For just a couple seconds, she stared at her hand and the corpse in shock. That was way more physical strength than she anticipated. Was it just from the sheer amount of mana involved?

{Ability unlocked: Kinetic Strike}

Well that was pretty handy, but many footfalls were coming from behind her, and the mana was beginning to degrade her body again. Leaping to her feet and whirling around, Zoe prepared to rush the incoming tide of surviving cultists.

There were a lot of them, but they were also close together. Really, the odds didn’t seem very good, but at this point it’s not like she hadn’t suffered through having to take a lot of bad options.

Another barrage of spells was headed her way, and she didn’t think she could repeat the same sliding trick again. And besides, while handling two cultists was one thing, she doubted she would be able to wrestle with a whole group of them, even with mana assisted strength.

So instead, she let loose another blast with {Mana Manipulation} while also combining it with {Cleansing Hellfire}. While she didn’t know what the latter actually did, she had a strong suspicion that its effect on humans would be different than its effect on newly ascended demons like herself.

A torrent of fire poured forth from her outstretched hands, washing over the majority of the cultists. At the same time, Zoe tried to dodge, but one of the spells hit her in the shoulder. A splash of liquid spread across her arm and chest, and where it landed, flesh began to sizzle and corrode.

Zoe set herself on fire.

The acid bubbled and evaporated, and the raw flesh where it had eaten away began to knit itself back together. At the same time, she watched as crimson flames devoured the mob of cultists. Three made it out largely unscathed — but as for the rest…

{You have gained multiple levels!}

Zoe sighed. It seemed that she gained experience — or however it happened to work — by killing people. That wasn’t great, but it was at least good to know. She briefly wondered if it had to do with her class. Did having a combat class like {Kinetic Knight} make her level that way?

Two cultists exited the chamber to flee, but the third remained, removing her dark hood and fixing her gaze on Zoe.

Zoe considered running as well — but first, she would assess the whole situation. She knew that there were likely more cultists in other areas — after all, she had already encountered two outside the chamber previously.

On the other hand, the man who was likely the strongest opponent in the place was still battling here in this chamber.

As Zoe and the one remaining cultist began to circle each other at a distance, Zoe cautiously spared a few glances over to where the cultist chieftain and the paladin were now battling each other once more.

The chieftain had evidently escaped Alexander’s clutches at some point, as he was now back to using his whip. The two high leveled men danced around each other, neither one landing any blows. Fortunately, the chieftain was fully focused on the paladin, and so Zoe felt fairly confident that she would be able to take the other cultist on one on one.

She would still watch out for any major developments in the other two’s battle as well, of course.

Returning her full attention to her own opponent, Zoe watched as the woman withdrew two long, twisted daggers. Furrowing her brow, Zoe identified her.

{Wind Slasher - 28}

Shit. While she was likely far below either of the two men, the woman before her probably presented some degree of challenge — especially since she was confident enough to stick around when her allies had fled.

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Of course, the very first cultist she had defeated had been a close level twenty four — it might be hard to judge by level alone. In any case, Zoe wanted to have a better idea of where she stood. She checked her mana.

{Mana: 308 / 50}

Her capacity kept going up. Was that because she was gaining levels? Zoe was about to check her status when the woman began stealthily circling her — and so Zoe decided to focus on the more important matter of her new opponent.

As the woman circled to the left, Zoe matched her motion by circling to the right. It made her feel a little silly, as she didn’t really know what she was doing and was just instinctively mirroring her opponent. But she kept her eyes focused and kept her body ready to move. She actually had to keep forcing herself to stay at least somewhat loose and relaxed.

The woman suddenly twirled both daggers, spinning them around and around in each hand. Zoe nearly jumped when she did so. She eyed the knives nervously. That’s just for show right? Intimidation? I mean there’s no way that doing that is actually useful in a fight. Unless there was some sort of system magic involved for some reason…

Brushing that thought out of her mind, Zoe kept circling, deciding to focus on the woman’s stance rather than her knife tricks. She really wanted to spare a glance over to the fight between the cultist chieftain and the paladin, and it took a great deal of her willpower to resist the urge. After all, she couldn’t help Alexander right now, and if he lost, then she was going to be dead very quickly either way.

Without warning, the other woman lashed out with a rapid strike, her arm visibly blurring as she did so. Of course, she was several dozen paces away, so her strike only connected with empty air.

But then the air itself continued her attack, compressing into a shimmering fog and flattening into a misty blade that struck forward towards Zoe at immense speed. She almost didn’t have time to react.

Almost.

Raising her hands, Zoe attempted to block the attack with her forearms. It didn’t work. A spray of red mist blasted away behind her, speckling her face. Her arms and chest began to sting, and Zoe realized that alongside the initial spray, blood continued to well up from a clean gash stretching across her body horizontally, broken only where her arms had taken the damage instead.

Zoe blinked, clearing her eyes — only to realize that her opponent had leapt forward and was now almost on top of her — daggers aimed at her throat. Zoe did the only thing she could think of — she set herself on fire.

It was becoming a surprisingly handy self defense mechanism.

Clearly realizing the danger, the wind mage redirected her course by jumping in midair. The nonsensical move actually worked, as a misty fog cushioned her feet and let her spring upwards, vaulting overhead. Zoe couldn’t keep track of her motion. She was only able to whirl around towards where she thought her opponent would land.

She guessed correctly and was able to meet her attacker head on with a burst of {Mana Manipulation} guided hellish flames. But while the wind mage looked surprised, she reacted with astounding speed, blasting the crimson torrent away with a gust of wind.

Zoe grimaced. Her opponent was clearly far more skilled and experienced than herself. Was there any way she could get the upper hand?

{Mana: 285 / 50}

While Zoe didn’t know what kind of mana capacity was typical, she suspected her excess mana was rapidly falling to a less extraordinary level. If she was disadvantaged in both skill and possibly power, what advantage did she have? The {Cleansing Hellfire} continued to burn around her, preventing the other woman from closing in, but she was already readying another blade of air…

Fortunately, the gash from the first blade was already sealing up, new skin knitting over it. Unfortunately, Zoe was forced to dodge the next attack — and she only half managed. More blood sprayed away from her, this time incinerated by the flames engulfing her. At the same time, Zoe realized how she might be able to win this.

It was just going to hurt.

Righting herself, Zoe lunged. She put as much strength as she could into dashing straight towards her opponent while also reinforcing her muscles with mana and {Kinetic Manipulation}.

Several more misty blades of air slammed into her, but they hardly pushed her back. They hurt and she was losing blood but that didn’t matter. Not yet. Activating {Heal Wound} in addition to her {Cleansing Hellfire} was enough to mitigate the damage. She couldn’t ignore it completely, but it wouldn’t slow her down.

All she had to do was end this before she ran out of mana.

The distance between Zoe and the cultist was rapidly coming to a close. Just a few more steps — and the other woman jumped.

Of course, Zoe expected this. Well, she didn’t know exactly what the wind mage would do, but she did wager that she wouldn’t be completely caught off guard. As the cultist somersaulted overhead, Zoe punched upward. Her fist couldn’t quite connect, but it didn’t have to. {Kinetic Strike} didn’t extend far but it extended far enough. Zoe thought she heard a wet crunch, and when she whirled around this time, the cultist wasn’t springing back to her feet.

Staggering to one knee, the woman glared at her. Raising her hand, she pointed at Zoe. But Zoe didn’t hesitate. Rather than stepping back or leaping to the side, she rushed forward once again. This time, the {Kinetic Strike} relieved the cultist of her head.

Zoe almost didn’t notice the knife in her gut.