Ryan made his way back to the main chamber with the turrets. There hadn’t been a need to take time to search around. The giant marks from the flesh golem made it very clear where it had come from.

  He followed the path into the only place where he hadn’t really taken his time. Partly because he was getting shot at by magical laser turrets. Ryan couldn’t help but grin, remembering how he ran around the chamber.

  His eye went up ten yards, to a place that had once been a rocky wall. Now it was a massive gaping hole. Larger than the tunnel he’d walked down.

  “Huh. I think it might have fled.”

  There was no ping from [Aura Detection].

  When he went to the mouth of this freshly made cave, he noted how there was a sliding wall setup, several inches thick, with a tunnel going in a completely different direction. This tunnel had massive handlebars on the sides, old metal plates and exposed wiring were strewn around, cluttering the tunnel.

  There were multiple places that his [Lesser Dangersense] was pinging him from.

  Though the most interesting thing was that his stalker had been waiting for him.

  In the center of the tunnel. Only a hundred yards or so away, a skin shambler stood. A monster that was well over ten feet tall, its skin looking like it was pulled too tightly over its too-thin bones. Even its face was long and gaunt. It was different from the skin shamblers above. Slightly smaller, cleaner with some sort of leathery makeshift skirt.

  Tar’el paled.

  Ryan pointed at the monster and looked at his hogtied elf. “Oh hey Tar’el, it’s your cousin.”

  He whispered into Tar’el’s ear. “If you say something stupid I will gag you with that bloody hood. Maybe shove that bleeding golem heart in your mouth.”

  Ryan’s voice and face had more than a bit of venom in it. He then directed it at the skin shambler, pretending it was out of complete cruelty instead.

  “Hey, you understand me, right? Can you speak?”

  It opened its great mouth, filled with misshapen jagged teeth. “A little English. Not well.” It then changed dialect, his [Translation] skill working on the creepy natural dialect the monster used.

  “But you are a Trialist, yes? You do not need me to speak in English, yes?”

  “Kinda.” Ryan’s words back were English though it seemed to have been translated immediately to the monster. “So, it turns out that you guys aren’t just monsters bumping in the dark after all?”

  The shambler’s eyes flinched away from Ryan’s confident gaze and locked towards Tar’el’s.

  It nodded. “Yes. You are Artigan, yes? One who is unwanted above?”

  That got a raised eyebrow from Ryan. “So, you’ve heard of me, even down here?”

  “We know much, have had time. Time to understand… and to learn.”

  “So this was what the Witch Tyrant wanted me to find…” Ryan muttered loudly.

  It was both directed at Tar’el, so he would keep his mouth shut, and for the shambler. Its big white eyes and its disturbingly stretched face was still focused on Tar’el. It flickered to Ryan once it processed his words.

  “She… she knows we are here?”

  “I was just checking for your reactions. So… you guys have access to the Realment.”

  The Trial Outpost had basic local net capabilities. If these creatures actually had enough intelligence to build golems and turrets then they could easily figure out how to work adventurer’s phones.

  Wait no… There wasn’t just the local network.

  Gravenmarch had a system portal running through it most of the time. These creatures could have easily tunneled close to it and connected to the radio tower. If they had access to the real internet then they completely understood the rest of the world.

  Not just intelligent enough to speak but intelligent enough to understand. The Witch Tyrant had talked about the little ‘trap’ for civilizations that she had set up.

  “Well, what do you want?”

  “We have… Something to trade. Weapons. Information. A Trial entrance. We help you. You help us, yes? Secure for us. Negotiations. Trade.”

  “The golem heart?”

  The creature shook its head. “No, we… want you, your strength. We can win in the leveled zones. But losses will be great. We take Gravenmarch and Trial outpost. You help. Yes? We have weapons, trade and negotiate.”

  Ryan thought about it for a second. Of course Ryan wasn’t going to repeat another attack on a Trial outpost. He’d just gotten the Witch Tyrant punched in the face. Nobody was going to care if he beat up everyone in the fourth realm and ruined two settlements.

  No, the curious question was what this group of skin shamblers wanted after the attack. He wanted more information.

  “Attacking both Gravenmarch and the Trial outpost, huh? Gravenmarch has a System Portal and the Trial outpost has Leafstalkers. You’re going to need an army bigger than the one I attacked Lazhen with.”

  The skin shambler grinned at him. Baring sharp teeth with a mouth that somehow widened beyond the frame of its skull.

  “Tournament favorites are the problem… Epics are… The First Leaf is also a problem. If they are still here for you then you must help us deal with them and we promise you much. We are both monsters after all. Hunted. Unwanted.”

  . Ryan understood. They had been planning on attacking the highest Trial attempt. By then all the current tournament favorites would have moved on to the fifth realm. But because he was here there were probably discussions on whether the Leafstalkers and the tournament favorites had to stay and defend the Trial outpost from him.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Ryan wanted to learn more but the monster had cut off the conversation. That was probably as much as he was going to get.

  Ryan grinned back. “Yes, yes we are monsters. So, what do you want me to do?”

  The Skin Shambler’s eyes bore a hole into Tar’el’s pale face.

  “We need to know. You save him. You have said you would kill all that comes for you, yet you saved this one. Why?”

  Its long limb reached out, as if it wanted to claw into the perfect reflection of what it could have been.

  Tar’el finally broke his silence, despite the distance he squirmed. “S-stay back!”

  Ryan jostled the elf on his shoulder, a little annoyed that the shambler elicited more fear from the elf than he had. Ryan turned to the skin shambler, cool and collected. Then he lightly slapped Tar’el’s face.

  “This here’s my aura generator. Demonic classes you know? I work on fear. He also works as someone to test my banter on. Also works as a hostage… and well, do you see me carrying food around?” Ryan tapped the head of his elven ration once again. “This little baby can pack it all.”

  The food comment seemed to make sense to the unwanted shambler. It nodded its head.

  “You will not need food with us. We will provide. Give elf to me. Yes?”

  If there was anything that would have broken down the communications, it was this. Ryan was fully willing to see where the rabbit hole led. Unfortunately he just had to save this ungrateful ass Leafstalker.

  “I’m not questioning the food you eat here or anything. But this is my source of resource reserves. I’m not giving you my only form of aura regeneration down here.”

  “We can give you much fear. I am afraid of you too. Yes?”

  “You aren’t. .”

  Both monsters stared at each other. Here was the conflict. One monster wanted to verify that Ryan really was the same kind of monster that it was. The skin shambler had access to both the realmnet and the internet. It had gone through what people had said about Artigan.

  A villain. But one with rules. Relatively bloodless for Realmers. Will still risk their lives if it meant he could get power.

  It wasn’t enough for the creature.

  The Skin Shambler bared its teeth. Its long arms stretched out, hands in a claw shape pointing, dragging at the ground. It tilted over and broke a piece of metal off the walls. It stretched and twisted it until it was a weird little spear. Mana seemed to form almost naturally, rudimentary runes that seemed to crackle and pop, almost like they were going to break.

  Yet it was stable. It pointed its rudimentary enchanted weapon at Ryan.

  “Then you will not pass this point.”

  Ryan just scoffed. “Didn’t I say? You aren’t afraid of me anymore. You, my good friend, have embraced death fully. What’s your plan? Bring down the tunnel on us while we fight? Maybe leave me on a little goosechase until I’m deep enough?”

  The flicker of fear gave everything away, even if the expression of the monster didn't.

  Ryan’s grin was now wider than the shambler’s. He tutted. “Here’s the problem. You don’t even realize it, but you’ve just given away every single part of your little group’s plan.”

  He balanced the elf on his shoulder and spread out his arms.

  “What happens if I just warn everyone on realmnet? What happens if I let Tar’el go and they recruit all of the strongest realmers here? And trust me, there’s quite a few at the level of the First Leaf.”

  He couldn’t tell if the monster cared. Ryan waved his hand.

  “But fine, let’s say you’re all prepared for that. You probably have a good plan. Lots of golems, weapons, shadow monsters. Maybe even some modern explosives. I can see it already. Go up there, take both settlements in the only leveled zone in Sector Four. It’s a beautiful plan. Adventurers aren’t good at sieges and they might even retreat bloodlessly, thinking there’s no Realmers to save so they can retake it later. Then you can bunker down and show them how wrong they were.”

  The tightening of the grip was all he needed to see that he was on the right track. It was so easy. He just needed to remember the Witch Tyrant’s words and think about what he would do to cause the most conflict in The Realm.

  Plus it been done before. Multiple times in the Settler war. The singular Trial entrance in Sector Four had been a huge chokepoint.

  Ryan grinned. “”

  [Aura of Unrelenting Intimidation]

  “ME.”

  For the first time since he’d gotten his new quasi-legendary title, his highest leveled Epic activated in full. It hit both Tar’el and the Unwanted in the face. It blasted down the cave systems as Ryan’s voice seemed to shake the tunnels.

  “You forgot the price of pissing me off. You shot at me, threw a golem at me, ? I have nothing You ask for negotiations, I demand reparations.

  His aura blasted through Tar’el’s little mental barrier. It smashed through the deathly determination of the skin shambler… and all those that were watching.

  Ryan’s eyes flickered to a little crevice. One he felt a vague connection with his passive from. He smiled at it, speaking to whoever was listening from afar.

  “All your plans come to naught if I stand here. Between Gravenmarch and the Trial outpost. What can you do if I stand here between you and Gravenmarch? Even if you get around me, what happens if I decide to assault whatever fortress you attempt to build?”

  He let some of the Aura Tyrant free.

  “The way I see it. You have to appease me.

  There was the simple answer again. That in the end, power mattered more than anything else. Ryan hadn’t liked it when it was on the other foot. But on his own damned feet?

  The elongated creature froze in place, its arms trembling, uncertain at what to do. The monster in front of the shambler hadn’t just broken through all of its little traps but had completely understood everything they had been building towards.

  Its jaw started trembling.

  It was horrified at its own fuckup. The monster… No, the Unwanted elf of the Fourth Sector was horrified of Artigan. That fact seemed to spike true fear from the elf on his shoulder.

  Ryan was a… little disappointed. Not of the levels but because he had read through the skin shambler before him so easily. It was just a group of people trying to find their way back into civilization. A trap set by the Witch Tyrant. Possibly she was the one who had tricked these creatures into coming up with this hare-brained plan.

  Then again, these people weren’t the Witch Tyrant. They weren’t the ones he was trying to play against.

  Ryan turned off his aura, then shook his head. “It’s a stupid plan that only works for a short amount of time. You come like this and the adventurers are going to see monsters and achievement points. I don’t know how many of you are down there, but you’re going to lose a whole lot of people. Probably just to Valee and Zedart alone. Why not… why not just–reach out? Tell them you can think like they do?”

  “We are monsters. We are unwanted–”

  “That doesn’t mean–”

  The monster snapped in desperation. “WE ARE MONSTERS, YES? UNWANTED! YES?! THE DWARVES AND HUMANS WERE FINE! UNCHANGED! EVERYTIME WE BUILT SOMETHING THEY WOULD COME DESTROY EVERYTHING! CALL US MONSTERS! YES?! WE DID NOT KNOW WE COULD BE MORE UNTIL–”

  “Enough.”

  A voice broke through the entire cave system. Ryan’s eyes sharpened at how the mana vibrated to carry the voice. He couldn’t tell how much power was behind the speaker beyond that it was too much even for a fifth realm.

  “Bring Artigan here. I wish to speak with him. He is correct in that he is not an enemy we can afford, yes?”

  The skin shambler looked to the walls in horror once more. “B-but sire, he’s dangerous.”

  There was no response. The skin shambler turned to Ryan, its eyes darting back and forth between him and the wall. Then dropped its weapon and clawed the ground. It turned around and walked down the tunnel. Then turned back to look at him.

  “Come, yes? Sire has said you must meet him.”

  Ryan narrowed his eyes. If all of this was an act, then it sure as fuck was a really good one.

  “, I’m not going to walk down a trapped tunnel, no offense.”

  The voice came back, this time Ryan saw how the mana traveled across the walls first. Little runes etched into the walls lighting up to vibrate the air around them.

  It spoke in his ear.

  Ryan pretended to give it some thought. He was starting to understand the trap the Witch Tyrant had set up for civilization. The forgotten festering wound that civilization wanted to keep buried. Exploding out in a pus filled nightmare that would take many lives before they could fix.

  He didn’t like walking into traps.

  But he walked down the depths anyway.

  Because messing up carefully laid plans was what adventurers did best.

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