Inara didn’t miss a beat. The Charm debuff only meant she couldn’t attack the Siren (and that her head felt as fuzzy as if she’d drank an entire bottle of strong liquor), so as long as she stayed focused on one small, inoffensive task, she could move unhindered.

  The head of James’s axe dragged through the crumbled coral remains. If not for the slight flotation of the wooden handle, it might have been too heavy even for her to do that much. Regardless, she pressed on. Every inch was a strain, and every ounce of pain sharpened her focus. By the time her turn ended, she was only two arm-lengths from James; he’d be able to retrieve his axe on his next turn.

  Desiree was next, and she was in the lucky 25% unaffected by Charm.

  Bubbles streamed from the girl’s mouth when she shouted her next skill, and her whole body erupted in golden light. She must have had the same idea as James and spent a few skill points, and by the look of it, it was an upgrade to one of the Holy skills she already possessed.

  Her staff glowed so brightly it appeared to extend to three times its length, and when Desiree swung it, the light extension burned its way through the Siren’s body, slashing her health as it went.

  Virgil stepped forward. Bubbles emerged from his mouth as he spoke his skill, and James didn’t have to guess what it was. Every sound that managed to be heard through the water instantly silenced. The Siren continued to sing, but the song itself was cut off.

  Immediately, James could feel the difference. He still had the Charmed debuff, so he wouldn’t be able to attack, but at least his head was clear.

  God, but that was terrifying. Like being instantly drunk without his own consent.

  The Siren glared at Virgil. If looks could kill, he’d be losing health. Actually, there was probably a skill for that. Death Glare, or something.

  Enemy turn!

  James swore.

  The Siren’s eyes flicked towards him, and they were filled with so much hate that he recoiled.

  That had to be real, right? These creatures were alive and sapient. The Siren mourned for her garden and sought vengeance against them for destroying it.

  His only doubt came from Inara’s certainty that dungeon creatures weren’t alive in a sense that mattered. Was it like AI that passed the Turing Test? He couldn’t remember the ethics of something like that. If an artificial intelligence was so realistic that it was indistinguishable from a human intelligence, did that make it essentially a person, or just a really cool science project?

  Or were the dungeon creatures dismissed in a different way, the way the life of a deer didn’t matter to a hunter? The way a water buffalo’s worth was that of a trophy?

  Or should he really treat it like a video game, more than he already was? No matter how realistic, it was just special effects, some kind of super-tech virtual reality type.

  The problem was, he didn’t know, and he couldn’t make the right choice if he didn’t fucking know enough. He just kept going round and round the same ethical dilemma, maybe for something that wasn’t even worth the effort, while all the while the source of his angst was actively trying to murder him.

  The Siren’s face twisted in a scream, and she raised her hands as if lifting something heavy. The cavern floor rumbled. Cracks opened up beside each of them, and coral grew rapidly upwards like an oceanic version of Jack in the Beanstalk.

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  HP -15

  The stuff at James’s feet was yellow and mushroom-esque, and it grew like he wasn’t in the way. It grew like it wanted him to be part of it, crawling up his legs and slicing into him with hard, thin discs.

  HP -20

  HP -30

  Shit shit shit. Less sympathy, more killing! James thought.

  Your turn!

  Only thanks to his supernatural strength, James was able to break through the coral that entrapped him, although even then, the process continued to wound him.

  He checked his status — still Charmed.

  James grabbed his axe out of Inara’s hand. He wasn’t able to attack the Siren, but he could at least help Inara. Careful not to scratch himself or her, James used the handle of the weapon to bash apart the coral that held her prisoner.

  She gave him a grateful nod — but then, on her turn, there wasn’t much she could do. She was also still Charmed, not that that made much of a difference since she couldn’t do very much damage to the Siren anyway, and she found herself at a loss for what she could do to help.

  Finally, it was Desiree’s turn. She activated her new skill once again and slashed at the Siren with the holy light extension of her staff — once, twice, a third strike!

  Each attack cut the Siren’s HP, until the creature’s health bar was hanging on by a pixel.

  Desiree’s turn ended just before she could land the last strike.

  James feared they were done for — that the Siren’s next turn would end in one of their deaths — but Virgil began to speak.

  Whispers of the Malphas.

  James heard the hiss of a thousand whispers, and the Charmed debuff vanished from Virgil’s status.

  And he wasn’t done.

  More bubbles emerged from Virgil’s lips, and streams of ink flowed out of his eyes like blood.

  Blackscript.

  The ink formed spiky ancient runes that twisted towards the Siren like lazy shuriken. Slowly — agonizingly so, with every second of Virgil’s turn ticking past — the runes linked up to form a chain and wrapped around the Siren’s chest. The spikes dug into her flesh and drew blue-green blood that sank in the water.

  The blackscript chain tightened, squeezing sharply into her skin. A drop of blue-green blood dripped down from the wound, and the Siren’s health winked out.

  Defeated the Silken Siren! EXP +75,000!

  Level up!

  James sagged with relief. Had he really been thinking that this was easy? Every fight seemed more stressful than the last! Every time he grew more powerful, so did his enemies! If anything, he should start counting how many times a day he feared for his own life, or for the lives of his friends.

  The one thing this video game world was missing, he thought, was multiple lives. And save points. Either of those would be a massive help to his mental health.

  With a sigh, he went to work patching up his teammates. By the way Desiree did not start healing everyone, he could tell that she had once again spent her spells purely offensively. He found himself kind of glad that they weren’t able to speak underwater. The same old argument was getting tiresome; she kept insisting she would get a better healing spell. The girl seemed to understand that she was the best suited to be the party healer, and she’d agreed multiple times to be that healer.

  And yet. Every chance she got to purchase a new skill, it was another kind of attack, or an upgrade to an attack skill she already possessed.

  Granted, the timing was unfortunate in that for both her last two level ups, they’d been in the middle of a fight that looked dire. So her reasoning did make sense.

  It all felt like another circular argument that he didn’t want to have.

  And which he couldn’t have, thanks to the no-speaking thing, so he was all the more grateful for that.

  Once everyone was healed, Desiree gestured at the Siren’s corpse.

  The loot! James reached out to touch the Siren but hesitated before his fingers touched her arm. He pulled back and thought a second. He wasn’t sure what was right or wrong, but he could at least treat her with dignity and respect.

  “I’m sorry that we killed you,” the Hero bubbled. “I’m sorry that it was necessary. You fought well.”

  The others looked at him strangely, unable to understand his words, but James ignored them. This wasn’t about them.

  He touched two fingers reverently to the Siren’s forehead, and she dissolved into blue-green glitter, until all that remained was a small blue notebook.

  James picked it up and analyzed it.

  The Novice Book of Water