Author's Note: Okay, here's Chapter 3...

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The party went through the door to enter a carpeted corridor. Two more monks stood at the end, and they charged at the group upon spotting them.

"Uh-oh," Norma said.

"Leave this to me." Jay pulled out his dagger and threw it, severing a lantern hanging from the ceiling. The lantern shattered on the floor, exploding into a ball of flames, which engulfed the monks. They flailed their arms for a moment, then collapsed to the floor. As their bodies melted, the flames died down to nothingness.

"Wow, smooth move, JJ," Norma said.

"Don't mention it," Jay said flatly.

Giet rushed to the corner of the corridor and barked. The group rushed up to him.

"What's up, Giet?" Moses asked. "You find somethin'?"

Giet turned to him. "Woof!"

"There's a note on the wall," Senel said.

"Ooh, what's it say?" Norma asked. "Lemme see, lemme see!"

Senel pulled the note from the wall. "Calm down. I'll read it out loud."

I searched through Vaclav's records and found some information concerning the Nerifes Cannon. It turns out that the Radiant use their own life energy to power it up.

I never imagined that Senel's group would leave the Legacy, let alone come to this castle. I do not know why they are here, but I want them to be dealt with under certain conditions, based on their abilities. Here is a brief description of each of the intruders.

Senel Coolidge - An Alliance Marine who uses iron eres. He appears to be the leader of the group. He was once a member of Vaclav's army in the past, so he may be familiar with the layout of the castle.

Shirley Fennes - A Radiant girl, rumored to be the Merines. If she is the Merines, then she possesses power far beyond the average Radiant. Her energy will be more than sufficient to power up the Nerifes Cannon. Therefore, I want her alive.

Will Raynard - A sheriff in Werites Beacon, who also studies natural history. He uses crystal eres to cast spells and heal allies.

Chloe Valens - The sole survivor of the legendary House of Valens. She has carried on the skill and valor of the knights, so she is a force to be reckoned with.

Norma Beatty - A world-class treasure hunter. Although she appears to be a naïve little girl, she possesses powerful crystal eres.

Moses Sandor - Well known on the Legacy as the "stupid bandit." His iron eres makes him an even bigger nuisance.

Jay - An information dealer on the Legacy, whom I raised and trained since he was an infant. I thought his skill had deteriorated since he'd been living with the Oresoren, but he still managed to defeat me in our last encounter. He's still as sharp as ever. Of course, I should expect no less from my own apprentice. Jay is the only other member of the group that I want alive. I have so much more to teach him.

Grune - Very little is known about this woman. She appears to be clueless as to what's happening around her, so killing her should be no problem. I do know that she uses crystal eres.

Conclusion: Dispose of the crystal erens first so that they cannot heal their allies. Kill the others as you see fit, but I want Shirley and Jay brought to me alive.

"Damn it!" Senel crumpled up the note and threw it to the floor.

"That's horrible!" Shirley exclaimed.

"Did he leave the note for us to find like this?" Will asked.

"Despicable," Chloe said.

"Stupid So-So! I'm going to strangle him!" Norma growled.

"That piece of--!" Moses snapped.

"Already, words are meaningless," Jay said.

Grune smiled. "Well, Senel, what does the note say?"

"Hello, G-Girl, weren't you paying any attention at all?" Norma yelled. "In a nutshell, the note says that So-So wants to kill all of us except Shirl and JJ."

Grune's face lit up. "Oh! So Solon wants to put Shirley and Jay in a nutshell."

Everyone dropped their heads.

"Let's just move on and pretend we didn't read that note," Norma said.

"Agreed," Chloe responded.

They turned the corner and began walking the rest of the path.

"Don't worry, Shirley," Senel said. "We won't let them take you."

"That's right," Moses agreed. "This family's gotta look out for each other."

"Yeah, you say that, but..." Norma began.

Senel turned to her. "Did you say something, Norma?"

"No, nothing."

Moses placed a hand atop Jay's head. "Don't worry, Jay. I got your back."

Jay swiped his arm away. "Stop it."

"Coolidge, is it true that you know the castle's layout?" Chloe asked.

"I used to," Senel said. "But the castle's been remodeled over the past few years; I can barely recognize anything."

"Do you know where we could search for these monsters?" Will asked.

"I recommend searching underground in the sewer. Vaclav usually kept his monsters hidden from the surface. I think I can find the way there."

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Senel led the group to the sewer, which was a long, damp rounded path.

"All right, this is it," he said. "At least the sewer hasn't changed since then..."

"But there ain't nothin' down here!" Moses protested.

"Woof!" Giet let out an angry bark.

"Looks like Spot disagrees," Norma said.

"I can sense something down here as well," Jay added. "We'd better keep our guard up."

The group carefully walked down the sewer. It appeared to be empty at first...but the party gradually became aware of the foul stench that filled the air.

"Ugh...smells like something died in here," Chloe said.

"Yes, I imagine many people have died down here," Will said.

"Moses, try to keep your body odor to yourself," Jay said.

"It ain't me!" Moses insisted.

Shirley grabbed onto Senel. "Senel, something's coming!"

A swarm of giant butterfly creatures flew towards them from ahead. They had red orb eyes, light green bodies, and pink wings with white markings on them.

"Oh no, Hopperflies!" Norma cried.

"Take them out quickly!" Will called.

Senel and Chloe rushed in, trying to take out the Hopperflies as quickly as possible. Jay and Moses stood back, throwing their weapons at the monsters. It wasn't long before the Hopperflies fell, melting into the brown sludge. However, now the group noticed a glowing blue stone where each of the Hopperflies fell.

"There are the eres stones!" Will knelt down and picked one up. "I've never seen eres stones like these. To think that I'd find something like this on the mainland...absolutely fascinating!"

Everyone blinked at him.

"Uh-oh, he's in nerd mode again..." Norma lamented.

"Their eyes were like polished rubies," Will gushed. "And the markings on their wings were simply beautiful!"

Jay shrugged and shook his head. "I suppose everyone has their weaknesses."

"You're a fine one to talk," Moses said.

"Moses, please shut up."

"Okay, can we get out of this sewer now?" Norma asked.

"Oh, I hope I can acquire a sample while we're here..." Will babbled.

Norma approached him and bonked him on the head. "Come on, Teach, we don't have all night!"

Will stood up to face her, then promptly bonked her back. "Don't interrupt me when I'm studying!"

"Ow! Hey, that's not fair!"

Suddenly, they heard a banging noise from behind. The party turned and gasped as they saw a whole army of the monks rushing down the sewer with flails, scythes, and wooden shields.

"Oh, it looks like they want to play," Grune said.

Jay's face soured. "Define the word 'play.'"

"There's too many of them!" Chloe cried.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Norma yelled.

"That's right!" Moses called as the party started to run. "Let's retreat! Regroup! Rerun!"

The party ran down the sewer with the monks in hot pursuit. Finally, they could see a ladder at the end of the path...but it was behind a large pool of filthy black water. The party came to a screeching halt at the edge of the pool.

"Whoa, end of the road!" Moses cried.

"What do we do, what do we do?" Norma asked.

"We'll have to swim across!" Senel said.

Chloe panicked. "S-Swim?"

"Let's go!" Senel jumped into the water and swam to the other side. Shirley followed.

"Yeehaw!" Moses jumped in and swam across next.

Will pulled off his glasses and tucked them into his pocket before making the dive.

"Hey, wait for me!" Norma made her way across.

"I only hope I can clean myself after this," Jay lamented. He held his breath as he jumped into the water and swam across.

"Whee!" Grune jumped into the water and slowly floated across on her back. "Floating, floating..."

Chloe was the only one who hadn't swam across yet. "Coolidge!"

Senel's eyes widened. Damn, I forgot, Chloe can't swim!

"Chloe, come on!" Moses called.

"But I...I..." Chloe was now trembling so hard that her knees were crashing together. She had always tried to hide her weakness, but she realized that there was no use turning back now. She threw her head into her hands. "I can't swim!"

"Wha?" The rest of the party was stunned.

"You're gonna have to, Chloe!" Senel called. "Come on, you can do it!"

"What? But..."

"You can do it, Chloe! I'm right here!"

"You can do anything you put your mind to!" Shirley added. "Hurry!"

"Hurry up, C, before those crazy monks get you!" Norma cried.

Chloe turned around as the monks moved ever closer. She then faced the water and bent her knees slightly, preparing to jump in. Okay, Chloe, you can do this...Coolidge is right there. All you have to do is swim to him.

As she looked down at the pool, she didn't quite see the black water. All she could see was a black pit of despair just waiting to swallow her. She threw her head into her hands again.

"Chloe, watch out!" Senel shouted.

"Huh?" Chloe turned around again. One of the monks lit up a stick of dynamite and threw it towards her.

"Ahh!" Without even thinking, she jumped into the water, dodging the explosion from the dynamite.

"Chloe!" Senel screamed.

Chloe popped her head out of the water, then began screaming and flailing her arms about, splashing the water. "Ahh...help..."

"Chloe, this way!" Senel called, reaching out towards her.

"Kick your legs, like when you're walking!" Shirley instructed.

Chloe did as told, kicking her legs back and forth. Soon, she found herself able to keep her head above the water, and thus she calmed down a little. "Hey, it's working! I'm doing it!"

"Now work your way over this way," Senel said. "Keep kicking your legs."

Chloe turned towards Senel and slowly made her way over to him. When she got close enough, she took Senel's hand, and he pulled her out.

"I did it..." she said in between heavy breaths. "I did it!"

"Way to go, C!" Norma called.

Senel smiled. "I'm very proud of you."

"All right, let's get out of here," Will said.

One by one, the party climbed the ladder. Norma was the last one; she paused to turn to the monks, who were now standing at the other side of the pool. They hadn't even tried to swim after the group.

"Ah ha, so you guys can't swim either! You can't get us now, huh?" she teased.

She turned her back to the monks and slapped her behind. "Neener, neener, neener!"

One of the monks threw his scythe at her. Norma quickly ducked with a shriek.

"Norma!" Will called sternly.

"All right, I'm coming!" Norma climbed the ladder out of the sewer.