The wall of cannibals rushed toward them. The three of them rushed toward that wall. In the lead, Levi threw his hand forward. The Armalgam perked up on his back. It grabbed onto him, swung back, then threw itself forward, spinning sidelong like a loosed Ferris wheel with blades and killing intent. It crashed into the crowd. Blood spurted, and heads flew. Handy snaked out, grabbing onto a passing man by his head. It used him as a pole to swing the rest of the Armalgam around. The man’s neck snapped under the force of the motion, and its blades sliced into all the nearby townspeople.

  Screaming, a woman with enormous muscles rushed forward and slammed an axe into the Armalgam’s heart. It dug into bone and stuck there, upright in the construct’s flesh. The Armalgam didn’t even flinch. It backhandedly flicked its blade, and her head went flying.

  Levi chased after it. Chaos followed after the Armalgam, and he filled that chaos with blades. As the townsfolk turned to chase the Armalgam, he stabbed them in their backs. If they tried to face him instead, they found themselves caught between their fellow townsfolk, who still chased after the Armalgam, and the sharp end of Levi’s blade. He cut them down one after another. The Armalgam cavorted, drawing all eyes to it, and in its wake, Levi carved a bloody path through the wall of cannibals.

  Colin followed close after him. Flinching, averting his eyes from the worst of the violence, he kept his staff trained on Levi’s back. Close behind him, Isa watched over both of them with her slit-cat eyes. Her hands flashed out, almost too fast to see, smacking away weapons and hands that reached for Colin. Some got away with only a slap. Others, whose attempts were more serious, received gashes or heavy, bone-breaking blows.

  One man went for the root of the problem. Pulling his too-long arms back, he swung his pickaxe at Isa’s skull. Isa vanished, only to reappear behind him, a hand already wrapped around his jaw. His eyes widened, but only for an instant. Without any apparent effort, she put her other hand to his head and snapped his neck with a quick yank.

  Seeing Colin open, one of the women darted forward and slammed her knife toward his back. Before she reached him, a blade reached her heart. She gagged, coughing on her own blood, and sagged, the knife slipping out of her grasp. Levi lowered his sword, letting her fall. “Keep an eye on the healer, won’t you?”

  “I had it,” Isa murmured. Her body blurred again, and razor sharp nails pressed at Levi’s jugular. “Never doubt me.”

  “Look. When our precious healer is in danger, I panic a little, okay? Kill me,” he said sarcastically, shoving her hand away. Without another word, he dashed after the Armalgam again, leaving Colin and Isa to pick their way after him.

  Isa raised her brows. She lifted her tails to her lips and licked them. Her eyes narrowed further, almost to slits. “It isn’t adorable to be so unaware of your own mortality.”

  “It’ll get me killed one day, that’s for sure,” Levi replied at a half-shout. A man swung an axe at him. He sidestepped, barely parrying the heavy weapon toward the ground. It struck earth, and he immediately slammed his foot down on the handle, pinning it to the ground. The man yanked. Levi stepped in, leaving the axe to him. The man jerked the blade free, but too late. Levi was already swinging for his neck. Silver flashed, and blood poured out on the ground. The man collapsed.

  Levi turned back. He looked over the carnage he’d caused, then grinned. He snapped his fingers.

  All the dead cannibals twitched, then staggered to their feet. Levi spun his hand around his head, then threw his hand forward. The cannibals formed into a wedge, then charged their fellow living cannibals. The dead cannibals pushed the living ones back, forming an undead wall. A path opened up to the open land beyond the mass of cannibals.

  “Go!” Levi shouted, setting off at a sprint himself. “Before they eat the zombies!”

  Isa grabbed Colin and sprinted past him. Levi chased after them. The Armalgam continued to spin and stab wildly, darting all around the cannibals. He lifted his head and whistled. It froze, then spun toward Levi. Grabbing onto the top of the nearest cannibal’s head, it pushed off, leaping over the wall of zombies. It thumped onto Levi’s back.

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  Levi stumbled. “Oof. You’re getting heavy.”

  Handy patted him apologetically.

  “No, no. Don’t apologize. It’s all part of getting stronger. If you’re too heavy, then I need to get stronger to carry you,” Levi replied, flexing his muscles. His arms were only a little more than normally muscular, belying his true Strength score.

  The Armalgam patted him again, but this time in pity.

  “Stats don’t make your body huge. They aren’t steroids, they’re just… like, I don’t know. Magic strength enhancements. It’s okay, though. I like it like that. Makes the big guys underestimate me.”

  Ahead, one of the cannibals hacked the blocking zombie down. A surge of cannibals lunged through the gap in the wall. One of them tripped, momentarily kneeling.

  Levi jumped, using the tripped cannibal as a springboard to leap-frog over the rest of the cannibals, and ran on. The other zombies stood strong. The cannibals beat at them, rapidly wearing them down, but they held for long enough for Levi to run through. Glancing over his shoulder, he shook his head. “What is this, zombies vs zombies? I can’t even tell which side supposed to be the undead one.”

  Out the other side. The second Levi escaped from the press of cannibals, they turned and gave chase. The zombies reached out, grabbing whoever they could, but they only managed to slow the cannibals. Eyes glowing, hair thrashing around their horns, the cannibals hefted their weapons and chased after the party.

  “It’s a good thing none of us are slow,” Levi commented.

  Isa glanced over her shoulder, frowning. “None of us? Where’s the slombie?”

  Levi pointed. “It’s right back…” He turned. Frowned. “Uh… huh. Where is the slombie?”

  Isa raised her brows. “Did you leave it in the swamp?”

  “Uh… maybe.” Levi looked over his shoulder again, then shrugged. “It’s still alive.”

  “You can tell if they’re alive, but not where they are?”

  “Yeah.”

  She shook her head. “Strange limitation.”

  “What? The living dead don’t come with an onboard GPS. It’d be weirder if they did.”

  “GPS?”

  “It’s a—”

  Whoosh. Levi instinctively dodged. Isa leaned to the side. An axe hurtled through the air, splitting the difference between their heads. It slammed into a tree and stuck there, quivering.

  “—run now, talk later?”

  “Quite.”

  --

  The slombie stumbled one step ahead, then hesitated. A great gap opened in the floor ahead of them, the gash where Kuja had punched the mud not yet fully sealed. It lowered its foot into the deep pit slowly, one inch at a time. The slime retreated before the water, letting bare bone alone enter the depths. Water reached its ankle, its knee, its thigh. There, it flinched back, retreating to dry land.

  “Hey, you.”

  The slombie snapped its head up. It looked around, searching the mists.

  A shadow approached, slowly, looming out of the darkness. A man in his low twenties or late teens stepped forward. He rested his hand on his hilt. Black leather clad his form, armored just enough to still look stylish. He lowered his head, gazing at the slombie with dark eyes.

  “Where is he?”

  The slombie tilted its head, confused.

  Kai sighed. He rubbed his forehead. “Why am I talking to an undead—”

  A finger appeared in his view, pointing.

  He blinked, then looked up, following the slombie’s bony finger. Just visible in the fog, a metal door loomed. To the left, the decaying form of a huge body slumped ever lower beneath the surface of the water.

  “The exit? Wait—that way? He already passed through?”

  The slombie nodded.

  “And left you behind? Why?” Kai’s brows furrowed, the thoughts not computing in his head.

  The slombie pointed at the floor, at the gaping puddle between it and the exit.

  Kai laughed aloud. “Right, of course. What was I thinking?” He reached over his shoulder and untied a rough, long plank from his pack. Tossing it down, he crossed the puddle, then paused.

  The slombie looked at him, its gaping eye sockets somehow emanating hope.

  “…Come on,” Kai said at last.

  The slombie jolted forward. At its modest top speed, it picked its way across the plank and hurried ahead, toward the doors. There, it turned back again, waiting for Kai to open them.

  Kai snorted. He crossed to the slombie and opened the door, letting it through first. “Lead me straight to him, won’t you?”

  Oblivious, the slombie staggered on.

  The door creaked shut. The mists closed over the swamp once more. For a long time, there was only peace and quiet, nothing but the dark and the damp.

  In the silence, the water stirred. A single frogman approached her king, nervously. She reached out, gripping his body, and began to pull it into the depths.

  “You.”

  The frogman startled. She retreated into the water.

  A man in a black cloak stood on the water’s edge. He hadn’t been there moments ago, nor had any living thing see him approach, but he was undoubtedly present now. He gazed into the water, watching the frogman retreat, then turned to face the doors.

  In the end, he didn’t need anyone to point his way. If they were Champions, there was only one direction they would go.

  He turned his feet toward the iron doors.

  Deeper.