The mage saw me mid-lunge and flared with fire magic that engulfed us both. I felt a definite warmth from the effort. Cozy almost. Then I yanked up his helmet, buried my face into the nape of his fiery neck, and sunk my teeth in deep.

He screamed like sausages with memories as I tore the chunk free and claret spurted from the wound. It sizzled as it passed through his flames and the smell gave me a brief craving for black pudding. Then I dragged him to the floor and rammed my thumbs into his eyes.

I'd barely got any depth before I was sent flying a half dozen across the room, smashing into the cavern wall with surprising force.

The first glimpse of my new attacker told me I'd been hoofed by a level 36 Warrior who was now bearing down on me with a wicked-looking sword.

"Kick like a fucking horse," I muttered as I climbed back to my feet, rubbing at my ribs. How they hadn't broken was a damn mystery, though I felt a trickle of blood from the back of my head.

The armored tank came in fast, swinging his sword at my head. I ducked in avoiding a beheading, and the sword hit only stone.

As rolled away from his reverse slash I noticed an odd detail on the wall behind me. The sword had cut into the stone like it was made paper mâché.

His back swing missed, but I was having to back scuttle across the floor like a flipped over crab to escape the demented fuckhead.

With limited options, I certainly wasn't about to complain when the ring master, Adar joined the fray. He smashed the warrior in the chest with a great hammer he must have had stashed away for special occasions. The archons golden armor rang like a bell and as he staggered from the blow I lunged at his helmet and pulled it free.

His armored hands groped at me, so I fell away just in time for Adar to smashed him again. This time in his exposed head causing a nasty dent to form in his skull.

How the fuck he was still standing I had no idea, though his eyes had gone blank, and he was swaying like a palm tree in a gale.

I leapt at him again with feral glee that I could finish the job and hopefully get a bumper bonus of Warrior Class points. I snatched his sword from his weak and unresponsive fingers, reversed it, and plunged it through his slack jawed mouth.

"How'd you pick that up?" Adar growled in my ear as another soldier approached us.

"It's a kinda magic," I shouted back. Then quickly identified the sword in my hands.

Archon Sword (Level 30 Requirement)

Name: Righteous Smite

Level Requirement: 30.

Properties:

High-grade alloy of Balerite and Osterite reinforced with a core of imbued iron star that slowly replenishes energy from wielders Mana pool.

Rune of Smite.

Fire a single use fireball that will incinerate an area of 3m2

Recharge time 2 hours. Mana cost 300

"And what a magic sword it was. Even without the enchantment it was hardcore. I suspected the fire ball had already been used during the initial explosions.

Adar swung his hammer at the next incoming warrior, who dodged the blow and thrust out with his sword only narrowly missing the ring master. I kicked at his arm knocking his thrust further wide and followed up with a slash of righteous smite, scoring a deep groove in his fancy armor.

Adar hit him with a bone crunching blow to the knee and as he tottered and fell, I plunged the sword into his semi exposed throat.

"Bastard. You stole the kill, again," he muttered.

I flashed a blood-soaked grin at him. "You'll have to be quicker then. I'll give you the next one."

His bushy eyebrows rose high. "Really?"

"Never," I shouted and sprinted at the next armored man. He was Level 24, and ready to go. I raised the sword above my head, screaming as I charged, as if I was going for an over hand chop.

His surprise was a beautiful thing when I threw the sword instead. It flew straight like an arrow, but struck his chest rather than the ridiculously small slit in his visor that I was aiming for. One day I'd make that shot, but it wasn't today.

He staggered back as the enchanted sword held fast in his armor and I followed in, ducking his probing sword and sliding to his side to mount his back, trying to kill him quickly before Adar could.

The ring master was cleverer than I gave him credit for and while the warrior reacted to me, he swung the hammer as hard as he could onto the base of the sword pommel driving it deeper into his chest.

The Archon went down, I rolled away before getting trapped and Adar, the old bastard, smashed the pommel of the sword again. The soldiers struggling finally stopped and it was Adar's turn to grin.

"Thanks for the help, Earl. Couldn't have done it without you."

I gave him the middle finger and he returned the salute.

"I thought as much. Is everyone here fucking Siroth?"

"Looks that way," he chuckled and I tried to retrieve the sword which was now buried in the stone floor as well as the goddamned warrior. Once he'd had his chuckle he gestured for me to step back.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

As soon as I did he swung his hammer in a low looping arc to smash into the underside of the pommel, knocking it loose.

With a nod of appreciation, I wriggled it the rest of the way free and turned to see what was next for us. Before I even saw it, Adar bellowed. "Cero!" Then he was off. I looked to where he'd set off running to see the big Unalaran hard pressed.

I would have left it if it and fought someone closer if it wasn't for whom he was fighting. Alassar, wearing a full plumed helmet like a dickhead was very close to killing the stable master, and by his side was Ignine Ollis, the Augur.

Only the interference of other fighters kept Cero alive, but Alassar's sword was cutting through their shitty weapons like they were made of Styrofoam.

I heard shouting from through the hole the Archons had made which heralded the arrival of Siroth soldiers to the battle, but they wouldn't be fast enough to save Cero.

No. Someone was definitely going to have to kill the Augur and his head still had my name on it.

I dashed forward, leaping bodies and debris, avoiding the occasional sword slash as I pursued Adar.

He had crossed half the room but ended up getting caught with another set of archons long before he made it to the battle. As much as I wanted to help and fight everyone I passed, I had to be sensible. I had an Augur to kill.

I zagged left, deeper into the cavern away from the front line. A few blasts of magic flew deeper, a couple even catching me. I shrugged them off as my excitement grew.

When I arrived, Cero was bleeding from multiple areas. He had seconds left to live rather than minutes. A boulder from the ceiling just behind him caught my eye and I made a beeline for it, using it to launch myself into the air past Cero's head sword held ready to deal death.

Alassar saw me and slashed with his sword, unbothered if it hit mine because he knew his sword would cut through it.

Except it didn't, and when our swords clanged together, and I smashed into him, he staggered back in total surprise. He must have been even more confused when I darted past him rather than at him and while I threw a wild slash at the back of his leg which connected, I had eyes for only one.

The Augur saw my approached and threw his next glowing attack at me. A ball of green energy that felt like a strong gust of wind. I dropped my head and pushed through it.

He was back peddling, slack jawed when I reached him and he was screaming in panic when I rugby tackled him through his defensive shield and bore him to the ground.

A torrent of water encased him which knocked the sword from my hand and made it difficult to focus on what I was doing. But not impossible. My hands found his helmet and I tore it free. Then I used it to bash down into his face. His water shield faltered at the first impact so I could see his bloody, mangled face stared up in horror. "You guys…" I said before smashing it down again. "Should really." Smash. "Use better." Smash. "…helmet straps." Smash.

I don't think he caught the last of my words on account of his headache, but he was done and there were still more mages to kill.

I checked on Alassar first to see him being worn down by Cero and the other fighters. A deep gash in the back of his leg hindered his movement and it looked to me like a golden opportunity to nip in and steal that kill as well. A Level 32 Warrior Mage would look great on my CV. Even if he was a bit shit at the mage side of things.

I snatched up the sword of smite from where I dropped it, took a step forward and swung with all my might at his back. A Magical blast hit the sword and knocked it just wide of the mark.

"Huh?" I said turning around to find who threw the attack. I found him hiding behind one of the upturned tables near the wall, and I charged him. It wasn't as good a kill as Alassar would have been but he needed killing and there was not better man for the job.

As I approached he pulled a dagger from his hip to defend himself. As I'd already learned, pure mages spent very little effort on Toughness, and at level 24 it was a safe bet that this fella wasn't just the same considering he was hiding.

"What are you?" Though his voice cracked half way through the sentence so maybe he said kill me slowly.

He thrust the knife out and I battered away with a parry before gripping his arm and removing the knife from his care.

With a yank, his arm slipping from my grip and he made to run. I leaped forward and kicked his trailing leg, causing it to hooked around his other ankle.

As he stumbled I dove onto his back, pulled his head back and slit his throat before reassessing.

The pickings were slim and growing slimmer by the second. Siroth warriors had poured into the cavern now and they were killing Archons with wild abandon. The rest were trying to flee. It was hard thing to witness as I still had so much to give.

A groan to my right showed an archon warrior not quite dead. I wondered what the Warrior Class rewards would be for that, so padded over the carpet of bodies, and finished him off with a stab to the eye.

The man next to him was still alive too. He was just a customer, level 18 tradesman. Might be worth a few points. I stabbed him through his chest then scanned around for more.

"Earl?" a voice boomed and I turned to see Cero scanning the corpses around him. Standing up from the bloody mound I was crouched in, I waved. "Over here."

Relief washed over him. I didn't usually have that effect on people, especially when I was covered from head to toe in blood.

"Good work there. You saved our asses with Alassar and his Augur."

"It's what I'm here for," I replied, scanning the ground for more easy points.

"I do want to talk about that sword you're carrying."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of time, I reckon your cover's blown here."

"I reckon you might be right," He shouted another name next, showing remarkable care for his people. What a nice guy, I thought as I plunged the dagger into another rasping punter.

Sadly, that was when Loosh spotted me. "Earl!"

I waved but said nothing as she headed over with a Baranax warrior.

Name: Alom Anila,

Title: ---

Level: 38 Class: Warrior/Tradesman

"You survived then," she said with her usual, miserable, dead pan voice.

"Was there ever a doubt?"

"Very little." She gestured to the Warrior. "This is Firebrand Anilla, son of Harbinger Onlan Anilla, and the leader of the troops who carried the victory here today."

"I hear you killed another Augur?" he said in a voice that was almost identical to his fathers, but held a rougher edge.

"You bet your ass I did."

"I understand the principle, but I would like very much to know how a level Seventeen is able to achieve such things?"

"Level Seventeen?" I cheered.

He ignored me. "A level thirty mage is a force of nature, yet you have killed two. How?"

I ignored him and checked my stats.

Name: Earl Henshaw

Title: ---

Level: 17

Class: Warrior / Tradesman

Stats:

Toughness – 32 +5

Mental Acuity – 19 + 5

Harmony- 0

Total: 51

Progress in Class:

Warrior Level 31: 16/300

Level 10 Boon: +5 in durability based Toughness. Bonus points not reflected in level.

Level 20 Boon: +5 in reaction speed – Mental Acuity. Bonus points not reflected in level.

Level 30 Boon: +5 in either

Speed

Strength

Agility

Durability

Tradesman Level One: 1

Mage: 0

The choice was easy. I needed to take less damage to fulfill my potential. I put it in Durability.

Level 30 Boon: +5 in Durability (+10 overall)

I did a little fist pump.

An angry voice snapped at me. "Are you listening?" It was Alom.

"What? Yeah. I'm level 17. My warrior Class just went up to Level thirty!"

Loosh shook her head. "We've dallied long enough. We need to extract before reinforcements arrive."

Alom continued to look at me for a few seconds more before nodding in agreement. "We will take this up back at base, Earl."

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