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“Yo, What the fuck is this?”

“Just… stay there!”

If there was one thing that was going well for us in this mission, that would be the bright lighting that encircled us. Unlike the first torch mission — where the darkness was prevalent — we were able to spot the blaring sconce in the distance within the first few seconds of stepping foot into this dry, hot wasteland. On the other hand, the torch in my hand was frigid, freezing the tips of my fingers as I hoisted it up.

Yeah, the evolution of this mission caused the parameters of this quest to be reversed. Instead of the bitter cold, now we were faced with the sweltering heat.

Sweat dripped on all pores from my body, drenching my suit, even reaching the cape and vest covering it.

Katherine was struggling with the heat as well, losing more moisture since she wasn’t the one that was holding the torch. “Are you fucking serious?” She said, wiping the sweat off her cheek, “I didn’t know that this can happen.”

“I told you…” The figures approaching from the distance stopped me in my tracks. “Hey, Get ready.”

It was the lizards again. Well, not the same lizard, the ones I’d fought were blueish green in color, but these were pure red with streaks of glowing cracks within their scales, appearing like molten lava. None of them were carrying any sort of weaponry, perhaps the heat had burnt all of their steel and wood away.

Katherine slammed both her fists together, “Fits the fucking theme too…”

I summoned the orc mage and primed my bolts, prepared to deal with the incoming onslaught.

[Lvl. 8 Evolved flare lizardman]

One level away… There was a good chance I’d be able to extract their souls after this mission was over.

My mage struck first, firing its increasingly larger bolt on the closest flaming lizards. Katherine wasn’t having a good time, having to stand so far away from the torch, and wincing from the wails of our magic; it appeared that her hearing was a lot more sensitive than I’d anticipated.

One of the lizardman’s advances was halted, but the three others breezed past it.

The first one reached Katherine, clawing its way into our lineup.

With her steel fists, she punched back against the incoming strike, possessing enough strength to bounce off its attacks. “Hot!” Although, it was obvious that the bodies of the lizard were superheated, and steel was a good conductor of heat.

Smoke appeared from her fist, a clear indication that the skin underneath cooked itself from all the action.

I provided support with my magic, granting another layer of protection to her in the form of my Death Armor, then firing off against the other lizards that were approaching from her blindspots. While the extreme environment was difficult to maneuver in, the lizards themselves weren’t much stronger than their usual counterparts, and beating them wasn’t the same slog that I used to remember.

Granted, my attributes were sky-high in comparison, so maybe I assessed the situation unfairly.

The bodies of the lizards piled up and flung to the side as we persisted. Our advance was slower as the heat was turned up by another degree, and Katherine struggled to keep her hands up straight. She reached her limit a long time ago.

I didn’t want to lose my mage from the heat, so I recalled him back into my compendium.

“F-Fuck… I… I can’t…” Her breathing was ragged, and her face was as pale as her tanned skin would allow showing. The drenching sweat was evaporated from the heat, and her body had lost its ability to continue sweating.

On the other hand, while I wouldn’t say that I was fine, I wasn’t in any danger of mortal death. “We have to stay close together.”

She slumped on her knees, turning her head back, “Aren’t we close enough as is?”

I wrangled her shoulder on top of mine, lifting her stacked body upright. She’s… heavier than I thought, “Sorry, but I can’t figure out how else I can help you.”

She growled. “Just get this over with. I need a drink.”

Side-by-side, with her torso supported by mine, We proceeded toward the blazing sconce. The colors on her face had returned somewhat, but she didn’t like that this had to happen.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The heat increased even further. The droplets of my sweat stung my eyes as we took another step closer. My vision turned hazy, an indication that I was under extreme dehydration.

When I turned to my side, Katherine’s body had gone limp. She’s out.

The sconce was only a few steps away. The grounds beneath us were of pure black color, burnt soil resulted from the heat, and none of the lizards were present. Even their adapted bodies could not survive this temperature unless they had this torch within their grasp.

I reached out with the torch, holding Katherine steady in my other hand. Damn, she’s heavy.

A stinging pain exploded as my hands inched closer to the sconce. Even with the torch, the heat was so overwhelming that it charred my skin, altering its color to dark brown, then black. I squeezed my teeth together, and cried from the burning pain, a feat that Katherine could manage without breaking a sweat.

Then, my hand lost its will to keep the torch steady, and it fell on the sconce.

The heat dissipated. I was able to breathe normally since what felt like ages ago, and crashed head first on the burning ground, prickling my skin from the residual heat. This mission was over. I could go-

A roar echoed from a distance, ahead of the sconce, its figure shrouded by the enclosing darkness. The sconce, which used to be the source of light, had dimmed.

No, this mission wasn’t over yet. And Katherine was still knocked out cold.

I picked out a potion from my inventory, wobbling on the floor as I got up, then chugged it down on her throat by forcing her lips open. I would’ve loved to reach an elegant solution to this problem, but I didn’t have the luxury of time.

Whatever it was behind that roar, it wasn’t something that I could deal with alone.

Her body jerked awake, and her eyes scowled at mine when she regained consciousness. “You-!”

I put a finger on my lips, gesturing for her to shut up.

It took some time, but she calmed down after the reality of the situation sunk in. After all, the once bright skies were replaced with a pure sense of stillness, dyed with the color black. “What’s going on?” She whispered, “Did I?”

All I could give her was a nod. “It’s not over yet.”

Pointing over the source of the sound, I rose from where I knelt, surveying the empty distance. It was still; Like there was nothing beyond the veil of the darkness, but I knew that it was a red herring.

She followed where I was looking, but like me, she wasn’t able to sense much of anything. “What do we do?”

I shrugged. All of this scenario was new to me. “I don’t know,” I s-

Step.

It was faint, but I heard a footstep from the same direction the roar came from. Katherine heard this too, and her head snapped to the same spot I was staring at. Whoever this footstep belonged to, it was large, at least, way larger than us.

Katherine braced herself, putting her figure between the encroaching enemy and me. The sconce was behind us, the heat from it had long since dissipated.

[The guardians of the torch of frost had returned from their slumber. Defeat them to finish the mission.]

“There’s more than one of them…” It would be our folly to fight these… unknown monsters without any presence of light, so I did what I thought was the best idea, to prime my bolt, using its luster as our source of guidance.

But it was too late.

I failed to react to it. A spear made of icicles bolted past my right shoulder, bouncing off the Death armor I had conjured just in case.

My body fell from the force of its projectile. “Shit! Katherine, it’s-”

Another icicle was thrown, Katherine ducked just enough to avoid fatal damage, then charged toward the unknown assailant. Of course, I had no idea how she planned to defeat something that we couldn’t see, with her personality being the complete opposite of mine.

Cursing under my breath, I had no choice but to get up and chase after her. “Wait! We can’t fight him under all this darkness!”

There was no need for her to respond. Her head was fully into the invisible enemy in the distance. The barrage of icicles continued, increasing in pace as we horned in on its location.

With a defeated sigh, I responded with my own bolts, causing multiple explosions on the spot where I thought it might be. Katherine slipped past the smoke, somehow detecting the silhouette of the enemy, then struck.

Her fist slammed against an object whose hardness I couldn’t surmise. Within this darkness, covered by the dark smoke, All I could sense was the sound of steel against steel; Her gauntlets pounding against some type of defensive weapon; A shield, perhaps?

I called the orc mage outside, then instructed it to blast the enemy once it managed to get some vision on it. Using the Nightblade’s skill, I went invisible, sneaking into the smog while maintaining a solid distance, measured only by the loudness of their skirmish.

“Graahh!!”

Their strikes continued colliding, peppered with a constant growl from her as she was struggling to break past the defenses of her target. Her white outfit made it easy for my eyes to detect where she was at all times, however, the same couldn’t be said about the shielded enemy in front of my eyes.

[Lvl. 9 Cold Stalwart Stalker]

A new enemy type?

Its details were hidden under the veil of the darkness, compounded by its ebony skin; From a glance, it looked humanoid, appearing as tall as Phillip was, coupled with decent musculature within its skin. The armors it wore were made of a reflective material made of crude metal.

My orc blasted its own bolt, twisting the smog around it when the stalker turned its back on us.

Katherine saw this coming. She kicked the heavy shield the stalker wielded, propelling herself backward, gaining a good distance away before the bolt blasted the stalker’s back. I followed suit with my own bolts, causing a chain explosion where the stalker stood.

No mana feedback…

I roused the impeaching silence with a yell, “It’s still alive!”, but not before another wall with the form of a shield barreled through the darkness to my left, right where my shield was.

It was sad of me to admit that I wasn’t fast enough to react to the charge. As I was slammed away, the other stalker was met with the blast of my orc mage. The sound of another explosion erupted while I picked myself off the ground and focused my attention on the other one.

I can’t see her from here. Why is she so god-damned reckless?

She was able to handle one of the stalkers on her own, plus, the one she fought before was wounded by my surprise attack.

From the orc mage’s vision, I saw that the stalker was hiding behind its shield, marred with the residue from its magic. Its vision jumped up and down as it ran back to where I stood while I readied another bolt, keeping an eye on my mana reserves in the meantime.

Katherine resumed her combat, now, her steel wasn’t met with as much resistance as the ones she used to deal with.

I let loose of my magic, targeting the stalker that was crouching behind its solid steel.

Then a long, frigid icicle was launched towards me, penetrating through the death’s armor, and piercing through my neck.

Shit. The other stalker-