Roland couldn’t stop grinning. Even the stench of the Halls of Refuse couldn’t kill his mood.

  Once Bob accepted him into the party, Roland emerged from the portal back at the System Pylon and found himself in a new room, a cavern that served as the destination of dozens of raw sewage piles. Tons of untreated waste and plain garbage were scattered around in random piles, and out in the distance was a Boss that was literally made from trash.

  Its body was a translucent gelatinous mass, like a vaguely humanoid jellyfish. Little shiny tendrils rose behind its back and moved at random, waving like tall grass in the wind. A skeleton made of metal and plastic parts could be seen through its greenish yellow body, holding its spine, two thick arms, and a pair of legs as thick as tree trunks.

  More garbage was caught inside the gel-like substance that made its flesh, a bit like fruit in a cup of Jell-O. The skull of a rat bigger than the Champions or Guardians he had fought served at its head, covered in the transparent goo.

  That’s all he managed to see before three people tried to hug them at the same time. Even Bloodykee sidled over and rubbed Roland’s leg with his head like a friendly cat.

  “What took you so long?” Dahlia said, her face buried against his shoulder. “We cleared the whole damn level without you!”

  “What about the toxic avenger over there?” Roland asked.

  “Bonus round. Doesn’t count.”

  Bob slapped his back. “Glad you made it, coz.”

  Wendy stepped away from the huddle first. “I had a bad feeling about this fight until you arrived. Not that my Second Sight has been too reliable lately.”

  “Never mind the monster,” Dahlia said. “You made it to level six – three and three, whatever – and you are at least another two inches taller. What happened on your side quest?”

  “Had a procedure, met some people, killed some of them, came home.”

  She smirked at him. “Way to long-story-short it, Captain Death. Look at you! I thought we’d caught up with you and now you’ve got more than two levels on us.”

  “You'll catch up. I’m saving my Essence until I raise my Skills a bit more.”

  “Good,” Dahlia said. “Let’s go kill that monster and then clear the damn dungeon.”

  Roland Webb has been designated as Party leader.

  “Passing the baton back to you, coz,” Bob told Roland. “We managed to stay in one piece the rest of the level.” His eyes gave Josh a sidelong look. “Mostly.”

  Roland had noticed something was deeply wrong with Wendy’s brother beyond his looks, but he put that in the back-burner, accepted the new quest, and focused on the Boss.

  Kinglet of Filth (Elemental Construct)

  F-Grade Elite Level Boss

  Health 1,560 Mana 880 Endurance 1,530

  Skills/Traits:

  * Construct Body: One-third of the Kinglet’s body is composed of grafted metal and plastic and animated through magic and not technically alive. As a result, Death-, Life- and Undeath-attuned attacks inflict half damage (this reduction takes place before applying its Gelatinous Body damage reduction).

  * Engulf (Epic, Action): Spits a glob of acidic slime that will completely encase any humanoid below ten feet in height. Escaping from the glob requires Strength and Dexterity checks; a minimum Strength and Dexterity of 60 are required to try to escape. While encased, the victim will be unable to breathe, and any exposed skin will suffer acid burns.

  Damage ranges from 2 to 20 Toxin points per second (20 points applies to total nudity). Mundane clothing and armor will take 20 points of damage per second until consumed. Damage to System clothing and armor varies. Common items: 10 points per second. Uncommon or better items: 5 points per second.

  Engulf lasts 60 seconds or until the Boss is destroyed, whichever happens first.

  * Gelatinous Body (Epic, Passive): Two-thirds of the Kinglet’s body is made of toxic ooze with Damage Resistance 100 against physical attacks, and 50 against all other forms of energy. It regenerates 50 points of damage per second.

  * Hail to the Kinglet! (Epic, Passive Summon): Upon entering combat, 2-8 Lesser Toxic Elementals will emerge from sewage pipes and defend their lord. This effect will repeat every 10 seconds until the Kinglet is destroyed.

  * Pseudopods (Epic, Passive): Up to six tendrils made of gelatinous toxic matter can be extruded from the Kinglet and attack targets up to thirty feet away. The pseudopods can target enemies independently from each other. Damage is equal to a punch from the Kinglet’s limbs: 80 points physical and 60 points Toxic.

  * Toxic Breath (Legendary, Action): The Kinglet can breathe a cone of burning sludge vapors that inflicts 60 points of corrosive damage on contact and an additional 30 points of damage per second for 10 seconds. Successive exposures double the damage-over-time effect and refresh its duration.

  Affinities: Disease, Life, Survival, Vermin.

  Resistances and Invulnerabilities: Death, Life and Undeath damage reduced by 50% (see Construct Body, above).

  Vulnerabilities: Cold attacks inflict double damage.

  He looked back at the group after using Analyze on the Boss. “You guys were about to attack that thing by yourselves?”

  “We had to commit to the bit before we knew what was waiting for us,” Bob said. “But we’re glad to have you back, Captain Death.”

  Roland examined the group. Everyone had made it to level four; Josh had hit level five and turned into a Demi-Fae, except that his version made him look more like a gray goblin than an elf.

  Guess somebody had to be the ugly duckling, he thought.

  More concerning was the dark aura around him. Everybody with a Class Core had a natural aura, but Josh’s was both stronger and more refined, almost like a cultivator’s, but with its own tone, or maybe frequency.

  A second look at Wendy revealed the same thing, but Wendy’s aura had been friendly, welcoming, easier to confuse with the regular Classer’s kind. Light Fae versus Dark Fae, maybe. The concept wasn’t new to Roland – it was a staple in fiction and games – but he wasn’t sure if that was how things worked.

  He would have to ask Trixie when he got back. For now, he used Analyze on Josh – and something rebuffed him.

  Josh Hennessy (Mutated Demi-Fae Ascendant) is protected by a Shadow Veil (Grade-D Fae Blessing).

  Analyze fails.

  Analyze has increased to Beginner 10! New Feats available. Evolutions available.

  This can’t be the result of a random Class evolution or loot drop, Roland thought, pushing the mental words toward Raven, who had been exchanging short greetings with the rest of the gang.

  You are correct, sir. Some Fae Faction – one of the many Courts, perhaps – has sunk its hooks into young Josh Hennessy.

  Great, Roland thought. What do we do about it?

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I doubt the Fae involved mean you harm – yet. Assume he is here to spy.

  “How are you doing, Josh?” Roland asked him.

  He had a feeling Josh had a second Core now, or maybe some Fae equivalent. But until he could take a deeper look, guesses were all he had.

  “You going to start in on me?” was Josh’s response. “I know what I look like. Got turned into a monster.”

  “You can hide it,” Wendy told him, clearly not for the first time. “All Fae can do it.”

  Josh shrugged. “Whatever. So, are we killing that thing?”

  They picked the worst spy in the freaking planet, and then turned him into a circus freak, Roland commented. I thought spies were supposed to blend in.

  Well, the Fae know that we know that he’s a spy. Which means that they know we will show Josh only what we want them to see. But that is probably enough for their purposes.

  We’re not doing a ‘they know that we know that they know’ routine.

  “Yes, we’re killing the Boss,” he said out loud. “And I’m going to mostly keep him busy while you guys hit him until he dies. Let’s get you all to level five.”

  They might also want to use Josh to gain a foothold on this world.

  Roland nodded while he went through the party’s roster. Everyone was getting tougher, but if he had led them against Hatsuko and her merry band, some of them might have died. They needed more levels, better Skills, maybe better Classes.

  As to Josh – if this were one of Bob’s tabletop RPGs, Roland would kill the guy and maybe Wendy too. Or, more accurately, he would let Dahlia do the deed; she was a shoot first, ask questions later type when the dice were rolling. On paper, it was the safe play.

  Roland’s experience with the Fae had been pretty unsavory so far, and he didn’t think the bunch messing with Josh were good guys. They were probably just as bad as the TMK, the Han supremacist bunch that had been trying to take over mainland China and possibly the world.

  Fortunately for Josh, Roland didn’t kill people just for something they might do.

  “All right,” he went on. “As soon as we step out, the Boss is going to start spawning adds. I’m going to try to pull them all with my taunt and bring them closer to the main target.”

  “Got it,” Bob said. “We can keep Dillo in reserve as off-tank. Give us a signal to nuke the Boss. I’ll make sure any mobs that you can’t grab don’t make it to the squishies. And I can put my new shields on everyone, including you. Won’t have much Mana left after that, but it’s worth it.”

  “Sounds good,” Roland said.

  Bob had more experience handling the party and their new abilities, so he would be Roland’s platoon sergeant while he played both lieutenant and point man. Which made Roland more useful than the average Ell-tee.

  The Sorcerer’s Aegis that Bob used on everyone gave Roland forty-six points of Damage Resistance and would absorb an additional seventy-four points of damage before going down.

  The spell was layered over Roland’s aura, and his Art let him add his Auric Armor to it, increasing his Damage Resistance to ninety-five versus Concept-based attacks and sixty-five against physical ones. That would be helpful. Roland could now tank any hit he couldn’t dodge.

  Everybody had been ready to go when he arrived so there was little that needed doing. Roland activated his Ring of the Bodyguard and got a drop of blood from Wendy. Keeping the healer alive was the sensible thing to do.

  Josh vanished from sight, melding flawlessly with the shadowy background. He still showed up on the Party map, with a ‘Stealth’ buff.

  He’s not a weak link in combat, not anymore, Roland thought. But he’s working for someone else. I’ve seen what happens when an organization is infiltrated. In the Chapel, it almost got me killed.

  There’d be a reckoning after the fight was over.

  “Going in,” he said. “I expect the foyer will stop protecting you the moment I engage.”

  “That’s the way it’s been,” Barton confirmed. “We’ve got your back.”

  Roland nodded and ran forward, leaving the safe area.

  The Boss’ reaction was near instant. It turned toward him, giant rat mouth opening to spew its breath attack.

  Reaper’s Dash!

  Roland closed in, moving at unearthly speed. He’d expected the boss would keep him from ghosting through it, so he was ready when the dash slammed him into the monster. He bounced back, Reaper’s Dance still active. He could afford the cost; he still had a ton of Vital Energy left from his battle with Hatsuko’s gang, several hours later.

  Half a dozen monsters appeared, the basic ‘adds’ Bosses often had for backup. Much like their leader, the Toxic Elementals were gelatinous creatures with garbage skeletons, some with the body plan of Ratlings, others vaguely shaped like large dogs or small bears.

  Reaper's Call!

  This was the first time he’d used the Skill, so he was as surprised as everyone else by what happened.

  Roland felt his face – his entire body – grow larger and denser. A rumble that started in his gut Dantian rolled up through his Class Core, gaining power as it traveled out his nearly unhinged jaws. The shadow that he sometimes felt behind him surrounded him as the scream erupted from his mouth.

  It was a primeval roar, more fit coming from sabretooth cat – or maybe the Night Claw predator who had contributed its spirit to the Bloodline of the Death Bringer. It filled the entire cavern, loud enough to make his body and the nearby trash thrum and in the latter case, jump around or shatter.

  Four of the six Elementals froze in abject terror. The other two charged him with mindless savagery.

  The Boss was taunted. It attacked Roland with his breath weapon and multiple pseudopods that whipped toward him at supersonic speeds that left gunshot-like cracks in their wake.

  Death Tendrils!

  Eight ectoplasmic tentacles rose to bat aside or block the monster’s attacks. Both sets of limbs moved so fast that their motions became indistinguishable blurs that crashed against each other with deafening noise.

  The Boss’ Toxic Breath washed over Roland’s layered defenses without doing any damage. The stench was still nauseating, but Roland had been through worse. He kept going.

  Death Infusion!

  Roland’s Art filled a sixty-foot-wide sphere with Death energies. The pair of Toxic Elementals only lasted a few seconds. The Boss was impervious to the effect, however.

  The hand-to-tentacle battle continued unabated. That part of the battle sounded like a dozen Taiko drums being hammered by the insane. The Kinglet of Filth lost several pseudopods and one arm, severed at the elbow by a Coup de Grace from Roland's naginata.

  Roland could have delivered a finishing blow with Descending Righteous Wrath, but he contented himself with keeping the Boss busy while whittling down its hit points faster than it could regenerate.

  He heard the party disposing of the terrified Toxic Elementals. Three of them managed to overcome the fear effect before being destroyed, but Killodillo intercepted one of them and the blood spider Fiend webbed the other two.

  The party wiped them out just in time for the second wave of adds to arrive.

  Roland repeated Reaper’s Call while trading blows with the Boss. The second time was as disturbing as the first. He felt like he became something else when he activated the Skill.

  Even his perceptions, already altered in his Reaper’s Dance state, took a weird turn while the cry echoed inside his head. His spirit vision became sharper, Third Eye peering more deeply into everything.

  Up close and personal with the Boss, he could see its Monster Core, pulsing with Concept energies. When the last reverberating echo faded, the extra details vanished as well.

  This time, four Elementals appeared. All four attacked Roland and the Boss redoubled its efforts. It spat huge gobs of toxic goo at him, trying to engulf him, but his hardened aura kept the stuff at bay and he was able to jump or dash away.

  His counterattacks managed to sever the Kinglet’s other arm; now all that stood in Roland’s way were the six pseudopods that were replaced as fast as he severed them or pulled them off its body.

  The party was targeting the Boss now. A Fireball landed just far enough behind the Kinglet that Roland was outside its area of effect. The burned areas were covered with charred scabs. Roland noted that pseudopods no longer formed from the charred areas.

  “You got another one of those?” he shouted to the rear while he worked to chop off one of the monster’s legs.

  Before he could do that or hear a response, the Kinglet’s Health dipped below fifty percent. And all hell cut loose.

  The Boss grew to even more gigantic proportions, gel oozing from its body until it became a huge mound of goo with a trash skeleton faintly visible in its center, looking more like a victim than a part of the monster.

  Roland was pushed back by the expanding Kinglet. Before he could activate Descending Righteous Wrath to finish it off, he was surrounded by goo with shocking speed. This was worse than the monster’s basic Engulf Skill. Roland was encased inside the Boss.

  The acid gel hadn’t started eating into his clothes and flesh because his hardened aura was keeping it at bay. Roland contracted this aura until it only extended about two inches off his skin while he considered a response.

  A bright flash of light off to one side made the monster shudder, which shook Roland like dice in a cup. Another Barton Fireball, he guessed.

  The monster had recovered from its previous injuries and added another five hundred points to its Health as it grew. Barton’s attack shaved off a couple of hundred points, less than a tenth of the total. And Roland knew that Barton didn’t have ten Fireballs memorized.

  Time to get back to work.

  Death Tendrils emerged from his aura and tore into the monster’s Jell-O bowl of a body as Roland unleashed another Reaper’s Call.

  The effect of the strange cry while inside the monster was different and spectacular. This time, the sound flowed through his aura and expanded it, disintegrated the Boss’ gelatinous flesh as it went.

  Roland could see that both Imbue Death and Reaper’s Dance were doing increased damage and were no longer being reduced by the monster’s innate resistance to Death energy. His aura expanded and destroyed anything he encountered, freeing him from the monster.

  As he ran out of the mountain of goo, he saw his party had been busy.

  Their combined firepower had wiped out the next set of adds and was now focused on the Kinglet. Josh had used his blunderbuss’ fire-enhanced cone to shred a huge chunk of the monster. Barton had used his last Fireball and a Lightning Bolt for devastating effects, and Dahlia’s pets were harrying the toxic blob with blood webs and black lightning bolts.

  As Roland turned back to the monster, Killodillo and Bob charged it. His cousin had activated his OMA Skill and was tearing into the monster with physical and energy attacks.

  The Kinglet was on its last legs, but in five seconds or so, more mobs would arrive to help. Roland decided it was time to end it.

  Descending Righteous Wrath!

  He angled the attack so he would be far away from Bob and Killodillo. Roland found that his control over the naginata’s finishing combo had improved enormously after regaining his cultivation. He could feel his Middle Dantian, securely ensconced in its invisible Gold-ranked Shell, giving the attack extra weight.

  Benkei’s weapon was glowing like a miniature star. His aura grew darker and briefly took the shape of a heavy cowl and cloak draped over him.

  Roland’s descent struck the Kinglet of Filth and splattered it all over the cave.

  The party was spared from the gross shower, thanks to Bob’s shielding spell. Nobody was overjoyed about dealing with the stuff that landed on their shields and slid off while stinking up the place.

  Barton shook his body to help the goo slide off the Bob’s force field. “I can say with certainty that this has been the grossest experience of my life.”

  “This has been the grossest experience of your life – so far,” Bob told him, paraphrasing The Simpsons.

  Roland chuckled and leaned his head back, breathing the fetid air and feeling human again. The weird cowl effect had disappeared, thankfully.

  It was good to be back. Now it was time to loot.