"You're going back in," Coby said.
Not a question. He was leaning against the guild hall wall with his arms crossed looking like he couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or not.
"Tomorrow," Renn said. "Deeper section. E-rank chambers."
"By yourself?"
"Party of four. I signed up on the board this morning. Two spots were already taken."
"Who?"
"Don't know. Names on a sheet."
Coby pushed off the wall. "I'm coming."
"You're Common grade."
"Yeah, thanks, I remember. I was there."
"E-rank chambers are harder."
"And?"
Renn looked at him. Coby's arm was bandaged from yesterday. The cut from the Mite wasn't bad but it hadn't fully closed either. His sword needed sharpening. His boots were still covered in gate dust that he hadn't bothered to clean off.
"Your arm," Renn said.
"It's a scratch."
"The Mites in E-rank are bigger."
"Great. Bigger target. Harder to miss."
Renn didn't have a good argument against stubbornness. He'd tried in the past, with other people, in the life before this one. Never worked then either.
"Fine."
Coby grinned. Mostly teeth. Partly something else and he knew it. "See? That wasn't hard."
The Ashvein's E-rank section opened up below the F-rank tunnels. Literally below. A shaft at the back of the third chamber dropped straight down about fifteen meters into a wider cave system where the stone was darker and the veins in the walls pulsed instead of glowed.
The other two in the party were a Caster named Dorrin and a Defender named Tav. Both from a town called Millkeep, two days east. They'd been running gates for about a week. More experience than Renn's party had but not by much.
Dorrin was quiet. Small guy, dark hair, threw mana bolts that were sharp and fast but didn't hit as hard as Lira's from yesterday. Tav was wider than Kael and louder about it. He slammed his shield into the tunnel wall when they entered and said "Good acoustics" and nobody laughed but he didn't seem to care.
Renn summoned his three Footmen at the shaft entrance before they descended. The mana cost was the same as yesterday. Thread through the sternum, pooling, iron building from the ground up. Three grey soldiers standing at the top of a hole in the ground.
Tav stared at them.
"Those are summons."
"Yeah."
"They're wearing armor."
"Yeah."
"Real armor."
Renn didn't answer because he'd had this conversation yesterday and he wasn't sure what the right response was supposed to be. Yes, they wear armor. Yes, it's real. Yes, that's unusual. He got it.
The descent was a rope ladder bolted to the shaft wall. The Footmen couldn't climb. Renn dismissed them at the top and resummoned at the bottom. Cost him extra mana for the dismiss-resummon cycle. Stupid. He'd have to figure out a better system for vertical transitions. Add it to the list.
The E-rank section of the Ashvein was different from the F-rank in ways that went beyond just harder monsters. The tunnels were wider. The ceiling higher. The veins in the walls pulsed with a rhythm that felt biological. Like the cave had a heartbeat.
The air was heavier too. Not humid exactly. Dense. Like the pressure had changed without the altitude changing. Renn's ears didn't pop but something in his inner ear felt wrong for about thirty seconds before it adjusted.
Smelled different. The wet rock was still there but the sour note underneath was stronger. And there was something else now. Metal. Not the clean iron smell of his Footmen. Older. The kind of smell that comes off things that have been buried a long time.
First contact was different too.
Iron Stalkers. E-rank. Bigger than the Mites by half, upright instead of low to the ground, two arms with bladed forelimbs that could cut through standard-grade armor. Level 5.
Three of them standing in the tunnel like they'd been waiting.
Tav went forward with his shield and one of the Stalkers hit it and the impact pushed him back a full step. He grunted. Dug his boots in.
"Stronger than Mites," he said.
Renn sent Footman one and two forward. They flanked the Stalker that was pushing Tav's shield and hit it from both sides. The broadswords went through the Stalker's body at the same time and the thing made a sound like tearing cloth and came apart.
The other two Stalkers charged. Fast. Faster than the Mites by a lot. Footman three stepped into the path of one and caught the bladed forelimb on its sword but the impact drove the Footman's feet back across the stone. Sparks. Real sparks. Iron on something that wasn't iron.
Coby went for the third Stalker. His swing was better than yesterday. Cleaner. The blade hit the Stalker's arm joint and the creature stumbled sideways and Dorrin's mana bolt hit it in the chest and it went down.
But the second Stalker had recovered. It came at Footman three from the side while the construct was still braced against the first one and the bladed forelimb came down on the Footman's shoulder plate.
The sound was bad. Metal on metal. The forelimb cut into the plate about two inches and Footman three's left arm stopped responding. Renn felt it through the Bond. Not pain. Damage. A section of the construct's body that was sending signals that said broken.
The Stalker pulled its forelimb back for another hit. Center mass this time. A killing blow on a damaged construct.
It connected.
The forelimb punched into Footman three's chest plate. Right through the center. Renn felt the Bond spike. Hard. Like someone grabbed the string in his chest and yanked.
But the Footman didn't break.
The armor around the impact point flickered. Not visually. Renn felt it through the Bond. Something resisting. A layer that hadn't been there before. Or had always been there. He didn't know. The forelimb was IN the chest plate but it wasn't going deeper. The damage was frozen. Held.
The Stalker tried to pull back. Couldn't. The armor had closed around the forelimb like a fist.
Footman one came from behind and took the Stalker's head off.
Renn stood there breathing. His status screen had a new notification blinking at the edge of his vision.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED]
[IRON BULWARK (Lv 1)]
[Damage absorption: 15%]
[Construct #3 received lethal damage]
[Iron Bulwark reduced incoming damage below lethal threshold]
[Construct #3: Damaged. Not destroyed.]
Iron Bulwark. He'd seen it on his skill list since day one. Passive. Damage reduction aura. He knew the words. He'd read them. But reading that a skill reduces damage by fifteen percent and watching a construct survive a hit that should have killed it were two different things.
Footman three was still standing. Barely. The chest plate had a hole in it and the left arm hung wrong and the construct's movements were slower. Damaged. But standing.
A construct that should be dead. Wasn't.
"What," Tav said. He was looking at Footman three. "What just happened to that thing?"
"It survived," Coby said. He was looking at Renn. Not at the Footman. At Renn.
"Constructs don't survive hits like that," Tav said. "That was a lethal hit. Clean through the plate. It should be dust."
Renn didn't have a good answer. Or rather he had an answer that was technically accurate and would lead to more questions he couldn't afford.
"Passive skill," he said. "Damage reduction. Must have been enough to keep it standing."
Tav looked skeptical but didn't push. Dorrin hadn't said anything since the fight started and still wasn't saying anything now.
Coby was quiet too but it was a different kind of quiet. The kind where someone is paying close attention.
They cleared two more rooms. Renn kept Footman three in the back, damaged, using it as a rear guard rather than a front line unit. It moved slower. The broken shoulder affected its sword angle. But it was alive and it stayed alive through two more fights because the Iron Bulwark passive was apparently always on and always working and Renn just hadn't noticed because nothing had hit hard enough before.
Every time a Footman took a heavy hit, Renn felt the passive activate through the Bond. Like something tightening over the iron for a second. Absorbing just enough.
Fifteen percent didn't sound like much. But the difference between dead and not dead was usually a lot less than fifteen percent.
The boss room was at the end of the E-rank section. Bigger than any chamber they'd been in. The ceiling was high enough that it disappeared into dark. The veins in the walls pulsed brighter here. Faster.
The Iron-Tusk Boar stood in the center of the room.
Level 8. E-rank boss. Size of a horse, maybe bigger. Low to the ground with a body built for charging. Thick plates of natural armor covering its shoulders and skull. Two tusks jutting forward from the lower jaw, each about a meter long, made of the same dull metal as the veins in the walls.
It was looking at them.
Not moving. Just looking. With eyes that were too smart for something that was supposed to be a dungeon boss.
"That's big," Coby said.
"Yeah."
"That's really big."
"Yeah."
"I don't think my sword is going to do much to that."
"Probably not."
"Great. Cool. Love this."
Tav planted his shield. Dorrin moved to the left flank, hands already glowing with mana. Coby gripped his sword and didn't say anything else.
Renn looked at his three Footmen. One at Soldier rank with 258 Might. One standard Recruit. One damaged with a hole in its chest.
The Boar charged.
It was fast for something that size. The ground shook. Literally. Renn felt it through his boots. The tusks were aimed at Tav's shield and the impact when it hit sounded like someone dropped a building on a bell.
Tav slid back three meters. His boots left grooves in the stone. But he held.
"Now," Renn said. First time he'd spoken a command out loud during a fight.
Footman one and two went from the sides. Both blades hit the Boar's flank and the swords bounced off the natural armor. Not a scratch.
The armor on its sides was too thick.
The Boar turned. Fast. One tusk caught Footman two across the torso and launched it into the cave wall. Renn felt the Bond spike. Damage. Heavy damage. But Iron Bulwark caught enough of it. Footman two crumpled against the wall, got up, and came back slower. Dented. But not dead.
Not dead again. Because of the passive. Again.
Dorrin's mana bolts hit the Boar's face and it flinched. Small opening. Renn didn't think about it. Footman one was already moving. Not for the flank this time. For the gap between the skull plate and the neck.
The broadsword went in.
The Boar screamed. A sound that went up and came back wrong. It thrashed. The sword was stuck. Footman one held on with both hands and Renn could feel the strain through the Bond like trying to hold a door closed against something much stronger than you.
The Boar bucked. Footman one came free. The sword stayed in.
Disarmed. Construct standing in front of an E-rank boss with no weapon.
Coby moved.
Renn didn't see the decision happen. One moment Coby was standing near the left wall with his sword up and the next he was running. Not toward the Boar's face. Toward its back legs. He swung low, two-handed, and the blade hit the back of the Boar's knee joint where there was no armor plate.
The Boar's rear leg buckled.
It went down on one side. The sword in its neck shifted and the wound opened wider. Dark fluid on the stone.
Footman three, the damaged one with the hole in its chest, came from the other side. Slow. Arm not working right. But it grabbed the hilt of the embedded sword with its good hand and twisted.
The Boar stopped moving.
Quiet. The pulsing in the walls slowed down.
[GATE BOSS ELIMINATED]
[Target: Iron-Tusk Boar (E-Class, Lv 8)]
[Method: Coordinated party + construct assault]
[Time: 2m 14s]
[EXP Gained: +1,200]
[Core Crystal: 1x Iron-Grade]
[Rare Drop: Boar Tusk (C-grade weapon material)]
[Bonus: First Clear +600 EXP]
[LEVEL UP x2]
[Renn Aldis: Level 2 -> Level 4]
[Might: 13 (+2)]
[Reflex: 11 (+1)]
[Spirit: 27 (+3)]
[Grit: 12 (+2)]
[Command: 30 (+3)]
[Legion Capacity: 10 -> 12]
Two levels from one boss. The first clear bonus made the difference. Renn's Legion Capacity jumped to twelve. Twelve slots. He was using three.
Footman one retrieved its sword from the Boar's neck. The blade was coated in dark fluid that was already evaporating. The construct stood there holding a sword that had just killed an E-rank boss and it didn't look impressed. It didn't look anything. It was iron. Iron doesn't have opinions.
But it had held on when the Boar thrashed. Held the hilt with both hands while something ten times its weight tried to throw it off. That was something.
Coby was sitting on the ground. Not injured. Just sitting. His sword across his knees. He had a look on his face like he wasn't sure yet whether what he'd done was brave or just stupid.
"Nice hit," Renn said.
Coby looked up. "Thanks. I think I pulled something in my back."
"The knee joint. No armor there. Good read."
"I panicked and swung at the closest thing that didn't look metal."
Renn almost smiled.
They looted the room. The party got the crystals and chitin and materials split by contribution. The Boar Tusk went to the party pool. C-grade weapon material. Worth real money. They'd sell it at the counter.
On the way back up through the cleared tunnels Renn walked beside Coby. The others were ahead. Tav talking loudly about how his shield held against a boss charge. Dorrin still not talking.
"Here," Renn said.
He held out four of his crystals. Half his share from today.
Coby looked at them. Then at Renn.
"What's this?"
"Your cut."
"That's not my cut. My cut was two crystals. I killed one Stalker and helped with the boss. Two crystals."
"You scored the hit that dropped the Boar. Without that it doesn't go down."
"Your Footman finished it."
"With a sword that was already in its neck because the Boar went down on the leg you cut. Take the crystals."
Coby looked at the four dull grey stones in Renn's palm. They weren't much. Couple days of food. Maybe a weapon maintenance kit from the guild shop.
"Why?" Coby said.
Renn thought about it. He could've said something about fairness or contribution or combat value. All of that was true. And it all sounded like something you'd say when you were trying to sound reasonable.
"You need them more than I do."
Coby's face did something. Not gratitude. Something else that Renn didn't have a name for.
"You're a weird guy, Renn."
"Yeah."
Coby took the crystals. Put them in his pocket. Didn't say thank you. Didn't need to.
They walked.
At the guild counter they sold the Boar Tusk. Two hundred and ten credits. Split four ways. Fifty-two each. More money than Renn had ever held in this life. It went into the same pocket as the remaining crystals.
Maren's medicine for a month. Maybe longer.
He stood outside the guild hall after. Late afternoon. The Hum doing its thing. Grey streets. A dog asleep on a porch across from the hall that hadn't moved since morning.
Four crystals lighter than he should have been. He'd given them away and his head said that was the wrong move because those crystals were Maren's medicine money and medicine was not optional.
But something in his chest said it was fine. He couldn't explain that part.
He looked down at his hands. They were steady. They'd been steady through the whole run. Through the boss fight. Through watching a Footman survive a hit that should've killed it twice over.
Iron Bulwark. Fifteen percent damage reduction.
The difference between breaking and not breaking.
He summoned a single Footman. Right there on the street. Didn't need to. Nobody was attacking. No gate, no monsters. He just wanted to see it.
It stood there. Grey iron in afternoon light. Sword at its side. Helm facing forward.
A woman across the street picked up her pace when she saw it. Pulled her kid closer. Didn't look back.
Summoner stigma. Right. He'd have to get used to that.
Renn looked at the Footman. Footman one. The Soldier. The one that held a sword in a dying Boar's neck while the thing tried to throw it into a wall.
There was a scratch on its left shoulder plate. From the Stalker fight. Hairline crack in the iron. Barely visible unless you were looking.
He was looking.
"Three," he said. Out loud. To nobody. To the Footman that couldn't hear words because it wasn't built that way.
Three knights. First boss kill. Level four.
The scratch on Footman one's shoulder was the first mark any of them would carry.
He didn't fix it. Didn't dismiss and resummon.
Let it stay.