The small, rectangular object arced through the air.

It hit the scholar square in the chest just as he turned around. It then fell down to his feet. Zoe stared. The scholar looked up.

The explosion echoed throughout the chamber like a thunderclap, only a thousand times louder. Clutching her ears, Zoe shut her eyes and braced herself as bits of rock and flesh splattered against her face.

As she opened her eyes, she coughed out dust and sat up. Nothing remained of the large man. Or more accurately, he was no longer in one place. Bits of blood and bone rained down along with the rubble. Zoe realized all she could hear was a loud ringing.

The guildsmaster shouted something, but she couldn’t make it out. It was quiet and muffled, even though he looked like he was yelling. Shit, this isn’t going to work. Zoe prepared to activate {Heal Wound} on her ears when she remembered how low on mana she was.

{Mana: 15 / 200}

Shit.

Backing away from the center of the chamber into the shadows, she considered her options. On one hand, not being able to hear could make things considerably difficult, especially now that at least one ally had joined the fight.

On the other hand, it didn’t seem fatal. She wouldn’t be surprised if she needed to use mana to heal a more critical wound or to defend herself. In fact, she expected it.

Sighing, Zoe resigned herself to temporary deafness and fighting the old fashioned Earth way — with nothing but her own two fists. If it came down to it, that is. She knew that she was in no shape to continue fighting right now. She could only hope that the alchemist had more explosives to chuck around.

From the shadows, Zoe watched as the guildsmaster righted himself and cautiously stepped forward. He eyed the alchemist suspiciously, and his motions all signified a great degree of caution.

Andric, on the other hand, simply strode forward seemingly with no concern for his own safety. Zoe hoped it wasn’t an act of bravado, and that he could somehow back it up with real force.

The guildsmaster raised his hand. Electric sparks began to gather. Zoe cringed back, anticipating the alchemist getting struck down on the spot.

With a motion so fast she could barely track it, Andric withdrew something from thin air. In the same motion, a flick of his wrist sent it flying towards the elementalist as faster than a pro league baseball pitch.

The throwing knife pierced through the guildsmaster’s outstretched hand with ease, only stopping halfway through. Visibly yelping in pain, the older man whipped up his other hand and fired back at the alchemist.

Andric dodged.

Or, not exactly.

Zoe wondered if she had blinked when the young man twitched, suddenly shifting just a single step to the side. It didn’t look like he had moved or even kept any momentum. The lightning continued past him, and he took the opportunity to launch another knife.

It would have struck the guildsmaster in the eye. Unfortunately, the elementalist was prepared now, and he dodged just quickly enough for it to stick through his cheek instead. Zoe noted with satisfaction that it was the cheek she had burned just minutes earlier.

Grimacing, he reached into his furs and withdrew a glass vial with an opaque, sickly yellow fluid. He did it quickly, popping the cap in the same motion and dousing it down his throat. A third knife shattered the flask, and he dropped it as he stumbled backwards.

Andric rushed forward, but this time the elementalist was faster. Arcs of electricity ran up and down his body, lashing out to strike the ground at random. As Andric diverted course, not one but three bolts lashed out at him in a narrow spread. This time, instead of dodging to the side, the alchemist dodged up.

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His jump managed to clear the arcs entirely, but a fourth was now aimed straight towards him.

Zoe blinked. Had he just…

This time, Andric dodged by changing the course of his fall to the side. It wasn’t so much flying or dashing as it was falling down and sideways like a videogame character. It made absolutely no sense to Zoe’s eyes, and the guildsmaster must have been impressed as well, because he stopped attacking for a moment and just stared.

But as soon as the alchemist touched down on the ground, the fight resumed.

Zoe clenched her fists. This was going on far too long, and the sudden surge of power that the guildsmaster had gotten from whatever potion that was made her uncertain of Andric’s chances on her own.

Even though he was clearly infinitely more skilled than her.

Stepping out of the shadows, Zoe tried to catch his attention while remaining out of sight of the guildsmaster. She lucked out, because the two men started circling in the right direction such that Andric was facing her and the elementalist was facing away.

After waving her hands over her head, she pointed to her ears and then slashed her hand across her neck. She frowned. She had meant to give a thumbs down, but in the context of signaling Andric, the slash felt more natural. Was that because thumbs down didn’t mean the same thing here? Did her strange ability to immediately comprehend language apply to gestures as well?

It didn’t matter in the moment, because Andric seemed to get the message. Or at least, Zoe thought he did. The alchemist conjured two more throwing knifes, twirling them around in his hands much like the wind slasher had back in the cultist’s ritual chamber.

Definitely for show, Zoe thought. But in this case, it probably made a good distraction, and she was able to make it a few more steps before she got close enough that she decided to sprint the rest of the way.

She didn’t even try to be quiet. Tackling the guildsmaster, Zoe bit down on his neck and received a spurt of hot blood as they tumbled forward to the ground. Electricity lanced through her body. Several system notifications popped up as well.

{+40 Mana}

{You have been afflicted with a poison of unknown origin!}

{Lighting Resistance has leveled up! Lighting Resistance is now level 5.}

As Zoe desperately clung on, franticly biting again and again to drink up more blood and mana, she activated {Cleansing Hellfire} and forced it back inside her body for the second time in this fight.

{You have learned Poison Resistance!}

{Lightning Resistance has leveled up! Lightning Resistance is now level 6.}

{Poison Resistance has leveled up! Poison Resistance is now level 2.}

{+78 Mana}

{Lightning Resistance has leveled up! Lightning Resistance is now level 7.}

{You have been afflicted with a poison of unknown origin!}

{Poison Resistance has leveled up! Poison resistance is now level 3.}

**{You have gained multiple levels! You are now level 22.}

The lightning stopped, but Zoe didn’t. She was vaguely aware of Andric standing over her, but all she could focus on was devouring the blood and muscle and bone so conveniently packaged before her.

{+51 Mana}

{+40 Mana}

{+125 Mana}

{+108 Mana}

Her numerous small wounds began to seal up, and new, unblemished skin grew over her as her burn marks faded away. Something pulled her back.

Snarling, Zoe used {Kinetic Enhancement} to yank herself away and back to her meal. Andric punched her on the shoulder.

“You alright there?”

Turning her head to look up at him, Zoe grinned. She knew that she was now entirely covered in blood, so she must have looked terrifying. Also, her ears must have healed up, because she had heard the alchemist just fine.

“Never been better.”

He rolled his eyes. “I suspected as much.”

Extending his hand, he helped her to his feet. They stared at each other for a moment before Andric glanced back down the tunnel he had come from minutes earlier. “Any time now,” he murmured.

The pitter patter of soft, hurried footsteps reached them from the dark. Lily emerged not soon after, waving her hands frantically. “They’re coming, they’re coming!”

Andric cursed. Zoe tilted her head. “What’s coming?”

“The rats, you fool,” Andric said. There was real fear in his voice, something Zoe had never actually heard from him before. “We need to go.”

Lily caught up to them and then ran past, towards the elevator platform. Zoe and Andric hurried after without looking back.

“I held them off for as long as I could,” Lily said, her breaths coming fast and ragged. “But do you have any idea how fast those fuckers can chew through ice?”

“Not really,” Andric said. As he fiddled with the lever. “But…” he trailed off.

Lily licked her lips. “Please tell me the lift still works.”

A new sound caught Zoe’s attention. It sounded like someone scraping a fork against a plate — or rather, a thousand, tens of thousands of people doing that.

“It appears it does not.”

Andric’s words were matter of fact, all of the fear somehow gone from his voice despite the sudden direness of the situation. Lily cursed. “How the fuck are we supposed to get out then?!”

Andric looked up, and Zoe followed. Far, far above, a faint square light indicated the top of the hole. Two rusty chains swung lazily against one side. Andric shrugged.

“We climb.”