? “I’ve got two on me! One flanking from the east!”

  ? Grim turned in the direction Brandel had indicated, using Shadow Dash to get behind a stumbling sort of tree-person. His daggers lashed out at the rotting bark, gouging out a section of the greyish-black matter, but not killing it. He was gone before it whirled around to attack him, reappearing several meters away, his teeth gritted. It was the second appearance of an enemy against whom bladed weapons seemed less effective.

  ? So instead, he unslung his bow. Fendel would be disappointed in the speed at which he switched weapons, but the trainer wasn’t around to see how inadequately he was performing. He was pretty sure, at least. He drew back the string of the bow, and an arrow manifested out of nowhere. Casting Concussive Shot, he released his grip on the string and watched the arrow zip away. It struck perfectly in the center of the tree monster’s body, exploding the rotten bark and shattering the core that gave it life.

  ? “Two flyers! Northeast!”

  ? He switched his aim up and fired off two more arrows. One hit its mark, sending a large bat screaming to the swamp below, where Lucan pounced. He’d acquired a Dash skill since they’d last delved together, and had perfectly measured his distance to deliver the downward slash that he’d already begun. Grim sent the body of the second bat down to him after two more shots. Then, at Brandel’s next call, he slung the bow back over his shoulders and used Shadow Dash to avoid the leap of a tiger, turning the would-be ambush into nothing more than a large splash.

  ? Grim had to admit that Brandel was a useful teammate. Defying normal convention, the tank had Keen Sense, a skill that sharply increased his perception. He almost seemed to have eyes in the back of his head as he hacked away with his sword, drawing and keeping the attention of most monsters around him. It was only those sharp eyes that had spotted the prowling tiger and saved Grim from a nasty sneak attack.

  ? He drew his daggers to attack the tiger, then cried out in pain at a searing pain in his upper arm. Looking to his right, he saw an archer about twenty meters away, a bow clutched in its rotting, undead hands. Growling, but glad that it had been a light wound, Grim used Air Dash twice in quick succession to get behind the bastard and jam a knife into its back. It was a perfect critical hit, and the monster fell to the ground without so much as a groan.

  ? Reappearing next to Rod, Grim let the healer rest an arm on the deep cut to his shoulder, and a second later, the wound was fully healed with a flash of dark green mana. “Thanks!”

  ? Rod had no time to answer before he was away again, reappearing next to the tiger as it crouched down to leap in Brandel’s direction. He stuck his knife into its belly, and before it could so much as yowl in pain, he’d ripped the knife along its flank with all his strength. A shower of blood sprayed over him, but the beast was dead.

  ? He saw two more undead rise up out of the water, these equipped with rusted swords. Jumping to the side to avoid the strike of the first, he moved in to strike it, but abandoned the attempt when the second charged at him, swinging its blade wildly. It sheared off the arm of its ally, but narrowly missed Grim. Cursing, he activated Shadow Tendrils, the skill he’d gotten from the Invader Boss. Four smoky, black tendrils of mana appeared out of his chest, waving lazily in the air. Almost at once, one lashed out to wrap around Brandel and pulled Grim back.

  ? “What the-” Brandel, unprepared for the strange skill, was pulled in Grim’s direction before catching himself and setting his stance. Grim, meanwhile, lost momentum about halfway there and landed with a great splash in a shallow pool of muddy water. His clothes had failed to qualify as ‘clean’ well over an hour ago, so he paid the liquid no mind as it dripped off him. He clambered back to his feet, his knives still clutched tightly in his hands.

  ? “Sorry about that,” He called over the sounds of the fighting, then lunged forward to flank one of the monsters that had tried to take advantage of Brandel’s stumble. He slit the throat of the human-sized goblin and kicked it away. “Didn’t have time to explain what I was doing.”

  ? Brandel waved away his apology, and in the same movement, cleaved through the second goblin that had been pushing on him. “Not a worry. That’s a remarkable skill for our level.”

  ? Grim accepted that, but didn’t share what was on his mind. Using a level five skill as a level four was… exhausting. There was nothing prohibiting him from actually using Shadow Tendrils, but it came with a higher cost. Just that one use to save his life had finally pushed him under half mana. But it was out now, and he might as well make full use of it. “Stay alert, I’m going to pull some to you.”

  ? A third bat swooped out of the thick mists, its screeching giving it away. From where he was right behind Brandel, Grim attached a tendril to the creature and yanked. It was much lighter than he was, so Grim only lurched slightly as the bat was pulled, screaming, down to the ground where Brandel could more easily get at it. Grim picked his targets with care as he retrieved his bow once again, lashing the tendrils onto any monster who looked light enough to pull closer. Lucan was quick to figure out the game and pulled in closer to make up for his stationary tactics.

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  ? It took perhaps fifteen minutes for this latest rush of monsters to clear away. Another tiger appeared, but, seeing the tight group of humans ready for any surprise, merely slinked on the outside of the fight. Other monsters challenged it from time to time, and it reigned supreme. It was responsible for a small portion of the flood of essence they earned in that fight. When it became clear that they wouldn’t drop their guard, the beast slunk away into the swamps, and they saw no sign of it again.

  ? Finally, when Lucan had cut through the last undead warrior with his sword, the others let out a slow sigh of relief. None of the monsters had been particularly hard to defeat, but the sheer volume had exhausted all of them, even Lucan, who’d barely used any mana. Despite being just as tired, Grim offered to take the first watch as they all took a short rest to recover mana. The others gratefully accepted, especially Rod, who looked ready to faint on his feet.

  ? “We’ve got to be nearly done with this section of the swamp,” Lucan remarked, trudging over to where Grim crouched on the stump of a tree. “What’s your map say?”

  ? Grim merely shook his head, not bothering to pull out the map of the swamplands that he’d been given. As a Cartographer, it was important he knew the map well–and he did–but it wasn’t worth digging through his pack to find the rolled parchment just then. “It won’t show us what monsters are around. It’s not a magic item.”

  ? Lucan made a slight face, then tugged a canteen out of the strap of his belt, taking a long draft. “No, but it does mark the known dungeons, doesn’t it? That could tell us what kind of monsters we can expect based on what types of dungeons are nearby.”

  ? Grim considered that for a second, his eyes sweeping left to right in a slow, steady pattern. Once he was sure he'd seen nothing concerning, he turned to face the opposite direction and began scanning there. “Hmm… I don’t know. Any dungeon that floods won’t be able to produce nearly as many monsters for a while. The treasures will be the same, but-”

  ? Lucan coughed, and Grim felt a small smile flicker into place. Of course. His friend wanted to delve those dungeons, slightly weaker than before but still bursting with valuable loot. Glancing at Lucan out of the corner of his eye, he saw the black-haired youth shrug slightly. “I mean, it’s worth the trouble, isn’t it?”

  ? “It would,” he agreed. “But our main priority is tamping down on the monsters. Once that’s done… I might be down for a delve or two. It’ll depend on what my Captain says.”

  ? ?Lucan snorted quietly, but didn’t disagree. The last comment from Commander Revel had made it clear that the upper ranks of the Cartographers were in command. Grim didn’t consider himself the leader of the party–no matter how Brandel and Rod spoke to him–but he wasn’t going to make any move that might stop him from being ready to reply to a command.

  ? As it was their second rest break to recover mana, he lightly fingered the amulet around his neck, feeding a tiny piece of his mana into the Message enchantment inscribed in the wood. At once, the gem glowed faintly as he was telepathically connected to Veyra. “We just cleared out our second section, Veyra. Anything else in this area that needs to be taken care of?”

  ? He could hear the pride in his Captain’s voice as she replied to him. “That was fast. You found a good party there, Grim. You might want to recruit them once you hit level five.”

  ? He didn’t say anything to that, but a quick glance in Rod’s direction to see the mage sprawled out on a patch of flat, dry ground, snoring loudly, was enough to dissuade him from the idea. “Anything else?”

  ? “Hmm. Your party is quite a bit ahead of the pack in terms of clearing speed, but not so far ahead that it’s worth it to have you double back. How are you kids doing? Any lingering wounds or illnesses?”

  ? “Just a few scratches, but our mage got them fixed up without issue. No infections or miasma.” He remembered his training on reporting statuses from his time in Beastwick. “Our only shortage is in mana. We’re taking a short rest now.”

  ? “Double up on that,” his Captain advised. “Everything’s nearly wrapped up as it is. Once you’re rested, consider yourselves done.”

  ? “Roger. If anything changes, let us know,” Grim said. He was just about to mentally end the connection when he noticed Lucan sidling up to him, an obvious question on his face. “Oh, right. Is it alright if we delve one of the dungeons nearby?”

  ? He didn’t have time to say that it was Lucan’s idea in an attempt to foist some of the blame off or risk sounding too greedy. Veyra’s reply laugh caught him off-guard. “Of course it’s alright! You kids deserve a little reward after all your hard work. I’m surprised you thought to ask, or that you hadn’t already cleared one of them!”

  ? His Captain’s laughter continued, and he heard her stomping through some brush, then telling Orren what he’d said. Fuming, Grim severed the connection before he could hear his guildmaster join in on the joke. “She says we’re good. We can delve the dungeons nearby.”

  ? Lucan clenched a fist tightly and pumped it up and down. “Yes! I’ve been needing some new armor, man. This shit’s still level three.”

  ? “Must be rough,” he offered, hoping it sounded sympathetic enough to disguise the jab that it truly was. Lucan rolled his eyes, however, so he continued with a grin. “Well, I’ve got a special trick we can take advantage of. My bloodline lets me see through illusions at or under my level without issue.”

  ? “Oh, I’d heard that you had a bloodline,” Lucan said, his eyes widening under his helm. “What’s that like? Does it give you any other special powers?”

  ? Grim only smiled slowly, enjoying the curiosity and fascination. “You’ll see soon enough. Go rest with the others, and I’ll let you know when you can take over.”

  ? Lucan grumbled slightly, but walked away with more energy in his stride, clearly pleased about the prospect of delving that was ahead of him. Grim waited until he was about fifty meters away before he activated his Camouflage, then dashed over and hooked a foot between his legs, tripping him. The warrior, who’d just finished cleaning the blood and muck out of the gaps in his armor, was fully soaked in mud from head to toe, and came up spluttering indignantly.

  ? “That’s for the shit you talked at the gates,” Grim said, reappearing. Smirking, he stepped around his friend and sat down on the dry ground beside Rod’s sleeping form. Lying back with a sigh of relief, he grinned up at Lucan. “Your turn for watch.”