Dungeons really were great distractions. Not once in the past forty minutes had Severance thought about anything else except survival. It was a refreshing change, if he was honest. If any more surprises happened today, he was sure his head would explode.

Right now, he braced himself against a giant boulder, the cold stone digging into his shoulder. Somewhere below, he heard the angry roars and felt the vibrations of the Boss going on a rampage.

"Come on, push!" That came from the slender girl beside him, similarly braced against the boulder.

He grunted, annoyed. "I am!"

"Well, push harder! It's almost over!"

"Aaagh!"

+1 Strength

You have unassigned skills.

A loud crash resounded in the room, followed by a maddened bugling cry. From his position on one of the four high ledges along the edge of the room, Severance sagged.

Hilarious. Even the game thinks I need more strength.

He was pretty sure Nilani Azareth had pushed the giant boulder over the edge herself. Last time he checked, he had a measly 4 points in the strength department. Compared to the high 20's in nearly all the other attributes, that was rather sad.

I'll do push-ups later, he vowed.

This dungeon run had been an insane whirlwind, for their tank—a stone-faced woman who never said more than two words the entire run—sprinted the entire way through. She went from one pack of mobs to another without pausing to catch her breath. And since this happened to be the Light path of the dungeon, there were far more critters to fight than there had been in the Dark Path.

At least Yohoho wasn't a terrible tank—she gathered everything up and used her defensive buffs while the rest of the team beat them down. But she didn't seem to care that Severance could barely keep up with the amount of damage she took or that Splishy Fishy, the oddball knightglaive, kept falling behind. The only person she ever paid attention to was her partner, A Pirate's Life.

And oh boy, were they two peas in a pod. A Pirate's Life was also a non-talkative guy, and he kept up the same brutal pace, slinging ice and blizzards wherever he went. He had zero self-preservation sense, and often stood next to the tank. Severance had a sneaking suspicion that both Yohoho and A Pirate's Life enjoyed living life on the edge.

The only good thing about this whole run was that he'd finally gained a point in Agility from all the running, and now he was level 33. There was even a new skill to choose, as evident by the annoying notifications, but he hadn't found even a single second of breathing room to check it out.

"Do you think that did it?" Nilani Azareth leaned over the edge. She had light brown hair, cropped short, and deep green eyes that glimmered with good humor. An old scar crossed her left cheek.

Severance peered down as well. Below them, a poor mockery of a rhinoceros shook itself, dust and pieces of rock sliding off its back. It took a few unsteady steps back, as if disoriented, then tossed its head. The long horn on its nose nearly impaled Yohoho, but she hastily jumped out of the way.

"Yeah," he said. "Looks like we got it."

"Great!" With that, Nilani Azareth held out a hand. A length of silver chain appeared in her grasp. Sharp metal teeth protruded from each link and the very tip of the chain itself was a narrow, double-bladed dagger. The whole thing looked like a chainsaw grew hungry and escaped from its confines so it could properly hunt its prey.

Seeing that weapon and knowing how Tempests tended to whip those things about, Severance backed up. He had no doubt that it could easily rip him apart, which was an experience he never wanted to have.

Nilani Azareth raised a slender arm, muscle shifting beneath her skin, and spun the entire length of chain in a great circle above her head. The dagger-tip whipped past Severance's arm, narrowly missing him, before it sang a bloodthirsty cry above them.

After two revolutions, Nilani Azareth shouted, "Snare!"

The chain snapped out like a snake, its tip piercing into the Boss's back. With a firm tug, Nilani Azareth yanked herself towards the Boss. For a moment, she flew like a rocket. Then her feet slammed into the Boss, causing it to stagger from the force. She tugged her chain free as she lightly jumped to the ground.

From his perch above, Severance shook his head. He was going to keep his distance on this one. This room wasn't that large, meaning fighting was fairly cramped. He didn't want to be in melee range of that chain, especially when there wasn't space to maneuver away from it.

A Pirate's Life had the same idea, since he stood on the ledge opposite Severance. A whirlwind of snow spun around him, his long blue robes fluttering in a storm of icy winds that centered only upon himself. He was building up for a powerful attack.

"Focus!" Nilani Azareth cried, and for a second Severance thought she was yelling at him. Then yellow light burst around her, making her look like a star about to go supernova. Or, like a super bright yard light. Either way, she suddenly became very hard to look at.

She launched into a tirade of attacks, her chain all but shrieking as it whipped through the air. Its teeth tore into the Boss with every strike, coming from different angles each time. Nilani Azareth called out the attacks, but her voice was drowned out in the wail of the chain and the Boss's unhappy roars.

The fight was almost over. It wouldn't be long before the Boss fell—they all could sense that. Severance placed a Radiant Dome over Nilani and Yohoho, then switched to Sky Dance.

Severance raised a war fan high. Blue electrical energy crackled around him. "Flare."

The light reflected in his lavender eyes, causing them to shine more blue than purple. Across from him, A Pirate's Life mirrored his actions, also raising one hand above his head. The sleeve of the cryomancer's robes slid down, revealing a silver bracelet that glowed white with raw energy.

"Freeze Storm!"

Their eyes met across the distance. It was the first time in the whole dungeon run that Severance had actually made eye contact with the other player, but in this moment, it didn't feel weird or awkward. Both of them were casting their skills, working together in a rare moment of cooperation.

Thunder cracked overhead, a sharp, sudden boom that easily reached them through the crumbling stone ceiling above them. If one were to look up, they would see the patches of sky growing darker as clouds grew into angry, turbulent things.

Severance waited for the bolt of energy to fall, as it usually did when he cast Flare, but it didn't happen. Instead, ice crystallized in the open air between him and A Pirate's Life, with sparks jumping from one frozen crystal to the next.

Even when Severance frowned in confusion, more ice crystals formed, glittering like a thousand tiny shards of glass. The crackle of energy between ice increased from mere sparks to actual visible bolts of electricity, creating frenetic flashes of blue like the constant dance of lightning in a storm cloud.

Something was happening here that Severance didn't exactly understand. More electricity than normal was gathering around his war fans, far beyond what was normal for a Flare. He lowered his fans, expecting the strange glitch to be canceled out. It wasn't. Nothing changed.

Whatever was going on wasn't going to stop.

A sharp scent of ozone reached Severance then, and his eyes widened slightly. Both awe and fright mingled within him—there was a lot of power gathering, and if it blew up in their face...

On the other ledge, A Pirate's Life laughed madly. Rather than being worried about the strange storm, he was reveling in it. He spread his arms wide.

And suddenly, like the tethers had snapped, their blended skills exploded down with gale force. Frigid winds howled around the Boss, blasting the remaining three of their teammates back. Ice pellets whipped so fiercely across the rhino creature's skin that shallow cuts rapidly formed all over its body. Blood spilled. The powerful winds picked it up, pounded it into a mist, and the storm itself took on a pinkish hue. Blue lightning stabbed chaotically into all nearby surfaces, though half of them managed to strike the Boss. They left behind blackened flesh, scorched stone, and a sharp, burning stench of ozone.

Severance shielded his face with an arm, squinting against the brilliant flashes of light. Above the roar of the wind, he could hear shouts and the cries of the Boss, but as to what exactly was happening below, he couldn't quite make it out.

All he knew was that this was the most powerful attack he'd ever seen, and it was–

It was awesome.

His awe only grew when he realized Nilani Azareth's health bar had dropped to zero. And so had Splishy Fishy's, though that wasn't much of a surprise. The knightglaive spent a lot of his time hugging the floor. As for Yohoho, her health dropped fast, but since she had so much more than anyone else, it took longer.

Whatever this weird storm was, it didn't discriminate. It took out everything in its path, whether it was friend or foe.

Moving closer to the edge of the ledge, Severance squinted, trying to spot the tank below. If he couldn't see her, then he couldn't focus on her to heal her. Frigid air buffeted him, stinging the bare flesh of his arm and face. In an instant, frost formed on his eyebrows and eyelashes. Alarmed, he jerked back, his breath puffing out before him.

Yikes. At least the electrical charge in the air didn't seem to hurt him. Which was only fair, since that part was his own creation.

His excitement gradually faded as last of Yohoho's health vanished. Three empty health bars showed in the party list now, making him feel slightly guilty.

It took a full minute for the storm to fade. Snow still fell gently, but they were few and far between. The only remnant of Severance's contribution was a distant, rolling thunder.

You have unassigned skills, the System reminded him again. And then, more letters revealed themselves:

Guidebook updated: Skill Combinations

It was a simple notification, revealing little, but in the light of what had just happened, it was huge. That meant this wasn't a glitch, but an actual part of the game design.

Wow. Severance was going to check that out as soon as he got out of this dungeon. And then tell Awesome Dude, because the Shade was going to be beyond excited about this.

Severance made his way down from the ledge, carefully jumping down the broken stone staircase and landing lightly on the ground. The Boss lay on its side, already alight with death sparkles. It didn't seem so big and threatening as it had before.

Quite footfalls alerted him to A Pirate's Life's arrival. The other player took in the surrounding scene, then regarded Severance rather seriously.

"You've got some juice for a healer."

The rather sardonic tone made Severance raise his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

A Pirate's Life didn't immediately answer. He walked to the fallen form of the tank and looked down at her. Her armor, once pristine and shiny, was now scorched black. Frost dusted the metal that wasn't darkened, but those areas were few and far between. Her face was relaxed, eyes closed, but her lips were blue. White frost clung to her eyelashes and hair, testament to the extreme temperatures she had endured before finally falling.

Severance winced. That couldn't have been a pleasant way to go. He knew he could easily Revive his teammates, so no real damage was done, but what if it was one of the Veiled? Or another Elionan civilian? He'd have to be careful.

"Revive," he murmured, focusing first on Nilani Azareth. She was the most tolerable out of his teammates, so that meant she got to be Revived first.

He watched A Pirate's Life out of the corner of his eye. "What was that, anyway? It was like our skills combined."

"They did." A Pirate's Life sneered. "Though that normally happens between two scholar-based classes, and not with a weak healer."

Severance's jaw clenched as Nilani Azareth rose, her body held gently by silvery light. The words came out before he could stop them. "Yeah, that whole thing looked pretty weak, didn't it?"

A Pirate's Life gave a short, cold bark of laughter. "Healers are weak when it comes to dps," he stated. "It's actually impressive you were able to match my Freeze Storm."

That almost sounded like a compliment, but the way it was delivered made it sound like an insult. Severance kept quiet, and set to Reviving Yohoho. It was better when A Pirate's Life didn't talk.

By now, Nilani Azareth was back on her feet. She lightly kicked the Boss, sending up a flurry of violet sparks. "That was some fight. How'd you guys pull that off, anyway? Never seen anything like it."

"Of course you haven't," A Pirate's Life sounded smug. "You're not a scholar."

Nilani Azareth scoffed, showing what she thought of that. The Boss began to disintegrate, revealing the treasure chest. That put an end to the discussion as the team quickly gathered around it, Yohoho included.

A Pirate's Life lifted the lid, while Severance Revived the last member of their team, Splishy Fishy.

The chest held a pair of shiny new greaves, which A Pirate's Life tossed over to Yohoho. She took them wordlessly, stashing them in her Inventory without so much as a thanks. Apart from those, there was a nice pile of Amaurite crystals. Six, to be exact.

A Pirate's Life took three of them. Before anyone could protest, both he and Yohoho vanished from the dungeon, their names leaving the party list.

Having been brought back just in time to witness this, Splishy Fishy scowled, hands balling into fists. "Who do they think they are? They got the gear, so that extra crystal should have been ours!"

Ours? Severance shook his head. What were they going to do, arm wrestle over it? Crystals couldn't be split apart. At least this way, it saved them the trouble of arguing who got the extra goods.

"It's fine," he murmured, though no one was listening to him. Splishy Fishy was busy complaining at Nilani Azareth, whose indignation matched his. Tuning them out, Severance opened up his Skills window. This, to him, was the real reward of the dungeon.

You have unassigned skills.

Unassigned Skills

Level 33 Skills – Choose one

Suppress – applies a stun to all within range for 6 seconds. The stun cannot be reapplied. Affected by Dance. Cooldown: 56* sec

Siphon Spin – siphons 10% of all enemy health and returns it evenly amongst party members. Earth Dance only. Cooldown: 115* sec

*Because you have ≥20 wisdom, cooldown times are slightly decreased.

He read through both skills carefully. The second one appealed to him immediately, though the cooldown was one of the longest ones he'd seen. He wouldn't be able to use the skill very often. And, the 10% of all health—that would make it a great heal if they were fighting a lot of enemies at once, but what if it was only one? And split evenly amongst the players?

Severance scratched his jaw thoughtfully. That made it a very niche skill. The first one, on the other hand, was a 6 second stun. And it was affected by Dance, which meant it would have healing properties, wouldn't it?

When he considered the different situations that he'd found himself in lately, he had to admit that the stun would have come in handy. At the very least, he'd be able to use it to escape dangerous situations. With the Veiled's penchant for trouble and the Free Traders after him, that sort of edge was invaluable.

He wished he could have chosen both, but regrettably, the game System was not so kind. He selected Suppress and closed the System window.

The remaining three Amaurite crystals still lay at the bottom of the chest. He bent, scooped them up, and approached his two teammates, who were still ranting at each other.

"Hey," he said.

They stopped, and the silence was absolutely blessed.

"Here's your crystals. And ah, I'm going to leave now."

Nilani Azareth plucked hers out of his hand. "Right. I should get going, too. Nice meeting ya guys! Even if the others were jerks."

Splishy Fishy took the last crystal. "Same."

Severance left the dungeon after that, his last two teammates close behind. But the second they stepped out of the swirling portal, they found a large group of Free Traders waiting for them. And at their head was a familiar Elionan creep in a ratty maroon coat.