Lillia had specifically requested that Arwin avoid crushing the Landsquid too badly, but he didn’t see how he was meant to fight the monster without crushing it. It wasn’t like he had a particularly large variety of pointy weapons to work with – all he had that was usable at the moment was his hammer. I can’t imagine she’ll complain if I cave the monster’s skull in. I’ll just leave the rest of the tentacles as untouched as I can. “Focus on cutting the tentacles off,” Arwin ordered, ducking out of the way as the Landsquid sent two tentacles snapping out to try and grab Arwin while he was off guard. The monster was fast, but its attacks were fairly predictable. Rodrick didn’t even waste breath on a reply. As the next tentacles shot out, he brought his blade down and carved one of them apart right at the half-way mark. Blue blood splattered across the warrior’s chest and he ducked back to avoid getting hit by the monster’s follow-up attack. The beast still had ten tentacles left, and Arwin didn’t know how deep the pool of water beneath the Land Squid was. With its gelationus body, he suspected it could probably fit itself into small spaces, but he wasn’t about to bet that the watery pit didn’t connect to a much larger area beneath. If it did, the fastest way to get killed would be to let the Landsquid grab him and drag him into the dark waters below. For the time being, the best thing he could do was to keep the monster’s attention and let Rodrick work. Arwin dismissed his armor and hammer to let himself move faster. He ducked and dodged away from attacks, letting each one pass by him harmlessly. Compared to much of the training he’d gone through in his past life, this creature was nothing. It was a monster that fought by ambushing its prey and using the element of surprise, not through long, extended combat. Another tentacle squelched to the ground, thrashing about even though it was no longer connected to its controlling body, and the Landsquid screamed in pain. It lurched forward in a last ditch effort to try and grab Rodrick – and that was when Arwin struck. His hammer materialized in his hands as he took advantage of the monster’s temporary distraction and he brought the weapon down clean on the side of the Landsquid’s head, using [Scourge] to empower the blow. “Does true genius also smell like fish?” Reya asked. “Because you’re going to.” They all chuckled, and Arwin summoned his armor back as he walked a lap around the room, checking to see if there were any other monsters lurking in wait. He kept his distance from the pool of water, not wanting to find out the hard way that there was another squid. “For our first fight of the dungeon, that wasn’t half bad,” Rodrick said. “I’ll say,” Anna agreed. “We didn’t even get hit.” “It was only an Apprentice Tier. I thought this was a Journeyman dungeon,” Reya said with a frown. “How come it was so weak?” “Trust me, that wouldn’t have been weak if we hadn’t outnumbered it five to one,” Arwin said, still scanning the walls. “And Journeyman dungeon means it’s appropriate for Journeyman tier adventurers, not that everything within it is a Journeyman. The weakest monsters are always toward the entrance of the dungeon, and it’ll only get harder the deeper we go.” “Oh, so that’s why we can’t clear out the whole thing yet?” Reya guessed. “Exactly,” Arwin said. “We’ll probably be able to go a few rooms deep at the most, but that should be more than enough for our purposes. I want you to make sure you don’t land any killing blows on any monsters yet, by the way.” Reya blinked in confusion. “Really? Why? Wouldn’t that get me energy faster so I could get stronger?” “It would, but that would cripple you in the future,” Arwin said. He paused as some lines in the wall caught his eye. “Power lies in Titles and Achievements, not through jumping through the Tiers as quickly as you can. Trust me on this.” “Okay,” Reya said with a mock salute. “Whatever you say, boss.” “Right.” Reya didn’t sound particularly mollified, but Arwin didn’t press the issue. He let his hand run along a crack in the stone, searching for a loose brick. It didn’t take long before he found it. There was a soft click and a portion of the wall ground back, swinging out to reveal another room. “That was fast,” Anna said, her eyebrows crawling up her forehead. “How’d you know there was a secret door? I would have suspected something in the pool.” “There might very well be something there,” Arwin allowed. “But I didn’t feel like going for a swim, and once you’ve seen a few dungeons, you start to keep an eye out for crap . Most of them were originally forts or other structures that got warped by the Mesh. Who doesn’t like a secret passage?” “I only like secret passages when I find the stupid things,” Rodrick said as he walked over to stand beside Arwin. “We going in there?” Arwin turned back to the pool and stuck his hammer out, extending until it was several feet beneath the water. He grimaced, then pulled it free and backed away from the water once more. “Yeah. We’ve got a deep pool over here, but nothing popped out when I tested it. I don’t think the monsters should be that clever this far out, so we should be good to go deeper. Make sure to take things slowly, though.” “Will do,” Rodrick promised. The two of them stepped into the next room. As soon as their feet fell beyond the doorway, dozens of little orange motes of energy identical to the ones that had lit up the stairs erupted all around the room, bathing it in soft light. This room was even mossier than the first had been, and the vine growth was thick enough that it almost resembled roots running along the floor. Water dripped from the ceiling, pattering to the floor gently. Sitting in the center of the room, still unaware of their presence, was a hunched green humanoid creature. It was hunched over the body of a dead Landsquid, ripping large portions of the fleshy body away and shoveling them into its fanged mouth. [Swamp Orc – Journeyman 1] A rusty cleaver hung at the monster’s side, still covered with goop from the Landsquid and dried blood from other victims. Rodrick gagged as the orc shoved a whole tentacle down its throat, barely even pausing to swallow. It wiped its mouth with the back of a clawed hand, then ripped another piece of the dead monster away. “That’s one ugly bugger,” Rodrick muttered, just loud enough for Arwin to hear.