Pale blue light bounced off the cave walls of the dungeon courtesy of the blue barrier formed by Vicky's [Echoing Shield]. I stood back with my jaw nearly on the floor, watching as my dad carved through a pack of goblins the way a linebacker might plow through a buffet at training camp. He was an absolute menace, casually swinging a two-handed war hammer that was nearly as long as he was tall. It reminded me of nothing so much as a comet, leaving a trail of red spraying in the air behind it wherever it went. The softness of age was something my father had long left behind, while I hadn't been looking. Where before ages had softened him around the edges, and accumulated around his middle as it did for many in their later years, now he was a slab of hard muscle.

  The flickering remains of Vicky's shield covered Robert's exposed side, or rather the trap that had been left open. The warhammer rocketed around like a bat in the hands of a major league baseball player. Thanks to [All-Seeing Eye], I saw the mana building in the war hammer before the Skill activated, or before its name was called out. The blue energy gathered in the head of the hammer, to my sight, until it was glowing like a small star.

  "[Mighty Blow]!" A fitting name, I watched with interest as the hammer came around and made contact with the goblin. The mana built up within the hammer's head surged outward on contact; it detonated almost like a bomb. The monster's head was reduced to red mist and chunks flying through the air. "Another one bites the dust!" Robert let out a raucous laugh as he cast about for another opponent.

  I couldn't help but grin at my Dad's exuberance; he was having the time of his life killing goblins like he was in a video game. I sincerely doubted that the joy would leave him any time soon. Magic and monsters were real; life might as well be a damn video game at this point. I wasn't going to begrudge the man responsible for my own enjoyment of such things his own bit of joy.

  On the other side of the cavern, Uncle Wolf dealt with his own group of goblins, though he wasn't alone. Uncle Wolf was apparently something of a pet Class. At his side, glowing with an eerie green light, was a massive spectral wolf that tore into the goblins with unmatched ferocity. Its visibly ephemeral nature clearly didn't prevent it from tearing out monster innards.

  He fought with a strange pair of claws fit over his hands that reminded me of nothing so much as the talons of a bird of prey. Uncle Wolf tore into the goblins alongside his companion with a calmness that was a counterpoint to his lupine companion's ferocity. Uncle Wolf rarely moved first; instead, he was simply in the right place at the right moment as if the fight was choreographed. A goblin would rush him, and he would dance out of the way with light steps, hooking another goblin with a claw in passing, pulling it off balance. The wolf would surge in, moving in tandem, dragging the goblin to the ground and savaging it with claw and fang. They worked well together, savagery and grace. Of course, at that moment, Uncle Wolf stepped into his summoned wolf, and it vanished, only for a spectral owl to take its place, soaring out of his back to rake an approaching goblin with its talons. When his claws had vanished and were replaced with a long one-handed sword with a grinning wolf on the cross guard, I stopped trying to make sense of his Skills and Class. It wasn't something that would make sense unless I could see all the pieces.

  "It's not a competition, Robert!" He called out over the din of the ongoing battle as more and more goblins ventured forth from the tunnels that led deeper into the dungeon.

  "It is now!" Sean called from the far side of the cavern while he laid about him with his sword, the shield on his other arm acting more the part of a battering ram. My little brother was more than happy to compete. "Aiden, keep score!"

  "I didn't know I was wearing zebra stripes." I gave Sean a flat look, tugging on my shirt, obviously absent anything that would even vaguely make it look like it belonged on a sports referee. "Fine, fine, have your fun. The count starts now!" I called back after a moment. It wasn't as if there was any point to fighting anything in here myself. Even the boss monster would be like crushing an insect, such was the power and tyranny of levels. The gap could be overcome to a certain extent with Skills and skill, but there was such a thing as an insurmountable gap.

  "Ugh, men," Vicky sidled up beside me, long braid swaying to match the way she shook her head at the childish behaviour on display. "Why does everything have to be a competition?"

  "Enh, it's in our nature, little sister, if there was anything worth fighting in here, I would be just as bad."

  She rolled her eyes, but there was a real smile hidden behind the exasperation. "You could at least humour Dad, you know? I've never seen him like this." She sipped from her water bottle and gave me a sidelong glance. I watched the chaos unfold down below, a scene so familiar and so wrong at the same time, it made my heart do a spasm. My dad, the same man who used to yell at the neighbour's dog for shitting on our lawn, had a warhammer in one hand and a goblin in the other. He let out a triumphant whoop as he whirled the goblin he held by the ankle around like a makeshift mace to bludgeon its fellows, while the war hammer in his other hand followed.

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  "I'd rather let him have his fun," I ran an appraising eye over my sister; she was the lowest level amongst the family, having not thrown herself into it the way my Dad and Sean had. "You haven't sparred with me, or spent as much time in the dungeons the way Sean has, so I'm not sure you understand exactly how much stronger I am than anything that's in here," I said, turning back to the ongoing goblin slaying competition.

  “Which is why you’re scorekeeper instead of crushing them yourself?” Vicky arched an eyebrow at me, the skepticism clear. I smirked and offered her my best innocent look.

  “They’re learning. Or, uh, enjoying their glory days, in Dad’s case. I’m just the proud facilitator.”

  She shot me an unimpressed, sidelong look. “And you’re humble too, aren’t you?”

  "Never claimed humility as a virtue." My eyes tracked the way Sean, not to be outdone, waded into the thick of a goblin cluster and laid about with reckless abandon. I felt my jaw tighten a bit. He should've lasted about five seconds fighting like that—except his defence was tight in the ways that mattered. Impulsive, sure, but the moron had a killer's sense of how far he could push it before he was in real danger. I couldn't help but take a bit of pride in that; maybe some of my advice had actually made it through his skull.

  “You know, he looks up to you more than he lets on,” Vicky said quietly, echoing my thoughts.

  I didn't know what to say to that. So I didn't, letting the sounds of family mayhem fill the silence. Then Vicky shifted her weight, and I noticed the slight wince she tried to hide. "You should go a little easier on yourself, you know," I said softly. Her head jerked my way, surprised—I supposed she wasn't used to unsolicited advice from someone whose entire personality was defined by doing the opposite. "You're not nearly as good at hiding it as you think."

  Vicky flushed, a quick hot colour in the blue cave light. "I'll be fine. Still figuring out my Skills is all. I've got a better handle on my healing spell now." She showed me her palm, glowing faintly gold at the center as she let a low note.

  "You've never been a fighter, Vicky, not like Sean or me. Always looking for an excuse to cut loose and run wild. You, have always been better with your words than your fists." I said after a long moment, cutting a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. "You don't have to be one now."

  Her lips pressed thin, but she didn't pull away. "I want to be able to help carry the weight, Aiden. Even if I don't do it your way." She held my gaze for a second. Then glanced back to the cave floor, where the war hammer arced and goblins pinwheeled like tenpin strikes. "If I can cover the others, make sure they walk away, help keep them whole… It's worth it. Even if it gets ugly."

  "There's a man with the Banner I met up north by the name of Kostick, like you, he has a Class that doesn't lend itself to direct combat." I explained, "So far, he's likely to still be one of the strongest people I have met so far. If he's found a way to make it work for him, then I'm certain there's a path forward you can make work for you."

  She mulled that over, lips working like she was resisting a retort. "Maybe, but I'd bet the cost for him was about as steep as what you paid. I'm not sure that's a price I want to pay." Her voice was quiet, then, "Uncle, let me read the reports about that run up north, you know."

  I tensed, just a slight tensing of the spine. “Which part?”

  She shrugged, but there was a tremor in her shoulders. "All of it? How the mana wash was so dense it was nearly physical, waves upon waves of monsters that were stronger than normal. How one of the team members went down before you even reached the boss. How you… lost your familiar, and nearly yourself. Then got her back somehow." She levelled a piercing look in my direction,

  "Sean swears up and down the reports are exaggerating, blowing things out of proportion. But he also knows you don't lie, Aiden." For a moment, she was just my little sister, dark eyes flickering to my face with worry. "Don't shrug off what that does to someone. Even you."

  I watched a goblin hit the wall so hard its bones made a sound like shattering pool balls. "I'm fine, Vicky. It got a little rough towards the end, but I'm still here, still whole." She relaxed a little, though not all the way. I could tell it wasn’t just the pain of the injury that still stung. I’d never been the best at the kind of reassurance people supposedly wanted, but when it came to Vicky, I was obligated to try. “I’m not trying to go out in a blaze of glory, if that’s what worries you.” She gave me a look that was both knowing and a little sad.

  “You can’t help what you are, Aid. Just… try not to die, yeah? The family can only handle so many crises at once.”

  I cracked a smile at that. “I’ll keep it to one existential threat a week.” At that, her smile finally broke through, and the tension lightened, hanging behind us like shed skins.

  Further out in the cavern, Dad, Sean, and Uncle Wolf finished off the last of the goblin horde in a contest that, judging by Dad's hooting, had come to an end. At least an end for this chamber, at any rate, there were still several more chambers to go and a boss room. Along with a significant amount more goblins to go around. Enough that we might see a few level-ups in the group by the time we were done in this dungeon.

  "Alright, alright, settle down," I called out while Vicky and I walked over to join the others, "Surprising absolutely since he had a little extra help, Uncle Wolf wins this one," I announced despite the good-natured protests and trash talk of my father and brother. "We've still got a few chambers to go before we hit the boss, so you've got ample time to redeem yourselves," grinned at the trio of men. "It's time for round 2, gents."