Vacinay and I strolled beside him.

  I was the first to speak. “So… we’re cool, right?”

  He didn’t reply. Darn it.

  Vacinay draped an arm around his shoulder. “You’re not mad at me, right? Right??”

  He stopped and looked at her with bloodshot eyes.

  She quickly withdrew her arm. “Okay, what we did was wrong. No apology can change that. I am sorry.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I added.

  He clicked his tongue and shrugged. “Whatever, it’s all in the past. And in another world, too.”

  “Y-yeah!” I stammered.

  “Exactly! Dwelling on the past is for the weak! The present and future are all that matter!” Vacinay declared with a cocky grin.

  His eye twitched. “However… I haven’t forgotten that you two stole my kills.”

  Vacinay hugged him. “Okay. Now… that surely—”

  “If you think pressing your breasts against me is going to suddenly make me forget what you did, you’ve clearly got something wrong with your brain.”

  “That wasn’t my intention.”

  “Don’t care. Get off me.”

  She stepped back, smirking. “Honestly, I don’t even need to do anything. Give it ten minutes, tops, and you’ll be back to acting like everything’s normal.”

  He grabbed her shoulders with an exasperated look. “You infuriate me so much it’s insane.”

  “And happy. Your happiness revolves around me.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “That’s a lie.”

  “I don’t lie.”

  “Liar, liar.”

  I ignored them and was about to head deeper into the tunnel, but then I remembered we needed Vacinay’s nose and Ghomas’s clones. We also had to recharge our EP.

  About twenty minutes later, I turned to them. “Yo, Ghomas, it’s clone time, pal.”

  He was lying on the ground and glared at me. “Weren’t you just encouraging Vacinay to kill me?”

  Vacinay sighed and slumped. “What’s with you guys and living in the past? That was… about two minutes ago.”

  He bared his teeth like an angry dog. “When I rip your organs out, I hope you’ll be saying that!”

  “If by some miracle you’re capable of that, then good for you.” She shrugged. “You can try, though. It would be fun.”

  Ghomas got up with a grunt and walked forward, creating a single clone—the fast one. “When I get the right power-up, I’m going to make you eat those words.”

  “You can do it!” she cheered, attempting some kind of cheerleader dance. She pumped her fists in the air, spun on her heels, twirled her hips, winked, and repeated the whole thing.

  Hessien grabbed her hand, stopping her, and they walked ahead.

  “Alright, alright. Cat mode.” She shifted into a small cat, hopped onto his shoulder, then leapt down to walk behind Ghomas’s clone.

  As we ventured deeper into the tunnel, the soil and rocks grew redder. It didn’t look like blood though.

  Then, I heard the sound of metal striking the ground. We stopped.

  Ghomas’s clone rushed back to him.

  Vacinay returned to her normal form and summoned her blue firefly. It buzzed around, but, unlike before, it didn’t emit any light. What was the point of it?

  The firefly flew high overhead, like a tiny spy. Could it relay its senses to her?

  After a minute, it returned, buzzing near her ear.

  I couldn’t help but ask, “You can communicate with them? Where’d you get the skill points for that?”

  “It’s a passive skill,” she replied.

  Ah…

  She continued, “Anyway, there are about fifty-five of them. And obviously, I can’t read their levels.”

  That was a lot…

  Time to unleash the full power of time freeze.

  I cracked my knuckles. “Get close. I’m going to use time freeze, but I’ll make you all exempt from it. That way, we can take them out one by one. Since I can’t change the state of frozen things—only their positions—I’ll have to unfreeze them individually to kill them.”

  Hessien frowned. “Wouldn’t that be extra taxing on your EP? Constantly unfreezing in frozen time has to be draining.”

  … Oh. I hadn’t thought about that.

  I considered my options, then an idea struck me.

  “Using time freeze and fire simultaneously is a bit too difficult for me. I think I pulled it off once, kind of? But I did it after activating the skill. For example, if I drop a fireball, I no longer need to control it, meaning I can easily switch to time freeze.”

  “Get to the point,” Hessien deadpanned.

  “I want to test something,” I said, turning to Ghomas. “After I do it, I need you to take them out with your lightning bolts.”

  “Wait, what’s the ‘it’—”

  Before he could finish, I manifested over a dozen basketball-sized fireballs and dashed forward for a clear view.

  There were so many of them… all digging tirelessly to extend the tunnel.

  The light immediately gave me away, but it didn’t matter. I leapt high and directed the fireballs to encircle the enemies—front, back, left, right. To close any gaps, I used the remaining fireballs.

  “What the hell!” they exclaimed.

  They ranged from level 24 to 27, with only two at the higher end.

  One of them rushed forward, touching the ground to construct a massive cannon, which locked onto me. I glared at it. Time to test something.

  The cannon fired. I stretched my hands out and, the moment I felt its weight, I froze it in time.

  It hurt like hell!

  The attacker stood there, stunned.

  Now, now, now!

  I grabbed the time-frozen cannonball as I descended. It consumed far less EP than freezing the entire world.

  I spun the cannonball in the air and aimed at its creator. As soon as it left my hands, they gasped and scrambled away.

  But nothing happened. The cannonball remained suspended.

  Vacinay’s mouth dropped in disappointment. “That’s all?”

  “Believe in me!” I shouted, hitting the ground.

  Over fifty giant spider legs lunged at me.

  Ghomas moved fast.

  “Time to push it to the limit!” He raised his hands, lightning crackling.

  With a flash, his attack shot forward, branching like roots, stunning the spider legs.

  I clasped my hands, commanding the flames to converge in the center.

  They obeyed.

  Streams of fire burned everything in their way, desperate to form a fireball—damn anyone who was in their way.

  “Kill the fire user!” bellowed a massive lizard-like half-man. He conjured a metal spear out of thin air and hurled it straight at me.

  Vacinay leapt in front of me, her hand morphing into an enormous rat’s claw mid-swing. The claw slammed into the spear, cracking under the impact but successfully deflecting it. She let out a pained yell, quickly transforming her other hand into another giant rat claw to bat away a second spear. All the while, her body continuously repaired the damage.

  The lizard man didn’t let up, hurling more spears in a relentless attempt to overwhelm her. She pushed herself to the limit, deflecting all the spears.

  I noticed Ghomas was done with the spider legs enemy and was electrocuting almost everyone else.

  Sweating and groaning in pain, Vacinay shouted, “Hurry up!”

  “Got it, my queen!” I replied, redoubling my efforts.

  Even though Vacinay’s massive claws blocked my view, I could still sense the battlefield through the flames I controlled.

  I gathered all the scattered flames burning the half-men into a single, concentrated fireball. Originally, when I commanded the flames to gather, I had deliberately slowed the process, intending to burn the half-men to death, not form a fireball. But things had changed.

  With a flick of my will, I sent the fireball soaring into the air before slamming it back down at incredible speed. The explosion that followed blinded almost everyone. The roaring flames surged like waves, threatening to cover me and my friends.

  I quickly used the raging fire as fuel, molding it into another fireball to prevent the flames from engulfing my allies. A second longer, and my friends would’ve been toast.

  I’d say I’m pretty skilled with this skill. Also, I expanded the fireball to keep the half-men burning. It looked like a sun in front of us.

  Hessien gasped for air, his voice shaky. “I thought I was about to get roasted for a second there…”

  Vacinay muttered, "I feel like I'm being roasted..."

  “Really?!” one of the half-men snarled, leaping out of the flames, charred but still standing. He pointed a glowing black finger at Vacinay.

  A surge of darkness shot forward, morphing into a giant ant mid-air.

  Hit him! Hit him now!

  I focused, trying to form a fireball around his head using the existing flames, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  Vacinay kicked off the ground, transformng into a tiger. She clamped her jaws around my hair—ouch—and leapt aside just as the darkness attack obliterated the spot where we’d been standing.

  Thankfully, my concentration held, and the flames gathered around his head.

  He was the level 27 guy, but fire was fire. There was no way he could—

  The giant ant turned toward him, its mandibles snapping shut around his head. Huh. Well, that was unexpected.

  His body crumpled to the ground with a dull thud. Darkness erupted from his severed neck, reforming into a grotesque cockroach-like head.

  Vacinay nudged me as she shifted back to her human form. “That was insane...”

  “Yeah…” I muttered, staring in disbelief.

  Ghomas sprinted back to us, his energy reserves nearly depleted.

  Hessien activated his mist, covering us in a thick white fog.

  Ghomas said, “Thanks to Lumine’s fire, I managed to shock about eight of them to death, I think. Anyway, I’m level 22 now.”

  They were pretty strong. If I had to guess, his electricity also fried their nervous systems, which probably helped finish them off.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Hessien asked, “Cool Cool. What’s the plan?”

  Something massive landed nearby with a ground-shaking thud.

  “Can you get a stronger skill?” I pressed urgently.

  “Yeah, but I’m not going to,” Ghomas replied. “Since I gained about ten skill points—even though it should’ve been eight—I can level up my strength and speed clones. Both cost three points.”

  Before I could react, a massive snake tail, formed of pure darkness, plummeted from above with terrifying force.

  “I’m going to kill you all!” the half-man roared.

  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the mist in front of Vacinay suddenly parted, and a sonic scream blasted her into a wall with a sickening thud.

  “‘Tis… nothing but a scratch…” she muttered, her face twisted in pain.

  “Ghomas, what’s the plan?!” I shouted.

  Time freeze was a powerful ability, but it had its limits. To affect someone, their body had to be unfrozen, which made it less OP for direct attacks. For instance, I couldn’t just slice their necks casually—their defenses were too high, and I risked getting hit before I could escape using time freeze. That wasn’t just paranoia, either. Ghomas had pulled it off twice. The first time, I’d been messing around. The second time, I’d been dead serious.

  Ghomas extended his hand, generating a clone at an astonishing speed. But this wasn’t just any clone—it was the upgraded version. Instead of looking like they were on steroids, these clones resembled pale-skinned hulks.

  Standing at eight feet tall and weighing what had to be over 600 pounds, the single strong clone of Ghomas loomed over us.

  “I upgraded it twice,” he shouted. “It’s level 3 now. And that’s without me pushing its limits!”

  Oh… my.

  From behind me, the sound of drilling grew louder and faster.

  All my fiery tricks had drained a chunk of my energy points, but I still had over 25 left.

  I dove to the side, narrowly evading a strike from a half-man who looked almost human—except for the fact that his head was a hammer. Half of his body was badly burnt, but that didn’t stop him. Energy drills whirred around his hands, making for a brutally effective skill.

  “Come back here, ya bitch!” he shouted, closing in on me at ridiculous speeds.

  Fire skin! I activated the skill just in time.

  As the drill ripped through my skull, the fire spread like it was a campfire being smothered by a gust of wind. Yet, to my shock, I didn’t die.

  Fire Skin turned more than just my skin to fi—

  Ghomas shouted, “I upgraded it twice! It’s level 3 now—”

  I had die.

  I cut him off. “Nice job. Now, make a bunch of them and use all your EP for it.”

  “Got it!” he replied.

  He did just that, creating over three 18-foot-tall hulks. The problem was… they were too big for the tunnel! They were on their knees, making them easy targets.

  The drill guy lunged at one, but they weren’t being one-shotted. I guess they made decent defenses.

  “Ghomas, have them form a wall!” I shouted.

  He complied, realizing they couldn’t do much fighting in this cramped space. With a swing of their massive hands, they swatted away anyone trying to reach us. Then the clones flopped onto their sides, forming a makeshift barrier.

  Ghomas, exhausted, regrouped with us. Vacinay had also healed up, though not all her injuries were gone.

  Hessien asked, “What’s the plan? A real plan.”

  The clones were being brutalize, but they still held their ground as a wall.

  I suggested something. They exchanged glances and nodded. Within two seconds, we were ready.

  I turned my hand into fire. Hessien touched it while also touching the nearest Ghomas clone. I extinguished the fire and started a new one. He touched my arm again, this time while touching his chest.

  I asked, “You're okay?”

  He nodded with a grin. “Yeah, don’t worry.”

  Vacinay crouched in a cat-like stance, her eyes locked on the Ghomas clone’s head, from which a drilling sound was emanating. She called out to me, “Do me too. Give me the burning skin—just not the Hessien version.”

  I walked over and activated Fire Skin on her, setting her ablaze. She wasn’t harmed by it… but she started coughing violently, which made me remove it.

  She gasped. “Shit… it burns up all the air.”

  Maybe Fire Skin worked better on me? I could have my oxygen burned if I used fire, but nowhere near as fast as others, I guessed. The reason? Perhaps the passive.

  Ghomas’s clone’s head burst open. Five individuals stood inside, their skin steaming and extra charred, thanks to Hessien’s proeperty-exchnging trick.

  I hadn’t wanted to set it ablaze with actual flames because it would’ve tipped them off and burned away the clone.

  It seemed everyone else was close to death since I hadn’t gotten a level-up. Which meant… I could probably try that trick.

  Time froze. With time frozen, all those affected by Isolated Time Freeze were now in my “domain.” Which meant…

  Unfreeze.

  The ground suddenly shook, and a deafening sound erupted from where all the burned half-men were.

  It worked.

  I learned from my failures. Those giants we fought before here were useful.

  The darkness animal summoner guy asked, confused and horrified, “What did you do?!”

  I grinned as the pop-up appeared.

  Level: 25.

  I froze a cannon with insane momentum in time, then unfroze it, killing your already half-dead comrades with it.

  "I made your friends go boom."

  Wait. I didn’t just gain four skill points… I gained 13?!

  I knew there had to be a reason for it, but whatever it was, it didn’t matter now.

  They charged at us. Vacinay shifted into her maned spike tiger form.

  And me? Did I mess with fire? No, no. Don’t be silly… I controlled time.

  There was a skill I hadn’t planned on getting, but ah, what the hell!

  I spent all 13 points on my new skill.

  The half-men came charging in.

  Follow the same plan? Hell no. We improvised.

  With a yell, I proclaimed, “Fear me, mortals!” A strange, crackling barrier erupted from me, and in an instant, everyone within its reach slowed to half speed.

  I could do better… I could push it even further…

  I created a smaller barrier inside it, around myself, doubling my speed.

  The clashing barriers sent my head spinning into hell, but I didn’t care. I took a step and noticed my movement felt normal. The slow barrier must have been canceling out the fast one. I increased the speed by four…

  “Now I win.” I dashed forward, knife in hand, moving like a jet compared to them.

  The world felt surreal from my perspective. They were moving so slowly, as if I were sprinting while they were barely jogging.

  “Why… is she so…” Before the drill guy could finish his sentence, I slit his throat open.

  Gripping his neck with my nails, I dashed toward the next one.

  The darkness cockroach guy was surprisingly fast.

  His speed kicked up, keeping pace with me to some degree. He brought his foot down on me, but I caught it. With a grunt, I realized my momentum wasn’t buffed. Not too surprising—it was just time modulation. Still, I lifted him up and hurled him into the wall with a wail.

  He hit with a loud thump.

  A shadow loomed over me. A half-man with green, liquid, acidic hands tried to grab me.

  Vacinay swiftly wrapped her long, metallic, spiked tiger tail around his arm and flung him into the air.

  I shouted, "Give me your sword!"

  Her sword slipped out of her mane. I dashed forward, snatching Vacinay’s sword along the way. As soon as the acid guy hit the ground, I drove the sword into his throat.

  My head was pounding…

  Suddenly, the barrier disappeared, and another half-man spat a barrel’s worth of acidic juice at me. I leaped back, but the spit condensed into a fine line and hit me directly in the—

  “Got you!” A rough hand shoved me aside.

  The person took the brunt of the acid line, which instantly melted part of his right side. His arm and shoulder were gone.

  Hessien groaned, cursing loudly.

  How did he…?

  Damn it! I’d been careless with my energy points! I should’ve stuck to the plan!

  I had no time for regret. The creature tried to tear Hessien in half, but as soon as it made contact, they instantly swapped places.

  A new skill…?

  Wait, but… I turned back to look at the drill guy I thought I’d killed. There was another hole on the side of his neck.

  I realized Hessien must have taken the kill when the guy was near death. I needed to do something!

  But my mind felt sluggish—the curse of 0 EP.

  Vacinay was lifted off the ground by the darkness animal guy and body-slammed. The impact cracked the ground like a spiderweb.

  She screamed in pain, and blood spewed from her mouth. Ghomas, defenseless, was punched so hard he immediately lost consciousness.

  The force sent him crashing into the wall. It didn’t end with one punch—it was an onslaught. Only after a short while did he stop.

  The darkness animal user exhaled and turned to look at us.

  Hessien tried to act, but the acid half-man spewed a torrent of acid all over him.

  “No way… If… I’m out of EP… doesn’t that mean I… can’t fix this?!”

  My heart hammered in my chest as regret spiraled out of control in my head.

  I messed up. I really messed up.

  What the hell was I thinking…?

  The darkness guy picked up Vacinay by her feet, dangling her. “This one… I like her power. She’ll make a great wife for my son. The child’s skill card will be interesting.”

  He glanced at me. “Space warping of some sort... Hm. Not really compatible with our skill cards. I guess she’d make a good sacrifice?”

  The acid guy glared at me. “What about a torture doll? She’d be perfect for testing new skills.”

  I’d gained 1.75 energy points. That should be enough.

  “Hello, hello.”

  A familiar voice echoed from beneath the acid. Black wings, dripping with the corrosive sludge, shook as a figure emerged from the mess.

  Tanya…

  With a smug look and Hessien beneath her, she launched into a speech. “Even if you’re barely considered flowmen, I’ll enjoy killing you all. For two reasons… harming Hessien, which harms me! You know, it’s one thing to feel head-bursting pain. I can suppress that. But melting off an entire arm? Do you have any idea how much that hurts?!”

  She seethed, visibly frustrated. “Anyway! Second reason: prejudice.”

  Hessien didn’t seem to be in pain. Even the melted part of his arm looked… repaired. It was replaced with something completely white, reminiscent of her mouth beam.

  She floated up.

  They were baffled. “Wait… An evil manifestation?"

  "What’s another one doing here?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Another one of my kind?! Where?”

  They stepped back. “Um…”

  Then she looked up and grew somber. “That amount of chaotic negative energy… I’m guessing they were turned into some device meant to disrupt skills.”

  They ran, but instead of pursuing them, she raised her finger and fired a white beam directly at one of their heads. The beam struck with precision, instantly killing the acid guy.

  She turned her head toward the darkness guy and opened her mouth. Within seconds, a white beam erupted, vaporizing his entire body.

  She killed the remaining survivors.

  She turned to us. “Now, that wasn’t so depressing, was it?”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  I just asked, “Can you heal Vacinay and Ghomas?”

  “Nah. I couldn’t even heal my dear, dear bound partner!” she said dryly, swirling around Hessien, who seemed oddly relaxed.

  He turned to me and asked, “You okay, right?”

  I felt so ashamed.

  Tears welled up in my eyes as I muttered, “I… I’m sorry…” I tried to hold them back.

  After all, I was the one who’d suffered the least. I didn’t have the right to cry.

  “Ugh…” He got up.

  As he walked toward me, he directed Tanya, “The others should be in your range. Please use your energy to keep them alive, especially Vacinay. Once she’s recovered, she can heal Ghomas.”

  “Commanding me around like I'm... I'm... My kind kills not help.” She flew toward them and touched them.

  Hessien collapsed near me, exhausted.

  I gazed at his new “arm.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It doesn’t even hurt. Tanya’s crazy, but it’s a good thing she’s on our side.”

  “I should’ve stuck to the plan,” I said.

  “Hm. I don’t think it would’ve turned out much differently. The acid guy had that long-range acid spit, which would’ve ruined things anyway.”

  “Yeah… but…”

  “It’s in the past. Just tell us if you’re going to do something completely different. That way, we’ll know how to act.”

  “Yeah…” I tried to wipe the tears from my face.

  Using his energy hand, he wiped my tears. "Damn, you really are a softie under that tough exterior."

  I glared at him and stood up, my legs shaking. It seemed the stress had really taken a toll on me.

  "I wasn’t even crying," I muttered, though my voice betrayed me. "It was just my brain doing what it wants. But you wouldn’t understand that." I kept talking, my eyes avoiding his, trying to suppress the tears. "It's not surprising you can’t grasp the complexities of the human brain. I’ve always been the smarter one. Far superior… I… I’m sorry."

  He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "It's okay."

  We approached Vacinay, she winced in pain, while Ghomas blankly stared at the ceiling.

  "Just so you know, I’m giving you a level-up loan," Tanya informed Hessien.

  His eyes widened. "You're giving me skill energy?"

  "I transferred all the skill energy I absorbed from these guys to you through our binding chain. Don’t worry, it’s not all negative—it's a balanced mix of both negative and positive energy, the usual stuff."

  If I had to guess, she could absorb positive skill energy but had to expel it, much like how the human body eliminates toxins to maintain balance.

  "Much appreciated!" Hessien said.

  "I said it’s a loan," Tanya reminded him.

  "Wait, you’re not suggesting I kill people to pay you back, right?"

  "Sort of." She glanced at the ceiling. "I want at least half of the skill energy—the negative part—from that scum up there."

  Hessien grinned. "Deal. You helping with the fight?"

  "No. I’ll only step in when things are really bad or when I feel like it. If I keep bailing you out, you’ll stay weak and pathetic. That’s a hard pass."

  Hessien sighed but accepted. "Fair enough."

  I glanced at Vacinay, who seemed lost in thought.

  "Are you in a lot of pain?" I asked.

  "Which part of me? My body or my pride?"

  "Both, I’m guessing."

  "Then no. My shattered pride hurts far more than my body. It’s so painful that I can’t even feel my physical pain. That jerk beat me, and I didn’t get my revenge. After all that trash talk? I’m so furious right now, I wish I had time powers to go back and kill him. But whatever. I’ll just find his son and kill him instead. He was talking about me being his son’s wife. What if I wait for his son to get married, have a kid, and then wipe them all out? How does that sound, huh?"

  She grunted as she pushed herself off the ground. "I’m so pissed…"

  Then she locked eyes with Hessien and noticed his new arm.

  She smiled weakly. "Damn... they took dick beating hand? Guess it’s time to learn how to use your left hand, huh?"

  He sighed. "You’re so irritating… but I’m glad you’re okay."

  She hugged him, then lifted him into the air, causing him to panic. "Put me down! Are you crazy?! I can’t be seen as a child! I’m a man—put me down!"

  "Nope, I thought you were dead! I wasn’t too worried because we have Lumine, but it was still pretty scary."

  He clicked his tongue. "All this depressing stuff is going to drive me insane. I was also worried about you. If you ain't in my life, it will be pretty... empty."

  Vacinay, still holding him up, smiled deeply, tears building in her eyes. "Aw! Just admit it, you’re in love with me!"

  "Ha... Whatever, put me down."

  For a moment, I noticed her smile slowly fading.

  "Fine," she said, gently putting him down.

  Tanya seemed lost in thought. "Ah... intense emotions are shared too? No matter." She floated up and tapped the ceiling. "We’re going to meet that asshole right now."

  "By the way, my legs hurt," Vacinay said, bumping her head against Hessien's back.

  "I’m starting to suspect you just really like the feeling of my shoulders."

  She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Or maybe… I’m lazy and want to take advantage of you."

  He turned his back to her, and she climbed up, settling onto his shoulders. "I like it here."

  "Lazy ass."

  Tanya pulled back her fist and punched the ceiling, releasing an incredibly piercing wave of energy. The force shot upwards.

  Then... light began streaming through the massive hole she created.

  She pointed upwards. "Good luck surviving. At most, he’s level 40."

  I asked, “How... do we survive?”

  “Because I lied and ended up helping. I hit him with a blast that should cut his physical capabilities by about half.”

  I hope she got rid the of the skill nullifier.

  We all nodded in understanding. Vacinay was about to hop off Hessien, but he tightened his grip on her knees.

  “I thought your legs were hurting?”

  “Yeah, but can you climb up with me?”

  “Yup! Tanya bumped me up to level 25.”

  I figured he probably had more skill points, not just from the level-up, but also from that weird phenomenon where we get extra points. Plus, he probably had to upgrade his legendary card to keep it more advanced than his secondary, since both were stuck at two skills.

  Vacinay grinned as Hessien conjured a dense... cloud beneath our feet.

  He jumped onto the cloud, which held his weight.

  Everyone followed, except Tanya. Once Hessien saw we were all on, the cloud began lifting rapidly.

  Vacinay sighed. “I was expecting something cooler. Like—”

  She was cut off as Hessien dashed upward, hopping from wall to wall in the new tunnel.

  “Hahaha! This is fun!” she laughed.

  They were definitely alerting the enemies to our presence, but... the hole and beam had probably already done that.

  Tanya hovered near me, then suddenly said, “Try to keep that fool safe. Ignoring the fact that I need him alive to keep me alive, I find him... interesting. Very interesting.”

  “Do you have some evil master plan or something?” I asked.

  “No. His ridiculous nature is entertaining. I suppose I enjoy how comforting he is to all of you. It reminds me of certain stories about individuals I read a long time ago.”

  Then she flew up toward Hessien. “Wait for me! The damn chain’s yanking me around!”

  A minute later, we emerged from the hole, and around us were... different hues of fire, with strange humanoid frog statues surrounding them.

  There were plenty of bodies in the fire, but off to one side, a bunch of men and women were tied up.

  However, nearby was a... normal-looking man, writhing in agony. A man with white hair.

  We all exchanged glances, getting ready.

  Fire skin.

  My armor disintegrated as my entire body ignited.

  Ghomas summoned two hulking clones, each towering around 12 feet tall. Vacinay leapt off Hessien’s back, conjuring two massive, two-headed dogs while herself transforming into a colossal green tiger.

  Hessien's body shifted, becoming slightly mist-like.

  The man glared at us with a wild, maddened look. “Why are you interrupting me?"

  "Not sure," Ghomas said. "Maybe because you're making human sacrifices."

  "Ooh? How am I supposed to stop the next mutant meteorite if I don’t!"

  We circled him.

  I tightened my grip on my knives and said, “Don’t worry about that. That’s our job.”