Dee coughed and wished he hadn’t. His lungs felt like somebody was barbecuing jalapenos inside them. And his fingernails and toes hurt like somebody was trying to pull them off. But the rest of him felt fine, great even. He felt like he had been in a sauna, like his blood had been purified. Then he breathed and the pain came back.

  Fuck this is awful. He thought.

  He could do nothing but lie on the floor and breathe.

  “He’s alive!” Yuri shouted out.

  He lifted his head with effort, and made out blurry figures close by. One of the blurry figures was tall and dark and kind of robey. Yuri.

  “He’s alive?” Emi said.

  “He’s naked,” Arjelica said with mild surprise.

  “He’s naked?” Tianna said with shock and disgust.

  “He’s naked!” Yuri said with excitement.

  He coughed again and almost fell unconscious from the pain. He was shivering like a newborn deer. It was true; he was naked. And he was lying on the floor, under a strange sky.

  “You escaped?” he croaked.

  “You sacrificed yourself to save us,” Arjelica said. She crouched down beside him and stared at him. Dee just saw a blob of golden hair fill his view.

  “We saw you taken by potentia!” Yuri exclaimed.

  “Can you stand?” Arjelica slid her hand underneath his shoulder, and helped him to sit up.

  “Ah-” he couldn’t bear to speak any more.

  “Tianna, heal him!” Yuri cried.

  “It doesn’t look like a battle wound,” Tianna said. But he felt her hand on his shoulder. “By the Kingfisher let his pain fade.”

  Everything still hurt.

  “Well, I don’t have an art that can help. But I can do this.” Tianna unclasped her cloak and then flicked it around his waist. She fussed around him, tying it into a kind of modesty toga, blushing all the time and staring quite pointedly at her cloak, and not any of his naked flesh.

  “Thank you,” he said. He felt a bit better now. “I think I just need to take some time.” The more he breathed the more the pain faded. But everything was still blurry. He felt sympathy for newborn babies. He was lost in a sea of blurry colours. The rock was hard against his back, but he couldn't’ bear the thought of standing up.

  “I want that back. When you get some real clothes,” Tianna said.

  “Well, my little human is full of surprises. O-hohoho!” Yuri threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “I’m glad you made it out with us. Don’t do anything stupid like that again,” she whispered.

  “I think I should get some rest.”

  “Was that an illusion?” Emizra said to him.

  “No, I think I just got disintegrated by potentia.”

  “That’s impossible. Potentia is the dream that unmakes reality. Any living thing taken by potentia surrenders its soul into the great flow,” Tianna said with reverence.

  “Yeah, it hurt a lot. And you all made it out safely?”

  “Arjelica led us up to the surface. This is an old mine that connects to the dungeon. We escaped, thanks to your heroic sacrifice!” Yuri threw her arms around him, and squeezed.

  “Ow,” he croaked.

  “We need to get our steeds and get away from here. There could still be angry dungeon dwellers after us,” Arjelica said.

  They helped Dee to his feet. His muscles ached like he had run a marathon, but there was no time to be sitting around.

  “Oh, this is yours!” Yuri took his game bag and solemnly put it over his head, like a medal. He patted it, to reassure himself. It was just him and his game bag now. And his impromptu toga.

  His vision cleared a bit. They were in a quarry, long ago deserted. No sign of tools or machinery, save a stump of metal high up in the walls that could have held a pulley long ago. Several tunnels lead into the cliff walls. Too blurry to see what kind of mine it had been.

  There was an access slope carved in a spiral around the quarry walls, leading up to the surface level.

  “We have to walk up that?” Dee croaked.

  A roar came from one of the tunnels. The adventurers readied themselves, leaving Dee to stand wobbly on his own two feet.

  The roar came again, closer.

  “Oh Kingfisher, please send us some luck,” Tianna muttered

  Earth burst into the air as an immense figure emerged from the tunnel. Its muscular shoulders drove the earth apart like atlas straining under the weight of a planet. Nothing could stop it, not even a lack of foresight in tunnel digging for large monster access. The dark green and blue banded monster lurched forwards and stood tall after it cleared the entrance way.

  It was a frogite larger than anything he had seen so far. It was as big as a small car, with bulging muscular arms and legs. Its dark green skin looked tough like a toad, with blue and light green spots dotted over it.

  Its throat pouch expanded and it let out a terrifying roar that reverberated around the quarry. Its large glossy black eyes stared at them, and it flexed its arms and hands in time with the expansion of its throat. It was angry, and it was going to destroy them.

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  “It’s a Bullfrog. That’s a very mutated frogite. They must have all sorts of elemental effects down there. Oh, we need to come back later.” Yuri stroked her chin thoughtfully as her eyes roamed over the meaty foe.

  “We need to escape right now and never come back, that thing will tear us into little pieces,” Tianna wailed.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Arjelica twirled her axes in a flourish, then started running straight at the big guy.

  The bullfrog chuckled, its mouth lengthened into a wide, grinchy grin, and it punched its fists into the ground. Its banded skin rippled and thrummed, and a cold chill swirled around their ankles. Water burbled up from the earth all over the quarry, creating a sudden quagmire. It spread out towards them, covering a huge area, larger than the marsh that Yuri had created in the cave.

  Dee felt the ground soften beneath his feet, and backed away. Even as he pushed away from it, the soil cascaded under his feet like loose sand, and the mud snaked towards him like a living thing trying to pull him into it. His leg muscles shook with weakness.

  “It’s a PC!” Tianna shouted.

  Arjelica was much closer to the bullfrog and right in the centre of the quagmire. She leapt into the air, but the sudden soggy earth beneath her absorbed her leap, and she fell back short.

  The bullfrog dipped its head and charged towards her, its huge feet spread out and pushed against the slick mud, letting it run as if it were on solid ground. Its shoulder connected with Arjelica, and sent her flying across the quarry. Dee winced as he saw her skid through the muddy pool.

  “Arjy baby!” Yuri cried. “Inferno Conundrum.”

  Dee felt that familiar charge of elemental magic, she was spending mana again now, channelling it through another crest. Red fire whorled before her, in a dangerous and chaotic circle that pulsed, ready to explode. Yuri waved her hands, and twirled her staff. The crest span in front of her, sparks flew from it like a catherine wheel and the air around it shrieked as it superheated. She was angry and her magic was angry.

  She thrust her staff through the crest and it curled round the crystal head for a moment, then launched as a plump and satisfying-looking fireball. This was a real magic attack, living roaring flame under the control of an angry Mist Witch.

  The bullfrog crouched down, diving into the mud. The fireball roared over it, leaving a trail of dried and hardened earth in the mud, then exploded with a boom against the quarry wall. Flames spread from the impact, fractal patterns drying even more mud.

  Dee’s eyes were focused now. He could see the back of the bullfrog, seared and blistered, trapped in hard ground.

  “O-hohoho. If there’s one thing frogs don’t like, it’s being stuck in mud.” Yuri twirled and posed, her hand on her lips.

  The earth cracked. Cracked again. It was not finished. Earth rocketed into the air as it stood and roared with pain. It was really angry now, wounded but still in the fight. Veins coursed along its arms and neck. It punched the ground around it, but not in frustration. A line of earth trembled towards Yuri, knocking her onto her back. Her staff fell away into the sucking mud, and her robes and hat tangled across her face.

  Dee stumbled for her staff; his body betrayed him. His legs collapsed and he slumped into the mud. He wrestled with his game bag.

  Oh, this is terrible, I wish I could do something useful. He grabbed his book to see if there was any new information. How do I shot frog? The bullfrog stared at him and he froze. It was going to come for him now. Its eyes bulged with murderous intent and its throat expanded.

  Emizra stood forth. There was no playfulness in her pose. She held her head high and held her open palm towards the bullfrog. Her magic awoke like a volcano. Immense and immediate and unstoppable.

  For the first time, Dee saw her crest magic. Dry, dry air whirled around her, hot like a mid-day desert. Her dark curled hair fluttered in the wind. Her hand caressed the magic as if she were playing with a lover’s hair, coaxing it to do her bidding.

  A silver and gold crest hovered before her, bending the light like a complicated lens. The bullfrog looked like a fun-house mirror version of itself through the crest.

  “Mirage Maze!”

  The crest zoomed towards the bullfrog. It narrowed down as it went, and tightened down over the face of the bullfrog. The crest flowed over its head. Its eyes went glassy, and its tongue lolled. It stood, wavering back and forth. Parts of it twitched, but it was tight in the clutch of a mental maze.

  Emizra helped Yuri to her feet.

  “That’s it, I’ve spent it all,” Emizra said. She looked drained, just like Yuri.

  Arjelica got to her feet and Tianna ran over to help her up.

  Chaos and exhaustion made Dee’s mind race. There really was nothing he could do to help. They had to regroup and escape this quarry as soon as possible. He crawled to Yuri’s staff and used it to stand.

  “How long will your Mirage Maze hold it?” he asked Emizra.

  “Depends on how smart it is, what Class Arts it has and how much mana it has,” she replied.

  The bullfrog twitched and struggled as its mind raced through an imaginary maze. But they didn’t have to wait long to find out the answer to Dee’s question. Veins and muscles bulged out from its neck and chest. Suddenly it roared and flicked its eyes into focus. It had brute forced its way out of the maze.

  But Arjelica was still ready for a fight, even with mud plastering her hair to her face. She hurled an axe at the creature. The blade skidded across its back, cutting deep before looping back in the air to her hands.

  The bullfrog roared with pain. It tensed, and then leapt into the air, arcing towards Arjelica.

  “Oh, I shouldn’t do this,” Tianna wailed. She knelt down, and held her mace out upright before her. Light flickered in its head. “Everyone is spending their mana; I told you all to be more economical.” She raised her head and shouted out a prayer.

  “Kingfisher! God who brings fortune on the river for those brave enough to test its currents. Hear my prayer and bring fortune in battle for my unlucky companions who have spent their all.”

  Dee heard a tinkling noise. Mana furled around the little War Priest as she knelt in prayer, and a crest formed before her, one he hadn’t seen from her. Shiny blue white, it spun like a roulette wheel, flecks of gold sparkled in it.

  “Lucky River, in the name of the Kingfisher God bring us gold and glory!”

  Water gushed up from the ground, a forceful upright stream like a cartoon fire hydrant exploding. Colours flickered in it like Christmas lights, gold, green and red. It geysered up right out of the ground in front of Arjelica, slamming into the bullfrog and launching it even higher into the air. It disappeared in the spume of water, and then came crashing down seconds later. Dee felt the impact of it hit the ground.

  The geyser of water stopped, and a fine mist fell over them all as it did, glittering like golden confetti. Flecks of gold stuck to Dee’s arms where the water hit him, and a small ruby fell down at his feet.

  But the grounded bullfrog was not defeated. It lumbered over onto its belly and then stood up, slow and unstoppable. As it stood its crest formed again, and more muddy earth spewed out. Tianna and Arjelica were engulfed in the spray of mud.

  Tianna rushed forward out of the spray and struck at its belly with her mace. It doubled over at the blow, and she slammed her mace up into its chin. It reeled back, waving its arms.

  But Tianna had sunk into the mud. Her next blow was too slow to come; it caught her mace in its hand and lifted her into the air. She squirmed as she clung to her weapon. It chuckled and lifted her higher, its mouth opened.

  ‘It’s going to eat her!’ Dee thought.

  A muddy Arjelica leapt forth and her axes slashed its arm. It dropped Tianna and clutched its arm in pain. The Claw Stalker struck at its belly, slashing across it.

  The monster roared and slammed both hands down towards the elf. She raised her axes. They bit into its hand, but it pushed down harder. Arjelica was forced waist deep into the mud.

  It pulled its hand away and its throat sack rumbled with a chuckle. She was trapped in the earth, buried to her waist. Tianna was lying on her side in the mud, stunned.

  “Can’t you shoot it?” Dee said to Yuri. He pushed her staff towards her.

  “No mana. No Class Art, no Crest Art. We’re done for.” Her usual light tone was gone. She sighed.

  “Well, we had a nice little adventure, Dee.” She took his chin in her hand and kissed him. It was the perfect kiss, sudden and tender and honest.