Inside the cave, our footsteps echoed like drums.
My heart pounded in my chest. The only thing that would have calmed me was a weapon in hand, but all of mine were gone.
Hunter, on the other hand, looked calm.
Compared to me, it was obvious who would win in a fight.
It was not about levels or stats.
It was about mentality. The difference between being an immovable object and an unstoppable force.
And it reminded me that the Willpower stat existed for a reason.
As we went deeper into the cave, the sound of bones breaking became clear, along with the muffled noises of an animal eating.
Farther in, the cave curved left, forming the shape of a backwards S.
Hunter stopped at the edge of the turn and held a hand out to keep me back. He leaned just far enough to glance into the next chamber, then pulled back and looked at me, giving a short nod.
I returned it.
I was ready.
He took a deep breath, and I found myself taking one with him.
Then he motioned forward, and Iggy charged around the corner at full speed.
In the same motion, Hunter stepped out and fired an arrow.
By the time I cleared the wall, I was just in time to see Iggy get thrown backward fifteen feet and slam into the cave wall.
The beast was intelligent.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was its eyes.
They were a deep, dark crimson, and just looking into them made something in me recoil.
I had always been an atheist.
I had always believed evil was not some real, tangible thing.
But the eyes of this beast were enough to make me question that for a second.
Beyond the eyes, its jaw was still wolf-like, but twisted. Thin tusk-like fangs jutted from both the upper and lower jaw, making its mouth look wrong even before it opened. Its body was thick with muscle, and hunched over as it was, the thing still stood almost four and a half feet tall.
An arrow was lodged in its left arm.
It had blocked with it.
That had been a choice.
By the time I started casting five Magic Missiles, the beast was already charging Hunter.
[Mana: 215/245]
The bolts hit hard, all of them slamming into its right leg, but it was not enough to stop it.
It pounced.
The full weight of its body launched straight at Hunter, like it meant to tear through him in one movement.
Hunter still needed time to switch from his bow to his axe.
So Falk reacted first. The hawk beat its wings with magical vigor, and a sudden gust of wind shoved the beast off course in midair.
It did not hurt the monster.
It only stalled it.
But that was enough.
Hunter's axe bit into its back, carving maybe an inch into the dense muscle before stopping dead.
At the same time, I began recasting my missiles.
[Mana: 185/245]
The beast snarled and swung one massive arm into Hunter, sending him crashing into the cave wall.
That opening gave me the chance to send the next full volley straight into its face.
I saw the moment the bone in its nose broke.
It bent wrong, hanging from its face in a way that made my stomach turn.
The beast did not like that.
It turned to me.
Before I could even react, it lunged and slammed into me with enough force to throw me into the cave wall just like Hunter.
Pain exploded through me.
For a second, I could barely stay conscious.
The only reason I had any hope at all was seeing Iggy charge back into the fight and stop the beast from following up immediately.
The two of them crashed together in a snapping, tearing dogfight.
Even from where I lay, it was obvious which one was going to win.
"Iggy! No!" Hunter shouted, desperation breaking through his usual calm as he fired another arrow.
The sounds of the fight rang in my skull, claws scraping stone, snarls, yelps, flesh tearing.
Through all of it, I forced myself to start building my strongest spell.
Fireball.
[Mana: 70/245]
I was in pain, and the casting was sloppy, but it held.
So I waited.
I watched arrow after arrow fly.
I heard Hunter shouting.
Heard Iggy's yelps.
Then I heard the sickening crunch as the beast locked its jaws around Iggy's neck and ended his life.
Only then could I release the spell.
Flames swallowed the chamber.
Hunter and the beast vanished inside a violent wash of fire and heat.
[Mana: 60/245]
[Mana: 50/245]
[Mana: 40/245]
[Mana: 30/245]
[Mana: 20/245]
[Mana: 10/245]
[Mana: 0/245]
The flames did not stop.
The ache in my chest did not stop either.
Watching Iggy die was not something I had prepared for.
Not something I had let myself think about.
And still, after everything, after all the damage we had done, the beast rose from the flames.
Its skin was blackened and split. Its body was riddled with arrows. Smoke curled off its fur.
And it still charged me.
I barely threw myself out of the way.
My arm did not.
The feeling of its teeth ripping into my forearm was immediate and horrible.
The beast was near death, and every part of me wanted to finish it, but I had nothing left.
No mana.
No weapon.
No strength.
The only thing left was Hunter.
He came in at a run and brought the blunt end of his axe down hard onto the beast's skull.
The impact dropped it.
Once my arm came free, I hit the floor.
Everything in me was gone.
Lying there, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.
Hunter would not let me.
"Hey! Get the fuck up!"
He grabbed me, shoved something to my mouth, and poured it down my throat before I could react.
It tasted awful.
Most of it went down the wrong way, and I started choking because I was barely awake enough to swallow.
I knew Hunter was yelling something at me.
I was just too tired to understand it.
My eyes felt heavy.
Truly heavy.
And I could not make myself care what he was saying.