The iron gate opened again, and a bald, brawny man dressed in what looked like a kilt and a simple tunic stepped out. He was bald and square jawed, and he looked both mean and confident. Both his tunic and kilt were black.

He also wielded a long spear — which was black as well. He definitely has a theme, Zoe thought. In any case, he looked pretty strong, so Zoe analyzed him.

{Earth Shaker - 55}

Wasn’t that the same path that the asshole back in that snowy tavern had? Zoe thought it was, but unfortunately she hadn’t gotten to see what the path was capable of. Well, then again, people seem to be defined more by abilities than by their paths.

As she shifted her focus away from the system and back to reality, she realized that the man was staring right back at her, his head tilted up and brows narrowed. Zoe wondered if he was analyzing her as well.

It didn’t matter. She had killed plenty of people who were higher leveled than her — although to be fair, most of them had nearly killed her back. This time will be different, she promised herself. She was going to end this as quickly as she could.

“I assume he’s the one surviving traitor,” she said aside to the captain.

“That he is,” the old beast tamer said back. “This is his chance to fight for his life and freedom. All he has to do is kill you.” The captain chuckled. “Same goes for you. All you have to do is kill him.”

“Who are you rooting for?” Zoe couldn’t help but ask. She doubted that the captain would answer her — if he even had a preference — but what was the harm in asking anyway? Well, honestly it had just slipped out of her mouth.

But to her surprise, the captain answered immediately. “You.” Seeing Zoe’s shocked expression, he clapped her on the shoulder with a merry twinkle in his eyes. Zoe forced herself not to flinch — she still had strong negative feelings towards the beast tamer. “I’m rooting for you because you’re honestly much more interesting.”

Sobering up, the captain then shook his head. “But this one is a fair fight. Don’t take that to mean you’ll get any assistance — you won’t.”

Zoe nodded. “Then I’ll be sure not to disappoint,” she said with a playful arrogance that she didn’t truly feel. “Well, here goes I guess.”

She was about to step off the edge of the incline and dash down when the captain hauled her back forcefully. “Nope, not like that.” Gesturing for someone to come over to them, he dragged Zoe even further away from the ledge. “You enter through the gate.”

It was the archmage — Zora, Zoe recalled — who came up to them. “Lead our little demoness to the pit caverns.” The archmage nodded once and beckoned Zoe to follow. Shrugging, Zoe did as she was told, trailing behind the haughty woman as she led her back the way they had come.

Once they reached the bottom of the other side of the hill, their path diverged. Instead of continuing the same way back, the archmage led Zoe through a narrow slid between two high, vertically oriented boulders. Zoe wouldn’t have even realized that it was a passageway into a natural cave if she weren’t being led straight into it.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

There was no light inside — at least not until a small ball of pure white light zipped up in front of them and began leading the way through the winding passageway of sandy stone. As they continued, Zoe realized that the archmage was never looking back to make sure that she was following. Zoe briefly wondered if she could have slipped away — but that was probably a bad idea.

After all, her guide was the second highest leveled person she had ever seen and had what Zoe thought was an especially rare and powerful path. And besides, the fact that she wasn’t bothering to check or visibly protect herself signaled that she didn’t think Zoe was at all liable to escape.

Zoe suppressed a sigh. She would probably be right.

About a minute later and after several sharp, twisting bends, the pair emerged into a wider cavern. Natural light shone down through the black iron gate on the left, glimmering upon the shallow pool of water in the back. There were several crude chests and racks, as well as a wooden door with a faint light coming from beneath it.

The small man was there as well, and he approached with a simple but sturdy-looking spear. Handing it to Zoe, he gestured towards the gate. After hefting her weapon experimentally, Zoe stepped forward.

Through the bars, she saw her opponent watching her. She didn’t know if he could actually see her in the relative darkness, but she felt his gaze all the same. After briefly shutting her eyes, Zoe activated both {Meditation} and {Breath Control}.

Both her mind and body calmed down — slightly — and when the attendant asked if she was ready, she nodded once — firmly. “Yes.”

The gate rose surprisingly fast. Stepping out into the nearly blinding sunlight, Zoe stared down her opponent for what felt like five seconds but was probably closer to two. Lifting his own spear, he began steadily advancing towards her.

Narrowing her eyes, Zoe stepped forward as well — and then she simultaneously activated {Kinetic Enhancement}, {Kinetic Manipulation}, {Kinetic Strike}, and {Kinetic Dash}.

Exactly halfway through her dash, Zoe released the spear. With the combined momentum of her {Kinetic Dash}, the forceful strength empowering her entire body, and with a not so small shove from her mind, the spear shot forward so fast she couldn’t even see it — not even as a blur.

Zoe wasn’t good at throwing things. But as she reappeared three meters ahead of where she had been, she saw that her aim had been true — likely a result of the influence of her {Kinetic Manipulation} guiding it.

The spear had punched clean through her opponent’s abdomen. Well, not exactly clean. The {Kinetic Strike} imbuing the weapon had taken quite a toll, as she could actually see through to the other side. The man’s intestines weren’t even hanging out — they just didn’t exist.

{Kinetic Enhancement has leveled up! Kinetic Enhancement is now level 7.}

{Kinetic Dash has gained multiple levels! Kinetic Dash is now level 5.}

{Kinetic Strike has leveled up! Kinetic Strike is now level 7.}

There was no sign of the spear.

But Zoe wasn’t going to assume victory. Dashing forward three more times, she kicked the man down just as he was beginning to slump backwards on his own. Truth be told, Zoe was amazed that he had somehow managed to remain upright at all.

As he fell backwards, his eyelids twitched. He was still alive — but not for long. He wasn’t even breathing.

Zoe sighed. It was almost anti-climactic, really — she had won so quickly and easily that she almost didn’t understand it. She supposed she truly was uncommonly strong for her level. Raising her fist, she prepared a {Kinetic Strike}. While the man was going to be dead soon anyway, she didn’t have much to hold against him. The least she could do was give him a little mercy.

{You have leveled up! You are now level 24.}

A fist with an iron grip caught her own. As her fingers began to break under the crushing pressure, Zoe watched as foul, dripping black claws pushed out of the dead man’s fingernails.

{Lesser Demon of Wrath racial perk activated: Last Defiance!}

{All odds are against you, and the battle is nearly lost — yet your anger carries you on.}**

Reading the notification, Zoe paled as black mana throbbed through her veins. Well shit.

She activated {Kinetic Dash} — but not in time to avoid the strike that send her careening backwards through the air.