The first thing Zoe thought when she saw the black-robed figures was Oh great! People! And then she saw the mutilated corpses.

Ducking back out into the main passageway, Zoe flattened herself against the damp stones. Suddenly breathing hard, she tried to remain as quiet as she could. She could hear them whispering and muttering in low tones even as blood pounded in her head.

For a brief moment, Zoe tried to convince herself that her mind was playing tricks on her, that she was just on edge and ready to jump at the slightest provocation. But while that may have been partially true, she was certain of what she had seen.

The bodies were haphazardly piled in the center of the dim stone chamber, ringed by a couple dozen robed figures. All of the blood appeared to have been drained out onto lines engraved in the floor, leaving the corpses limp, pale, and shredded.

Yeah. This was definitely some kind of bloodthirsty cult. As if their sense of fashion, choice of location, and weird, ominous chanting weren’t enough to tell me that. This would have been bad enough under ordinary circumstances, but Zoe already knew she was in another world.

She had woken up in the bottom of a shallow pool of cool water in some kind of underground cavern. Coughing and sputtering, she had wracked her brain for explanations for how she had gotten there — and then she remembered dying.

The cave had been beautiful, with soft moss, wide brimmed, faintly glowing mushrooms, and fresh water dripping down from slick, crystalline stalactites. At first, she had wondered if this was the entrance to the afterlife.

But then the system messages appeared, and she realized that she knew exactly what was going on.

Her system had immediately given her a wide array of classes and starting perks to choose from — so many that she had barely made a dent in the list even in the several hours of trekking upwards through the caverns that it had taken to get here now. She hadn’t chosen anything, of course, as there was no apparent danger and she wanted to have more complete information. After all, there was no reason to believe that whatever her choice was wouldn’t be permanent.

When the dim, naturally rocky and uneven caverns had given way to smooth, chiseled stone and glowing crystals ensconced in metal lanterns, Zoe had nearly cried out in joy. It was her first clear sign of people — or of even anything other than mushrooms and moss.

So excited had she been that she had completely ignored any doubt or hesitation as to whether the people she encountered might be friendly. She had heard the strange chanting early on, as it echoed eerily down the winding stone corridors — but she had completely suppressed any fear in preference of encountering civilization and getting more information about her new world.

Peeking around the corner again, Zoe scanned the cultist chamber again. The pile of corpses almost made bile rise up in her throat, but she choked it down. Disgust was a natural reaction, but she needed to stay calm and level headed. Having a breakdown here would be worse than useless.

The circle of cultists and the heap of bodies weren’t the only notable features of the chamber. An intricately carved, colossal stone altar rested atop a raised platform with a set of stairs leading up to it. Lines of deep crimson energy pulsed and throbbed along the surface, giving it a disturbingly organic — if sickly — appearance.

And behind the altar, another robed figure stood in solemn waiting. He was clearly distinct from the rest of the couple dozen or so other cultists, as his hood was uncovered and his robes were far finer, embroidered with intricate runic designs.

He’s definitely the leader — or maybe just the officiator of whatever sick ritual this is. As Zoe thought this, her system flared to life, much to her surprise.

{Infernal Cultist Chieftain - 71}

Zoe frowned. That must have been some kind of automatic identification skill. Was the first part his class, and the second part his level? That seemed the most likely explanation, and she couldn’t immediately think of anything else.

In any case, the fact that she was in a world with a magic system reinforced to Zoe that she should probably get out of here quickly. Even back on Earth, it wasn’t a good idea to hang around in the lair of a mass murdering cult — but here, wherever she was now, they likely weren’t completely deluded.

If the system gave them a cultist class and levels, it probably meant they actually had some kind of sinister magic for real.

Mentally chastising herself for ogling them for so long, Zoe ducked back into the corridor and pressed herself flat against the wall once more. She needed to get a move on — but there was just one problem. She didn’t know how to get out.

To get from the natural cave system to here — this dungeon or whatever you wanted to call it — she had just gone upwards at every intersection. It had worked completely without fail.

But now, there was no clear way up. When she had first entered this area, there had been three ways to go — hard left, hard right, and straight. The chanting had sounded like it was coming from straight ahead, so that’s the direction she had chosen to go.

Licking her lips, Zoe began hastily creeping back towards the intersection. The semi-polished stone floor was quite cold on her bare feet, and she found herself shivering. She was only in a loose hospital gown, after all.

It took about a minute to reach the intersection. She could have gone a lot faster, but she didn’t want to risk making noise or slipping. In any case, there still wasn’t much to go on in terms of choosing a direction. Both corridors looked pretty much identical…

Peering off into the distance, she realized that the way to the right ended in a flight of stairs — stairs leading upwards. In contrast, the way to the left looked like it ended in either a bend or another split.

Well, going for altitude hadn’t failed her yet.

Renewing her stealthy power walk, Zoe made her way down the right corridor. As she did so, she realized that there were other chambers here and there on either side. Some of them were barred with thick iron rungs, while others didn’t have a door at all. Most of them looked either empty or uninteresting, but a few held what looked like a variety of tools and magic artifacts.

There was even a pantry.

Zoe was tempted to stop in both the artifact rooms and the food storage one, but quickly decided to press on. While she knew that food would almost certainly be necessary for her medium term survival, and while the thought of powerful magic artifacts was sorely tempting — neither would matter if she died right here right now.

She was under no impression that the cultists would take kindly to her presence.

Reaching the stairs, she realized that they didn’t go very far up. There was no intermediate landing, but she would guess that they were only about two floors high. There was no guardrail or anything, but she wouldn’t expect what was seeming like a fantasy world to have that sort of safety precaution.

In fact, the stairs appeared to be simply cut out of the natural rock. Zoe climbed them with no small degree of haste, but she was careful too. She didn’t want to trip on her loose pants legs or slip on the slick stone surface.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she saw that the passageway continued on as a straight stone corridor much like it had below. Sighing, she rolled her shoulders and continued on. Her attempt at stealth was rapidly tiring her, and so she dropped the act, simultaneously hastening her pace.

“Going somewhere?”

Zoe froze.

Whirling around a moment later, she came face to face — or rather, hood — with a man who was clearly one of the cultists. If his choice of outfit weren’t telling enough, her hasty use of her system was.

{Infernal Cultist - 24}

Beneath his shadowed hood, the man’s thin lips peeled back into a sickly grin. “The Chief won’t be pleased to hear that one of our sacrifices thinks that she can flee.”

He lazily reached for something beneath his billowy black robes, but Zoe was faster. She kicked him in the knee.

Staggering, the cultist yelped out in anger and pain — but Zoe was already rushing past him. She dove into a full out sprint this time, all her thoughts of stealth and subtlety evaporated. While the man was obviously higher leveled than her — she didn’t even have a class yet — she hoped that cultists didn’t focus on physical power. Perhaps she could outrun him.

But then, if cultists didn’t focus on physical power — what if he was preparing to launch a fireball or something at her? Forcing down her panic, Zoe resisted glancing back — and then something lashed around her ankle.

Stumbling, she just managed to break her fall in a way that wouldn’t leave anything broken or horribly bruised. It still hurt like hell though. She began to right herself, but then whatever it was that had grabbed her tightened and yanked.

Zoe was put completely off balance again as she was dragged back towards the waiting cultist. As she slid along the slick stone, she was able to catch a glimpse of what had grabbed her.

It was a grotesque, pitch black, clawed hand shimmering with a faint crimson energy. It wasn’t actually attached to anything, but it was obvious that it was the cultist’s magic at work. Grimacing, Zoe allowed herself to be reeled in instead of resisting.

Just when she slid up to the cultist, she hauled herself upright and used the momentum he had given her to send them both tumbling to the ground with her on top. And then, before he could react, she punched him as hard as she could.

In the throat.

The man choked, and then he began to fight back. So Zoe hit him again.

As she prepared to hit him a third time, a tingling sensation arose across her skin, warning her that he was about to attempt to use some sort of magic. It all happened very fast, and so it was mostly instinct which allowed Zoe to react appropriately.

By hitting him.

Really, there wasn’t enough time for her to get away from him completely, and she had no idea what he was actually about to do, so there was no way for her to know what sort of range to expect. So the most logical thing was to try to break his concentration.

It worked.

Gripping his throat with both hands, Zoe began to squeeze as hard as she could while also lifting him up and then banging his head back down. It cracked audibly against the stone floor. So she did it again. And then four more times.

The struggling man finally went limp, and Zoe collapsed back, going limp as well. She started to shudder, but it wasn’t from the constant cold. She began to breathe hard even as it felt like she was suffocating. Blood pounded again in her ears, reverberating through her skull.

She had just killed a man.

To be entirely fair, there was absolutely no doubt that he had participated in — or was at least complicit with — the murder of at least dozens of people. And he seemed intent to kill her as well. But that didn’t change the fact that for the first time in her entire life — both lives, now that she had died once — Zoe had killed.

She lay there for just a few seconds, taking it all in. As her heart continued to beat ferociously, she analyzed her own feelings. She was shocked — but mostly at how easily and naturally it had come.

And while she was in a sense horrified, she didn’t regret it. And she was even beginning to reason through all of it, to detach herself and rationalize it. She felt surprisingly lucid.

A moment later, and her shivering was just from the cold.

“Nice work.”

Zoe bolted upright. For the second time, she whirled around to come face to face with a strange man. But while the other one — the one she had just killed — had appeared indistinguishable from all of the other cultists, this one was completely different.

Instead of billowing black robes, he wore artfully crafted gold and silver plate armor. A silken green cape flowed behind him. His face was handsome, square, framed by ruffled blonde hair and set with blue eyes much like Zoe’s own.

{Paladin of Lux (Righteous Ire) - 68}

Zoe gulped. Not only was he almost three times the level of the dead cultist — he was heavily armored and his hand gripped the hilt of a brilliantly polished, gleaming blade.

There was no way she could fight him.

“Here, let me help you up.”

Extending his gauntleted hand, the Paladin stooped down slightly. Zoe took it with no small degree of hesitation. This was obviously apparent to the Paladin, as he stepped back with a slight frown.

Zoe studied him once more. He really did look like what she imagined a typical paladin would look like. His frown quickly deepened, and Zoe began to grow nervous. She resisted the urge to shuffle her feet, instead clasping her hands together while refraining from fidgeting with them.

“What is a worldwalker doing here?”

Zoe blinked in confusion at the man’s words — but then she realized that he hadn’t been speaking to her — he was thinking to himself. After a few awkward moments, his gaze snapped back up to meet hers.

“Tell me, worldwalker — what do you know of this place?” He glanced at the cultist’s body, shrugged, and then walked past her, heading for the stairs. “Come. We will talk as we walk.”

After hesitating for a moment, Zoe followed him. She really wanted to be going the other direction, but she suspected her… victory over the cultist wasn’t something that would be easily repeatable, especially not with someone who she guessed was far more powerful. No, the Paladin wasn’t immediately hostile, unlike the cultists. By this point she was just going off her own cultural knowledge and vague assumptions, but she would suspect that a Paladin of a light god would be an enemy of infernal cultists.

In any case, she padded along in silence. As they began to descend back down the stairs, the Paladin shot her a look, and she realized that he had already asked her a question.

Zoe frowned. When he asked her what she knew of ‘this place,’ did he mean this underground dungeon or cultist lair — or did he mean the entire world?

Zoe would have normally expected the former, even given her own circumstances — except for the word the Paladin had used to address her. Worldwalker. Does he know I’m from another world?

Deciding to play it safe — after all, who knew how people here reacted to reincarnated individuals — Zoe decided to assume the former.

“Not much, really. There is a whole giant natural cave system connected to it, and uh…” she trailed off, hesitant to describe the ritual. “There’s a gathering of a bunch of infernal cultists ahead. I think we should turn back.”

“No.”

Zoe whipped her head to the side. The Paladin didn’t look at her, focused instead straight ahead. “The way back is now shut.”

Fuck. Zoe had no idea what to do with that information — after all, going back into the caves didn’t seem like her idea of progress, but neither did going back to the cultists — which she was strongly suspecting was the intention of her new companion.

“Lead me to the cultists and stay hidden. When it is safe, I will help you to the surface. You can start a new life in our world there.”

Zoe bit her lip. So he did know that she was from another world. Studying him, she realized that despite the size and weight of his metal plate armor, it made absolutely no sound as he walked — even hit boots were soundless on the stone floor of the corridor.

“Who are you?” She finally asked.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It took the Paladin several seconds to respond, and so at first Zoe thought he wasn’t going to. Finally, he spoke. “You may call me Alexander.” He paused. “You can see my class if you focus on me, if you haven’t tried that yet.”

“Paladin of Lux.” Alexander nodded sharply as she confirmed his class. “Righteous Ire, specifically?”

“Yes. And I know you can see my level as well.”

Was that because he knew that she was a so called ‘worldwalker?’

The pair reached the intersection, and Alexander stopped, glancing first down all three passageways, even including the caves, before turning to Zoe. “That way,” she pointed, “the way with the creepy chanting.”

Nodding, the Paladin began sauntering down the corridor, his demeanor almost casual and nonchalant despite his clipped pattern of speech. After he made it several steps, he turned and glanced back. “Wait here. Stay hidden. I will return shortly.”

Nodding, Zoe retreated back into the shadows of the natural cave. She was more than happy to let the scary high level holy warrior guy do the hard part while she kept her ass from getting added to the sacrifice pile. Well… in truth, she was quite curious to see what was going to happen.

But she was most definitely not going to indulge that desire. There was no way she would survive whatever went down — after all, it was obvious that the matter wasn’t going to be resolved peacefully.

Sighing, Zoe stepped further into the shadows.

And then a hand clasped against her mouth.

Zoe kicked back on instinct, but her foot only met air and fabric — and her further attempts died down instantly when a small but obviously sharp blade pressed itself just shy of her throat.

“Stay quiet, and you get to live.”

Shit shit shit. Zoe had no idea how to get out of this one. Even if this cultist were as weak as the other one, she absolutely couldn’t risk doing anything to aggravate him. And to make matters worse, she couldn’t even use her identify skill.

“Start walking forward. Not too fast. But don’t dawdle.”

With no choice but to obey, Zoe did as she was told — but at the same time, she mentally called back up her class selection choices and began to search through them — for anything that might help her out of this predicament.

Unfortunately, nothing jumped out at her, and the two of them continued down the hall towards the ritual chamber. It felt agonizingly slow as she made each step, but suddenly they were there, and Zoe realized that it had happened sickeningly fast.

Her captor positioned her right in the middle of the doorway, giving her a clear view of the room. The cultists remained gathered around what she realized was some kind of magic circle, but the pile of corpses was gone. In its place, a swirling miasma of crimson blood and writhing black shadow formed a slowly circling vortex in the center.

And that wasn’t the only difference — for the cultist chieftain now knelt before the altar, which had itself now changed.

The base was largely the same, only the pulsing veins had grown thicker and throbbed more intensely. But above the altar, a gash in reality was beginning to grow. It hurt to look at, and while at first Zoe tried to look away, she kept finding herself drawn to it.

{Nascent Demon Core: Formation 97%}

Huh. That didn’t sound ominous at all.

Forcefully tearing her eyes away, Zoe scanned the room looking for the Paladin — Alexander. But she couldn’t find him, neither among the cultists or lurking within the shadows eating at the corners of the dark chamber.

The cultist holding her captive didn’t seem to want to move, and he hadn’t given her any more instructions, so she simply remained silent and still while simultaneously continuing to examine the chamber in all of its detail as well as trying to come up with some kind of plan.

Her eyes landed back on the so called ‘demon core.’ It was obviously the focal point of the whole ritual — and probably would play a significant role in how the situation developed. It was a shame she didn’t have any information to go on other than its name and its progress bar.

{Nascent Demon Core: Formation 97%}

{A demon core is a corrupted mana well construct which allows mortal races to ascend — or descend — to a demonic form of existence. Fusing a mortal soul with a demon core results in a being straddling the lines between material and ethereal, conferring a great degree of power, though this is further dependent on the core rank.}

{Demon Core Rank (Predicted): Rank A}

Oh. That was actually pretty helpful! Zoe was surprised by how useful her system was already being. Of course, this still left plenty of questions — such as what exactly a mana well was.

The system didn’t respond this time. Perhaps it needed a real object to identify?

In any case, Zoe still had a knife at her throat to worry about, so she returned her attention to rapidly scrolling through her class choices. There were far, far too many — it felt like she hadn’t even made it a fraction of the way down the list.

To make matters worse, most of the classes didn’t seem particularly strong or useful — like {Stonemason} or {Trapper} — and among the ones that were more combat oriented, she had no idea how to choose.

Would a {Kinetic Knight} or an {Elementalist} be more useful? Zoe didn’t know. They came with descriptions, of course, but she didn’t have time to read them.

Actually, wait. No — while she definitely wouldn’t be able to make it even a fraction of the way through the list, it would still be more effective for her to stop and read up on any class that sounded like it might be vaguely useful. The idea of choosing a subpar class just to get out of this one predicament rankled at her, but she forced herself to accept that she might have to do just that. After all, she wouldn’t be able to choose a better class later if she ended up dead.

Scrolling back, Zoe realized that {Kinetic Knight} sounded promising. Perhaps it would provide her with some motion manipulation ability that would let her get out of the cultist’s grasp? She zeroed in on the description.

{Kinetic Knight}

{The Kinetic Knight is a combat class with a hybrid melee and magic fighting style. The Kinetic Knight uses the forces of motion to devastate enemies at close range. The Kinetic Knight also has more limited longer ranged abilities. Core skills are based around martial technique and psychokinetic manipulation.}

Zoe furrowed her brow as she read through the description. This sounded exactly like the sort of thing that would help her escape the clutches of the cultist. Zoe then scrolled back to {Elementalist} — but then she suddenly made her resolve.

She didn’t know how long it would take for her to figure out her class — and a quick use of her identification ability showed that the demon core was now at ninety eight percent progress. She had to act quickly.

{Do you wish to add the path Kinetic Knight?}

Yes.

Zoe almost expected to feel some kind of intense, even overwhelming sensation of magic flowing through her or something like that, but nothing happened at all. For a frightful moment she wondered if it hadn’t worked.

{You have chosen the path Kinetic Knight.}

{1 out of 2 path slots remaining.}

{Ability unlocked: Kinetic Manipulation}

Zoe blinked. She had two class slots? Or rather, paths, as the system seemed to call it? That was odd. She hadn’t even realized that she would get more than one — and also, the three people she had identified so far only displayed one class.

Was she special, or was it some kind of limitation of her identification?

Either way, she needed to get a sense of what her options were now. Like her new ability. But she was promptly distracted by a deep voice reverberating throughout the chamber.

“Brothers and sisters!” The {Cultist Chieftain} had risen to his feet, though his back was still turned. He seemed to be gazing up at the almost fully formed demon core. “Our work is on the verge of fruition. Within moments, I will ascend to a greater, demonic existence.”

He paused, seeming to soak up the drama like a dry sponge. “Will you join me, as I lead you in victory against the Overworld?”

The chamber fell to complete silence, the chanting now gone, space itself seeming to hold its breath for a precious moment.

“I appreciate the offer — but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.” Every head except Zoe’s whipped to the side to where Alexander reclined up on an alcove that she had failed to notice in the gloom.

Lazily lifting himself up, the Paladin surveyed the gathering of cultists below him. He was just on the edge of Zoe’s vision, which was quite annoying — she desperately wanted to get a proper look at the action, but the knife still at her throat kept her at bay.

The gathered cultists shuffled nervously, many of them backing away in apparent fear. But the chieftain was having none of it. “You dare?” His words were laced with a vitriol unlike Zoe had ever heard in real life. “You dare to interrupt the moment of my ascension with snide remarks? I will have your heart for this, Paladin.”

Unfazed, Alexander hopped down from his perch. This time, his metal boots did make a heavy clank as he dropped down. Striding forward, he withdrew his gleaming sword. “I’d like to see you try.”

The chieftain’s face twisted into an animalistic snarl, and he raised is hands as if to begin an incantation. Instead, he summoned a gnarled black wooden staff straight out of thin air.

The Paladin leveled his sword — and the cultist behind Zoe pushed her forward. “Not so fast,” he growled. His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it carried through the spacious chamber clearly enough.

Everyone froze, and then all eyes turned towards them.

“Take one more step towards the chief and you can say goodbye to her lovely little throat.”

Zoe tried her best not to gulp. Needless to say, this was just about the worst possible turn of events. It didn’t help matters that Alexander appeared to be hesitating, his sword dipping down almost imperceptibly, while the cultist chieftain appeared to have grown even more confident.

“Not so cocky now, tin can, are you,” the chieftain crooned.

Alexander tensed, his eyes burning and his lips pressing into a thin line. While he didn’t seem at all defeated, his playful demeanor had evaporated entirely.

But Zoe still had one potential trick up her sleeve. She pulled up her system and took a look at her new ability, {Kinetic Manipulation}.

{Kinetic Manipulation - 1, Bronze}

{Exert raw kinetic force in any direction around you. Strength and control improves with level.}

Zoe didn’t know if it would work — but she also knew that the cultists wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, and even Alexander looked like he was resigned to the turn in the situation.

Zoe activated {Kinetic Manipulation}.

She flicked the blade away. It wasn’t very strong — she could feel herself push with her mind as if it were a strange new muscle — but it caught the cultist completely off guard, sending the knife clattering to the floor.

Zoe then used the distraction to shove the cultist backward with both her body and her new skill. She pushed harder this time — almost straining herself. It was neither physical nor mental, but something else entirely.

Magic. It was magic.

But Zoe didn’t have time to marvel at being able to use real, actual magic now, as both the cultist behind her and the many more in front of her now had their full attention on her.

Zoe ran.

Several cultists dashed to intercept her — but in their distraction of focusing on her, they forgot about the Paladin. An ethereal, flaming blade arced through the air and decapitated all three of them just before they reached her.

Zoe cursed under her breath. While the attack had saved her, it was also far too close for her liking.

The flock of cultists now returned their full attention to Alexander. As Zoe ran around the edge of the chamber, she spared a glance over as well — just in time to see a shadowy hand, a meter thick at the wrist, rise up from the ground and whack the paladin across the chest, flinging him backwards. A dizzying barrage of spells of all kinds followed up from the crowd.

Zoe followed the direction the spectral hand had come from. The Cultist Chieftain has his staff outstretched, a wild expression in his eyes.

Right. Avoid getting the attention of the big guy.

There wasn’t really much cover in the chamber, and so far Zoe was avoiding the cultists solely by virtue of them being focused on the stronger enemy. She was under no illusion that this would last, so she looked for some place to take cover to better assess her longer term strategy.

There were more alcoves all around the chamber, now that she looked, but they were definitely too high for her to jump. She briefly entertained the idea of floating up with her new skill, but she knew instinctively that it wasn’t nearly strong enough for that.

There was really only one other feature in the chamber — the pyramid staircase with the altar on top. Perhaps she could hide out behind it.

Redirecting her course, Zoe made straight for the pyramid while keeping two eyes out for any attackers. A fiery blast rocked the chamber, the shadowy fist crumbling to ash as Alexander emerged. He quickly righted himself, and his armor gleamed with its own light, further illuminating the previously dim chamber.

Spell after spell flew at him, but he only moved to dodge a few — the rest just disintegrated upon reaching a largely invisible barrier that flared up around the site of each impact.

When he did dodge, he was fast.

It didn’t take Zoe long at all to round the pyramid. Looking up at the gash in reality above the altar, she appraised it once more.

{Nascent Demon Core: Formation 99%}

Not good.

Slowing to a stop, Zoe hunched down, resting her body against the dark stone stairs. Peeking her head out just barely, she watched the action intently. She needed to be prepared to either get out of the way of any attacks, or to make a run for it if an opportunity presented itself.

Several of the cultists charged. Alexander held his ground. The paladin began to channel fiery energy around him, seemingly sucking it up from the air around him. The crackling flames pooled around his arm before channeling into his gleaming sword — and then, just as the vanguard of the cultists neared, he swung it straight down, striking the ground.

A volcanic fissure erupted where the sword struck, exploding outward and sending melted chunks of stone in all directions. The Cultists directly in front of it were completely obliterated, while many others were struck by the blast of rocks. Zoe’s mouth fell open.

There was no way she could contend with a force like that with her measly {Kinetic Manipulation}.

The surviving cultists all scattered — except for their chief, who appeared to be totally unfazed. Raising his staff, he chanted out something which sounded like complete gibberish, and a whip of crimson light lashed outwards towards the paladin.

Alexander dodged, his gleaming form actually blurring into a streak of light as he moved. The whip didn’t manage to catch him, but as soon as it struck the ground, it pulled the chieftain to the other end just as fast as the paladin had dodged.

Zoe held her breath. The two men danced around each other, the paladin blurring like a meteor and leaving a fiery trail in his wake as he slashed with his sword, and the cultist chieftain twirling with his whip, lashing at his enemy while simultaneously using it to yank himself around.

They seemed quite evenly matched, perhaps due to their close levels. But the chieftain had one advantage — the other surviving cultists didn’t remain passive or motionless. Instead, they rallied around their leader, forming a circle around the dueling men and slinging in spells of their own whenever they got an opening.

Zoe had to stop herself from cursing. This didn’t look good for Alexander — while he was still holding his ground for now, she wouldn’t actually put her bets on him. And just as she thought this, the chieftain scored a hit, using a feint with a conjured spell to leash the paladin around his ankle with the whip.

But there was one upside to the turn of events — the focus being on the two goliaths and the encircling tactic of the chieftain’s minions looked like the best opportunity she was going to get to escape.

“Got you!”

Just as she ducked back behind the stairs, the raspy voice cried out in triumph. Whirling around, Zoe saw the cultist just in time to be alarmed — but not soon enough to stop him from planting his curved knife right into her gut.

The thin hospital gown provided little resistance, and Zoe cried out in pain and anger. While she hadn’t seen his gaunt face until now, she recognized the voice as belonging to the same man who had held her hostage.

“The chief wouldn’t be thrilled with me if I allowed you to go free a second time,” he crooned, “you’ve embarrassed me. And so while I’d like to say that it’s nothing personal — well, it absolutely is.”

He twisted the knife, and Zoe hissed in pain, almost biting down on her tongue. Blood pooled down her lower abdomen and thighs, and she realized that she couldn’t hear the raging battle anymore — only the sound of her own heart pounding and the obnoxiously heavy breathing of the man in front of her.

She was going to die.

But not alone.

The cultist’s thin lips peeled back into a smirk. “Seems like it’s time to —”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Zoe poured all of her will and anger into twisting the knife out of her opponent’s carelessly slackened grip and stabbing him in the eye.

The cultist recoiled with a high pitched yowl. Gritting her teeth, Zoe clenched her gown to the wound in her stomach and stood to her feet. Shaking, she bent over, trying to maintain her balance.

She had to stay upright. If she let herself relax, she knew that she would never come back. And while she had inflicted a serious wound, she needed to make sure that the man — that the cultist — that the murder was guaranteed to go with her.

But as she took one heavy step forward, a new thought occurred to her through the bloody haze of her numbing mind. She had a second class slot. Was there anything that could help her?

Healing. I need healing.

She had neither the time nor the energy to spare searching through the list or reading descriptions. Just give me healing, dammit.

{Do you wish to add the path Healer?}

Yes! Yes goddammit!

{You have chosen the path Healer.}

{No path slots remaining.}

{Ability unlocked: Lesser Heal Wound}

{2 out of 2 paths unlocked. Please choose a primary path.}

Zoe could barely focus on reading through the system notifications. It wasn’t just the pain — she was also going dizzy and her vision was swimming. But still, two things jumped out at her.

First, she activated {Lesser Heal Wound}.

The pain lessened — slightly. It also seemed like the blood stopped pumping out so quickly — but it was quite hard to tell, and she could just be imagining it. She pressed down harder, and then focused on the ability.

More. Do more. Harder!

The pain lessened ever more, and a slight twitching wormed its way through her gut. It wasn’t painful, but it was hideously uncomfortable. But at least it meant that the ability was doing something.

And then it stopped, and her fatigue hit her a hundred times stronger.

{You are out of mana.}

{Mana: 0 / 10}

Fuck!

At the same time as she read the message, Zoe selected {Healer} as her primary path. She had no idea what that would actually do, but hopefully it would make it stronger.

{Confirm path Healer as your primary path?}

Yes!

{Lesser Heal Wound has been upgraded to Heal Wound!}

{Ability unlocked: Medicinal Diagnosis}

Zoe groaned — both from the pain and from frustration with the system. She needed something she could use to stop dying. She tried to activate her newly upgraded {Heal Wound}, but the ability refused to do anything.

Which she already expected, because she was out of mana.

Staggering, Zoe looked around in desperation. There had to be something here that she could use! The cultist who had attacked her was himself sprawled out on the floor, twitching slightly. But far more importantly…

The paladin — Alexander — lay crumpled against a shattered wall. While his armor still gleamed, it seemed slightly duller, and while he was still struggling, a colossal shadowy hand like the one before had him pinned down.

The majority of the cultists were keeping their distance, but a few began to approach cautiously.

As for the chieftain…

He wasn’t even looking at his enemy anymore. Instead, he was focused on the swirling vortex of blood and shadow. Raising his arms, he guided the circling energies into a stream which flowed up towards the demon core above the altar.

{Nascent Demon Core (Rank A)}

{Capacity: 2 / 600}

As Zoe watched, the now completely formed core began to siphon up the chaotic streamers of crimson and black energy. She was wobbling on her feet now, but she managed one more use of identification — on the energy itself.

{Demonic Mana - Condensed}

She rapidly put two and two together. The core was going to absorb up to six hundred mana. She only needed ten. The next step was painfully obvious — but she didn’t know if she even had a chance of pulling it off.

She took one step up the stairs, and then another. It took nearly all of her focus just to keep her balance — every movement was an uphill battle against the urge to lie down and rest, to give in to the darkness. She kept going.

Every few steps, she spared a glance to the rest of the chamber. Alexander was still struggling, and the cultist chieftain had now directed about two thirds of the demonic mana into the core. He began to ascend the staircase himself. Gritting her teeth, Zoe forced herself to pick up her pace.

As both Zoe and the chieftain neared the top, she realized a potential problem. The shape of the pyramid ad the gloom of the dim chamber had hidden her so far, but she would soon be plainly visible. To make matters worse, despite his leisurely pace, the chieftain was gaining on her.

And then he turned around and paused. “I could have killed you by now, you know,” he said, addressing the still struggling paladin. “But I want you to witness my inevitable triumph first.”

He withdrew a simple, small knife and slit his palm. “My blood shall serve as the key to my ascension.”

Zoe collapsed just behind the altar. Overhead, the last of the corrupted mana streamed into the infernal core. She could barely think. The chieftain had cut himself. Why? Did the ritual need his own blood? Really, she had no idea how this worked. But she had to try.

Unclenching her fist from her blood soaked abdomen, she raised a quivering hand. Blood glistened in the flickering light of the remaining flames. Out of the corner of her vision, she saw the chieftain stride forward, hand raised.

Zoe pressed her own hand against the side of the altar.

{The Altar of Infernal Sacrifice has accepted your offering of blood. Do you wish to claim the demon core?}

Zoe didn’t even have to read the system message. All of her anger, all of her rage answered for her.

Yes.