The wind whooshed past him as his speed increased. The shadows below him didn’t sit idly on the ground, rushing towards him with shrieks as he hit the door. They began floating towards him, but Leo didn’t just idly wait to be caught.

With a deep exhale, Leo conducted the Tailwind to surge downwards with all the skill he could exhibit. Wind rushed across him, flowing past his cloak as the torches flailed in the constant barrage of wind. They flickered back and forth but they didn’t go out.

It wasn’t strong enough.

He had no time to curse his failure. The shadows had formed a wall of bodies that were flowing towards him. Leo fired a Frost Lance at the torch furthest to him then Spark Dashed towards another. Plan B was in play.

Improvise.

This only seemed to anger the shadows more as they let out unholy shrieks of outrage. Leo’s body turned icy cold as his Ice Stance came into effect. With the help of the stance, Leo was able to coat his hands with Ice and extinguish the flame after holding it for a moment. Two down, two to go.

Time was up. The shadows had arrived and were struggling past each other in order to attack him. Leo used his boots to dash to the ground and summon three walls in a concave formation. This time he ignored control and purely went for amplification, trying to extend the walls as high as possible and equally as wide.

The walls shot out of the ground like emergency barriers, cutting off the shadows from approaching immediately and cutting off some of their light to move. He’d bought himself a few precious seconds in the dark to try and extinguish the last two. Frost Lance had a few seconds left on the cooldown so he went for his other methods.

He quickly grasped the other and smothered it. Burning his hands in the process but not enough to care. The ice helped cool them down.

The last torch suddenly flared, brighter than all the others combined. Enough to light up the entire doorway and then some. The shadows were no longer restricted, surging around the walls and rushing towards him and the extinguished torches.

A shadow got in between himself and the last torch and with no other options, Leo swung, Volt Crash aimed straight for its torso. The lightning coated fist went right through the chest. Leo felt zero resistance. It was ineffective.

Then the after effect of the chain lightning shot out, stunning the shadow and a few others nearby. It was just what he needed. A rush of wind and a final Spark Dash had him on the last torch.

Extinguishing it wasn’t as easy due to the brightness of the flame, the heat of which was already burning him. Leo screamed as shadows caught up to him and tried to rip him off the torch, sapping his strength and digging their clawed hands into his flesh. He didn’t budge, only focusing on channeling as much ice into the flame as he could.

It wasn’t enough. The flame was flickering out, barely an ember. But it was still lit. The shadows succeeded in pulling him backwards, dragging him away.

In a last effort Leo swung his hand down and caused a massive gust to whoosh towards the torch. It rippled wildly before ultimately becoming extinguished.

Leo’s body hit the ground with a dull thud, no longer suspended by the shadow creatures. Darkness covered his body, while the shadows rescinded far from his location. His consciousness was fading, not from damage but from some kind of mental exhaustion the shadows inflicted.

“I knew I always hated banks,” Leo said, groaning as he sat up.

Looking upon the door, it was finally beginning to open. The noise of grinding stone filled up the entirety of the space as whatever magic had been sealing them was lifted.

“Thank god.” Leo got to his feet and stumbled towards the open door. His face was one of complete ‘done with this crap’ as the insides were revealed.

Darkness. He rolled his eyes.

One change did come when the doors fully opened however, in the form of a notification.

Quest Complete!

You have successfully escaped the captivity of the Bank Guardian. You now have access to the main bank. Exit with your life, or attempt to defeat the guardian for potentially lustrous rewards.

The choice is yours.

“Bit of a weird bank to allow criminals who broke in to access the bank after they escape,” Leo said, chuckling to himself.

The choice was obvious considering the challenges he’d faced so far. Leave, regroup with everyone, and make sure Ellie is safe. But he didn’t always make the obvious choice.

One little peek further in shouldn’t be too bad…

~

“Take the spitter out!” Cecelia yelled, a glob of acid sliding from her blade as she parried the projectile.

“I’m trying! It’s too fast!” Lena cried as she shot out yet another water blade that the antling ducked under.

Cecelia cursed. This fight was a mess. The group had run into four antlings, an armoured and spitter variant alongside two regular ones. Those had then been reinforced by another group of three, causing them to be outnumbered, outleveled and outmatched.

With two E-grade healers, things were not completely lost. Ashley’s shields were proving invaluable as always, constantly protecting from the most dangerous of attacks. Amy was less of an impact, instead a steady flow of healing—making up for Ashley’s lack of it.

The problem was damage.

Bjorn was tough, and could hold his own against an antling of similar level, even keep the attention of multiple if he focused purely on defense thanks to his new shield. However, the damage he inflicted wasn’t enough to turn a fight.

Lena was clearly trying her best, but with a limited number of skills thanks to her still F-grade class, it wasn’t the same as having Marco.

Ron and herself were the prominent damage dealers, scorching sun detonations caused the enemy’s ranks to be held back enough to not overwhelm them. Her own ability to parry and retaliate meant she would not lose in a single conflict, even when bombarded from range.

Ellie was kept back, under orders from Ashley. That was fine by Cecelia as she’d never really seen the dragon fight and expected from its young age it wasn’t much of a fighter yet. That she had just gotten all her levels thanks to Leo’s kills.

Despite all their talents and healers, this was a losing fight. They were being pushed back. Cecelia had already used her defensive line skill last night, the cooldown still not recovered. She was using all her class skills off cooldown to try and win, but they needed more.

“We have to retreat!” Cecelia commanded, words shaky. She did not want to admit it to herself.

“What about Leo?!” Ashley replied in worry.

“We can’t save him if we’re dead! We need more people to make it there! More damage!”

A small figure suddenly dashed past her, swerving between the ants. She bobbed and weaved, and with a massive beat of her small wings, was on top of the spitter that was giving them such grief.

Cecelia looked on in worry. Ashley cried out in horror.

Ellie. Chomped.

~

Ellie didn’t know why she’d had to sit back and wait. Didn’t they know she was super strong?

Leo should have been telling them about how amazing and strong she was! Watching and waiting while her friends got hurt was not okay. Silly Ashley.

Her jaws clamped around the neck of a green antling, it was one of the weird spitty ones. She didn’t like the smell of the stuff they shot out, it was gross and made her nose itch.

The taste wasn’t much better. She realised this as she chomped in full, the ant in her clutches going limp—no longer flailing.

You have slain: Antling - Level 31

Experience increased for defeating a higher level enemy

Leo has gained 23 Store credits

Easy.

Her friends were shouting for her to come back and be safe. No way. There were things to chomp and Ellie loved chomping.

But first she should help out her friends! Ellie was not selfish, after all. She was a good dragon.

Ellie sucked in mana from her surroundings through her nostrils briefly, combining it with the mana in her body. She turned that mana into the zappy kind and felt it tingle as the attack came out. This one always felt funny, but Leo said it was amazing, so she liked it.

A tight beam of laser-light shot out from her small mouth with a roaring hum, dust being kicked up as she used her wings to brace from the shockwave it sent out around her from the force. The beam sliced the ground as it traveled upwards, her control shaky.

Ellie focused, just like Leo had taught her, wresting control of the mana that was flowing out of her like a river. It was so difficult to try and do but she tried her best. Then a super brainwave came to Ellie.

I’ll just chomp it!

Ellie’s mouth glowed as she carefully bit down on the mana in her mouth, causing the beam to be even tighter and more controlled. The beam sliced into the antling she was originally aiming for. Its carapace started visibly melting under the scorching pressure of the laser.

A second later she had to stop, it was too much. Breathing out fire was real hard. Ellie guessed that’s why it had a long time before she could use it again. Otherwise it would be too tiring!

Ellie was so smart.

~

The fight turned thanks to the intervention of the little murder machine. Two antlings were suddenly out of commission, making the fight much more manageable. Cecelia was struggling to comprehend what she just witnessed, apparently so was Ashley as Bjorn called for shielding, surprising the healer.

Cecelia shook her head, kicking herself out of her stupor. This was no time to get caught up in an unexpected boon.

“Change of plans, we fight! Bjorn, keep holding those two, Lena, Ron, support me while I help Ellie!” Her orders were swift and her soldiers were ready, nods all round.

The antling in front of her snapped out in a frenzy, rapid fire mandible clacks that she was forced to back away from. She’d seen this attack before, and that meant she knew when to counter.

She counted the attacks, and on the seventh, she did not dodge. Instead, her sword caught the side of the mandible, causing it to slide off the blade.

“Silent Moon.”

Her class skill she’d gained upon ranking up to E-grade. Again, her sword was coated in an ethereal moonlight. Ghost-like in appearance, like the fading mist illuminated by the moon. Combined with her Perfect Parry, it soundlessly sliced through the body of the antling.

Two pieces fell to the ground, a notification following.

You have slain: Antling - Level 32Experience increased for defeating a higher-level enemy

+64 Store Credits

The fight was turning. It was time to clean up.

~

Inside the main hall of the bank—at least that’s where he assumed he was—Leo gingerly made his way through.

I wish I had a map.

Map or no map, he needed some way to see. Pulling out a torchstone, he infused it with mana. Gradually of course, in case of enemies lurking.

His danger sense was completely silent. Which ironically gave him a sense of danger.

The stone was fully glowing, completely illuminating his surroundings, but it barely made a dent in the size of the place. Several more stones were lit up and thrown equidistantly around the room. When it was finally lit, the grandness of it had him in awe.

The hall stretched wider than the previous shadow foyer he just passed through.

Four huge support pillars dominated the centre, carved with spirals and geometric sigils. Leo squinted and the writing revealed itself.

“Record, reserve, authority, balance.”

Looking closer, the pillars were scuffed and cracked, showing elbow-deep claw marks, hinting at something ferocious living here. He knew what that was.

The floor was polished stone inlaid with iron latticework. It was warped in places, as if something heavy had repeatedly slammed across it. The ceiling was high, lost half in shadow, with faint chains dangling where chandeliers once hung.

Walking around, signs of battle were clear. Spear shafts, blood stains leading in all directions, an abandoned shield lying against an overturned bench. Whatever fought here left no corpses.

Now in the centre of the room, Leo could get a better view, purchasing, and throwing more torchstones until it was fully lit. There were what looked like teller counters with thick metal bars against the left wall. Behind them were small lockboxes that seemed to be all wrenched open or destroyed, killing his ideas of safe loot.

There was a large stairway directly in front of him, leading down to what he could only assume were the vaults. One might wonder where he got this evidence, that could just be a regular stairway.

One simple reason.

The blood.

Walls painted red with gore. Broken wood, stone, and metal were littered everywhere. A derelict barricade of sorts was gently illuminated facing the stairway. It was clear that whatever these people had been fighting, it came from below.

But the best thing he’d found by far, sitting directly opposite the stairway, were a pair of thick, metal doors. Doors which he recognised.

Leo approached them, cautious as to not set off whatever had taken him the first time he’d pushed them open. He grabbed the handles inlaid into them and a system notification appeared before him.

Would you like to exit: Bank of Lurentis?

Yes/No

Note: If you exit, you will have to use a key to get re-enter or face the Guardian’s wrath once more.

“So that’s how it works…” Leo realised.

He needed a key, which meant there was likely one outside somewhere. Or maybe the key was with the Guardian somewhere.

Leo had fully considered leaving the moment he’d found the doors. But now that the exit was one way, it wasn’t so simple.

I’ll at least try and take a peak at the vault. Maybe it’s weaker than me.

A thought he may come to regret, but he’d made his choice.

Descending the stairway slowly, it was even more clear that whatever lurked down here was dangerous. The railings were bent or broken at impossible angles. The blood didn’t stop at the top, coating the stairs as it dripped from above over time.

His danger sense started to pick up with every descending step he took. It was faint enough to keep going, so far much less than even one antling. Torchstones littered the stairway now, giving him enough light to spot the door at the bottom.

A door that he would definitely call a vault.

It was like a giant safe. Similar to one you’d see in a movie about cartoon bank robbers in a casino, equipped with the large spinning wheel on the front. The metal looked thick, and was obsidian black. It barely lit up from the torchstone, whatever metal it was composed of was completely anti-light.

It wasn’t until he got closer that he realised something.

The vault wasn’t locked.

The tiniest of gaps was left at the side of it. One might think it would be obvious if a safe was open. But this thing was massive, easily standing three Leos tall and just as wide.

Wind kicked up slightly as Leo’s Cloak of Wind manifested around him. Lightning coursed through his body as his Lightning stance activated. Speed was key in case he had to run.

He didn’t dare touch the vault door. Instead, his face was pressed up against the wall, trying to see through the gap.

It was just barely enough to look through, and what he saw dismissed any thoughts of entering the vault.

A black, shadowy creature of impossible horror lay under a dim purple light. One second it had tentacles, the next, claws and wings. It was constantly morphing into different monstrosities.

It appeared to be asleep, as the soft noises of breath could be heard. The soft noises were like the bleating of a demonic goat however, so not exactly something one would be able to fall asleep next to in bed.

Leo risked an Identify.

Guardian of the Vault - Level ??

A noise like sucking in a breath, slick with saliva, started coming from the creature. Chills went down Leo’s spine, as every sense in his body told him what to do.

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