Fioreya’s swordswoman was a head taller than Cass, if not more. Frozen in shock below the woman’s arrested sword, it felt like much more.

She wore crimson plate armor. A serpent was etched into the plates, winding up her body. It was the kind of pattern one might not notice unless you were up close and personal with the wearer.

And her sword was even bigger. The blade must have been longer than Cass was tall. Was it taller than its wielder? Maybe. It was a huge chopping instrument, its width easily as wide as Cass’s shoulders. Energy coiled up and down the blade like rabid dogs foaming at the mouth to be released.

An Earth human could not have held the thing. Not if it was even half as heavy as it looked. Not if they were a professional weight lifter. Certainly not lift and then swing it like this woman seemed to so easily.

But the swordswoman wasn’t an Earth human. She belonged to this world and was level 30—eight levels greater than Cass’s own—with all the Strength that came with that.

But now wasn’t the moment to be impressed. Now was the time to get out of the way.

Pellen was already scuttling away, sweat beading along her forehead from holding the swordswoman back.

Cass Dodged around Pellen’s shield, her glaive stabbing at the woman’s chest. It skidded over the crimson plate.

Pellen’s shield broke.

Faster than a blade that size should move, the swordswoman pulled it around into Cass.

Cass Dodged out of the way, the blade phasing harmlessly through the end of Cass’s aura cloak.

Meanwhile, Marco joined Alyx against Fioreya. He caught a sword strike on his shield while Alyx returned the attack with a stab of her own. Fioreya easily pulled her sword into a parry, redirecting Alyx’s strike wide, simultaneously turning her body away from Marco’s swing.

An arrow appeared from nowhere, stabbing deep into Cass’s injured shoulder. She screamed and Dodged back as the swordswoman’s blade chased her again.

The archer was peppering everyone with arrows. They filled the air, glancing off Alyx and Marco’s armor and piercing the leather of Cass and Pellen’s.

By the door, Fioreya’s mage was struggling with Salos. Salos was repeatedly leaping from the shadows onto the man, leaving deep claw marks over his armor and face, before darting back into the shadows.

The mage had traded his wand for the sword at his hip, swinging it wildly after Salos.

Against another humanoid opponent, it might have even been effective. Against Salos’s guerrilla tactics, it was much less so.

Another chop of the swordswoman’s blade reminded Cass she didn’t have time to worry about the others.

The swordwoman’s blade split the space Cass had occupied.

Cass didn’t even try to block. She just Dodged out of its path.

The air rushed out of the blade’s way, screaming it moved so fast. With Cass’s Strength and Fortitude, she had no illusions she could block the swordswoman’s immense Strength.

If Cass’s staff was hit, it was splitting, the reinforcement runes she and Alyx had put on it or not.

If Cass was hit, bones were breaking and sinew was tearing.

Cass returned the attack with a staff strike of her own. It struck across the swordswoman’s chest, Cass’s Tempest Blade skidding over the metal without so much as staggering the other woman.

The swordswoman twisted her wrists and her blade was pulled after Cass, far faster than a blade that size had any business moving.

Cass ducked under it, sweeping at the swordswoman’s legs with her staff. However, it was Cass that was pushed in the impact between wood and metal.

Cass pulled back, throwing a pair of Tempest Blades from her staff in rapid succession. One she sent flying for the woman’s face, the other she wrapped around striking under the arm.

The swordswoman followed Cass, not giving Cass even an inch more distance. Her sword slashed straight through the first Tempest Blade.

The swordswoman couldn’t have seen the Tempest Blades—they were as invisible as their Wind Blade predecessors had been—but she still blocked the one aimed at her face.

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Perhaps she guessed.

Perhaps she possessed some form of danger sense.

Perhaps it was just poor coordination on Cass’s part that the woman’s blade, the Tempest Blade, and Cass’s face had lined up so well.

But the underarm strike drew blood. The armor was not designed to block strikes from that angle. But it couldn’t be a deep wound from the way the swordswoman was still moving.

Stamina: 32/129

Focus: 52/441

Health: 40/114

Cass skirted out of the way of another sweeping strike. She could keep dodging. She could. Her Stamina was flagging, but there was still enough for now. But how long would her skill and luck outlast the swordswoman’s patience? Cass needed to dodge every attack. The swordswoman only needed to line up one to cut Cass in two.

And that was to just keep treading water.

Cass couldn’t waste any more Focus on attacks that wouldn’t work. There just wasn’t enough left for that. She could burn some Health for more, but that was only worth it if she knew what she was going to use it for.

Something had to change.

Alyx and Marco were barely holding Fioreya in check. They hadn’t so much as scratched her.

Salos was keeping her mage distracted, his claws finding patch after patch of exposed flesh to dig into.

But Fioreya’s archer was doing much the same with his arrows, pelting Alyx and Marco even as Pellen did her best to shield them.

This wasn’t a fight they could win. It was already impressive they could hold their own this long. If any of them broke, the rest would follow shortly.

Cass couldn’t meaningfully hurt her opponent. The swordswoman just had too much armor for Cass to cut through. Maybe if she were fighting the mage or the archer things would be—

Without her impressive mental stats, Cass might have stumbled at the thought. It was so obvious she could have laughed if she wasn’t too busy dodging yet another sword strike.

This wasn’t an honorable duel. This wasn’t an anime fight: one-on-one, with each pair of combatants running off to their own solitary conflicts.

This was a bloody melee. Everyone was fair game.

Cass might not be able to hurt the hulking swordswoman in front of her, but there were three other potential targets entirely distracted by other things.

Another slash missed her by inches as Cass dodged back. Her staff whipped out, a Tempest Blade darting across the room. Cass Dodged yet another attack as she directed the Tempest Blade into the mage.

He bled from multiple wounds over his face and both hands were covered in scratches.

The mage noticed Cass’s Tempest Blade coming—likely sensing the mana in the flying blade— and turned to block it with a spell and his wand.

Salos punished him for it, leaping from behind and burying his claws in the back of the man’s neck.

He screamed and fell to one knee, his sword and wand dropping as he reached for Salos.

A mistake.

One Cass punished with another flying Tempest Blade. It raced across the room, cutting deep into the man’s chest.

Salos’s claws flexed deeper.

The man’s scream became a strangled groan as his body slumped.

There wasn’t time to process that.

Focus: 22/441

Another sweeping sword strike chased Cass as she Dodged out of the way again. Her vision spun. Her Focus was dangerously low, her thoughts clouding.

This would not work. She needed to focus. She needed Focus.

The flame in her chest burst to life.

Stamina: 47/129

Focus: 67/441

Health: 25/114

There was an ache in her body. It went deeper than a soreness from physical overexertion. It was a frailness.

For the moment, the warmth in her chest assured her it was nothing and the infusion of Focus had chased off the worst of the fog. There was still a headache, but she could think more than one thought ahead again.

They’d taken out the mage. That was a good first step. It had just cost about all the resources Cass had left.

Salos had transitioned to harassing the archer. Alyx and Marco were still occupied with Fioreya. Pellen was chanting something. Another shield? An attack? Cass would have killed to know.

Maybe if she was a real mage like Pellen, she would.

Cass shoved that thought aside. She was a real mage, just not a trained wizard.

Cass Dodged again.

She didn’t feel any closer to escaping. Fioreya was no worse off than when they’d started. Cass had barely scratched the swordswoman. Arrows weren’t raining them, she supposed, but she was having a hard time believing that would change anything.

They couldn’t beat Fioreya. Not with what they had left.

She was just another opponent far outside Cass’s ability to handle that the universe had decided it was reasonable to throw at her.

But then again, Cass had come out okay in the past. She hadn’t slain the Herald of the Deep, after all. She hadn’t slain the real Lord of the Deep. She hadn’t slain the Herald of the Forest. It hadn’t been her that killed Levina.

And yet, Cass had ‘won’ every time. Not because she’d found some clever way to kill them, but because her win condition was different.

They didn’t need to kill Fioreya or any of her people. They needed to get Alyx to the blessing. That was all.

How far is the Blessing from here, Cass asked Salos.

If it is what I expect, it is the only thing on the ninth floor.

And how much further do we need to go on this floor to get to the stairs?

Should be just past those doors.

Cass Dodged another sword strike, dancing out of the way.

The sketch of a plan danced in Cass’s eyes. Could it work?