It stood there, staring at me. A mass of darkness, even bigger than the body it originally was made of. Even the goblins left were repulsed by the black thing that was once their leader.

I have never seen something like this before. Another effect of the Hard Mode? Any wondering had to wait as the remains of the general started to move, crushing the burned corpses under his feet. When it reached the end of the pile of corpses it stopped.

Shit! “[Flame Shield]!” I hastily erected my shield, just in time to block its fist, as he sprang forward, cracking the earth beneath him. My shield quaked under the sudden force, ripples coming from the point where the fist hit it. Seems like it’s fast but not very powerful.

My thoughts were proven wrong when it pulled its fist back once more, its arm swelling up. I threw myself to the side, just in time as the fist crashed through the shield, the air pressure flinging everything in its way aside.

It turned around, looking my way once more. I stepped backwards while I released Fireballs hoping to stop it, but it just continued onwards, charging through them although at a slower pace than before.

Maybe it’s just one thing at a time. Still the Fireballs aren’t doing much. As I stopped attacking it raised its speed, once again standing before me, fist pulled back. Once again, I raised a shield, this one inclined to redirect its attack, rather than deflect it. I stepped forward, its fist passing me by, the wind rustling my clothes, and planted my own attack on its body.

“[Flame Strike]!” My fist crashed into its abdomen, caving into it and letting me feel its bowels. I pulled back but it flexed its muscles, trapping my still burning arm inside. It decided to trade some damage between the two of us as it once again changed to its power mode, flexing his arm.

“[Flame Shield; Modify: Strength].” I raised another shield, even pouring more mana into it to make it stronger, but it just broke down underneath the fist. I was punched backwards, my arm breaking from the pressure between being held in place and me being thrown away before it was pulled out. I skidded over the floor before I crashed into the throne.

As I opened my eyes again, I could see it standing above me, lifting both of his fist like a hammer to crush me. Seems like I underestimated this fucking system and its ability to shit someone.

I prepared myself for the impending death as I saw something appearing behind the head of the monster. Chains clanked as the women I thought dead jumped up at it, throwing the chains around his neck before stepping on its back pulling the chains to choke it.

Unfortunately, her strength wasn’t enough. The monster banged its head forward, flicking her of his back and into a nearby tent. But this moment of distraction was enough for me to jump on my feet, my fist rushing at its head, crushing it with another Flame Strike.

I released my tension as its face caved in, the flames spreading into its head. And this time stay dead. When I pulled my fist back it grabbed my arm. How can it still fucking live? But there came no follow up as it crashed downwards, pulling me with it through its grip.

I stared up into the sky as I lay on the ground, pulling my arm to try to release it from the iron grip. Only after I burned away most of the flesh, I managed to pull my arm out. I got up and stepped away from it, before deciding to use the tier 5 spell again, this time pouring more mana into it to make sure it’s really dead, leaving me only with a little bit of mana left.

My gaze wandered to the portal to the dungeon, now open as most of the tents burned down. But I turned away from it, instead walking towards the direction the women crashed into. I’m in no condition to explore the dungeon anymore. Although endurance gave a boost to recovery speed it wasn’t enough to heal my arm in a short time. And that thing wasn’t nice enough to give me the experience needed to level up to let that do the work.

I reached the woman, seeing her body mangled up, but also starting to heal, probably thanks to the goblin corpse near her. Decisive enough to kill another being to continue living, huh. I grinned as I looked at her. Finally, someone with the guts to fight. As I looked down at her she lifted her head, staring at me with unrelenting eyes.

“You want a go too, just like that bastard? Be warned that I will kill you afterwards, so you better stop now.” She snorted. “I can still lift my hands to stab you.” She weakly lifted her hand, a bloodied knife in it.

I wondered what she meant when I realized I stared at her body, naked as her clothes have been ripped apart, the only thing left was the chains, dangling from her handcuff. “Sorry, didn’t thought about it, just looked if you had any wounds.”

“Now it makes me wonder if I could kill you for being disinterested even after seeing everything.” She let out a hollow laughter. Her hand fell, lying listless on the floor. She may be healing but she’s still weakened.

I turned aside, looking for a suitable piece of leather, which turned out to be harder than I thought, given that my fire had spread around and the fight that followed destroyed even more. It was a miracle that she even fell into a tent that wasn’t burning. When I found one burned holes for a head and two arms into it, feeling her stare at my back. I threw it over her body afterwards.

“That’s an interesting skill you’ve got. Maybe I should’ve gotten a magic related job as well.”

“There aren’t many mages running around solo. And if they mostly die through an ambush.”

“You talk as if you’ve seen it often.” She let out a chuckle. “Hasn’t it only been yesterday that these fuckers turned up?”

“Sometimes I wonder myself.”

“Weirdo.”

I sat down next to her.

“Seems like your body is more honest than your tongue, seeing you stay here. You sure you’re not interested?” She smirked at me.

“Not in your body, at least.” I let out a sigh. “More interested in the mind inside. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone willing to resist this chaos. Willing to fight.”

A hint of sadness showed in her eyes, before being replaced by fury. “I will kill these things, every last one of them.” She mumbled something, too quiet for me to her. Then she lifted her body, pulling the leather cloak over it, barely covering it as the piece was just big enough, before trying to stand up and falling sideways.

“Care for help?” I extended my hand to her.

She reached out to it, stopping before she held on, her hand shacking.

“I swear I won’t do anything, but we should get out of here before something comes back.”

She grabbed on, letting me lift her to her feet and support her out of the park. The sun already set making us seek refugee at in a nearby apartment. She searched through the rooms, looking for a bed, before disappearing behind a door, closing it.

It opened again, just slightly, letting her voice flow out. “Don’t you dare peak.” This time it closed for the night.

I let myself fall into a chair, looking over my broken arm for anything hindering its recovery, before closing my eyes to rest. Surrounded by darkness I heard quiet weeping.