I stomped my foot. “I can’t. It will kill you. But that’s not the problem right now.” I pointed behind me. “Right now that assassin we fought in town is back and behind me. He’s now an icy demon-succubus-thing and headed this way. We don’t have time for this. We need Killa’s help.”

  Bark tilted his head. “Already?”

  Good. There’s some hope for him yet.

  He slumped his shoulders. “Look, I don’t know how long Killa will take to recover. Give me the nanites. It should be enough if we work together afterwards.”

  He won’t stop. What part of it will likely kill him, doesn’t he not understand?

  It’s unlikely, not a matter of understanding, but accepting.

  I know, Orange. I thought if there was a real threat, he’d come to his senses. “Bark, concentrate. She’s a powerful magic user. We can’t be fighting with each other. We have to work together.”

  Bark held out his hand as he walked towards me. “Then work with me by giving me your nanites. It’s for all our good.”

  “You’re obsessed,” I groaned. “We can find a solution after we deal with the assassin. What if the nanites kill you like I’ve been told? I will have to face her alone. The nanites will likely kill you. You have to stop.”

  “Do you know that for a fact?” Bark asked.

  Orange?

  Insufficient information. All we know is that the probability of Bark’s death is between 85% and 97%. Our estimations and simulations point to his death under normal conditions. But we can’t account for all variables, thus the wide margin of error.

  I wanted to roll my eyes at Orange’s noncommittal answer. “It’s not a fact. But you have a three percent chance. Don’t do it. We need more research and time.”

  “Three percent is enough.” Bark clenched his fist. “I’m strong enough, I have to be. This isn’t just about me. If it works, we’ll be unstoppable. This is worth the risk.”

  “No,” I replied exasperated. “I don’t want to hurt you. I want to kill you even less. This obsession needs to stop. What is so important? What could possibly be worth more than your life?”

  Before he answered the temperature started dropping. Bark looked like he felt the change too as his eyes grew wider. “Wait, does that mean…”

  “Yes!” I didn’t let him finish. “The assassin is here.”

  The demonic woman strutted into view. “Ah, there you are. Do make things difficult and struggle. It’ll be more fun that way.” She waved her hand. “But if you give up now, I’ll make it quick and kill you today.”

  This sadistic change is gross. It’s hard to believe that’s the same person who begrudgingly killed me the first time.

  A spear of ice headed my way put an end to my thoughts. I slipped around into the room to avoid it. Bark dove to the side to avoid it too.

  I can’t trust Bark if we fight against the demon. If I can’t fight, it’s back to running.

  I poked my head around the corner with one arm and fired at my pursuer. All three of my shots were blocked by an icy stalagmite. She flicked it and sent a shower of hundreds of sharp shrapnel at me.

  But as I ducked back behind the doorway, the icy shards turned the corner to follow me. I dropped to the ground and covered my head with my arms. Most of them flew over me, some of them battered into my arms, and a few clipped my back.

  I pushed myself to my feet to see Bark pointing to the door he came from. “Come on, follow me. We have to head further in.”

  I hope he knows where he is going.

  Unfortunately, we only got a couple of rooms deeper before the assassin caught up. She threw a spear at us. I managed to jump out of the way. Bark wasn’t as lucky as it clipped him in the side. He dropped a hand to the wound that instantly bled.

  I reached for my pistol to shoot the demon, but like all the times before, she blocked it. She threw a wave of ice at me, trying to pin me to the wall.

  I dodged the icy wave, narrowly escaping being trapped against the wall. Bark, still clutching his bleeding side, grabbed my arm and pulled me towards another room. The assassin pursued us relentlessly, her sadistic smile never faltering.

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  Inside the new room, Bark leaned against a table, his face twisted in pain. I quickly assessed his wound, realizing that it was deeper than I initially thought. Time was running out, and we needed a plan.

  “We can’t keep running,” I said, my voice filled with urgency. “We have to find a way to fight back.”

  Bark nodded, gritting his teeth. “I know. But this wound is pretty bad. Your nanites will help fix it.”

  “Again with the nanites?” I groaned.

  As I opened my mouth to say more, I heard the clicking of the ice demoness as she entered the room.

  I backed away and pointed my pistol at her.

  Bark pulled out the second vial of dark oil. He looked at it and then back up at me. I could see the determination in his eyes. He wasn’t going to give up.

  No! No! No! He can’t seriously be thinking about doing this. She‘ll kill him!

  The assassin pointed at me. A spear of ice manifested and flew towards me. I fired off several shots at the spear, shattering it. My gun was empty, but only small chunks of ice hit me, not inflicting any damage. Bark tossed the vial of mana suppressing oil up before swinging the flat part of his sword at it like a baseball bat. Oil and glass splattered towards the demoness.

  She flicked her arm, and an icy sphere formed in front of her to catch everything. But it only half formed. The oil spread was absorbed by the ice. What was odd was that the incomplete sphere flew into her. The assassin screamed in pain and fell to the ground. It looked like some of the oil got on her as she clutched her arm to her chest. Her skin cracked and sizzled. Her wings flapped as she glared at us and lifted to her feet.

  She clenched her jaw, and the ice reformed over her arm. “That was rude.”

  Her attention shifted towards Bark, and her eyes narrowed. She threw her arm out, and a stream of ice flowed from it. She swept it across the floor, and a build of ice swallowed everything it touched.

  Bark barely managed to get out of the way. As he dove, the demoness swung her arm towards him. Ice shot out from her hand, wrapping around Bark and pinning him to the table we were using as cover. He gasped and shuddered as his eyes went wide.

  I ran to the center of the room and threw my arms out wide. “Hey! It’s me you want, and I’m right here.”

  That tactic didn’t work the last time.

  Yeah, but last time I stayed put.

  “I’m your target. Come and get me.” I turned and dashed out of the room.

  I wasn’t going to let him die on my account. Even if it meant being hunted down by a sadistic, manic ice devil.

  The clacking of her heels was still behind me. “Yes, that’s it, run. It’ll make your screams all the sweeter.”

  I sprinted room to room, my heart pounding in my chest. The sound of the ice demoness’s heels echoed behind me, growing further away with each passing second. I knew I had to find a way to outsmart her, to buy enough time for Bark to escape. As I raced through the labyrinthine of rooms, I desperately tried to come up with a plan.

  I need an ambush. Her magic is keeping me too far away to get past defenses with my gun. It just isn’t strong enough.

  The assassin knows where the host is at all times. The element of surprise is impossible.

  Okay, so she knows where I go. But she’s not omnipotent. What I need more than anything is time to think and set something up. That demon lady is blocking my path out of here, and she’ll probably be able to cut me off if I try to go around her.

  If the host can’t go upwards, perhaps the best option is to go down.

  Is that a good idea? What if we run into more monsters? What if we do? That would give me more stats. And if we run into something powerful, all I have to do is wait until the assassin catches up and use the monster to take her out. That’s brilliant, Orange!

  It’s the host’s idea, not ours.

  I kept sprinting, my feet barely touching the ground as my mind raced with possibilities. I needed to lure her deeper, away from Bark, away from any chance she had of killing him. My eyes darted around, searching for any sign of a way down—a basement, a pit—something. The cold crept up my spine, the temperature dropping with every second, warning me she was getting closer.

  All this zigzagging isn’t doing me any favors. How is she keeping up with me?

  “Orange, can you help me look for any openings—anything to take us down?” I hissed, rounding another corner.

  “We can only map the area as the host perceives it. But we notice no clear path down yet,” Orange responded as if we weren’t being hunted by a demonic ice succubus.

  Of course, it couldn’t be easy.

  I turned into another room, empty except for shattered furniture and debris. The distant clack of her heels echoed through the halls, growing louder, faster. She was closing in.

  Then I saw it—a crack in the floor, a faint glimmer of hope. “There,” I whispered.

  The host has no means of breaking through the stone. Also, there is no information as to what is below. The host could land on a deadly trap. We advise against such a course of action.

  Okay, fine. We keep looking.

  The host could attempt to look for the route downward by finding an edge of the floor and always turning in the same direction.

  I dashed forward, skidding to a stop and throwing myself into a door barely hanging on its hinges. Without a better idea, I went with Orange’s plan and headed as straight as I could. In this room was a hole with a pole hanging from the ceiling, descending through it.

  That’s my way down. Why the firefighter’s pole? Whatever. I’ll take it. Oddly convenient that I ran into it now, but I’m in no position to complain.

  Behind me, a door slammed open. I didn’t have time to think, just act. I plunged downward into the unknown.

  The drop wasn’t long, but the pole only went halfway down before being broken off. My hands slipped and I hit the ground, the impact knocked the air from my lungs. Dust filled my vision, and I coughed, trying to regain my bearings. The floor above was now a gaping hole, but it wasn’t going to slow her for long.

  I scrambled to my feet, scanning the room. Dark, damp, and cold. It smelled like mold and stagnant water, and the distant sound of dripping echoed through the space.

  “Orange, any idea what’s down here?”

  No.

  A new set of footsteps clanged in space around me. From the corner of the room, a pair of white eyes lit up like flashlights.

  Of course I’m not alone.

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