‘Come on! Come on!’ I shouted to nobody in particular as I rapidly closed and opened portals, dumping the contents of the Iron Sea on the parts of the tavern still aflame.

Through the now patchy thatched roof, I saw a young tiefling woman holding a child, and for a moment I thought I glimpsed Tokas again. I shook my head, ridding myself of the image. It wouldn’t be right for me to start thinking all tiefling were guilty; that’s exactly what Tokas had said her experience of life as a tiefling had been. It maybe didn’t help her case that she, specifically, was guilty.

Shouts from behind me told me that the fight against the Player was still raging, but I didn’t have time to glance over. Below me, the woman and child cowered from rapidly spreading flames, and I thrusted a hand forward to open a portal in the room and drench it with water.

The woman screamed, and then—once I’d closed the portal—she looked up at me, dripping wet, like I’d done something wrong. She clutched her baby close to her chest while she continued staring daggers at me.

‘Sor—’ I started to apologise, then caught myself. No, I wasn’t going to apologise for saving someone’s life. ‘Get everyone out!’ I shouted at her instead.

‘Why?’ came the reply.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Looks like the fire is out.’

I blinked. ‘For now, sure. But I’ve only got so much mana, and that guy isn’t gonna stop summoning fireballs any time soon. Alright?’

The woman stared blankly back, and then at last nodded.

I sighed, turning away and hoping that the tiefling really was going to carry out my suggestion, to face the battle once more. The Player stood with flaming sword in hand, Lore at the floor beside him, Arzak rushing in for another attack.

Another pair of arrows shot across the town as Corminar and Lambkin fired their poison-tipped ammunitions towards the Player, one missing, one hitting. If I had to guess, it was likely Lambkin who had missed. He was the second highest-levelled archer in the Tundras, after all—a fact that Corminar had murmured in his sleep last night as though to remind all of us. These arrows didn’t seem to be weakening the Player like we’d anticipated; green marks appeared on the pyroknight’s skin as the poison spread, but it didn’t seem to be growing much further. If I wasn’t mistaken, these marks were also quickly fading.

The water, at least, seemed to be working. Both the Iron Sea and the summoned stomach-water dampened the Player’s fire attacks, as evidenced by the fact that Arzak and Lore weren’t yet burnt to Tartarus. Though, the high level healing potions in their systems might also have explained that. I could only hope they hadn’t exhausted much of their healing powers, because it seemed this fight had a long way to go yet.

I jumped from the rooftop into a summoned portal, emerging at Val’s side some way from the fight. I couldn’t help but notice that she had her eyes closed; something that didn’t seem massively like it was going to benefit her in the middle of a fight. ‘Err… what are you doing?’

‘Shh.’

‘You know someone’s trying to kill us, right?’

‘Something new,’ Val explained. ‘Roots aren’t working. Go fight.’

I did as Val suggested, charging towards the Player, Arzak and Lore, using just my own two feet this time so as to preserve my already dwindling mana reserves. Maybe now, I realised, was a good time to use the mana potion that Corminar had crafted for me—I might not have any time later. As I ran, I pulled the cork topper free and downed the glowing blue liquid, watching as my mana bar replenished itself.

Ahead of me, Arzak and Lore clashed blades with the Player, the enemy parrying their attacks with apparent ease. Arzak swung one blade first, bouncing off the flaming sword, and then another. The Player pushed her backwards with the second strike.

Lore, attacking perhaps half a second later, swung his heavy blade towards the pyroknight’s torso, but was blocked at the last moment by the flaming sword. The barbarian pushed himself into the attack, not allowing himself to be bounced away like Arzak, and he gritted his teeth, trembling, as he tried to hold against the Player’s pushback. His sword—the great Bane sword—began to glow orange, then red, as the heat from the pyroknight flaming blade bled into the metal. Lore, seeing where this was headed, was forced to pull back from the attack.

But he didn’t stop. He and Arzak pushed once more, not giving the Player a moment of peace, as we’d planned. They both moved in to strike at once, before another burst of water erupted up the Player’s throat. Lore was blinded by the water, and the pyroknight quickly turned his attention to the orc to parry her latest attacks.

At this moment, I realised that our poisoning of the enemy hadn’t just weakened him, it had also given him a new attack—something that the pyroknight seemed to just now be coming to understand.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

‘Hit him harder!’ I shouted to the pair of close-quarters attackers.

‘Already everything we have!’ Arzak cried back with a strained voice. ‘It not enough!’

‘Not yet it’s not,’ Val replied, suddenly raising her hands to the heavens and opening her eyes. For a second he remained like that, posed like a statue worshipping the gods, before dropping, exhausted, to a knee. I glimpsed her pulling her vial—stronger than mine—from her pocket before my attention was torn away by a howling of wolf.

No, wolves.

‘Val, what have—’ I started.

‘Attack him!’ she replied. ‘Attack him now!’

I charged into the fight, risking a portal behind the pyroknight to stab him quickly in the back. With my Knifework level and equipment level, it wasn’t like it was going to do too much damage—but it was at least enough to enrage the man.

The pyroknight roared with frustration before turning to swipe at me, but I was quicker, closing the portal just before I could meet my inevitable end at the tip of a flaming blade. The portal closed on the very end of the man’s fire sword, slicing it off. In any other fight this might have been game-changing, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the pyroknight could just… summon more sword.

Making use of my distraction, Arzak managed to land a couple of strikes, slicing through the enemy’s armour and drawing blood. This, combined with an arrow that landed in the side of the man’s neck, releasing its poison in a green web-like shape, enraged him further, and he summoned a ring of fire around himself.

As Lore, Arzak and I stepped backwards, avoiding the flames, commotion in the forest announced new guests. A swarm of wolves—ten, maybe twelve—leaped out of the cover of the trees and charged past the startled Corminar and Lambkin, then past Val. Their many eyes were fixed squarely on the Player.

So that’s what she’s been up to. Val stared the pyroknight down as though issuing a challenge, but the Player didn’t stare back. Instead, he parried a strike from Lore and snarled at the approaching beasts.

With the raise of a hand, the Player whipped his ring of fire into a spin, the flames licking the air around it and causing us to retreat further. When the pyroknight whipped his hand forwards, the fire tornado blitzed towards the wolves, heading not in a straight line but zigzagging from beast to beast, eliminating them one by one.

Lore and Arzak—less hypnotised than me—ignored the wolves and pressed the advantage once more, charging for the now-unprotected Player. They attack as one, three blades against the enemy’s one. The pyroknight ducked under Lore’s relatively slow attack, parried one of Arzak’s swords, and then… found the other wedged into the side of his neck.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, reader. You’re thinking: oh, that’s it, that’s done. Sadly, no. It wasn’t.

The Player gripped the blade, not caring about slicing his hand in the process, and pulled it from his body. He didn’t release it despite the blood trickling from his palm, instead summoning fire within that grasp. The blade grew orange, then red, and then finally, with one twist of the pyroknight’s hand, snapped in two.

Lore ran in for another attack, which the Player dodged by stepping quickly to one side, one hand now clutching the bloody wound in his neck. With another almost monstrous roar, he dropped his flaming sword, flung this hand forward, and sent a six foot wide fireball soaring towards Arzak. The orc dived out of the way just in time, only suffering a mild burn that the potion should have quickly seen to.

This didn’t help Lambkin and Corminar, however. The fireball continued soaring through the air, flying quicker than any before it, and Lambkin and Corminar had only enough time to lower their bows, eyes wide, before the fireball was upon them. Lambkin threw himself in front of Corminar at the last moment, meaning to take most of the damage, but he was too slow—the spell hit both of them. The two rangers fell to the floor, clutching at their wounds.

Neither of them had the powerful healing potions. Neither of them had fire resistance potions.

Neither of them were still in the fight.

"Styk"

Level 9 Novice Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 20

Intelligence — 77

Dexterity — 26

Strength — 38

Wisdom — 25

Charisma — 0

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 18

Knifework — Level 17

Identification — Level 8

Stealth — Level 6

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +400%