He regretted not killing Lucius. Watching his own back was a miserable thing with the man so close. He knew the others hadn’t died from the kobolds, at least not completely. No, a well-placed cut was all it took to throw even the best off in a fight, and if there was one use Lucius had, it was cutting things. Still, Ryu had taken the coward’s way out and had not confirmed his suspicions. If he saw it, he would have had to confront Lucius. Then he’d die, unable to hold against the dangers of the dungeon on his own. Or worse. His madness would take control.

He sighed. This was why true solo Climbers didn’t exist. There’s only so many things one person can do, no matter how powerful they are.

His thoughts twisted down dark paths as he sat in his bedroll, wide awake. A few meters away, Lucius was lying in his own bedroll, awake too no doubt. How could you sleep with an enemy right beside you? The answer was you couldn’t, especially not when the two of you were in a dungeon.

They had cleared a few tunnels before stopping in a cavern not too different from the one the group had started in. With just the two of them, Ryu knew progress would be a stuttering, slow thing. It made him wonder what Lucius’s play was. Why kill the group? The man had not even intended on coming into the dungeon in the first place. He should not have been so ready to kill his only tickets out of the place. Perhaps his whole goal was to throw Ryu off. Perhaps it did not matter. He was not a man for speculation; a threat was a threat no matter the circumstances.

That night, he did not sleep. Every noise jerked him awake, the pressure from the threats around him keeping him on edge. In the morning, he broke his fast with travel rations. Dark bags hung under his eyes. Lucius, on the other hand, was sharpening his arsenal of daggers, fresh as a daisy. The man clearly had some sort of awareness Skill, allowing him to sleep without worry. With such Skills, any potential danger entering the Skill’s field of effect, such as an arrow or attacker, would be reported to the user. Ryu would live without sleep, however.

They left the cavern not long after waking, venturing back into the tunnels of the dungeon. Dungeons did not always progress the same. Some were simple. All an adventurer had to do was reach the end. Others were different, requiring a set of goals to be met. They had little idea which this was. Or rather, Ryu did not. He suspected Lucius knew a number of things to which he was not privy.

The tunnels were lit softly by the small lantern that hung from Lucius’s belt. The scuff of their boots echoed and bounced down the stone walls. They walked in a tense silence. Lucius checked for traps and enemies, and Ryu watched, ready to respond to any attack. The blonde man was observant. Overly so. He feared he would not be able to get the jump on him with his guard so raised.

“The path splits ahead,” Lucius said, his words dry and bored. Ryu believed the spy was unstable. The man would go from maniacal to apathetic with surprising frequency. He also considered that the mood swings were an act, portraying a false weakness in Lucius’s mental state.

“Left.” Ryu knew the direction was ultimately unimportant. By picking the left path every time, they could find their way back with ease.

Lucius looked over his shoulder, blonde hair now limp and dirty. “What if I prefer the right path?” he said, features lighting up with a predatory smile.

“Then we go right. It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Ryu levelled his flat stare at the man, his face as uncaring as stone. Lucius played many mind games. This was just one of them.

“Glad to know you’re taking my feelings into account, boss,” Lucius shot over his shoulder, walking down the left path. Ryu followed, his senses strained to detect any potential danger. A few kilometers in, Ryu stopped. The tunnel was different. The air became damp, and faint sounds of chanting echoed down the tunnel. He reached out a hand, feeling the texture of the tunnel wall. It was slimy, a major contrast to the dusty caverns of before.

“There’s water ahead,” Ryu muttered, bringing his fingers up to smell the residue from the wall. He was beginning to have a dark feeling. Lucius paused from examining the crevices of the tunnel. He cocked his head, listening along with Ryu. After a moment, he went back to looking for traps. Although the man was better at finding traps, his senses were nowhere near Ryu’s, and he did not seem to have as much adventuring experience, either. His mind would not have gone to the same conclusions as Ryu’s.

Ryu dropped the matter, not sharing his suspicions. He needed to see the situation first. If it was as he believed, this could be an opportunity to test the difficulty of the dungeon, and if the dungeon proved weak, well… Lucius would die. He had little interest in plotting the death of another man, but this was the reality of survival. To him, his life would always rank higher than his morals. Those that believed otherwise could be found in the dirt, having died pointless death for forgotten beliefs.

Lucius stopped, drawing Ryu from his reverie. The chanting was now clearly audible in the dank tunnel. He looked back at Ryu with an upraised eyebrow, but he could only shrug in response. His suspicions did not account for the chanting.

They continued forward, kobolds suspiciously absent from the tunnels. Their steps brought them into a cavern so large the ceiling was not visible in the dark light. Small stone bridges crisscrossed over a dark lake that seemed a void in the dim light. On the edge of these bridges, kobolds chanted, the flickering torches on the carved stone bridges casting light on their dull scales.

Ryu and Lucius’s entrance went unnoticed, their formidable stealth skills keeping them hidden. Due to the faint light, Ryu could just make out a door at the other side of the cavern. The dungeon’s challenge was clear; they had to make it across the cavern.

Ryu’s gaze played over the black water of the cavern, a frown appearing on his sharp features. The kobolds were just a distraction. The true threat was in the water, and if his suspicions were correct, it was a threat they were ill-suited to handle.

At his side, Lucius had stopped as well, dipping his finger in the surface of the water. A thoughtful look crossed the man’s face as his eyes searched the depths of the black water. Ryu touched the man’s shoulder, gesturing his hands in Climber’s sign language. The sign language was universal among adventurers, having been created for situations where silence was necessary.

Lucius grinned and flashed a few signs back. They confirmed their plans this way, gesturing in silence as the chants continued. After some time, Ryu drew his bow. Choices were in short supply in the cavern, but his arrows were not.

His first arrow took a chanting kobold in the calf, throwing the beast into the water with a splash. The next nicked the artery of the first kobold’s compatriot. Blood poured into the dark waters below the bridge, and the first kobold splashed about, struggling to swim. At this point, the other kobolds were searching for the source of the attacks, but Ryu ignored them, looking at the water instead. True to his prediction, a serpentine head peeked over the water. In two quick movements, the massive serpent swallowed the kobold whole before dipping below the water once more.

The quick look was all Ryu needed to analyze the monster. Judging from its rounded snout and large size, he guessed the monster would not produce venom. It would most likely strangle or suffocate its prey due to the strength of its size. Venom would be redundant when the creature’s fangs were as long as its prey. His final assumption was that this serpent was not alone. Snakes coordinated in hunts, and this underground lake was too large for just a singular monster. Chances were it held another, if not more.

As if hearing his thoughts, a second serpent rose on the opposite side of the cavern, looming over the searching kobolds. Seeing the white snake, a sudden change took over the kobolds. Many dropped to their knees in supplication, and the largest of the reptilian monsters drew plain iron daggers. The larger kobolds stabbed themselves with their blades, their bodies falling over into the dark water.

The pale serpent started swallowing the bodies, leaving the remaining kobolds to chant and pray on the stone bridges. The sight fascinated Ryu in a macabre way. It was like putting a puzzle together. Although many of the creatures in the Rings did not fit into Old World biology, they still formed their own environments. The kobolds and the serpents were a prime example of it. By sacrificing their largest brethren, the kobolds pacified the dangerous creatures, yet this also had a negative impact on their own species. Since the largest members died, the kobolds would grow smaller and smaller with each generation, explaining their small stature.

In a better world, Ryu would spend his time studying such relationships between New World monsters, but the Rings were harsh places. He had lost his shot at a peaceful life of study long ago.

He dismissed his thoughts, activating his [Multishot] Skill as he loosed another arrow. One arrow became three as they arched through the air. The serpent sensed the incoming projectiles and tried to move its head, but it could only dodge two, the last burying itself above its nostril. The arrow, a special one from his enchanted quiver, detonated. Shrapnel tore a chunk out of the serpent’s face, and it reared its head back in pain. On the other side of the cavern, the black serpent rose from the water once more. Both monsters focused on the two intruders. The kobolds along the bridge doubled down on their chanting, the sight of both snakes overwhelming their survival instinct.

Ryu nocked another arrow. It had been too long since he’d really fought. The monsters of the Fifth Ring were underwhelming to him. Fear gnawed at the thrill that pounded at his temples, but it was soon overwhelmed by the mania of the presence that inhabited his mind. To his right, Lucius drew his daggers.

The serpents coordinated their attacks, using the dark waters to hide their forms. At first, Ryu’s arrows had suppressed them, but now, the intelligent monsters used the thick scales along their brows to block, causing his arrows to skid off with little damage. Lucius, similarly, was nullified, his daggers finding no purchase in the hard scales of the serpents’ neck. As things were, the serpents would overwhelm them through durability alone, so Ryu decided to change the paradigm.

“Use the bridges to get around the serpents,” Ryu shouted, sprinting onto the nearest bridge. Ryu’s interest in the nature of monsters was not purely academic. It was practical. After ten years of fighting smiliar monsters, he felt he knew their weaknesses. The major one was size. The giant snakes had clearly grown in this chamber, and the web of overlapping bridges that crossed the cavern limited their ability to surface. That was why the kobolds had to throw themselves into the water to feed the serpents, as the huge monsters could not reach their prey on their own.

To say one thing for the Rings, its dungeons had a… fairness to them. It was a cruel, hard world, to be sure, yet every challenge, monster, or puzzle could be beaten. It just required a high level of skill and expertise, two things that Ryu had in spades after years of Climbing. He ran over the bridges, leaping between the structures to dodge the praying kobolds.

The pale serpent with the wounded nose tracked him from the depths of the water. The slits of its eyes met his own in the flickering light of the torches, draining the resistance in his mind. His steps slowed. He stumbled. His right foot slipped off the slick stone of the bridge, and the resulting stumble broke his eye contact with the reptile. Fear bubbled in his heart before the stone walls of his stoic mind rose once more. His panic, his fear, and his doubts all faded, pushed behind the mental castle of his acceptance in the face of danger. The visualization technique was a common practice for him, and in moments, he was composed and running once more.

To his left, Lucius and the black serpent were playing their own game of cat and mouse, but Ryu spared the scene only a glance. His survival was much more important. He climbed the bridges like a revolving staircase, crossing to higher bridges above with powerful hops. The serpent waited below.

Snakes were smart hunters. They waited, using their senses to observe the chemical traces left by their prey. When the time and opportunity was right, they’d strike. Ryu knew this, so he gave the serpent its opportunity. Standing at the top of the highest bridge, he looked down. This was the right location. He just needed to provide it the opportunity.

Ryu leaned out over the bridge, eyes fixed coldy on the serpent watching from the depths below. Its eyes searched for his own, and he met them once more. The enchanting effect of the serpent’s gaze was another hunting tactic, one that had caught him off-guard. Still, Ryu was not the type to plan in-depth. His plans were alway simple and flexible. He could easily adjust to new developments. The serpent’s gaze bewitched him, but he was prepared for it this time.

It’s gaze broke from his own only when its fangs were feet away from his face. Able to move, Ryu smashed his foot into the serpent’s lower jaw. It fell back onto the bridges behind it, smashing through two before landing on a third. He leapt off after it. He hacked into its exposed throat, got thrown off by a wild spasm, and felt his next strike smash into hard scale. Then he hacked again. And again. By the time the serpent slid off the cracked bridge, its throat was a mess of torn veins and muscle.

Across the cavern, the dark serpent went still before diving deep into the lake. Its form disappeared in moments, and Ryu relaxed. The serpent probably went to protect its nest now that its mate was dead. He looked over to Lucius, watching as the man picked himself up from a fall. So he’s still alive, Ryu thought.

A splash of water broke him from his thoughts, and he turned to see the black serpent devouring the body of its pale mate. The corpse and the serpent fell back into the depths of the lake, a cloud of red blossoming like a rose on the surface. Time screeched to a halt as his brain failed to comprehend what he’d seen. He felt as if he was standing on a frozen lake. Cracks formed in the ice, a brilliant spider web under his feet. It was the feeling of anticipation, of knowing death was mere inches away. In his mind, the ice broke, and in reality, the bridge under his feet gave way. The black serpent, now twice as big, smashed through the surrounding bridges, its body writhing in rage. The praying kobolds were turned into red smears, earning a reward for their faithful service.

He landed on a lower bridge, the serpent rising in the air above him. Two dark fins stretched along its head, and a ridge of spines twitched along its back. Its scales were thicker, lending it a draconic look. The monster’s eyes pinned him to the ground. This was no bewitching stare, but an implicit threat of what would happen if he moved. It was quite terrifying, or rather it would have been. Instead, a certain blonde man had chosen to make his appearance at that moment. Lucius’s daggers were gone, replaced with twin short swords. The blades plunged into the side of the monster, eliciting a hiss of pain. Ryu, not one to be outdone, sprinted up the leaning remains of a broken bridge. His bow was gone, switched for the plain hatchets he loved so much. He surrendered to the madness.

He leapt off the bridge. His legs, powerful from cultivation, pushed him from the bridge like one of his own arrows. He hit the rough side of the serpent, burying his hatchets in the monster to halt his momentum. Something in him snapped, and he felt the pain of broken bone.

Attacked from opposite sides, the serpent threw its body into the surrounding bridges. Ryu dropped off the monster, recalling his hatchets to his hands as he landed on the remains of a bridge. The hatchets were too small, their blades meant for slashing rather than stabbing like Lucius’s swords. He needed a bigger weapon.

He activated the hatchets’ second enchantment, and the two weapons slammed into each other, turning into a large axe. The axe resembled that of a woodcutter, the handle curved inwards towards the bottom. Its blade met the serpent’s powerful body. Ryu was thrown onto the remains of another broken bridge, gritting his teeth from pain.

Something hit the serpent again, and Ryu was glad for the break. He had little time to think and little stamina to act. His Skills had drawn their toll from his already weakened body, and when he stood, it was on shaky, weak legs. A red glow flickered around his eyes for a moment. The price of [Weakness Sense] dropped him to his knees, but now, he knew.

Lucius was slammed into the cavern wall, leaving Ryu to bear the malice in the serpent’s gaze on his own. He hoped his own eyes returned a piece of that malice, for a painful, exhausting effort brought him to his feet.

His axe caught under one of the serpent’s scales as it crashed into the bridge he had stood on. He swung around on the axe, throwing himself into the air above its back. The axe split into two hatchets, both of which spun into his waiting hands. Covered in the red glow of [Cripple], the hatchets buried into a weak scale on the serpent’s back and smashed into the vertebrae beneath. The beast shuddered, and Ryu clambered onto a stone support to watch the paralyzed beast drown its way into a slow death.

He spared a thought for his broken body. This, he knew, was the price of fighting without his full strength. It almost made him laugh. He had to keep Lucius around or give into his madness, and he found the choice between the two devils one he would rather not make at all.