Not that I had ever really doubted our decision to save Glorp, but if I had the moment he showed up and returned us the favor with a save from the monster that had gotten the drop on me and disabled Corey, I would have doubted no more. Thanks to his help getting to the end our path was no longer in doubt. Sure, it was slow going, at least by what I assume had become his view of traveling, but he made no complaints as we got through it.

  The near-ruinous experience we had had cemented in my mind another decision. Once we returned to Earth, I was going to need to get to work on improving my bond with Corey. I had some ideas, and oddly, the changes to my soul-core reaction likely would make it safer to place them within my own socket system, but I was still worried about a potential backlash.

  I pulled up the chat window as we walked down an empty hall.

  I closed out the chat window after the brief discussion just in time to hear the roar of something up ahead.

  “Huh, that wasn’t there before,” Glorp said nervously.

  “What is it?” I asked, worried if we could handle a big boss in our current state. Neither Rabyn or Mel had mentioned anything like that at the end.

  “Going to need some help out here. This is a big one!” Rabyn’s voice shouted from somewhere near the monster.

  “Coming!” both Maud and Glorp yelled in return. We were near the end now, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if either of them fell in the fight, well, other than what happened to the egg Glorp was carrying. I hoped he’d drop it. How much mana did he have left anyway? He had done a ton of high-speed running already, and that had to be draining.

  I carefully crept closer to the exit of the passage we were in, following behind a much faster Maud and Glorp. I preferred to stay hidden. I just wanted to be close enough to see the fight, if possible. The trick was doing it without drawing the creature’s attention, as I was in no place for that. God, I hoped that wouldn’t be true on the next floor. I hated this feeling of helplessness. So many of these people were in this mess because of me, and now I couldn’t even help them in a fight.

  There was what looked like a stereotypical dragon in the room, except bright yellow and moving faster than Glorp could, back and forth across the room. The feeling in my stomach at my own uselessness grew as I watched Rabyn’s knives sink into walls and not their target. Glorp was managing to land several of his own daggers into its flesh, but he also looked to be slowing.

  “Maud, stay behind me! Glorp, come grab these!” Rabyn yelled as the creature’s tail swept across the room, trying to catch Glorp. He had produced several glowing kitchen knives that immediately disappeared as a blur moved across the room.

  “Dear dragon, what brings you here without so much as a sheep? Did we wake you from your sleep? Shall we make you weep?” Connie’s voice suddenly echoed across the room with the rhyming lyrics. I wouldn’t call it a work of great poetry, but whatever she was doing seemed to be affecting the dragon. It was slowing down enough for Glorp to deliver more of the daggers. Rabyn even managed to catch it with a throw of his own.

  It roared again, this time releasing a blast of fire from his mouth. The lyrical rhymes ceased. I didn’t think it had taken Connie out, but it had at least stopped her debuffs for the time being, as Rabyn’s next attack again missed. Several blasts of lightning filled the chamber, far more than the creature’s speed could hope to dodge. Cecile and Elicec must have arrived. We just needed Elody now.

  A large scythe, somehow now the size of the dragon, swept out, catching its body and eliciting a howl from the creature. It only stayed that large just long enough for the blow. How much had that cost Cecile for a single attack? Whatever it was, was worth it as it had bought Connie time to resume her rhyme scheme, stealing away more of the dragon’s speed.

  The familiar chat window grabbed my attention from the fight.

  I closed the chat box and returned my focus to the battle as Corey began their own assault. The slowed dragon wasn’t able to escape the repeated strikes to its head as its focus was on trying to stop Rabyn’s knives and Connie’s chanting. Several gleaming silver arrows sparkled into my view, hitting it across the face. That meant Elody had joined the battle. I smiled comforted in the knowledge that we had all come through our paths.

  “Elody, Rabyn, keep between Connie and its attacks!” Elicec yelled, taking charge of the battle. “Corey, Glorp, keep hammering away at it. Maud, just stay alive!” He followed up on his orders with another blast of power. This time, icicles rained down onto the dragon’s back.

  It reared up and let loose another breath of fire across them all. Elody said something I couldn’t make out over Connie’s voice, and suddenly, a wall of ice appeared in front of them, taking the whole blast. At the same time this happened, Glorp managed to get a knife straight down the creature’s throat, barely dodging the fire himself. Glorp crashed to the ground, breathing hard. He looked spent.

  His effort appeared to be rewarded, though. The dragon began to cough. Then it began to writhe. Its scales started to glow a brilliant blue a split second before its form collapsed in on itself with a horrifying scrunching of a sound. What was left of it crashed to the ground, very much dead. What the hell had Glorp done? Was that one of Rabyn’s weapons?

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  “Everyone eggs now!” Rabyn yelled, dashing toward the center platform and placing his next to the one that was already there. So Glorp had already placed his? Guess I had worried for nothing then. I quickly joined everyone else as we slid our eggs into their spots.

  “Any idea where the dragon came from?” I asked after placing my egg.

  “I have a suspicion, but we will need to wait until the floor officially ends to confirm it,” Rabyn answered. That moment happened just after Elody added her own egg last.

  The black hallway came back into view, as did the door at the end. Another floor was completed. If only I could have been more of a help. That was going to change the moment we returned home. With Corey on board, it was only a matter of figuring out the process. I was sure I could do it. It felt like it was something my core affinity wanted me to do, strangely enough. There was almost a pull like I was heading in the right direction. I wasn’t sure that meant I should listen to it, but I had already come far enough on my own that I believed it was the right move.

  “Should I have gained all these levels?” Maud asked loudly, the joy entirely back in her voice.

  “Yes, if you want to discuss your development wait until we return home, but you are free to guide it any way you choose,” Elody answered, looking relaxed herself. Considering the dragon they had just fought I was a bit surprised at her expression. Had she enjoyed the floor? We filed out of the hallway back into our private waiting room to find the same people still waiting for us, Floor Master included.

  “Ah, good, Floor Master, I am glad you are still here. Before we leave, we have several arena prizes we’d like to turn in. I also found this. Do you know what it is?” Rabyn asked, producing a silver coin

  “Strange, I do not. You should hold onto that while I investigate it. As for your other prizes I will have them sent to your home. Two of them are a bit large to hand out here, and the other will take time to prepare and I imagine you have no desire to wait around,” Floor Master answered. I wanted to know what the coin was that Rabyn had found, but that could wait until we returned and there were fewer possible eyes and ears around.

  “Thank you. Also that dragon at the end, what caused that?” Rabyn replied with another question.

  “Ah yes, that is something added to the floor when someone clears a certain speed threshold. It is rarely seen, and the one you fought was one of the least of them, but congratulations on beating it nonetheless; it is a good way to cap off your day,” Floor Master answered. So Glorp’s speed had triggered a secondary defense. That made some sense, as anyone with any sort of speed build could finish the floor nearly instantly without something like that in place. How hard were the stronger ones? And how rare were true speed paths?

  “Alright, let’s get outta here before we end up with any new problems fer once. Got work to do back home,” Mel said, ushering us toward the porter.

  I am aware of Karlinovo’s work yes. And no, I do not consider the man an expert on anything. I do not care what people claim he has accomplished. I taught the man I am entirely aware of his shortcomings as a scholar. He finds holes where there are none. He refuses to practice the fundamentals. His time would be much better served working to understand the rarer mana orbs than to try and force more of them into a person’s core. It’s an insane experiment that can only lead to his own destruction.

  Henjen Klank’s interview on his former student

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