Alyssa leaped toward the monster before she even took the time to properly analyze it. Using Impale, she thrust her spear forward, but to her horror, the creature’s heavy scales turned the blade aside. Off-balance, she couldn’t arrest her momentum quickly enough to keep herself from ramming into it, shoulder-first. It took the blow, skidding backward only a few scant inches.

She stomped on its talon-like foot, using Shockwave at the same time. Disoriented, the monster lashed out with a backhanded blow that took Alyssa in the chest. She felt her ribs break before she flew backward, only slowing when she hit one of the room’s couches. It flipped, and she tumbled to a stop a few feet later.

Owing to her enhanced Constitution, Alyssa maintained consciousness, albeit barely. However, pain lanced through her chest with every breath, and after only a couple of ragged gasps, she coughed up blood.

Knowing she didn’t have much of a choice, she used Recover. In addition to rapidly draining her Ethera, the ability was only usable once every couple of days, so she usually kept it in reserve for emergencies. But with what felt like a punctured lung, she thought the current situation counted as just that. Instantly, she felt better, though it would still take some time for the increased Regeneration to heal the damage.

But it was enough to mend the punctured lung in short order, which was all that really mattered to get her back on her feet.

Using her spear as a lever, she pushed herself upright in time to see a Fireball hit the monster in the face. That brief bit of illumination showed her a creature that resembled nothing she’d ever seen before. With blue-green scales, plated ridges above its eyes, and a squashed visage, the thing was wholly unique. More, it was a little shorter than her, though from the muscles rippling beneath its scales, it wasn’t difficult to see how it had managed to knock her across the room with a single blow.

The Fireball sent it stumbling backward, and Alyssa saw a blurry shadow materialize behind the monster. A second later, Tony appeared, stabbing his sword into the monster’s back. Hissing loudly, it wheeled around much more quickly than any of them could have anticipated. Tony tried to retreat, but he was far too slow.

The monster’s claw shot out, easily tearing through Tony’s thin, leather armor. It didn’t stop there. In fact, it didn’t even slow when it hit flesh, and an instant later, the claw burst through Tony’s back. Blood splattered against the broken door, and the shocked Ranger desperately tried to wrench himself free.

But it was a futile effort.

The monster pulled him close. Another Fireball hit it in the back, but it paid no heed. Instead, it cocked its head to the side as it listened to Tony’s increasingly desperate screams. Then, to Alyssa’s horror, its tongue snaked out, running along Tony’s face.

Then, it tilted its head back and let out a hissing laugh.

Alyssa marshalled her courage and shouted, “Run! I’ll hold it!”

Dashing forward on wobbly legs, she tried to bound over the couch, but she stumbled. She caught herself, but by that point, it was too late. The damage had been done. Alyssa’s shout had gotten the creature’s attention, and it responded by tossing Tony aside. He crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap.

Alyssa barely saw it.

Instead, she struggled to get her boar spear set. And to her eternal surprise, she managed to jam her foot down on the butt of the spear just in time. The stunned monster bounded forward, impaling itself with its own momentum. The blade bit deep before the shaft snapped.

And then it was on her.

In a panic, Alyssa used Hardened Skin, replacing Heavy Blows just before its claws reached her. She fell back, shielding her face with her forearms. The creature’s claws shredded her leather armor like it wasn’t even there. Then, it got to her flesh, which fared no better. Despite her enhanced Constitution, the monster’s talons ripped through her with ease, sending great gouts of blood to coat the walls.

Alyssa went into shock, but she kept her wits about her enough to pull her machete from the sheath at her waist. With the monster’s claws digging into her chest, she went to work. Screaming, she activated Enrage, flooding her body with her furious rage.

The ability to think rationally fled before the onslaught of emotion. The blade fell, dislodging one of the rigid scales above the monster’s slitted eye. It howled in pain, trying to retract its claw, but Alyssa grabbed hold of its wrist and swung again.

And again. When she pulled the blade back, it was coated in blood. She swung again and was rewarded with a wet thunk.

At some point, her own screams joined the monster’s cries. Vaguely, Alyssa recognized another Fireball splashing against the creature’s back, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. Her mind was swimming in a sea of fury, and the only thing keeping her conscious was the next swing.

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And the next after that.

Over and over, Alyssa swung that machete. Each attack bit a little deeper until its screams became whimpers.

Then, Enrage ran its course.

It only lasted a few short moments. Twenty seconds, at most. Normally, that was enough to win any battle. But this was no normal creature, and though she’d wounded the monster, she hadn’t put it down.

Her shoulders sagged, and her next attack was like swinging through water. The results were predictable. Alyssa’s machete hit the creature’s wounded head, but robbed of any momentum, it did almost nothing. The scaled monster recognized the difference, and it reacted with alacrity, slinging Alyssa across the room, where she collided with one of the pillars holding the roof upright.

It splintered.

Someone screamed.

Another Fireball smashed into the monster, catching it off guard. It stumbled.

And Tony, who’d somehow clung to life and crawled into position, latched onto the monster’s ankle and shouted, “Run!”

It came out in a croak that Alyssa, in her dazed, wounded, and drained state, barely understood. Another Fireball hit the monster, preventing it from rising. The flames splashed onto the floor, catching the rug on fire.

That was when Alyssa’s struggling mind put things together. The glow she’d barely noticed wasn’t from Fiona’s Fireballs. Not directly. Rather, the entire cabin had caught fire, and it was on the verge of becoming a raging inferno.

Someone grabbed Alyssa by the armpits, and suddenly, she was being dragged across the floor.

Slowly.

So, so slowly.

She muttered, “Leave me…save…save yourself…”

But Trish wasn’t going to do that. She couldn’t move Alyssa, either. Not with enough speed. She needed a different strategy.

Fortunately, she was a Healer.

Often, Trish forgot that fact, largely because using her lone spell came with a significant cooldown. If she used Mend, she would be useless afterwards. So, like Alyssa’s strategy concerning Recover, she saved it for emergencies. However, unlike Alyssa, she was terrible at determining when there was no other choice, so she often waited too long, or simply forgot to use it entirely. Some of that was mitigated by her husband’s influence; so long as Roman – or someone else with a decent head for battle – was around, Trish was an extremely valuable asset.

Still, even Trish was capable of seeing that, if she was going to save Alyssa, she had little choice but to use her spell. So, that was what she did.

Vitality rushed into Alyssa, mending her broken bones, ruptured organs, and rent flesh. In less than a second, Alyssa was in perfect condition.

She shouted, “Fiona! Target the pillars!”

The Sorceress didn’t hesitate to follow Alyssa’s orders. Meanwhile, Alyssa found the remnants of her boar spear and threw it at the monster. The splintered shaft flew true, miraculously hitting the creature in its wounded skull. It howled, then tried to charge. However, with Tony still tangled in its legs, it quickly tipped over.

One look was all she needed to determine that the Ranger had died. He’d used the last of his energy to give them a chance, and Alyssa wasn’t going to waste it. So, she grabbed Trish’s arm and yelled, “Evacuate!”

Alyssa, Fiona, and Trish ran, making for the back door. Along the way, Fiona continued to use her spell to set the interior of the cabin on fire. And then, suddenly, they were free.

Stumbling in the snow, the trio went down in a heap, and a second later, the roof collapsed in a giant conflagration of burning wood.

Alyssa rolled over and pushed herself to her feet. If the monster could survive that, then they’d never had any chance to kill it. Still, she watched for a long few minutes as the building steadily succumbed to the fire.

“W-what the hell was that thing?” Fiona asked at last. Despite the battle, the small woman had escaped almost completely unscathed. But that wasn’t a surprise. She had an ability that protected her from fire, and she’d never been in the thick of the fight.

Trish was a little worse off, but she’d escaped largely unharmed.

“I…I don’t know,” Alyssa said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It felt wrong.”

“Huh?” asked Alyssa, turning to Trish. The other woman had turned away, clearly struggling with what had happened. Alyssa reached out to comfort her, but Trish pulled away, retreating a couple of steps.

“You didn’t feel it? Even just thinking about it makes me want to throw up,” she said, gesturing toward the flames.

“I felt it,” Fiona said.

Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t…I guess I just wasn’t in any state to notice,” she stated, watching the fire burn. As she did, she drew her backup weapon – the long dagger she kept strapped to her thigh. After all, even if the creature was dead…

Wait.

She hadn’t felt an influx of experience. The monster hadn’t died.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than a flaming figure burst free of the burning building. Its scales were half-melted, and it screeched in obvious pain. But it wasn’t dead.

Not yet.

It raced across the snow-covered ground. Alyssa reacted, trying to intercept it. Fiona shouted. And Trish froze.

The monster hit her with the force of a runaway car, ripping through her comparatively soft body with ease. If Alyssa had ever wondered about the effects of her inflated Constitution, she only needed to remember how Trish was practically torn apart. Alyssa had endured a similar attack, and though it was enough to have killed her without the Healer’s intervention, she had more or less remained intact.

Trish couldn’t make that claim.

In fact, she couldn’t do anything as her body ragdolled across the terrain, leaving a wide smear of blood behind.

Alyssa shouted, then leaped upon the monster’s back. Flames licked at her, but she didn’t care. Her fury wasn’t as all-encompassing as it had been under the effects of Enrage, but it wasn’t far off, either. Her dagger rose, then fell. Over and over, as she dug through monster’s weakened scales.

It tried to dislodge her. It flailed, screeching and screaming.

But Alyssa wouldn’t be denied.

And eventually, her blade bit into its brain. Still, it took three more blows before it finally went limp, falling to the melting snow.

Alyssa kept going until, at last, Fiona grabbed her by the arms and dragged her away. By that point, she had taken a few burns, but she wasn’t concerned with that. Instead, she only cared about making the monster pay.

So, when, at last, it perished, all the fight went out of her.

Vaguely, she was aware of some notifications splashing across her inner eye, but she ignored them as she looked at Trish’s limp body.

The woman was dead, practically ripped in two.

“Oh, God,” she muttered. “Oh my God.”

Fiona didn’t respond because there was nothing else for either of them to say.