Ash retreated into the passage and braced herself for the onslaught. With some luck, any new spawned amalgamations may not notice her and follow but she was not convinced. Next, she assessed her resources. Her Stamina was back to a full 30. Her health was at 10, having ticked up another point. Her Will was doing pretty good at 62/75 after recovering a bit from casting glow and ice touch recently. That meant she had 5 casts of flame burst or almost 8 of ice touch available. It would have to be enough.

  Then the first cluster of undulating bone shapes clattered around the corner, the cacophony of their steps on the stone making Ash grimace as she prepared her club to swing. To her surprise, the first three forerunners fell to a single swipe. Each hit seemed to pass through the level 2 creatures with less resistance than she had imagined, the effect of glow appeared to be just as strong when it hit each despite the slowing physical momentum of her swing. That meant, similarly to her fight against the swarm of level 1 ant foragers, she was able to cleave 3 bone amalgams with a base swing or a whole 5 with a mightier flame burst empowered sweep. Her first attempt smashed through the front lines, sending chunks of bone flying back over the ranks of knee high undead.

  You have levelled up. You are now Level 4. You have 1 stat point available.

  Ash smiled. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. The only difference she noticed over the ants was that the undead seemed indifferent to her displays of power. The ants had cringed back at her flames, but these bones just kept on coming. Line after line of the smaller bone amalgams fell to her hammer, judicious use of flame burst keeping them held at bay.

  Then a pair of larger bundles of bone approached, one a whole upside-down ribcage standing on a pair of arms with a tail lashing out, the other looked to be a disconcerting stack of lizard skulls and hip bones that seemed to have no reason to be moving together as well as it did. Ash tried to push her revulsion back and focused on simply bringing her maul down atop one of the many skulls arrayed before her.

  The creature was knocked to the floor from the strength of her blow, but no notification appeared. Then she saw a pair of hip bones push the abomination upwards as another section of its body swung for her. She managed to react fast enough to follow up on her attack before it hit, smashing the attacking limb back and finally watching the abhorrent creature scatter into its various parts.

  You have slain 1 level 3 large bone amalgam. You have received 25 exp!

  Unfortunately having to spend extra time finishing it off meant she completely missed as the tail of the other large monster lashed out at her. A stinging whip of bone came in from the left, leaving welts up the side of her arm. Ash instantly saw 5 of her health vanish from that one strike.

  I was only on 10 before! ~She thought desperately. Knowing she was moments from death, she didn’t hold back.

  Her maul flared to life, rocketing up into the side of the monster’s ribcage, the bones shattering into glistening frozen shards as her glowing weapon passed smoothly through the dying monster, illuminating the whole explosion like some horrific bone firework.

  After that, Ash noted she was down to 55 Will and… What, I’m on 16 health? Oh shit, the level up! Of course, her resources had just refilled by as much as she had gained. Realising she had likely just wasted her Will overkilling the monster, she decided to quickly assign her free point into Wit. With a small buffer of health, she really needed to keep the creatures back from overwhelming her and the best way to do that was having Will to one-shot the big ones and cleave through the small ones. 8 more points and improved regeneration would help immensely. At least, that was her rushed, mid fight logic at the time.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  She focused back on the flight, just in time to cleave through another 5 small monsters with a flame burst. Then she followed up with an ice strike empowered blow that proved more than enough to smash the next looming large amalgam to pieces – proving that she definitely had just wasted a whole 12 Will flame burst on that last one.

  She didn’t dwell on the mistake too much because, after all, she was still alive. More than that, she felt alive too. Every swing of her hammer was followed by the sight of the hideous bone monstrosities smashing to pieces before her. It was enough to bring a savage grin to her face. This was a fight she could get behind. These were mindless undead, only bent on killing her, and she had a shiny new big hammer to tell them not to. Straight to their little bone faces. If she had started with full resources then she would likely be fully relaxed and enjoying herself.

  As it was, an occasional small hit would break through. Smaller amalgams still managing to do damage even through the defence of her shin guards, proving their strength over the ant foragers. Another 3 points shaved off of her thin health pool, then 5 as one caught the side of her leg. The few hits forced her on the defensive, occasionally stepping back towards the spike pit to give ground to the bone monstrosities.

  Around the corner, the horde just kept coming. Several more times Ash was forced to use her flame burst to keep the tide at bay. She tried to conserve her Will by taking two quick swings on the next large amalgam, but that just forced her to use another expensive flame burst the moment after to keep back the tide of smaller ones.

  Her Will was getting frighteningly low. She took a step back, swinging to crush another 3 beasts, and realised she had now been pushed back right to the edge of the spike pit. Before her, the horde advanced, climbing over the scattered fragments of their fallen comrades. But perhaps… Yes! There at the back was empty, unmoving stone floor. Finally, an ebb in the flow. I’m actually getting through them!

  “Ash” Came a sudden voice from above “Ash! We opened it up again, but it won’t stay open for long! Grab the rope!”

  Ash swung again to give herself a moment, then glanced behind her. She just about made out Scholar’s face up in the opening above the spike pit, a rope being lowered down towards her.

  She turned back to the horde. But I’m so close…

  Then, at the back where no more small monsters gathered, coming around the shadowed corner was a larger shape. It looked big, encompassing almost the entirety of the corridor with its bulk. The horde had one final enemy to send at her and this one stood far above the rest, both literally and with the power she could sense from Assess Creature.

  Ash checked her stats. She still had low health, barely any Will, dwindling stamina and now there was a giant bone monstrosity coming to finish her off. As much as she wanted to finish the fight she had started, it was time to go.

  Ash swallowed, then spent the last of her Will on a flame burst, smashing back the dwindling front lines. Then, she turned and reached back through the broken spikes for the rope.

  She pulled herself up, feeling the rope also begin to reel back as the two lizardmen hauled on it. Ash was rapidly lifted up and out of the pit to freedom, safely away from the clacking of many bones and the deeper thudding clomps of the greater beast behind them.

  Ash sprawled on the floor, panting and exhausted, her stamina low from the fighting and the climb. But she was safe. She heard the trapdoor swing shut, and she breathed out a sigh of relief, turning over onto her back and staring blankly up at the ceiling – and directly at a set of small inscriptions that was carved on to it.

  “Damn…” Ash said after a long moment. “I think I’ve figured out the puzzle of this room.”

  “What?” Scholar replied in utter confusion.