Mai looked vaguely panicked, but Seamus just grinned. "Easy on our end. Mai and me got this in the bag, don't we darling?"

She nodded but the movement was too fast, her skin a little pale.

"We'll be alright," Mason said, trying to calm her. He winced, not sure if he should offer to break them up, maybe putting Phuong with Mai and Seamus with him. But then he might get both Streak and Alex killed...

They didn't know what the 'event' really was, of course, but in his experience these things rarely proved easy. He knew time was ticking and almost suggested the pair turn and run. But that wasn't his call. They weren't his responsibility, and they were players just like him.

"You two good?" he said to Phuong and Alex, and the men glanced at each other with a determined nod.

"Alright then. I don't know what's about to happen, but protect yourselves first. Then if there's some way to help each other, try. Get yourselves ready. And good luck."

He put a hand to Streak's head and used the last minute to go over his profile, especially the new 'Companion' tab.

Looking at 'Shared Pain' gave him a great deal of comfort, however exactly it worked. He just wished he could use the power on other people and not just his wolf. He wondered if maybe there was something similar he could take in the future…

[Players, please prepare. Thirty seconds until event Dueling Duos. Player duo selections detected. Thank you, and good luck.]

The son of a bitch system counted it down, and it was a very long thirty seconds.

"You've got this," Mason said quietly to Mai, then give her a smile. "And I'll help you guys as soon as I can." She smiled back and looked at least a little more confident. Then the timer reached zero, and the cavern went almost pitch black like someone had cut the lights on a movie set.

They flickered and came back to the dull blue glow, and Mason looked around to see an almost translucent silhouette of the other players.

"Can you hear me?" he shouted, but they looked at him strangely, and their slightly blurry mouths moved in silence. They looked like ghosts, and when he stepped forward he was able to put his hand straight through Phuong as if he wasn't there.

"Great," Mason muttered, looking around the cavern for any threat. "Just great."

A spherical patch of darkness grew out of the floor ahead. It expanded and expanded, then popped with an arcane hiss.

Two dark cloaked figures stood in the center, one kneeling, the other standing with its hand raised. The stander pulled back its hood to reveal a slightly taller goblin, face covered in tattoos and piercings. It looked around the cavern.

"You've interfered with Guild business, human." He looked at Streak and frowned. "Who we'd kill is usually random. But since one of you can't very well go tell anyone what happens when you mess with us, I guess this time it's the wolf. Maybe I'll make a pelt out of it." The creature smiled with sharp, yellow teeth.

Whatever Mason was feeling before got replaced by rage.

"I was just going to kill you," he said, slinging his bow and summoning his Claws. "But now I think I'll let Streak eat you alive."

The goblin snorted and raised his hand, cunning eyes narrowing.

"We'll see," he said without an ounce of concern. Then both figures vanished.

* * *

Mason knew they weren't gone. He could still smell them.

"With me," he called, then turned and ran, touching the floor to camouflage before racing towards one of the many supports that held up the huge goblin apparatus above. He sat Streak with his back to the pillar, then dropped traps all around him before climbing up a pillar and re-readying his bow.

He kept still and camouflaged, senses tuned for the slightest change in sound or smell, eyes moving back and forth for any sign of movement.

The air shimmered just slightly near the center of the room, and Mason loosed a Power Shot.

Purple magic sizzled as the missile struck and fell. The goblin hissed in surprise, still mostly blurry as he swiped his hands and shot back a horizontal line of knives.

Mason didn't bother dodging. With his increasingly super human reflexes he just swat down the two knives that might have struck him, loosing arrow after arrow back at the goblin wizard.

But the creature vanished again, probably warping away this time as a trace of the purple seemed to follow in the air.

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Mason followed tiny traces in the magic and kept loosing at any possible sign, not concerned with arrows or exhaustion in the slightest. Then he heard Streak whine in pain. He dropped off the platform to find the other hooded figure had walked up and thrown a knife straight into the wolf's shoulder.

"Attack!" Mason growled, activating Shared Pain for the first time and feeling fire stab into his arm as he loosed two arrows at the knife-thrower. It seemed he wasn't the only one with superhuman reflexes.

The goblin dodged and deflected Mason's arrows before vanishing like the wizard, just as Streak leapt and slid through where he'd been standing, looking very confused.

"Shit." Mason activated Speak with Nature to be sure he was clear.

[Keep moving, and never stop. Run around the cavern until you see one of them, then attack.]

Streak growled and ran off to obey, and Mason ran in the opposite direction. His shoulder was already feeling better, so apparently his newly upgraded 'Transformation' power was no joke.

Sharp pain lanced through Mason's thigh and back, but he knew instantly it wasn't him. They were still attacking Streak.

He turned and followed the wolf with bow at the ready, loosing two arrows at the goblins before they simply warped away and vanished again.

Fucking sneaky cowards, he thought, enraged that he couldn't seem to defend the wolf. Streak looked perfectly fine, however, and kept on running laps around the cavern, once or twice growling and leaping before a goblin vanished just in time.

"How long can you keep that up?" Mason shouted, feeling his wounds already healing. "Because we can go all day."

The answer seemed to be—awhile longer.

Again and again the goblins threw their knives with spell or a flick of the wrist, ignoring Mason entirely as they hunted Streak. Soon the wolf's fur was a blotchy patchwork of blood, but Mason checked on him and found his wounds were closing, too, as Mason absorbed the damage.

Mason may have said he could do it all day, but the blood loss was taking its toll. He felt slightly drained, and pain flared from multiple wounds all over his body. And there didn't seem to be a damn thing he could do about it.

He activated Speak with Nature again, and told Streak to get in one corner of the cavern. Then he stood in front, and waited.

"Come on, then," he called, throwing traps out randomly. "Finish the job."

Eventually both goblins appeared, and Mason loosed a Power Shot before another cluster of knives came whirling towards him, forcing him to summon a Claw and activate his Shield gem.

His shot hit, and this time he watched the wizard's purple shield flicker and diminish before the creature growled and hid behind a pillar. So it was definitely costing him.

He dropped his own shield, deflecting one, two, then three of the rogue's throws with his Sleeves. Then he summoned his other Claw and stepped forward.

"Come on, then. Let's see how fast you really are."

The creature's crooked grin flashed inside its hood. Then it drew two long blades and spun them as it came forward.

Mason activated Speak with Nature again.

[Pretend to be frightened. Wait. Even if you're hurt. Do nothing until I turn on the wizard. Then kill this knife-thrower.]

He Ranger Marked his enemy, seeing rather familiar human anatomy without seeing much to interest him. It would be a battle of speed and skill, certainly, because if Mason connected this creature wouldn't last long. He and the goblin circled each other, then struck.

Claw and dagger flashed and sparked as they connected with feint and lunge. The goblin glared in annoyance, and Mason realized in their exchange the ridiculously fast creature had sliced his forearm, but did nothing to his Sleeve.

It hadn't hurt him, but it had also been so quick and well executed Mason had hardly even perceived it. So that was bad.

Again they circled, and struck.

This time the goblin threw his dagger as he pulled away, the blade slicing across Mason's cheek as he withdrew.

[Title activated: Poison Schmoison.]

[Poison resisted: Nature affinity.]

[Power activated: Duality of Strength.]

The goblin grinned and ran a hand across his own cheek. Mason glanced at the text but didn’t have the time or attention to spare to give it thought. He just waited until he felt the wound closing, then matched the goblin’s grin and charged again.

He tried moving side to side, using his slightly longer reach to jab with his long blade. But the goblin parried easily and withdrew, seemingly in no hurry.

Mason felt the attack above him without seeing it, throwing himself to the side as a piece of the goblin platform fell and crashed loudly into the ground, the wizard cackling above.

Before Mason had recovered the rogue was on him, slashing and jabbing as Mason scrambled to recover his feet. He was stabbed shallowly twice before he got his smaller blade inside the rogue's reach, then pulled back and cut off at least one of the goblin's fingers.

[Title activated: Poison Schmoison.]

[Poison resisted: Nature affinity.]

Mason grinned, then held up and wiggled his five fingers as the goblin backed away, staring with pure malevolence. Streak was whining in the corner, which sounded like fear but Mason knew was really incredible impatience and desire to attack. But he did what he'd been told.

"Enough playing with him," hissed the rogue. "Use all your magic. We kill both of these ones."

The wizard made a tut tutting sound. "You know the rules," he chastised from above. "Only one. But don’t worry, I shall save you."

Mason saw the wizard's hands sticking out from his cover above as he began drawing energy like Blake. He was ‘channeling’.

"Now!" Mason called, then unsummoned his Claws and activated Aspect of the Cheetah as he ran for the support pillar. With all his might he leapt as high as he could, then scrambled up towards the wizard at full speed.

A knife sunk into his back but he didn't care. The rogue called out to the wizard in warning. Then Streak growled and leapt on him.

Mason knew he only had a second or two before whatever that spell was got off. It was enough.

He hurled himself up to the wizard's platform, grinning at the utter shock on the creature's face, its hands still glowing and held out with growing power.

Mason re-summoned his Claws, activated Predator's Strike, and severed the confused face of the wizard in a single blow.

More pain lanced into his side and shoulder, and he practically fell off the platform. He knew he could turn off Shared Pain, but this thing was too fast and too dangerous and better him than the wolf. He had to get to Streak.

He slid down the pillar like a fireman's pole, another jab of pain seeming to bounce off his skull. Then he was on the ground, about to yell to Streak he was almost there when he heard the goblin scream.

The sound of cracking bone and chewed flesh cut them off, and Mason found Streak pinning the goblin face first to the floor with his massive paws, chewing chunks of flesh off his back.

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you," Mason said, coming forward and waiting a good few seconds to let the goblin scream.

He wasn't sure if it was mercy or just distaste, but he soon used his sword to finish the poor bastard off. Streak gave him a quizzical look, then went right back to chewing.

"I'm fine by the way," Mason said, slumping to the ground with a groan. "Maybe next time try and dodge a couple."