Out of the darkness, the creatures hit fast and hard.

A winged alien flew past them, attempting to flank the group. Taki swiveled as it passed him, bringing a mace crashing down on the creature and slamming it to the ground. It twitched and was still, its spine fractured.

In the shadows, myriad sets of glowing eyes blinked at them. Without hesitating, Sakura shot out one after another, causing at least three sets of eyes to go out completely with groans of pain.

One bestial creature emerged, an amalgam of avian and mammalian features. Its knees were bent backwards, and it seemed to walk on hooves, but its torso was that of the main species they had witnessed before - bulky and covered with scales. It reared back and aimed a blow with some form of weapon - it looked almost like an obsidian axe - at Taki. Benzo blocked with his own weapon - a sturdy looking quarterstaff.

With a flurry of blows, Benzo drove the creature back. Out of the corner of his eye, Taki watched as Natsuki positioned herself behind it and -

BAM - something flew out of the shadows. Another winged creature launched a series of attacks at Natsuki with razor-sharp claws. She barely had time to roll out of the way before a claw scratched the rock wall behind her, sundering the stone. "Sakura!" she cried out.

An arrow answered, landing in the back of the avian monster's skull. It slumped to the ground, still clawing languidly at the air. Another arrow flew right over Taki's shoulder at the hooved monster. It deftly deflected the projectile without casting so much as a glance her way, intent on destroying Benzo who was backpedaling. "A little help!?" He cried, as the obsidian axe scratched a deep gash in his quarterstaff. The beast huffed, steam escaping from its nostrils.

Taki emerged behind it, raised both maces, and brought them down on the beast with all his might. It emitted a horrible scream, as did creatures still out of sight, further back in the tunnel. With a splash of brains and blood, the monster fell and was still.

All was now silent.

"Gross. So was that a boss or something?" Natsuki put away her sword, examining the few scratches her dodge-roll had earned her.

"The way everything else screamed - it's like they're psychically tied to each other. It probably was something like that," Taki said.

"Yeah, but I feel like that was way too easy. That wasn't a boss - totally like a sub-boss or something - " Benzo said.

Before he could finish, the flash of four different holographic screens blinded them in the darkness for a moment.

Congratulations.

You have reached level 5

Class abilities unlocked. Please choose.

Beneath was a list of three choices, all of them foreign to Taki. Unable to decide, he willed the holographic UI to close. I'll think about that later, he told himself.

Benzo was staring at his display, his eyes wide. "We totally skipped a level! Definitely a sub-boss." He made a selection that Taki couldn't read and grinned.

"I'm not complaining. I get multi-shot now." Sakura was beaming.

"What are you going to choose, Natsuki?" Taki turned and immediately realized he should have thought first.

Natsuki was smiling, however, and looking at her own UI. "I'll show you when I'm ready." She grinned.