First, allow me to start by addressing the rumors regarding the practical exam expedition. Yes, we have received word that they were attacked by Ravagers yesterday. I am delighted to report that as of this morning, we confirmed that there were no student casualties from the attack, and the expedition will continue as planned.

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  The thickness of the ambient mana grew as the three surviving students wandered deeper into the labyrinth. So too did the miasma. It was almost as thick as if it were after the second stormsign of a coming Tempest. Even though the party of adventurers had come through here earlier in the day, new monsters had been born of the dense miasma.

  Despite finding themselves within a dungeon of undead, their first encounter with a monster was not of their kind. Unfortunately, it was a group of three earth elementals, creatures formed from an overabundance of mana attuned to its namesake element. Earth elementals took the form of amber-colored, crystalline golems roughly the size of a dwarf. Elementals often possessed exceptional defenses, earth elementals doubly so. Adventurers usually relied on their mages to take them down, but Evran and Kaila were desperate to conserve what scarce mana they had.

  “Don’t worry. I got this,” Narro said with confidence.

  They had already agreed that Kaila would not use any magic, except in the most dire of circumstances. She’d completely emptied her mana pool against the osteomorph, and was only conscious because of the amulet they’d found earlier. Another spell could very well knock her out. Evran still had some mana to work with, but using any would slow down his recovery in more ways than one.

  Restoring one’s mana was not a linear process. It started out slowly, then ramped up over time, reaching a maximum rate after half an hour. However, if Evran so much as cast a single spell, no matter how simple, that process would have to start over from the beginning. He’d still keep the mana he recovered, but the rate would reset. As the difference in recovery times would be substantial in such an event, Evran opted to trust his friend to handle the threat.

  Narro charged the lead elemental, imbuing his blades with water magic. Thankfully for Evran and Kaila, he drew the attention of all three elementals, receiving a volley of stone shards from each of them. Though Narro managed to dodge most, a few found their mark and activated his new barrier amulet. The shards crashed against the solid light of the reactive barrier, leaving the spellblade uninjured but the amulet depleted of charge. He had no more room for mistakes.

  With a single swing of his lead blade, Narro cut the first elemental in half. The shards composing its body collapsed to the floor. They quickly dispersed back into ambient mana and miasma, leaving behind only a small amber crystal.

  “Whoa, what is this sword?” said Narro, confused at the effectiveness of his own attack.

  Having lost a sword in the fight against the osteomorph, Narro had taken Indon’s as a replacement. He spared a quick glance at the skysteel blade before another wave of stone shards flew his way. What he could not dodge, Narro parried. With one fewer elemental, their combined attacks were now manageable, if barely.

  As Narro attacked the elementals, Evran stayed back, partially obscured within a nook in the cavernous wall. With Kaila on his back, he couldn’t dodge, nor could he block anything coming his way without resetting his mana recovery, which was approaching its peak rate. It had been almost half an hour since he fled from the dragon… since Lerrum died.

  A second elemental fell from the accumulated slashes of Narro’s blades. His old sword had very little effect compared to Indon’s. Evran hadn’t had a chance to examine the blade and was curious as to what enchantments allowed it to tear through elementals so effortlessly. Thinking back to the fights against the osteomorph, Evran recalled how effective it had been then, too. Indon had been talented in his own right, but in Narro’s hands the skysteel sword was an even deadlier weapon.

  With only a single opponent left, Narro had this fight in the bag. The earth elemental continued to launch stone shards at Narro, who effortlessly parried each one with his swords as he approached. One of the deflected stone shards flew off toward Evran, who was forced to retreat back into the nook to avoid getting hit. After closing the distance to his last opponent, Narro hacked away at the elemental until it too shattered into a cloud of miasma.

  They’d won. For the first time since entering the labyrinth, they had actually won a fight. Narro faced down three elementals on his own, and the mages continued to recover their mana uninterrupted. It was a minor victory, but a sorely needed one.

  “Great job, Narro,” said Kaila, hope returning to her voice.

  Exiting the nook, Evran and Kaila made their way over to Narro. It took every ounce of Evran’s will not to stop and collect the earth crystals the elementals left behind. Out of habit, Narro had wasted a moment to grab one, but he didn’t bother with the other two farther back. They were somewhat valuable, but they couldn’t squander a single second, not with that osteomorph chasing them.

  The three continued to delve deeper into the labyrinth, following the path blazed by the adventurers earlier that day. Unfortunately, many of the intersections showed paths marked as unexplored. This meant one of two things. Either they were not backtracking to fully explore every part of the first layer, or they were neglecting their markings. The first meant more monsters they’d have to fight, wandering in from the unexplored branches. The second could spell disaster, as they would have to backtrack if they took a wrong path. That would allow the osteomorph to catch up, and in their current state, that meant death.

  “A lot of these paths are unexplored,” Narro stated, having also noticed.

  “They were probably just eager to make it to the second layer,” responded Evran. “Better treasure deeper in, and they could just loop back from the entrance when they were done if they wanted to be completionists about it.”

  “Think they might have missed the safe room?”

  “It’s possible. There’s not likely to be one this early on, but there should be one before the second layer. If they missed it, it shouldn’t be too hard to find it ourselves.”

  “So the adventurers won’t be there?” asked Kaila, dejected. “We’ll be alone?”

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  No one answered her, which was itself an answer. By now, the adventurers were probably well into the second layer. Evran briefly entertained the thought of catching up with them for protection, but he doubted they would make it before the osteomorph caught up to them first. No, they had to find refuge in the safe zone and hope the osteomorph couldn’t enter.

  According to labyrinth delvers, safe zones were something of an absolute. Once you make it past the barrier, no monsters could follow, no matter how strong. What’s more, it is as if they forget you ever existed, even if you had been fighting them moments ago. They would be safe there. Once inside, the osteomorph should take off in search of the other party, or wander about aimlessly if both groups were in safe zones. Of course, there was always the possibility that this didn’t apply to a monster being directly manipulated by the labyrinth’s guardian, but it’s not as if they had any choice otherwise.

  Half an hour went by before they encountered any more monsters. This time, they found themselves up against a slowly approaching squad of six skeletons. They had yet to notice the three students, but were blocking the way forward. A fight was unavoidable. All the skeletons had a sword and shield except for a single mage among them. That was too many for Narro to handle all by himself.

  Evran estimated he had roughly a third of his mana pool filled, and his recovery was in full swing. He didn’t want to reset his recovery rate, but he would have to participate in the fight.

  “Let me down,” said Kaila. “I can walk, I think.”

  He knelt and let the elf girl try to stand on her own. Her legs were wobbly, but to his surprise, Kaila could stand up a mere hour after exhausting her mana. That shouldn’t be possible, not without whatever her amulet was doing for her. Still, she could barely move on her own.

  “Stay here, I’m going to fight,” said Evran, smiling with fake confidence. “I won’t let anything past me.”

  She nodded apprehensively. Of course she was nervous, but it was all Evran could do to keep her calm. She would know that Evran fighting meant not having enough mana to fight the osteomorph if it caught up before they found the safe room. They would just have to move faster. Evran stood up and joined Narro to face the approaching horde.

  The skeletons shambled over to the three surviving students, eager to kill anything living. They moved slowly now, but Evran knew better than to underestimate their speed once they started fighting. They also had a mage, and judging from the blue gem in the crown it wore, it was some type of water or ice specialist.

  Evran had a choice. Would he try to conserve mana by fighting melee with just his staff, defending until Narro could cleave through the other skeletons? Or would he go all out with magic, killing them quickly and allowing the group to get going faster? Time or mana?

  The rattle of bones ceased as the skeletons came to a stop a few meters away. They’d finally noticed the three living creatures in their domain of the dead. Evran couldn’t get a read on how strong they were, but he was confident enough with his fighting skills. His father had trained him well in both sword and spear until the discovery of his greater talent in magic transitioned his focus towards becoming a mage. Though a little awkward, he should still be capable of blocking with his staff. It was similar enough to a spear, and its enchantments would repair any damage it took.

  No, the reason he was apprehensive about melee was the mage. He had experience against multiple opponents, but never mixed. If anything went wrong, he would have to fall back on his magic, making the whole idea pointless and a waste of time.

  As Evran debated, Narro seized the moment and launched himself at the skeleton mage with a wind-magic enhanced leap. The skeleton warriors couldn’t move fast enough to block, and Narro sailed past them. He swung his new sword down on the skeleton mage, cutting the skull in half, crown included. Its bones collapsed into a disorderly pile at his feet.

  Well, that solved that. Evran made the decision to fight without magic and assumed a combat stance. The remaining skeletons split up, three of them attacking Narro and the other two charging towards Evran. Two on one was something he felt he should be able to handle. Evran moved his staff to block the strike of the first skeleton. It bit into the living wood of the staff, enough to keep the blade from sliding down and striking his hands, but not enough to cause any actual damage.

  The second skeleton thrust its sword at Evran, who barely managed to parry it with the bottom section of his staff. Another swing came from the first, and Evran narrowly avoided it with a back-step. The two skeletons continued their relentless attacks against Evran. Block, parry, dodge, sidestep.

  Evran somehow avoided taking any hits, but it came at a cost. He was losing ground. There was hardly any space left between him and a defenseless Kaila, and the skeletons had taken no damage in return. He could no longer retreat, nor could he sidestep too far, lest the skeleton decide to turn its attention to Kaila.

  A thrust came that Evran would have preferred to dodge, but was now forced to parry. This left him open to the second skeleton. They weren’t particularly intelligent as far as monsters went, but skeletons somehow retained their instincts from their former lives. It saw the opening and landed a slash on Evran’s dominant shoulder.

  The school uniform of the Aldean Magic Academy was not just for show. It was a powerful piece of equipment that any mage would be happy to wear into battle, hence why Evran never bothered to wear anything else. The weave was not impenetrable, but it did manage to dull the skeleton’s strike to where it only cut into his flesh and not all the way to his bone.

  Evran screamed through gritted teeth as the pain flooded his mind. He’d taken worse. Though the attack had left him with a wounded arm, the skeleton who delivered the strike had overextended itself to do so. Evran took advantage of its mistake and delivered a kick to the skeleton’s exposed knee, while simultaneously swinging the head of his staff at the skull of the other one he’d just parried.

  The first skeleton fell, its knee shattered from Evran’s kick. Though skeletons lacked the flesh and tendons of a living creature, their movement was facilitated by invisible mana constructs which functioned much the same, at least most of the time. The osteomorph clearly broke these rules with its unnatural flexibility, but the creature was a unique construct to begin with. Something like a mundane skeleton could be temporarily disabled by forcing its bones out of position until the mana constructs could reattach themselves. Unfortunately, that process didn’t take long.

  A human skull skipped across the cavern floor until it came to rest against the wall of the labyrinth. Evran’s counterattack had landed. The rest of the skeleton’s bones collapsed, no longer connected to the source of its magic. It was always one bone in particular that kept the skeleton animated. Destroy that bone, and the creature dies. Separate it from the others, and the rest stop working. Usually that bone was the skull, but in rare cases it was a pelvis or vertebra. Evran once heard a tall tale of an adventurer nicking a single distal phalanx and watching the skeleton fall in defeat. In Evran’s case, it seemed the skull was enough.

  Blood ran down Evran’s arm, staining his uniform a morbid crimson. He had managed to defeat one of his opponents, but the remaining skeleton finished healing its knee and resumed the attack. Evran had a much easier time against a single opponent, despite being down an arm. With every block and parry, he tried to counter with a kick or a thrust from his staff. His defense was perfect, but without a second arm to use, he found it difficult to deliver any power to his attacks. Then he realized he didn’t need to anymore.

  After sending the skeleton back a few feet with a kick, Evran stood tall and gave the skeleton a knowing smile. A blue blade soon pierced its skull from behind, instantly killing it. Narro had arrived.

  “Thanks, mate,” said Evran, hugging his staff as he put pressure on the cut to his shoulder. “Mind healing this?”

  “When did I become the damned healer?” said Narro, feigning annoyance.

  Holding his hand against Evran’s shoulder, he channeled healing magic into the wound. The flesh knit itself back together as a euphoric sensation soothed Evran’s pains. He always found it strange how healing magic felt good, considering what was happening to his injury. If anything, it should hurt even more, but he was quite glad it didn’t.

  “That’s fine,” said Evran, his shoulder mostly recovered. It was still somewhat itchy, indicating there was more to be healed, but they didn’t have any time to spare. “Heal the rest once we’re moving.”