Entering Fortress Dungeon

  First Floor

  One Shard Active

  Owin stepped out of a massive void nexus into a calm forest. Birds sang as the wind passed, rustling leaves. He took a deep breath, smelling the damp soil and vegetation. It was a familiar scent that made a pit in his stomach. The last he had smelled something similar was in the birch forest of the fourth floor with Artivan. Before the castle. Before the Sovereign One.

  Shade picked up a stick and poked Owin in the chest. “Time to get moving.”

  “What?”

  Shade jabbed the stick against the chitin harder, which only caused the stick to break. “Stop thinking. Let me do it for now.”

  “I can’t stop thinking. Katalin and Ernie told me I had to think a lot more.”

  “I have enough brains for both of us. Let me worry for now.” Shade walked behind Owin, grabbed his shoulders, and pushed him forward.

  “You don’t have brains.”

  “How rude.” Shade guided him through the underbrush, into the dense forest. Sunlight shone, creating long shadows as they walked. After a few minutes, Owin stopped, despite Shade’s pushing, and reexamined the environment. Usually, he would have already fought several mobs. So far, there hadn’t been anything.

  “Where are the mobs?” Owin asked.

  Shade looked back and forth, leaning in exaggerated ways to look around nearby trees. After a moment, he shrugged and pushed Owin onward.

  “Are you scared?” Owin asked.

  Shade let go of Owin’s shoulders and walked at his side. The skeleton looked ridiculous with his full arm gauntlet and his white leather glove. He was even more mismatched than most heroes.

  “Of what?”

  “Being in a dungeon again.”

  “No.” Shade ran his hand over the bark of a tree as they passed. “Look at this place. It is surprisingly beautiful, and on top of that, it’s not underwater.”

  “Do you hate the god here too?”

  “Shh. It’s a new adventure. Lots of things to see. Besides, now that we know what I can do, maybe I can be more helpful instead of only running and screaming. I don’t want you to get your expectations too high because I do still intend to run and scream. I will also try to be helpful from time to time.”

  “Do you remember anything from the Fortress?”

  “No. My last master didn’t take me here. I don’t think.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, but probably not.”

  They walked in silence for a time. Owin took off his gauntlet to feel the trees and flowers as they passed.

  Shade made a noise like clearing his throat, interrupting the silence. “Who were you training with?”

  “Do you even have a throat to clear?”

  “Avoidance, huh? Well, I am the master at avoiding things. Remember when I hid from that boss?”

  Owin did remember. It was when he had ended up inside the massive spider and had to cut his way out while Shade stood still. “You were covered in spiders.”

  “A masterful play, if I may say so. Who would Althowin want to keep secret? She couldn’t be training you herself. Her fighting style is entirely different. Chorsay or Arkasti would make sense, but I was with them the whole time. I was even losing to Chorsay in games, and I don’t think he’s clever enough to be in two places at once.”

  “What does that have to do with being clever? He’s just a soldier so he doesn’t have spells.”

  “Was it Zezog?” Shade asked.

  “What?”

  “Ah. It was.”

  Owin shook his head quickly.

  “Zezog the Barbarian. Fascinating. I was asking Chorsay about all the Shard Heroes. There are almost two hundred. Did you know that? Over half are 1 Shard Heroes like us—”

  “Me,” Owin said.

  “Like us,” Shade continued. “Then 2 Shard, and it falls off very quickly from there. There are actually more 7 Shard Heroes than 6.”

  “Really?”

  “Well there is Althowin, Zezog, and the mystery person for 7 Shards, and there is only one 6 Shard Hero that people don’t really know. She was apparently famous, then she disappeared, but she has still gotten two shards in the last year.”

  “Nobody has seen her but she’s still getting shards?”

  Shade nodded. “And now she only has one more. Oryta Gurmrot. Never heard of a name like it, but I’m a skeleton, so what would I know?”

  “A lot.”

  “Oh, it’s true. I know so much.”

  Owin stopped Shade from continuing. The forest thinned out quickly ahead, which allowed him to spot something gray. Upon moving to the side of some trees, Owin was able to see much more of the long wall.

  Goblins stood behind parapets on top. Each one had a bow in their hands and a weapon sheathed on their hips. They watched the forest with colorful eyes.

  Shade pressed himself against a tree and looked over Owin’s head. “That must be where we’re going. Look, I found the mobs.”

  “I saw it first.”

  “I found it too.”

  To their right, the wall continued all the way to the blue boundary wall. It looked like it continued outside, but that hardly mattered. The closed gate and drawbridge was on the right side, not terribly far from the boundary, while the left side of the wall ended in a tower and continued backward. The forest followed that side, giving some room to walk between the boundary and the wall.

  “A moat? Fascinating. I love a moat or a ditch. Anything that makes our lives more difficult,” Shade said.

  “The secret on the fourth floor of the Great Forest had a drawbridge and a moat like this, but it was smaller.”

  The secret had been one building. Whatever was ahead was only the wall with more buildings inside. Getting over or through the wall was only the first step of the Fortress Dungeon.

  He was too far away to Examine the goblins, but it was only the first floor. They wouldn’t be a high level. Even at twice the strength as normal, they shouldn’t be a problem.

  “What do you think? If I jump onto the wall, do you think there is a way for me to lower the gate for you?”

  Shade had his index open. He tapped a gloved finger on his jaw as if he was deep in thought. “At the moment, I’m an umbra, so if I am able to use Simple Teleport correctly, I could get onto the wall even before you could.”

  Owin made a face, which caused Shade to mumble to himself as he passed through the last trees.

  “I know it was Zezog,” Shade said.

  As soon as he was spotted, all the goblins started pointing and yelling. Insults of all kinds, but mostly about Shade’s mother, were tossed at the skeleton. Arrows followed the insults, raining down upon Shade, who continued walking casually.

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  “You don’t have to tell me the truth for me to uncover it! You’re forgetting who I am!” Shade turned back to face Owin. An arrow pinged off the back of his skull. “I will share this conspiracy with the world! I am the greatest detective!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Shade vanished in a small puff of smoke as more arrows rained down. He reappeared near the parapets, scaring the goblins. Shade shrieked and swung his arms wildly, trying to grab something as his fingers scraped against the stone until he plummeted into the moat below. The smallest, least dramatic splash barely lifted high enough for Owin to see it from his position.

  “I still can’t swim,” Owin shouted.

  Shade’s flailing arms appeared as he started dragging himself out of the moat. “I know! That’s what the teleporting is for!”

  He did have access to Shade’s umbra spells at the moment. If he jumped onto the wall and found himself in a bad spot, he could teleport to safety. Instead of relying on teleporting like Shade had, he could use it as an escape.

  But he probably didn’t need that. The shard hummed as it lifted from Owin’s right shoulder.

  Shade flopped onto the shore of the moat as more arrows pinged off his bones. “Do you have a plan?”

  Owin sprinted out of the forest and jumped, sailing right over the skeleton. He flew straight at the top of the wall and swung the Thunderstrike Maul as hard as possible. The massive head of the hammer smashed a goblin’s bright hair. Blood exploded outward as Owin landed, sliding across the gore until he fell right over the back side of the wall.

  He landed in a bush and looked up at ten goblin faces staring down at him.

  “Bitch!” one yelled.

  Owin scowled.

  The goblin that yelled fell off, landing roughly beside Owin.

  “I’m the ultimate umbra!” Shade shouted as he shoved more goblins over the side.

  It wasn’t killing or really even hurting any of them. He was only pushing them over. Owin stood and immediately started swinging the hammer, splattering goblins all over the wall.

  “It does feel a little weird,” Owin said.

  “Killing your own kind? I would assume so.” Shade sat on the edge of the wall. “They’ll respawn and they won’t even remember a second of it.”

  “Me next!” someone shouted.

  Shade fell off the wall, shrieking until he landed on the gore-covered bush.

  A hobgoblin with light blue hair appeared on the wall. “Me next!”

  “You want me to hit you?” Owin asked.

  The hobgoblin knocked his knuckles against the side of his head. “Hit me as hard as you can.”

  “There is something wrong with them.” Owin hopped up, landing easily on top of the wall.

  “Hobgoblins are freaks,” Shade said.

  The hobgoblin crouched to be at eye level with Owin. “Right here,” he said, pointing at his face.

  “Yeah, I know. Hammer or fist?”

  “Ooh. Fist. Punch me hard.”

  Owin jabbed. It wasn’t the hardest he could punch since he was only standing still and just threw a quick one, but it was still more than enough to make the hobgoblin’s head disappear.

  “It turns out a first floor is still a first floor even with a shard,” Shade said. He tried wiping some blood from his white glove but only smeared it over his vest instead. “Is goblin blood always this sticky?”

  Owin just stared over the wall at him.

  “What? I don’t remember your blood being so viscous.” As the skeleton wiped his hand on the stone wall, he made a noise and looked back up. “It’s because we were in the Ocean! It was easier to clean off.”

  “Stop talking about my blood, Shade.”

  Shade quietly mocked Owin.

  Owin jumped off the wall and opened his index. There were a ton of umbra spells that he could pull from Shade. It was almost overwhelming. After only having three spells for so long, having access to a full class was bizarre.

  “Do you have a level?” Owin asked.

  “Uh.” Shade opened his own index. “No. Hm. Yes. I wonder if that is randomized upon summoning as well. You’re only level one because you’re a little baby, so obviously I’m not sharing your level like a familiar.”

  “Shade.”

  “But,” Shade continued as if he didn’t hear anything. “I never noticed anything before Vondaire helped me see the spells. What Power level do you see?”

  “Up to Power 4, I think,” Owin said.

  “Me too. Maybe next time we can get to Power 7 and sacrifice someone.”

  Owin shook his head.

  “What would happen if I sacrificed you?”

  “Shade.”

  Shade grabbed Owin’s head in both hands. “I would be strong enough to just squeeze and crush this melon.”

  “Can we keep going? There are goblins all over the rest of the walls, you know.” Owin ducked under Shade’s hands and walked clear of the carnage. The rest of the goblins were on the far sides of the wall, still looking over the side. Ahead, there was a fountain in the middle of a courtyard, stables on the left, and a grand building that looked like the main section of the Fortress. Despite being a massive building, Owin could see the stairs and exit just inside the front door.

  “We could go up already,” he said.

  “Shouldn’t there be a floor boss or something?”

  “What if the hobgoblin was a floor boss?”

  Shade teleported to the top of the wall and kicked the hobgoblin’s body off the side. A health potion fell out, which Owin barely had room to store in his bag.

  “We could go up, but a secret might have more of my shiny little bones.”

  “They aren’t shiny or little.” Owin walked onto the courtyard and made eye contact with ten more goblins. “Can you actually fight with your spells now?”

  “Maybe. How’s your mana?”

  It had drained about a quarter from their teleporting. His intelligence was high enough to manage most spells, but excessive use would be difficult to manage. He wasn’t used to paying much attention to his mana.

  “It’s fine. Give it a try.”

  Shade teleported, appeared in front of a goblin, lost his balance as he punched, and instead slapped the goblin with his olm skin gloved hand. Green lines spiderwebbed through the goblin’s already green skin.

  “I’ll piss on your bones!” the goblin screamed. He pulled back an arrow, then wheezed in a breath. The green lines reached his eyes and spread down his neck, disappearing into his chest. He wobbled and fell back.

  0 Experience

  “What was that?” Owin asked.

  “Venomous Jab, but I think I messed up the jab part of that.” Arrows pinged off Shade’s bones. “Am I immune to arrows?”

  A new hobgoblin appeared and clubbed Shade over the head with a branch. The skeleton poofed into gray dust.

  Owin laughed and lifted the Thunderstrike Maul. At least resummoning Shade would help answer some more questions. Nine goblins and one hobgoblin all turned to him. They were twice as strong as they would normally be, and that wasn’t anywhere close enough to compete with Owin.

  The hobgoblin went down first. Its bones were obliterated in the Thunderstrike Maul swing. Owin skidded over the cobblestones, pivoted, and swung horizontally at the closest goblin. The Thunderstrike Maul head glowed like the sun and detonated its full charge upon hitting the goblin’s shoulder. Three died in the shockwave, but Owin also launched himself backward. He rolled once before landing on his feet.

  All the remaining goblins panicked. They screamed, swore, and charged, even while shouting how terrified they were. Owin drew both knives and dashed back in. He slashed and dodged, moving as fast as he could. With the shard, he was moving faster than he was used to, so some of his dodges were too big, causing his attacks to miss.

  He moved far too quickly for any of their attacks to land. It took a few extra dashes to learn how far and fast he moved, but before long, everything in the courtyard was dead.

  Shade was right. Blood was sticky. After having been in the Ocean for so long, it felt filthy to have blood clinging to his skin. He cleaned his knives on the clothes of the dead and washed his hands in the fountain.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  As soon as Shade appeared, he grabbed Owin’s shoulders. “I am a hunter with few abilities now. So, I must be a lower level.”

  Owin walked back to the wall, grabbed a bow and quiver, and brought it back to Shade.

  “Oh, yes.” The skeleton placed the quiver over his shoulder and plucked at the bowstring. “I’ll be very good at this.”

  “Sure.” Owin walked away as Shade fumbled an arrow. There were plenty of bodies to loot, but he didn’t have any interest in grabbing gold, and it seemed unlikely to find anything useful on the first floor. Suta and Myrsvai would criticize him if they knew he left loot.

  Blood ran in streams over the cobblestones, all heading toward drains. Owin followed the stream and looked down into the dark drain. He squinted and leaned closer. There was a noise from below.

  “Do you think there’s something down here?” he asked.

  “Where?” Shade dropped another arrow. “In the drain? Maybe that’s another way inside.”

  Owin grabbed the metal grate and pulled. With his strength, he easily ripped it right off the ground. It was about three feet across, meaning it was big enough for him to hop right down.

  “You’re going first,” Owin said.

  “Make the hunter go first. What am I going to do with my bow down there?”

  “The same as you’re doing up here.”

  Shade mumbled something and stepped right into the hole.

  Owin grabbed his hammer and followed. It wasn’t as far down as he had expected. There was a pool of chest-high water that smelled foul. Shade, being taller, had to duck slightly to fit into the pipe leading away from their current position. Sunlight shone in a few spots ahead where the positions of the other drains in the courtyard. A steady stream of blood plopped down into the sewer water.

  “We’re going to smell so horribly,” Shade said as he crept forward.

  “We can turn around if it gets deeper,” Owin said.

  “It’s a good reason for me to lead.”

  They sloshed through the metal pipe, only slowing once it turned.

  Owin opened his index, then flipped to the map. “We’re beneath the stable.”

  “Does the map show the sewer?” Shade asked.

  “No. Just above ground.”

  A huge rat leapt from the water, crashing into Shade’s face. The skeleton screamed, which echoed horribly through the pipes, and fell onto his back. Owin drew the Darkblade and slashed through the rat in one smooth motion.

  Shade sat up, barely lifting his head above the water. “There are giant rats in here.”

  “I noticed that.” Owin put the knife back in his belt, grabbed Shade’s arm, and forced the skeleton to stand again. “Let’s keep going. The secret has to be here somewhere.”

  “If I die down here, I won’t even be able to try my newfound archery skills.” Shade plucked at the wet bowstring. “What if this is my true calling?”

  “It’s not.”

  Shade gasped.