They met Conrad outside the capsule hotel that Hector lived at before the tournament. His Jinn friend shook hands enthusiastically with Hector and then Darius. "It's a real pleasure, Darius. I hear you're even more of a menace to the monsters than Hector."

The eunuch stood subtly straighter at the praise. "I have a chaos bolt," he offered.

"I really admire the combat capabilities of the Xian," Conrad continued. "My nation invested a considerable amount into my training, augmentations, and gear so that I can fight monsters. You are able to reach that level of competency through your individual efforts. If there were more Xian willing to step inside the dungeon, a lot less of the weaklings would die."

Darius grunted. "They should pay Xian more."

"I'm not going to disagree that the financial incentives are improperly aligned to achieve the desired outcome," Conrad said. "But every attempt by the government to encourage better behavior through the payouts resulted in people gaming the system. They had a deal for a few months where people who stayed in the dungeon for three hours would get five times the base delving rate. That just encouraged people to find hiding spots, though. So we're back to a flat rate. Sure, most people make their runs with the goal of seeing as few monsters as possible, but that kind of behavior is unavoidable."

Darius shrugged. "Can't the magic System just count how many monsters you kill?"

"That would be nice, wouldn't it? Unfortunately the System doesn't have a clear view of the dungeon interior. The miasma obscures things." Conrad gestured. "Should we get started? I'm eager to put down some monsters. My teammates lately haven't been able to keep up with me, so I haven't been able to perform at the level I want."

Hector watched as Conrad pumped up the ego of Darius. He still didn't know if Conrad truly believed the warrior ethos stuff he spouted to his fellow delvers or if that was just his way of getting people into the dungeon with him. One thing he knew for sure was that Conrad was a true believer in his mission. Fast talking capable warriors into joining him wouldn't be inconsistent with that goal.

They rode the train in, navigated to the right tunnel, and entered the eternal darkness of the dungeon. Conrad led them to the familiar ridge, where they could stand on a conveniently flat plateau at its bladed peak. From there, they were visible to monsters in all directions but not easily approachable.

Once they were in place, Darius immediately began spamming his thunderous chaos bolt in every direction to slay approaching monsters, causing Conrad to bristle. "Darius! Hold up a minute! I think we need to figure out an optimal strategy for our group!"

"The best strategy is I kill everything that comes our way," Darius snapped. "If you want in on the action, you have to be faster."

Conrad's nostrils flared. "This isn't a competition, Darius. We're cooperating. I want to establish zones of fire so that we're defended from all directions."

"I can handle it all myself. This is like spear hunting at a petting zoo."

Stolen story; please report.

Hector flinched at the analogy. Meanwhile, Conrad moved onto another argument. "You're not being very efficient with your energy."

Darius snapped out of his competitive mood in an instant. "Since you insist on contributing, what is your plan?"

"You take the right side," Conrad said. "I'll take the left. Hector handles the sky."

Thankfully, Darius fell in line with the plan. The echoing thunder of his chaos bolts drew enemies to them at insane rates. To the other side, Conrad fired his plasma rifle and occasionally tossed grenades down the slope. Hector concentrated on threats from above.

He managed to kill about half the flying monsters that came their way, but the rest he slung downwards with his force cables so that either Darius or Conrad could finish them. It rankled a bit knowing that he had the weakest offensive ability on his team, but Hector played his part dutifully. He could accept that instead of being the big hitter he was the guy who had crazy energy recovery.

They battled for fifty minutes before Conrad ran low on grenades and called for a strategic retreat. Darius did his best to hide his relief, but Hector knew him too well. They slid down a safe portion of the slope, ran through a maze of free-standing natural stone columns, and dashed to the wall where they found an exit tunnel.

Hector dismissed the notice that he was twenty thousand credits richer as they emerged into the human occupied complex. "We slaughtered them," he said to bridge the uncomfortable silence. Conrad and Darius didn't seem fond of each other. That tended to happen when you mixed Darius and anyone else.

"It was a good harvest," Conrad allowed. "I'd estimate at least a thousand put down."

Darius remained stubbornly silent.

They parted ways at the end of a long train ride and Hector caught a taxi with Darius.

"You didn't like Conrad?"

Darius shrugged. "He's a Jinn."

"He handles himself well in the dungeon. You have to admit that, at least."

"How many grenades did he throw to do what is natural to me?" Darius shook his head. "I'm not impressed that he bought his victories in the dungeon."

Hector bit back the criticisms he was tempted to throw out. Darius was vocal about not wanting to expend more cosmic energy than necessary one moment and then pissed it away the next moment so he could prove himself superior to a Jinn special operator. The only thing that seemed able to pierce the veil of his self-interest was the pathological need to flatter his own ego. Worse, he knew that underneath all of that dysfunction was the same hateful spite that led Volithur to his death.

It really made him wonder if Darius was salvageable. Maybe everything good inside the man died long ago. Shit, he'd consumed the corpse of his own mother after she committed suicide. All so that he could have the strength to throw away his life seeking vengeance against a lord. Hector knew from his dreams what it felt like to become consumed with hate and despair. The experience, even second-hand, almost broke him.

How ironic that Darius chose to cling to the same traits in himself that he hated his father for. Was there a flaw in the family genetics? Or did one wrong beget another so easily? How could he break the cycle? Hector didn't know if it was possible for him to lead another person out of the maze of hate. The old saying 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' came to mind. Darius didn't have anything he valued enough to forsake his suicidal mission. Nor did his hostile mannerisms make it likely for him to form any meaningful relationships. Hector dismissed his concerns. However valid they might be, he couldn't force Darius to change. All he could do was hope that having friends would oppose the darkness in the man's heart.

Arriving at their building, they found Riley waiting for them in the lobby.

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