I launched my Vortex Shield at the enemy cat. The gyrating waters pulverized away its HP and sent it ragdolling back.

I'd feel sorry for that little thing. If it hadn't been a premier assassin and a remorseless monster. I wouldn't forget that anytime soon.

You usually wouldn't associate summoner-type builds with assassination. But that's what this cat, Lady, did. Reens had profiled her. Lady had low defense, high range, and medium damage. Not unlike a sniper. If it's caught in a bad spot, it'll die easily. With the Eye of Odin metal scanner on my gun, catching people would usually my forte. But two complications arose.

First, I had ripped off the parabolic dish from my railgun. I still had it, and could hold it up behind the scanner, but manually I couldn't get the alignment perfect. My scanning range was crippled. That was not a bad thing, necessarily. The arena was a couple miles across, corner to corner. My scanner had a range of 512 miles. Having a more diffuse scan-beam, and trading range for a wider angle, probably worked in my favor, even if misalignment incurred a net efficiency loss.

Second, and more importantly – Lady was a cat. It had nothing metallic on it for me to detect. Not even a collar with a buckle. Likewise, the mice it summoned were flesh and blood. My Eye of Odin was essentially useless in this matchup.

Lady had also leveled up to 2. It sent more mice at me, though I wasn't worried. Its first ability conjured a mouse that ran in a straight line. I could avoid that by simply standing behind my golem minions. Its second ability sent a controllable mouse. I had two counterplays against it. First was cutting off line-of-sight between Lady and myself. The mice were all blind; if Lady couldn't see me, it wouldn't be able to guide the mouse towards me. The second counterplay was to stand within the firing range of my own tower. Unlike normal projectiles, the mouse was a creature and could be destroyed. Killing it as a player took a bit of effort, but the heavy damage of the towers would make short work of it.

Lady was walking with a limp now. I had done my fair share of damage, and retreated to the safety of my tower's coverage. Unable to target me directly, Lady was only able to attack my golems. Meanwhile, I managed to nail the cat with a second ricocheted Frost Missile.

What was the next play? I had several options. Either try to kill it, or go back to base and spend my gold from farming the enemy golems. If I wanted a kill, I'd need to get to level 3, and immobilize it with a Cold Grenade for a full combo.

But before I could reach level 3, the cat did. It had unlocked its third type of mouse: the automatic homing one. I backed off, retreating closer to my tower.

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The last of my golems fell. The enemy golems' attacks, combined with the continuous, corrosive explosions of the mice, whittled them down fast enough. Now uninhibited, the enemy golems marched down the lane towards me. There were four of them. My tower and I should be able to deal with them without much trouble. Not to mention, my next wave of golems would arrive soon. I just had to wait things out and get to level 3.

The golems lumbered toward my tower to lay siege. I backed off, shooting at them, as did my tower's laser orb.

A squeak sounded at my heels. I barely had time to jerk around and see the mouse.

It erupted into a crimson burst of vapor.

I ran away, attempting to escape the caustic red cloud. My eyes teared up, assailed by stinging pain. As I stumbled through the fog, a second burst enveloped me.

Crap! How many of them were there?

I didn't know where I was going. If I moved too much, I'd exit the protection of my tower. But the tower wasn't even keeping me safe! The mice must've snuck in while the tower was focused on shooting the enemy golems. I realized that was Lady's win condition: escort its own golems to my tower, and have them take tower shots for the mice. That was Lady's best shot at killing me, and I hadn't figured it out until now. Was the cat taunting me on purpose, to make me attack it instead of its golems?

I heard a beam of laser from my tower, followed by the rumble as an enemy golem fell.

Did the tower prioritize shooting golems over the mice? Or would the tower switch its target to a mouse, only once it's finished killing its currently-targeted golem?

I heard a laser fired towards something next to me, followed by a shrill squeak.

Another explosion bloomed, much too close. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. The burning fog ate away at my skin, seeping in like venom. I stumbled and fell.

My head grew faint from the lack of air. What should I do?

That tower shot either failed to kill the mouse, or it blew up the mouse too close to me. Either way, I had already been hit three times, and the damage-over-time was taking me below half HP. I had to retreat for now. The outer tower was no longer safe, not with the enemy golems diverting its fire. I had to retreat back to the inner tower.

I ran. My lungs felt like they'd collapse from want of air. But I ran, and soon, I felt fresh wind. I dared open my eyes. Though they still stung, I was relieved to find myself outside the fog clouds.

The middle lane was the shortest. I shouldn't need to go far before reaching the inner tower. My trajectory had been slightly off, and I had veered to the edge of the lane. But not too bad for navigating without sight.

I slipped as I stepped on to something soft and squishy.

A mouse.

As I fell, I found myself surrounded. One, two, three…four mice, all climbing on to me.

I conjured Vortex Shield, pushing them back, but it was too little, too late.

In quick succession, they all burst.

[SOPHIA]

[HP: 0 / 680]