The armor the Mistguard provided the cadets was little more than riot armor, seemingly made out of some kind of plastic-like composite. It was lightweight, relatively, and attached directly to the uniforms the group was already wearing. Beauty assured them it would be enough to stop or at least dull the attack of E-Rank Wordless.

  For a time.

  There were two big weaknesses to the armor. The first was, of course, that it barely had any magic in it, Det—and the others—were too low Rank to supply more powerful magical armor with the energy source it would need. If he put on anything D-Rank or above, he’d likely be drained dry in seconds. Not good for anybody. The other problem, or maybe limitation was a better word, to the armor was that in only covered the biggest targets or most vulnerable points.

  Plates of the plastic-like material slotted around the top of his feet, his calves, thighs, torso, the middle of his abdomen, upper arms, forearms, and along the collar of his jacket. The backs of the gloves also had a small plate in them, though he only wore one, with his Wordless gauntlet being on the other. Overall, the armor left his joints exposed, along with plenty of other spots for enterprising Wordless to stick him. At least there was a helmet, which was significantly more fashionable than the cap Det had refused to wear.

  The helmet was totally something out of an anime, with a tight-fitting, skull-cap shape that almost had his nose touching the transparent pane of glass running along the front. From the outside, his face would be completely hidden, and all six helmets looked identical. It was also just barely big enough for him to be able to wear his Wordless eyepatch underneath.

  Back in The ANTiquated Temple, he hadn’t been wearing either piece of Wordless gear—on Beauty’s recommendation—so he could focus on improving his magic. Going into this E-Rank dungeon with anything less than his best wasn’t an option, so he had both pieces on and ready to go. With their estimated time of arrival being sometime within the next few minutes, that was more important than ever.

  It was also why he wasn’t standing with the rest of the party watching the mist speed past below the low-flying mistship. The sky above was clear, with three of the moons shining down on them, like they wanted a front-row seat to what was about to happen. Not that Det was watching, his body bent over where he continued to vandalize the mistship’s deck. Just like he had been for the past several hours.

  Practically gorged on ink, Det had made the most of the ten hours—well, nine, after taking into account the briefing and getting armored up—to prepare a few surprises for any dungeons. Nearly a dozen murals of all sizes covered the deck, the walls around it, and even the door leading deeper into the ship. The crew had had some… words when he’d started painting, but Beauty had explained the situation, and promised Det would remove the paint. One way or another.

  All in all, the intensive work had been good practice for him. About halfway through, he’d figured out he could sort of pre-charge the paintings. It didn’t fill them to capacity, or reduce the two-second requirement to summon the rendition, but it gave him time to recover some of his magical energy, and reduced the actual cost when it came time to manifest them.

  He couldn’t go back and redo the ones he’d already done—not without summoning them to free up the space, which would cost him—so he left them. Even with the price tag associated to calling on those renditions, it would be worth having the option.

  On the one hand, he had renditions he figured he could take with him into the dungeon. Since they didn’t know how big it would be inside, he couldn’t just take something like the bear from the last dungeon, or even the croc. Both of those were powerful, but far too big for a cramped space. He’d had to find something with a bit more flexibility to get into tight spaces, while not giving up on strength or some measure of durability.

  As he looked at the curved lines of the image stretching across the deck, he had to give himself a pat on the back for what he’d come up with. Even if Tena wasn’t thrilled about his choice. Creepy, she’d called it.

  Effective was his word of choice. Hopefully.

  Along with that—his prime weapon for the coming battle—he also had another pair of wolves prepped and ready. These wouldn’t be the alpha, unfortunately, but they’d do. For outside the dungeon, he’d readied a small flock of birds of prey. In his first battle against the Wordless on Radiant, his small hawk had little success in its attack. These new beasts, however, prepared with kernels of Det’s energy, would be far more dangerous. It should take more than a single slash to bring one down, and their deadly claws would help even the odds a bit more. Some other animals, from wolves to a few crocs, would help keep anything trying to get out of the dungeon, in.

  Det also had his collection of scrolls, the katana at his hip, and four empty bottles inked with black flames. The Molotov-like cocktails he’d used back in the Ironsalt emergence. He was as ready as he could be. As were the others, standing at the railing as armed and armored as the situation would allow.

  It would be rough at the beginning, until Sage and Eriba had more tools at their disposal, but the group as a whole would have to find a way to make it work. It Tena could slow whatever came at them, and Weiss didn’t freeze, there was a chance this wouldn’t go horribly wrong.

  As Det looked at the backs of the others—wondering just where the first mistake would come from, himself included—Sage glanced back over his shoulder. Seeing Det watching them, Sage disengaged from the railing and jogged over in Det’s direction.

  “First time you’ve lifted your head since you started all this,” Sage said, gesturing to the wide selections of paintings. “Does that mean you’re done?”

  “As much as I can be,” Det said. “This is already going to be a bit costly, energy wise.”

  “Will it be worth it?” Sage said.

  “I hope so,” Det said with a shrug.

  “If the energy cost is so prohibitive, why not forget the birds you plan on leaving outside the dungeon? If they can’t help us directly…”

  “In case things go wrong,” Det said. “They can buy time and warn the Mistguard we failed. A few extra minutes might be enough for the mistship to get to Radiant and get some of the people out of there.”

  “You better not be expecting to fail,” Sage said.

  “Not at all,” Det said. “But, I also didn’t expect to end up on Elestar in the first place, so we have to admit there are some things outside of our control.”

  “This isn’t outside our control, though,” Sage said, a smile curling his lips. “The outcome of this battle isn’t the same as getting dragged to Elestar.”

  Det raised an eyebrow at the choice of wording. It was the first time Sage had expressed he wasn’t any happier being there than Det was. The other man didn’t notice the quizzical look on Det’s face, and continued on.

  “On Radiant, the only ones who will control whether we live or die, are us,” Sage said. “And you, Det, don’t strike me as the type of person who is going to let himself die anytime soon.”

  “Damn straight I’m not,” Det said. “Still, I’ve read too many stories and seen too many movies where somebody’s pride or hubris got a lot of people killed. If I can help prevent that with a little extra energy…” he waved his hand to the deck full of images. “… then it’s more than worth the cost.”

  “Were you a knight in shining armor in a past life?” Sage asked, being overly dramatic and fanning himself, before Det’s flat look forced him to break out in laughter.

  “You seem pretty calm for what’s coming,” Det said.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Sage rested the palms of his hands on the pommels of his Wordless daggers as he stopped laughing and took a breath. “The training my family put me through was different than what we went through our first week at the school. I guess you could say I learned that when it comes to things I have control over, I have little to fear.”

  “That you have control over,” Det said. “Which explains why you weren’t looking forward to the week of torture and attempted murder.”

  Sage grimaced. “I knew it was coming, and I knew it was necessary. I couldn’t change the fact I needed to endure it, and that fact was somehow more frightening than what we actually went through.”

  “I dunno, that was pretty bad,” Det said.

  “At first,” Sage said. “You seemed to find your peace quite quickly each day. Especially when it came to the illusions.”

  “Once I realized they weren’t really trying to kill us, it was a lot easier,” Det said.

  “It’s not just that,” Sage said. “When we got attacked in that dungeon earlier today, you took charge. Same with the discussion with Weiss. You’re adaptable and enduring. A rare combination.”

  “You sound like you’re either about to propose to me, or suggest we take over the world together,” Det said.

  Sage laughed his usual easygoing laugh. “You’re not really my type, Det,” he said with an apologetic nod of the head. “Taking over the world, though, hrm? That might be the easiest way to fix it, if I control it.”

  “Ah hell, I forgot about your drive,” Det said. “No world domination. Bad boy.” The finger wagging at Sage didn’t have the desired effect, just making the man laugh again.

  “No world domination. Today,” Sage laughed. “And, don’t worry, if I change my mind in the future, you’ll be the first one I tell.”

  “So I can stop you?”

  “Of course not! So you can join me.”

  “You know my answer will only be ‘yes’ if it will get me home sooner,” Det said.

  “Oh, I’ll make sure to have the proper encouragement ready,” Sage said.

  “Good, and maybe a chocolate bar if you can find one,” Det said. “Really sweeten the pot, you know?”

  “I see what you did there,” Sage said, tapping the side of his nose before pointing at Det over the horrible pun.

  “Whatever,” Det said, dismissing the insanity of the conversation, even as the door leading deeper into the ship flung open. Out came one of the crew, jogging along to stop and salute in front of the group of ReSouled.

  “The captain asked me to tell you we are about three minutes out from Radiant,” the crewman said. “We’ll drop you off first, sir,” he said to Beauty. “Then the other group shortly after that.”

  “Any new information about the dungeons?” Beauty asked.

  “Unfortunately, no, sir,” the man said. “The scout believed it best not to enter and risk speeding up the burst process. So, just the locations. Yours, sir,” he said to Beauty. “Will be a little tricky to access, with the emergence forming on the side of the pillar.”

  Det grimaced again at that news. The emergence had appeared on the opposite side of the pillar than the mining operation. Near the orchard, of course. The thing he’d faced, it had to be from the emergence Beauty was going to enter. Does that mean it was at least D-Rank? Not that it was important right now. What was important was that the location of the new dungeon wasn’t terrible for the people of Radiant. It wouldn’t cut the pillar off from one of their few means of making money. It did make it more difficult to access, though.

  “Get me close enough,” Beauty said. “And I shall get myself to the entrance.”

  “Yes, sir,” the crewman said. “As for the rest of you, thank you two…” he looked at Det and Calisco. “… for helping plot out where the clearing with the red flowers is. That will make it much easier for us to go directly there, without spending time running around looking for it. We should have you to it within minutes of dropping your instructor off.”

  “What happens after we go in?” Calisco said. “Not many people go to that clearing, but…” She looked in Det’s direction. There was only person who regularly went there, and most of the town knew it. Kels loved those flowers.

  And Det could only hope she hadn’t gone to pick some over the last few days.

  “We’ll deploy right after you go down,” the crewman said. “Set up a quarantine and screen, so any curious residents of the pillar don’t see what’s happening beyond it.”

  “A Mistguard training facility will be set up on the pillar,” Beauty said. “It’s standard procedure, and will bring some measure of newfound wealth to Radiant, as they support the ReSouled who visit. Enough about that, though. While I will go to the emergence from here, you should all get down to the lift.

  “I am sorry I cannot go with you,” Beauty continued. “But I have confidence you can handle the task in front of you. Because, you must. There is simply no other option.”

  “Great motivational speech there,” Calisco said.

  “Eh, I feel pretty motivated to not die,” Det said, but looked at the crewman. “When we drop Beauty off, how close can we get to the edge? Need to get these onto the pillar.” He pointed at some of this paintings.

  “Our pilot is excellent,” the crewman said. “Once your instructor is dropped off, I can ask her to bring us up to the level of the pillar for thirty seconds. Will that be enough?”

  “More than enough,” Det said.

  “Then we should all get to it,” Beauty said.

  “I’ll join the rest of you once I’ve for these all summoned and on the way,” Det said.

  “Don’t be late,” Calisco said. “Or we’ll leave without you.”

  “You tried that before,” Det said, referring back to when the Mistguard had first come to pick them up.

  “No Gen-gen to stop me this time, and I know how the lift works,” she said, but the other party members were already moving toward the door.

  “We’ll wait,” Sage mouthed in Det’s direction with a chuckle, then he was gone through the door.

  “Are you sure you’re up for this much summoning?” Beauty asked.

  “Like you said, I have to be,” Det said, crouching down to his first summons. While this one would be the one he’d need last—since it would be coming into the dungeon with him—it would also take the most energy. If it ended up costing more than he expected, even with preloading it, he wanted to make sure he had it with him.

  Prepared with a kernel of his energy to up the durability of the rendition, Det added a second one as he topped off the energy needed to summon it, this time reinforcing the thing’s musculature. From where his fingertips touched the deck, shimmering light spread across the long, black lines making up the mural. Like dominos falling, the energy crawled along the deck, before curving back to run in the other direction.

  Over the course of the full two second, nearly half the deck lit up, before the rendition crawled out. Or, maybe slithered out was a more appropriate term for it. Emerging at over sixty-feet long, and as wide around as Det’s chest, the thing was a beast. More than snakeskin covered it, with Det having added scales to the image, then imbued them with his kernel of energy. That wasn’t the only difference between this thing and a normal snake—as if a normal snake could ever be this big—with the head looking far more like a dragon’s than a snake’s.

  An armored brow protected eyes above a long, fang-toothed maw. Muscles seemed to flex within the black ink making up the jaw’s hinge, while a pair of sleek horns curved back across its skull from its forehead. The thing looked more like a sea serpent from legend than any kind of snake. It could also swallow a man whole.

  Thankfully, when it turned its black eyes in Det’s direction, he could feel his connection to it.

  “You’re coming with me,” Det said. “To protect me and my companions, and to crush anything threatening us.”

  A bob of the head signaled it understood, and sat there, waiting for the time to go.

  “Magnificent,” Beauty said, eyes locked on the powerful creature. “Does it breathe fire?”

  “Nothing like that,” Det said. “I can’t do—I’m not sure what to call them—magical effects? Maybe when I’m higher Rank. For now, it has to rely on brute strength. That’s why I’m sticking to animals instead of anything more fantastic.”

  “If it’s anything like the bear and crocodile who battled the ants with me, it will have strength in droves. How much energy did it take to summon?”

  “More than I would have liked,” Det grimaced. “I’ll be fine, though. You need to teach us some better ways to regain energy when we get back.”

  “I agree,” Beauty said, while Det worked on the rest of his paintings.

  Energy flowed out of him like he’d sprung a leak, though he called his two wolves, a half-dozen large birds of prey, as well as three, heavy crocodiles. That left him at about a quarter of his energy, which meant that was as many as he was calling for now.

  “I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach,” he said as he surveyed the half-dozen images he hadn’t been able to manifest.

  “It happens to all of us,” Beauty said, the front of the ship rising slightly, even as the Mistship itself dropped. Down, down, down, it went, until mist began spilling over the railing to join Det, his summons, and Beauty. The door the party and crewman had vanished through was battened up tight, keeping any non-ReSouled safe from the dangerous mist and the Taint that came with going in and out of the fog.

  Just the thought of it gave Det a new respect for the crew who would be going down to secure the emergence. As normal people, they’d go down in protective gear, but if any of the Wordless got out, it wouldn’t just be claws or teeth the crew would need to directly worry about. A torn suit, or a small leak, would be a death sentence.

  Only a moment after the ship was fully immersed in the mist, it slowed, and a shadow loomed off the side. Dark, tall, and wide, it could only be the pillar of Radiant. Somewhere above, the town Det had grown up in sat completely unaware of the threat right below their feet.

  “Looks like this is my stop,” Beauty said, red light shining through the mist to reveal a patch of even deeper darkness. The entrance to the emergence. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

  Before Det could even respond to that, Beauty took one step, whistled, then launched himself off the deck like he’d been shot. Beneath Det’s feet, the whole mistship seemed to shift, like the power of Beauty’s jump had physically moved it, while the fog swirled and then followed the vacuum created.

  “On the other side…” Det said, looking at the dark circle surrounded by red lights. Soon enough, Det would be going in one of those himself. Again.

  And he’d barely survived the first time.