magic again without passing out. She would still need more time to actually recover more mana; otherwise, she would just exhaust herself again.

  Another hour of walking went by. They were lucky to avoid any more hordes on the main path, though there were times when Evran could sense one down a passage the adventurers had left unexplored. The osteomorph had certainly resurrected itself by now, and Evran could not manage more than a few steps without a glance behind him.

  How did that creature hunt its prey? Did it know exactly where they were at all times, or did it simply wander about the labyrinths on the off chance it ran into an intruder? That was unlikely, as it was controlled by the guardian, who was likely some variety of lich. They would be smart enough to at least have the monster patrol the main path. In that case, it would inevitably catch up with them. The only question was how quickly.

  “Hey, that’s a diamond!” Narro shouted with excitement in his voice. “You said that means a safe zone, right? Ev?”

  He turned around to share in the excitement of his discovery, only to find the two mages staring intently into the dimly lit depths of the labyrinth behind them. A shiver ran their spines as a wave of despair washed over the three lost students. Silence fell upon the beleaguered group, broken only when Evran found the courage to give words to their greatest fear.

  “It’s close!”