The monsters were as ugly as Quill remembered them.

  A Sporeghoul crawled from the depths of the left tunnel, sloshing black water as it pulled itself out with bony fingers. Quill ordered a command to Pen, passing it through the Mana Link like electricity before the Marble Puppet then stirred in response to his order.

  Pen wound its arm before thrusting its spear, ramming straight for the ghoul’s face. The Sporeghoul was fast enough to dodge, bowing low to duck the blade entirely before it then screeched, lunging straight for the Puppet with claws and teeth bared.

  Pen used the backend of its spear to catch the Sporeghoul in the air, sending it back with a . In that same moment, two more Sporeghouls crawled from the right and far tunnel, but Rhena and Notebook were fast to react to their presence. A thrust of Notebook’s spear landed on the second Sporeghoul’s shoulder, while Rhena's dagger managed a strike on the third ghoul’s eye.

  Quill darted his eyes. Spears and blades clashed in response to rotten arms. In the flurry of weapons against teeth and claws, Rhena and the Marble Puppets were in a full-on confrontation against the Sporeghouls inside the darkness of the tank.

  Only Quill was behind to aid as support.

  He whispered spoken Scripts from his mouth, producing a White Ball in the air before sending it flying, striking the first Sporeghoul on the chest just before it managed a claw on Pen. The Puppet then took the chance to thrust its spear, driving the blade straight to the ghoul's torso.

  Quill didn't command Pen to strike. The Mana Link between them was still empty of commands other than the first. Instead, the Construct took the initiative on the offense, making use of its Marble Brain to think and find the best course of action given its previous command.

  Quill grinned. That was why he made the Marble Brain in the first place. It was hard to manage every single action of the Puppets, even more apparent given the overwhelming amount of information on the field of battle. To raise an army of Marble Puppets, Quill needed the Constructs to think and move on their own accord. And they just showcased it flawlessly.

  Time then slowed.

  Pen wound a vertical slash of its spear, a swing from the right that was easy to predict as it was to dodge for the Sporeghoul. The ghoul ducked low, diving to the waters below before it then pushed up and lunged, taking advantage of Pen’s shift in momentum to strike. It banked out of the water before wrapping around the Puppet's neck.

  Notebook wasn't faring much better. He had landed a solid thrust to the second Sporeghoul, sending it back with a drive to its chest but the Puppet’s lack of strength was apparent. The momentum was nowhere near enough to pierce through even the rotting bones of the Sporeghoul's ribcage, prompting nothing more than a stumble from the ghoul.

  The problem was apparent. The Marble Brain had a good foundation, but the Marble Body’s ‘balance’ and ‘control’ Scripts really needed some tweaking, along with the ‘strength’ values. As they were right now, the Puppets couldn't even defeat a drunk guard in the streets, let alone Sporeghouls that were considered to be Iron-tier.

  Quill cursed underneath his breath before he then spoke a revised Script of White Ball, producing two of them at once, flanking his sides before sending them rushing through the air.

  It was a solid hit on the two Sporeghouls.

  The ghouls’ cries echoed along the chamber. It was a sound born from pain more than anything else, the White Balls piercing deep into their chest and throat. They recoiled from the Puppets’ bodies, and in that moment, Pen and Paper took the chance to shake them off before landing solid thrusts straight to their heads.

  Quill sighed as the Puppets stomped open the two Ghoulshrooms sprouting from the Sporeghoul’s bodies. It was going to be a long while until these Constructs would be able to take on a fully trained individual, overly lacking the finesse and martial experience of a fully able fighter, but their progress right now was good enough.

  “A little help?” Rhena shouted on the far end of the chamber, stabbing the third Sporeghoul through the neck before ghoul lunged for her throat. In the chaos of battle, two more Sporeghouls had arrived and pounded against her defense.

  “There’s no end to them.” Quill produced a White Ball, writing the Scripts with Dexterous Fingers before he sent it flying to the fourth Sporeghoul, piercing right through its chest and sending it back. Rhena used the momentum to push forward, landing a solid hit to the ghoul's head.

  There was only one left, though this Sporeghoul was different from the rest. Instead of robes or leather armor, this ghoul was an undead guard clad in full .

  It was going to be hard to pierce through all that metal and chainmail.

  Quill readied another White Ball before a powerful voice then echoed around Rhena. “Shadow Veil.” She vanished into a cloud of smoke, floating just above the surface of the waters, before the smoke then drifted. It wrapped around the armored Sporeghoul, blanketing its outline in pitch black darkness before she materialized again from it.

  “Rotted Blade.” Rhena used another Quickscript, the dagger in her arm now coated with miasma and decay, before she then struck, catching the Sporeghoul behind with a dagger straight through its chest. The blade cut through the metal like liquid cheese, piercing the heart inside as if the armor wasn't even there.

  Quill pursed his lips. A Rogue with the Aspect of Black. Not many would opt for that specific Archetype given the slow nature of Black, especially when compared to the Red and Green Aspects, which provided higher burst damage or agile mobility. Still, there was a unique taste to it, and Quill wasn't one to judge abnormal mages.

  Rhena was an interesting person to say the least. But more than that, she would make a good accomplice in the academy.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Can you stop staring?” Rhena whipped the blood off her daggers before she slid them back to her waist. “You’re seriously giving me the chills, even more so than this cursed place.”

  “I’m not.” Quill started to the Ghoulshrooms before carving out their insides. Pushing past his dirtied hands, he pulled out a few Black Cores the size of marbles. These were the primary fuel needed to feed his Core in order to advance.

  “You’re not lying to us, are you?” Rhena said. “The way you moved–I never expected that from someone who just started magic.”

  “I’ve been practicing.” Quill said.

  “Is that right?” Rhena started for one of the Ghoulshrooms before drawing a dagger to cut a sample. “You must be a real talent, then.”

  “That's… not it.” Quill stared at the Cores in his hands with furrowed eyebrows. “It’s not talent. I know so.”

  “Well, what is it then?”

  “It's effort.”

  Rhena turned to Quill with a bewildered look strewn across her face. It was like she was deciding between confusion and anger all at the same time. “Are you saying I don't put up enough of an effort? I’ve been a mage for years at this point, and you’re already catching up in less than a month. Are you mocking me?”

  “It's hard to explain.” Quill harvested the last of the Cores from the Ghoulshrooms. There were six of them in total, ten counting Rhena's end. Split between them both, Quill would only be left with five Cores, but it was more than enough to feed one or two of his Attributes to the next tier.

  Quill then turned to the Marble Puppets standing behind him before he heaved a sigh. There didn't seem to be any more Sporeghouls around, and his manapool was all but scraping the bottom of the barrel just to feed mana to the Puppets. If it wasn't for his High-Elf Affinity, then he would've been in serious trouble with Mana Fatigue.

  With a command, he broke the Mana Link on Pen and Notebook before they then crumbled into chunks of white stones, dissipating into thin air with a .

  “Let's start back.” Quill gestured back through the tunnel where they came from. With no Puppets left to protect him, there was nothing here worth staying for, and the rancid smell didn’t make it any easier. They climbed through the tunnel before Quill then stopped a beat.

  “Something wrong?” Rhena patted his shoulder, almost shoving him as if he had his feet stuck in mud.

  Quill could only groan.

  He clutched at his head. It wasn't from his ears, but there was a sound lingering right at the back of his mind. It was an alien voice, too distorted and twisted for him to make out the words, but a strange feeling called familiarity regardless.

  Then another sound came, drowning out the voice inside his head. This time, it came from outside his head. It was a roar, a symphony of groans and moans, the same cry of pain and suffering made by the Sporeghouls. Quill turned his head behind, the echoes originating from the chamber where they just climbed out from.

  He saw it then.

  It was an odd creature. Back in the darkness of the tank, there was a large creature following right behind them. It was an amalgamation of rotten bodies and limbs, heads and arms and legs stitched together by mycelium roots, roaring and groaning as if begging to be freed from the pain.

  Quill knew what it was. That creature was a Flesh Golem, a result of stitching and combining the body parts of different undead ghouls into one single creature. That was how his Fleshgiants were made, but he had never seen something so ugly.

  It was a Flesh Golem made by Ghoulshrooms. The fact that they were even capable of that led Quill to believe that the fungus they harvested earlier wasn’t the only colony in the tunnels.

  It was a full-on .

  “Run.” Quill ordered Rhena. He crawled with a brisk pace, sloshing through black water with only the lantern in his hand to guide him through the tunnel. He finally reached and dropped to the other side, but Rhena was quick to pull his hand.

  “What are you doing? Move!” She said before dashing, pulling Quill right behind her steps. Quill dropped her grip before he took the lead up front, turning the corner before leading them back to the inner city’s tunnels. They needed to reach the spell trap.

  Stone bricks crumbled behind them. A loud symphony of roars and screeches echoed, and behind, the Flesh Golem had broken through the walls of the underground as if it were nothing. Quill had no mana left to fight off a Silver-tier monster, and he wasn't willing to risk his life for a chance.

  The answer came the moment he asked it. The only reason why the infestation was allowed to grow this large in the first place was that it was in Gren. The City Watch couldn't spare a thought for what happened to gray elves.

  The Flesh Golem was right behind, its footsteps shaking the very foundation of the underground. It ran on all seven of its twisted arms, and when Quill and Rhena turned a corner, it only smashed through the corner wall before a stray brick flung right towards Quill. It hit him on the back, sending him toppling over Rhena, knocking both of them over to the ground.

  The lantern broke. In the darkness, Quill could only shuffle over intertwined limbs.

  This was bad. With no light, they were basically sitting ducks. Quill spun his head for something to help, and he eventually arrived at the thought to attempt Mana Light right at that exact moment. It was a fairly easy spell, but the drain on his mana was going to be high. Still–

  “Hold still.” Rhena pulled Quill to stand. In the darkness, her eyes were the only thing glowing. Quill then understood. A dark elf’s eyes were no stranger to the dark.

  “Rhena. Let me use your eyes.” Quill said, forgoing the Manalight spell entirely in place of trusting her. Rhena then shouted to jump. He immediately followed high, the monster’s arm sweeping from below them, taking the wind with it.

  “Now!” Rhena pulled Quill's elbow. He followed right behind her, dashing further into the darkness.

  “Turn right on the next intersection.” Quill still remembered the way, almost as if there was a faint map right inside his head. He didn't need his eyes to see it, and the moment Rhena tugged on his wrist, they turned the corner.

  Quill called another turn. Rhena pulled him to the corner immediately before another gust of wind swept by. The Flesh Golem missed again. Another intersection, another pull, another swing. As they ran across the final stretch, a shadowy glow then overtook one of Rhena's daggers before she struck and broke the wall right behind them, slowing the Flesh Golem’s path

  Then they dropped.

  “We're inside.” Rhena's breath hung heavy in the air. “How do I activate the trap?”

  “Guide my hand to the Scripts.” Quill pushed off to stand. “Hurry.”

  Rhena's fingers pulled Quill's as she guided his hand. The wall was cold and flat before a carving then scratched his fingers. It was sharp and shallow, and with a push of his mana, he fixed the broken flow of the trap.

  The Flesh Golem's footsteps then came to a halt when a finally penetrated Quill's ears. A solid crunch came with the shake of the earth, and in his nose, a burnt, rancid smell stirred.

  Thanks for reading!