“Still-young is holding them at the halfway point.” Kid relayed. Their eyes were glazed over as they used their |Lair Vision| skill. “A runner approaches.”

A shadow beast, something that appeared to be a cross between a rat and a small dog, burst into the room. It padded noisily toward Sepeti and the dragon.

“Battle has commenced, Speaker!” it squeaked between rapid breaths. “Large Still-young is engaged. Awaits further orders.”

Sepeti ignored the monster, patting the mammoth's large head. “Let me down, I need to do something. Kid, keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything crazy happens.”

As the mammoth set him down, he tottered towards the nearest wall and focused. He activated |Lair Design| and watched as the part of the wall he was touching crumpled in on itself soundlessly. The compacted mixture of dirt and stone disappeared from view but an innate knowledge told him that it hadn’t been simply erased, rather it was displaced and held in limbo within the skill. A message flashed, alerting him of how much space had been taken up within the skills inventory.

1/100 - |Lair Design: Capacity|

He felt a tiny trickle of his internal mana reserves flow into the subspace where his skills capacity was storing the displaced dirt. More ideas formed as he took out a few more hand-sized chunks. Then he focused on increasing the size, bit by bit, as he took note of the slight changes in mana consumption. He had yet to bottom out on mana, probably due to his |Mana Regeneration| skill, so he wanted to keep pushing it. Just to see what the absolute limits were. Would he faint from exhaustion if he pushed a little too hard? Or would something else happen to him?

As he considered the possibilities, he continued to fill his skills subspace. He would have referred to it as an inventory but that didn’t feel right. If anything, it felt like more of a storage space than an inventory he could freely access. There had to be a limit as to how he could empty it out, but he wanted to test something out first.

Soon his storage space sat at half-capacity, fifty compacted pieces of dirt and stone of varying sizes. He shivered as he felt his low mana begin to regenerate. First, he wanted to see if taking a piece of banished material out would cost him anything.

He held out his hand and focused on releasing just one of the many clumps of condensed dirt he’d collected. A ripple formed over his open hand and a chunk of dirt-covered stone dropped into his hand. It was much heavier than it looked, possibly due to it having been squished by his skill. Instead of the usual sensation of energy flowing away from him, Sepeti noticed that he felt a sliver of rejuvenation fill him. Specifically, the energy emanated from his stomach. A hypothesis began to form as he ran his hand over the pockmarked cave wall.

“Kid, anything?” Sepeti asked over his shoulder. He hefted the rock, tucking it in his pocket for later. He was sure he could get some kind of skill from the floozy system just by hitting an enemy with it.

“It’s awful,” the dragon complained as its eyes refocused. It blinked back tears, turning away from Sepeti and the mammoth. It balked, choking back spit and vomit. Sepeti found it odd but reminded himself that he was dealing with a teenager. A teenager from the planet called Earth, at that. He couldn’t expect them to have already built up a resistance to the realities of violence.

“Let it out,” Sepeti said, trying his best to sound sympathetic. “It’s easier that way.”

The dragon faced the wall and heaved, letting it all out. Instead of bile and vomit - which Sepeti had expected - a noxious gas spewed from its distended jaw. The gas chewed through the solid stone walls, liquifying everything in its path.

Sepeti and the mammoth, along with the dispatched messenger shadow beast, stood around and awkwardly watched the strangely dazzling display.

“Pick me up,” Sepeti murmured, trying to be polite but also wanting to get things done instead of standing around. The mammoth swooped him up and settled him on his spot. He was slowly getting used to riding the large beast. There was no doubt in his mind that he would soon be acquiring a riding skill or two. “When you’re ready, Kid, join us in the main cave.”

“Speaker,” the shadow runner spoke up as they exited the ante-cave. “About the front. Do you have instructions for large Still-young and the others?”

“Tell them to drop back to the quarter mark that we’d prepared when the current squads are dispatched. When that happens, come back for updated orders.”

The shadow runner lifted its foreleg and touched its shadowy snout before turning and bolting off. Sepeti was pretty sure it had just saluted him. He ignored the odd behavior and began testing one of the ideas he’d come up with after looking over his newest skill and its subskills.

Sepeti focused on a point just above the newly excavated fake escape tunnel. He tightened his stomach and focused on releasing just one of the remaining rocks in the storage space. It popped into existence at the spot he was looking at, hung in the air for a second, then fell, sliding down the wall and landing with a resounding thud. Mana flowed through him, emanating from his stomach outward.

“Ok,” Sepeti mumbled as he focused on a second point, slightly higher than the previous spot.

The rock materialized in the same spot as the previous one. It hung suspended once again before gravity took hold.

Sepeti hummed as he looked higher, craning his neck and following the wall as it ascended into the darkened heights of the ceiling. He concentrated on the furthest spot he could still see. His poor eyesight made it hard for him to pick out the small rock materializing but he felt the release of mana empowering his body. He waited, listening intently as he scanned the area where he expected the rock to land.

Something whistled through the air before a sizable chunk of the ground exploded.

Sepeti nudged the mammoth, pointing at the origin of the explosion.

“Elephant, reach in there and pull out the rock.”

The mammoth obeyed, using its trunk to feel around the impact zone. It sifted through the rubble for a bit before retracting its trunk and depositing a small, palm-sized rock in Sepeti’s hand.

“Nice,” he mumbled, absently petting the mammoth’s ear. His options for fighting continued to grow.

The sound of screams and howls funneled through the entrance into the large cavern. The shadow monsters held in reserve bristled, some pawing at the ground in anticipation.

Sepeti inspected the array and runes around where the rock had crash-landed. He was happy to find that they were intact and fully operational. Mentally, he noted the durability of his gigantic interwoven spell, an official name still pending.

“Sepeti,” came a weak rumbling voice from behind him. He turned, wondering how the hell a dragon was able to move around so quietly. “Sorry about that. I just…”

Kid’s voice trailed off. He could tell it was busy thinking about some of the things it had seen.

“It’s natural,” Sepeti offered. He was really bad at offering support. He could barely support himself emotionally. “Let’s just focus on what we have to do to get outta this situation.”

The dragon sniffled as it nodded. “I took another look before I came out. Still-young and the others should be retreating soon.”

“All right, can you get started on the second escape route?”

Kid nodded again before shaking its head and body like it was trying to shrug something off.

“I’ll get to it.” The kid-dragon wandered off toward the opposite end of the room, wings limp around its powerful shoulders.

The large snake approached, having waited for Sepeti and the dragon’s conversation to end. “Speaker, my brood are ready and waiting, just as you asked.”

Sepeti jutted his chin out, bidding the snake continue with its report.

“They will deploy at your word.”

He liked the snake and tacitly decided that it was worth remembering its name. After a moment of fishing through his stilted memories, he nodded at it.

“Thank you, Old-One. Stay near the dragon.”

Without a wasted word, the snake slithered off after Kid.

“Well,” Sepeti said as he nudged the mammoth into action. “Let’s get set up then.”

Incoherent voices echoed, bouncing and reeling as they rushed into the main cave. Sepeti, along with the reserve shadow monsters, stood at the ready. Well, the monsters stood. Sepeti sat semi-comfortably atop the mammoth.

Wailing reached his ears. He was unsure whether the voices belonged to the humans or the monsters. A tightness formed in his gut. He couldn’t remember a time not having to deal with the tightness before engaging in a fight. It was always there to remind him that, yes, he was actually human. Even with all his oddities and defects, his mortality was always at stake.

Kid shifted restlessly next to him, tapping its front legs in an odd rhythm.

“Don’t think about it too hard,” Sepeti said, eyes glued to the opposing wall. “The first time’s always the hardest. But you’ll get through it.”

The dragon nodded, looking like it was ready to heave more of its highly acidic stomach contents all over the place.

Rumbling drew Sepeti’s eyes. He watched blankly as the bison-lizard appeared with a dozen other shadow monsters on its heels. The blocky creature was missing half of its lower jaw as the shadowy mist that had previously wreathed its body fizzled. They ran past the first line of waiting shadow monsters, each one tucked behind a boulder that Sepeti had had the dragon place.

The shadow monsters following the bison-lizard fell in line, licking their wounds at the back of the formation. The bison-lizard rumbled toward Sepeti’s group, positioned halfway through the cave quite a few meters away from the orderly lines of shadow monsters.

“It’s a beast,” it said as black, viscous blood dripped from its open wounds. It collapsed, darkness coalescing around it. To Sepeti’s surprise, the shadowy monster began to heal. Maybe ‘heal’ wasn’t the right word. Its wounds began to mend themselves as its body siphoned the surrounding darkness into itself. A dark chitinous plate grew atop the various injuries the bison-lizard had accrued, sealing the black blood.

“I bet she is,” Sepeti murmured as he studied the peculiar regeneration method. He’d never had to rely on healing in his previous life, at least, he’d never bothered to learn any methods. But maybe a regeneration method or two would carry him quite a way in this world. Losing a limb or two seemed quite plausible.

“They’re here,” Kid whispered, voice shaky.

Sepeti understood the child-dragon’s consternation but he saw no point in commiserating. They’d have to learn, one way or another. Life wasn’t easy.

Light flooded the cave as something resembling a flare sailed through the air. It flipped, end over end, as it flew higher and higher.

“|Levi|” a voice yelled from the cave entrance. The flare stopped its tumbling and hung suspended in the air.

Sepeti noticed the shadow monsters recoiling from the bright light, breaking formation to crawl under the nearest boulders shadow. The bison-lizard let out a dissatisfied grunt as its steady supply of darkness was abruptly cut off.

“Kid!” Sepeti yelled, tearing the dragon’s attention away from the floating flare. “Take it down or we’re fucked!”

The dragon shuddered, rousing itself out of its stupor. With the flick of a wing, metallic spikes flew at the flare.

“|Shielden|” the voice yelled again. The spikes bounced off of something before they could reach the flare.

The dragon grunted as it took off, lithe body propelled forward by its wings. It swiped at the translucent shield, claws bouncing off and leaving a visible tear. It swung again, ripping away more of the shield.

“Fire! Kill the dragon!” Another voice yelled as multiple heavy arrows flew at Kid. The humans trickled into the cave as their backup rained arrows on the preoccupied dragon. Sepeti couldn’t help but notice that every one of them was wielding a long weapon.

The dragon swatted most of the arrows with its tail before tucking itself behind one of its wings, using it as a shield. Many arrows pinged off their metallic wing harmlessly, but a few penetrated the dragon’s thick hide. It let out a pained roar, freezing all the visible humans as they succumbed to the stun.

“Old-One!” Sepeti yelled over the din of the roar. The large snake rattled, appearing to be unaffected by the bright flare, as it slithered forward and hissed at the cowering shadow monsters. It whipped its tail at the front row, pushing them into action.

The monsters were shocked out of their torpor, jumping into action as they descended on the stunned humans.

The first wave rushed forward, crashing against the vanguard of the humans with ferocious yips and yelps. Claws tore into exposed legs, teeth sank into and crushed armored shoulders, shadow vermin grouped up on one unlucky soldier and quickly tore through their flimsy leather jerkin.

“|Repel|” the annoying voice yelled as a shockwave pushed the first wave of shadow monsters back. A new set of soldiers quickly replaced the fallen ones as the dragon’s roar subsided.

“Kid, hurry up and take it out!”

The dragon reached through the tear in the conjured shield and pierced the dangling flare with a long claw. The semi-darkness of before fell on the cave once more. But only for a moment as a second flare flew through the air.

“Shit,” Sepeti grumbled as he pulled the condensed rock out of his pocket. It was time for him to earn his new skills.

As the flare tumbled through the air, flooding the room with its damnable brightness, the humans continued to shuffle forward. They poked and prodded the first wave of shadow monsters, who were dazedly stumbling back into the fight after being knocked away. As the numbers of the first wave dwindled, Old-One shook its rattle loudly. The second wave rushed out, screaming at the top of their shadowy lungs.

“|Levi|” the voice yelled again as the flare paused, hanging in limbo.

Before the voice could cast a shield on it again, Sepeti took aim and whipped the rock at the suspended thing. He summoned all the strength his feeble body could muster.

The flare exploded.

New Skill Acquired!

|Marksmanship: Improvised|

Sepeti had no time to read the message, waving the screen away as another rock dropped into his hand. Another flare sailed through the air. This time he wouldn’t wait for the caster, he’d hit it as it moved.

He focused, watching the stick of brightness tumble end over end. His eyesight sharpened as he felt a sliver of mana dissipate in his gut. He was able to see it all; the way the wick of the flare fizzled and popped as it flew, the way the darkness ran from the light, the way the air bent around the stick. Everything slowed as he focused.

He swung his arm and the flare exploded, drenching the enclosed battlefield in semi-darkness once more.

“They have a marksman!” a voice from the human side roared.

The third wave of shadow monsters was engaging the endless reserves of the human vanguard as heavy arrows continued to zip through the air, aiming at the frantically dodging dragon.

Slowly but surely, the frontline of the monsters was being pushed back. As their numbers dwindled, the humans grew.

“Old-One! Kid!” Sepeti yelled. He nudged the mammoth, digging his knees into its neck. “To me!”

The snake ripped a soldier’s arm free, slapping them away with its huge tail as it slithered toward Sepeti. Kid found their groove, dodging the wayward bolts and arrows with ease. It roared again, stunning all the humans within hearing distance as it landed next to Sepeti.

“Kid, summon some of your condensed boulders,” Sepeti said as he pointed at a point above the cave entrance. “Old-One, any word from your clutch?”

“They wait, the humans gather,” the snake hissed.

A resounding crash shook the room as boulder after boulder fell, breaking humans and monsters alike.

Sepeti could hear voices frantically calling a halt to the human’s advance as the compacted dirt and stone broke their vanguard. Dust filled the cavern, lowering the visibility further. He held up a hand, signaling for the dragon to cease its bombardment.

“My clutch says the humans are retre--” The large snake let out a gurgled, restrained cry as it collapsed. Wailing filled the cavern as snakes of all shapes and sizes fell all around the surprised group. They writhed in agony, much like their brood-mother, as the wispy shadows that made up much of their bodies were sucked away.

“No!” Kid rumbled, nudging Old-One’s motionless body with its snout. The snake’s scales flaked off as the wailing crescendoed. Every shadow monster in the cavern cowered as a presence pressed down on them.

Sepeti slumped forward, unable to hold himself up. His head rung, his nose ached, his chest felt cold. Everything hurt.

Light bloomed, illuminating the dark cave as multiple flares slid into the room.

“Guess I have to do it myself,” a woman’s voice penetrated the ringing that filled his head. “Come Dragon, let me kill you.”