Cass struck down spirit after spirit, every sweep of her staff destroying two or three or more. Yet they kept coming.

Above her, she could feel the first golem shaking, pressing free from the bindings Pellen held it in.

Marco cut his way toward her.

“Abyss and blood,” Alyx wheezed, pushing herself up.

“You’re alive!” Cass said. It was a stupid thing to say. She already knew Alyx was alive, but she was just so surprised to see Alyx moving, albeit poorly, that it just spilled out.

Alyx grunted. “What’s happening?”

Cass spun around, her staff stabbing over Alyx’s shoulder, slicing down a spirit that had snuck around. This was harder without Salos here to cover her back.

“Cass, is that two more golems, or am I seeing triple?”

“Two more golems.”

Alyx sighed, struggling to her feet. Her leg twitched and she collapsed again. She cursed repeatedly under her breath.

“Marco’s coming,” Cass said. “When he gets here, the two of you need to move as fast as you can toward the far doors. Salos and Pellen are already halfway there.”

“And what about you?” Alyx asked.

Cass shot her a tight smile. “I’ll be okay.”

“That fails to reassure me.”

I would also like to know what the next step of your plan is, Salos said.

Cass cut down another wave of spirits instead of answering.

The golem above them was shaking a lot. Worryingly so. Had Pellen already used up all her Focus? Was it harder to hold over larger distances? Both? She wished she knew more about spells.

“How much can you move?” Cass asked.

“A little?” Alyx said, pushing herself to her feet again. She shook like a leaf, her muscles barely listening to the commands of her body. She leaned on her sword in its sheath, using it as a cane.

“Start walking toward Marco,” Cass said, pointing behind them in between swings of her staff.

Alyx nodded, hobbling in the indicated direction.

Cass orbited around her, slicing through every spirit within two yards of Alyx.

“Real quick, what happened when you tried to cut the golem’s core?” Cass asked.

Alyx groaned. “I used Heaven’s Strike to protect my blade from the lightning, but without a Lightning Concept, my aura wasn’t enough to insulate me or the blade before I could cut the obsidian core.”

“The obsidian core?” Cass asked.

Alyx nodded weakly. “At the center of the ball of lightning is a stone about as big as your fist. That’s the golem’s core. Destroy it and the whole thing should come down.” She looked down at her sword. “Or that’s what I was told.”

That was good to know. That meant the lightning itself wasn’t the core and that Alyx’s failure to cut it had nothing to do with it being immune to aura attacks. Cass’s messy Tempest Blade had probably missed the dead center, too.

“Miss,” Marco called as he reached them. “Are you alright?”

“Get her across the room, Marco,” Cass cut off Alyx’s answer.

He looked between the far doors, the three enormous golems, and Cass. “I’d like to but…”

“I’ll keep them off you,” Cass promised. Salos!

What? Salos asked. Finally ready to talk to me, huh?

Hit me with Fairy Fire as soon as I’m away from Alyx.

Blood and Abyss, Cass, is your plan to be bait again?

Do it, Salos, Cass Sprinted away from Alyx and Marco.

Alyx draped an arm over the older man’s shoulder, the two hobbling away as quickly as Alyx could along the wall. Marco slashed at anything that got close with his free arm.

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Fine! Salos grumbled. Cass’s body lit up in magenta flames. The golems had no eyes, but she could feel their gaze settle on her all the same.

At the same time, Pellen’s spell failed.

The first golem’s bindings broke.

Perhaps it was simply bad timing. Perhaps it was the new bloodlust instilled from Salos’s Fairy Fire. It didn’t matter. The whoosh of air as its arm swung down on her was her only warning.

Cass leapt out of the way, dashing back toward the doors they’d entered from.

Leapt into a horde of Living Lightning.

Their hands grabbed at her, sending volts of electricity down her spine and over her skin. She pulled away, but there were more. And more.

Cass swung her staff, scattering those nearby long enough for her to step out of the golem’s next slams.

A crazy thought bloomed in her mind’s eye. A memory of how the wearer of the cowl had moved earlier. Those had been her stats, hadn’t they? How high had they jumped? How elegantly had they moved? Could she do that too? Could she move like that?

She leapt before she’d thought it through. Before she had time to convince herself that those movements were due to some skill or training or natural grace she lacked.

The air embraced her as she floated through it. The wind wrapped around her and settled easily beneath her as she landed atop the golem’s arm.

It shook as it lifted again, but her legs easily compensated for the movement. She could have danced on it.

Another golem caught up, its arm swinging down on her atop the first. She Dodged further up the arm, skipping as the second’s arm crashed into the first. A huge chunk of both splintered off, black obsidian falling in sheets from the impact.

She kept running up its arm, amazed at how easily her body maintained its balance without a thought from her, even as the arm lifted and swayed with the golem’s movement.

She reached the shoulder and jumped as the second golem swung at her again. She floated out of the way, slowing her fall with a quick gust at the bottom and breaking the last of the impact with a bend of the knees.

She rolled out of the way of a golem’s stomp and sliced free of another cloud of living lightning.

They couldn’t catch her.

She was the wind.

This was what the wind meant.

Air swirled around her. She was intangible. Always just out of the grasp of the living lightning. Always just outside the strikes and stomps of the golems.

The third golem had joined the fray. But they were having no better time pinning her down with the added body than they had a moment before. What could one more lumbering construct do when none of the hundreds of lightning-quick hands could before?

It didn’t matter how many she did or didn’t kill. It didn’t matter how many chased her. As long as it was just her, they couldn’t touch her.

The door swung open.

Cass froze.

That wasn’t the doors leading deeper into the catacombs. Those were the doors leading back the way they’d come.

And that wasn’t Pellen or Alyx or Marco standing in the doorway.

That was Fioreya Veldor in all her crimson glory at the ready, sword in hand, violence in her eyes.

Behind her stood her team: a large woman with a larger sword, a man with a bow and shifting eyes, and a slight man with a short sword and wand. Power oozed off them.

Fioreya had caught up.

Salos, switch your fire to Fioreya, Cass commanded. The fire around her winked out and Salos materialized on her shoulder.

A moment later, Fioreya burst into purple flames. Immediately, the eyes of every living lightning shifted on her and the golems all turned toward the door.

Cass dropped into Stealth and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She could see Pellen on the far side of the room. She looked exhausted, sagging against the wall.

Alyx and Marco were most of the way there, Alyx walking with more strength than when Cass had last watched her, the effects of the lightning wearing off slowly but surely.

Stamina: 63/129

Focus: 257/441

Health: 41/114

Cass was doing better than either Alyx or Pellen, but she and Marco couldn’t fight Fioreya on top of everything else.

A shadow slipped around Cass as she hurried away. Abyssal Aura, Salos explained, to aid your Stealth. Let’s get out of here.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of conflict. The wave of living lightning had descended on the Fioreya’s party. They focused on her, swarming her with a madness of zombies. Her blade sliced through them, but they were no less endless on her blade than they had been to Cass or Alyx’s. The large woman cleaved them tens at a time. The archer and the mage stood behind them, ignoring the living lighting in favor of the swiftly approaching golems.

They both peppered the golems with projectiles, no two quite the same. Most bounced off harmlessly until one mage bolt—glowing green and pulsing sickly—struck the golem’s chest and left a dull discoloration on the otherwise shining surface.

Every projectile from that point had that same characteristic, and it wasn’t long before that golem had slowed behind the other two from the effects of the spell.

Alyx had reached the door and Cass wasn’t far behind.

“Let’s get out of here,” Alyx said, gesturing for Pellen to open the door.

As the doors opened, Cass saw Fioreya leap into the air, easily clearing the golem’s head in a single bound. On her downward arch, her blade glowed with lighting, crashing down on the nearest one’s lightning-wreathed head. It was the same skill Alyx had used, but backed by Fioreya’s Lightning Concept. The blade trailed lightning as she fell toward her target.

It sucked up the lighting around the golem’s core as it sliced down, crushing the obsidian stone in the center.

The golem collapsed as the doors slammed shut again behind them.

“We need to run,” Alyx said, pushing herself off Marco. She was unsteady on her feet, but she didn’t immediately fall. She looked at Salos and added, “And if you have any other shortcuts, now is the moment to tell me.”

He shook his head. “It’s a straight shot from here.”

“Then we go!” Alyx said and without waiting for anyone to respond, she took off down the stairs.

The others exchanged a look. A loud bang from Fioreya’s side of the door ended any argument before it started. They took off sprinting after Alyx.