The Contingent Cast I’d picked was a messy one.

  I hadn’t had many choices, after all. Iron Body, another Contingent Cast, and what few spells Bobby had picked up.

  Worse, he hadn’t been interested in giving them to me. I’d had to trade, and I only had one thing he was interested in. So I wouldn’t be getting any loot from this next fight; he’d get my pick.

  But in return, I got access to two new Spellcodes—and I’d spent most of the night working one of them into something useful. The spell was called Stasis Trap, and it was basically like the bombs and grenades I’d built early on in the Redline Tunnels, except this one didn’t explode. Instead, it instantly sucked one hundred percent of the energy out of an area, and held it for a few minutes before releasing it again.

  Bobby never used it because, unlike a good trap, it didn’t stop draining energy. That made it almost worthless for ambushes or getting advantages. Any injury would freeze instantly, and so would any attacker as the energy drained out of them—or their weapon.

  But for crowd control, it was perfect. I saw it as an option for knocking an enemy that was ambushing me out of the fight. And I also saw it as an option for area denial. I’d set the trigger to fire on a physical action and command word, and as Tori’s leg was ripped to shreds through her leather armor and the orange water turned red with her blood, I pointed the Voltsmith’s Charge toward her and extended my ring finger. “Otter-Pop!”

  I’d always liked those stupid pseudo-popsicles as a kid.

  The effect was immediate. Tori froze in place—and so did the top of the tentacle attacking her. A timer appeared over her head:

  Stasis: Two Minutes, Fifty-Eight Seconds

  I checked the Spellcode Scroll-Reader. Completely out of Charge. That meant we had a little under three minutes to figure out this fight, plus however long it took Tori to bleed out. Judging by her leg, it wouldn’t take long.

  I rushed the tentacle that was half-in and half-out of the stasis trap and slammed the Trip-Hammer into its base. The hammers’ two spikes punched into it one after another, and I kept them spinning as they ripped the base of the tentacle, shredding skin, muscle, and fat. Gore flooded into the water around me, then drifted down slowly as the platform kept rising.

  The tentacle tried to thrash free, but its tip was stuck in stasis, and all the thrashing did was tear it wounds wider. I whirled toward the next tentacle as that one tore free and hung in the water, its desperate thrashing and crushing growing weaker.

  Stalk of the Chthonic Abysslord Defeated: 6/8 Remaining

  I barely noticed the message. We had to kill the rest of the tentacles, and as good as Bobby was at staying alive, his punches just weren’t going to rip the gashes in them that we needed.

  Stasis: Two Minutes, Thirty-Nine Seconds

  And we had to go a lot faster.

  ?▼?

  Stalk of the Chthonic Abysslord Defeated: 1/8 Remaining

  Stasis: Thirteen Seconds

  One left. Thirteen seconds. If I’d needed to breathe, I’d barely be able to. If I had muscled, they’d be screaming. I’d used my other railgun shot, the electric stun on my gauntlet, and every ounce of power I could pull from the Autoplate Pauldrons in this underwater hell. The water was thick with chunks of tentacle. The platform had slowed to a vertical crawl.

  Tori was still in stasis overhead, and Bobby and I both rushed the last tentacle.

  I had no idea why I thought that’d be the end of the fight. For all I knew, this was a messy, multi-phase fight, and Tori would die before the skull did. But I had a feeling. My gut told me we were close.

  The water rang—and so did my ears—as Bobby threw a line of punches against the thrashing tentacle’s base. I followed up with a ripping blow that tore a gash in the thing, then another. Without Tori to Pull the tentacles, we’d had to actually sever them. I’d have killed to be able to use Saul’s sword for this fight. But we didn’t have anything like that, so we’d made do.

  It took almost ten seconds. That was the fastest we’d killed a Stalk.

  Stalk of the Chthonic Abysslord Defeated: 0/8 Remaining

  I waited. One second. Two. Three.

  Stasis: Expired

  Tori started bleeding and trying desperately to escape a tentacle that was no longer there. Her movements only made her leg worse; it took seconds for her to lose consciousness again. I kept waiting, rushing the glass just in case—

  Immortal Deactivated

  Myriad Deactivated

  Elite De—

  I blinked away the rest of the notifications, revved the Trip-Hammer, and swung.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Glass shattered. It didn’t explode outward like a broken window, but hung in the air like a thousand tiny daggers. The skull’s eyes blazed, and I had just enough time to see the Level Forty-Eight over its head. Then the armor-piercing hammer smashed into it, and its red-orange eyes went dull as the bone cracked and fell apart like a fragile vase.

  It didn’t die quietly. A wave of force shoved the three of us toward the platform’s edge, and I had to yank Tori’s leg to keep her from drifting out into the abyss. She screamed, jolted back into consciousness, and the burbling sound reminded me of the Stalks.

  Then I got the message I’d been waiting for.

  Boss Defeated: The Chthonic Abysslord

  Level Up! Forty-Eight to Fifty

  Dungeon Delvers who were not in the arena will receive fifty percent of your team’s experience.

  Congratulations, [Hal Riley], on reaching Level Fifty.

  ?▼?

  I didn’t care about the wall of System messages congratulating me for hitting Level Fifty.

  I didn’t care about the two blue items on the platform, or the bright purple one. And I definitely didn’t care that I’d promised Bobby my share of the loot.

  All I cared about was Tori’s leg. Blood kept flowing from the wound, but where it had been a fountain that formed a pink-red cloud around her, now it was a stream trailing off into the water just a foot from her.

  Her muscles and tendons slowly knit themselves together and tied themselves back to her femur, and pale skin seemed to almost zip itself shut over a thin layer of fat. It took almost a minute; I’d never seen a wound that bad.

  When it finally finished, I breathed a sigh of relief. Jessica wouldn’t kill me today. Hopefully. Her leg still had a nasty scar, and the armor that had covered it was completely destroyed.

  We wouldn’t be hiding what had happened from her step-mom, that was for sure.

  But in the end, it didn’t matter. We’d won. The dungeon break was averted; even though the timer was still ticking down, there wasn’t anything left in here that Museumtown couldn’t handle. Besides…

  I pulled up my System messages.

  Congratulations, [Hal Riley], on reaching Level Fifty!

  For reaching Level Fifty, the following rewards have been delivered to your inventory:

  One [Voltsmith’s] Supply Box (Enhancement, Rank One)

  One [Voltsmith’s] Supply Box (Rank Two)

  One [Voltsmith’s] Laboratory] Token (RankOne)

  One [Spellcoding] Manual (Rank One)

  The Voltsmithing Rank One Trial will commence once your Voltsmith’s Laboratory has been purchased. Once you’ve ascended your class to Rank One, new materials and creations can be used.

  Experience gain is reduced to zero until the Rank One Trial is completed and your class has ascended.

  Congratulations! For completing one hundred percent of a Tier Two Dungeon, you have received the following reward:

  One [Voltsmith’s] Supply Box (Rank Two)

  Completely clearing a dungeon will result in rewards equivalent to the level of dungeon cleared.

  My head spun even as Bobby walked up. I glanced at his nameplate.

  Bobby Richards: Level 49

  Class: Resonator

  He hadn’t seen any of the messages I had. That was a relief; I had a feeling that Bobby was the kind of guy who’d take advantage of having information no one else did, but if I clearly had it first, that’d take some of the wind out of his sails.

  “So, want to see what we got?” Bobby asked. “I’ve got first and third pick, but Miss Vanderbilt can take the seconds.”

  “Yes, I do, and why doesn’t Hal get a pick?” Tori said. She winced as her tender leg hit the platform, falling into an awkward cross-legged position.

  “Because that’s part of the deal,” Bobby said. “He got something, and in return, now I get something. That’s business.”

  Abysslord’s Grip (Epic, Charge 5)

  +8 Body, +2 Awareness, +4 Mana

  This modular gauntlet allows otherwise-unarmed strikes to deal either piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning damage. The type of damage can be changed when not in combat. Additionally, when used against aquatic enemies, it offers a small chance to dominate the enemy’s mind instead of dealing damage, converting it to an ally for fifteen seconds.

  Tome of Pressurize (Rare)

  User learns the spell Pressurize, which increases the pressure inside an enclosed space. The tome remains intact, but loses its ability to transfer magic after use.

  Battle Helm of the Abysslord (Rare, Charge 20)

  +3 Body, +3 Mana

  For each Battle Helm worn in your party, the wearer gains +2 Body and +2 Mana.

  Bobby didn’t have to do much thinking before he grabbed the Abysslord’s Grip. It was built for him, and the shining purple color made Tori shake with rage and jealousy. “It should have been yours,” she whispered under her breath, fists balled until her nails dug into her palms.

  “No, he earned it,” I whispered back. He had. But even so, I couldn’t help but feel a little frustrating. I’d traded a chance at some amazing components—and it had been worth it—but even so, those gauntlets probably had everything I needed to upgrade the…

  No. It had been worth it. End of discussion. The trade had given me a solution to save Tori’s life, and a person’s life was worth any amount of loot. I couldn’t pretend that a piece of gear’s value was even close to Tori’s. That was a dangerous path to go down.

  Besides, I had everything I—

  “I’ll take the Pressurize spell,” Tori said, and I winced. I knew exactly why she’d picked that one. If Bobby got it, I’d end up paying for it—and she’d seen my face when I saw it.

  I wanted that spell. I wanted it bad.

  I’d long since run out of battery bombs, and expending Charge wasn’t always an option—I was already running four items and the rail gun. But if I could put the Charge into the Pressurize spell, I could do something similar to when we’d lifted the Redline Wyrm. It’d be permanent, though. Pressure-based explosives. The potential was there.

  But at the same time, the Battle Helm meant more power when we worked with Bobby. It had great stats for Tori, and she could really benefit from it. “Have you been using your Perfection’s Gaze?” I asked her, trying to get her to change her mind.

  “I mean, not in that last fight, but any time we’ve been fighting a single big thing, absolutely. My record is like ten spellcasts on the crab boss. Pressurize is gonna be stronger for me for sure. I could combo it with Crush or something.”

  Okay. She hadn’t just been thinking about why I’d want it. It didn’t mean she wasn’t thinking about that, though. “Is it the best choice for you, though?”

  “That Battle Helm’s a side-grade at best,” she replied. “I’ve got my own build going. You just worry about yours.”

  She grabbed the Tome of Pressurize, leaving the Battle Helm for a frustrated-looking Bobby. Before he could say anything, she dropped into a cross-legged position and started learning the spell.

  As the platform rocketed toward the surface, I stood and watched the orange light fade around us, replaced by a cool blue that gradually warmed to yellow. The dungeon’s entrance closed in, and I finally put my two points into Charge.

  I had a feeling I was about to need all the Charge I could get my hands on—and then some.

  ?▼?

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