“A trap that would be hard to escape. What makes you think that?” Renna asked.

  “I’ve seen such a thing before. There are two symbols of creatures and then lines with three options. Two of the entrances will be fine, while the third will teleport us somewhere random,” Arsted began. He was staring at each entrance intently. “The symbols are meant to confuse you. I saw a group choose a monster symbol because it was weak and that ended up being a trap. Give me a moment, it’s been a hundred years, but I’ll remember the way forward.”

  “All right, we’ll take a seat and eat a bit while you figure this out,” I said. Arsted said nothing, so Renna and I took a seat. I took out some bread and gave her a piece.

  We sat and waited. For the first time, I saw irritation on Arsted’s face. He was muttering to himself and began pacing as he looked at the three symbols. I would like to have helped, yet I didn’t have the first clue what to look for. I looked at the symbols and even activated my Analyze skill, which showed nothing. Not that I expected it to, I needed to learn more spells.

  Eventually, Arsted took a seat and said something to himself. I was beginning to doubt going deeper in this dungeon. Was a chance of teleporting into a trap worth the risk? We could take the little money we’d made and leave. The thought of my family being imprisoned or worse made me change my mind. The risks would be worth it. If Arsted wasn’t with us, I would have turned us around.

  “Thorian, come here,” Arsted said.

  I looked at Renna, who shrugged. I got up and walked over. “What’s up?”

  “I need you to launch a fireball at the symbols.”

  “Um, okay,” I said and fired three fireballs, with each hitting its target precisely.

  The symbols glowed. The Kalmor glowed purple, while the skeleton glowed black. The five colored marks on the third passage caused all the colors to turn a dark red, almost like a warning. I looked over at Arsted and saw a grin on his face.

  “We’ll go through the third passage,” Arsted said.

  What? I figured that was the one with the trap. “Which one was the trap?” I asked.

  “It’s either the Kalmor or skeleton, though I couldn’t tell you which.”

  “All right,” I turned to where Renna was sitting. “Get over here. we’re ready to go!”

  “Okay!” Renna said and ran over.

  With that, we walked through the third passage. My body tensed as we took our first steps. I couldn’t relax until we got through the passage. I couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. Look, I trusted Arsted, but knowing we could possibly be teleported still made me nervous. It was good to have a skilled adventurer with us as I doubted we’d have chosen the right passage without Arsted.

  I opened my mouth to ask Arsted how he figured out this was safe, when a blur of movement came from both sides of us. Arsted quickly dispatched two Kalmors, their heads flying off. This wasn’t the end of it as an armored skeleton came into view, with six Kalmors standing next to it.

  Renna took her spot in front of me. Unlike last time when she ran forward, she maintained her defensive stance. I could see her itching for a fight. I gathered my mana and created two giant fireballs. I increased my mana usage to increase the heat to the point that the fireballs turned blue, then they shot forward.

  The Kalmors took a step back. The skeleton stepped forward and swung its giant axe. Both fireballs vanished. “What the—” I started to say but was drowned out when the skeleton let out a terrifying scream. Skeletons began coming up from the ground around us. Did the skeleton summon more?

  “Ah, a skeleton summoner,” Arsted said stoically. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Arsted rushed forward, dodging the summoned skeletons. The Kalmors tried to intercept, and he dispatched three of them, before making it to the armored skeleton. The skeleton didn’t get a chance to swing. Both its arms were cut off, its bones split apart, and its armor hit the ground with a loud clang.

  The Kalmors saw this and turned their attention to us. I quickly created two more fireballs, increased the heat once again until they were blue and fired. Two Kalmors were hit. Their bodies were engulfed in flames. Their green flesh began to melt as they ran around in circles.

  Renna rushed to my left side and began taking out the skeletons. Her blade was swift, with each strike taking out a skeleton. It seemed the summoned skeletons weren’t close to the armored skeleton’s strength. Not that I’d expected them to be.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The last Kalmor, along with three skeletons, started closing the distance on me. I focused on the ground in front of me. I created a couple of icicles in front of me to distract them. Once the skeletons and Kalmor looked up at my icicles, I launched them while simultaneously creating icicles on the ground, which shot up and hit all the monsters in the head. The three skeletons crashed to the ground, their bones scattering, while the Kalmor fell, its green blood spreading across the floor.

  “Phew, good work guys,” I wiped some sweat off my brow. This had been a stressful few minutes.

  “I’d have liked to fight more,” Renna said. She sheathed her blade and looked to Arsted, who hadn’t moved after killing the armored skeleton. He simply nodded and walked down the hall.

  We followed him and to my surprise, we began finding dead monsters. I’d expected the other party to have gone a different path. Maybe the passages led down the same way? Either way, we saw no more monsters.

  There were no treasure chests or anything of value as we walked. Renna was looking around every corner, unless Arsted told her to stop. Then she’d listen, and we’d continue forward. I stopped worrying about Renna; Arsted had it under control.

  Thus far, I was disappointed in our lack of treasure. If we didn’t find anything of value, that would be a week of wasted effort. We needed to make money here.

  A scream caused me to jump. I turned to see Renna backing up, her face pale. “What’s the matter?” I asked as I ran up to her. She shook her head and pointed.

  On the floor was a dead body. A human dead body. His guts were hanging out and his face was a bloodied mess. The body hadn’t been here long, maybe a day, two at the most. His dried blood was splattered over the floor and walls. Whatever happened to him had not been pretty.

  “S-sorry, I thought I saw something but wasn’t expecting this,” Renna said.

  “It’s okay,” I said. I wish I could say this was my first time seeing such a mangled body. That’d be a lie, I saw too many in my old life. “Let’s get away from here, there’s no reason to stare at it.”

  “Of course,” Renna said.

  With what we’d dealt with, I was surprised about Renna’s reaction. She’d seen me kill the two raiders back in Alcion. She also saw Arsted killing the six would be attackers. Her face was beginning to regain its color, though she did look sick to her stomach. Perhaps it was seeing a fellow adventurer killed in such a brutal way.

  “Remain cautious. Renna, stick close to us. I don’t want either of you to get caught off guard,” Arsted said.

  “Alright,” I said. Renna nodded but said nothing.

  We continued our march deeper into the dungeon. We fought some skeletons, then went hours without seeing anything but dead monsters. This whole summoning-monsters thing was annoying. I hoped it meant there was still treasure. We did come across a couple of chests. They were empty, likely looted by the other party.

  All the fighting and stress were starting to take their toll on me. I could feel my focus slipping, and my reactions were slower. Arsted looked fresh, while Renna did her best to hide her fatigue. I wasn’t sure how far Arsted was hoping to go, but I was calling it.

  “I need some sleep,” I said. Renna glanced at Arsted, who turned to me.

  “Let’s go through this corridor. There should be a good spot for you both to rest,” Arsted said, taking the lead.

  When we reached the end of the corridor, I couldn’t help but be amazed by what I saw. It was like a completely different place. A running waterfall flowed nearby, with patches of grass. No trees, but plenty of rocks and even a couple of caves. The water glowed with a soft, beautiful blue.

  “I’ll clear this cave over here. You can sleep in it,” Arsted said.

  Before we could respond, he ran toward the cave and disappeared. The area was oddly peaceful, which only made me more alert. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d been lulled into a false sense of security.

  After a few minutes, Arsted emerged and motioned for us to follow. I didn’t see any blood on his weapon. Was this area clear of monsters, or had they been taken care of by the other party? Either way, the cave was the best place to rest.

  “The cave is clear, and there’s a dead end. No monsters will sneak up on you while you sleep,” Arsted said.

  “What about you? Aren’t you tired at all?” Renna asked.

  “I’m fine. You get your sleep, and we’ll continue when you’re ready,” Arsted said.

  “Sounds good to me.” I yawned before I could finish my thoughts. My eyes got watery, so I wiped them and walked a little further into the cave. “Arsted, if you need some sleep, wake me up. I’m more than happy to stand guard.”

  “I’ll be fine, children need their sleep more than grown men and demons.”

  I couldn’t argue with him there. Children did need sleep. I created a bed for Renna, then made one for myself. We pulled out the cloaks from our bags, and before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

  I woke the next day to find Renna talking with Arsted. She turned to me and smiled. How long had they been waiting? My body felt heavy, and I was as groggy as could be. I created some water and splashed my face. The cool liquid helped wake me up.

  “Did you sleep well?” Renna asked.

  “Yeah,” I dried my face off with some air and went to the entrance of the cave. “We ready to get going?”

  “Yes,” Arsted said.

  With that, we were off deeper into the dungeon. Over the next few hours, we encountered some skeletons and eventually ran into spiders. Then the monsters stopped showing up. There weren’t even any bodies. It was as if the monsters had all disappeared.

  That could mean only one thing. We had to be getting close to the end of the dungeon. This was our second day, and I was expecting another rest period before we made it that far. I decided it was best to make sure or if we were lucky.

  “Arsted, we’re getting close to the end of this dungeon, aren’t we?”

  “Yes. If the other party hasn’t killed the boss, then we’ll run into it soon.”

  “That should provide some good treasure, I hope the other party didn’t kill it yet,” Renna said.

  I agreed with her silently, though I hoped that didn’t mean the other party was killed. Money was nice and all, yet I wouldn’t feel good knowing we got it because the other party died. Then again, if we were getting close, where was the other party? There were many passages into this place, it was possible they backtracked.

  The silence was getting eerie to me. It was getting too quiet. A loud scream erupted somewhere down the hall. A human scream.