Zelda crashed to the ground beside him. “It’s time to retreat. We’re just wasting energy.”

  “How much do you have left?”

  “Maybe five percent,” she answered.

  Hector hid his annoyance. He suspected that Conrad would be far more useful than the Arahants against this opponent. A grenade, maybe a barrage of incendiary bullets from his pistol, and this mantis wouldn’t be so untouchable. They had no Jinn to wield technological weapons, though. If the Arahant methods weren’t effective, the only alternative was for Hector to go into full Xian mode.

  He pushed his domain out to its full size. Watching carefully, Hector chose his moment when the mantis took a deliberate step forward, moving just a single one of its four legs at a time. To take advantage of the slight instability, Hector ssoed its head and pulled down at the same time he yanked the moving rear leg into the air.

  The mantis tilted forward and caught itself by pnting both arms on the ground.

  The guy with the thrusting sword struck then. His thin bde extended dramatically, piercing through one of the rge side-mounted eyes and into the head. The length of metal sted half a second before vanishing. It seemed like a hard-earned victory.

  Then the mantis recimed its feet and lurched forward to unch more strikes. The beast had thrown away all caution and attacked in a frenzy while foul liquid leaked from its injury. Hector desperately attempted to repeat his trick, but the mantis maintained a strict center of gravity in spite of its incredible velocity of attacks.

  They were forced to flee constantly as it skittered about, punching hard enough that the wind caused them to stumble. Hector stopped using his cables to attack and began moving Rodrick and Zelda about, keeping them safe with well-timed pulls and pushes. For his own safety, Hector relied upon his aura to block a few times. Though he went flying when he accepted a hit, he resumed his feet without any permanent harm.

  The consequence of his actions was that he dropped to nine percent energy reserves.

  Rodrick fell back beside him and Zelda, bent over like he was suffering from a side stitch. “I’m empty.” At that moment, their three allies rushed away as if on cue, running towards the wall.

  “Son of a bitch,” Rodrick cursed.

  The cavalier attitude of the swordsmen towards others suddenly squared in Hector’s mind with their eagerness to form an alliance. They wanted to carry sacrificial victims along with them in case they needed a few decoys for a challenging monster.

  A white hot rage overtook Hector. As the mantis charged them, Hector leaped, firing energy from his feet to propel him forward like a projectile. The mantis reared back and threw both arms out. Both strikes missed. Hector collided with the head and tched onto the irregur surface with both arms.

  The mantis bent forward and began to scrape its arms over its face to dislodge him. As he was pulled away, Hector threaded a cable through the hole in the one eye and dug deep.

  A powerful flick sent Hector colliding with the ground.

  He flexed his cable and ripped the damaged eye free of the Mantis’ face.

  Strikes rained down upon him, each block stealing away a dangerous portion of his reserves as he was forced to fre his aura. Hector smmed his cable back into the huge hole of the missing eye. He coiled around something and ripped it free.

  The mantis twitched, almost fell, and struggled upright to prepare for further attacks.

  Hector’s cable entered the cavern once more to liberate another segment of brain matter. Above him, every limb of the mantis went into full extension. It colpsed onto its side with its limbs stretched out in the insect version of the fencing response humans had after traumatic brain injuries.

  “Hector! We have to run! Incoming!”

  Zelda’s shouts brought him back to the present moment and he hopped up. Sure enough, some beast was charging their position. He could hear its approach by the thudding footsteps. Zelda was in the air above him, bat wings fpping wildly to keep her hovering. Rodrick had almost straightened and had a fist pushing into the side of his abdomen to counter the abdominal pain of overexertion.

  Hector jogged over to his friend and bent to drag Rod over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Then he straightened and began to sprint forward. Zelda kept pace a few feet above and to the side. Rodrick grunted in pain with every bounding step Hector made.

  He didn’t spare any thoughts for his friend’s comfort. Hector ran with everything he had, putting his enhanced body to the test. The ground blurred beneath his feet. Ahead, the wall came into view. With it, he also saw the lights of retreating forms.

  Ignoring his aching lungs, overheating body, and weary legs, Hector chased the lights. Chased and caught up with his fleeing former teammates. He ran close and clipped their leader with his shoulder, sending their betrayer tumbling across the ground. The other members of the dishonorable trio slowed and turned to help their comrade.

  Hector spared a gnce back just in time to see an elephant charge out of the darkness to trample the downed man. Bdes fshed as the swordsmen countered. Hector turned away from the scene and concentrated on finding the opening in the wall. After careful study, he found where several paths in the dirt converged.

  The three of them stumbled into the cave entrance and the welcoming light of human territory. Hector dropped Rodrick from his back and colpsed to his knees. That had been far too close. He didn’t want to return for another delve any time soon.

  While they were still catching their breaths, the swordsmen entered. Katana and thrusting sword were dragging cymore by his arms. Where legs had once been were only horrifically bloody stumps. The man was not conscious.

  “Damn Xian savage,” the man with the thrusting sword cursed as they moved past.

  Zelda finally found enough breath to speak. “Hope your friend dies, traitor.”

  The trio didn’t stop their rush for medical attention to respond. Rodrick reached over to sp Hector on the shoulder. “You’re a devil in a fight, Hector. Gd you were with us.”

  Hector checked his energy reserves, morbidly curious how close he’d come to disaster. Two percent. He groaned. Way too close. At least he wouldn’t be in a situation any time soon where he could accidentally advance to the next level. There should never be another time in his life where he went into battle with such low starting reserves.

  They moved a small distance forward to sit on the moving sidewalk, which ferried them back up towards the station. A long ride through the transit system brought them back to their starting location. By that point, they were able to walk without much pain towards their capsule hotel. They stopped at the cafeteria for a quick meal, unwilling to wait for table service at the nicer restaurant.

  Very little conversation passed between them. Everyone was caught in their own thoughts as they shoved sustenance down their throats. Finally, Rodrick heaved a gasping breath. “I screwed up. Those guys… they were rotten apples.”

  “We have three months to restore our energy levels before we need to delve again,” Zelda interrupted. “Let’s concentrate on that. Obsessing over past mistakes would only be a distraction. We survived, earned our pay, and learned some lessons. Next time will be better.”

  “Learned Hector is a battle maniac,” Rodrick muttered. “Maybe Xian really are better at war.”

  “It was good that he was there,” Zelda said. “I didn’t realize how different this would be to going into battle with an army. Heavy hitters were always there to help with the strongest opponents. We don’t have that in the dungeon. I’m not sure how our strategies are supposed to adapt.”

  Hector grunted. “I don’t like anything about how those assholes did things. We’re not supposed to avoid monsters in there and screw over other humans. We fight in there so people elsewhere don’t have to.”

  “Yeah,” Rodrick sighed.

  Zelda closed her eyes as if rallying her strength. “Do you think your Jinn commando would want to work with us?”

  “I bet he would. I’ll ask Conrad.”

  “Thanks, Hector. See you guys ter. I need a shower and bed.”

  Hector nodded as she took her leave. He couldn’t help but notice the way that Rodrick’s eyes tracked her exit. That was nothing he wanted to make his business. Instead, he finished clearing his pte of the cheap Jinn stew. “Promise me you won’t bme yourself for what those assholes did.”

  “I’ll try. They sounded so confident. I… I was a sucker.”

  “We weren’t their first victims, Rod. They obviously are skilled at deception.”

  Hector cleaned his clothes while he took a long shower and then brushed his teeth. He locked himself into his capsule and reached out to draw upon chaos. Events may not have been a complete disaster, but it came close. He also wasn’t sure what to think of his impulsive decision to knock his adversary down. He might have killed a man.

  He clenched his jaw. It wouldn’t be the first time. The day he met Rosa he killed several dirty cops. At the time, he’d been in the middle of dreaming Volithur’s st days while desperately searching for help to bring back to Earth. He’d done a phenomenal job of repressing the memory of those murders. That wasn’t right. He didn’t want to become someone like the Lord General, who treated humans like pieces in a game pyed for fun.

  What would his father think of the things he’d done? Terry Thoreaux certainly would be happy he brought back the Coalition Army to save Earth. He’d probably be slightly concerned about Hector’s brief retionship with Evelyn. Certainly he would approve of the kindness he showed to the simpleminded man Randy. Though at the time it had seemed a misguided use of cosmic energy, Hector looked back on tat unnecessary charity with a degree of pride. With everything on his mind tely in regards to the intersection of morality and personal power, it seemed like the true measure of a man had to be how he behaved towards those who had nothing to offer in return.

  So maybe he should cultivate charity. Humility and charity. How did one cultivate personality attributes? It wasn’t quite so literal a process as what he did with cosmic energy in his soul. Did he need to meditate upon the traits he wanted to embody? Or would it be enough to go out of his way to consciously act out compatible behaviors?

  Hector chewed the inside of his cheek. He would start by going out of his way to perform one act a day in line with each of his chosen virtues. One act of humility per day. One act of charity per day. Was there anything else he should be pursuing?

  What were the negative traits of Xian lords he sought to counteract? Ego, which humility undermined. Disregard for others, which he would defeat using charity. Those two things seemed the root of all the evils that arose from the actions of the lords. He would start with those two things.

  Finalizing that decision in his own head brought an immense relief to Hector. Long ago, he noted that he was inherently better suited to cultivation than Volithur. It wasn’t just a matter of natural talent, either. Hector reveled in routine and discipline and incremental improvement. Someone like him inheriting the insight of chaotic emergence into cosmic energy was the perfect recipe to create a level ten Xian. If Hector survived long enough, he would reach those heights. The struggle, then, was not getting there, but ensuring the future lord he would become was someone his deceased parents would recognize. A great man who was also a good man.

  To that end, the day was getting te and Hector still had two good deeds to do.