Even with one arm, restraining her isn’t difficult with the cuffs around her wrists doing half the work. I stretch up to catch her hands and pin them overhead, pressing her back against the wall beside the bathroom door.

  She’s taller than me, so I have to lift onto my toes to accomplish it, driving her flush against my chest and bringing our faces dangerously close. Under literally any other circumstance, I’d be a bit embarrassed, training from Krissy or no.

  She thrashes for a heartbeat, even trying to bite my face, but then her gaze flicks past me and she goes still at the sight of the bodies.

  When those bright red irises snap back to me, I’m not nearly as captivated, given the mess we’re standing in.

  “Who are you?” she demands.

  Despite myself and the situation, I smirk.

  “Your knight in shining armor, if the stories have it right.”

  Her eyes narrow, sharp and suspicious. “Then tell me, knight—do you actually intend to free me?”

  I tilt my head, letting an ear flop. “That depends. Are you going to behave?”

  Her face flushes a deep crimson, easily visible across her pale skin.

  Ah, did I make her even more angry?

  She glares at me for a moment before nodding.

  Well, if she starts her nonsense again, I’ll just restrain her properly.

  Cautiously, I lower her to the floor. As she slides between me and the wall, her face turns an even brighter shade of red, and it clicks.

  Ohhh… she’s embarrassed! Oops.

  I release my hold on the cuffs and take a couple steps back to give her space. She quickly tries to adjust her clothes. That’s when I notice that she hasn’t got any exposed skin anywhere except for her face and a bit of her neck.

  She even has gloves on.

  When she's finished, she glares at me.

  “Let’s get those cuffs off you,” I say, hoping that it’ll act as a kind of peace offering.

  I didn’t mean to embarrass her, after all. With only one arm usable at the moment, I had to pin her somehow. It just... turned out like that.

  I shuffle back to the Engineer and rifle through her gear. A thought crosses my mind, and I give her a curious look over my shoulder as she follows me.

  “Didn’t think to uncuff yourself?”

  She huffs. “You opened the door before I could try.”

  “Fair enough,” I nod.

  It only takes a few seconds to find the key, and I toss it to her then continue looting.

  “I’m Emilia by the way,” I say.

  None of the strange tools seem to have any magic in them, but I store them in my bangle regardless. I don’t know what they were, or what they can even do, but I fully intend to find out. There’s no way a Tier Two’s gear isn’t worth something.

  “My name is Arabella von Bysm,” she says with a frustrated huff as she struggles with her cuffs.

  Then there’s a click and clatter as she frees herself. I quickly store those too, as well as their key. She frowns when I do, but doesn't object.

  I don’t know if I’d ever need them, but it couldn’t hurt to have them on hand.

  Tier One Magic Suppression Manacles

  Epic

  Enchantments:

  Lesser Mana Drain

  This item suppresses mana regeneration and gradually drains the wearer of mana.

  Skill Suppression

  This item prevents the use of Tier One (or lower) Skills.

  Self Repair

  This item can repair itself from most damage, so long as the wielder has mana.

  Note: Due to the Lesser Mana Drain enchantment, the Self Repair enchantment will pull from mana drained instead.

  “Well, Arabella, we’ve got a problem,” I say before standing and going over to the bearkin to rifle through his belongings as well. “There’s an entire crew of mercenaries after you, and they aren’t the good sort.”

  As I speak, I toss the bearkin's pouches, along with a ring he was wearing, into storage before looking back at Arabella.

  She nods, a serious expression on her face. “Yes, I suspected as much. Tell me everything you know of them.”

  Her tone is more expectation than request, and I quirk a brow at her. Still, I share what the Engineer told me.

  As I finish, a strange looking compass materializes in her hand, pulled from some hidden storage. At first glance, it looks more like a ceremonial sundial than a compass, its golden disk topped with a raised arm casting a shadow across the surface.

  But the shadow isn’t… right. It follows an invisible, shifting light as she spins in place, even when her own shadow completely overcasts it.

  It looks like solid gold, but its surface is carved with delicate runes that shimmer with a rainbow sheen, as if the metal in those areas was freshly oiled. As she moves, the engravings shift subtly, like the symbols are alive and reconfiguring themselves.

  At its edges, the dial does bear the familiar direction points for north, south, east and west, but they’re flanked by stranger markers. Some are runes glowing in odd colors that shift just as frequently as the engravings; others are etched as tiny depictions: a coiled serpent, a winged stag, a looming tower.

  What they are actually indications for, I can’t even begin to guess. At the very least, the odd device is pretty.

  She studies it with the same focus I’ve seen from Mages preparing a big spell, then smiles faintly.

  Whatever it is, it’s not just a trinket. I try to use Relic Whisperer on it, but it fails to connect with the item while it’s in her hands.

  Or maybe she’s not letting me identify it? Or maybe I’m not close enough… agh! I need to test Relic Whisperer more.

  “Good,” she murmurs, almost to herself. Then those red eyes snap back to me, sharp and assessing. “You’ve already proven yourself resourceful, Emilia. I’ll need that resourcefulness again.”

  “…What do you mean?” I ask hesitantly.

  “You said it yourself, did you not?” she replies, lips curling into a wry smirk. “My knight in shining armor.”

  I scowl, and she lets out a quiet, airy laugh that’s far too alluring for someone clearly trying to manipulate me. “Peace. I jest. But the point remains. These mercenaries are here for me. If I am not on this train, then the train is safe. That much is obvious.”

  My eyes widen slightly, and an idea clicks into place.

  Trick.

  To my dismay, Fae Ferocity kicks in, urging me to go along with this little plan.

  “So if you draw them away…”

  “They will follow, yes. And if we buy enough time, the passengers can escape this unscathed.” She tilts her head, eyes gleaming. “But I cannot do it alone. You’ve seen them. They would catch me in moments. With your power, though… we can give those aboard that chance.”

  I can’t help it. I groan. Loudly. “Gods, of course. Always me.”

  Her smirk softens, just barely, into something more earnest. “Please, Emilia. I cannot do this alone.”

  It just figures that after everything I’ve been through, something like this would happen. I only barely managed to avoid the political mess going down in Bephis, but now I’m getting pulled headlong into a whole new mess that’s potentially infinitely more complicated.

  At the same time, the idea percolates in my mind, and I can easily see the merits behind it. For one, I didn’t want the girls to get caught up in this. After what the bearkin tried to do to me, there’s no telling what the rest of the group will do to anyone else aboard the train.

  I don’t want to risk it.

  Which means I don’t really have a choice.

  I groan again. “Fine! Fine.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Her eyes light up with triumph the moment I agree. “Good! Then there’s no time to waste. Look behind you.”

  She indicates the viewing window behind me, much wider than the one in the room Cari and I were staying in. Through it I can see the outside of the train, into the surrounding tunnels.

  From a tunnel that splits off into the darkness, dozens of mercenaries appear.

  Foxkin Rogue

  Level ??

  Orc Fighter

  Level ??

  Human Mage

  Level ??

  Human Ranger

  Level ??

  Dwarf Engineer

  Level 85

  I stop scanning them after the first few, my eyes snapping back to the one at their head and widening with surprise.

  It’s another foxkin. Suddenly, the comments of the two dead mercenaries take on a whole new meaning, and I shiver with disgust.

  Sense Danger flared wildly the moment I saw them, telling me that I would be in for a world of trouble if I actually fought them. I get the distinct feeling that, at the very least, the three at the head are far more powerful than the bearkin was.

  The foxkin points towards the main passenger cabin, and I quickly turn back to Arabella and nod. With that, we’re on the move. When we leave her room, she turns right instead of left, heading away from the lobby.

  “Once we’re off the train, you’ll need to carry me and run as fast as you can while following my directions. Can you do that?” she asks while opening a door to the adjoining train cart.

  “Sure, but… do you know where we’re going?” I reply, my voice filled with skepticism. “The Tunnels aren’t exactly forgiving to those that get lost, even in the first layer.”

  “That’s what this is for,” she says, raising the compass over her shoulder.

  When we reach the center of the neighboring train car, she turns right again, towards the exit.

  “Okay, we’ll get off here. Once we’re out, I’ll get their attention, then you—”

  “Run like the hells are singeing my tail, I got it.”

  After fumbling through a rushed plan and some awkward positioning, I’m giving her a piggyback ride. It’s surprisingly comfortable, all things considered—though I’ll admit it was incredibly tempting to do all this in a princess carry for the irony alone.

  As soon as she’s situated snugly against my back, I sling the door open as loudly as possible and leap out. The moment my feet touch the ground, I turn to face the gathering of mercenaries.

  The racket of the door seems to be enough to garner most of their attention, but Arabella still speaks up.

  “Oh, my! So many of you… all for little old me? How flattering.”

  Every head that hadn’t turned our way does so now. At the same time, my gaze locks with the other foxkin. His eyes widen with surprise, then a crooked smile blooms across his features.

  I grin back, then turn and sprint the direction Arabella and I had decided on earlier. She lets out an adorable yelp of surprise at my sudden burst of speed, but I decide to ignore it.

  The look of shock on the foxkin's face garners more of my attention. It pulls a ripple of laughter from me, interspersed with happy chirps and yips as I mock him as loudly as I can.

  I don’t know how much Dexterity a Tier Two Rogue has, but I’m willing to bet that I still have more with Fae Ferocity and All For One.

  At least, I hope so.

  “I want them both alive!” he roars behind us, and the rest of his crew shout their confirmations.

  Cackling, I sprint through the tunnel. Arabella points at an opening, a dark tunnel that splits away from the main path, and I beeline towards it. With all the mercenaries gathered near the passenger car, rather than surrounding the entire train, our path is clear.

  Then a wall of dirt starts to grow from the ground ahead of us, as if to block our path. Suddenly, Arabella stores her compass and holds her hand out. A massive spear of ice appears before us, then flies forward.

  It slams into, and then through, the dirt wall before vanishing completely, opening a gaping hole for me to leap through. An arrow pierces my calf as I jump, but the pain is barely noticeable.

  What does catch my attention is the swiftly spreading numbness. I pump the last quarter of my mana regen into Arcane Regulation to fight it off while we run, and it thankfully halts the spread entirely.

  I glance back midair, checking to see how much distance I’ve managed to create in this short period. Only about a dozen of the mercs are managing to keep up, the rest trailing behind at a snail’s pace in comparison.

  At the head of them, and far closer than I’d like, is the foxkin.

  I meet his glare with a bright smile before returning my focus to our exit path. It only takes a few seconds to reach it at my speed, the foxkin and several others not far behind.

  Arabella summons a thick wall of ice behind us though, seemingly returning the favor of whatever Mage tried to wall us off before.

  As I run, she summons wall after wall, sealing off the path behind us before pulling the strange compass out once more.

  “Left!” she orders.

  I turn left.

  The walls won’t last long against people as strong as them, but it’ll slow them down a bit, and if we can lose them in the tunnels, we’ll have won. The train's Engineers will get it moving again in time, meaning Cari, Krissy, and Nyria will be safe.

  All I have to do now is maintain this gap. And lose a pack of Tier Two’s.

  No problem.

  Another fork in the path, another barked direction from Arabella. I even sprint straight through an entire pack of goblins at one point, ignoring their cries of surprise and anger.

  We continue like this for several minutes, dashing through the dark tunnels. At some points, it’s so dark that I have to alert the princess to splits in the path so I can get more directions.

  Then, I come to a screeching halt as I nearly run face first into a sheer wall of chaotic mana.

  A wild magic zone.

  I’ve never seen one before now, given I hadn’t had the ability to see them at all until the Update. With most of them turning into Dungeons, I hadn’t thought about the spaces where the wild magic didn’t lead to altered spaces.

  The ones that come with cautionary tales about people split in half by reality itself, or worse. And I’m so close to the invisible wall of potentially horrible death that my heart nearly bursts from my chest in sheer panic.

  “This is it! Why are you stopping?” she demands.

  “What the fuck do you mean 'this is it'?! That’s a wild magic zone!” I snap back.

  Voices echo from the tunnel walls behind us, the Rogues and Rangers obviously having managed to track us thus far.

  “I don’t have time to explain how this item works, just trust me! Go! Quickly!” she hisses.

  I let out a groan.

  “Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,” I murmur as I psych myself up.

  Then I jump into the wall of magic.

  Suddenly, we’re somewhere else entirely, and I’m shocked by the similarities of the space with one of my memories.

  We’re in a small, enclosed cave. Nothing but jagged rock surrounds us, but one section stands out. Two crackling torches light the space from opposite sides of a large, eerily familiar door, casting their flickering shadows across the walls around us.

  The door is dark and ominous, its surface seeming to absorb the light cast off the torches all on its own.

  An entrance to a dungeon.

  With a glance at Arabella's compass, I can see its weird dial pointing right at the door.

  Dungeon Discovered!

  Bluebell’s Recompense

  Difficulty: Extreme

  Participants: 1 - 2

  Restrictions: Participants must have a legendary Class. Participants must have a Title. Level 50+ (Overridden)

  Enter the Dungeon?

  Yes / No