The crystal song of my bullet sang as it flew. Its piercing song was cut short when it hit an armored knee and punched through a knee pad, flesh, and bone. The shade, clad in construction gear, fell to their knees, and swiftly Cobalt finished it off with a flourish of his blade.

  Cobalt was swiftly proving his worth. Especially as he immediately moved on, avoiding a wide swing and answering back with his own. The ice blade shimmered and cut through the attacking shade’s arm, sending it flying into the air, weapon still in hand.

  A shade wielding a sledgehammer came up from behind cobalt. Panels of golden light appeared, taking the blow and rebuffing the strike. A bullet sang out and cracked into the sledgehammer wielding shade’s unprotected head, killing it instantly while Cobalt pressed, killing the disarmed shade.

  Opposite of Cobalt were the soldiers. They struggled but did their job. Holding their spears forward, screening the area before us, keeping the other Shades from simply rushing over us. They were bolstered by Joan and her magic, but still, they just barely worked.

  I looked over as Cobalt duked it out with a bronze ranked shade. The two moved swiftly, it almost looked like a dance. Cobalt could actually trade blows with it, due to his enhanced body, further bolstered by Joan’s magic, which allowed Cobalt to steadily dismantle the shade.

  Aiming my rifle, I tried to kneecap the shade, but it shifted, allowing Cobalt to get another strike in, putting another gouge in the shade’s body and pushing it back. As it stepped back, the back of its knee vanished.

  I blinked. I looked over the battlefield, noting how the number of enemies had thinned. How had…?

  Cobalt, me, the soldiers, and Joan… Wasn’t there… On instinct, I clung to the ice, letting it take hold. I blinked again, and I saw Liche, her hand coated in all devouring darkness, with every swipe it essentially deleted everything in her path.

  Right… How many times was this?

  Just as I thought on that, Cobalt kicked the shade down and levelled their sword and thrust it down, ending the shade, and with it, the fight.

  We all let out the tension with a shared sigh. Cobalt too, exhaled a stream of frost, even if he really didn’t need to breathe. With a flourish of his blade, the blood was thrown off, returning it back to its most pristine condition. Almost as an afterthought, I extended my hand and retrieved the bronze coin. As always, when the coin was harvested, the body of the bronze ranked shade swiftly began decaying.

  “How many does that make it?” Joan asked, wiping her brow and interrupting my thoughts.

  “A dozen at least.” I answered back. We were on a bit of a system, 2:1:1, with me getting two coins, Liche and Joan getting one. Neither minded. I also really did need the cash.

  “Sounds about right… How much further do you want to go boss?” Liche asked, the black magic she used, suffusing her arm faded away into nothing.

  I considered the option as I went ahead and topped up the soldiers, using my magic to help restore their bodies. Which led to their biggest caveat. For what they were, for what they cost to make, it wasn’t worth the effort. Between keeping their form together, empowering their body, and feeding the enchantments in the admittedly poorly made spears. It was clear they just couldn’t handle it.

  At least it was fall, turning towards winter. Had it been at the height of summer… I swear, these soldiers would melt like a certain snowman on a hot day. Even here, in the waterworks, they were slowly melting away, and I had to keep re-upping their reserves to keep them going, lest they melt and crack to pieces just by existing. At least Cobalt didn’t seem to be having issues.

  “A bit further, I’d like to get to the next layer, at minimum.” I said, answering Liche’s inquiry.

  Nobody argued, after all, I was the de facto leader here. I invited them, and I was providing most of the support here between my soldiers and Cobalt. Not just that, I had given them a rundown on how coins worked and what to keep an eye out for.

  But… I glanced about and saw a familiar sight.

  “Maybe we should take a moment to rest before we continue.” I offered up and both accepted without much fuss. Once inside, I reached into my canvas bag, a bag I bought specifically for spelunking. No idiot would bring an expensive bag into combat.

  Inside the bag, I had bought supplies for our excursion, specifically meals for each of us. The meals weren’t anything special, just some basic dinners I bought from the convenience store and bottles of water. Still, both Joan and Liche appreciated it.

  We settled down and ate, taking the chance to rest inside a safe zone. None of us really spoke, not that I blamed them. After we finished, we didn’t immediately rush out.

  Taking the chance, I considered my soldiers. Even now, I had to keep an eye out for them. For being cannon fodder, they were surprisingly high maintenance, and I can’t exactly afford to keep topping them up. Perhaps I should focus elsewhere, perhaps dolls? Human sized dolls with ball socket joints.

  It could work, but the cost… Not just that, but they can’t be simply made, like out of plastic or steel. Lest the cold of my magic make the metal or plastic too brittle and shatter when I try to engrave the lines in their form.

  I would need to research what kind of metals work best in extreme cold, and possibly develop special alloys… Though, that’s for when I get enough money to mass manufacture them. As it is… perhaps I could use a bronze coin to make them? I could also use the chance to see if I can get ice sculptures that I can animate.

  Mm… A plan formulated, I looked over our group and saw that everyone looked ready to go.

  “Let’s move on.” Nobody questioned it, and we continued onward. We fought a few more groups, accrued more coins. Joan was helpful. She alone prevented a lot of damage that both my soldiers and Cobalt would have suffered. Without her, I’m certain that we would have been forced to retreat by now through attrition alone.

  I could heal both Cobalt and the soldiers’ wounds by stuffing them with magic, but it wasn’t a perfect heal. Whatever wounds I patched up were always weaker than the rest of their body. The true star player here, the MVP, was definitely Liche. Her magic was definitely void. Making her an exceptional assassin.

  Using her magic, her very existence was easily forgotten, and her attacks had an all-devouring quality to them that let her punch through just about any defense. At the cost of using up prodigious amounts of energy. Which had her focus on pinpoint strikes. A lot of the more dangerous fights were dismantled with surgical precision thanks to Liche’s attacks. She had a good sense of where she needed to be and what she had to do to make a difference in a fight. Further elevating her worth.

  Outside of battles, Liche was not as pivotal, but where she faltered, Joan shone through. Her magic gave her a good sense of where we needed to go. She could easily sense enemy groups and estimate their power… to an extent. It made me think of how Tabitha was able to lead us forward, but the way Joan did it was perhaps a bit more direct. A literal beam of light guided our path.

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  Of all of us, it was definitely Joan that was doing the most work. Not that I was going to make a fuss about that. With her guiding us, we swiftly found the stairs leading down into the waterworks from the sewers, and now, we found another set of stairs leading further down.

  The wet stone of the waterworks swiftly gave way to dry stone and dirt. The smell of water, and the sounds of moving water faded into an oppressive silence followed by the smell of dirt and something else I couldn’t quite place.

  A smell that became clear when we reached the bottom of the stairs, the tight passage opened up into a large entryway of sorts. Piles of old bodies lay along the walls. Many of the bodies were decayed to naught but bone. A large pair of wooden doors sat before us as if inviting us in.

  I recalled what Grim had said… Below the waterworks was… “The catacombs.” I muttered, Liche was inspecting the piles of bodies, whereas Joan was sticking close to my side, hands clasped together. Did she not do great around bodies? Or the dead in general?

  I just hope that doesn’t become an issue…

  Ignoring the piles of bodies, I went for the door and pushed it open. The hinges made not a single sound and were clearly well oiled. Blue flames flickered in sconces set into the wall, giving the air biting chill. The light was minimal, hardly even reaching into the far corners, leaving deep shadows behind pillars or in alcoves.

  The path forward was flanked by shelves carved out of the surrounding stone. Cracks in the stone let dirt in, slightly burying the skeletons or mummified bodies lying about. Out of intrigue, I approached one of the bodies and felt it out with my magic.

  My magic wouldn’t take. The corpses were long dead. Petrified even. They were more stone than flesh after all this time. Walking back to the center of the path, I noticed Joan muttering something under her breath, it sounded almost like a prayer. Liche though…

  “Wicked.” She muttered, clearly enthralled with what we were experiencing. Though, her blank expression didn’t really show anything beyond that.

  We moved onward, at the end of the hall, it opened up, a chandelier of sorts hung above and illuminated the space. It appeared to be made of bone. Numerous pillars cast portions of the room in darkness.

  Undeterred, I walked forward. A dry snap reached my ears, but before I could move, Cobalt had. With a swing of his sword, an arrow was deftly slapped aside. Standing in a shadowed corner, a yellowed skeleton stood unsteadily with an old bow in hand made of bone and an ancient drawstring that creaked when it drew it back.

  Out of the shadows, rickety skeletons came out. They jittered and shook. Aged and worn by time, but still able. They raised weapons and shields made of bone. At a thought, my soldiers arrayed themselves around us, forming a blockade. Or at least, the semblance of one. Their coordination was poor, but the fact that any existed was a warning of what was to come.

  Joan let out a squeak but fell in just behind me. I hefted my rifle and shot the archer right through the skull, killing it with a normal bullet. Cobalt rushed forward and cleaved through the skeletons with ease, moving between our line and back, making sure not to get surrounded, whilst Liche…

  Liche… who was…

  Ice pulsed into my skull… Right, Liche was sneaking around and bashing a skeleton’s skull in with a weapon she had picked up somewhere.

  The skeletons weren’t much of a threat and were swiftly dealt with. Worrisome though, was that they used tactics, or at least tried too. Their ailing bodies made such efforts wasted. However, as we went further in, I imagine that their bodies won’t remain ailing.

  There were no bronze ranks among the group, so we pressed on. Joan clung to my side. Clearly spooked by our surroundings. Cobalt seemed alert and ready, whilst Liche as ever seemed unconcerned. Though, it was obvious that her shoulders were tensed, ever so slightly.

  With a bit of prodding, Joan lit the way. We followed the light down a passage slightly hidden away and continued forward. Skeletons came at us in waves. Their only true threat being their numbers. Up until the first bronze rank showed up. A skeleton very much unlike the others rushed forward. With a proper weapon and shield, both made of metal rushed forward.

  Sensing the danger, Cobalt moved to intercept, but the skeleton immediately dashed back into the mass of bones we were fighting. Using its comrades as shields, the bronze ranked skeleton initiated hit and run attacks. Moving in to swipe at my soldiers, or to try and breach their lines.

  Most of its strikes were offset thanks to Joan’s magic, but a few luckier strikes cut deep, leaving long gouges on my soldiers’ bodies. Cobalt attempted to cut them off each time, to middling success. The surrounding skeletons would use the chance to throw themselves in front of Cobalt, cutting him off and getting shallow cuts in before being obliterated. As for me, every time the skeleton ran forward, I attempted to kneecap them, but it always avoided the attacks.

  I was tempted to use explosive rounds, but we were in an enclosed space, and I wasn’t going to be testing the integrity of the corridors and areas we were in, not today, and hopefully not ever. As it was, the fight dragged on, if only because of our wariness of this skeleton.

  Only when we culled a majority of the horde we were fighting, did we finally get a chance to end it, but the skeleton did not go down quietly.

  Cobalt rushed the skeleton down, raising his weapon high, he swung down with all he had, the skeleton, being just bone, meant it had less mass, but the skeleton angled its shield, managing to offset the strike and stumble away in the process.

  Cobalt chased, every strike had the skeleton swaying back and forth like a drunkard, but otherwise, mostly unharmed. Each strike chipped away at the iron shield, and each blow had their bones rattle and crack. However, the skeleton wasn’t the only one getting beat on. Each time Cobalt struck out, the skeleton would make a short thrust, making small divots or scars upon his body. Joan tried to offset the damage, but each strike was just strong enough to punch through the barriers she created for Cobalt.

  I had trouble on my end even getting a target, with how the skeleton moved and its penchant for using Cobalt as a shield. Liche snuck behind the skeleton to make a strike, only to nearly have her hand cut off when the skeleton wildly swung in her direction, somehow having sensed the imminent danger.

  That wild swing opened up an opportunity for Cobalt though. Cobalt rushed in and smashed the butt of his hilt down, the skeleton made to block but couldn’t angle it in time. The strike sent the skeleton to the ground and Cobalt immediately kicked out, pushing the skeleton to the ground.

  Taking the chance, I aimed my gun and let loose a bullet, managing to hit their leg, cracking the bone before the skeleton managed to pull itself free. The loss of its leg didn’t deter it though, when Cobalt went to make another stomp, the skeleton rolled away, and managed to stand, even if it was only on a single foot. Even injured, its spirit remained strong.

  Cobalt pursued, once again, the skeleton tried to redirect the next blow, but only to be sent hurtling to the ground. Now with the advantage, Cobalt simply just kept bashing away, until the skeleton expired. Leaving little behind, only bits of bone and metal.

  The moment it died, we collectively sighed again, loosening the slowly ratcheting tension that had only worsened with the skeleton’s constant harassment. A single mistake could be lethal for us, and that lone skeleton had proven to be a real threat.

  I could tell, each of us had a question at this point. Do we continue, do we stop?

  I dithered on responding, choosing to inspect the skeleton. The weapons were definitely of quality make, but… They felt off, much like the blade I gave Cobalt. Like they were linked to the skeleton in some weird way. Looking over the bones, I felt around inside the shattered skull and pulled out something.

  It wasn’t much. Shards of something that wasn’t a skull.

  “Something up?” Liche asked.

  “Just curious…” I informed her as I continued to inspect the shards I had picked up… as I did… it became clear what it was I was looking at. A shattered magic core. A magic core was found in magic beasts and certain kinds of creatures. Magic cores had a lot of uses, and now that I think on it… many of those uses coincided with the functions of a bronze coin.

  Coincidence? Probably not…

  Curiosity sated, I went ahead and gathered the energy in my hand. The core, or rather, the shards of the core gathered in my hand, swirled, and formed into the all-familiar bronze coin. What was left of the skeleton dissipated into swirling dust, along with their weapons and armor. Liche was watching me with an inquisitive look as I looked down at the skeleton, but I said nothing as I flipped the coin over in her direction.

  She caught it and promptly stashed it without a word.

  I glanced back at Joan and then at my soldiers that needed a top up once again, and healing, then back to Cobalt covered in wounds, and stopped finally on the slightly dusty figure of Liche.

  We were making good time good time, according to my watch, but Liche and Joan both lacked proper weapons, and all of us lacked uniforms. With a uniform, I imagine all of this would become all too easy to handle. As it was, a single bad hit could cause serious damage, even kill us.

  Thinking back, it just makes it clearer as to why Tabitha had been so careful against the bronze rank shade.

  “We’ll head over to the next room and then head back.” I promised, nobody raised a fuss. A room, followed by a corridor, a corridor that led into a room. Both rooms and corridors had skeletons inside. Which meant, we might just face another bronze rank inside the next room.

  Surely, it won’t be too much of a problem.