It was about to charge.

  John's body reacted before his mind finished the thought, moving him sideways just as the hybrid on the ground launched itself forward.

  The creature was fast, its arms extending like serrated blades, the stinger tail raised and ready to strike.

  But John was already dodging. He twisted his torso, letting the hybrid's stabbing arm pass inches from his chest. Moonfang swept across in a clean horizontal arc, meeting the extended limb at the joint.

  John didn't stop. He dropped into a low crouch, his momentum carrying the sword downward in a continuation of the same motion. The blade caught the hybrid's forward-most leg mid-stride, slicing through with a wet crack.

  The hybrid's attack turned into an uncontrolled tumble as its leg gave out beneath it. One arm went flying. Venom sprayed across the stone.

  It crashed into the wall, screaming. But the sound was answered from above.

  A second hybrid dropped like a stone from the ceiling, all six legs extended, stinger aimed directly at John's head.

  John threw himself away, hitting the ground and rolling. The hybrid landed where he'd been crouching just a moment before, its stinger punching into the stone floor with enough force to crack it.

  John came up swinging.

  Moonfang caught the hybrid across its side as it pulled the stinger free from the stone. The blade bit deep, cutting through chitin plates.

  The hybrid spun with the impact, using the momentum to slash at John with both arms in rapid succession.

  John parried the first strike, the serrated edge scraping along his blade with a sound like tearing metal. The second arm came fast. He ducked under it, feeling it pass over his head close enough to ruffle his hair.

  John drove forward while the hybrid was extended, getting inside its guard before it could recover.

  Moonfang came up in a rising thrust, punching through the softer chitin under its thorax.

  The hybrid convulsed, blood spraying from the wound. But it didn't stop fighting. It brought both arms down hard, trying to trap John beneath them.

  John twisted the blade and ripped it sideways, tearing through whatever organs lay inside. He yanked Moonfang free and rolled back as the hybrid's arms crashed down where he'd been standing.

  The creature tried to follow but its legs gave out beneath it. It collapsed, arms scraping against stone as it fell.

  John didn't wait to see if it would get back up. He stepped forward and drove Moonfang straight through its triangular head.

  Its eyes went dark.

  John heard movement behind him. The first hybrid, missing an arm and a leg, launched itself at John's back in a final desperate lunge.

  He spun and brought Moonfang around in a horizontal slash that took its head off mid-leap.

  The body crashed past him and went still on the stone floor.

  John pulled the blade free and looked around, breathing hard. The thin air burned in his lungs with each breath.

  [Level Up] X2

  John dismissed the notifications and dumped the points into Agility. No time to think about it.

  He could hear more skittering echoing in the distance, growing louder with each passing second.

  He couldn’t tell how many. The sound was building like approaching rain.

  John looked toward the exit path he'd used before. They were coming from that direction too. He couldn't fight them all at once. Not in this thin air. Not at his level, with no space to maneuver properly.

  So he ran.

  He made it maybe twenty feet before another hybrid dropped from the ceiling directly in his path. No warning. Just six legs and a descending stinger aimed at his face.

  John barely reacted in time. He threw himself to the left, the stinger passing inches from his face. His momentum carried him into a wall full of stacked bodies. He crashed through rotted fabric and brittle bone, landing hard on his back among the remains.

  The hybrid's stinger punched into the ground where he'd been. It wrenched the stinger free and came for him again, lightning fast, aimed at his chest.

  John brought Moonfang up from the ground in a desperate slash. The blade caught the descending tail and deflected it aside. The stinger struck the stone beside him, venom spraying where it hit, hissing and eating into cloth and bones.

  The hybrid shrieked as it lunged forward, both arms slashing down at John where he lay.

  John kicked hard against the wall, using the leverage to throw himself away. He rolled through the pile of remains and came up on his feet, bones cracking beneath him, Moonfang already swinging.

  The blade caught the hybrid where head met thorax and sheared right through. The head separated and fell, red eyes dulling as it hit the stone.

  John didn't have time to catch his breath.

  Another hybrid burst from the darkness behind him, charging hard. John saw it coming in his peripheral vision and kicked the severed head directly at it without thinking.

  The skull struck the hybrid's face with a wet crack. The creature's charge faltered, head jerking sideways.

  John moved. He sidestepped the stumbling hybrid and ducked under a wild arm swing. As he came up, Moonfang swept across low, cutting through both of the hybrid's front legs in one motion.

  The creature collapsed forward, unable to stop its momentum. Its stinger tail lashed out desperately as it fell.

  John caught the strike with Moonfang, the tail scraping along the blade with a metallic screech. He twisted the sword, redirected the tail into the ground, then drove the blade down through the back of the hybrid's head.

  John pulled Moonfang free and gasped for breath. The thin air wasn't enough. Each breath felt like drowning, like his lungs couldn't pull in what they needed. He started moving again, forcing his legs to work despite the burning in his lungs.

  Stolen story; please report.

  A hybrid charged out of the darkness from the right, slashing wildly.

  John barely got Moonfang up in time. The first blade hit his sword with enough force to make his arms shake. He deflected it aside with effort. The second arm came instantly after. John parried, stepping backward to buy himself space.

  The hybrid followed relentlessly. Left arm. Right arm. Left again. Each strike forcing John back another step.

  His lungs burned with every breath. His arms were slowing, getting heavier.

  The hybrid's stinger tail whipped forward.

  John saw the opening and took it.

  He stepped forward, inside the hybrid's guard, and dropped low. The stinger struck where his head had been just a moment before. John drove Moonfang upward, punching the blade through the soft chitin under the hybrid's jaw and up into its skull.

  The creature convulsed once and collapsed.

  John leaned against the dead hybrid, using it to stay upright. His legs were shaking badly. He worked Moonfang free from the skull with trembling hands.

  [Level Up] X3

  The notifications appeared but John barely registered them. Points into Agility. Always Agility. The skittering had stopped, but he knew there were more out there, waiting in the dark.

  His breathing was still ragged, too fast, but he forced it to even out with conscious effort. Four counts in. Hold. Four counts out. Breathing through his nose as gently as he could stand, despite every instinct screaming to gasp for air.

  John pushed off the corpse and started walking, keeping his pace measured. The passage ahead was thick with chrysalises, suspended from the ceiling. He watched each one carefully as he passed beneath them, looking for any sign of movement.

  Nothing.

  The stairwell entrance came into view ahead. John almost didn't see the hybrid standing beside it, perfectly motionless, nearly invisible in the dark. Only its eyes gave it away. Two points of red, fixed on John.

  He stopped, raising Moonfang.

  They stood facing each other in silence. The hybrid watched John's chest rise and fall, watched his breathing evening out.

  It charged.

  This one was faster than the others. Its chitin was darker, marked with old scars.

  John brought Moonfang up just in time. The impact nearly tore the sword from his grip, sending shocks up his arms.

  It attacked relentlessly. John focused completely on reading the creature's movements. The shift of weight before an attack. The angle of its arms. The tensing of muscles beneath the chitin plating.

  Left arm sweeping in. John parried before it fully extended, meeting the strike early. Right arm following immediately after. He deflected it, barely, the impact jarring his already aching muscles.

  The stinger came from above. John twisted, letting it pass. His vision blurred at the edges. Light-headed from the thin air, from the exhaustion building in his body.

  The hybrid's eyes were locked on him with unblinking focus as it pressed forward. Its left arm came high this time. John saw the shoulder shift and parried before the blow landed. Right arm low. He caught it, redirected the force away.

  His arms were screaming. Each parry took everything he had left. The blade felt impossibly heavy in his hands.

  The hybrid's pattern shifted. John saw it a split second before it happened. The stinger feint, then both arms striking together from different angles.

  John dropped low, both blades passing overhead. His vision grayed out for a second. He couldn't rise fast enough—his body wasn't responding—

  The hybrid screamed.

  Beatrice materialized on its back, her translucent spider form wrapped around the back of the hybrid's neck. Her fangs were buried deep, spectral venom pumping into flesh.

  The hybrid thrashed madly, still screaming, trying to reach her with its arms. But she was positioned perfectly, impossible to dislodge.

  John didn't hesitate. He drove Moonfang forward through the hybrid's open mouth, angling the blade upward. The sword punched through the roof of its mouth and into its brain.

  The red eyes flickered and went dark. The body fell heavily.

  John's legs gave out beneath him. He sat down hard on the stone floor, then fell onto his back. Moonfang clattered beside him, slipping from his grip.

  The spinning in his head gradually slowed as he pulled in breath after breath of the thin air.

  "Thanks," he said between gasps. "Beatrice."

  The ghost spider waved one of her front legs at him, then went back to feeding, her translucent form half-phased into the body.

  “You... Are my favorite spider ever.”

  [Level Up] X2

  John allocated the points to Agility without thinking. He closed his eyes and just breathed. In and out. In and out. Nothing else mattered.

  He could feel the ghosts returning around him gradually. Their presence trickling back, filling the spaces they'd abandoned when the hybrids had appeared.

  John's eyes grew heavy. The exhaustion pulling at him. He almost let himself drift off right there on the cold stone.

  But Beatrice chittered nearby, a gentle sound that kept him from slipping under completely. He forced his eyes open to find her translucent form beside him, one leg gently patting his leg.

  John pushed himself up onto his elbows with effort. "Right. Probably shouldn't sleep down here."

  Beatrice chittered softly and patted his leg once more. Then she turned and walked toward the stairs, her eight legs making no sound on the stone.

  John got to his feet slowly, every muscle protesting. He followed Beatrice toward the stairs, not from caution—his legs simply wouldn't move any faster.

  The air improved with each step upward, becoming more breathable.

  John reached the top of the stairs and braced himself against the wall, taking a moment to rest.

  But Beatrice didn't stop at the landing. She continued forward, moving through the passages with clear purpose. John pushed off the wall and followed her, curious where she was going.

  They moved through the dim corridors of level three until Beatrice stopped at a familiar niche. The one where the ghost had been. The one with the woman's half-dissolved remains.

  The undertaker was there, sitting on the floor. He looked up as they approached, his gaunt face drawn with sadness.

  Beatrice moved to his shoulder, settling into position around his neck like a living scarf.

  "Thirty years," the undertaker said quietly, looking at the niche. "She came every week." He paused. "I told her it was becoming too dangerous. Barred her from entering."

  He stroked Beatrice's translucent form absently. "I should have known she’d find a way down..."

  He trailed off, and Beatrice nuzzled against his cheek.

  The undertaker looked at John. Beatrice chittered softly from his shoulder, looking between them.

  "You fought the hybrids."

  "A few," John admitted. "She saved me from the last one."

  The undertaker went very still. "More than one?" He looked at Beatrice, who chittered confirmation. Then back to John. "How many?"

  "Six of them, I think."

  The man's shoulders sagged with visible relief. For a long moment, he just stared at John. "You don't know what that means to us. I've sent requests to the city. Begged for help." His voice was tired. "They always say they'll send someone. They never do."

  He managed a small smile. "I'm glad you were able to visit your friend safely. And I'm glad you're taking nothing with you that would anger the wards."

  John cleared his throat. "Right."

  The undertaker nodded slowly. He didn't quite meet John's eyes.

  John moved closer and gently patted Beatrice on her translucent head. She chittered softly and pressed into his hand.

  "Goodbye, John," the undertaker said quietly. "Safe travels."

  John nodded and turned toward the stairs that would lead him up and out. The path seemed different now. Quieter. Less threatening. Even the posed corpses in their niches seemed less unsettling. Just people resting, preserved with care.

  The iron doors at the top stood open, letting in afternoon light that seemed impossibly bright after the darkness below. John stepped through them and breathed in fresh air. Real air. Clean and warm and full of life. The sun's warmth on his face was glorious.

  He was out. Finally.

  Time to give some ghosts their wedding day.