Desert Dungeon

Second Floor

Two Shards Active

Owin wasn't sure what he was looking at. Three creatures occupied the first room of the second floor. None had yet noticed Owin or Shade as they remained on the stairs, not yet all the way onto the stone floor of the ruins. From what Owin could see, the ruined stone building he was in was a continuation of the previous floor.

What was different from the previous floor were the three mobs sniffing the floor in front of him.

Desert Mob

Suidamorph

Level 10

All three were the same thing without any names. Owin would have assumed they weren't intelligent, especially without having any names, but their appearance really threw him off.

Their back legs were angled, hairy and hoofed, but their front legs were less hairy with more pinkish skin showing, and instead of feet, there were very human-like hands. The creatures walked on all fours like beasts, but the movement looked unnatural and uncomfortable.

"Suidamorphs?" Shade asked with his own index up. "Is it a pig? Is it a man? Is it both?"

One of the suidamorphs stood tall, and looked at them with red eyes. It squinted and tilted its head slightly. While on its hind legs, it looked entirely too human. The creatures' bodies were mostly the same as a human's, except the tufts of mauve fur. Their faces were human, except the upturned pig-like nose. Pointed ears, longer and thinner than an elf's, disappeared into a wild mess of greasy, matted hair that grew from the back of the sudiamorphs' heads. Parts of them were obscenely hairy, while other parts, like the very top of their head and much of their arms, were completely hairless.

"I don't like it," Owin whispered.

"We're all a little bit ugly." Shade walked up the stairs. "Lads. My boys. What's going on in this, uh . . ." The skeleton swiveled his head around. "Ruin, I suppose. I was going to find a better name, but words and reasonable thoughts elude me. I figure it's the lack of brain, but who could really say?"

All three suidamorphs watched silently, then all three broke into a cacophonous squeal that made Owin cover his ears. The three pig-like creatures charged Shade, who yelped and dove back down the stairs.

Owin hopped up and landed on a suidamorph, crushing it under his chitin boots. Shade placed his hands against the closest and cast Chain Lightning. A bolt of electricity emerged from the suidamorph and arced to the next before shooting out the back and disappearing in the stone. Neither died, but they wobbled, stunned by the electricity.

Owin pulled the Incandescent Blade from the bag and quickly decapitated both mobs.

Shade waved his hand over his face. "They looked so human. I assumed they'd at least insult me back before attempting to murder me."

"I don't think they're smart at all." Owin moved the corpses and grabbed a health potion and a mana potion. "Don't try to talk to them anymore."

"Any mobs or just them?"

"You know the answer to that."

Shade headed toward the door. His foot pressed a brick down, and froze. Arrows launched from a column and embedded themselves deep into the stone column on the opposite end. The skeleton turned his head all the way around without moving his body. "Traps."

"Good thing you're going first," Owin said. He walked over and gently pushed Shade forward. With another step, the skeleton activated the same arrow trap. This time, the arrows passed much closer to Shade's face.

"Sometimes, I like to imagine you being the bait."

"Do you want me to go first?"

Shade took another step. An arrow pinged right off his skull. "If not me, then who? You think I will let you run ahead of me? Ridiculous. Foolish. Absolutely not. I can get summoned again if I go poof. But you? You're not getting summoned again, Owin. You weren't summoned in the first place. Or maybe you were. Mobs are confusing to me too, you know. I don't know everything."

"I'm going to keep pushing you," Owin said.

"Push me, my lord!" Shade bowed dramatically just as Owin shoved him forward. The skeleton stumbled, tripped as another brick pressed down, and fell just below the rain of arrows.

Owin watched, cautious, as Shade flailed around and finally made it to his feet. After a moment, when no arrows shot from the wall, Owin pressed on each lowered stone, making sure the arrows wouldn't launch again. They didn't.

"Uh." Owin waited at the door, watching whatever was happening beyond. The mana battery powering the arrow trap was embedded in the wall nearby in the next room, but that only held a small portion of his attention. A goblin that looked a lot like Owin stood on a broken chunk of stone with an arrow drawn back, shouting insult after insult at a massive lizard that smacked at the base of the stone.

The goblin lost its balance and shot wide. "Scaly bastard!"

"Owin," Shade said.

"Don't." Owin already knew they looked alike. If the goblin's hair was less pink and more purple, they'd be truly identical. "Is that a Darkblade?"

Desert Mob

Goblin Darkblade

Level 13

Desert Mob

Gila Proteunia

Level 13

"That's a big lizard," Shade said.

The goblin threw the entire bow at the lizard and said a string of nonsense vulgar names.

"Oh," Shade whispered. "Is calling it a 'scaly penis' an insult or an observation?"

The room was a perfect square with a wide door on the left wall. Both mobs were in the opposite corner, letting the goblin spot them as soon as they fully entered the room. The lizard hissed and swatted at the stone, still unaware of their presence.

"You!" The goblin pointed at Owin. "Murder this!"

"Fine." Owin leapt up and stabbed the sword straight into the lizard's skull. The black and yellow lizard fell dead, and to Owin's surprise, he wasn't immediately attacked by the Darkblade.

"Brother," the goblin said. "There's pigs everywhere."

Owin looked at the dead creature below his feet. "This is a lizard."

The Darkblade pointed at Shade. "An undead!"

Owin stepped in front before the goblin could jump. A Darkblade was fast, but Owin was much faster. "He's with us. Don't attack him or I'll kill you."

The goblin grinned. It hopped off the stone and kicked the lizard, giving it another string of insults. The Darkblade wore the same ratty clothes Owin had when he woke in the Great Forest.

Seeing the goblin walk around, intelligent to a degree, and acting like it was sentient was confusing. The mobs on the first floors were so static compared to the upper floors, so what would have happened if he was this Darkblade when the buff spilled on him.

"It wouldn't work," Shade said.

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"How did you . . . what?"

"Whatever happened to you wasn't supposed to happen. If spilling buffs on mobs could turn them into heroes, it would've happened long before you became awakened. I don't know what went wrong, but you're one of a kind." Shade gestured to the goblin that was now standing beside him. "Wanting to bring him to life is kind, really, but it's not possible. Just like I'm stuck as a sexy little skeleton. Wanting more is good. It shows that you're kind. But put yourself in danger to try to help people who can't be helped. Right?"

The Darkblade poked Shade's leg with the tip of its knife. "This thing talks a lot. They'll kill it out there."

"Out where?" Owin asked.

"The ditch," the Darkblade said, as if that answered anything.

"Okay." Owin gave Shade a nod. "I got it." He walked over, pulled the mana battery free, and slipped it into his bag, which burped again.

"What was that?" The goblin crouched, knife ready.

"My stomach," Shade said. "Apologies, my lord." Shade bowed.

"What's going on with that?" Owin walked to the next door. "That's like the tenth time you've said that."

"Second, actually, my lord."

Owin rolled his eyes, then leapt backward with the Incandescent Blade ignited. A specter floated in the doorway like a corpse hanging from the ceiling. It was ghostly with apparition magic cascading off in gray mist. Owin felt his face tingle.

"It's a mirage," the goblin said. "See that?"

A grate in the middle of the room spewed black smoke. Before the Fortress, Owin would've assumed there was a fire burning somewhere below the floor. But with a specter, even a mirage, and the magic he could feel, just slightly, in the air, the smoke could only be necromantic magic. Touching it could cause real harm. To most people.

"Go touch it," Owin said.

"I can't tell if these are commands or you just like daring me to do stupid things." Shade walked through the doorway, stepping right through the mirage. The specter wobbled, then dissipated in black wisps.

"Can it be both?"

Shade turned and pointed. "Yes, it can." He stepped right onto the grate and covered his crotch as black necromantic smoke blew out. His trousers, vest, and scarf all blew wildly as the magical smoke blew past and collected near the ceiling.

"Skeleton is your friend?" the Darkblade asked. "We fight undead."

"He's not really undead. He's, uh." Owin gestured helplessly.

"I'm a sexy little skeleton!" Shade screamed and ran back over. "There's a pig man!"

A suidamorph squealed and chased after Shade. It ran into the smoke, wheezed, and collapsed dead. Black blood moved through its veins, darkening its eyes, and within seconds, the suidamorph climbed back to its feet.

"Undead," the Darkblade said unhelpfully.

"Explosion!"

The already weakened mob burst from the spell. Owin was ready and had already moved out of the doorway. The Darkblade wasn't so lucky.

"I don't think you should have access to that spell," Owin said. He avoided stepping in any chunks as he passed Shade. With the grate in the middle of the room, it was easy to walk along the outside to the next door. Broken barrels that had been filled with rotting food were clumped in a corner. Hand and hoof prints led from the barrels and into the smoke.

Owin stood on his toes and looked around, making sure he wasn't missing a chest. Unfortunately, he wasn't.

"Suidae," the Darkblade said as he grabbed Owin's arm. "Look." The goblin used his knife to point. Just beyond the door was a group of suidamorphs that looked the same as the others, but in the back corner, somewhat hidden by shadow, was one nearly twice the size and significantly more hairy.

"A boss?"

The goblin raised an eyebrow.

"Shade?"

"Fireball!"

Owin ignited the Incandescent Blade at the same time. The Darkblade laughed and followed him in. The suidamorphs were so much closer to scavenging animals than monsters that it was hardly a fight.

The boss emerged into the sunlight with curled, burnt fur and a snarl that made Owin's hair stand on end. Blackened tusks rose from its lower jaw.

Desert Mob

Suidamorph Alpha

Level 16

The Darkblade launched itself forward, knife raised high.

Owin sighed. It was the exact same thing he would have done in the past. Even the jagged stone knife the Darkblade held was the same one Owin used to have.

Suidamorph Alpha swatted the Darkblade away with a backhand. A three level difference was significant, and the way the goblin crumpled and rolled, Owin wasn't sure it was still alive. He had lived through plenty of worse, but he was awakened.

Shade stuck his hands out. "Want me to—"

"No." Owin walked up to the Alpha.

The boss stood on its hooves and formed both hands into fists. It squealed and swung a hammerfist down. Owin stepped to the side and chopped down, severing the creature's arm. Another step and a diagonal slash up bisected the suidamorph before it could attack again.

Without waiting, Owin ran over, grabbed a health potion from the bag, and poured it on the goblin's face. The Darkblade sucked in air in a dramatic gulp and sat up. It looked at Owin, the Alpha, and back at Owin.

"Are you okay?" Owin asked. He offered his metal hand.

The Darkblade took it and stood. "Yes. You aren't a normal goblin."

"No, I'm not. Not anymore."

Shade lifted a purple potion into the air. "Journeyman constitution!" The skeleton popped the cork, ran over, and shoved it at Owin, who drank it immediately.

Constitution +20

Constitution: 750

"Every point of constitution is another point of health," Owin said. He put the corked bottle at the mouth of his bag.

"No," the bag whispered.

"Uh." Owin tried to force the bottle in, but the bag tightened.

"What are you doing?" Shade asked.

"My bag is, uh . . ." Owin tried to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. Even with his Shard Hero strength, he couldn't open the bag. "It doesn't want the empty bottle."

Shade grabbed the bag and bottle. "Maybe you're just not as strong as you think you are." He smashed the glass against the bag and shattered the glass. As soon as the shattered pieces of bottle hit the ground, the bag opened again.

"I think my bag is alive," Owin whispered.

"Really? What made you think that?"

They joined the Darkblade and stood in the next doorway, not wanting to move on. So far, the floor had reminded Owin of the cathkabel fortress in the Ocean with the enemy, trap, enemy pattern. It wasn't perfectly like that, but it was close enough that the weird, multi-colored haze of the next room stopped him from running inside.

"It's my turn, isn't it?" Shade asked.

"I don't know what that is. Do you know?" Owin asked the other goblin.

It shook its head.

Shade gently pushed his way between them and strode through. He waved his hand through the shimmering gas. "It isn't acidic. Otherwise, you'd be seeing my bones."

"We can see your bones," the Darkblade said.

Shade gasped and covered himself with his arms. "I'm exposed!" After a second of being dramatic, he took a step, which pushed a stone down.

A spark on the wall flashed.

"Oh," Shade said.

Streams of fire erupted around the room. As soon as the flames touched the gas, the whole room combusted.

Owin and the Darkblade fell back from the sudden explosion.

"Your undead is dead," the Darkblade said.

"For two minutes." Owin pulled the goblin to his feet. The explosion had burned away all the gas, so Owin hurried through before more could fill the room.

He was relieved as he passed through the door to see the sunshine on the sand just beyond the next room. They were at the end of the ruins, and they only had a few more mobs to fight before stepping outside once again.

Three suidamorphs had their backs to Owin. Tails flicked behind all three as they squealed at a huge hobgoblin standing before them. The hobgoblin wore an apron and held a cleaver, and as expected, it was threatening the pigs.

Desert Mob

The Butcher

Level 15

"Your mothers were pigs!"

"Is that really an insult?" Owin asked.

Butcher turned his head to them and pointed the cleaver. "Underlings!"

Owin shook his head.

The hobgoblin furrowed his brow. "Peasants?"

Owin shook his head again.

"Kill the fucking pigs!"

Owin and the Darkblade lurched into motion at the same time. Butcher charged, and the whole room became chaotic. Owin effortlessly killed his suidamorph as he caught it entirely off guard. The Darkblade missed the killing blow and was flung from the suidamorph, which promptly slapped him with its front feet or hands or whatever. Butcher stuck the cleaver directly in a suidamorph's forehead, which was apparently not enough to kill it.

Owin kicked the suidamorph off the Darkblade and stabbed the Incandescent Blade into the mob's abdomen. A quick twist and tug ripped the sword through its ribs and finished it off. The Butcher ripped the clever out and tried again as the suidamorph grabbed his apron and yanked. Butcher nearly cut off his own hand as he stumbled, fell over a corpse, and landed hard on the ground. The Darkblade leapt on the injured suidamorph, stabbed, and missed anything vital.

Owin sighed, walked over, and stabbed his sword through the creature's brain.

"Everyone alive?" Owin asked.

Butcher leapt to his feet. "Alive and erect!"

"Uh. Okay." Owin walked out of the room without waiting for the others.

"Underling," Butcher called, chasing after him.

Owin stopped and let the sunshine heat his skin. On the left was a long channel dug by a bunch of goblins with shovels. They were still digging a good twenty feet below, but at the far end near the boundary wall, goblins and hobgoblins stood with weapons around a grate similar to the one a few rooms before. Tents that were far fancier than Owin would've expected from goblins or hobgoblins were spaced around the open area.

"Underling," Butcher said again. "I—"

"Stop calling me that," Owin said.

"No? Why would I do that? I'm a hobgoblin," he said, putting his hand to his chest. The movement swung the cleaver dangerously close to his own throat.

"And I'm stronger than every goblin and hobgoblin here combined." Owin ignited the Incandescent Blade. "Do I need to prove it?"

"He's telling the truth," the Darkblade said. "He's not a normal goblin."

"Not anymore," Owin said again. "I'm going to do what I want. Follow if you want."

Butcher was silent, confused, but followed as Owin set off toward the biggest tent.

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