Was it an Oscar worthy performance? Probably not. Though the special effects on the account of Shadow Weave were enough to sell the ruse. I could still hear Lexington's desperate echo chase after me as I harnessed the darkness, pulling myself up the elevator shaft.

  As I neared the exit, a diffused green light unraveled my shadow serpent. Momentum sapped, I kicked off the side of the shaft's walls, launching myself out and upward into an aged alleyway that sprawled off in four directions.

  Agility Burst.

  I tore through the ancient alley, boots skimming cracked stone and moss-slick tiles. I veered hard left, skidding past a toppled row of idols depicting various Lich Lords.

  Battalions of level six skeletons patrolled the plaza to my right. Before going any further, I dropped my back against the stone and activated Void Seer.

  Agility Burst magnified my vision, launching it out of my body like a rocket. Quickly, I confirmed my route to the shaft at the other side of the ancient city, along with the trajectory of several armed patrols.

  After ending the ability, I dashed away, noticing a significant reduction in my body's general shakiness. Avoiding the patrols proved simple enough and soon I reached the pit on the opposite side of the ruins.

  From my run, and multiple aerial surveillance passes, I determined there was about a mile of distance between each shaft.

  "I hate heights," I said, staring over the edge into the shaft below.

  The drop stretched 150 feet, straight down into the darkness. I stepped over the side and my stomach lurched as gravity took hold. Wind roared, rustling my cloak against my ears, the shaft's stone walls blurring as I plummeted.

  Shadow Weave.

  As I streaked out the other side, I manifested a shadow rope and grabbed hold, slowing my momentum as I swung through the air, intentionally avoiding the pillar. I landed on one of the few dry patches of dirt beside it.

  A swamp-choked trench lay before me. Creeping vines and murky water thick with algae swallowed the ruins laid before me. I skipped across a series of broken pillars, barely jutting above the water's surface, then turned into the jungle, reaching a dry stretch of land.

  Broad leaves brushed across my cloak and snagged on my traveler's pack as I moved deeper. An overbearing heat joined forces with a miserable humidity.

  A skirmish of iron and shouts sounded nearby, beyond a thick wall of vines. I sliced through layers of interlaced vines and stepped out onto a ledge. Karma's Gaze lit up, pinpointing Naila, Wedgmund, and the rest of their party at the base of a colossal stair. Their backs pressed against the first step, a towering slab teen feet high, like it was a staircase carved for giants.

  Skeletons armed with a variety of melee weapons pressured them from all sides. Blood, sweat, and mud stained their armor.

  "Maintain formation! Strike them down, one by one, until they all fall!" Naila screamed as she drove the point of her sword through a skeleton's jaw, then bashed a second with the pointed edge of her triangular shield.

  Yet, dozens of hostiles remained, and a barrage of arrows came flying out of the jungle.

  "Shield's up!" Wedgmund shouted, deflecting a series of projectiles.

  Three of Pearl Banner's men followed their lead. Despite being levels five and six, they survived the first barrage. Murky swamp water sloshed up to their hips, slowing their movements.

  They had less than 30 seconds until the rest of the skeleton horde caught up, outnumbering them five to one.

  I dropped down from the massive stone blocks, one level at a time. Green flames rippled out of a steel brazier behind me, casting my shadow across their backs.

  "Hostile above us!" the level six shouted.

  Wedgmund spun around with a crossbow in-hand. Naila covered for him, intercepting a blade meant for his neck as he fired at my silhouette.

  I smacked the bolt out of the air, and he realized I was human.

  "Cyprus?"

  I sat down, untied my shoestrings, took off my boots, peeled off my socks and set them aside along with my traveler's pack. Then I leapt off the edge of the platform from three stories up and splashed into the thick of it, landing far ahead of the group, in the center of the horde's ranks.

  "Cyprus, watch out!" Wedgmund shouted.

  I pummeled through a series of skulls, drawing a bulk of the horde's attention. They folded in from all directions, alleviating the pressure on Valor and Glory.

  I swayed in and out of their attacks, dispatching one after another with basic, straightforward punches to the skull. I appreciated the brainless nature of these low level undead. Their utter fearlessness, and how they threw themselves into the grinder despite no hopes of ever landing a blow was somewhat admirable.

  Projectiles from the skeleton archers on the ridge to the south rained down on my position, causing more damage to their own kind with friendly fire. Moments later, crossbow bolts ripped over my head from behind, eliminating the skeleton archers in a flash.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "I got'em," Wedgemund shouted.

  A majority of the remaining skeleton horde had turned their backs on Naila, Wedgmund and Pearl Banner's trio in a desperate effort to overwhelm me.

  Warmed up, my body fired on all cylinders, effortlessly dodging and countering every attack thrown my way. Within minutes the horde of skeletons had been whittled down and everyone else joined in on the clean-up.

  Too easy...

  Karma's Gaze caught Jag'thar's Lesser Abyssal Sentinel hiding in the brush nearly forty yards away. The undead bat held steadfast to a branch, nearly invisible from this distance.

  I popped another skeleton's skull, and borrowed one of its ribs before it fell aside. With a simple wind-up, I launched the pointed rib weapon into the bush, destroying the bat.

  +575 XP

  +120 Karma

  By now, I assumed Jag'thar had probably checked his framework's companion menu and discovered Marimetheus was dead. If not he'd certainly check now, especially after he had just watched me dismantle another section of his dungeon and another one of his flying broadcast bats.

  "How are you here? Where's Lex?" Naila asked as the others began scaling the ancient series of steps towering before us.

  "We were all waiting on a pillar when a monstrous serpent snatched me up and dragged me to the next floor. From there I escaped its clutches, but was chased by a horde of the undead and fell through a huge hole in the floor, ending up here."

  "What about Lex?"

  "He's alive and well." I turned toward the three exhausted looking Pearl Banner members. "I'm sorry to bring bad news. Two of your guild mates got chopped up."

  I left out the part about me doing the chopping, and gauged their reaction.

  Their non-response came off as awkward at a glance and downright suspect upon a closer look. It was like they had no idea how to play it off.

  I pointed up the giant staircase. "The exit’s that way."

  Pearl Banner's goons scurried up the vine ridden wall with haste. Unfortunately, Naila and Wedgmund were staring at me like I was some freak circus attraction. They exchanged a quiet glance with each other, then turned their eyes back on me.

  "Cyprus, would you consider clarifying--"

  Thankfully, Pearl Banner's finest made it up on top of the first massive stone block and triggered a pressurized tile that activated a trap, interrupting Naila's question.

  The entire chamber quaked, rippling through the swamp. I lost my footing as the stone beneath my feet shifted, unleashing a surge of algae-covered water that slammed into Naila and Wedgmund, pressing them against the wall.

  Karma's Gaze pinged the threat beneath me--a level 10 Abyssal Colossus. Its red hued eye sockets flared from underneath the water's surface, swamp sloughing off its form as it rose. I scrambled to stay upright, bare feet slapping against its stone cheeks until it straightened its posture.

  I kicked off its nose, landed on its rounded head and rained haymakers down on it. Chunks of stone crumbled with each strike. The statue made it to its feet, but by the time it raised its arms to swat me off, I had chiseled through its skull, flattening it to its chin.

  I leaped off the colossus and landed safely beside Pearl Banner's awestruck onlookers on top of the first tier of stone blocks. The statue crashed into the water, stirring the swamp once more.

  +500 XP

  +95 Karma

  Fists burning and gloves torn, I shook out my aching knuckles, surprised by how well they held up against a foe made from stone. A little lotion, a little rest, and they'd be as good as new.

  Naila and Wedgmund climbed up, joining us on the first step, dripping wet with pond scum clinging to their armor.

  "You slayed a colossus with your bare hands," Naila said.

  "My master often said, a fist that cannot split stone is a fist softer than a baby's shit," I said, keeping my eyes forward and grabbing hold of a vine, scaling the next wall.

  "Who was your master?" Naila asked.

  "A mean old bastard."

  I fell back to my bread and butter: vague lies. Draw them off topic with a hearty dose of bullshit and some useless crumbs for them to chew on. No amount of side-eyes or squinted gazes could move me toward the truth.

  Wedgmund grunted and spat at his side. "Duskblade said you were a foreigner who was raised in a cave."

  "You spoke with Duskblade?"

  "He ran his mouth for days in the Gilded Boar, singing your praises after that raid. Shit, he's probably still talking about it. Everyone has been curious about the novice who lucked into a chaos shard. Though, the novice part is clearly a misnomer," Wedgmund said. "Mostly everyone thought he was exaggerating about you."

  When we reached the top of the third tiered step, I retrieved my belongings and tied off my socks and boots onto a gear loop sewn into the traveler's pack, letting my lower half dry off.

  "Kamesh, Aleathornato, Ryan, did any of you cast an ailment or debuff spell on the colossus?" Naila asked.

  "Aye, you don't think Cyprus is capable of that feat all on his own?" Wedgmund chuckled. "He's a beast."

  "Noble adventurer," I muttered.

  "No, I think his gloves were enchanted. No one can do that," Naila said, voice dripping with disbelief.

  Well, Naila, you see, I smoked that dumb rock statue because it was an affront to Galdir's broken system, which deemed it evil. Thus, its dense body crumbled like wet sand.

  Even dumb lies sounded better than the truth.

  "I see. You can't do it. So no one can, eh?" Wedgmund poked the bear.

  "Now you see my point," Naila snapped.

  Wedgmund scratched his fiery red beard and smiled. "Hmm... Perhaps your hands are made of baby shit?"

  Naila sighed through the slits in her visor. "If we ever get out of here. I'll show you what these hands are made of."

  Underneath their barbs, I picked up on an overall sense of uneasiness. Like they were still in the early stages of a waking nightmare. Which wasn't a far cry from what awaited us on the next floor.

  After we climbed the last giant step, I led everyone to the pillar. It was a tight fit atop the circular platform, but manageable. Four green lights shone within the platform's crystal compass.

  "We were last?" Naila said, dismayed.

  "And we're all alive," Wedgmund added. "Cyprus, what did you face in your split?

  "Some skeletons and a statue."

  A noise whirred at the pillar's base and the lift activated, raising the platform toward the fitted hole in the ceiling. Unlike the lifts on the first floor, this one crawled upward like a hungover sloth.

  "You fell from all the way up there?" Naila's voice rose as she pointed at the towering chute in the ceiling.

  "Yes, I'm still quite sore."

  "What's on the next floor?"

  "Umm... An ancient city and a couple more skeletons." I glanced up and Karma's Gaze lit up.

  At the very top of the shaft, a level two Lesser Abyssal Sentinel, hovered deep within the shaft.

  I pulled my hood down over my head and sat in the center of the platform, forcing the Pearl Banner trio to huddle together on the edge of the lift. "Excuse me, I must meditate before our next battle."

  Void Seer.

  "Mediate? Wait, we should plan our next steps," Naila suggested.

  Wedgmund poked my shoulder as my gaze flew upward. "Is he asleep?"

  ***

  Every time I piloted Void Seer it felt sharper. The handling tightened. The top-end speed climbed. Even the influx of data from Karma's Gaze became more manageable.

  I cruised up through the watchful bat and zoomed over the vast dungeon. As I headed for the boss tower, a disturbing pattern emerged below. The bulk of the skeleton army and random patrols had joined forces and changed direction.They marched from all four corners of the dungeon, zeroing in on our lift's final destination.