When James didn’t instantly respond, Edward repeated himself:
“What’s the plan, Commander?”
James swallowed dust and fear. “We don’t win this by trading hits.”
He flicked a card he’d prepped before entering.
Play Card: Greyfang Wolf (Common)
- Enhancement Slot: Imprint (Thornhide)
- Commander Passive: +1 to All Stats.
Effect – Greyfang Wolf Summoned.
The wolf hit the stone snarling, its bristling hide studded with green thorns. It launched straight at the giant, raking a thorny swipe across its shin. The monster shrieked, metallic, grating.
“Hold its attention!” James snapped. “Don’t get pinned!”
“Ranged where you can!” he called to the others. “Melee, hit and run! Take pieces!”
Trish’s hands ignited. Firebolts slammed into the ribcage, boom, boom, scorching black rings into the bone.
Ja’ra darted in low, axe carving a groove in the femur before bouncing out. Edward followed, sword ringing off a joint.
The monstrosity twisted. Its jaws yawned impossibly wide, and clamped down on the Wolf.
Critical Damage – Greyfang Wolf.
System Notice – Greyfang Wolf Defeated. Card Lost.
A burst of light, and the Wolf was gone.
“Damn it.” James’s pulse spiked.
He considered the Thorncat and Alpha Wolf, but at this level they’d be wasted. Better to hold them for when scaling down stopped at level five. Time to trust his team.
The giant came on. Bone blades slammed down.
Edward caught one on his shield and skidded back, metal screaming. A flash of red scored his cheek.
Ja’ra took the next hit. His knees buckled, he shoved back with a bellow.
“Ken!” James shouted.
Ken’s staff was already up. A clean wash of blue-white light swept across Edward’s jaw, knitting flesh, then chased to Ja’ra, softening the swell of a bruise.
“Switch!” Edward gritted.
He shouldered in as Ja’ra staggered back, then swapped again as another blow fell.
A rhythm formed, one tanks, one heals, one hits. Again. Again.
Apparently the monster wasn’t good at adapting. Good.
“Vines!” Lae’ni called, breath tight.
She stabbed her staff into the stone. Brambles surged, coiling up the giant’s shins. Thorns bit deep. The vines sang under strain.
“It won’t hold long,” she warned through clenched teeth.
Trish’s next bolt cracked a rib. It dropped, clattering. The body glowed faintly where it fell — system claiming its due.
James sprinted.
The rib shot back toward the body like a magnet. The glow disappeared when the bone re-connected.
“Too fast,” he hissed, skidding. Another cracked piece skittered away.
He really hoped he wouldn’t regret this.
James jumped briefly into Commander’s Space and reached out to Squire.
She popped out mid-squeak, furious, tiny paws already kneading his sleeve and arm beneath.
“Shiny,” James gasped, pointing at the glowing fragment. “Touch the shiny!”
Squire was fast! She dove. Tiny paw to bone.
Loot Claimed via Squire Bond
– Bone Dust – Skeleton Token ×1
“Yes!” James barked. “Again!”
Lae’ni’s vines screamed against stone, holding just long enough for Edward to wedge his shield into the giant’s knee.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Ja’ra’s axe chopped another piece free.
Trish lanced fire through the eye-socket. The skull cratered, then re-knit, slower this time.
“Running dry,” she panted, sweat streaking soot. “One, maybe two good ones left.”
“Make them count,” James said. “Ja’ra, keep that joint open. Edward, bait the tail!”
The scything tail slammed where Edward had been a breath earlier, carving a furrow in the stone.
He laughed once, sharp and wild, and ran back in.
Ja’ra chopped. The joint cracked. A chunk fell. Glow.
“Squire!”
She zipped across broken bones like a lightning bolt, tagging light as it flared.
Another chime. Another piece lost.
Loot Claimed via Squire Bond
– Skeleton Token ×10
The giant lurched, tearing a leg free from the brambles, and reared to smash Lae’ni.
“Wall!” James shouted, throat raw.
Lae’ni’s staff slammed down. A Bramble Wall burst from the stone, thick and jagged, alive.
The bone blade struck and exploded. Thorns blasted outward like shrapnel.
Lae’ni dropped to one knee, drained.
The wall held, just long enough for Edward to throw himself between her and the monster, shield high.
“Last one!” Trish cried, and hurled everything she had left.
The bolt drilled straight through the chest. The ribcage blew apart. Bones trembled, then collapsed in a cascade.
Silence. Dust. The smell of hot rot and singed marrow.
James stood very still, listening for the telltale clatter of it pulling itself back together.
Nothing.
Then the rest of the parts started glowing.
System Notice – Subdual Threshold Achieved.
Eligible Bond: Bone Monstrosity (Undead Construct).
Entity flagged Death-Marked.
James wanted power, but not like this.
James exhaled. “No.”
Bond Rejected.
Substitution Granted.
A long sliver of pale bone rose from the pile, spinning once before locking into the shape of a wand. Green Verdigris runes crawled along its length.
Loot Acquired – Bone Wand (Rare)
Type:Passive:Passive:Murmurfield: Restores a small amount of mana when a creature dies within 10m
Active (3/3):Bone Shiver:(lootable)
Trish sagged to the floor, hands shaking. “I’m going to nap here forever.”
“You can nap in a safe room,” James said, trying a grin that didn’t quite land.
He glanced at Trish who shook her head, then Ken. “You?”
Ken nodded once, accepting the wand, already studying the runes.
Ja’ra spat red, then wiped his mouth on the back of his wrist. “Useful doesn’t fix ribs.”
Edward snorted and clapped him on the shoulder, then winced, because that shoulder hurt too. “We lived. I call that a win.”
Squire scrambled up James’s sleeve and onto his shoulder, tiny paws dusty with bone flour, chittering triumph like she’d soloed the thing herself.
James ruffled her fur with a knuckle.
“Timer,” he said. “What do we have left?”
Quest 1: Safe Room - Time Remaining: 11:42
“Move,” he ordered, voice coming back steady. “We need a door.”
As if the dungeon had been waiting, a seam cracked open in the far wall, bleeding green light. A low passage yawned beyond, sloping up.
“Of course,” Edward muttered, shouldering his shield. “Kill the thing, then the door.”
They went, Ken in the middle with the light; Ja’ra and Edward on the flanks; Trish leaning on Lae’ni and stubbornly pretending she wasn’t; Squire a warm weight at James’s neck.
The passage climbed into a round chamber. Smooth stone. A circle of copper worked into the floor, green with age. Benches. Water in a shallow basin.
The air felt safe, like when he was in the Silver Room.
Safe Room Identified.
Quest 1 Complete.
Group Reward:Bonus:
A pedestal unfolded from the wall and offered a small chest.
The party turned to James, encouraging. This was his quest, his call.
He reached out—
—but Squire beat him to it, darting down his arm and tapping the chest with one tiny claw.
Bond Progress Increased – Squire: +20%
The chest vanished.
Instantly, a new party interface flickered into being, system-forced, impossible to ignore. Each of them saw the same notifications.
Loot – First-Clear Cache
– Minor Rejuvenation ×2
– Minor Utility Card ×1
James – Steady Repair (Utility):Trish – Flicker Cloak (Utility):(24 hour cooldown) Ken – Snap Torch (Utility):(4 hour cooldown) Edward – Sonic Infusion (Utility):(24 hour cooldown) Lae’ni – Veilweaver’s Glance (Utility):(12 hour cooldown)
James received all the First-Clear Cache rewards directly into his inventory. Steady Repair (Utility).
It was exactly what James needed, which he supposed was Bob’s doing.
Play Card – Steady Repair
Target: Crossbow
Effect: Crossbow will mend over time.
The crossbow began knitting itself back together in his hands, slow but steady. He tucked it into his inventory where the process continued.
He was about to pull out a Minor Rejuvenation when one flickered into being—already in Trish’s hand.
Shocked, he looked over.
She met his eyes, wide. “I have what’s called a loot inventory?”
“Me too!” Edward shouted.
And just like that, James realized they’d all received the First-Clear Cache rewards.
Squire tapped his cheek with a tiny paw, then pulled a single gold coin from nowhere.
James smiled despite himself.
Across from the benches, space itself bent inward. The ripple widened, resolving into a portal, and through it stretched a hall of impossible scale, arched high, waiting between pillars of bronze.
They all started talking at once, voices crashing into laughter and cheers.
Trish, pale from mana-burn, drank one of her potions. Color returned to her cheeks.
Ken followed her example, took a potion, then spread the healing as best he could, the new bone wand lending strength to his spells.
They lavished Squire with praise, calling her clever, quick, and brilliant. She accepted it all like tribute, then vanished back into her retreat with a satisfied flick of her tail.
They agreed to hold onto the rest, safely tucked away in their new loot inventories.
Afterward, Ken passed the Bone Wand to Trish. They’d share it for now.
When the group was ready, they stepped into the portal.
??? System Combat Report: Squire scored a critical hit using improvised bone weapon.
...She’s calling it “Bonk Stick +1.”
??? ???
Rock, Paper, Squirrel on 10/09/2025 here.
God of the Hub drops next and it’s a doozy. It'll give you a solid taste of where things are headed.
are all the ???jokes?
A deck'd out nutcase.
??? Added 07/10/2025 ???
Ally_Boo for their glowing review and encouragement along the way.