Combined with my Clear Mind trait and Zeke's absurd physique, I decimated two dwarves like they were small children. The adrenaline coursing through me was wild. I continued to run into the unknown with an endless source of adrenaline.

My view opened up into a tall natural cavern illuminated by blue pools of water. A small waterfall breathed life into florescent flora. On the rocky shore of the underground oasis were at least a dozen dwarves and a party of humans engaged in brutal combat.

The clamor of battle rushed at me. Clashing of swords, shouts of fury, and guttural cries of agony.

And I charged into the mayhem without a second thought.

Why?

Because I saw my brunette.

She was crawling backward, fleeing from a belligerent dwarf aiming for her life.

"You can't have my thermos!"

[You've slain a dwarf. 12 points]

The dwarf's head rolled from his shoulders and plopped into the girl's lap.

"What the fuck! You're crazy, eh?"

I tilted my head at the blood-splattered girl. That voice didn't belong to my one-night stand. It sounded like a bar-hopping Icelander met the meanest Canadian to ever exist for a round of Wam Bam Thank You Ma'am.

"Sorry, wrong number."

"This isn't a phone call with you're crush, you dropped a severed head in my lap and now you're standing there with your... you're running away. Eh! Where do you think you're going?"

I left the belligerent and ungrateful Canadian behind. I didn't get far. I had to parry an incoming sword strike from a low angle. Without the element of surprise, battling an enraged and trained opponent was a challenge.

Trying to punt the little bastard nearly cost me my leg. I retreated swiftly, reanalyzing the mess I got myself into.

Over a dozen dwarves with battle experience and good weapons against less than ten humans with cobbled-together gear. I nearly tripped over someone's dismembered arm.

"I found it! I found my arm-gyaahk!"

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The discombobulated owner became disemboweled. He stared at his spilling innards in a daze.

He was a dead man walking.

"Screw this."

Throwing my sword at my current opponent made him duck. It gave me a moment to pull out a half-filled bottle of gunpowder and a single match. The two dwarves ready to tackle me paused with widened eyes.

They needn't have worried. It wasn't for them.

I threw it at the dying man still struggling to hold in his intestines with a single arm. The bottle stuck to him like a wet napkin, a small flickering flame finally catching the contents alight.

To comprehend the events that followed, several points needed to be made. The first was that the man was already dead; he just didn't accept it yet. There was no way to heal someone who had their insides on the outside. The second point was that he was the sole human remaining in that area and happened to be surrounded by at least five dwarves. Thirdly, the bottle was only half-full.

So it was less of a Kaboom and more of a Poof.

[You've slain contestant Remmy. 22 points.]

[You do not assume the appearance of a weaker contestant.]

Remmy exploded outward, sending the surrounding dwarves into the ground and others stumbling back, covered in gooey viscera. As the unfortunate bottom half teetered on the verge of falling, I was already prepared and moving.

Yanking free a sword from a downed dwarf, I slashed his neck and one other before I wrapped my free arm around a third. Dismissing the annoying point notifications, I put my sword to her throat. This dwarf had a beard, but I was pretty sure it was a woman due to the reaction of the others.

"He's got Sasha!"

"Let her go, ya bastard!"

"Forget me, Kill-"

I cut off any more words by drawing a drop of blood.

"Ah-Ah-Ah. Not so fast. I'll get to you in a moment darling. Oi! Any of you fucktards make a move, and I'll yank out her tongue through her esophagus."

The dwarves looked at me in horror and at each other for support. On the human's side, a blond girl tended to a dying man, a fat gigolo picked up a pair of shields from the fallen, and the Canadian girl rolled up beside me with the most judgemental face she could muster.

"You're fucked in the head and chivalry must be dead."

"Equal opportunity. I don't distinguish."

The remaining humans surrounded the dwarves, pushing them toward the water as a barrel-chested lumberjack of a man made himself known. He gave off a leader vibe, but not the good kind.

"I don't know who you are, but I'll overlook you blowing up Remmy if you kill the rest of them."

"You're not our leader, Lucas."

Ignoring their inter-party politics, I slowly inched forward with the others, backing the dwarves against the water. If the remaining humans weren't going to continue the killing, that meant more points for me.

As the humans bickered and dwarves bickered about leadership, I attacked. With the others boxing them in, the pitiful dwarves could only retreat into the water or attack my hostage.

They did the latter.

"Sorry Sasha."

"Ack!"

"Don't let him get away."

"Urgh."

"My leg. He's biting my leg!"

"He's in the water.

"We're all in the water."

"Fuck this. I'm out."

"Help! It's got me!"

"Gerrel!"

"Gyaak!"

*gurgle*

...

A crowd of humans watched in morbid curiosity as a bald biker dude dismantled and destroyed the dwarves as their desperate skirmish devolved into a disorganized slaughter.

A heavy accent pointed out to the silent crowd.

"Who is this lunatic?"