Owen, along with Lome, Pyris, Justin, Draed, and Gorath, stalked the entrance of the cave, weapons at the ready. Owen, as the strongest amongst them, held the front. Lome had the back. In the centre were Draed and Gorath. Justin was right next to Owen, but thanks to his shadow abilities, he could easily defend the sides.

  “Draed, light,” Owen commanded.

  Draed nodded and fired an arrow bundled with mana in the distance. A massive cave revealed itself. Owen spotted certain shadows lurch back into hiding, away from the vivid light. But the light only lasted a moment before it dwindled away. As it was one of Draed’s attacking skills, he couldn’t use it too many times.

  But Levi wasn’t worried.

  Reaching into his Plundered Storage, he took out a large stick that was covered in black slime. It was the oil from the Dread Beetle. He ignited it with a spark, and a piercing light broke the veil of darkness. It was so bright that Owen had to squint his eyes.

  He heard something hiss behind a rock.

  Justin grinned and squatted down and placed his hand on the floor. He closed his eyes, and then they snapped open after a moment. From behind the rock, a black lance shot up. A monster followed it, skewered by the piece of thorned metal.

  It was a slender beast, like a goblin with tall pointed ears, but its skin was a dark grey. It also had striking blue eyes, like the underside of a glacier. Black tattoos were etched into its flesh, like the ink gun had dug way too far into the flesh.

  Draed replied with an attack of his own, firing an arrow into its eye. It was dead in an instant. Then, all around, Owen noticed a lot of movement. Silently, one of the monsters leapt at Owen from behind a stalactite up above.

  Owen grunted and slashed his sword in a controlled arc. No longer were his swings untamed, wild, and unprofessional. Now it had a hint of seriousness to it. But seeing the human-like enemies of the monster, he hesitated. Pulling back his power, his blade bit into the monster's shoulder blade.

  Not dead, the beast's make-shift blade clanged against his armoured chest piece. The cave goblin didn’t hesitate. It swung its arms to attack once more.

  With more strength this time, Owen replied with a speed the beast couldn’t match. He cleaved the monster in half, waist-to-shoulder. He Plundered its body as it fell, reaching out to the two halves in quick succession—like a master pickpocket.

  Drakzun, as Owen remembered them, were vile creatures with twisted and cruel ways of combat. They were Oreweavers; beings that tore ore from the walls underground and commanded the pure metal into weapons and armour. But only the strongest could control so much metal at once. These ones only had smaller weapons like knives and machetes.

  As the blood splattered on the floor, it signalled the beginning of a brutal and bloody fight.

  Gorath summoned his thunder, using it to devastating effect as the electric tendrils zapped any monsters in the distance.

  Draed, like he had eyes on the back of his head, always found his target. Thanks to his Class evolution, most of his arrows followed their target. Like an ethereal hunter stalking the grounds of purgatory. Focusing on speed rather than power, he mostly focused on stalling their movements, aiming for the legs, or the eyes, if he could.

  Lome was like an undead lumberjack whose sole mission was to cleave as many monsters as he could. For his kingdom, for his lord. One of the monsters had gotten close, and swung a sharpened metal shard at him. It struck bone, but that was far as it got. Lomer replied, eyes spitting unholy fire, and replied with a swing of his own, blade sinking into collarbone. His axe got stuck halfway. He needed a new weapon.

  Justin, on the other hand, rarely let any of the monsters get close to him. He was an assassin from birth, trained in cruel ways never to be seen, yet he was no slouch in direct combat. His shadow lances appeared to have little in the way of rules. He’d summon them from behind cover, from the walls, and the ceilings above. Owen knew the truth. Justin was listening to the shadows. It would tell him where he had to strike and when. And that was just the tip of his abilities.

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  Thanks to his incredible Lord Emblem, he—vanished. He reappeared 5 feet away, and thrust a spear into the nearby beast. Shadow Transference. Owen wryly shook his head at the incredible ability as he separated a drakzun’s head from its shoulders.

  Then there was Pyris. During the past couple weeks, she had grown ever stronger. Her fists covered in starlight blasted back the drakzun in droves. She moved effortlessly, with grace, and violence befitting a warrior of Velorin. Her fighting style resembled that of Earth's boxing. In fact, it was eerily similar, the only difference was that she used her elbows and knees and feet to deal maximum damage. But she held clear preference in her fists.

  However, the more he watched her fight, Owen couldn’t help but frown. She was holding back her powers. Every now and then, she’d scrunch her brows in clear and visible pain. It was obvious the corruption hadn’t completely been expelled from her system.

  Owen thought of using Unlimited Plunder on her. But how high would his control need to be for that? Medium? High? Peak? He had only just obtained Low grade. He was far from being comfortable doing that. With his current stage, he’d just end up plundering her entire arm, or worse, her body in its entirety.

  Ducking an incoming wild swing of a magic-formed blade, Owen thrust his shoulder into the drakzun, sending it tumbling to the ground before stepping to the side, and thrusting his blade into the heart of another.

  Two more arrived in quick succession, hissing and spitting violence. Owen activated Sandstorm Fury, and tried to control only a small amount. It didn’t work. A huge chunk of dust and sand on the cave floor shot up, assaulting the beast's sensitive eyes. However, the sand also washed over Justin and the others. They coughed and spluttered. Thankfully the sand settled after a moment.

  “Sorry!” Owen shouted, cutting into another monster. He spat at his lousy control. He had intended to focus on a small amount, but concentrated. Was it because of his lack of Magic Stat, or his measly amount of control?

  It’s both, Owen thought.

  Owen thought back to the harrowing thought of plundering Pyris. It was a sudden thought that he couldn’t help but have in the middle of the battle. His mind wandered to the skeleton corpses back in the ruins, where Armand’s letter lay.

  If he had plundered their bones, would the fight between him and the orcen Lord have been different? Owen grit his teeth and killed another drakzun with a slash of his blade. Most likely it would have. If he had gotten a powerful ability, or even slightly more Attributes… he may not have needed Pyris’s help. Because he needed her, she was placed in danger. She was just Level one. If not for her overwhelming combat experience and her Skills, she would have also died. And then all of his people would be up on the chopping block next.

  Stupid, Owen thought, gnashing his teeth as his sword sliced through another Drakzun. He hesitated—just a fraction of a second, like he always did. Killing still wasn’t easy for him. Neither was the idea of Plundering a once human body. If only he could let go of that small hesitation. But it wasn’t that simple.

  I can’t survive like this. Can’t protect everyone like this, he thought. Couldn’t protect anyone if he flinched when it mattered most.

  By the time he snapped out of his thoughts, the battle was over. The Drakzun lay dead around him, at least the ones that hadn’t retreated deeper into the cave.

  “Everything okay, my Lord?” Pyris asked, flicking blood off her hands as if it were nothing.

  “How do you not hesitate?” Owen asked, glancing at his trembling hands. That shake, always the same. It was holding him back. Keeping him from reaching the next level with his swordsmanship.

  “How do you train yourself to kill without second thoughts?”

  Pyris looked at the bodies scattered across the floor, then back at Owen. “Training, conditioning, and reminding myself we’re protecting those we care about.”

  Owen exhaled deeply, frustration lingering.

  Justin, who had been watching silently, finally spoke. “It’s simple: kill or be killed. You hesitate, you lose the target—and maybe your life with it.”

  Owen scoffed. “Easier said than done.”

  “Don’t stress it,” Justin said, his tone cold but reassuring. “By the time today’s over, hesitation won’t even be a thought in your mind.”

  Owen gave the bodies one look and nodded. Perhaps he was right. With a heavy heart, he tightened the grip around the handle of his sword. There was a lot more killing to be done.

  Rotating his shoulders to get rid of that feeling of being weighed down, Owen plundered all the corpses available. As he saw all of the notifications, felt the added warmth take hold of his body, he felt a little better. And the Skills and Summoning Tickets were a welcome addition.