The rain had gradually eased, leaving only water dripping from the eaves.
Veylin gave Ola little time to catch his breath. He led the dwarf, who had only just crawled out of a pile of corpses, through the secret passages beneath the Lord's Manor to a cavern deep beneath Minas Tirith.
The air was damp, thick with a lingering sour stench of decay and sulfur. Glowing moss clung to the walls, bathing the entire space in a sickly green light.
"This smell," Ola sniffed, his brows knotting together, "is like a dead rat left to ferment in a troll's stomach for three days."
"You'll get used to it."
Veylin kept walking, his leather boots ringing against the slick stone.
The passage suddenly opened up ahead.
It was an enormous natural limestone cavern, modified into a hidden training ground.
Several figures had already been waiting for some time.
"Crunch."
The crisp sound of chewing echoed through the cavern.
Mia sat cross-legged on an ammunition crate, holding a bright red apple. Her cheeks bulged like a hamster's as she ate.
Seeing Ola's bedraggled state, she swallowed the mouthful of fruit and swung her little bare feet.
"Well, well, isn't this our air force commander?"
She casually tossed the thoroughly gnawed apple core in an arc into a distant trash bin.
"How did you end up looking like that? Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd been wrestling a boar in a mud pit."
Ola ignored the succubus's mockery.
He wiped the muddy water from his face and swept his gaze over those present.
Kale sat on a jutting rock, the short sword named Retribution fluttering between his fingers like a silver butterfly. Hearing footsteps, he flicked his wrist, and the blade slipped silently into his sleeve as he slid off the