Blix slashed at the giant ant as it dragged her deeper into the dimly lit tunnel. Venom burned like battery acid into her residual arm. She slashed again, but the blade kept glancing off its exoskeleton. Glancing at her health bar, she redoubled her efforts. Alf wasn’t there to heal her. She had to kill it now.

Pulling up her stats, she dumped three skill points into her dagger skill and readied herself for one final strike. Threads of energy flowed through her arm as she struck at the base of the ant’s head. Burning fluid splashed her in the face as the dagger penetrated to the hilt. She seesawed the blade, twisting it in quick circle to scramble whatever passed at the ant’s brain. A dialog appeared before her eyes.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Dyre Ant.

Reward: 32 EXP

Her first solo kill of the game!

Scooting past her vanquished foe, she took up a defensive position at a narrow point in the tunnel. Coolness soaked through her tunic, soothing her fevered skin. The sand at the bottom of the tunnel was wet. Not enough to drink, but enough to provide a little relief from the fire raging in her residual forearm.

Another ant struck, clamping its mandibles around her shoulder, but Blix managed to penetrate the side of its head with her dagger and quickly scrambled its brains.

The body of the dead ant was dragged away and then another ant took its place. And then another. She was exhausted and thirsty and in agonizing pain, but she couldn’t let the ants get to Alf. She fought one ant after another after another. It was just a matter of time before they overwhelmed her, but she refused to go down. Not while Alf had half a chance of recovering.

Withdrawing her dagger from her latest victim, she waited, panting to catch her breath, but the next ant never came. She brought up her mini-map. The ants were… retreating?

“Alf?” she called over her shoulder, but didn’t hear anything. “Alf!” She hurried back to find him lying face down on the ground. “Alf, wake up.” She rolled him over and checked his pulse. His neck and face was hot and dry. Too dry.

“Idiot…” She slapped his cheeks. “You’re not getting rid of me this easily.” She turned and scooted back down the tunnel, feeling the ground and walls for moisture. A dozen yards beyond the damp sand, she discovered a shallow pool of water. Hopefully it wasn’t poisonous. Stretching out on her belly, she took a long desperate swallow. It tasted of iron and sulfur, but even so it was the best water she’d ever tasted. Even if she died of metal poisoning, it was totally worth it.

Cupping her hand, she scooped a handful of water for Alf, but it leaked through her fingers almost immediately. She’d never be able to carry it back to him at this rate. She shucked off her tunic and used it to soak up as much water as it would hold. By the time she reached Alf, most of the water had drained out of the loose ball of fabric, but she squeezed the whatever was left, drip by drip, into his mouth and went back for more.

After the fifth trip, he coughed and opened his eyes.

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“Why didn’t you heal yourself?” She swatted him on the chest.

“I did.” His voice was as ragged as he looked. “But—”

“You let yourself get dehydrated,” she scolded. “Lucky for you, Blix the Ant Exterminator had your back. Otherwise, you’d be dead.”

“I saw.” His face lit with a coy smile. “Very impressive.”

“What?” She whacked him again. “They were huge. And all I had was a dinky dagger.”

A grimace twisted his features as he struggled to sit up. He turned to face her with a thinly veiled grin.

“It was the only way I could bring back water!” She glared at him, ready to smack the cheesy grin off his face if he made a crack about her underwear.

“Like I said, very impressive.” He reached a hand towards her shoulder.

She started to pull away, but the look in his eyes turned her brain to bubblegum. “Shut up.” She cringed at how conflicted she sounded, but she couldn’t force herself to look away.

A warm hand wrapped around her shoulder. Pleasure and relief mingled with a touch of bitterness. He hadn’t been making a move on her. He was healing her. She’d just saved his life. She was practically naked, and he was healing her? “What the heck?” She shoved his hand away. “You’re healing me? Seriously?”

“But you were bleeding…” His voice was soft and pleading.

“Don’t.” Somehow, she resisted the urge to deck him—as well as the urge attack his lips. “Heal yourself first,” she barely managed to get the words out. What was wrong with him? Medieval underwear wasn’t exactly Victoria’s Secret, but it was plenty revealing.

“But…” His puppy eyes bored into her chest, sucking the breath from her lungs. “No.” He shook his head. “I need to do this now. If something happened… Please?”

“Damn you…” She turned away, but he wouldn’t get out of her head. “I don’t want… Why can’t you just…” Her eyes filled with tears. “I hate this!” She tried to get away, but he caught her around the waist and pulled her into a way too warm embrace.

She twisted and kicked, hit him in the face with her fist. But he pulled her closer, pressed his lips to her forehead.

“Shhh… It’ll be okay. I promise.”

“Leave me alone,” she shouted. When had she stopped struggling? She hated herself. Hated him. Hated everything about this.

“Please… Just stay still. I need to try something.”

She looked up at him, heart in her throat. His eyes were so… He was attracted to her, right? He looked like he wanted to gobble her up. Only he was looking in all the wrong places: her residual forearm, her legs… “Hey!” Her face tightened into a grin. “What are you looking at? My boobs are up here.”

“Sorry, but…” He trailed a finger over the amputation scars on her forearm. “Don’t forget I love you, okay? Right now. Just the way you are.”

Uneasiness burned in her chest. He wouldn’t leave her, would he? “Whatever,” she forced the word out. She didn’t need him. Dependence made her weak. Weakness was failure, and self-pity was death.

Long, elegant fingers closed around her residual forearm. And then her world exploded. Pleasure so intense it hurt. Flowing up her arm. Into her brain. Flowing everywhere. Caressing. Comforting. Titillating. Pleasure and dust. Streams of it flowed across the floor of the tunnel and into her arm.

A moan escaped her lips. Could she be any more pathetic? He was just healing her. It wasn’t like she was…

She looked down at her arm and gasped.

It was growing.

* * *

Name: Blix

Level: 4

Class: —

Health: 169/169

Stamina: 34/117

Mana: 900/900

Exp: 1121/2100

Attr Points: 0

Skill Points: 6

ST: 11

DX: 10

CN: 13

IQ: 30

CH: 14

Combat Skills:

Dagger 4: (Effective Skill: 4.0, Basis: DX, Enhancement: 12.0%)

Non-Combat Skills:

Swimming 1: (Effective Skill: 1.0, Basis: DX, Enhancement: 3.0%)