The skill orb that had rolled out of the Salamander’s mouth burst with light. A pulse of mana travelled up his arm and into his core, reinforcing it. His whole body tingled, pins and needles bursting out.

Rare Skill Obtained: Salamander Healing

[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Burn | Rank: 1 [Salamander Slayer]]

Skills: Common: 3 | Rare 1 | … | Unique: 2

Common: Sprinter Lvl 5 | Distance Runner Lvl 8 | Razor Handling Lvl 7

Rare: Salamander Healing Lvl 1

Unique: Lightning Dash Lvl 4 | Lightning Grasp Lvl 3

Ike grinned. A wave of comfort washed over him, weakening the pain and granting him vigor even as his mana drained away. He threw himself out of the way of Joseph’s boot, and the man’s foot slammed into the ground instead. Wet sand flew up, splattering Ike’s back. He kept rolling, then pushed himself back to his feet. The healing skill swirled in his eyes, and his vision returned. Ike cut his eyes across the pit, searching for the glimmer of his razor. If the Salamander didn’t swallow it, it’d be…there!

Joseph lunged at him. Before he reached, Ike activated Lightning Dash and kicked off the ground, zooming past Joseph at hyper speed. He crossed the pit in a few steps. The pit’s wall rushed up, rushing at him faster than he’d imagined. Startled by his own speed, he canceled his skill and dug in his heels, skidding to a halt. He looked around him, searching for his razor.

So fast…so easy! Is this the difference between Rank 0 and Rank 1? All this time, he’d thought the guilds handed out Ranks, that Ranks themselves were no more than a fancy placard and a silver coin, obtained once the adventurer proved they could hunt a powerful enough monster to the guilds. Instead, the System handed out Ranks as a measure of power… Then what do guilds do? Take your money for nothing?

A glimmer in the sand. His razor! Ike snatched it up just as Joseph closed in on him. He darted to the side, barely avoiding Joseph’s fist, and lashed out with the razor. A bright red line opened up on Joseph’s arm.

Ike glanced past Joseph at the rest of the party. Behind Joseph, Sandra hesitated, then charged as well. Tana stood blankly, unresponsive once more. Ket swirled his dagger around his hand and backed away, falling into shadow.

“Distracted?” Joseph lunged at him, his fist closing in on Ike’s face.

Ike swayed back, pushing off the loose sand to jump back. The sand absorbed his strength. He landed closer than he’d expected. Joseph closed in, advancing with firm, confident footing, and raised his hand again. Ike jumped back again. Joseph advanced, certainty written across his face.

Ike’s stomach ran cold as his mana drained, the healing skill stealing more mana than he’d expected. The lightning around his feet flickered, barely holding on. He’d only just leveled up to Rank 1. Compared to Joseph, a long-time Rank 1, his mana reserves and skill levels were pitiful, not to mention his still-healing injuries and exhaustion. Even with his new skill and Ranking up, Joseph still had the upper hand.

Ike clenched his teeth. I have to finish this quickly.  

In a sky enriched by the recent gush of boiling water, clouds gathered, quickly darkening. The sky crackled with lightning. Thick drops of rain began to fall, sizzling onto the already-damp sands. Ike backed toward the wall, Joseph and Sandra closing in on him.

“Why—why,” Ike panted, stalling for time. Cutting his Lightning Dash down to its absolute minimum activation, he breathed heavily, earnestly panting. Surreptitiously, he drew as much mana as he could with each breath. Very little came to him, and what did burned, boiling in his core, but he pushed his pain away. He needed mana right now, mana at any cost. His core vacillated in temperature, superheated from the fresh mana at the same time it cooled as mana flowed out. Ike’s stomach roiled, guts churning, but he pushed that back, too. Now wasn’t the time. Any cost, as long as he survived this.

“Why? Because you hurt Tana,” Joseph said, taking a moment to wipe his face off.

“It was an accident. I—you, you said something, bait,” he panted, cutting his eyes at Sandra.

She flinched.

Good.

Joseph rolled his eyes. “You want to know the truth? Fine. We picked you up as bait. We’re only Rank 1s, and none of us are tanks. Sandra’s the closest, and she’s only half a tank. We can’t take the hits of a prolonged battle against a mob and a boss.

“The four of us, defeating a mob of salamanders and the Salamander? Not possible. But if we have one throwaway Rank 0, a piece of trash who was never going to make it as a hunter anyways…then we Rank 1s can make bank and level up to Rank 2 in record time.

“In fact, this was going to be my Rank 2 battle. But instead…” Joseph lowered his hand, pointing at Ike. “Instead, a worthless, hopeless, useless piece of bait stole my Rank 2.”

And your Salamander Healing skill, Ike thought to himself, but said nothing. If they weren’t aware that the Salamander had dropped a skill, he wasn’t going to bring it to their attention. He kept breathing, sucking in every drop of mana he could. His wounds slowly healed, strength returning. Moving hurt less, his clothes no longer agony against his skin.

“So fuck off and die,” Joseph finished. Sand flew, and he flashed forward.

Ike jumped to the side. Joseph’s fist slammed into the cliff wall instead. Rock and earth flew up, flying past Ike with enough force to draw blood. Ike eyed Joseph’s fist. If I get hit by that, I’m dead.

Sandra closed in, sweeping her axe in a wide arc. From the other side, Joseph darted in, ready to punch in Ike’s escape route. Forced back, Ike dodged away again, only for his shoulder to strike the wall. Sandra stepped forward and lifted her axe again.

“Please, my uncle. I owe him so much,” Ike plead, looking Sandra in her eyes.

Sandra hesitated. Her axe froze.

“Sandra!” Joseph snapped.

She startled back to reality, but too slow. Ike slipped under her guard and slammed his razor into the same armpit the Salamander had torn open, driving the blade home up to the hilt. Sandra shuddered, gasping for breath. She stumbled back, pushing Ike away.

Ike ripped the blade free. Blood poured out, and Sandra fell. Ike watched her hit the ground, his eyelids drooping. Of the whole party, he’d wanted to kill her the least. She’d seemed conflicted. Uncertain.

She gasped for air, every breath strained. Bright, frothy blood poured out of her, soaking into the sand, watered down by the rain. She still clenched the axe in one hand, her eyes turned to the roiling sky, blood splattering as she coughed. His heart shook, resolve wavering. Is it worth it? Is anything worth…this?

A moment later, he set his jaw. She’d attacked him first. She’d sat back and done nothing while Joseph and the others led who knew how many Rank 0s to their deaths. Her sympathy made no difference to her complicity in their crimes.

“Sandra!” Joseph screamed. He glared at Ike. “How dare you?”

Lightning crackled overhead. Ike backed away from the wall, giving himself more room to maneuver. His gaze cold, he stared back at Joseph. “How dare you?”

Under his cold demeanor, his stomach churned, his mind in disarray. Kill. He’d killed. A woman. Someone he’d spoken with just minutes ago, a living, breathing person.

And he had to kill again, if he wanted to survive.

Years under his uncle taught him to hide his fear, hide his self-disgust, hide everything. Keep his emotions under lock and key until he found somewhere safe to release them. Now, facing down Joseph, he did the same. Swallowing disgust, fear, loss, he froze his heart and lifted his bloodied razor. Ike pointed it at Joseph, nothing in his mind but the intent to kill the man before him.

Joseph lifted his fists. The two of them circled one another. A few fat droplets of rain splattered down around them.

Thunder rumbled. They both leaped toward one another. Joseph slammed his fist toward Ike’s stomach, going for a body blow.

Ike swayed to the side, dodging the blow. For the first time in his fight with the party, lightning flickered around his hand. The razor darted for Joseph’s neck.

A hit smashed into his ribs from the other side as Joseph’s left fist flew in from his blind spot. His ribs cracked. Sick, sharp pain welled through his stomach, the disgusting sensation of a freshly broken bone. Ike stumbled, but pressed on, hand still flying forth despite the injury.

Joseph jerked his neck back. Between that and the stumble, Ike’s razor barely skimmed his neck, drawing a line but not a fatal blow.

They parted. Ike backed away, free hand wrapped around his broken ribs. He swayed, his eyes bleary, whole body slumping with exhaustion. Joseph chased after him, hauling back his fist to finish him off.

Ike’s eyes glittered. As Joseph punched him, he grabbed Joseph’s arm with his free hand, pulling him close, and shoved the razor up under Joseph’s ribcage. For the second time, hot blood gushed over his hand. He grabbed onto Joseph, his own body wrecked, leaning his weight on Joseph to remain standing. He couldn’t fall now. Not with two members of the party still alive.

Joseph glared at him. “Fucking…die.”

“No,” Ike said, and released him.

Joseph fell onto his face. Ike staggered back, his ribcage a mess of pain, skin still aching from the burns, half-falling, half-walking until his back finally met the cliff wall. There, he panted, then forcibly slowed his breath, gasping in mana. The lightning faded from his feet. Exhaustion flooded him, Salamander Healing still a drain on his mana.

Across the field, for the first time since the Salamander fell, Tana moved.

Ike tried to push off the wall. His ribs jostled in his chest. The pain slammed into his brain, so intense his vision darkened at the edges. He coughed, spitting blood, and fell back against the wall. Clutching his razor, he watched as Tana approached, powerless to do anything else. With every passing second, his body healed, but slowly, too slow.

She drew up to Joseph’s body and stopped, turning closed eyes toward him.

“Sorry I killed your boyfriend,” Ike tried, watching for her reaction. Stall for time. Heal a little more. Then—

Joseph reached toward her, his hand trembling. “Tana…don’t go…”

A sharp-edged, jagged, ugly magic circle appeared on the back of his hand, mirrored around Tana’s throat. The vicious design possessed a bruise-like quality, dark purples and blacks, biting deep into both their flesh. Ike had never seen one before, but only one word came to mind: a curse.

Joseph’s eyes shut, and his hand hit the ground. The magic circle shattered, and so did the one around Tana’s neck, fragments of magic peeling off her neck and falling away.

Tana’s eyes opened. Black sclera. White irises. Pinpoint pupils.

Ike startled. Like Ket’s?

Lightning flashed, and Ket stepped out from behind her, turning those same eerie eyes on Ike. bowed. “We will not forget this kindness.”

“I…what?” Ike asked, lost. Joseph put a curse on Tana, one that controlled her, or something. I can put that much together. But those eyes…what do they mean?

I know too little about this world. I need to see more. Experience the world.

Tana put her arm over Ket’s shoulders, and Ket scooped up her legs. He leaped into the air, and they bounded away, escaping into the forest in a few quick leaps.

Ike sagged against the wall, exhausted. Rain poured down, the stormclouds finally letting loose. He sighed, wiping rain from his face. Too much. It was all too much.

Sliding down the wall, his eyes slid closed. His head sagged against his chest, and Ike fell asleep.