Complete darkness blanketed our party. Chitinous clicking and tapping sounded in the distance, along with the occasional plink of dripping water. No-one said a word; speaking in this environment would be akin to launching a blinding flare in a more normal delve. I could hear the careful footsteps of our party members. I knew they were all still there.

  One thing we'd given insufficient thought to was how to navigate. We'd concentrated on dealing with monsters, but that didn't make the Meandering Warren any less meandering. The place was a maze. I'd seen a map of the layout, as had the others, but trying to orientate ourselves in the dark was a nightmare. Before even reaching the first junction, we'd decided not to even try taking the direct route, and to follow the left wall instead. It would increase the distance we needed to travel, but would slash our chances of getting lost. It was a godsend that the floor was largely level, without obstacles that posed slip or trip hazards.

  The footsteps ceased as a series of clicks drew closer. Only the occasional rustle of armour as someone shifted, and a quiet thumping as the hearts of a couple of our party hammered in their chests, gave any indication that they were still there.

  The clicks grew louder, then lost a little of their reverb, suggesting the source had direct line of sight to us. They momentarily cut out, replaced by a quiet, angry hiss, and then they resumed.

  Much, much faster.

  I could only assume the monsters had some form of heat vision, given the sudden way in which it had detected us. The guide I'd read hadn't mentioned anything of the sort, but that was presumably the fault of my rush, and the way I'd only read the information geared towards new adventurers. To anyone delving properly, and bringing a damn light, the information wouldn't be relevant.

  I remained still, knowing my role. Stacy was at the front of our formation and had the responsibility of dealing with the assault. She didn't move—the sound of her plate mail was unmistakable—and the clicking drew nearer until I was sure I could reach out and touch the source. Then she moved. I heard the clanking of metal, followed by a sickening crunch. The sounds of chitin shattering, and its shards plunging into soft flesh beyond. The clicking of footsteps stopped instantly, and a fragment of something pinged off my helmet. Hopefully just a bit of chitin.

  "Weak," whispered Stacy.

  "Not much experience, either," I added under my breath. Less than a horned rabbit, even before the party penalty.

  Still, at least I got experience. I hadn't taken part in the combat at all. So this was how parties worked, and how Felicity got her experience without needing to tap everything with her staff.

  "Let's continue," whispered Daniel.

  We crept onward, Felicity on our left, running her hand against the wall. Lee was on the right of our formation, with Daniel at the back, and me and Ryan in the middle. It made sense, but I kinda resented being stuck in the middle as if I needed protecting. I knew it was more a case of me not being geared to protect others—I was a damage dealer, not a defender—but it still rankled.

  Lee screamed.

  The party's reaction was not quite what I'd describe as heroic. There were a series of clangs as people moved to protect him, but crashed into each other instead. Without having any idea what had just happened, all of our careful plans went completely out of the window. I was equally clueless myself; I hadn't heard a thing.

  "Lee?" hissed Felicity, in the loud hissing voice that people tended to use when they want to ensure they are heard but not actually make any noise. "Are you okay? Do we need light or healing?"

  "I'm fine," he whispered back. "Sorry. False alarm."

  "Seriously?" whispered Daniel. "What the heck, man? Don't scare us like that."

  "It wasn't deliberate!"

  "What was it then?"

  "... Water dripped down my neck."

  "Really?" whispered back Ryan. "Our big, strong warrior was terrified by a drip of water?"

  Well, that explained why I hadn't heard anything.

  "Look, you try..." started Lee, before Stacy interrupted.

  "Quiet."

  There was a tone of urgency in her voice that caused the conversation to instantly cut out. The sounds of voices were instantly replaced by a steady stream of clicking.

  "Four? Maybe five," I whispered. The scream and subsequent conversation must have attracted them.

  Thankfully, we were back on firmer ground here. We had a plan for dealing with a monster group, so we quickly retook our formation, this time with Ryan stepping up next to Stacy.

  The clicks grew louder, once again rounding a corner and coming face to face with us.

  A pause, a series of hisses.

  "Rain of Stone," declared Ryan.

  Things went crunch. The hissing was replaced by screeching.

  The clicking restarted as Ryan backed off. Stacy punched once again the same time as a swoosh and gust of wind from Lee's direction suggested a sword swing.

  "Nice," I whispered.

  "Let's get going," whispered Daniel. "And this time... Lee, put a towel over your neck or something."

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "... Sorry," he muttered despondently.

  Ryan sniggered.

  I cracked a small grin myself. If people felt we had the leeway to joke, then that was a good sign, as far as I was concerned.

  Something clicked, quietly, but far, far too closely.

  With my Processing running in overdrive, I realised our mistake all too quickly. Four or five, I'd said. Why did we assume we'd got them all? What if Ryan's magic had crippled one too badly for it to charge at us, but hadn't scored an instant kill?

  I was already stabbing at the source of the noise when Felicity screamed. My daggers met chitin moments later, [Dagger Expertise] sufficient to pierce straight through the armour of the weak monster.

  Felicity grunted in pain.

  "Heal yourself," demanded Daniel. "And someone get a light going. Damn it."

  "I'm... I'm okay..." panted Felicity. "Don't let me spoil our run."

  "Like hell you are. I heard that!"

  The scene was oddly backward. It was nice to confirm that Daniel was prepared to give up when the situation warranted it, but Felicity insisting on continuing was far more surprising. If I had to guess, the crippled monster had bitten her ankle. They weren't poisonous, but nevertheless, I doubted she'd want to continue walking on it. Nor would she be able to properly bind the wound in the dark.

  "We could leave the dungeon, heal up and try again," I suggested. "We won't make such a stupid mistake a second time."

  "Can we?" asked Ryan. "What are the precise rules to get the higher ranked Mark? Can we leave, cast a spell that otherwise wouldn't be allowed, and then head straight back in?"

  "I don't see why not," I answered. "As long as it's somewhere that's already light, it doesn't really break the spirit of the challenge."

  "Doesn't it? We could fight our way to the boss, clear everything out, then exit to heal and rest up and re-enter before the mobs respawn."

  "If that sort of thing is banned, then we're screwed already," pointed out Daniel. "We haven't met enough mobs. We're a third of the way through, and only run into five of them. Yes, maybe a part of that is because we're being stealthy, but I'll bet the previous party the guard mentioned has something to do with it, too. I bet the dungeon hasn't completely respawned since they were here, and no way were they fighting in the dark."

  "Right, I'm done bandaging it, and it's not bleeding or slowing me down," said Felicity. "Let's get going."

  "... What?" asked Daniel. "We haven't even decided what to do next."

  "Yes, and I was hardly going to stand here bleeding while you chatted. I'm fine. I'll heal it properly once we're done."

  Indeed, she was talking normally. Maybe the wound wasn't as bad as we'd assumed. A drop of water had been enough to make Lee scream, after all, so a monster bite would certainly elicit a reaction, however shallow.

  "Fine, but if it starts hampering your mobility, tell us immediately."

  "Of course. I'm not going to put our party at risk."

  "... These monsters aren't venomous, right?" asked Lee.

  "No," I answered.

  "You sure? Not psychoactive at all? I can't help but feel that Felicity is acting out of character."

  I didn't answer, mostly because I'd been thinking exactly the same thing. It wasn't as if I'd known her for long, but if Lee thought so too, that more or less confirmed it.

  "That leaves you as the last of our party without a spine, then," needled Ryan.

  "Oh, cut it out. Let's get a move on," said Daniel. "The sooner we're out of here, the better."

  "I second that..." agreed Lee, and our group started moving forward once again.

  Without any sudden screams to attract monsters in groups, we ended up with only single centipedes to deal with right up until we hit the deepest part of the warren, where the boss awaited us.

  This was my time to shine, after having nothing to do the entire trip. Most of the group ran in ahead, leaving me and Felicity alone. A swoosh in the distance gave away the fact that the boss had noticed them, even if it hadn't started moving.

  "Rain of Stone!" shouted Ryan, followed by the sounds of rocks impacting both rock and chitin.

  That was enough to get the boss moving, so next up was Felicity, who rushed into the room and turned right. I gave it a few seconds, then slipped into the chamber myself and ran left, [Expert Stealth] dialled up to full. From the echoes alone, I could tell the space was as wide open as the guide had described, leaving me a fair distance to sprint as I rushed around the outside of the chamber, hand brushing against the wall.

  More sounds came from the centre as the three melee fighters worked together to pin the boss in place. Clangs of metal against chitin came, but this time there was no crunch, as the monster's natural armour held up against the blows.

  "Stab!" shouted Daniel.

  "Slice!" shouted Lee.

  Louder clangs came, but again there was no indication that the boss had actually been injured, despite the use of Skills. While the combatants seemed to be dodging successfully, they were obviously struggling to target accurately in the darkness. The guide mentioned targeting the spaces between the boss's armoured plates, but they were simply unable to.

  Which was where I came in.

  Having circled around the back of the fight, I charged in, [Expert Stealth] ensuring my footfalls and even breath was silent. With all the distractions, the boss hopefully hadn't seen me even if it shared the same dark-sight of the mobs. As long as I could approach its back unseen, I had a chance.

  Although given the repeated clangs without any apparent damage, tilting the odds in my favour wouldn't hurt...

  Yup, no evolution. A pity, but as long as it sharpened my blade.

  I could hear the skittering as the boss monster twisted from side to side. I could hear the clicking as it snapped its mandibles. Sounds that gave me somewhere to aim.

  I leapt.

  "Stab!"

  There came a crack as my attack impacted the back of the creature's head, where the plates were softer. The attack—enlarged further by my skill points—smashed straight through, impacting the forward-facing armour from the inside. Chitin sprayed as my strike pierced where the others had failed.

  "Retreat!" shouted Daniel, and we all sprung away. The monster's name was not for show, and like the fungal garden, this boss had a second phase.

  "Earthquake!" shouted Ryan, and the entire area went crunch.

  Or at least, it was supposed to have a second phase. We hadn't really given it the chance to get going.

  Success!

  Patreon.