The skeleton patrolled to the end of the brick path, turned around and disappeared into the arched doorway.

Then it arrived back precisely a minute and twenty-six seconds later.

Vivi studied its patrol path. She'd watched for five cycles now, looking for any irregularities or signs of life in its decisions. So far, the skeleton's patrol was systematic. The skeleton followed some weird, but consistent, set of rules, as if it was some sort of mindless defender set in place by a spell.

"How do you think it'll react when it sees us?" Vivi asked.

"It will kill us," Lucius said. "Most likely, the moment it senses our ether, it will attack us and chase us until we're dead or too far from its area. And with us locked up on the same shore, we won't get far."

"So its patrol will stop the moment it senses an enemy," Vivi said. "If I throw the javelin, will it sense it coming?"

"Monsters sense the world through ether," Lucius said. "A skeleton with seven thousand ether will immediately know if something is a threat to its life. It will react the moment you throw. It will probably dodge and charge us."

"What about our skill?" Vivi asked. "Shadow Swipe. Can it hide the weapon's presence?"

"The way we've been using it, the skill does the opposite," Lucius said. "It shrouds your weapon with so much ether that monsters, and people, have a hard time guessing where the actual blade is. But the skill has an opposite variation as well to conceal a weapon's ethereal presence."

"And how do we use that variation?" Vivi asked.

"The skill needs to be upgraded," Lucius said. "We need to learn how to use it properly."

"Skills can be upgraded?" Vivi asked.

"Skill wisps need to grow accustomed to their new hosts," Lucius said. "They aren't at their most powerful state right after you pick them up. You need to practice and use them. Using skills is similar to channeling ether. Upgrading them is like elevating your core. You're just elevating the skill instead."

Vivi bit her lip. Now was not the time to practice. "How long will it take to use the variation?"

"I don't know," Lucius said. "It's a common skill. Those are easy to wield. But it depends on how long you take to master its abilities. Elevating these types of skills isn't really worth it."

Vivi thought for a bit, watching as the skeleton completed another patrol. "Do you think the skeleton has any special abilities?"

"Most likely not," Lucius said. "It's just a basic monster. Usually, basic monsters might have one signature skill, but that skeleton just looks like it's strong. I doubt it has any ranged or surprise attacks, unless it throws its spear."

"Can the skeleton swim?"

"Unlikely," Lucius said. "The water seems to be the end of its area. Anything past that, it probably won't chase."

Vivi nodded. "Then, it's worth a shot. Let's try to kill it by overloading its senses. The next time it comes out, I need you to throw as many claws at him as you can. Once he starts defending, or attacking you, I'll throw the javelin. I'll coat its aura with Shadow Swipe to make it harder for it to dodge."

"I doubt this will work," Lucius said.

"If it doesn't, I'll escape into the water," Vivi said. "Eem? Could you hide in that corner?"

Eem pouted, reluctant to leave.

"I need you to observe the fight. If you see something important, tell me. But don't get out of that corner." Vivi patted Eem in the head. "I will defeat the skeleton. Then we'll get back home. Okay?"

Eem lifted her head. She thought for a bit. Then she nodded, running to the corner of the shore, peeking her head from behind a rock.

Vivi smiled. Eem wouldn't give her any useful insights, considering she couldn't speak, but it was good to trick her into believing she had some grand part in this plan.

"Should be twenty seconds now," Vivi said. "Get ready. At five seconds, fill my body and weapon with ether. And summon my runesword now. If things go wrong, I can use it to defend."

Lucius didn't appear too enthusiastic. He'd never been nervous during either boss fight. Panicked, definitely, but never doubtful like he was now. He summoned the runesword on the ground next to her and filled it with ether. He filled Vivi's body, pushing ether through the javelin's singular rune, then detached from her core, flying above the blue brick path.

Moments later, the skeleton arrived. Its step was immediately different. It glanced upward, sensing Lucius. Then it entered a stance.

Lucius started throwing claw attacks at a rapid pace. Vivi watched for a moment, studying the skeleton's movements. Its legs moved swiftly like a true spearman's. There was technique in its movements; even the way it ran appeared confident and practiced. The skeleton slashed with its spear while running, cutting down each claw attack without losing speed. Lucius was already panicking in the air.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Vivi readied her javelin. The single strength rune took a moment to fill the slow-conducting iron veins with ether. The javelin grew burning hot, and an ethereal aura coated the weapon, wisps escaping as if it were an outside-carved weapon. There was no metal for that ether to stick to, meaning it escaped to the air around the veins.

She activated Shadow Swipe, and the aura of weird, shape-shifting ether coated the javelin. She locked on her target, placed her feet firmly on the ground, and threw.

The skeleton shifted its focus immediately. Lucius became an afterthought. It turned to Vivi's javelin, then swiped it off of the trajectory.

Vivi blinked in surprise. Her attack was blocked? Just like that?

Lucius gritted his teeth and started flying back toward her. At the same time, the skeleton charged Vivi. She picked up her runesword, activated Shadow Swipe on her sword, and faced the skeleton.

When she looked back at the brick path, the skeleton was gone.

There was no time to blink. Vivi caught a flash of movement from the side of her eye. She moved her sword there by some instinct.

It was the skeleton's ethereal spear. The tip collided with Vivi's runesword. The veins inside her sword blinked dangerously bright before Vivi lost her footing, flying tens of feet backward. Her back splashed into water, and Vivi found herself submerged deep into the lake.

Her back collided against a large fish. In a panic, she swiped at it with her nails. Lucius was still ways off. She had no claws. Her runesword had flown somewhere. The fish opened its mouth, eager to eat Vivi.

Then it was slashed in half by a claw attack from above. Lucius flew into the water and joined Vivi's core. Right away, Lucius summoned her runesword back to her hands.

"It's throwing its spear!" Lucius shouted.

Vivi glanced up. She saw nothing but a vague light above the water. Her instincts, however, felt ether welling up. The skeleton was charging a heavy attack.

Vivi lifted her runesword. She held the hilt in her right hand, supporting the other end of the blade with her left.

Lucius turned into a shield. "It's aiming here, block with your—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the attack came. Lucius, in his shield form, exploded into bits.

The spear collided with Vivi's runesword, and her senses went black.

Eyesight returned a few seconds later with her back crashed against the bottom of the lake. The ethereal spear poked out from the ground a few dozen feet away from her. Moss around the impact area was blown off from the ground, now floating in the water.

The water pressure tried to invade Vivi's head. Lucius wasn't awake to push ether there. She grimaced, trying to combat the pressure by squeezing her ears.

The water began pushing her back up. Vivi swam away from shore, away from the skeleton. She stayed below water for as long as she could, until her lungs were about to explode.

Her head popped above the water. She was a good three hundred feet away from the shoreline. She blinked rapidly to get water out of her eyes, then glanced at the brick path.

The skeleton had another spear in its hand, as if it had never thrown a weapon. It watched the waters for a moment.

Then it turned around, back to its patrol route.

Vivi blinked. The skeleton could have easily stayed on the shoreline, stopping Vivi from entering. Even if the skeleton itself couldn't swim, it should have known Vivi was still in the waters.

Except, it didn't. The skeleton disappeared back into the dungeon. Vivi watched after it in confusion.

Lucius's presence was weak, but it was slowly coming back. A lot of his wisps were being exhausted as he repaired his body. After the escape from the black masks and the fight with the skeleton, he only had a few hundred wisps with power remaining.

"Ugh…" Lucius said. "At least the escape plan worked…"

We're weak, aren't we? Vivi thought. Really weak. That's just a basic monster…

"Well, this is a really difficult dungeon," Lucius said. "Hunting companies would send a full party loaded with rare or even exalted skills to clear something as hard as this."

But we're alone. And we have no choice but to clear our way out of here.

"It's looking bad, Vivi," Lucius said. "We might have to use a different strategy. It's sometimes possible to run past monsters back out of the dungeon. I did that a lot with my old wielder."

Vivi began swimming back to shore. She took the long route, appearing in the corner where Eem had hidden. The little fiend was waiting for Vivi with a panicked look. When Vivi got off the water, Eem ran to her and grabbed her leg, punching her lightly in the thighs.

Vivi smiled. "I'm fine, Eem."

She patted the fiend in the head. In her head, she said, We're not running. That's stupid. It looks like we'll have to practice. We should be safe in this corner. If we unlock our skill's full potential, I have another idea on defeating the skeleton. We should be safe to practice here in the shadows.

"There are no monsters to practice on," Lucius said.

Vivi turned to the waters. Even in the shallow waters, a lot of smaller fish were eating algae, escaping from the bigger fish.

"It looks like we'll have to turn back to fish practice," Vivi said. "Eem, you hungry?"

Eem lifted her head. She nodded three times. "Fiff!" she said.

Vivi let out a laugh. She summoned her javelin and said, "Lucius. Could you act as bait for a minute? Sit on the water and make yourself look appetizing."

Lucius was already frowning. "Vivi, I am a spirit of the demigods."

"And you chose me as your wielder," Vivi said. She activated her skill again, coating the javelin with Shadow Swipe's weird aura. "Each fish drops ether here, don't they? Let's go on a hunt. And let's elevate this stupid skill."

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