Returned to Checkpoint 2.

  Beginning Run 40.

  Attributes Set.

  Strength 05

  Endurance 10

  Agility 05

  Intelligence 25

  Luck 05

  Class set.

  Wizard.

  Father looked at the surface of the ocean and rubbed the cracked chitin on his chest. He had made it to his fortieth run. He had died in so many ways, but most had been from himself. Including run thirty nine.

  Anti-Levitation was just increased gravity. He had turned himself into a meteor. Or just a heavy bag of meat and blood, from what he saw before his vision had disappeared.

  Father kicked part of Doctor Holo and rolled his eyes. There was no reason to start over. Wizard was obviously the right choice. Athlete would’ve let him hurdle a single sea creature before getting skewered and sharpshooter would’ve used up his ammo to kill some fish in a more exciting fashion. Overall, he was having the best luck, ironically, with wizard.

  Maybe brawler or clown had some hidden secrets he could use to kill the Hardbody Crustaceans, but he couldn’t be bothered to start over. He was too close.

  After spending a moment to think and calm down after another horrifying death, Father wound his way through Holo’s snail shell home, found Anti-Levitation in the same place, and headed straight back to his car. He sat in the police cruiser and glanced at the other houses. There was a chance he could find another spell, but there was an even higher chance that breaking into a random house would just be a crime and traumatizing to some family. He needed to find another Hardbody Crustacean hideout first, and the best place to find that was in the Buttress.

  Father drove down the hill, leaving the Crests behind. He replayed the route in his mind. His intelligence score definitely helped him remember the map in greater detail. Father wouldn’t have considered himself a stupid crustacean, but he certainly didn’t used to have the kind of memory he now had.

  He kept his eyes forward as he entered the Buttress. Everybody he saw was likely connected to the Hardbody Crustaceans, but there were too many sea creatures to worry about, and many of them were normal people in an unfortunate situation. Father wasn’t going to kill kids. It didn’t matter who their parents were.

  He would kill their parents though.

  Father stopped at the corner and allowed the lobster to pass. The Hardbody Crustacean eyed the car, specifically looking at the words etched on the side. Father rolled down the window and waved him over.

  “You’re not from around here, are you?” The lobster leaned on the passenger door. “You’re not pigfish, but—”

  A bullet shut him. He smacked his face on the door, spilling blood into the car’s cabin, then disappeared out of sight. Father let off the brake and continued down the street. He slowed again near the bigger group of sea creatures.

  They were on edge after hearing the gunshot. A few even pulled handguns out and started looking in Father’s direction., trying to figure out who he might be.

  “Here we go,” Father said as he climbed out of the car.

  “Hey!” A snow crab pointed his claw at Father. “You a pigfish?”

  Fireball

  A few bullets managed to pierce the incoming wave of molten fire, but the guns were fired in such a panic that they missed Father by a considerable margin. He squinted against the bright light as the spell splashed onto the fleeing sea creatures. The explosion tore them apart, sending burning limbs flying in every direction.

  Father leaned against the hood of the car and watched the fires burn out. They never lasted long underwater. Before long, they were smothered and only some bubbles rising hinted at the violence that had just occurred. Bubbles and all the severed limbs.

  Father drew the katana from his back and headed into the apartment that had just been repainted with sea creature blood. If the Hardbody Crustaceans were hanging out outside, there had to be something important inside.

  A firm kick to the first door opened it with dramatic force. A single cod sat inside in his underwear. A television flashed and created long shadows from the crumbs that spotted the fish’s stomach.

  The cod slowly turned to face Father. “Who are you?”

  “I’m looking for Hardbody Crustaceans.”

  The fish sat up a little, spilling crumbs onto his couch. “Upstairs.” He took another finful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.

  “Which apartment?”

  “All of them,” the cod said with a full mouth.

  “Any on the first floor?”

  “No.” A piece of popcorn fell out and landed on his exposed belly.

  “What’s your job?”

  The cod sat upright and swallowed his food. “Groundskeeper in the Crests.” He pointed at Father’s katana. “Don’t kill me with that.”

  “Do you want me to kill you with something else.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The fish shook his head.

  Father stepped back into the hallway. “Don’t come upstairs.” He didn’t bother closing the door. He headed straight up the stairs. If the cod was lying, Father would just kill him the next time.

  A shrimp sat on a stool against the wall, just beyond the top of the stairs. The second floor of the apartment was dimly lit, and definitely not soundproof. He could hear music blasting from within the units. Everybody inside definitely had heard the explosion from his spell, but they must have assumed it was something else since nobody was on edge.

  “Who are you?” the shrimp asked.

  Father skewered him and knocked on the closest door. It swung open a moment later.

  “Ronald, you—”

  Father chopped a clownfish’s head off. He kicked the body into the apartment. Other clownfish were gathered inside, surrounding a long metal table covered in what looked like a spread of miniature anemones. They were wearing fin covers and goggles as they separated and bagged pieces of the anemone.

  All work stopped as the clownfish, which Father assumed was their leader, hit the ground without a head.

  “What is that?” Father asked.

  “Neurotoxin,” a fish blurted.

  Everyone else stayed perfectly still.

  “For what?” Father didn’t step inside. If they were wearing protective equipment, he assumed something was dangerous, and he had no intention of dying and getting a debuff from something stupid.

  “Snorting,” the same clownfish said.

  Rock Throw

  Father selected an area that contained the floor and wall. He hoped it didn’t pull any structural supports out, but if it did, he would know for the next try. The sections crumbled as they were lifted by the spell, but instead of falling, they stayed within the sphere.

  Father pointed his claw and sent the mix of brick, pipes, and other building materials flying at the clownfish and their anemone setup. They tried to scramble out of the way, but they were either maimed or killed from the spell.

  Spark

  Zap

  Tickle

  The three that survived could barely move underneath the wreckage that had landed on top of them. Unfortunately for them, the attack had also broken apart the anemone and knocked off their protective equipment. The three weaker spells hit while anemone dust landed on their faces. One clownfish ignited, one thrashed with electricity, and the other broke into a coughing and laughing fit.

  Father inched into the room once the anemone dust settled. He kept a close eye on everything it coated and kept to the outside of the room. Rock throw had torn apart the floor, allowing Father to see into the bedroom of another unit below. A shrimp was in bed, looking up with horror in its eyes.

  Father hopped over the gap, through the hole in the wall, and explored the rest of the clownfish apartment. There were no bookshelves, and no spells.

  It took a moment to get back to the stairs. By the time he did, the tickle spell had worn off. The clownfish was back on one foot. He leaned on the wall and pulled a knife from inside his jacket. His right leg was already mangled and still had some nails sticking out of it.

  Father pulled a handgun from his waistband and shot. The clownfish ducked and actually managed to avoid the shot. He wasn’t faster than a bullet. He was just lucky. Father aimed lower and shot, putting a hole through the clownfish’s chest.

  A door opened behind Father. He turned and immediately fired, but missed and took a fin to the face. He stumbled back and threw his arms out to catch the doorframe, barely avoiding falling through the hole in the floor.

  A giant parrotfish with a huge bump on its head marched toward Father with venom in its eyes. It was the size of Magaleus, and definitely hit just as hard.

  Father didn’t have time to point a claw to direct a spell at the giant creature. He just tried to swing the katana, but his desperate, one-handed swing hit the leather jacket and failed to slice through.

  The parrotfish’s next punch sent Father through the doorway and over the hole in the floor. He landed amongst the anemone dust and scattered loose bricks. Father tried to hold his breath, but the sudden hiss in brought green dust with it.

  Whatever anemone neurotoxin did, Father felt it immediately. His heart hammered and his vision vibrated like everything was shaking. Blood filled his vision.

  He had really thought the fortieth run would go farther.

  Father looked down at a hole in his chest. He let go of the handgun and touched his claw to the edge of the chitin. It was only a hole in his shell. He was alive. He was fine.

  In fact, he didn’t feel any pain at all.

  Father stood up quickly, dispersing the blood into the water. The bumphead parrotfish stood on the other side of the hole. Father extended a claw and waved him over. The parrotfish took a step and hopped.

  Anti-Levitation

  He plummeted out of view and crashed into the shrimp’s bedroom below.

  Father grabbed his gun, put it in his waistband, waved the blood away from his chest, and walked to the edge of the hole.

  Shrimp guts floated in a cloud around the bumphead parrotfish, who was still struggling to move.

  Tickle

  Spark

  The heavy parrotfish broke into a fit of laughter, then immediately burst into flames.

  Father stumbled. His head felt like it was shaking. There wasn’t a chance he could aim with the way his vision vibrated. The neurotoxin was definitely doing something, but Father wasn’t smart enough to actually know. He took a running start and jumped over the hole. It wasn’t a good landing, but he managed to leap over the burning parrotfish. Father stumbled and stepped on the skewered shrimp and crushed its head beneath his foot.

  “Oops.”

  If anyone was going to have a tome or scroll, it was going to be a giant fish. Father gripped the katana with both hands as he inched into the parrotfish’s apartment.

  A colorful tang stood at a kitchen counter, cutting kelp. The knife it used was far too big for the task. “What happened to my husband?”

  Father swayed on his feet. “Gravity.”

  The blue and yellow fish turned its head and raised the clever high. “I’ll take your head.”

  “Good luck.” Father widened his stance and stood with the katana out and ready. He hadn’t learned any real sword fighting techniques, so he really hoped his normal thrust and swing strategy would continue working. He didn’t bring the shotgun inside and his vision was too fuzzy for the handguns.

  The tang sprinted at Father. She moved almost as fast as Mayor Borokurk. Father swung and caught the edge of the clever. She pushed his swing aside and chopped. Father stumbled as his head throbbed. The kelp-covered clever cut through an antenna. He saw it fall, but couldn’t feel a thing.

  Father tried to raise the katana again. Instead, he stumbled forward and smashed his forehead against the tang’s narrow face. She recoiled and sliced with the clever, missing by inches.

  Fireball

  Father’s eyes widened and a little more clarity came to his mind as he realized what he just did. He quickly threw his hand up, but still mostly sent the swirling ball of fire at the tang’s feet. As soon as it left his claw, Father dove backward. The tang screamed. She was silenced quickly as the spell sent flaming fish meat into the kitchen like a shotgun.

  Father stayed on the ground and waved a claw through the blood leaking from his chest hole. Neurotoxin was still raging through his system, which was also making his heart beat faster. At least almost blowing himself up and headbutting the fish brought back some functionality to his brain.

  Father sat up. Cooked fish covered every surface in the kitchen. It smelled surprisingly good. He stood, waved more blood away, and took a piece of tang and chewed on it while exploring the rest of the unit.

  On the nightstand beside the bed, Father found a heavy leather tome like it had been a nighttime read for the tang or the parrotfish. He sat on the bed and grabbed the tome.

  Magic Missile

  Learn new spell?

  Yes / No

  Father picked yes and took a deep breath as the twinge of energy moved through his body. It helped clear his mind just a little more.

  Magic Missile

  Throw a seeking missile of magic. Tracks the intended target. Moves as fast as it is thrown.

  Father hadn’t put much into strength, so he wasn’t going to be able to throw the spell with any extra power. If he could find a way to use anti-levitation, he could find plenty of uses for magic missile.