They pressed on, descending ever deeper into the Shadow Barrow’s twisting depths. The ghost-lamps grew sparser as they went, their wan light barely holding the darkness at bay.

Finn shivered, trying to ignore the growing sense of unease prickling along his spine. The dungeon’s second floor was proving every bit as inhospitable as the first, if not more so.

Nyx, by contrast, seemed utterly in her element, gliding through the gloom with grace.

"Bearer, how much deeper do you think this goes?"

"It’s a starter dungeon. Shouldn’t be much more — five floors, usually."

"Five." She tilted her head, as if catching some far-off sound. "And by starter, I take it there are dungeons of far greater depth than these?"

Finn swallowed, his grip tightening on his sword hilt.

"Yeah. The real ones come ranked. But they’re a different beast entirely, nothing we need to worry about this early."

He didn’t like the vibes that came from dungeons at all. But there was nothing for it but to keep moving forward.

Turning back would’ve been a waste given how far they’d come.

He took some solace in the new weight of the bone necklace around his throat, snatched from the corpse of one of the Hunters.

[Equipped: Hunter Bone’s Necklace]

[Grade: E]

[A necklace made of bone, grants +4 Endurance to the wearer.]

Its stats were meager, a paltry boost to his endurance, but in a place like this, every advantage counted.

They rounded a bend in the tunnel and pulled up short.

The passage ahead opened into a massive cavern, easily dwarfing the one where they had fought the Broodmother.

Finn’s breath caught.

At the chamber’s center, a towering spire of obsidian jutted from the uneven floor, its surface seeming to drink the wan light cast by the ghost lamps.

Strange symbols pulsed along its length, their sickly glow staining the air.

And at the spire’s base, a shadowed figure crouched, horned head bent as if in supplication.

[Barrow Lord - lvl 20 Elite]

Finn’s blood ran cold. An elite mob. This was a Boss Room, the heart of the dungeon’s second floor.

The Barrow Lord raised its head. Baleful red light kindled in the pits of its eyes as it took in the intruders standing at the edge of its domain.

With a snarl that shook the very stone, it unfolded from its crouch and stood to its full height.

Easily three times Finn’s height, it towered over them, a grotesque fusion of man and monster. Jagged antlers jutted from its brow, framing a face that might have been human once, before it had been warped into a nightmare visage.

It carried an old blade, dented and filled with scratches, barely held together, in an even worse condition than Finn’s own.

"Nyx." His voice came steadier than he’d expected. "We’re outmatched. We should fall back."

"And yet, Bearer, your feet have not moved."

The Barrow Lord roared, a sound to shake the foundations of the surroundings, and charged.

Finn and Nyx scattered, the monster’s hulking form slamming into the space they’d occupied a heartbeat before with enough force to crater the stone. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Finn rolled to his feet, his chipped shortsword already swinging in a desperate parry as the Barrow Lord rounded on him.

Their blades met with a crash that sent numbing vibrations up Finn’s arms. He strained against the monster’s incredible strength, muscles screaming, but it was like trying to hold back an avalanche.

Slowly, inexorably, he was driven back, his boots skidding on the cavern floor.

The Barrow Lord’s face split in a vicious grin, its fetid breath washing over him. It knew it had him. It was just a matter of moments before Finn’s strength failed and it could bat his blade aside, open him up from neck to navel—

Then Nyx was there, a blur of shadow, and her dagger found the back of the Barrow Lord’s knee.

The monster howled, its leg buckling. The pressure on Finn’s sword vanished and he leapt back, gasping for breath.

"...Thanks."

She flashed him a quicksilver grin. "You make the loveliest bait, Bearer. I could hardly let it end so quickly."

The Barrow Lord was already recovering, its wound sealing shut as they watched. Its eyes blazed with unholy fury as it rounded on Nyx.

She danced back, dagger held low and ready. "Did that sting, my lord? A pity. I am only beginning."

The fight dissolved into a whirlwind of steel and shadow, Finn and Nyx weaving around each other and their monstrous foe in a deadly dance.

Time lost all meaning. There was only the burn of Finn’s muscles, the hammer of his heart, the snarl of the Barrow Lord filling his ears.

His world narrowed to the glint of lamplight on blade and fang, the spray of blood, the increasingly desperate need to stay ahead of those lashing claws.

And through it all, Nyx. A constant presence at the edge of his vision, a flicker of pale skin and crimson eyes, always there to turn a killing blow or open the monster up for his own counters.

They moved together as if they had been fighting side by side for years, not just a single day.

A synergy he couldn’t explain, a bond deeper than blood, letting them flow around each other like water.

But even that could only take them so far. The Barrow Lord was too strong, too brutal. Each wound they dealt, it shrugged off. Every opening they exploited, it closed with frightening speed.

And they were tiring, the toll of the climb and the battles before catching up to them at last. Finn’s arm burned from fatigue, his lungs heaving like bellows.

Nyx was slowing too, her movements losing their fluid grace, becoming more strained, more desperate.

A backhand from the Barrow Lord sent Finn crashing across the chamber. He slammed into the far wall hard enough to drive the breath from his lungs in an agonized whoosh.

Stars burst behind his eyes, pain lancing through his chest.

[HP: 16%]

Dazed, gasping, he struggled to rise. His vision swam, refusing to focus. He could just make out Nyx, a dart of shadow harrying the Barrow Lord, trying to keep its attention off Finn.

But she was flagging, her Shadow Step growing sluggish. As Finn watched, the Barrow Lord’s claws caught her a glancing blow across the ribs, sending her spinning.

She hit the ground hard and lay still, blood pooling beneath her.

The Barrow Lord loomed over her prone form, its eyes alight with cruel triumph. It raised one massive foot, intent on crushing her like an insect—

"Recall!"

[Covenant Recall Activated.]

Nyx’s figure vanished, materialising beside Finn in a swirl of darkness. The Barrow Lord froze, its head swinging as it searched for its vanished prey.

It didn’t take long for it to find her again at Finn’s side. With another shuddering roar, it began to charge.

"Well caught, Bearer." Nyx pushed herself up on one elbow, breath ragged. "But this one is beyond us as we are. Tell me you have some clever notion."

"Catch your breath. I’ll keep its eyes on me." Then, under his breath. "System, how many stat points do I have?"

[Finn Morrow — Level 10]

[Stat points available: 18]

[Nyx Sanguina — Level 10]

[Stat points available: 10]

"Apply ten stat points into agility... and eight into endurance...."

[+10 Agility]

[+8 Endurance]

He hit confirm.

Finn launched himself forward, heedless of his own injuries, his own exhaustion.He slammed into the Barrow Lord’s charging figure with all his strength, the recoil launching him to the side.

It smiled, a cold, vicious thing, and strode forward to oblige him.

What happened next, Finn could never quite piece together. The Barrow Lord’s sword fell like a guillotine.

Finn raised his own blade to meet it, knowing it was futile, knowing his strength would fail, but determined to buy Nyx every second he could. Their swords met—

—and shattered.