Anthony spent a minute pacing along the walls of the first room, using his sword to spread fire to each of the unlit torches lining its perimeter. He didn’t stop until the last corner of shadows had been chased away from the area.

  As the final flame came to life, the distant clatter of rattling bones echoed through the corridor. Anthony was certain that a third skeleton had been drawn over from the abundance of light he created. Stepping beside the doorway, he raised his sword up high above his head, his well defined shoulder muscles tensed and ready to unleash a deadly ambush, like the one he had used against the hobgoblins.

  But what entered the room was no ordinary skeleton—certainly not one that he could dispatch with a single clean stroke.

  The creature that came rattling and lurching through the doorway was some kind of unholy amalgamation, a writhing mass of bones from at least a dozen different beings, all fused together in the grotesque, tumbling monstrosity of death before him.

  His ambush was technically successful, granting him the first strike like he had planned, but all he managed to do was slice through a few of the monster’s outer bones. As he realized the strange nature of the new enemy and retreated further into the room, he watched on in dismay as a few of the hundreds of bones that made up the creature’s exterior simply shifted into place in response to the damage, sealing the gap as if his attack had never happened.

  Oh that is NOT fair!

  As that thought entered his mind, he kept retreating, hastily considering his options in the short amount of time before the fight resumed. As he kept watch of his approaching opponent his eyes suddenly shot open at the sight of a whip-like length of bones instantly coalescing out of the skeletal mass before him, and immediately shooting toward him with terrifying speed.

  The unexpected attack was quite startling, causing Anthony to instinctively jump into the air to avoid it rather than dodging to the side or attempting a parry like a more seasoned combatant would have done.

  Suspended midair he instantly realized his mistake. He was left utterly vulnerable as the bone whip twisted midswing, adjusting its trajectory to follow his attempt to dodge. With no ability to maneuver out of the way in the air, Anthony had only one choice—put everything he had into his blade and attempt to sever the incoming strike.

  Without time to think, he activated his most powerful nexus key almost out of pure instinct.

  A wave of heat pulsed through the room, accompanied by a blinding flash of light and a low, resonant hum. Anthony funneled the flood of energy out of his body and into his sword as fast as his current manipulation skills would allow.

  Even so, the strain was immediate. Searing heat tore through him, a thin wisp of steam curling up from his arms and forehead as nearly a third of the power in his nexus was drained away in an instant.

  The sword in his hand began to shine so brightly that it overwhelmed his vision, leaving him completely blind during the moment of his attack.

  All he could do was swing and hope for the best.

  FWOOM!

  Anthony would have thought he had missed entirely when he felt no resistance against his blade, but the dimming glow of his weapon was proof enough that he had struck something.

  The rain of rattling bones crashing against the stone floor as Anthony’s feet touched down was additional proof of his achievement. His vision returned just in time to see the severed end of the skeletal creature’s bone whip. The bones at its tip glowed like the embers of a dying cigarette, and the entire monstrosity seemed to shudder in rage at the offense.

  The creature’s form began to shift and undulate as it discarded the burning remnants of its limb. Then, as if consuming part of itself, the abomination visibly shrank before sprouting two additional bone whips, which tore through the air with a high-pitched whistle as they raced in Anthony’s direction.

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  Knowing he wouldn’t have time to empower his blade fast enough to destroy both whips, he dropped low and dashed beneath the first attack. His sword was already beginning to glow as the nightmarish appendage passed by inches above his head.

  To conserve his strength and remaining power, Anthony activated the nexus key that allowed him access to two-thirds of his energy flow. He could only hope it would be enough to sever the thick, twisting limb as his blade crashed down against bone.

  FWOOM… CRACK!

  He had miscalculated—marking the second near fatal mistake of this encounter. His overhead swing cleaved all the way through the bones, almost, but ran out of energy while a sliver still remained still intact.

  Even though the bone whip began to droop down from the damage, that single sliver was enough for the skeletal abomination to maintain the overall trajectory of its swing, its whip-like limb crashing into Anthony’s chest and sending him tumbling across the room like a ragdoll.

  His teeth clenched tightly as he scrambled to his feet, blood trickling from his lips. A pained grimace stretched across his face as he struggled to force the air back into his lungs.

  The silver lining was that the force of the blow had thrown him far enough that he had a few precious seconds to recover. Pulling himself up against the corner of the statue’s platform, he tightened his grip around his sword, steadying himself as he limped forward to position his body between the statue and his foe.

  He had enough power left in his nexus for one, maybe two, full-strength attacks, but simply cutting off more bone whips wouldn’t weaken the monster enough for him to win. He needed a new approach.

  Anthony cast a quick glance at the spider demon statue behind him as the bone abomination rattled forward. Turning his attention back to his enemy, he slowly edged backward until his spine pressed against the platform, only inches away from the legs of the demon goddess.

  A second later, the skeletal creature’s whips came crashing toward him once again. As they neared, Anthony used the enhanced power of his body to leap up as high as he could manage off the ground, just as he had when the monster first attacked—except this time, he exaggerated his movement, eyes widening in feigned panic as though he had repeated his original critical mistake.

  The bait worked. The whips twisted midair, adjusting course to strike him head-on.

  Just as he had anticipated.

  The moment he was about to be struck out of the air, Anthony hooked his ankle around the raised arm of the statue, kicking with all his might to send himself flying backward over the top of it.

  The bone limbs snaked toward him like tentacles, chasing after their prey until they loomed directly above the demoness. The look of panic was replaced by a grin on Anthony’s face as his empowered sword suddenly shot forward, slicing through the enemy’s closest limb until it was nearly severed, just as he had done before.

  The half-severed limb tried to continue toward Anthony, but the injury forced it to wilt like a dying flower as it drooped toward the ground, gently brushing against the demoness’s back.

  The moment the bones made contact with the statue, a sound like a mountain of collapsing skeletons rang through the room as the creature’s entire skeletal structure suddenly detached, crumbling to the floor like a broken jenga tower. At the same time, dozens of black orbs shot out from the raining bones, attempting to flee in all directions—only to be violently dragged back, one by one, sizzling and popping as they disappeared into the statue’s hungry mouth.

  Anthony watched with a grin, wiping a trickle of blood from his lips before the pained expression returned to his face as he gingerly rubbed his aching chest where the monster’s attack had struck him.

  After allowing himself a few minutes to recover from the tremendous exertion of the last battle, Anthony began moving toward the exit on the far side of the room. The messy pile of scattered bones left behind by his slain enemy lay directly in his path.

  His mind was filled with the urgent desire to go deeper and find Elara as quickly as possible, but the relentless emergence of powerful enemies stirred the doubt in his heart.

  A look of uncertainty crossed Anthony’s face as he passed the skeletal abomination’s remains, but something interesting within the pile pulled his attention away from his current concerns.

  His eyes narrowed as he halted, then slowly turned toward the center of the heap. There, among the bones, a singular skeleton stood out from the rest.

  While most of the creature’s bones were large, black, and clearly demonic, this set was much smaller and evidently human. Its contrasting white color made it easy to spot even from a distance.

  The bones themselves were an oddity, but what mattered more to Anthony was the intricate golden ring wrapped around the skeleton’s middle finger.

  The sound of rattling echoed through the room once more as he tried to pull the ring free. But the moment he tugged, the entire skeleton rose up into the air, refusing to release the prize as the surrounding bones scattered. The ring was magically bound to its former owner, that much was clear.

  From this close distance, Anthony could feel the ring’s power. He took a sharp breath as his eyes lingered on the dazzlingly ruby-like gemstone at the center, before focusing on the mystifying inscriptions that ran down the length of the golden band.

  This was no ordinary trinket—this was a magical item!