“Now,” Avery whispered.

Elijah sprang into action, using Shadow Step to teleport into the depths of the cave - out of sight of the apes. Instantly, a chill ran down his back and his movement slowed as an invisible pressure bore down on him, nearly bringing the assassin to his knees.

He spotted Avery on the other side of the clearing, hidden in the shrubbery with her crossbow leveled at the ape’s head. Elijah tried to move, but it felt like he was striding through syrup. Every movement was slow and sluggish.

He gritted his teeth, activating his ability again and flickered out of the cave, reappearing within the ape’s shadow behind it. As soon as he exited the cave, the pressure released and he was free to move. It took him a moment to orient himself, which was just enough time for the ape to notice that it was no longer alone in the clearing.

It spun, swinging a claw directly for his head. Moments before the strike connected, the creature seemed to slow by a miniscule amount, giving Elijah the time to duck out of the way. He dashed forward, dodging another attack and thrusting his blade into the wounded creature’s chest.

It let out a roar and spun, tossing him to the side. Elijah kept a hold on his dagger, rolling across the ground and hopping to his feet as a crossbow bolt sailed through the sky, impaling the creature in the eye.

The ape turned to look where the bolt had come from with its last remaining eye. Elijah tried to activate Shadow Step, but nothing happened. A small blinking blue dot appeared at the bottom corner of his vision, but he ignored it.

The assassin slipped forward, stepping under one of the creature’s arms and thrusting his dagger into an already open wound. The ape thrashed, sending a fist careening past him with enough force to split a tree trunk.

Another crossbow bolt sailed through the sky, but the ape saw it coming and ducked, taking the shot to its forehead instead of its eye. The arrow broke against its hard skull, doing no significant damage.

The ape slashed at Elijah with all four of its arms. He dashed to the side, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid all of it. The tip of a claw caught his upper thigh, ripping through the leather armor like butter and drawing a thin furrow across his right leg. The ape’s remaining three arms went crashing into the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and rock.

Elijah gritted his teeth, ignoring the sharp pain and slipping forward. He thrust his dagger into the creature’s leg and twisted it, eliciting a scream of pain from the ape’s mouth.

A crossbow bolt sailed through the air into its open toothy maw, punching into its throat. The ape’s mouth snapped shut, crushing the arrow. It tried to swing at Elijah again, but its movements were getting more and more sluggish.

The assassin used his arm like a spring, throwing himself upwards and slamming his dagger into the bottom of the creature’s jaw. The life blinked out of the monster’s eyes and it staggered before falling back and hitting the ground with a loud crash.

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Elijah dropped beside it, panting, as Avery emerged from behind the treeline.

“Were you using Hex on it?” Elijah asked, kneeling to inspect his wounded leg. “I noticed it seemed to be slowing down.”

“I was,” Avery said. “I used it six times. It doesn’t seem to take much of my Mananite, but each cast doesn’t do a whole lot either.”

“Interesting,” Elijah said. “How much do you have left? It looks like I’m pretty much spent after four casts.”

“I could cast at least four more times before running out,” Avery said. “Your spells seem to draw more energy than mine do. You should be more careful with how you use them.”

“I would have been fine,” Elijah replied. “I didn’t plan to have to Shadow Step out of the cave, but something in there made it so that I could barely move. I’m not sure what it is, but we should avoid it. I’m not sure if you’d be able to get out if you went in.”

“That’s worrying. I don’t like how little we know about this world or the circumstances that brought us here,” Avery said, her brow creasing. “For now, we should get out of here. All this commotion might have drawn more monsters towards us.”

The smaller ape that had been killed before the assassins joined the fight shimmered. It faded away, turning into motes of blue light that rose into the sky and leaving behind nothing but a small orange stone.

A moment later, a ripple of energy passed over the larger ape as well. It exploded into light, but this time the streams split between Avery and Elijah. The energy flooded into their bodies and Elijah drew a sharp breath, but unlike the first time, there was no burst of newfound strength.

Elijah summoned his status screen with a thought.

Elijah (Dove) Fleet

Human [Level 2]

Class: Spellblade [MODIFIED]

Strength: 12

Agility: 13

Endurance: 11

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 16

Charisma: 17

Luck:3

ABILITIES

Shadow Step [MODIFIED]

“I didn’t level up this time,” Elijah said, a slight frown on his face. “But this monster was stronger than the first one we beat!”

“Perhaps it grows increasingly difficult to grow in power,” Avery said, striding over to where the apes had fallen and picking up the stones on the ground. She put them into her belt.

“That makes sense,” Elijah allowed, although he didn’t look happy about it. “The world would be overrun with people way too strong for their own good if they got stronger every time they killed something.”

The two of them headed into the forest after Avery collected the orange rock, putting some distance between themselves and the ominous cave.

“It’s likely that the rest of the world has people much stronger than we are,” Elijah said. “We aren’t the top dogs anymore.”

“Then we’ll have to rectify that,” Avery replied, turning the crossbow over in her hand.

A grin tugged at the edge of Elijah’s mouth and he spun his dagger in his hand. “Fancy some hunting?”

The assassins disappeared into the foliage, the only sign of their passing was a small splatter of Elijah’s blood.