The Skulker stepped forward, planting its big and clawed foot violently into the cave as it fell onto its hands. The creature broke into a run directly headed for me.

Its all too familiar nameplate populated at the top of my vision as it charged:

[Skulker, Level 30]

Back when I'd only had twenty health points, just a glancing blow from another of the things had nearly killed me--and that one had been injured.

Without activating [Stoneskin], I imagined that meant that I'd probably end up losing twenty to forty health points if this thing managed to sink its claws into me.

I already couldn't really rely on leveling to heal. I'd have to be careful and tactical in how I fought now, at least if I wanted to survive.

I threw my blazing, blue [Fireball] at the beast's face.

The troll-like beast half-growled and half-hissed as it diverted its charge to the side and rolled roughly away from my blast.

An explosion rocked the outside of the cavern as my spell flew into the outside world, easily missing my enemy.

I watched as around thirty points of my mana was drained from the relatively restrained, and now wasted, spell.

The amount was about what I could regenerate in a minute, but I imagined I'd need more than one [Fireball] to deal with the Skulker--and if Gwen's frantic, telepathic warning was an indication of her also dealing with a similar threat then I might be in trouble.

I still had Greater Mana Potions, if I needed them, though; there was no reason to hold back too much yet.

I crouched into my trademark sword stance and opened my hand in front of me. A flicker of a spark ignited and spread out into a slightly more refined than before blade made of twisting flames; my [Fire Manipulation] was nearing two-hundred points now, and I had a feeling that would be a tipping point of some kind.

Luckily, unlike [Fireball], [Raging Blade]'s draw on my mana was basically negligible unless I was pumping extra power into the sword to increase its damage output.

My [One-Handed] skill was also just over one-hundred, which I was starting to guess amounted to a level of ability that a low-level, professional athlete might posseses.

The Skulker jumped back on its legs and rocketed forward.

It was slower than the Mana-Cats had been.

It was still a bit of a blur, however, reminding me that I needed to increase my Perception score in the future, but what my eyes lacked in seeing my [Acrobatics] skill compensated for somewhat with the speed at which I could move my body in response to what I could see.

I shifted my body in a pirouette and spun around the beast's outstretched maw.

I felt my violent, bloodthirsty mana burn into the monster as my sword met its hide while I spun past it. Knowing from experience just how ridiculously thick a Skulker's hide could be, I channeled more of my power into my weapon as I felt it meet flesh.

The edge's of my conjured blade exploded out in a raging fury.

The Skulker roared in agony.

Unfortunately, in the half-second of my feet shifting away from the beast's fangs, and of my blade digging deep into its flesh, my eyes missed the Skulker's repositioning of its arm and claws.

A pain burned through my stomach as the disgusting natural weapons of the beast shredded, moderately deeply, into my body.

I activated [Stoneskin] instinctively, but too late to really reduce the damage. The Skulker's claws did slow, however, as my flesh hardened and took on a glowing aura.

I yanked myself away from the monster and felt its claws leave my flesh.

My sword pushed through the remainder of the Skulker's left shoulder as I dodged away.

The pain from my torn skin diminished somewhat as my spell activated, probably as an unexpected side effect of [Stoneskin], but my deeper layers of flesh still burned in discomfort.

My health bar ticked down by around thirty points.

It wasn't all that much in comparison to my total health pool and my body still felt relatively functional despite the deep, gaping wounds the monster had created.

It seemed my increased levels and health pool really did make a difference in just how much I could handle.

Wounded, with bubbled up and burnt flesh and hair singed against its arm, the Skulker fell back a few steps.

I watched a few points of my health tick back up.

I could feel my deeper wounds tingling as my flesh began the process of mending itself; at my current regen rate, it'd take a little over a minute for me to recover from the Skulker's first attack.

My eyes focused in on my enemy's own wounds. I narrowed my gaze at them as a question formed in my mind.

I jumped forward and aimed my weapon directly at the beast's head.

The creature hissed at my flaming blade, but did not retreat, as it then jumped forward to meet me.

The towering monster raised its wide and clawed hands up in a fast-moving moment of violence.

My sword raised above my head with the intent to split the beast's skull.

My feet carried me close to doing so.

The Skulker's Agility carried it more swiftly to its own goal, however.

The beast brought down its massive claws.

As things went, it would hit me before I could bring my blade down on it--my ever-growing sword instincts told me as much.

I maintained my course, however. There was no turning back now. If I dodged left or right, I would be caught in the longer reach of the monster and would waste the entirety of my own attack.

My sword fell down in a deadly arc, but one that appeared all too fated to be intercepted as the Skulker's claws came within a breath of ripping into my cheek.

I felt the barest touch of the monster's claws contacting with the skin of my face, as my body broke into pure mana.

The Skulker's large claw swiped straight through my now glowing azure and dispersed mana cloud of a head.

[Mana Blink] reduced my body into a thousand shreds of united consciousness, driven purely by will and intent.

My essence disappeared and then swarmed behind the Skulker.

I let out an exhilarating warcry as I reappeared behind the monster's back and brought my sword down with all my might.

The creature's ears, however, twitched at the last moment and it shifted its head to the left.

My blade, instead of cleaving into the monster's unprotected skull, instead bit deeply into its neck.

Seizing the opportunity, regardless, my eyes flared with fire and I practically overloaded my [Raging Blade] with mana.

The weapon's fiery aura swarmed out around the stabilized core of the conjured blade and expanded the cut it had made; all the while the sword's violent power burned everything it touched.

The Skulker screamed in agony and spun around powerfully.

I jumped as fast as I could, but felt its claws nonetheless rip deeply across my chest.

I grunted in pain as my jump became a fall and I hit the ground hard.

[Stoneflesh] proved only capable of reducing the physical damage of the Skulker's attack by about a fourth. It was a noticeable change, but still not an incredible one; I was far from invincible, even with the spell, and the pain burned through me almost all the same.

As I lost concentration, my [Raging Blade] dissipated into the air from within the shoulder of my opponent.

The monster, however, didn't immediately lunge towards me. Instead it swayed backwards. Its eyes appeared to be blurring and confused.

I noticed something then: whereas the first wound the creature had inflicted upon me was now half-way healed, the Skulker's flesh remained burnt and cleaved.

Either this thing was weak to fire, or fire magic slowed regenerative capabilities in general.

I stowed both possibilities away in my mind as valuable information.

Regardless, I took in the Skulker's swaying form, if this was a war of attrition then this thing was going to lose.

At least as long as I didn't run out of ways to damage it first.

I glanced up to my quickly depleting mana bar; [Mana Blink] had cost nearly double what [Fireball] now did to cast.

I'd have to ration my mana and choose my spells carefully.

Unlike the Mana Cats, which had been fast-moving and hard to hit, the Skulker was still speedy but also hardy and moderately heavy-hitting--it seemed more than able to take a few of my hits.

As if to prove this observation further, the damaged and burnt monster blinked and then seemed to notice that I'd fallen.

The creature lunged forward.

I raised my hand.

[Fireball] flew from my palm.

The force of magic that hit the Skulker violently exploded on impact and then bathed the entirety of its front with a raging burst of flames.

I took the opportunity to push myself up to one knee.

When I looked back up, however, I saw something that surprised me:

The Skulker was still standing.

I took a few, deep breaths as I summoned my flaming blade back out of my mana.

As I pushed myself up to my feet, though, I noticed that the beast's eyes were entirely devoid of life.

The burnt and charred body of the beast was simply standing out of sheer sturdiness alone.

I continued rising up to my full height and then, without hesitation, stepped forward and removed the beast's head from its neck.

As before, had to pump a noticeable amount of mana into my weapon just to get through the hide, but, as I did so, I cleaved straight through the iron-like flesh and tendons of the monster.

The creature's body smashed into the ground, followed a moment later by its head rolling sloppily across the ground.

A loot orb slowly rose from the monster's body, as my eyes shifted back to to the mouth of my cave. My large ears had detected at least three sets of footsteps rightafter the monster had fallen.

And, sure enough, three more Skulkers now lumbered, with smiling mouths, at the entrance to my makeshift abode.

Were these things hunting me?

In a pack?

I opened my empty hand and summoned forth another fireball.

 

---

 

The creatures had come for me quickly. Before I had known it, I was engaged in a losing war of dodging and taking painful slashes when i failed to do so.

Not for the first time, the first of the trio came at me with a violence as I moved to evade a claw strike from both the second and the third monster.

My [Acrobatics] score was quickly growing as I dodged and veered, though so too was my health depleting rapidly.

I slashed through the stomach of one beast and yet felt another create a gash against my own thigh.

I grunted into the pain as I caught a lull in their advance.

I took the opportunity to summon a [Greater Mana Potion (Poor)] into my free hand.

I spiraled a [Fireball] down the length of my [Raging Blade] and launched the destructive orb from the weapon's tip, as I uncorked my potion with my teeth.

I rolled beneath the arm of Skulker number three as I downed the contents of the elixir I'd summoned.

I tossed the potion bottle aside, as it disintegrated back from wherever the System had conjured it upon my brewing of its contents.

My now free hand vaulted into the earth below me, not only catching me and guiding my roll underneath the swiping claw of my charging enemy, but also raising the cave floor itself up slightly as I activated [Shape Earth].

The Skulker who had committed to attacking me in that moment, and who I had dodged, tripped over the jagged rock I had magicked up from the otherwise relatively flat ground.

Unfortunately, I was unable to press my attack on the beast immediately, as I was forced to deflect one of its companion's claws off of my flaming sword as I spun to my feet.

I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes at the fallen skulker.

[Mana Blink] activated and carried me away from the ally of the knocked prone creature and brought me to instead stand above the fallen monster itself.

Sweat dripped from my forehead. I ignored how tired I was becoming.

I brought my blade down in a merciless strike aimed directly for the beast's heart.

Before I could finish the attack, however, the fallen Skulker grabbed at my ankle.

I was too weak... I wasn't quick enough.

To make matters worse, the first of the trio was now jumping towards my now immobilized form.

In a moment of pure instinct, I activated [Throw Sword] and my arm whipped up, as if guided by a force that both was and wasn't fully my own at the same time.

My blade spun with an incredible violence out of my hand, as nearly half of my stamina bar depleted instantly.

The flaming sword, however, flew true and lodged deeply into the first of the Skulker's.

The creature was flung back as the blade in its chest exploded at the moment I activated [Raging Sorcery].

Unfortunately, I too was ripped from my feet as the monster below me, who had a hold on my ankle, pulled against me with all its might.

Not seeing much option now, even despite not wanting to use up the mana, I activated [Mana Blink] once more.

As the Skulker pulled me up into the air and dug its powerful hands into my ankle, never wavering in its grip, my body broke apart and I flew to rematerialize around fifteen feet away from the three monsters.

My body was bleeding in multiple different areas. Even with my increased vitality and System granted health, I was starting to see double of everything in-between breaths.

I heaved in pain. My body was half-bent over, threatening to buckle underneath the stress of what I was putting it through.

The Skulker who had tried to throw me to the ground was slowly rising up onto its large hands.

The one who I had exploded a blade into was also twitching on the ground now, but it didn't look dead.

The final beast, meanwhile, was pretty much unwounded except for a shallow cut I'd left on its thigh with an earlier attack.

A [Lesser Health Potion (Average)] materialized into my left hand.

I gulped down the liquid. The potion bottle harmlessly shattered into nothingness as I suckled down the last drop as quickly as I could.

The worst of my internal and deepest injuries shifted away from threatening to end my life, but much of the damage still remained.

I swayed upright somewhat.

I could take on one Skulker, maybe two, but three?

I'd come a long way, but without the advantage of rapidly leveling and gaining health being easy to come by... could I even do this?

The time it had taken me to drink the potion had cost me.

I would have liked to drink another one, but the Skulker's were already beginning to encroach upon me once more.

Was I going to die?

The Skulker's charged as one.

No, I wasn't. Fuck that.

I brought both of my hands out defiantly in front of me. Flames erupted from between them and my [Raging Blade] was once more within my grasp.

My body was slowing. My wounds were taking their toll. My mana couldn't take many more spells.

But I would not go down easy.

Accepting the possibility of death was the same as accepting the death itself.

I wasn't willing to do that.

Some intrinsic part of me, the same part that had spurned me on through all of my life's struggles, also spurned me forward now as I jumped as quickly as I could to meet the foremost of the Skulker's.

I screamed as my I brought my blade in an upwards arc.

But, I realized, my arms were so heavy.

I couldn't give in.

But my hands felt weak.

I just needed to hold a little tighter.

The Skulker's claws encroached ever closer towards their killing range.

I just needed to be a little faster.

My eyes flared with what could perhaps be seen as madness, the madness of sheer will.

And then I did move just a little faster, after all.

My scream intensified as I, somehow and despite all the odds, brought my weapon up and across the neck of the leading monster.

It should of been faster than me, by a good margin, but suddenly I had just barely eked it out in terms of raw ferocity.

I felt my blade cleave through the head of the beast entirely and I fell forward past it and its allies.

I landed hard on my front foot as my stamina reduced entirely to zero.

I was shocked beyond belief at what I'd just accomplished.

The power and speed of my slash was beyond anything I had been capable of before.

[Resolute Strike added to ability list.]

So, I realized as my entire body slumped forward, that was it: I'd unlocked a new ability that had allowed me to momentarily out-speed my enemy?

I fell to my knees, forced to lean on my downward faced sword as all I could do to resist crumpling entirely to the rock below.

I truly had nothing left.

A small part of me was hoping I'd find myself leveling up after killing the Skulker, but the notification never came.

My ears twitched as I heard the two remaining enemies lunge towards me from behind.

But I truly couldn't move to do anything about it.

It seemed their were dire consequences to fully draining one's stamina.

My will to survive might have granted me power, but it had also doomed me, or perhaps it had only ever granted me a few extra moments of life.

I could hear the skulker's coming for me now.

It was over.

I had fought with everything I'd had and, when that had been exhausted, I'd found more still to fight with.

But now I couldn't even open my hand from around my blade to summon a potion. Not that I had any stamina potions, anyway.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt the doom of the Skulker's claws approaching.

But, then, suddenly the air distorted in front of me.

"Clarissa!" Gwen roared as she mana flickered into existence before me.

The cat was bloody and battleworn, but her eyes were possessed of a rage incarnate that shone with not a hint of care for her own injuries.

A loud thudding reverberated as the mana cat rocketed into the body of the monster that I had heard come up directly behind me.

I fell forward in shock as my body went cold.

So that was what almost dying in battle felt like?

Strange, it was different from being shot when you were helpless.

As a few points of my stamina recovered, I summoned a health potion into my hand and then drank it. Then I summoned another one and downed it too as I rose to my feet.

A mana potion then came next, after which I rotated my body around and into a half-crouch, just in time to catch the claws of the most injured of the Skulker's.

I placed my hand upon my conjured blade, and trusting in its inability to hurt me, I half-sworded the monster's claws into redirecting its arm down and away from me.

I used this same momentum to come to stand and then slammed my blade harshly into its neck.

I saw the light flicker from the creature's eyes as I jumped backwards to avoid its dying slash.

[Raging Sorcery] activated at my will and removed nearly half of its face as my blade exploded in its flesh.

The creature fell in a fiery husk, but I wasted no time in summoning another sword into my hand.

Gwen was locked ferociously in a duel to the death with the only remaining Skulker.

I did not intend to allow her to fight alone.

The Skulker dropped one of its claws deeply into the panther's right flank as she dodged. Rage exploded in my chest at seeing Gwen hurt.

"Gwen, get back!" I screamed, not knowing if my invulnerability to my own spells extended to my summon.

Fire wisped up my blade to form into another spell as I slashed it down and launched a [Fireball] from the cut into the air.

The magic attack soared through the open space and smashed hard against the Skulker's face.

I, meanwhile, charged through the fiery blast as it happened.

My sword then cut violently across the chest of the Skulker as I passed it.

Gwen charged then, her own claws dug deep into the monster's right thigh.

We both ended up behind the beast.

I screamed in exertion as I turned back towards the monster.

The panther roared in battelust as she did the same.

Our cries echoed together throughout the cave, merging into one.

We both lunged with all of our might and crossed past one another as we both cut deeply into the body of the turning Skulker.

I landed to one side of the monster..

Gwent settled onto her front paws on the other.

[+5 Summon Synergy, +5 One-Handed, +5 Fire-Manipulation, +2 Alchemy, +5 Earth-Manipulation, +5 Spell Efficiency, +5 Spell Attack, +5 Spell Control, +5 Spell Defense, +5 Acrobatics.]

[+4/50 Incinerator I.]

[+3/50 Battle Healing I.]

[+1/50 Battle Bond I.]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 26.]

The Skulker halted and then fell.

I collapsed soon after that, my flaming sword dissipating, and my bodyweight settling onto my hands and knees.

Pain raged in me as my adrenaline dumped for the second time throughout the entire battle.

Gwen, meanwhile, swayed and then collapsed.

"Gwen!" I shouted in worry.

Despite my discomfort, my health, mana, and stamina was now restoring itself. Gwen's, however, was apparently not doing the same.

I summoned a health potion and forced myself from my knees and up towards my fallen friend and companion with as much speed as I could muster.