Gutters danced.

  There was a surreal similarity. An hour or two ago, Gutters was whirling around the dance floor, spinning ladies away. Now, he was whirling again, blade in hand. He was no longer a Basic troglodyte. He'd reached Advanced. Furthermore, he'd stolen some kind of skill off Toby. Quick slash.

  It was brutal.

  The nobles came at him, all at once. Gutters now had Advanced Dodge, and he leaned into his Advanced Dance skill as well, weaving between blades flying at him from all angles. His own weapon flicked out, unbelievably fast, drawing blood. Two nobles fell down. Another staggered back, clutching a wound. Others came forward, and Gutters danced among them too.

  One swung at Gutters' head, and Gutters swung back. The two blades met with a bang, and the other man's weapon was ripped out of his hands. His eyes bulged, but Gutters didn't hesitate. A single slash, enhanced with Strength, enhanced with Rapier proficiency, and the man's head came off.

  Three more came, one with a thrust, two with sweeping blows. Gutters smacked each blade away.

  New skill acquired! Parry (Advanced)

  Gutters sped up. He became a whirlwind of blades. He didn't notice when the last man fell down, dead. He kept looking around the room, twitching, looking out for the next attack. His pulse was racing out of control. His new class and skills made him want to sprint the whole night.

  "Gutters..."

  Jane flinched when the half-troglodyte spun around to face the sound, blade ready.

  "Gutters, it's me. Jane. You-you ok?"

  "I... Jane. Yea. I'm ok. It was, that was, it was a lot."

  Jane nodded.

  "I think we need to leave."

  Gutters stared at the room, filled with corpses. How many nobles did Liston have? Less now, that was for sure.

  "I think you're right."

  At that moment, someone opened the door to the main dancing hall. A high pitched scream echoed across the dance. The music faltered. People turned to see the bloody carnage that filled the side room. More screams.

  "Come on."

  Jane tugged on Gutters' arm, and the two started running. Everybody started running. Gutters and Jane were halfway across the dance floor when the main entrance opened, and dozens of city guards and nobles started entering the building. These weren't noble children. These were grown men, highly skilled, and looking for blood.

  "That's them! Get them!"

  Jane had bloodstains on her clothing. Gutters much more so. They stuck out in the crowd of immaculate nobles. The guards surged forward, and Jane and Gutters turned to sprint in the other direction. They ran through hallways and side rooms until they saw a door to the outside, held open by...

  "Harry!"

  "Come on! Get out of here!"

  Gutters dashed through without hesitating, but Jane faltered.

  "You heard what happened?"

  "I don't have a clue what you're talking about, now leave quick before the guards arrive."

  Jane nodded, and gave Harry a quick hug. The boy's cheeks grew red.

  "Thanks, Harry. Sorry we killed everyone."

  "That's ok, it was a bit overdue."

  Harry tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice caught as he spoke. He was as freaked out as everyone else. He just wanted to help his friend.

  "Will you be ok?" Jane asked.

  "I'll figure something out. Just go. Go!"

  Jane and Gutters fled outside, into the moonlight.

  The battle for the corridor to the second floor of Red Mine was brief. Gretta was injured. Someone had matched her strength, and something in her shoulder had torn. She switched her shield to the other arm, but it wasn't the same. She was less coordinated, and the sailors were eager to fight, to be the one that brought down these monsters.

  "Back! Fall back!"

  Zig shouted as he threw a rock into the corridor past Gretta. It wasn't too effective. He was injured too. There was, yet again, a knife in his arm. Zig would love, just love, to pass through a fight without getting stabbed, impaled, or shot. He gritted his teeth against the pain. The team hurried across the second floor. Zig picked up the dining table in the middle of the room, and threw it at the entrance that the sailors were pouring out of. It bought them some time.

  There was a bench made of thick wood built into the wall. Zig ripped it out and the wall shuddered. He waited for the team to pass him, then jammed it into the opening behind him, sealing off the tunnel that spiraled down to the third level of the mine. It might buy some time. He turned around to see Knob staring at him with an alarmed expression.

  "Don't, ah, don't do that again."

  "What, the bench?"

  "Yea, pick up furniture on the ground, but nothing that touches the walls. The structure is... delicate, right now."

  Zig looked uneasily at the solid dirt that made up the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cavern. This was a terrible time to get claustrophobic.

  "Knob, please tell me this isn't gonna collapse on us."

  "Ehhh."

  The half goblin held his hand out flat and waved it in a 'maybe' motion. Zig looked at Hepp.

  "Let's get out of here."

  The team hurried down the corridor, coming to the third and final floor of Red Mine. It was a beautiful space. Cozy. Hepp had done an amazing job. Zig had no time to appreciate it now. He made a beeline for the secret tunnel. It was hidden from first glance behind a curve in the wall. He pulled the door and it came off the hinges. Zig winced, hoping that wasn't what Knob called "touching the wall". He threw the door at the tunnel entrance the sailors were heading down. It missed. Zig heard a laugh echoing from the tunnel.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "I see you, little mouse."

  A blue glow filled the entrance. It was that captain again. The creepy one with the glowing eye. He came into view just as five arrow-daggers flew at him from Hepp. He stepped back with a curse. He poked his head around the corner, and withdrew again as another five daggers flew at the entrance. The team was almost finished climbing into the secret tunnel. The captain poked his head around one more time, only for Jints to point at him and yell "Cleanse!"

  The captain ducked back a third time, looking down to see what sinister magic had afflicted him. He saw his clothing didn't have a speck of dirt on it, despite the entire fight through the dirt fort. Even old stains were gone, and the cloth shone with its original color. The captain was puzzled. Then he shook his head.

  "They're buying time..."

  He rushed out into the third floor of the mine, along with half a dozen sailors. Dozens more were on the second floor, and a handful of stragglers were up on level one. The Red Daggers rushed up the secret exit tunnel, Knob carefully pointing out the pit they should avoid halfway up. He stopped just after the pit, resting his hand against a wooden support. Zig felt a weird tingle in his stomach, watching Knob's hand on that beam.

  "You guys go ahead," the half-goblin called out. "I need to trigger it from here."

  "Knob..."

  "Go!"

  They kept climbing. A few seconds later, the entire hill shook. Deep shuddering sounds echoed through the tunnels. The fort above collapsed into the first floor cavern. That in turn collapsed into the second floor. Then everything gave way, collapsing into the third and final floor. The Red Daggers were almost outside when it happened.

  Almost.

  "Grab onto each other!" Hepp screamed as the tunnel came down on them. Zig reached out and grabbed Jints' arm, feeling a hand close around his ankle, before dirt filled his vision, and everything went black.

  Silence.

  Zig could still wiggle. The earth had covered him completely, but the dirt was fairly soft, and he had Legendary Strength. The first thing he did was clear a space around his head, giving him some room to breath. It wouldn't last long, he needed oxygen. He quickly checked a list in his head of everyone down here. Knob, Hepp, Gretta, Jints, himself. Everyone had Endurance, at least. That would buy them a little time. Knob was only Basic though...

  Zig kept wiggling about, not letting go of Jints nor moving the leg that was being held by someone behind him. With his free hand, he pushed dirt away, compacting it. It was difficult, as loose dirt kept falling in to fill the gaps. He had just made a little space around him when he felt movement. The earth started heaving around him. Zig tensed, wondering if any sailors had some kind of dirt moving skill. He couldn't see a thing. A voiced popped into the little pocket that Zig had created. Hepp's voice.

  "Ho Zig, need a hand?"

  The boy with the Extreme Dig skill wormed his way into Zig's space. He pushed the dirt away, just like Zig was doing. Only when Hepp did it, the dirt solidified into a smooth wall, giving the makeshift space some support. In a few short moments, Zig was pulled into a small hollow in the dirt, sitting with the others. It was pitch black, nobody could see anything.

  "Is everyone here?"

  "I'm here, mister Zig."

  "Me too," Gretta's voice sounded in the dark.

  "Knob?"

  There was no response. Hepp was gone too, still digging. They waited in the darkness.

  "It's a little..."

  Zig's face felt cold and clammy.

  "It's a little cramped in here."

  He tried to push down the panic. He was buried under the earth. This didn't feel good. Not at all.

  "Deep breaths, mister Zig."

  "But what if, what if deep breaths take away the air? I'm breathing deep now, mister Jints. Too deep. I can't stop. I can't stop breathing. I can't—"

  Zig was breathing too fast. This was how he'd killed all those creatures, right at the beginning. It was awful. It was how he'd—he paused. Zig had a thought, and let out a small chuckle.

  "Heh. Hehe."

  "You ok, Zig?"

  "Yea, just, heh," Zig reached out to put a hand on Gretta's shoulder. "If I die, Knob's gonna level so much from this."

  It was stupid. It was the perfect thing to say. The other two started giggling.

  "Maybe he'll get my Cleanse as a legacy skill," Jints mused.

  "He sure needs it." Gretta added.

  "It leveled up, you know."

  "It did?" Zig replied. "Congrats Jints. Extreme Cleanse. I wonder what that's like."

  "Ah, you forget, mister Zig. I had already leveled it to Extreme during your... bouts of poor decisions. With all the blood."

  "Oh. Oh! Wait, so it's beyond Extreme?"

  "I have Heroic Cleanse, mister Zig."

  "Shave my beard and call me your wife."

  "I must decline, miss Gretta."

  "I've never met anyone, ever, with a Heroic skill."

  "Umm..."

  "You don't count, Zig."

  "Hey!"

  "You literally popped out of the ground and became Legendary. You don't count."

  The wall of their little cave opened up, and Knob and Hepp fell in.

  "Knob! Hepp! You guys made it!"

  "Sure did, Zig, but Knob's in trouble. I think he might have swallowed some dirt."

  "Cleanse."

  Jints moved without hesitation. There was a sudden deep inhaling breath in cave, followed by coughing.

  "Knob! You had me scared there."

  Zig felt weak with relief. Everyone was ok. Everyone was...

  "Umm, Hepp, I don't suppose you could—"

  "Right."

  Hepp started digging a sloping tunnel upwards. He really was quite efficient. He pushed dirt to the side, patting it into a solid wall, building a nice curve until he could pat the ceiling into a smooth surface, held up by the walls. The Red Daggers made their way through the circular tunnel until eventually Hepp broke the surface, and soft moonlight flooded the tunnel. Everyone scrambled out with cries of relief. There was a faint wind on Zig's face, and he almost cried at the feeling. He turned around to see what was left of Red Mine. The hill was gone. Completely gone. In its place the ground was all torn up, forming a shallow depression in the land. Hepp's tower, surprisingly, had survived mostly intact. It was poking out in the middle of the wreckage.

  "Next time it rains," Zig wondered aloud, "This is gonna be a lake, and that tower's gonna poke out the middle. People will be so confused."

  The five of them stood there, looking at the aftermath of everything that had happened.

  "Any level up, Knob?"

  "Y-yea, Zig. I—yea."

  "Come on, don't leave us hanging."

  "Extreme", the half-goblin whispered.

  "Woo! Welcome to the club, my guy." Hepp patted Knob on the back.

  "That's not fair at all," Gretta said, folding her arms. "I leveled my shield bash and strength to Extreme, but my overall class is still Advanced. I killed like twenty of those guys! What's the deal with that?"

  "Oh, congrats on the skills, Gretta!"

  "Thanks!" Gretta said angrily.

  "I have a theory, miss Gretta."

  "Oh yea? What's your big theory, Jints?"

  "We level skills through practice, passion, adversity, and so on. But class shifts come from truly defeating the odds."

  Gretta's eyes narrowed.

  "What are you trying to say?"

  "That you, ah, weren't sufficiently challenged, miss Gretta."

  They stood there, processing that.

  "Huh." Gretta's anger was dissipating. "I guess there's that." She tried to keep frowning, but Zig caught her looking mighty pleased with herself as Jints' words sunk in.

  "So," Zig began, "I guess that's the end of Red Mine. The Alchemist, too. All his customers are..." Zig gestured at the mass grave that lay before them. "...super dead."

  "At least Jane and Gutters are doing ok."

  "That's true, Hepp. I guess we can go back to Liston, get cleaned up, and see how they're doing."

  Zig turned to face the others.

  "It might be time to leave Liston. I still want to find my friends, the ones from my home. And there's that weird message about some great danger coming to this world. My only clue is Northsong. We stayed in Liston to get stronger, and I think," Zig looked around at his friends. Hepp could now throw knives. Knob had gone from Basic to Extreme. Gretta was Gretta. Even Jints had a Heroic skill now. What were trolls, compared to dozens of angry sailors?

  "I think we're ready to travel again."

  Halfway back to Liston, they found Teeth.

  "Teeth!" Zig ran to check on his horse. She didn't look good at all. She was swaying and stumbling, barely keeping upright. She let out a soft whinny when she saw the gang, then she flopped over with a heavy thud and lay down on the forest floor.

  "What's wrong girl?"

  Zig saw a metallic glint in her side, and pulled out a long thick needle. He turned to his friends for help?

  "What's with the needles?"

  "No idea, but she's not looking good, Zig. Any wounds you can see?"

  "Nothing obvious, just the needles... Oh. Poison?."

  Zig looked at the giant horse. Her breath was labored.

  "Excuse me, mister Zig." Jints gentle pushed him aside and knelt by the horse. He laid his hands on her flank.

  "Cleanse."

  The steward went white in the face, swayed, and collapsed unconscious onto the ground. Teeth twitched, lifting her head and looking around. She looked better, much better.

  "It worked? It worked! Hey Teeth, who's a good girl? You are! You are!"

  Teeth yawned, and put her head back down. She didn't look on a deathbed now, just tired. The horse went still, and Zig would have been worried except for the deep, deep snores that began almost immediately.