I glanced at her hand but noticed her gloves looked fine.

That was effective. But we'll need more than that.

"Wrong weapons to fight these things. How do you want to do this?!" I shouted over the avalanche of grinding and shifting stone.

"Cover me!" she yelled back.

My cloak wrapped itself tightly against my shoulders while the long cape seemingly slid high, out of the way of my legs.

I couldn't help it. I grinned.

Alice shifted her axe into her right arm and held out her left. I felt something brush at the edge of my senses, and my core rose up in response. The cave's temperature rose dramatically in a burst of heat, and I shifted away. Alice glanced over but kept her eyes tracking the mob.

"On one."

I began to lower my weight and push forward on the balls of my feet.

Ready.

"Three."

I felt my lips move back, exposing my canines.

"Two."

The monsters began to run, their rusty pickaxes held high.

"One."

The rush of cold air sent dust out in a cone as the flash freeze overtook the monsters. Only the first three were frozen solid, while several others hissed, and their veins of fire sputtered.

I was ready to move then and there, but Alice wasn't finished. I felt mana scrape my awareness, but it felt different. Unlike the freezing cold pinpricks, this new mana lacked pointedness; it felt raw.

Wuump!

I turned my head in time to watch as a distortion in the air rocketed toward the group. One of the monsters swung at the hard-to-trace projectile, and before its pickaxe could get in the way, the sphere exploded.

Monsters were knocked back; several went tumbling away. The one that tried to intercept the force ball had its arms blasted off, while a hole roughly the size of a basketball exploded out of its chest. The remnant energy whipped more debris our way, but I couldn't care.

One of the three frozen monsters shattered and splashed the ground with rapidly cooling blood. Alice stumbled, but she caught herself and began moving forward.

I rushed ahead, veering left, aiming for one of the fallen monsters. The energy in me bubbled, and I let the rush of adrenaline take over, bringing a sense of sheer excitement despite the threat of death.

The back end of my axe swung forward into the leg of the downed thing. The hit jarred my arm, sending a jolt up to my shoulder, but the leg went flying. I hopped away before the burning blood could spray my boots.

Something swung from behind, but I felt my summon emerge.

Clang!

The monster's arm was wrenched downward while the pickaxe dropped to the floor. I swiftly grabbed it and swung underhanded. The pick embedded into the monster's neck, and I kicked it, and the monster let out a terrible grinding noise that made me flinch. It tried to get up, but my wolf shook, tugging the stone limb.

I kicked again, and pop went the head.

Another explosion of air turned the surrounding ground into an ice rink—the frost built on itself, thickening the existing coat. But one monster flared, and its body became an inferno. Steam knocked back my hood, but my cloak tightened, and it stayed on.

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A second pick came swinging for my head, and I rolled away.

Get the pickaxe!

My wolf released the arm and snatched the heavy metal tool in its mouth. With my summon on its way, I whipped my head around to find Alice turning one of the monsters into a spray of pebbles.

Crap. Not keeping up.

I scrambled to my feet and accepted the pickaxe. After delivering the weapon, it flipped around and began to growl at the approaching monsters; the once intimidating crowd now reduced to a much more manageable amount.

"Can you do the force thing again?"

She shook her head and retreated as two elementals swung wildly, missing by a mile.

Fine.

The steam fogged up the air, making it humid. It drenched my clothes, and moisture dripped off my belt.

"Fight together?"

"No. You'll get in the way of my swings."

My eye twitched, but I contained the growl inside my chest. I had nothing else to suggest.

She sprinted towards the right, where two monsters tried to free their frozen companions.

Two pickaxes swung her way, trying to impede her charge. She dodged one while knocking away the other. The momentum of her swing carried her into the nearest elemental, who had steaming hands melting away the ice. The blow shoved it aside as her axe clipped it in the hip.

The steam stopped, but the ice kept melting. She paused as if stilling, only to shuffle out of the way of another monster's pick. Metal pickaxe met frozen rock and crushed the chest of the frozen elemental.

"Wuulf!"

I whirled around just in time to see my wolf phase through an attack while a prick against the connection stirred the bubbling heat in my chest. The monster moved with tense, sluggish motions.

Gripping my pickaxe tightly, I struck its arm right at the wrist. Stone splintered, and the monster's weapon clattered to the ground.

Unfortunately, my attack pulled me too far forward, and when I tried to swing again, the monster quickly smashed into my arm, knocking it away.

Fuu-

It flared. A roar of blazing heat erupted from the monster's body, singeing my hand with fire. The heat was instantaneous, and I shut my eyes and backed away. I swung again wildly, but the blow bounced off the stone.

I waited for another hit, but then a rush of frigid air scraped at my skin, and a sheet of cold crawled up my front.

My eyes opened to a hail of rubble as Alice's wide swing demolished the frozen statue. Drops of the monster's blood landed on my cloak but slid right off.

She jumped back and joined me, panting heavily while clutching her right arm tight to her chest. A coat of ice crystals covered her skin up to the elbow, letting off streams of fog as the room's hot air attempted to melt it away.

"I'm sorry," I ground out.

She glanced over and frowned. "No. Focus. Aim for the joints, make them drop their weapon or stop their movements."

Only six remained. During the absolute destruction of the monsters in Alice's rampage, I took out a measly two and downed another.

I sheathed my axe. Two weapons sounded cool in my head, but I'd die if I continued fighting the way I did.

Two broke free from the crowd to bullrush us, so I moved to the side and yelled. They swerved away from Alice to come at me. They were in synchronization, their movements jerky but similar. My summon met their charge, hopping up and receiving a pickaxe through the chest. The metal phased through, and my wolf's form visibly shrunk.

Still, the weight of my summon was heavy enough to knock the monster down, leaving only a single monster coming my way.

It swung. I slid my leg backward, letting the metal bounce off the floor with a clang. My swing met the arm at its elbow, and the form broke apart. I kicked at its leg, and it tumbled forward but remained standing.

That's fine.

I raised my pick and hooked its leg, using my strength to pull it off balance. The leverage was in my favor, and it toppled over. Another swing aimed at the back of its neck rewarded me with a dead monster spewing fire.

Its corpse scorched the ground, but I ignored it to rush to my summon, who took another hit. Now the size of an average dog, it sank into the ground as I stepped nearby. I felt it dip into my shadow and raised my arms in an overhead swing.

Instead of rising to meet my attack, it collapsed to the floor. Spinning out from the cloud of steam blanketing the area, one of the monster's pickaxes came flying for my head. I tried to move, but it dipped low and smashed into my ribs. Bone broke, and I crumpled to the wet ground.

The broken ribs caused a wave of agony to spread across my side, and I struggled to breathe.

I looked for Alice, but she was slowly backing away from a pair of elementals while her right arm dripped blood, leaving a trail.

I met the coal-fire eyes of the new duo that came for me. The one who lowered itself for its buddy to hit me with the projectile stood tall, its mouth flaring with flames from its throat.

With steady nerves, I extended my arm. My mana rushed ahead down my limb and into the center of my palm. They paused but then moved forward.

My gaze looked past them and towards Alice, where she backed away further.

I'm not the threat here. Just need a distraction.

I dropped the tight control of my core and let it surge forth, rushing down my limb. In my head, I completed the rune and conjured the spark.

I don't need control.

The last line etched itself into the flame, and the runes flared to life, sucking in the mana.

“Ek kalla heiðarloga!”

The flames engulfed my palm and crawled up my arm, each flicker biting at the flesh. I winced in pain, but the fire pooled and zipped across the cavern. The monsters stopped and turned, all too slowly, as the fireball soared through the air.

Crack!