Vondaire stared into the sky, watching distant clouds, as the Spelunkers continued sharing stories about the Subterranean Dungeon. They truly did love that place, which Vondaire didn’t understand, and likely wouldn’t even once he had that shard. What was there to love about damp caves and angry rats?

  His attention snapped to the exit. The endless blackness shifted, imperceptibly. Vondaire sat fully upright, accidentally cutting off Aimar’s story.

  “What is it?” Aimar asked. All the Spelunkers turned to look at the exit.

  “Interesting,” Vondaire said.

  Sloswen materialized on the sand bar. The few heroes still lined up to go inside went completely silent.

  “Vondaire,” Sloswen said. The god had his arms crossed. He swept his gaze over all the heroes gathered, finally stopping on Vondaire. “The goblin is about to battle Chaudius.”

  Vondaire clenched his hands. “He made it?”

  “Join me. Witness this battle.”

  Vondaire slid the whiskey bottle across the table, gently bumping it into Aimar’s cup. As he stood, Vondaire pulled a wine bottle from his jacket and handed it to one of the other Spelunkers. “Enjoy, gentlemen.”

  “Thank you, lad. Uh, sir,” Aimar said quietly.

  Vondaire patted the Spelunker on the shoulder as he passed. “Good luck.”

  Sloswen gestured toward the exit. The snake spiraled around his arm. Vondaire smiled and stepped into the exit. There was no pain like in the portals from city to city, and no time passed like the doorways between floors. One moment he was on the sandbar, the next, he was back in the arena.

  There was a sensation in the air. Something ethereal.

  “We’re invisible,” Vondaire said.

  “Well placed. You are as talented as I suspected. Now, witness this anomaly.”

  Owin was certainly an anomaly, though Vondaire likely understood that term in a different sense than a god.

  Vondaire kept his hands clenched. He was tense. More now than when Sloswen first appeared. Owin looked as though he had hardly made it to the tenth floor. What had happened?

  A gray, oddly clothed skeleton walked to the side. It turned its head toward Vondaire and cocked its head slightly as if it could see him. Who was the skeleton? And why was it helping Owin?

  Owin was crouched like a wildcat ready to pounce. He let his right arm hang. Wisps of blood drifted from his elbow, but the wound that took the rest of his arm looked as though it had been mostly healed. His left arm was out to the side, holding a sword that looked too big for the small, injured creature.

  “He’s found armor,” Vondaire said.

  The god made a noise, which caused Vondaire to raise an eyebrow. Best not to ask more, though his curiosity was piqued.

  Vondaire looked back at the skeleton, who waved. “What is that creature?”

  Sloswen made another noise. Vondaire had heard that noise before from so many people. It was too recognizable. Complete disdain. Contempt.

  “The Withered Shade.”

  ***

  “Owin the goblin,” Chaudius said, standing calmly in the center of the arena. “I am honored to battle.”

  Owin tried not to scowl, but the cetanthro’s huge teeth and general grotesque appearance made it difficult to even watch it talk. He nodded.

  “What about me?” Shade shouted. The skeleton had just been waving, though Owin didn’t notice anything. If Shade’s plan had been to sneak around the outside and surprise Chaudius, he was failing horribly.

  The cetanthro didn’t flinch or acknowledge Shade at all.

  “Even if he isn’t honored to battle me, I’m honored to battle him. I’ll be so aggressively honored that he won’t know what to do about it!”

  “Shade, shut up.”

  “Oh, right.” The skeleton took a step toward Chaudius. The cetanthro still didn’t move. If Shade struck first and got a stun with his gauntlet, the fight would be over. As he took another step forward, Chaudius made a small motion with his shield hand. Luminous fire erupted on Shade.

  “Flare Burst,” Owin said. “That won’t work against him.”

  Shade shook out his arms and legs. “It tickles.”

  The fish turned his head to look at Shade. Just as he started to turn, Owin leapt with all his strength. He soared through the water and swung as hard as he could manage. The Incandescent Blade hit the center of Chaudius’s tower shield. Everything nearby hummed as the fish swung his long mace. The weapon churned the water and nearly took Owin’s head off as he ducked.

  “Take this!” Shade punched the fish in the back.

  Chaudius smashed his shield against Shade, which didn’t immediately kill the skeleton. Instead, Shade flew up and crashed back onto the ground.

  Before Owin could continue his assault, the cetanthro turned on him, smashing Owin’s bubble-like shield in a single swing. Before the next attack hit, Owin turned, using the physical shield on his back to take most of the hit. He skidded over the ground.

  Owin backed off and paced to the side, watching Chaudius the entire time. The fish was fast, which wasn’t a surprise. Of course the final boss of the Ocean was fast. All of the armor was the biggest surprise. Most of the mobs throughout the Ocean hadn’t been that heavily armored, or they had relied on natural armor like chitin.

  On top of his speed and armor, he had spells. When Owin had last seen Flare Burst, it had been used by knights. So, was Chaudius a knight? The armor would say so.

  How did one defeat a knight?

  Chaudius let his mace fall back onto his shoulder.

  Shade climbed back to his feet and inched toward the fish’s back once again.

  There was no reason to give Chaudius time to use any tricks or spells. Owin immediately sprinted back in and swung. His sword hit the shield once again and shook in his hand. He took a step back just as the mace crashed into the ground directly beside Owin.

  It was the best opening he had seen. He jumped and swung again, aiming for the hideous fish’s head. Luminous light surged from the fish’s black eyes and blasted Owin out of the water. He felt his chest burning as he hit the ground and slid. The Incandescent Blade tumbled from his hand

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

  Quick, armored steps pounded on the ground. Before even looking, Owin cast Smoke Cloud, rolled, and leapt. A dark form of Chaudius appeared with a faint luminous glow. He left the cloud, hitting the ground with his hand first, and pivoted to face the boss as he emerged from the smoke.

  Chaudius hissed as he appeared. Luminous energy glowed brightly in his eyes. The glow continued down his armor, over his hand, and up the shaft of his mace. The fragmented head of the weapon took on the luminous energy and shone like a star.

  “A mender,” Owin said quietly. He had seen that spell too many times to ever mistake it. Nikoletta’s favorite. “Luminous Surge.”

  “Good.” Chaudius let the head of the mace drop to the ground. It sparked as it touched the tiled floor. “The cathkabel will purify unholy creatures.”

  Shade appeared from the smoke and smashed his gauntlet against Chaudius’s back.

  Chaudius froze mid step.

  The stun had worked. However brief it lasted, it was still an actual opening. Owin leapt and punched, smashing his fist into Chaudius’s face. Dark skin tore under the strike, leaking blood into the water.

  By the time Owin hit the ground, the stun was already finished. The entirety of Chaudius’s heavy shield crashed into him, breaking Owin’s nose as he was launched backward, into the mace’s range.

  “A clever trick,” Chaudius said. Light surged in his eyes as his skin stitched right back together.

  Fighting a mender was difficult in any situation. Fighting a mender boss was going to be impossible if he couldn’t hit hard enough to kill the boss in a single strike. Other cetanthro were weak to electricity, but using something like Discharge when he had no health potions left and Chaudius could heal himself could easily put Owin at a disadvantage, or simply outright kill him.

  No matter what route he went, Owin just knew he needed to figure out how to fight without his right arm. He felt clumsy and slow, like he had just awakened back in the goblin cave.

  Chaudius rushed forward. As fast as the boss was, Owin was quick enough to leap back and keep the same distance between them. After a few more quick dashes, Chaudius slowed, walking calmly at Owin.

  “You flee this battle, but we have only just started.”

  Owin continued walking backward, staying light on his feet. He might need to jump to either side, or even over, if Chaudius tried any new tricks.

  Shade sprinted back to the center of the arena and waved dramatically. “I have an idea!”

  “I don’t think shouting the idea is going to help. He’ll hear you.”

  Luminous light flared in the cetanthro’s eyes.

  ***

  “Just attack faster! Don’t let him recover!”

  The skeleton’s plan fit a true berserker, soldier, or assassin in terms of fighting tactics, but for a deficient wizard, and an injured one at that, attacking faster wasn’t a route to victory. Owin had survived because of his brutality and lack of fear, or at least his relentless fighting despite his fear. Everything Vondaire had heard about the goblin insisted that he couldn’t be stopped.

  So, what would he do when he was completely outmatched?

  Chaudius surged forward, leaving a trail of luminous light that caused Vondaire to squint. The fish attacked with his glowing mace, keeping Owin on a panicked retreat.

  “Why does the skeleton just watch?” Vondaire asked.

  “The Withered Shade’s combat abilities are lacking. It is a support summon, and this iteration has yet to understand his role in combat. He frequently hides or gets himself killed. If the goblin is to make use of the Cursed, he has to understand the fool’s role.”

  Sloswen had his arms folded across his chest. He hadn’t blinked once through the entire fight. Vondaire wasn’t sure if the god blinked at all.

  “A support summon?” Vondaire idly formed a spectral kunai in his hand and spun it around his gloved finger. The fight had been relatively quick for him. After destroying the cetanthro’s mana, besting him in combat was simple.

  Owin, without a true class, needed to rely on something else. If that skeleton was the answer, then they needed to figure out how to utilize it correctly.

  Vondaire opened his index and held his free hand to the side, away from Sloswen, and waved his fingers.

  ***

  Owin skidded to a stop beside Shade. “What am I supposed to do? Even when I hit him, he heals immediately.”

  “Well, I doubt my stun will help again.” Shade stared over Owin’s head at the wall. He tilted his head slightly and waved his gloved hand. His index appeared in front of his face. “I—”

  Chaudius’s mace cleaved straight through Shade, causing the skeleton to explode into dust.

  Owin immediately leapt and punched, connecting with the fish’s face once again. A similar punch had taken the head off the eighth floor boss. Now, it only tore skin that Chaudius easily healed.

  Owin landed, dodged to the side, and pounced again. He slapped his hand against the ear-like fin and cast Bolt. A burst of electricity shook Owin’s hand as the spell passed right into the boss’s head.

  Chaudius stumbled unsteadily, taking a step back as luminous light surged through his whole body.

  Owin took the opportunity to pull a wand from his belt. He needed a weapon that was easy to use, but his lich bone knife would shatter from any luminous damage. He needed to keep it away against a mender, which only left his wands until he retrieved the Incandescent Blade.

  As soon as his fingers touched the wand, he cast Ice Aura, cooling the water in a bubble around him. If it would actually have an effect on Chaudius was a mystery.

  “Let us make this more interesting.” Chaudius flashed yellow, expelling the luminous light from his body. To his side, a circle appeared. A four legged figure materialized. It wasn’t until the light faded that Owin could make out the wolf-like fish. It had a pointed head with long fins running from nose to tail. It was clearly a cetanthro, or something close, but also unlike anything Owin had seen before.

  “Aulopi,” Chaudius said. “Let us end this battle.”

  Aulopi, the four-legged fish, growled. Light flashed from the creature, which was echoed on Chaudius.

  Ocean Mob

  Aulopi

  Summon of Chaudius

  As far as Owin understood it from watching Suta, a familiar could cast all the same spells as its master. If a mender’s summon was different, he had no idea what those differences would be.

  A one hit kill. That’s all he needed. There was a chance he could drive the lich bone into the fish’s head before it could break from any luminous energy, but that was a risk. The only other option he could imagine was getting the Incandescent Blade and cutting off the boss’s head.

  Chaudius burst forward twice as fast as before. Owin felt the impact of the shield before he even realized what had happened. He flipped, landed on his feet, coughed up blood, and ducked as the mace whipped through the water above him.

  Owin leapt back before the flurry of attacks could continue. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he cast Smoke Cloud. While he couldn’t gain experience to increase his level, he had gained experience in knowledge from practice. Sanem and Chorsay had taught him the importance of refining skills, of being able to improve even without ever rising above level one.

  The heavy mace passed low through the smoke, but Owin was already in the air. Chaudius hadn’t been buffing himself, other than Luminous Surge. All of his extra strength and speed was coming from the little familiar that still stood off to the side.

  Owin hit the ground running, sprinting straight at Aulopi. He pointed and cast Ice Bolt. Before he could reach the four-legged fish, he felt the now-familiar impact of Chaudius’s shield. Owin flipped, bounced off the ground, and rolled.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Cooldown: 20 seconds

  Owin wanted to curl up. He wanted to stop. To rest.

  An attack thumped against his shield, forcing him back down before he could even stand up.

  If he stopped now, if he let the next attack crush his skull, he wouldn’t have to worry anymore. Nobody would bother him anymore. The pain would end.

  Another attack struck his shield.

  The pain would end, but Artivan would still be back in the Great Forest wondering what happened. Wondering if Owin had made it to Chorsay. Katalin and Ernie would never know what happened. Suta would be without his twin.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  “Got you!” Shade’s spiked knuckles audibly clinked against Chaudius’s armor.

  “Hm?”

  Owin leapt for Aulopi, tearing the fish’s face off with his claws. Without another arm to steady him, Owin hit the ground and continued tearing into the fish until Chaudius appeared, looming like a giant.

  The shining mace dropped like a meteor. Owin had expected to die from a luminous mace, just not one wielded by a fish.

  His vision turned black. The world shook from the impact of the mace. Dust crumbled around Owin.

  “I got you!” Shade shouted.

  “What?”

  Chaudius attacked again, but as the mace was about to crush his skull, Owin watched a chunk of his mana vanish in the bottom of his vision as he felt his body move on its own, causing him to leap forward and punch Chaudius in the center of his chest. The cetanthro stumbled back and looked at Shade.

  The skeleton had both his arms extended toward Owin. “I’m a knight!”

  “What’s that mean?” Owin asked quickly.

  “It means we’re a real team.”