Falcon dropped from the ceiling as the spike tore through his abdomen.

Blood spilled from his mouth before he crashed hard against the ground.

"Falcon!"

Teclos’s head snapped toward him.

The knight who had regained consciousness lowered his hand, breathing heavily, earth mana still crawling around his fingers. His face was pale, but his eyes burned with hatred.

Falcon tried to push himself up.

His arm trembled beneath his weight.

Or slightly more intense:

Falcon dropped from the ceiling as the spike ripped through his abdomen.

Blood spilled from his mouth before he crashed hard against the stone floor.

"Falcon!"

Teclos’s head snapped toward him.

The knight who had regained consciousness lowered his hand, breathing heavily, earth mana still crawling around his fingers. His face was pale, but his eyes burned with hatred.

Falcon tried to push himself up.

His arm shook once.

Then almost gave out.

The wound was bad.

Not instantly fatal, but bad enough that every movement was strained and full of pain, even with adrenaline rushing through him. Falcon quickly downed a potion, then gathered wind around the wound to stabilize it as best as he could.

The fire knight was already on him.

Falcon dodged the incoming slash with a burst of wind, using the current to keep himself upright, but his control looked unstable now.

Cassian noticed immediately as he rushed toward them.

"Finish him before the potion takes effect! This is our chance!"

The fire knight did not need to be told twice.

Falcon forced himself sideways with another burst of wind, narrowly avoiding the blade that would have split him in half. The movement tore his wound open again, and he clenched his teeth hard enough to make them creak from the pain.

Teclos tried to rush toward him, but Cassian appeared in front of him in a flash of light.

Their swords clashed.

Light burst outward, forcing Teclos’s shadows to shrink back.

"You are not going anywhere, scum," Cassian said.

Teclos’s eyes darkened.

Dark hands rose from the floor and lunged for Cassian’s legs, but he cut through them with a clean slash of light before stepping in and driving his knee into Teclos’s stomach.

The air rushed from Teclos’s lungs.

Cassian followed with a diagonal cut.

Teclos barely blocked it, but the force sent him skidding backward, his boots carving lines through the dust.

He spat out blood and then dodged the next slash.

—

Across the corridor, Falcon was being pushed hard.

The fire knight attacked from the front while the earth knight raised jagged stone spikes from behind, forcing Falcon to dodge in awkward, painful bursts. His wind was still fast, still sharp, but every movement now came with a delay.

And pain.

With each delay, more wounds piled up from blows he could no longer fully dodge. A flame-coated sword grazed his side. A stone spike tore through his thigh.

Falcon stumbled.

The fire knight grinned and readied himself to strike again.

"Not so quick anymore, are you?"

Falcon spat blood onto the ground.

"Better than having almost lost a two agains seven."

The knight’s smile vanished.

And he rushed in.

Falcon lifted one hand, trying to form a wind burst, but the earth knight slammed his palm up with a stone platform. Then he wrapped rocks around Falcon’s ankle, locking him in place.

Before Falcon could break free, the fire knight struck his other hand aside and drove a blazing kick into his chest. Fire mana exploded on impact, scorching him and sending him flying across the corridor.

—

At the same time, Cassian pressed Teclos back.

Light gathered along his sword, as bright as he could make it and weakened the shadows as much as possible.

Teclos threw up a black curtain and dashed backward, trying to vanish and give himself some space, but Cassian’s light erased the darkness like dawn erasing the night. He slashed Teclos across the shoulder and chest, burning through armor and skin.

Teclos was blown away, hitting the wall behind him with a loud boom.

Cassian raised his sword for the next strike, while Teclos summoned spikes from beneath him.

Then both of them paused.

Footsteps.

A lot of them.

From deeper in the passage, five figures came running, panic clear on their faces.

Garren, Vera, Pete, Milo, and Wallace.

Milo and Wallace were carrying Derrick between them, unconscious, his golem armor cracked and crumbling in pieces behind them.

Cassian’s eyes widened.

"Help!" he shouted instantly, pointing toward Teclos and Falcon. "Two assassins attacked us! They tried to steal the loot!"

Teclos barely contained his laughter.

But Garren did not even glance at them and just ran through.

"What are you doing?" Cassian snapped.

Pete looked back only once, eyes wide with fear.

"Run, you idiots!"

Teclos stared after them, stunned.

Cassian looked just as dismayed.

Then the ground began to tremble.

Teclos felt it then.

A vast pressure moving through the dungeon.

Massive.

Furious.

His blood ran cold.

"Oh shit..."

Cassian’s face also paled once he felt that familiar pressure.

The dragon was coming.

Teclos disengaged from Cassian immediately, shadow stepping backward and wrapping himself in darkness.

Falcon tore his ankle free from the stone with a burst of wind and stumbled back, one hand pressed against his bleeding abdomen before he ran as well.

But Cassian hesitated.

His gaze flicked toward the egg.

Then toward the tunnel.

The dragon finally arrived, tearing through the rocks that barred its way. The fury of its aura crashed down on them like a mountain.

Cassian’s face paled, but his eyes still shot toward the wrapped egg.

With a grimace, he moved toward it.

It was simply too valuable to leave behind.

He flash-stepped toward the egg, light bursting beneath his feet as he reached out with one hand.

Teclos stared at him in disbelief.

’He wants to die, I guess.’

The dragon would not let Cassian escape twice and began to collapse the tunnel.

Stone cracked, twisted, and folded inward from every side. The ceiling split apart, the walls crushed together, and massive slabs of black rock dropped one after another, sealing the passage piece by piece.

Cassian grabbed the tarp around the egg and turned to run.

But in that exact moment, dark hands shot out from beneath him.

They wrapped around his ankles.

Cassian’s head snapped down, then toward Teclos.

Teclos stood there, blood running down his face, one hand raised.

He smiled.

Then, calmly, he showed Cassian the middle finger.

Cassian’s expression twisted in anger.

"You little—"

Then the tunnel slammed shut.

A wall of stone crashed down between them, sealing Cassian on the other side with the egg.

With the dragon.

"Hah, dumbass," Teclos muttered with a smile, then jogged away while pulling a potion from his dark dimension.

For a second, there was no sound on the other side.

Then light suddenly flashed through the cracks.

Cassian’s scream followed.

The wall trembled violently as something massive struck him.

Once.

Twice.

A burst of white-gold mana exploded from the other side, followed by the sound of stone breaking and bones cracking beneath impossible weight.

Cassian tried to fight desperately.

But his light was slowly being extinguished by the creature.

Before it ended, a deep voice rolled through the sealed passage, ancient and cold.

"A puny existence should never challenge the natural order. You will die because of your greed."

For the last time, Cassian’s blinding flash shone through the cracks in the wall, accompanied by his final scream.

Then the dragon stomped once.

And the light vanished.

After that, the dragon disappeared, taking its egg back to its cave.

—

The two knights, Falcon, and the Black Hounds were outside, panting and catching their breath when Teclos came jogging out leisurely.

For a moment, no one moved.

Falcon, still bleeding from his abdomen, leaned against the cave entrance and let out a rough sigh.

"Well..." he muttered. "That solved one problem."

Teclos looked at him and sighed as well. He pulled one more potion from his dark dimension and threw it to him.

"You almost died."

Falcon pressed one hand against the wound and grimaced as he drank it. "I said one problem, not all of them."

Before Teclos could answer, two sets of footsteps came closer.

Cassian’s knight friends.

They were pale, shocked, and furious as they looked at the two of them.

Because they had seen what Teclos and Falcon had done to their comrades in the camp outside.

Bodies.

Blood.

Carnage all around the camp.

Their dead comrades were scattered across the ground.

The Black Hounds also stared at them with their own expressions of disbelief and awe.

Teclos and Falcon looked at the knights, then at each other, and shrugged.

As if saying, ’So what are you going to do about it?’

They had killed off all the guards, then fought seven knights.

And somehow came out on top.

They were lucky.

But that did not take away from the achievement.

For a few awkward seconds, no one said anything.

Then one of the knights swallowed.

"Where is Cassian?" he asked.

Falcon pointed lazily toward the sealed wall.

"Dragon."

The knight’s face went even paler.

The other knight clenched his jaw, glanced toward the Black Hounds behind him, and pleaded for help.

"We need to get out. Help us kill those two, and we can all survive this."

Teclos and Falcon blinked.

They almost burst out laughing again.

Then Garren slowly nodded.

"Sure."

The two knights visibly relaxed and turned their attention back to Falcon and Teclos.

That was their mistake.

Garren and Wallace casually walked up to them and stabbed them in the back.

The knights’ eyes widened in betrayal.

They collapsed where they stood, eyes now pleading for mercy.

Falcon walked closer, looked down at them, and smiled.

"Assistance provided."

Teclos stared at him for a second, in disbelief at the dark humor. Then he chuckled.

"Professional service, eh?"

Falcon pressed his hand tighter against his wound and winced. It was slowly healing.

"Yeah, but shut up now and help me walk."

Teclos grabbed him under the arm and pulled him toward one of the expedition’s wagons, where he sat him down on a crate before going to search for valuables.

The Black Hounds were already searching through the camp as well.

Milo and Wallace had simply left Derrick on the ground nearby.

After an hour of searching, each of them carrying a full sack of goods over their shoulders, they gathered back where Falcon sat.

Surprisingly, Derrick was there too, barely conscious, but awake.

"Did... did we win?" he asked, still dazed.

"Sort of," Falcon said.

Derrick groaned and nodded. "Damn. My head is still ringing."

Garren smirked. "Yeah, no shit. You literally faced off against a dragon. Be happy you’re alive."

Teclos threw his sack on the ground and opened his dark dimension, storing it inside before beckoning the others to do the same.

Pete looked at Falcon’s wound and whistled.

"That’s a nasty wound as well."

Falcon glared at him. "Thank you. I hadn’t noticed."

"What happened on your side?" Wallace asked.

Teclos explained everything, and Derrick slowly started smiling.

"Hah... pretty boy got eaten?"

"Stomped, probably," Teclos said.

Derrick’s smile only widened before turning into a bellowing laugh. He stopped soon after, though, because laughing still hurt.

Vera looked at Teclos and asked, "And the egg?"

"Dragon."

Another roar shook the cave, as if on cue.

Then Derrick looked at the camp again and gave Teclos and Falcon a nod.

"Anyway... Zamas sent two damn nightmares after a whole camp. Well done, lads."

They all nodded at that.

Vera then stepped closer to Falcon and glanced at his wound, already preparing her first aid kit.

"You look terrible."

Falcon nodded. "Yeah..."

She took off his armor and started bandaging him.

Derrick tried to sit up and complain. "Oi! How come he gets the premium treatment?"

She just rolled her eyes and focused back on Falcon.

"Are you jealous?" Garren laughed.

Derrick glared at him. "I’ll rip your head off for laughing, old man."

Pete crouched near one of the dead guards and picked up a half-full flask of wine. He sniffed it, shrugged, and took a sip.

Everyone stopped arguing and just stared at him.

"What?" Pete asked. "He’s not using it anymore."

Vera rubbed her forehead. "We survived a goddamn dragon just so I could die from secondhand stupidity."

Teclos actually smiled faintly.

After a few more minutes of chatting, drinking potions, and eating something from the supplies, they were ready to head back home.

"Alright, enough fooling around. Grab the horses, and let’s get back to Lupos before that lizard decides we smell like its egg again," Derrick said.

The road back to Lupos was quiet.

Falcon leaned back against Vera, who blushed slightly. He was pale, but alive, while Teclos rode beside them, watching the road ahead with a blank and tired expression.

The job was over.

And the end result was quite good.