There weren’t many of them, but there were enough to make a noticeable change in the pace of the fight. The first to strike was a cold one, a smaller brix, almost scrawny looking, with chitin that seemed more teal than green. I felt it, an aura of ice radiating from the creature, pressing down on me.

The ability gnawed at me, seeped into my bones and attempted to freeze them, but I felt my Qi resist it. Not just my Qi, though, but also the sheen of liquid glass underneath my skin. It helped keep my muscles moving, even when the chill sought to make them stand still.

I had to grit my teeth and resist the ability, since the small one simply sat back, behind a wall of other insectoid bodies. Beside it, the large brix with antlers stood, having been recently birthed from the nest, yet already managing to stand arrogant and tall amongst its siblings. For the moment I glimpsed at it, I thought there was a smirk on its insectoid face, but before I even had time to question it, I spun around and dodged another attack.

There were still more regular brix flooding towards us, dozens of the creatures appearing from side tunnels and sliding over their threads. It felt like a tidal wave of chitin. I stabbed the one that forced me to dodge in the stomach, my better technique helping my Qi move along and destroy its intestines.

For a moment, I marvelled at my own skill, before quickly focusing again. The mirrors might not eat me right now, but the monsters sure would be trying. I shook off the thoughts about rule four as I scanned my surroundings.

Matt was matched up with a brix much smaller than him, darting around rapidly. He was consistently on the defensive against it, unable to get a strike in, but also didn’t seem to be particularly struggling to deal with its attacks. His focus was razor sharp, and I was glad to not be facing him. One-on-ones were kind of his specialty.

Emilia, on the other hand, was busy holding back a whole horde of regular brix while dealing with balls of fire being lobbed at her as well. It took me a moment to spot the thing responsible for it, since it was so small, but there was one of the creatures in the back, throwing spells at our frontliner.

I didn’t even see Liam anymore, which meant he was quite busy, and Marie seemed to be randomly shooting bolts all over the place. That I’d worry about once I was safe myself. Behind them, the twins and Ann were still providing ranged support, both defensive and offensive, with the occasional spell impacting the mass of brix.

Taking it all in took less than a second, during which I parried another attack, beating a sickle aside with the butt of my spear and burning quite a chunk of Qi to annihilate yet another one of the insects.

My muscles creaked inside my body as they were forced to move in the cold. I could see frost beginning to form on the stone near my feet, tiny flakes tossed into the air by my footwork. This was only going to get worse.

Gritting my teeth, I began to advance, keeping my movements as purposely efficient as I could. My spear would snap forward, lashing out and snapping through chitin as I stepped back and to the sides to avoid getting cut up. It took longer, but I was ever so slowly gaining ground.

No matter their monstrous strength, the brix were not made for endurance fighting. That was where humans excelled, and it was what I exploited. I dealt swift, powerful strikes, over and over again. I would cut through legs, or break bits necessary for moving their scythes, then finish them off.

The glass shifted underneath my skin. I felt it more closely now, more like a part of me, as it wrapped around my muscles, keeping them together and coordinated as I fought against the chill. My teeth were chattering, and I could feel the faint spark of Divinity in my chest begin to give out.

I crushed the seed of doubt in my chest. I hadn’t known the twins for very long yet, but they would either renew the spell, or they would be in trouble. For now, I just needed to focus on myself.

One more step forward, then another. I saw the cold brix try to step back, but the larger one with antlers held it in place. My brows furrowed at that. Since when were those things intelligent enough to do something like that?

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A moment later that thought disappeared from my mind again, as the meditative property of stabbing became my main focus. I sidestepped, and thrust my arms forward, shredding through chitin. Then I pulled sideways into a cut, or backwards to me, and repeated the same thing.

Slowly, body by body, strike by strike, I advanced. There were two times a fireball made it past Emilia, but Ann blocked them both, and I hardly even noticed. Once or twice an arrow whizzed by me and struck down another monster on my side. My allies were there, stopping me from being surrounded.

I smiled, even as the frost made my skin crack at the movement. My fingers felt numb, and my legs shaky. My breath was leaving my body in clouds of mist, and water pearled on my skin. And then, there were no more bodies between me and the ice mage.

Without hesitation, I thrust forward again. It was small, and a mage, so it would be slow and die here.

Then, my attack was stopped.

My spear impacted hard chitin, being deflected aside by a sickle. The brix with antlers seemed to almost sneer at me, as its second sickle came flying for my face.

I met it with the butt of my spear, far out from my body. It shifted the sickle off course, letting me dodge to the side. Instinctively, I overcommitted, launching myself to the side far further than I reasonably should. And it paid off.

The monster seemed to regain itself far faster than was reasonable, and brought its sickle back on course, landing a scratch right below my eye, despite my dodge. I sucked in a sharp breath as the blood froze in the air, plinking down on the stone floor.

If I hadn’t been so busy breathing as hard as I could, I might’ve sworn then. Immediately after, I threw myself back as far as I could, dodging an upward strike by a hair. It still left a small line of blood on my forehead, drips of red turning to crystals in the icy air.

Antlerface let out a noise at that, its mandibles chittering in what I could only assume was laughter. It was mocking me.

Before I could think about that too much, the other brix started coming at me again. I could barely feel my hands, and yet I swung my spear, the shaft creaking under the exertion. The blade carved through chitin again, spilling yet more ichor on the already slick floor.

All the fluids that dripped from the dead brix had frozen to make the ground beneath me icy and perilous. I had to use Qi to anchor myself as I slaughtered the creatures some more. The fact that we cleared this small space of threads by now was the best thing that could have happened. Dealing with poison or more of the things coming at me from above would be impossible right now.

Instead, all I had to do was to keep moving. Stab forward, block, dodge. Survive.

My blood rushed in my ears. I felt some skin on my hands tear open, my callouses brittle from the cold, but I didn’t feel any pain. My flesh was far too numb.

Liquid glass moved underneath my skin, supporting my movements. It felt like Cass was right there, pushing me along, even as my sight began to narrow in exhaustion. My lungs burned, and my throat was dry, the cold having frozen the saliva in my mouth.

Still I drew breath, slashing my spear in a wide arc, and having it slam into the shoulder of a brix. Then, there was a gap.

I blinked. My mind ran through a thousand things at once, as my throat moved. “Ann, now!” I half-croaked half-yelled, as I planted my feet firmly in the ground.

My legs burned so bad, and yet I leaned back, anchoring myself with Qi. Then, I pulled back my spear, holding it fast with one hand as I used the other to generate momentum. I twisted my hips, spun my torso, and swung my arm. With every bit of power I had, I launched the spear forward.

The gap was there.

Somehow through my exhaustion and the horde of brix, I’d found a narrow opportunity. Their heads were parted, giving me sight of the little one, the bastard that was freezing me.

More skin tore off my hand as the spear left my fingers, brimming with golden light. I saw the shaft wobble in the air, but I had tossed my weapon hundreds of times. It was stable because of the spin I gave it from my hand.

A grin wormed its way on my lips as it soared forward, past all the brix, and towards the mage. Then, just when antlers wanted to stop it, Ann finished her spell. A sudden bit of telekinesis pushed the spear downwards. Just enough that it went to target the mages’ stomach instead of its face.

It avoided antler’s sickle by a few inches, and struck true instead, digging itself through the monster’s body and emerging outside the opposite end covered in ichor.

The spell ended, and I finally felt warmer air fill my lungs. Then, my spear vanished, from the spray of insect parts, and emerged in my hands, clean of it all. I smiled. This was why I loved a properly bound weapon.