The gnoll faced Vivi.

  The others were too far to help. Aang grimaced as he reached for his sword, pushing himself up. Ven was only now opening his eyes, recovering from the first interaction. Rohan growled, desperately trying to push himself up. The demons were hit badly and running out of ether.

  Vivi was alone. The gnoll’s murderous, suffocating aura was directed all at her.

  And she had no choice but to defend. Vivi held her dark mithril greatsword to block.

  No, Vivi thought. Defense would get her killed instantly. She’d be blown back like Ven and Feni. Vivi had only one strength. Her offense.

  She glued her feet on the ground and swung into the gnoll’s attack.

  The gnoll’s bloodthirst made Vivi want to close her eyes. She fully expected to be blown back, to be completely outmatched by the Elder Gnoll’s greatsword. Vivi was multiple heads shorter; her aura was nothing, she was a tiny child compared to a dragon. But she swung. As hard as she could.

  A jolt shot through her arms as the blades made contact. Her feet burned, arms trembling. Yet, her stance held. The black greatswords were evenly matched.

  The boss attacked immediately again. Before Vivi could even realize what was happening, the greatsword was aimed at her face again. Vivi scrambled together to block.

  Lydi shouted beside her. A discharge of ether erupted from her staff.

  The attack caught the gnoll by surprise, hitting it directly in the face. It was knocked back, holding a hand over its face. Its balance wavered.

  Now! Vivi thought. She dashed forth immediately, swinging from above.

  The gnoll raised its sword haphazardly, blocking Vivi’s attack.

  Vivi grimaced. She slashed with her claws, while raising the sword to attack again. The boss was still off-balance. An aura of pure murder and horror surrounded it, telling Vivi’s instincts to stay far back.

  She ignored her fears and swung straight into the gnoll’s block.

  The disgusting greatsword blinked, leaking ether. The gnoll’s wavering balance fell further, one knee on the ground.

  One more! Vivi shouted in her head. She threw a quick claw-swipe, grazing the boss’s fur, and went into stance.

  She threw down the heaviest overhead swing she’d ever performed.

  Crack. Wisps began pouring out of the gnoll’s black greatsword.

  A dagger landed in the gnoll’s head. All of the Hollows’ attacks landed at once. Rohan screamed while slashing at it from behind, repeatedly throwing swing after swing. His eyes saw red. “Get off of her!” he shouted.

  The boss collapsed on its face. Wisps of ether began rising from its body. Rohan finally paused his onslaught of attacks.

  The Hollows stared at the corpse in awe. Everyone was out of breath, struggling to stand. Rohan stood there, face wet from sweat. His eyes were wet.

  Eem hopped down from a crawl space above. Laughing, she landed on top of Vivi and grabbed her hair excitedly.

  “Hey!” Vivi said, chuckling. “Eem, calm down!”

  “You crazy witch,” Ven said. “What did we just witness? Vivi smashed the gnoll in the head?”

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  “We over brewed the boss,” Aang said. “That was far closer than it ever should have been. You did well, Vivi.”

  Alisa appeared from hiding and patted Vivi on the back. She grinned ear to ear. “I was certain I’d have to save you. Well done, our student.”

  She glanced up at Rohan, who looked pale. “Rohan?” she asked.

  “Sorry,” Rohan said. “I… I’ll need a minute.”

  He sauntered off into the cavern next over. The Hollows all looked worried, but they watched him go without intervening. Was this normal?

  After a short silence, Lucius appeared from Vivi’s core and took a proud pose. “Hehee,” he said. “Seeing as we defeated the boss, I assume that we can collect its ether?”

  Aang watched after Rohan for a second before turning to Lucius. “Yes. That was the deal. You craft us runeswords, you earn the rewards. The ether is yours regardless of who killed it. However, I think it’s best to collect your ether into containers.”

  Lucius tilted his head. “Why?”

  “Your reserves are unstable,” Vivi said. “And the Stewards will see progress made to my debt. If we pay it off too fast, it’s suspicious. As we agreed. Aang will collect the ether, and he will save it for us in containers.”

  Aang nodded, then began collecting the ether.

  Lucius watched while pouting. “Well, this is not fun in the slightest.”

  All of the ether was collected in less than ten seconds. “1892 ether. A good haul.” Aang grinned. “And it looks like there is something else for you as well.”

  The corpse remained even after the ether was collected. Vivi sensed something within the gnoll’s broken black greatsword. A powerful wisp of ether moving within. Like the soul of a nascent spirit.

  Lucius watched it with sharp eyes. “That’s it,” he said. “The prize we’ve been looking for.”

  Vivi blinked, unsure what she was looking at.

  “Take it, Vivi,” Lucius said. “The deal says it’s ours.”

  Vivi breathed in and reached for the wisp of ether. She saw the wisp fly to her core. Not into her ether reserves, but a different slot within her core. She felt the wisp’s powers flowing inside, filling one of the three slots Vivi now sensed within.

  A skill. The boss had dropped a skill.

  “Finally,” Ven said. “Some results. How long has it been since we found a skill? The wisp looked like a weapon skill. Try it out, Vivi.”

  All sorts of confusing emotions flowed within Vivi. She wasn’t excited. More so, she was in disbelief. Skills weren’t something a cursed child from Fellwater was supposed to earn. Defeating bosses and earning skills was a job left for the luckiest of ether hunters.

  “Let’s not celebrate early,” Lucius said. “The skill might be useless. I’ve earned plenty of those with my past wielder. Aang has a pile of trash skills. Test it out, and we’ll see.”

  Right, Vivi thought. She picked up her weapon and reached for the skill wisp.

  Activating the skill took some figuring out. Vivi wasn’t used to transferring ether within her core, being indebted and all. She tried to touch the skill wisp with her sixth sense. The wisp merely spun away from her hands.

  Vivi closed her eyes and focused. The practice with Alisa took over. Vivi shaped a path for the wisp to take. Out of her core, and into her body. The wisp took the hint.

  The skill’s powers activated instantly. Without Vivi doing a thing, the powers moved to her hand, and into her weapon. Suddenly, an aura of red ether enveloped the dark mithril blade. Spikes grew on the blade.

  The weapon stayed coated with ether, and the skill wisp exhausted itself, retreating back to Vivi’s core. The skill used regular ether from Vivi’s body as fuel. Wisps were exhausted rapidly. Just to keep the ethereal aura around her sword, Vivi dimmed out half a wisp every second.

  Beneath the skill, the runes still strengthened the metal from the inside. The coating of spikes and red ether was an additional power on top.

  Lucius’s tail moved curiously while he stared at the sword. “It’s a common skill. Looks like a basic sword enhancement skill. I don’t know its name. We’d need to have it examined to know for sure.”

  “Fits Vivi well, doesn’t it?” Ven asked with a grin. “That’s our first weapon enhancement skill. Those are always useful.”

  “Congratulations, Vivi,” Alisa said. “A good drop. You deserve it.”

  Alisa smiled for a second before her look grew concerned again. “I’ll check up on Rohan.”

  Aang nodded. “Let’s meet back home. This was a messy fight, but a successful hunt. The team will recover and reassess. How is Feni?”

  Lydi was assessing Feni’s wounds. “She’s bruised, and she’ll need rest, but she’s alive. If she wasn’t maxed out, she could have died.”

  “Anyone will die down here if they’re not maxed out,” Aang said. “Good work today. Let’s head home.”

  Lucius floated beside Aang and Vivi proudly. “We earned a skill today. A good one. That means we’re strong enough to defeat the main boss now, right?”

  “I don’t think so,” Aang said. He wasn’t smiling. “I had hoped to defeat the Elder Gnoll cleanly and without incidents. We were one mistake away from losing someone today.”

  “We’re barely even hurt,” Lucius said. “Feni got hit, but she’s alive. As a non-combatant, she’s not coming to the main boss fight anyway.”

  “Let’s not rush things,” Ven said. “Vivi, Lucius, do you need rest?”

  “I’m fine,” Vivi said. “I’m just a bit shaken.”

  Ven nodded. “There's still a lot of time remaining today. I wanted to take you along for a quick job.”

  Lucius paused, turning to him. “A job?”

  “Yes,” Ven said. “Let’s head to the hub and meet Grenall.”

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