Qing’s heart seemed to skip a beat as Cedric’s shield flickered out. The blood running across it from where Gorzan’s fists had pulverized monsters foolish enough to climb on top dropped onto the wizard, soiling his robes.

The massive elite raised its fist.

Qing mind raced. Time was up.

The fist descended while the monsters attacked Cedric.

Drawing deep on his mana reserves, Qing cast Chrono Shift and the world slowed. And, while Gorzan’s descending fist moved in as in slow motion, he knew the mass and impact would be the same. But he had bought a moment.

Qing Blinked downwards, appearing directly above the mass of monsters surrounding Cedric, just as a horn speared through Cedric’s thigh.

Then Qing plummeted into the midst, his armor scraping against fangs and claws as he pushed the slow-moving boar back. A spear found a gap in his defenses, sliding into his leg, but Qing barely noticed. His focus was absolute as he drew in more mana.

He cast Arcane Explosion, and the energy ripped outwards, tearing through monsters like tissue paper. Blood, viscera, and dismembered limbs filled the air, clearing a space around them.

“Cedric!” Qing said, voice hoarse. “Let’s go!”

The wizard looked up, genuine fear in his eyes for the first time since Qing had known him.

A shadow covered them as the fist punched down.

Cedric reached a hand up, and Qing grabbed it, throwing himself backwards, pulling the wizard with him. But suddenly, they jerked to a halt and Cedric screamed.

Gorzan had hit his legs, pulverising them into the ground. Monsters flocked in and Qing unleashed Chain Lightning, the arcing bolt cutting through those nearby.

The massive fist rose, freeing Cedric’s legs, and Qing cast Divine Light at the screaming wizard.

“I’ve got you!” he said, casting Arcane Explosion again, buying them precious moments before the next attack.

But they had two problems. The undefeatable Gorzan, and the horde, which was pushing them towards the cliff’s edge.

But hope remained. The elite demon ape had only broken one rope spanning the chasm. If Qing could get Cedric just twenty feet along the cliffside, another rope awaited.

But monsters covered the path.

So Qing targeted two massive corpses nearby and cast Corpse Explosion. Gore and bones bloomed into the air, sending the nearby creatures flying. A pygmy warrior cartwheeled through the air, separating into pieces before hitting the ground, face locked in a raging scream even in death. Once the creatures died, they sped up again.

“We go for the rope,” Qing said, screaming in Cedric’s ear as he cast another Corpse Explosion.

Cedric nodded, stumps of bone sticking from his legs as they healed, and Qing hauled him through the gore, the wall of nightmarish flesh threatening to overwhelm them.

The cliff’s edge loomed mere feet away as Qing sprinted, half-dragging Cedric. He cast Arcane Explosion repeatedly, each blast carving a path while coating both men in gore.

A glance up showed Gorzan slowly twisting, reaching for them. So Qing angled towards the gigantic demon ape’s trunk-like leg. He imbued his glaive with Smite and held it by the end in his left hand, the weapon glowing as he swiped it out. Thanks to the enchantment the blade bit deep, carving a foot-long gash in Gorzan’s shin, nearly hitting the bone.

The demon-ape’s roar shook the air. Whether from pain or frustration at its escaping prey, Qing couldn’t tell. Nor did he have time to contemplate as they reached the remaining rope.

“Grab on!” Qing said. “I’ll cut it. You swing across and they’ll pull you up!”

One final Arcane Explosion cleared the area. Warm blood dripped down Qing’s face and armor as he heaved on Cedric’s arm, lifting the exhausted wizard towards their lifeline, his feet nearly healed, only missing the last part of his feet.

But then, without warning, Gorzan’s leg flashed out with terrifying speed. Chrono Shift had run out, and the monster was pissed. The massive limb caught Cedric squarely in the midsection, wrenching him from Qing’s grasp. The wizard’s body arched through the air, a sickening crack echoing as bones shattered under the impact.

“No!” Qing screamed. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Anguish wrecking him inside, he watched Cedric’s limp form sail over the yawning chasm.

Time slowed as Qing’s mind raced through possibilities, discarding one after another. Then, driven by pure instinct and desperate hope, he acted, throwing himself from the edge.

The first thing he did was cast another Divine Light on Cedric’s falling form, praying the healing energy would be enough. Second, he Blinked, twice, reappearing beneath Cedric as they both plummeted into the abyss.

The unconscious wizard slammed into him with bone-jarring force, but Qing wrapped his arms around him, clinging as they tumbled head over heels into the darkness. The chasm walls rushed by in a dizzying blur, wind howling in Qing’s ears as they fell ever deeper.

“Wake up,” Qing said, panic threatening to overwhelm him as the rushing air did with his scream. Miraculously, Cedric’s eyes fluttered open, slowly focusing on Qing’s face.

But Qing didn’t know what to do. If he Blinked to safety now, he’d lose his grip on Cedric. The wizard wouldn’t come with him, instead plummeting to his death. But if he didn’t act soon, they’d both meet that fate.

The walls rushed by, gravity’s merciless grip hauling them ever faster. Qing desperately searched for a solution, knowing every second brought them closer to an impact from which there’d be no recovery. The fate of their mission, of both worlds, plummeted into the abyss.

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Cedric’s eyes, previously unfocused, suddenly went wide. He said, “Blink, you fool!”

For a split second, Qing hesitated. Abandoning Cedric, leaving him to fall to his death, was almost unbearable. But he recognized the logic. If they both died here, everything would be lost.

Feeling like the world’s biggest failure, Qing cast Blink, teleporting straight up, leaving Cedric to his fate. The sudden change in direction disoriented him. He’d gathered so much speed that even blinking as fast as he could, he struggled to gain height. It was a desperate fight, pitting his casting speed and mana reserve against gravity and momentum.

Again and again, he Blinked.

The chasm walls flashed by, a dizzying kaleidoscope of rock and shadow. With each teleportation, the sky grew larger, but so did exhaustion. Qing could see the horde now, swarming around the edge. Gorzan stood out among them, grabbing smaller monsters by the handful and hurling them across the gap to assault his friends.

He hoped they were smart enough to leave and not wait for him.

Qing Blinked once more and quickly checked his mana reserves.

Mana 100/750

Health 310/370

His heart sank. Only enough energy for a three more teleports. Desperation clawed at the edges of his mind.

I’m falling too fast to land safely. Can I get to a lake? Treetops won’t save me at this speed. Maybe… No.

He pushed the desperation back, replacing it with cold, focused anger. If there was no safe place to land, he’d take as many abominations with him as possible. An idea bloomed in his mind.

With grim determination, Qing equipped his glaive. If he was falling too fast to land safely, he’d turn himself into a human inertia bomb.

With the next blink, he appeared directly in front of Gorzan’s enormous face.

The demon-ape’s eyes crossed as it focused on Qing falling by, surprise evident even on its monstrous features. But Qing didn’t give it time to react. He Blinked again, materializing high above the creature’s head.

With his last mana, he cast Smite on his glaive, imbuing it with divine energy, and gripped the weapon with both hands and legs, as if it were a fireman’s pole. With the glaive leading the way, Qing tightened his core, and stopped fighting gravity.

A scream tore from Qing’s throat as he plummeted towards the top of the demon ape’s skill at a tremendous speed.

The glaive, empowered by Smite, acted like a wedge, splitting Gorzan’s cranium. Qing’s legs hit next, every bone shattering on impact.

But his momentum was too great to be stopped, and with the skull split, Qing crashed straight through and into the squishy gray matter of the gigantic ape’s massive brain. The world became a chaotic blur of pain and disorientation as he splattered into the surprisingly jelly-like substance, surrounded by the sickening squelch of cerebral tissue. But he had been falling too fast. His spine snapped, everything went limp, and he couldn’t breathe.

As the world turned dark, he opened his character sheet.

He had hoped killing the ape would get him to a next level, but he was still missing a sliver on the exp bar.

If I’m going, then I’ll take this bastard with me in death.

But that was poor gratification, as the feeling of failure mixed with his physical suffering. After unlocking the magical masteries, he had felt so powerful. Finally, the pain of spellcasting had disappeared, and he had revelled in the power. He’d been foolish. There were much tougher and more powerful opponents out here.

GG was right. I overestimated my abilities, and now…

The sensation of falling sideways overtook him. Faster and faster he felt himself falling, as if riding a darkened rollercoaster. Qing’s inner ear went haywire, all sense of balance lost in the nightmarish journey.

Just when Qing thought he could endure no more and what he could feel of his body burned, his head slammed sideways to a jarring halt.

And then a familiar energy rushed through his body.

Level Up!

“Congratulations on reaching level twenty-one. Open character screen to distribute new stat points.”

The system hauled his broken form upward, encased in a golden globe of light. Ape matter slid off the protective barrier as Qing’s entire body began to heal and regenerate.

Qing hissed as his spine healed, every part of his body screaming in terror.

The protective levelling barrier stopped for nothing, and Qing was hauled up to the top of Gorzan’s skull, and then the cranium slide across it, rising off the ground.

Qing’s chest healed, and he filled his lungs with a shuddering breath.

Still, the golden light rose.

With the setting of his legs and the skin re-knitting, the level up completed and the golden energy exploded outwards. It blasted apart Gorzan’s skull, and as Qing dropped, he realised what had happened.

Gorzan’s massive form lay prone, one its back, arms outstretched, having crushed hundreds of smaller monsters beneath its bulk as it fell.

Killing the demon-ape alone hadn’t granted him enough experience to level up, but the collateral damage had pushed him over the threshold. The system had counted all the crushed monsters as his kills, much like during the siege of Shadowgrove when he ignited the pitch.

He Blinked, not wanting to splatter back into the brain matter, and he appeared in the air. His gaze swept across the battlefield, anger roaring within him as he took in the carnage.

These creatures had killed Cedric.

Without him, how can we hope to enter hell and complete our mission?

The weight of failure pressed down on him, threatening to crush his spirit.

But with his mana renewed by the level up, he knew how to deal with his anger.

With a roar of defiance, he began casting Corpse Explosion in rapid succession, targeting the largest corpses around him.

The battlefield erupted in a series of deafening blasts as Qing Blinked across it, casting Corpse Explosion. Monster bodies were torn apart, spraying gore and viscera in all directions. The explosions came one after another, like a rolling barrage of artillery fire raining down on the horde. The enemy’s remains flew in all direction, as if someone had turned on two dozen blenders, one after the other, and forgotten the lid on every single one.

The tide of battle shifted. What had been an overwhelming force broke into chaos. Monsters fled in every direction, their previous bloodlust replaced by primal fear. Those yet living scattered, retreating into the twisted jungle or hurling themselves off the cliff’s edge in blind panic.

As the last echoes of the explosions faded, Qing let go and dropped to the ground, finding himself standing alone amidst a scene of unimaginable devastation. His body, healed and cleaned by the magic of the level up, was now covered in gore once again. The status fitting his mental state and the carnage surrounding him.

Qing could barely stand, the emotional weight threatening to crush him.

Cedric is gone.

Qing sank to his knees.

Why had he sacrificed himself? Did I really get through to him? But how? And why? To defend Rowan and a few sailors? They were slavers and pirates! And Cedric had let Rowan’s son die rather than expose who he was.

It made no sense.

The unfairness of it all gnawed at him.

His thoughts turned to his little sister, lying in her hospital bed back on Earth, struggling to stay alive. If Blaine hadn’t found her and killed or kidnapped her. Qing clenched his teeth, fighting back tears. He had come so far, fought so hard, and yet everything had fallen apart.

“God damn it!” Qing said, screaming up at the sky, voice thick with emotion. “Even when I fight with all my strength, do everything right, how can things still get so god damn fucked up?”

A heavy weight settled in his chest as the reality of their situation crashed down upon him. Cedric was gone. The linchpin of their entire plan, vanished in an instant. Without the wizard's knowledge and power, how could they hope to breach the gates of hell? The consequences of failure loomed large in Qing's mind - Rufus unchecked, Cleo lost, the Devil escaping to rain destruction upon Elrydisan. And beyond that, the crushing realisation that he might never return home, never save his little sister.

Meimei.

He kneeled among the remains of his enemies, head hanging, glaive laying limp at his side, just staring at the muddy ground. His companions from across the chasm called to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond. The weight of leadership, of the fate of two worlds, pressed down on him.

Then he heard a sound that nearly stopped his heart.