Zoe wasn’t particularly worried for the paladin. She was pretty sure he could handle it himself, and if he couldn’t, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

Like allowing her to get her ass out of there.

As spells and abilities erupted around her, Zoe looked around, her eyes landing on the three different ritual circles. A plan was forming in her mind, but she needed mana. So instead of heading towards the stairs, she instead sprinted towards the nearest magic array — one which was now manned by only a single cultist.

Because while she was confident that she could make it to the stairs, she didn’t doubt that the paladin would be hot on her heels once he dealt with her distraction. And for better or worse, she had most likely ruined any chance of continuing accompanying him.

She made it to the ritual array easily enough. The cultist directing it didn’t notice her approach until she was only a few paces away, at which point he jumped, clearly startled. How he could have been so focused with all of the chaos around them, Zoe had no clue.

Skidding to a stop, Zoe wheezed a deep breath and jabbed a finger at him. “You!”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I need you to help me.”

The man blinked, his owlish eyes peering at her inquisitively. “Of course, right away… Sir.” He paused. “With what?”

An explosion rocked the chamber, and a corpse arced overhead, illuminated by gold flames. Zoe licked her lips. “The mana. I’m dead out of mana. The ritual is using quite a bit, so I need you to redirect it to help me absorb it.”

The cultist blinked, then frowned. “Wouldn’t you have to have {Mana Manipulation} to do that?” He peered at her closer. “Beg my pardon, but if you’re really Basil, then what’s my name?”

Zoe blinked. And then she cocked him in the jaw.

The cultist yelped, but Zoe didn’t give him time to recover. Jumping on top of him, she let her weight and momentum carry them both to the ground. She tried to arrange it such that the man took the brunt of the impact, but it still drove the wind out of her.

A burst of mana flared around her. A second later, she was enveloped in crimson flames. The warmth tickled her pleasantly, and she found the muscles in her legs feeling better. The relief was almost immediate.

Looking down, she saw the cultist staring up at her in shock, even as a torrent of {Hellfire} poured out from his hands. “Oh shit, you actually are a demon,” he muttered, and then Zoe punched him in the throat.

The body beneath her spasmed, and Zoe held on tighter. Bending down, she braced to do something that her mind screamed at her to stop. Stop hesitating! She grit her teeth. He’s trying to kill you, and you’ve already killed like a dozen people so far. Just do it!

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Zoe bit him in the throat.

Blood spurted into her mouth, and with it, mana. The rush of power was incredible, and her body didn’t protest either. Fortunately, it wasn’t overpowering to the degree that she wasn’t able to bring her head back and look around.

Alexander was busy destroying the second ritual formation while simultaneously fending off the assaults of over half a dozen cultists. An empowered slash of his sword cut two of them in half, and the other backed up.

Zoe lifted herself up from her knees into a low crouch. She needed to get moving, and this time she was finally aiming for the stairs. At the same time, she withdrew both the earthshattering charge and one of the empty mana crystals from her stolen storage ring.

Once she got through, she would make sure no one else would be able to follow her.

As she neared the exit, she checked how much mana she had gained from the dead cultist.

{Mana: 25 / 70}

Much less than she had hoped. She had to count on it being enough. Pumping mana into the shard, she fumbled with the latch on the little metal device. It popped open easily enough, and she was able to quickly slot the crystal inside.

{Earthshattering Charge is now Armed.}

Well that was a nice confirmation. She hoped it meant that it would be sufficient. But as she drew even closer, a problem presented itself. Three cultists emerged from behind the shadows of the metal support beams holding up the rocky overhead ledge, cutting her off.

“Your little charade is up, demon,” one of the cultists spat. “We know you’re not Basil.”

Skidding to a halt, Zoe spread her hands placatingly and gave them her best smile while cursing inside her head. Her pearly whites were probably a little less charming than they ordinarily would be, what with her mouth and chin dripping with fresh blood.

“Hey now, you guys are infernal cultists, right? How would you like to worship a paragon of lust?”

Really, she needed to stop using that one. It actually made her skin crawl a little. In any case, none of the robed figures looked particularly impressed. “First of all, you’re a lesser demon of wrath, not lust,” the leftmost one said.

Zoe blinked. They could see her species? That wouldn’t be good for staying undercover. Or was it just because they were infernal cultists?

“And secondly, we don’t worship demons. Especially not a half baked, lesser demon like you.”

Now that made Zoe angry. Taking a step forward, she brandished the earthshattering charge, all pretense of friendliness having evaporated entirely. “See this?” The leftmost cultist froze. “Yeah, I guess you know what this is. If you don’t let me through, then we can all die together.”

The rightmost cultist snorted. “As opposed to you escaping and the rest of us dying either way? I think not.”

Damnit. Why do they have to actually be somewhat rational? I thought cultists were supposed to be totally deluded.

“Fine then. You three go first and I’ll follow. We can all escape together — unless you want to be added to the holy warrior’s kill streak.”

The cultists shared a glance. The middle one — a raven haired woman — spoke. “Fine then. But don’t try anything funny.” The other two nodded, and then one by one they filed up the stairs. Heaving a tired sigh, Zoe dropped her arm and took a step to follow them. Why did it have to go this way? So she escaped the clutches of the self righteous paladin, only to end up with the cultists instead?

Well, these three would probably be easier to kill.

…Like, if it had to come down to it.

Sighing again, Zoe climbed up the first step and then five more, and then she twisted the dial of the charge and chucked it back into the chamber as far as she could.

She braced herself.

A loud pop reverberated upward. Peeking out between her hands, she saw a small cloud of dirt and pebbles settling back down in front of the unscathed entrance.

A man in golden, unnaturally luminous armor emerged from it.

“I suppose you thought that was terribly clever.”

Shit.