“So how are we going to kill the boss when it’s been hours, and we’re still struggling with the low-tier trash?” Seo-ah whispered to Nick after twisting her head back and forth in what Nick could only guess was an attempt to make sure no one was listening to them.

  “That glowing-orange blade of Maria’s. It’s a lot more powerful than you realize. She’s a hero class, and that means that, not only does she grow faster in ability than we do, but she can use her aura to triple, if not quadruple, her damage in fights. Her class has no equal,” Nick whispered back, but as he saw Seo-ah’s incredibly unconvinced face, he just sighed. “But I think our best play here is to either get the Azure Guild to clear it before it gets out of hand or to get Elizabeth to call her dad and have him help.”

  “I’m surprised he wasn’t on this trip to begin with,” Seo-ah replied with a sigh that almost sounded like she was mocking Nick’s habit.

  “He said he had to handle guild business, and that he wanted to make sure my hard work with the super sap farm didn’t go to waste. He’s going to be helping me launch the protein shakes using them as the flavor base after all,” Nick explained. “It’s just, I’d much rather he’d at least sent Arnold or Lou to help Elizabeth out if he wasn’t going to come too.”

  “Arnold’s got a hot date this weekend, and Lou has a boxing match,” Seo-ah explained, filling him in on the other two’s whereabouts.

  “So yeah, we need to figure out how to—”

  “Quiet. Do you hear that?” Topaz hushed the two as she butted in between them, silencing not only them but the entire group.

  “Hear what?” Nick asked, only for his question to be answered a moment later. There was a faint gurgling sound ahead of them. The cavern they were in had a large tunnel up ahead, but the sound wasn’t coming from there. Nick turned his head left and right, trying to locate the source of the sound, until he noticed a small, dark tunnel on a shelf in the cavern wall a little way above head level. “Maria, take point, and I will follow behind you. We don’t want to get bottlenecked there. The tunnel is too narrow. The rest of you stay here while we scout it out.”

  Maria looked back at Elizabeth for some kind of direction, likely not wanting to get picked on after finally getting Nick to focus on Adele and the others with his instructions, but she was met with a blank expression that sort of conveyed a “deal with it” expectation. Maria shrugged and started to climb the wall to get to the high tunnel, and Nick followed at her heels. Once they climbed up to the protruding shelf, they had to crouch and walk single file to fit through the low-ceilinged tunnel, but the gurgling got louder as they traveled. The tunnel opened up to a small, narrow ledge, which overlooked a sprawling cavern filled with pools of water that glistened in the pale light of the glowing lichen around the cavern, and their depths teemed with fish and other aquatic life. The walls of the cavern were riddled with small tunnels and alcoves, and stalactites of various shapes and sizes hung from the ceiling.

  As they crept forward on the narrow ledge, they could hear the gurgling language of a strange group of humanoid fish creatures below. Their chattering was mixed with the sound of sloshing water as they dove in and out of the pools below.

  The tallest of them was a little above four feet, and they had mottled purple skin, a fish head with bulbous black eyes, and webbed feet and hands. They wore toga-like outfits and even had necklaces and rings made of what was likely bone. The creatures were diving in and out of the pools of the cavern, bringing back fish to eat and arguing over some bits of shiny, glowing rock in an unintelligible language.

  Nick motioned for Maria, who was staring wide-eyed at the creatures, to pull back, and once the two were back in the tunnel, he whispered, “They’re piscians.”

  “What? I’ve never heard of them, even in class.”

  “They’re a semi-sapient fish-man monster. They can use simple tools, but they’re not usually violent, and their parts aren’t worth anything, so they’re often rarely seen and even less often hunted. The problem is, if they’re here, then that means there must be more powerful creatures around since they don’t ever come to the surface unless they’re forced to. We should go back and tell Elizabeth.”

  Just then, the gurgling sounds increased in both volume and intensity, and Nick crawled back to the ledge to see what had happened. Every one of the fish-men had gathered around the largest pool, and Nick watched carefully to see what had agitated them. A few seconds later, a white claw that was easily the size of one of the piscians emerged from the pool, followed by a second one just as large, and finally a large lobstaur, an arthropodic creature that could only be described as a cross between a lobster and a centaur, crawled onto the cavern floor.

  Its upper half was humanoid-ish with two large pincers on powerful looking arms, a head that sported multi-faceted eyes that seemed to take in everything around it, and two pairs of antennae that swirled around, feeling for unseen forces. Its lower half had four multi-jointed legs and an elongated body that ended with a flat shrimp-like tail.

  Once fully out of the water, the lobstaur towered over the piscians, who genuflected before the creature as the segmented plates along its stomach moved, making a grinding, chittering sound. The piscians responded to the sounds like they’d been given an order, gathering up the fish they’d only moments before been arguing over and following the lobstaur as it left through a tall tunnel at the other end of the cavern.

  After the creatures departed, Nick crawled back to Maria, who waited in the tunnel they’d used to reach the cavern. “What did you see?”

  Nick shook his head. “Let’s go back to Elizabeth. I’ll explain things to everyone.”

  When they emerged from the tunnel, Nick found that the teenage members of the group were chatting without a care, but Topaz and Elizabeth were pacing, and when they saw Maria and Nick, they looked relieved to see the two of them.

  “You took longer than expected. What did you find?” Elizabeth asked.

  Maria answered, “Some fish-men Nick called piscians. They don’t look dangerous, but he seems worried for some reason.”

  Nick thought about how to explain the danger without using his future knowledge of what the outbreak would look like. “It’s not the piscians I’m worried about. They’re only dangerous if they can get you in the water, and even then, they’re more likely to run than fight on their own. It’s that thing, the lobstaur giving them orders, that worries me. I’m sure he’s the boss of the dungeon. The monster has grown a lot larger and more powerful than I expected, and it’s even become smart enough to give orders and enslave the piscians.”

  “Then I think it’s best that we go back and inform the Azure Guild of the situation,” Elizabeth said.

  “Don’t tell me you want us to quit the dungeon. We’ve barely gotten started, and I’m sure you can take out a . . .” Seo-ah struggled to remember the name of the monster.

  “Lobstaur,” Maria added helpfully.

  “Yeah, you can take out a silly lobstaur, can’t you, Elizabeth?” Allen asked, likely just trying to help Nick out.

  “Well . . .” Elizabeth started, but before she could finish, Seo-ah added with a pointed look at Nick as if to say, “Training is fine but no boss,” but then actually said, “Yeah. Elizabeth can decide if we get in over our heads, right, Nick? We really need the practice in the dungeon, but I agree we need to be cautious. Don’t hesitate to tell us we’re in over our heads.”

  “Yeah, it’s a new challenge, but it’s just part of training. I’m okay with going forward, but please help us escape if we pull more than we can handle. Caution comes first,” Nick replied, subtly agreeing to Seo-ah’s sentiment of not engaging the boss until they had proper help but still wanting to train since there was more daylight to burn.

  The tunnel took them a couple dozen feet around a bend but deposited them into the same pool-filled cavern he and Maria had seen from above. The pools looked much larger up close, and before they could take more than a few steps into the tall cavern, a half dozen piscians leapt out from the pools, salt water spraying in all directions as they emerged. The creatures held white bone tridents in their hands. They gurgled something, their jaws with long needle-like teeth bobbing up and down as they did so. Then they charged.

  The four-foot-tall creatures looked ridiculous as they wobbled and waddled, but the sharp weapons they wielded were still just deadly enough to warrant a serious response. Nick’s spear was in his hand in an instant as he switched from being the apprentice trainer to fighting on the front lines, swinging his weapon to meet the fastest of the piscians. The moment his heavy spear met the flimsy, poorly assembled trident, Nick’s weapon snapped the haft of the piscian weapon, leaving a splintered stub in the creature’s hands. It hardly seemed to notice as it tried to attack Nick with claw-tipped, webbed hands next and bite him with sharp teeth. Nick hadn’t expected the creature to be so persistent, but he took a step back and then thrust with his spear, skewering the monster neatly through its torso.

  The rest of the piscians met similar ends at the end of Seo-ah’s spear and Maria’s sword. The creatures did not last long enough to warrant the ranged attackers participating in the fight. When the last creature was dead, flopping on the coral floor, Allen asked, “Is that it? They were easier than the ocean zombies.”

  “No, Allen!” Nick warned, but it was too late to warn him about the fickleness of fate as the water in the pools started to froth, and dozens of piscians started to leap into the cavern.

  Three of the monsters charged Nick at the same time, and his spear head glowed as he swung the weapon in an arc, slicing through them and sending them flying backwards.

  A quick glance around told Nick that the group was getting overwhelmed. Seo-ah was likewise trying to fend off the creatures with wide sweeps of her spear. Despite Maria’s much improved efforts at staying near the ranged fighters and protecting them, and Seo-ah and Nick both doing their best as well, the piscians had gotten around the three of them and tackled Spencer. Three of the monsters were biting into his legs and arms, and Allen was bashing the creatures off the mage with the butt of his weapon as he switched from sniper to melee fighter the moment the line collapsed.

  Nick wanted to rush to Maria’s side as he saw her take on five of the monsters, their tridents stabbing at her from all directions, one even slicing her cheek before she could bring up her shield to protect herself, but then he was facing more of the sharp-toothed fish-men, and he found himself in danger. Nick stabbed again and again. Then, just when he thought the creatures were dead, one twitched, and he stabbed it again. He repeated the movement ad nauseam, his arms growing tired as he focused every bit of energy and attention he could into the simple stabbing motion, trying to make every single thrust a kill. Stab! Stab! Stab! He ignored the pain from the occasional haphazardly assembled trident that made it through his defenses and struck him in the arm, the calf, or shoulder. He pressed on until his spear was slick with the blue blood of the piscians, knowing the moment he lost his focus, he was bound to slip on the bloodied ground or get overwhelmed by the horde.

  “Fall back to the tunnel!” Elizabeth ordered, oddly calm as she added, “Always use your terrain to your advantage.” Nick had a moment to turn and see her snatch up Allen and Spencer, who was bleeding, and sprinted towards the tunnel they’d entered through.

  The group slowly retreated to a better position while fending off the frenzied creatures. Once inside the tunnel with Adele, Topaz, Spencer, and Allen farthest in the back. Maria blocked the entrance with her shield, focusing on defending, while Seo-ah and Nick stabbed at the creatures, their spears’ length allowing them to attack past Maria and gut the fish-men like they were a three-person segment of an ancient Greek phalanx.

  “Here, let me help you,” Adele said from behind, and Nick felt a warmth suffuse his body, restoring his energy and healing the places he’d been injured. A quick glance showed him that Seo-ah and Maria were glowing with golden energy and had their minor injuries healed as well.

  The fight continued, but their formation held, the cavern providing the perfect bottleneck to negate the piscian numbers, and it allowed the ranged magic dealers the time they needed to cast more powerful spells and Topaz and Allen the space to carefully aim and fire their weapons. Topaz in particular helped stem the tide of monsters, her sticky glue grenades hampering the monsters as they got out of the pools.

  Eventually the creatures stopped coming or, in a few instances, even retreated back where they came, and the group cleaned up what remained. By the time the last creature died, the bodies of the fallen fish-men were stacked waist high in front of the tunnel, and every member of the group was panting from the exertion of the fight.

  “Good job, team,” Elizabeth congratulated. “Now, who feels like making Nick fry us some fish for lunch?”

  Chapter 11

  “Hey, Billy,” Matthew greeted his coworker in the same way that he always did as he walked up to the security booth.

  Billy looked incredibly depressed as his shoulders slumped. “Hey, Matt.”

  “What? Still no luck with Stacy?” Matthew felt too bad for his colleague’s situation to even poke fun at him like he normally would.

  “Hey! Don’t even bring that up. I’m so mad. I saw her on my way home eating dinner with some guy that looked like a— Aw, crap.” Billy stopped his complaints short as an all-too-familiar red McLaren 720S came speeding up to them, barely stopping in time to not slam into them and the closed gate behind them.

  “I’m texting Miss Zhou right away that Yulian Serebryakov is here,” Matthew said, putting one hand in his pocket as he quickly operated the keyboard on his phone without showing the Russian brat what he was doing.

  “How do you even do that so stealthily?” Billy asked.

  “Old T9 predictive texting, the one good thing about having a junker of a phone,” Matthew said, before pausing and adding, “that and I don’t have to deal with all those terrible memes you kept sending Kevin. Wait, you didn’t send Stacy any memes did you?”

  The last question caused Billy to freeze, his whole face going pale as his body gave away the answer to Matthew’s question.

  “Damnit, Billy, how are you going to have a shot with anyone if you keep sending them those awful, freaking memes. If your memes aren’t funny, no one is going to—”

  “Hey! Open the gate!” Yulian shouted from inside his car, interrupting Matthew’s vital lecture.

  “I’m sorry, mister Serebryakov, but I can’t do that without permission from my employer,” Matthew said with the most polite tone instead of the words he really wanted to say: “Please just die so I never have to see you again.”

  “Come on, old man, what the hell are you even wasting my time for?”

  “I’m sorry, sir.” Matthew, who was only 28, had no idea how to handle the “old man” comment, but he did his best to keep a stiff expression. “But I need permission from my employer before I can allow you on the premises.”

  “Employer this, employer that. How much do you even make? I can double it if you just step the hell aside and let me through, old man,” Yulian offered, seeing that his threats hadn’t worked the last three or four times he’d tried to get onto the compound. It had gotten to the point that Matthew had even tried calling the police last time, only to have them, for some inexplicable reason, take hours to arrive and then write the incident off due to “insufficient evidence of harassment” when they did show up.

  “I apologize, but—”

  “But blah, blah, blah, you stupid broken record!” Yulian was now completely raging, and as Matthew braced himself for what was sure to be another tirade, he could feel his pocket vibrate as a text message came through.

  “Hold on just a moment, Mister Serebryakov,” Matthew said, barely pulling out his phone as he glanced at the message.

  It was from Jennifer: “That foul child is nothing more than a wild beast, a fox dead set on raiding a hen house. Since we cannot keep him out, I will be moving the hen, in this case myself, to territory where he will not venture: Azure Shores. If you have it within you, and it is not too much trouble, could you do me a favor and take advantage of the empty house? Turn the vacant chicken coup into a trap for the fiendish fox, and distract him so that he does not see the direction of my escape.”

  I am so glad she’s at least past her thesaurus stage, Matthew thought as he read yet another one of Jennifer’s overly long and wordy texts.

  “Hey?! Hey, are you even listening to me?! I said if you don’t open that door right now, I’m going to call my dad and—”

  “Ten thousand dollars,” Matthew said.

  “What?” Billy and Yulian replied at the same time, both looking incredibly surprised by Matthew’s seemingly random statement.

  “Opening this gate could cost me my job, something you don’t seem to understand. So, if you really want me to open it up and potentially lose my livelihood, then at least make it worth my while. Ten thousand dollars or I’m not touching the button,” Matthew pushed further.

  “Uhhhhh . . .” Yulian, who had previously said he could “double” their wages if they just worked for him instead, had clearly not expected this from either of them.

  “I’ll need ten thousand too,” Billy said, catching on quickly.

  “That’s fair. He might lose his job as well, ten thousand for each of us and you can waltz right in. Otherwise, please exit the premises as I cannot open this gate without permission.” Matthew felt like a broken record as he repeated that last part for what felt like the hundredth time this week.

  Yulian didn’t reply at first. He just stared daggers at Matthew, the tiny greedy hamster in his head running at full speed as he seemed to weigh whether or not ten thousand dollars would be worth the entry.