My first target was Dorian. It was too risky to let him see us and expose our identities.

“Dorian! Behind you!” Someone yelled as they noticed me dashing into him. Too late.

I chopped my hand across the nape of his neck with enough force to cause him to slump down into the rocky ground. Maybe I put in a little too much strength into that unconsciously. I pondered the thought as I passed by each hired hunter swiftly knocking them all out. Eris handled any resistance that stood in my way with her nullification magic. All that remained were the hunter corps that began to shoot at me without risk of friendly fire.

I had rendered their front line useless and those that weren’t engaged with beasts were now firing at me.

“Kill those two!” The voice carried from a soldier’s helmet.

I could avoid fire by weaving around the hunters and having their bodies block line of sight. Now that my meatshields disappeared, I couldn’t maintain my balance while dodging multiple soldiers at once. Their helmet’s targeting systems must have re-adjusted the lead required to land a shot.

I felt superhuman with my surroundings moving as if in slow motion. My brain worked on overdrive as my body instinctively attempted to dodge each projectile. To my surprise, Eris erected a force-field allowing more time to evade.

Not fast enough! I dodged all but two. One on my shoulder and the other on my arm.

I tumbled to the floor shaking in pain. The magic bullet tore through my flesh with ease leaving two holes the size of a marble. Blood flowed continuously and the amount lost scared me more than the pain I should’ve felt.

Eris was too far away to heal and this time I realized how dumb of a mistake it was to fight the military. One that would cost my life.

Eris erected a stronger force-field now that I was stationary. Cracks emanated from the impact with the force-field offering me a short reprieve as it regenerated multiple times back to full power.

Some soldiers noticed Eris powering the force-field and diverged to swap targets. They aimed a barrage of fire at both of us. I knew her mana supply wouldn’t last for very long.

I got up and tore my shirt, wrapping my wounds as best as possible. The time it took for me to recover was too long for Eris. The surrounding barrier was consistently repairing whereas hers began to crumble. The mana strain was too much to handle.

Bullet holes riddled her entire body as she toppled over. ‘Eris!’ I shouted in my mind while sprinting to reach her. I wondered why I wasn’t being shot at anymore, but it allowed me time to kneel and check on Eris. The holes were already healing shut, so I figured she would be fine.

The soldiers became more preoccupied with the monsters that were gradually turning the tide against them. Things got chaotic as the ground trembled from endless streams of monsters funneling in from the multiple entrances around us. There was a set of soldiers prepping a larger weapon I hadn’t seen before. It required two to hold and another to load what looked like a monster core into it. Once primed they waited until permission to fire.

Soldiers sped across the battlefield some using magic or their enhanced boots. Each one grabbing injured hunters and soldiers. Mostly the hunters I knocked out. I finally understood they were readying for a retreat.

Just as I was about to pick up Eris and flee a shimmering light made me instinctively pull back and away. I could outline a figure holding a blade of some sort. It was the same type of camouflage tech that Mia used.

“Thought you’d get away?” The soldier’s voice played through the helmet.

His blade slashed across my chest leaving a wide gash as blood poured out. I crawled backward as he approached with his camo still activated. My blood dripped along the edge of his Katana shaped blade making it easy to spot him.

There was too much blood loss causing my body to feel weak and sluggish. One of us would die here. I had my dagger in hand but eased my grip once I saw our surroundings. Monsters charged about as one slammed into the soldier, dragging him several meters away.

The camo deactivated as the monster tore his gear to shreds with pieces scattering across the ground. The monsters did not attack me as if they regarded me as an ally.

The situation worsened for the hunters and a loud booming explosion signaled their retreat. They fired the beast core from the weapon aimed directly at the middle of the cavern’s ceiling. The ceiling caved in with debris crashing into monsters. The floor collapsed in multiple locations forming large chasms.

I ran over to carry Eris and used my uninjured arm to throw her over the top of my shoulder. I could hear her mumbling while unconsciously healing. We needed to escape quickly, so I headed for our bags near the exit while doing my best to avoid being crushed by falling rubble.

A slew of monsters died and others fell into the newly created holes as the rest rushed back to safety. I wondered whether it was worth the risk to recover our backpacks but I didn’t want to waste money spent. A foolish decision on my part since the floor began to give way. The ground cracked open as we plummeted into a dark abyss.

There was nothing to see as everything turned pitch black after falling for several seconds. Panic was taking over that we would hit the sides and eventually the bottom of this hole. Eris will most likely survive but not me. My only option was to anchor my dagger into the rocky walls to stop our descent. I swapped Eris over to my injured arm and gripped my dagger tightly in the other.

I swiped my arm with all my strength only to hit nothing at all. Fear swelled as I tried my best to calm down and re-stabilize our bodies. One more time! This time I gripped even harder and swung outwards again.

Pain surged through my hand and spread to the rest of my body. The dagger sliced through the rocky wall weakening the force of impact but it still felt like someone was trying to stretch my body to pieces. The tendons in my arm tore followed by audible pops of my joints dislocating. 

Eris was yanked out of my hold falling further into the darkness. I cursed in my head but heard a thump shortly after. She had reached the bottom of the abyss.

I shimmied my dagger loose and slid down the side of the wall before tumbling over onto the ground below. I laid flat on my back breathing erratically as all the exhaustion and blood loss caught up.

“Eris!” I muttered her name before falling unconscious.

Volatis

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