After activating her Murderer skill, Bailey was heading straight for the level 15 ahuitzotl.

She may not have murdered me, but the skill really does make her reckless.

He debated floating over there and grabbing her so they could try to escape, but he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. She was moving fast, faster than he could glide.

So the only thing to do was help her.

He wasn’t about to leave her to fight and die on her own.

Wyatt pulled out his Skill Balls. He hit the level 9 first, pulling its attention away from the madwoman charging at the group of monsters, and it instantly began to lose fur and skin. It wasn’t dissolving like that first mummy back in the pyramid had—it was still coming his direction—but at this rate it looked like it would be nothing but bones by the time it reached him.

Good thing the orbs inside them don’t dissolve. Easy way to loot them.

He tried and failed to get its cohesion to appear on his readout for it.

Maybe when Analyzer ranks up again.

It reminded him he needed to test if Devitalize’s reduction to cohesion was arithmetic or geometric.

He hit the level 15 with a Devitalize-charged Skill Ball just as Bailey reached the monster and began clawing at it with bare hands.

Her attack had no apparent effect on the beast. She was still level 0, so that wasn’t a surprise. It wasn’t even paying attention to her as it stalked toward Wyatt, enraged at having the Skill Ball used on it, the other ahuitzotl growling but staying where they were as the level 9 and 15 both came for Wyatt.

Nor did Wyatt’s level-10 Devitalize stack do anything obvious, so he hit it with another.

This worked, but it still wasn’t close to disintegrating despite having what should be five extra stacks for its level. If the percents were arithmetic and the ahuitzotl started at 100% cohesion, he’d need another four stacks. If they were geometric he’d need… well, he couldn’t do logs in his head so he wasn’t sure. More than he had in his Skill Balls.

Even without that, ribbons of fur and flesh now ripped away as Bailey tore into it, exposing raw muscle beneath.

She’s having no problem hurting it now that its Toughness is reduced by Devitalize. I wonder how large the Disadvantage is.

Her attack got its attention off Wyatt. The ahuitzotl screeched, trying to grab her with its tail-hand. It lashed at her, grabbing and shredding clothes and skin, but she didn’t even seem to notice as she laid into it, undeterred.

Then she bit it, actually ripping away a huge chunk and apparently swallowing it.

Holy shit, Wyatt thought, then he had his own monsters to deal with as the rest of the ahuitzotls charged him.

All twenty-eight of them.

He considered hitting the level 9—which decidedly was not yet bones—with another Devitalize-charged ball, but decided not to waste it.

Instead he stowed them away and expanded his titan skin over his body, then raised his shield and tagged as many of the monsters as he could with Torpor. He didn’t want to waste the level-10 stacks on these lower-level monsters.

Perceive gave him unparalleled battlefield awareness, so he managed to tag them all before any reached him, then switched to Disgorge to start racking up poison damage. He had almost half of them tagged and puking before he didn’t have enough Energy to use another stack.

It seemed his efficiency with the skill was improving the more he used it. That or leveling up had effects Interrogate hadn’t shown him.

Then a level 58 ratapua appeared from the forest on the opposite side of the field, heading straight for him.

Wyatt’s mind raced through options. There was only one that seemed reasonable: run.

He fed Energy into his mantle and leapt into the air, guiding himself toward Bailey.

He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage to pull her away and get both of them out of here, but he figured he’d figure it out as he went. There was absolutely no way they could face a level 58 monster.

But before he reached her, the ratapua split into several lower level versions, the highest being a level 7.

Why are they so bad at strategy? The single level 58 would have been impossible for us to defeat.

Wouldn’t it?

Maybe not. He’d never fought an unsplit one.

And it looked like he wasn’t going to get the chance now.

He redirected his path to intercept the monsters, which were now all heading for Bailey—ratapua and ahuitzotl both.

Seemed they were smarter than the mummy in the pyramid. Or just going for the easier target.

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Shield in one hand, titan skin formed into a hammer in the other, he dropped amid the pack and slammed his shield into the rat horde, sending the creatures flying like furry projectiles into the ahuitzotl and each other.

Spikes launched through the air, ripped from their bodies by the force of the blow. Some of the weaker rats were crushed outright, their tiny bones snapping with frissonal crunches.

He hit one of them with Devour, which caused it to screech in anger but otherwise didn’t seem to have any effect.

So he abandoned the endeavor—now wasn’t the time to experiment and waste Energy.

He bashed an ahuitzotl—the level 9, Devitalize not having reduced its Speed—as it tried to dart around him to help its level 15 comrade deal with Bailey.

It staggered back with a wheezing yelp as chunks of it fell away from a combination of the blow and Devitalize, but there were plenty more to take its place.

The only thing allowing him to keep his feet was the extra mass of his shield.

A level 4 ahuitzotl lunged for his throat while a level 2 ratapua went for his legs.

He raised his shield just in time and the ahuitzotl’s oversized jaws clamped down on metal with a dull thud and the crack of shattering teeth.

He brought the edge of the shield down onto the head of the ratapua clamped onto his leg, smashing the creature but leaving several quills lodged into his thigh.

Despite the damage to the armor, his titan skin’s cohesion didn’t drop.

He didn’t have time to consider this: more monsters were already taking the place of the ones he’d put down.

He needed something that he could attack more quickly with. Thinking of the spiked fists on Patrick’s armor, Wyatt caused his hammer to transform into bladed knuckles. Then he drove his fist at the nearest monster, the level 9 ahuitzotl as it recovered and came for him again, and saw first-hand the effect of a reduced Toughness and Durability: Despite the level gap between them, bone was revealed under its skull as it staggered back from the blow, blood pouring from the wound.

He’d punched so hard that it felt like he’d nearly broken his wrist, but the monster went to the ground, twitching.

How strong would my kicks be now? He hadn’t tried kicking anything yet. The only fighting experience he had was wrestling club in high school and a month of boxing before he learned about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, so he was a little wary to try in the middle of a real fight.

From above, a level 5 ahuitzotl descended, having leapt over its comrades to get at him. Perceive may give him incredible battlefield awareness, but he could still be taken by surprise if something were moving quickly enough.

Which this was.

It wasn’t just in freefall, it was shooting toward him like it’d been fired from a cannon.

Even his fast reflexes and the shield’s effect weren’t enough to get the shield up in time.

It slapped away his arm with its tail-hand and sunk its teeth into his shoulder, sending blinding pain shooting through his entire body.

Wyatt grunted and slammed his spiked knuckles into the beast’s face.

It fell away, dazed, and Wyatt took the opportunity to try lengthening his foot and forming a spike at its end.

He’d meant to only increase his reach enough to attempt to take out the ahuitzotl with a kick to the head, but instead the armor shot out, driving the spike through the ahuitzotl’s brain without him having to lift his foot.

Wyatt smiled. That was not what he’d been expecting, but he very much liked it.

I need to see how long the range is on this. It’s like an attached projectile.

No time like the present.

He expanded the same foot again, taking out a ratapua, then both feet, taking out two more, then his hands as well, letting the shield rest on his forearm.

He tried getting spikes to explode from all over his body, but felt like he lacked the brain capacity to control that many. The best he could manage was five limbs.

But it was enough.

Moments later, bodies lay bloodied and mostly dead around him.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. That had been really effective.

But it had taken a toll on his titan skin, which had dropped all the way down to 78% cohesion.

He went around bashing his shield into the ones still alive—a task made easy by the reticles for living monsters that Perceive displayed.

When he was done, there was only one monster left alive—the one Bailey was fighting.

He looked just in time to see her shove her entire arm down the level 15’s throat.

The monster gagged and thrashed, its teeth shredding her arm, which bled profusely.

Then with an oddly detached scream, she pushed off the ground, sending her arm deeper down the grizzly-sized monster’s throat, in up to the shoulder now.

Blood and bile spewed forth, then the oversized ahuitzotl abruptly fell to the ground, dead, taking Bailey with it.

She wrenched herself free, shredded arm hanging limply at her side, both her and the monster’s blood dripping from it, and stood triumphant on shaky legs over the ahuitzotl’s corpse.

Her clothes were nothing but rags, and she had bleeding gashes decorating her entire body.

Wyatt walked over to her.

Then he just stood there, unable to think of anything to say.

Her head snapped around, her hair whipping drops of blood into the air.

She had thick hair, but he could see her scalp in several areas where the ahuitzotl had either clawed or bit her and taken out chunks.

Her eyes burned and he readied himself for an attack, but none came.

She squinted. “What? Don’t look at me like that. It worked for you.”

“Going in the front is a lot more dangerous. The back entrance doesn’t have teeth.”

Bailey snorted. “That all of them?” There was a hunger in her voice. She clearly didn’t want it to be all of them, despite looking like she might bleed out at any moment.

Her eyes still glowed with the light of her Murderer skill, and Wyatt wondered if it wasn’t the only thing keeping her standing.

He nodded. “We should get back to the others so Camila can heal you.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You’re bleeding from… everywhere. You have so many wounds that your clothes are basically gone.”

She shrugged, tearing away the remains of her shirt. Now all she wore were a sports bra and yoga shorts that were barely hanging on. And blood. A lot of blood. “I’ll fight naked. I don’t care.” She held up bloody hands. “All I need are these.”

“That’s definitely not true.”

“Seems to work for Lena.”

“Yeah well you can’t turn into a monster.”

But looking at her now, Wyatt second-guessed himself. She was a monster. Her features had shifted even more, as though the longer she kept the skill up, the less human she became.

She suddenly pressed herself against him, startling him from his thoughts.

“We have some time to kill. Wanna have some fun?”

He frowned down at her, bloody face and glowing eyes looking up at him with a hunger he’d never seen in her before. “You should drop your skill.”

“No.”

“Yes. It’s the only thing keeping you on your feet.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be on my feet.”

Wyatt’s frown deepened. “Then… drop the skill.”

“Fine.” The glow in her eyes winked out and her features softened. She still didn’t look like herself, but that might have been all the blood and gore covering her. “See.” She pulled off her torn shorts. Now she was just in sports bra and underwear. “A little help?”

“Do you want me to carry you back to Camila?”

She let out a frustrated sigh, taking a step back and turning around. “Never mind. Come on. Asshole.”

Did I misinterpret her? Maybe I should have just carried her without asking.

Wyatt stared at her as she walked across the field in the direction they’d come, trying to work out what she’d wanted him to do.

Before he could, the ground collapsed beneath her, and Bailey disappeared.