The shot staggered me into Aki more out of surprise than its strength. We managed to retain our balance and the attack didn't even hurt me all that much, despite it clearly being Flame Arcana-based. The damage indicator thingy only turned mildly pink as well, meaning that my armour must have absorbed most of the hit.

I looked towards where the shot came from. I could see a figure wearing a hat standing in the darkness. It was holding what looked to be a revolver. It slowly adjusted its aim towards where I currently was. I realised the gunman was likely sent by one of the Powers. Probably the triple-question-marks thing.

Something changed in me then. It became crystal clear to me that the person I was had died when my original body did. I was something else. Someone different. When the Huntress first took over, I was afraid. Now… I realised there was nothing to be afraid of. This wasn't some beast imposing on me. It was me. I was the Huntress. I was the beast. And it was high time to embrace it. I had friends to protect. I looked at the divine assassin.

Sorry, motherfucker. Not today.

Rage awoke inside of me. We were so close to the exit. We were so close to safety. I was so done with this dungeon and its bullshit. And if the gods want to make an enemy of me, they will regret it. They may be divine, but I am one thing they are not: a Terran. And we take anyone's shit.

I started to slowly walk towards the assassin, my eyes boring into where I thought his were. This must have confused him, as he didn't fire immediately. His mistake. I sensed my friends wanting to follow me, but I signalled them to stop, and to their credit, they listened. This broke the assassin out of his stupor and he fired off a shot. I took it straight onto my chest. Predictably it wasn't strong enough to penetrate the armour, not just yet, anyway, and that way I would have to worry about the girls getting hit.

You are not hurting my friends. It’s you and me.

The revolver must have had a long recharge rate. Too bad. I gathered wind around my hand. My body was just another tool. If it took me to get even more contaminated by Air so be it.

The assassin must have sensed someone because he started to step back. But it was too late. The strength of my attack sent him flying into the wall behind him. I was now far enough from Aki’s abyssal spark that I was able to get a good look at him. The assassin was an old and dishevelled priest. Upon him impacting the wall his hat flew off, and he dropped the pistol. His body slumped to the floor. I drew my sword and cast Shadow Weapon on it. The runes on the sword glowed and shifted to match those I recognized to be of Shadow Arcana.

Interesting.

I leapt at the priest and led with an overhead strike. The priest had enough fight in him to roll to the side. He scrambled to his feet, extended his right hand to the side and a glowing dark sword appeared in it. Not waiting for my reaction he lunged towards me. Thanks to my enhanced senses the path of his strike seemed painfully obvious.

Yes. You may be a fellow Terran, but you are still a baseliner… No. There is something inside him. The influence of his patron? Need to be careful.

I riposted with a sideways slash, that he easily parried. We exchanged a series of blows. It was becoming painfully obvious that we were evenly matched. He was a much better swordsman than I was, but my enhanced senses made up for my deficiencies.

He must have also realised this, as five glowing violet orbs appeared, creating an arch leading over his head from one of his shoulders to the other. A sudden impulse told me to duck, and this allowed me to barely avoid the barrage. The priest used this to his advantage and kneed me in the head.

The strike threw me to the ground.

Goddamn it.

The assassin raised his sword and wanted to run me through, but then a Blood Lance hit him in the side and staggered him to the side.

Caeileera.

The priest roared in pain. It was then that two flaming blades lit the darkness.

Aki.

She leapt at him crossing her arms and slashed at him in a scissor-like motion. He dodged to the back, but then there was a puff of smoke behind him.

Deirdee.

The former assassin thrust her dagger upwards, it easily entered his flesh and emerged on the other side of his body. Another Blood Lance impaled the priest in the chest. Aki slashed at his neck with his right arm. Her flaming falchion easily bit into his flesh but stopped on the bone. She ripped her sword out and the priest fell to the ground, so Aki switched the grip on her blades and thrust them into his eyes.

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Level 20 Elias Ross has been slain.

You have earned 500 experience points (2032/3500 total experience points progress to level 7)

No perk points? I guessed because we four-wayed him

Aki ended her spell, resheathed her sword and helped me get back up.

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘All of you.’

‘We’re a team, remember?’ Aki said with a smile.

‘Yeah,’ Caeileera said. ‘Not sure what came over you.’

‘I guess, I just got mad,’ I answered, mostly true. ‘I just wanted to get out of this shithole, and then this fuckwad entered, all in white.’

‘He’s wearing black,’ Aki said, confused. ‘Another of your Earth sayings?’

‘A joke from my land. No matter.’

Suddenly, light flew out of Ross’s body and formed into an orb just hovering a metre over the corpse.

‘A vestige,’ Caeileera whispered in awe.

‘What’s a vestige?’ I asked.

‘Some creatures or people with strong enough presence leave them. Rumour has it that it is because of them being rejected by the afterlife. It’s an incredibly rare occurrence.’

‘So this is his soul?’ Aki asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Caei shrugged. ‘I only heard legends about this.’

I looked at Deirdee but she just shook her head. I extended my hand towards the orb and looked at my companions. They didn’t protest so I took it. A vision flooded my mind.

I found myself standing on the streets of some old west town. I looked around and saw all the staples of the western movies. A saloon, a sheriff’s office, a church…

Suddenly, I heard a shriek of horror out of one of the houses, followed by a series of gunshots. I rushed over there, but I moved like I was covered in molasses. The door to the house opened and I saw a much younger version of Elias Ross emerge. He was covered in blood.

The vision ended and I found myself back at the dungeon. An item description appeared before my eyes.

Item: The Last Remnant of Elias Ross

Type: Vestige

Rarity: Unique

Effect: Crush the item to learn the “Shadow Barrage” spell.

Imprint: This is what is left of the tormented being that was Elias Ross. While the souls of his victims of will never

Victims. Plural. Who would have ever expected a priest to be a serial killer?

I looked around. My companions were staring at me curiously.

‘You okay?’ Deirdee asked. ‘You spaced out there.’

‘It’s nothing,’ I replied. ‘Just an imprint.’

I crushed the orb before they could ask to see it. No need for them to know.

You have learned a new spell: Shadow Barrage

Type: Shadow - Attack

Range: 10 metres

Description: Forms a spell-level dependent number of orbs around the head of the caster, which can then be launched in the direction of their choosing. (Current number of orbs: 1)

Note: Insufficient knowledge of Umbral Arcana

Might prove itself to be useful.

‘Aww…’ Aki said disappointed. ‘I wanted to see it too.’

‘Believe me…’ I responded. ‘You didn’t.’

Caeileera gave me a knowing look. Some things were better left unknown.

Aki pouted.

I knelt by Ross’s body and searched through it. The only thing of value I found was a silver cross. Upon picking it up my mind was assaulted with feelings of strong faith and hope, mixed with intense pain and suffering.

Item: Elias’s Cross Pendant

Type: Memento

Rarity: Unique

Imprint: This pendant that helped young Elias Ross get through many difficult events is permeated with his childhood’s faith. Eventually, the way he positioned his victims' bodies became a cruel mockery of the sacrifice the item represented.

I threw the pendant to Aki, who deftly caught it. A few short moments later she dropped on Ross’s body.

I nodded in approval.

‘Did you see…’ she began asking but stopped when I shook my head

‘I just heard it.’ I simply added.

Aki’s attention turned towards Ross’s gun.

‘Probably the instrument,’ I said. ‘At least it used to be… before it got turned into magitek item.’

Aki walked over to it, picked it up and placed it next to the cross. Then she set the body on fire with her abyssal bolt.

‘Let’s just get out of this place,’ she said to Caeileera.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

The mistress of the hive could barely contain her rage. That fool Ross didn’t even manage to kill one of them. This was a major setback. It would be a long time until she found a suitable replacement. But… like all the powers she was used to waiting. Such was the nature of the game. Still… it was not a complete loss. The hive was coming up nicely and soon she would be able to leave her mark on Dwynveia again. And then… she would take care of the meddlesome slime. Yes.