Acting on instinct, Edge leapt to one side, just in time to keep the next set of vines from tripping him up.

Ah, hell. The one underground has entangle too. He kept moving, changing direction unpredictably, as more and more creepers burst free from the soil.

The wounded beast came for him as he dodged like mad. It opened a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth and hissed, eager to settle the score. Edge didn’t give it the chance. He judged the angle of its approach and then kicked the nymph hard in the chest, using his superior mass to send it sprawling in the grass.

He slid his pack off his shoulders, pulling his makeshift sword free from its strap. Then he turned to face his assailant, reassured by the weight of the weapon in his hand. While this was still a bad situation, now he at least had a chance.

His elemental blade wasn’t a good match against these opponents. But slash wasn’t vulnerable to the nymphs’ disruption. Its use of mana was over the instant that the skill began, accelerating his strike and letting old-fashioned physics handle the rest. There wouldn’t be anything left to disrupt by the time that his weapon closed the distance.

On a less promising note, retrieving the blade had given his enemies time to reposition and recover. Before he could launch his next attack, two separate entangles came for him at once. There were far too many grasping tendrils to evade them all. He did his best to get out of the way, but one emerald creeper lashed tight around his ankle.

Edge knew that he would be caught sooner or later and was already moving to counter the skill. He swung his claw-sword down, praying that it would be sharp enough to cut the vine. Relief flooded through him when the fibrous plant parted before the reaver’s ivory.

Before the nymphs could try again, he took aim for the beast charging at him, swung his blade, then activated slash. Fire burned behind his ribs as his reactor roared to life. Mana surged into his arms half a heartbeat later, multiplying the force of his blow.

The black blade went screaming through the air. The weapon caught the wooden creature on the top of its shoulder, its big brown eyes widening in dawning realization.

The skill-powered slice bit deep, nearly severing the nymph’s arm before its momentum ran out. Edge yanked the blade free and raised it high, ready to claim the beast’s head. Maybe I can win this after all.

It turned out that his optimism was a bit premature. The underground creature had sensed him stop moving and used the opportunity to land a finisher of its own.

Before Edge could follow up his heavy hit, the ground erupted as a dozen serpentine vines burst out from the soil. He was able to dodge the first few tendrils. But then one wrapped tight around both ankles, tripping him up and tethering him to the spot.

He tried hacking with his sword to break free, but it wasn’t enough. He got in one good swing, then the rest of the vines caught him. They looped tight around his body and pinned his arms to his sides.

In that moment, he knew that he was well and truly fucked. Edge didn’t have enough power to escape from the plants. He couldn’t get away, run away, or use any of his skills. Hell, he could barely even breathe.

If that wasn’t bad enough, half of the vines were covered in thorns. The barbs bit deep into his flesh as the living lines drew tighter by the heartbeat, blood running down his body and into the soil below. His struggles were futile. His claw-sword fell from his fingers, landing beside his boots with a clatter.

With every second that passed, the crushing and stabbing grew more intense, the pain ratcheting up notch by notch. Edge ruthlessly suppressed the urge to panic, kicking his brain into high gear while he still had enough room to draw a few ragged gasps.

By now, he’d realized what had happened. A possibility that he hadn’t included in his hasty analysis. The presence of the thorny vines revealed that instead of developing a second skill like most early stage-one beasts, the wounded nymph had taken entangle to rank-two instead, adding offense to the disabling ability.

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While he stood rooted in place, the first nymph rose to its feet while clutching its wound. Then the second emerged from the ground. There was no reason to waste mana with burrow when their prey was down for the count.

Although Edge was thoroughly restrained, they approached him with caution. They were making sure that he didn’t have a hidden ace up his sleeve. Some skill that could kill them if they came close.

It gave him a chance to take a good look at the creatures coming to eat him. To appreciate the stark contrast between their razored wooden teeth and their childlike faces. To ponder the difference between monsters and beasts.

Like the reavers, the nymphs were vicious. But didn’t seem angry or cruel. They would kill Edge and feed on his flesh. But they wouldn’t torture him for sport, relishing his suffering until he drew his last breath. He found that while it made the situation no less horrifying, he couldn’t hate them in the same way.

He realized that his thoughts were drifting. Forced himself to focus on his dismal situation instead. On anything he might try that could still give him a chance.

In those final seconds before the nymphs’ uncertainty vanished and they closed in for the kill, Edge desperately sought out anything that would let him live through the day. It didn’t work.

Try as he might to come up with a plan, there was nothing that he could do. He couldn’t use slash or elemental blade with his arms bound. Regeneration would only let him survive another few minutes of the vines’ piercing embrace before his mana ran dry. Although I’ll probably suffocate first.

Not that the nymphs would leave him alone long enough for either of those things to happen. Any moment now, he would feel their arm-spikes pierce his throat, and then he would feel nothing at all.

The beasts crept closer, hesitation fading as Edge did nothing but bleed, unable to so much as squirm. He still had about half a tank left in his reservoir. But with no way to use his three skills right now, it didn’t help him at all.

They raised their spikes and gathered their strength, then came charging in to end his life.

Luck is a fickle mistress. Fortune’s favor can change in the blink of an eye. While Edge was certain that he would be dead in five seconds, a lot can change in that time.

In the heart of that black moment, Edge had forgotten one crucial fact. He didn’t have three skills living in his core. If you included the shadowreaver’s rare skill that he had eaten exactly two days before, the proper count was four. Although the battle hadn't gone the way that he wanted, his attempts to draw out the fight had worked in the end.

Just as the nymphs reared back, poised to bite and stab, a message from his Guide appeared. His eyes widened when he read those four golden lines, shining like a beacon of hope along a dark, desolate shore.

You have extracted the skill: Shadow step (rare, rank 1).

Digestion is complete.

Would you like to socket the skill into your core?

Warning, the skill will be lost if you decline to socket it now.

“Yes. Fucking yes. Do it. Do it now!”

Time slowed down as Edge was granted a vision of his core. He found himself standing inside that small stone room, where a cloud of inky murk was flowing into one of the empty slots embedded alongside his reactor.

The instant that shadow step finished merging with the socket, he was granted a sense of what it could do.

It was love at first sight.

When Edge snapped back into his body, he began laughing as he gathered his will. His new skill was exactly what he needed, and there wasn’t a moment to spare. Shadow step.

As the nymphs’ natural weapons came lashing down, mere inches from turning his organs into kebabs, mana flowed out from his core in an incandescent rush. This time, instead of manifesting in a specific location, the skill’s magic was distributed evenly. It sank into every cell of his body, along with the gear he was carrying.

In between one breath and the next, Edge… dissolved was the best word that he had to describe it. Like the world around him had turned into clouds, but in reverse. His surroundings faded to a misty grey, but he didn’t have time to appreciate the bizarre state of being. Not with his life on the line.

Contemplation could come later. Now was the time for action.

No longer composed of solid matter, Edge slid free from the vines’ embrace, passing between the beasts with a fraction of a second to spare.

That was when he realized that mana was flowing into the skill at an incredible rate. His reactor was burning white hot as it drew in magicytes from his reservoir, siphoning a fair portion of his reserves before he could take two steps.

It seemed that while shadow step was flat out amazing, the tradeoff was that it was a massive mana hog. Edge couldn’t use it for more than a few seconds, or it would drain him dry. But he couldn’t afford to squander this opportunity either.

If he didn’t take out one of the beasts now, he’d find himself in the same situation as before. Only this time, there would be no escape.