From the first moment they’d entered the room, this human had looked down on Skarm. And on Levi, which was even worse. Skarm was used to being looked down on. But for this over-large human to look down on Levi? Unacceptable.

Levi need not lower himself to deal with the obstruction. Skarm would be enough to show the world their strength.

Skarm grinned as he sized up his opponent. Charles was big, even for a human, and armored well. Looking him over for weak points there were very few. But few was not none.

Charles didn't attack, lowering his stance and raising his swords, sneering as he waited for Skarm to make the first move.

Skarm flexed his claws and ran through the possibilities.

Face exposed, big mistake there.

Over-armor not belted down, leaving a gap to stab up into between top and bottom armor pieces. A gremlin horn could do a lot of damage to a human's squishy underbelly.

He'd only get one or two attacks before his enemy stopped underestimating him, so he had to make them count.

The human was below threshold, only level 4, but humans started out with a lot more health than a gremlin, so he wouldn’t go down easily. His Destruction sword, very dangerous.

Skarm looked up at Levi. “Anything, means anything?”

Levi’s eyes flicked toward the entrance with a grin; answer enough. He could bring in Centoo if it came to it.

But bringing in his mount wasn’t what Skarm had in mind. It wasn’t enough for him to only beat this human. He had to show for good how dumb it was to go against them. Because they were smarter.

He would call Centoo only if he had to. First, he’d try things his own way.

Skarm grinned wider, lowered his horn, and charged.

Charles swung at the irritating little gremlin who should have been paste by now. Somehow, it kept managing to give him the runaround, no matter what he did to try and pin the little wretch down.

Humans always leveled faster and stronger than dungeon monsters. It was only one level above him! It shouldn't be able to do this.

The guild had studied gremlins extensively. Level 1 were only a little bit slower than level 2, and generally had the exact same amount of health, within a hit or two's variation. Extrapolating that out to level 5, it should not be moving this quickly or confidently. And it definitely shouldn't be inflicting so much damage!

Charles somehow found himself on the defensive, barely able to keep up with the agile little beast.

So far, neither had gotten a hit on the other.

The gremlin ran in to attack, Charles blocked or retreated. Charles lunged to attack, the gremlin deflected with its horn or redirected the attack with its claws, or scampered away.

It was too fast. Too agile.

It shouldn't be able to do this. His swords should have sliced right through it, but instead they were blocked at every turn, and Charles was beginning to lose what little patience he had remaining.

He put more and more power into his attacks, breathing heavily as he chased the miserable rat around and around the room.

"Is running and hiding all you're good at?!"

If Charles had been paying closer attention, he may have noticed that Skarm only deflected the unempowered sword, and always evaded out of the way of the Destructive one, but he was far too furious to be sensible.

Levi watched his flailing attempts at fighting and wondered if this was really the best the guild had to offer. Perhaps he was leader for social reasons rather than battle prowess. Though his social skills seemed none too great either.

Scanning across their number, Levi saw that none of the guild members had passed the level 5 barrier. Threshold levels were harder to obtain than normal levels, and if they were skipping bosses every time then it made sense that they'd be behind the curve.

Levi glanced back at the fight, and had to smile. Skarm was physically much weaker than Charles. But by refusing to engage directly and goading the larger man into losing his temper, he was well on his way to leveling the playing field.

Honestly, Levi had been dubious about Skarm's chances, but he didn't want to embarrass his loyal gremlin by rejecting his offer. Now, though, he was eager to see how Skarm would pull it off.

Watching Skarm's stats throughout the fight, Levi could see each tiny burst of stamina used to jump or evade. And he could also see how carefully Skarm was teasing out his opponent. He used only part of his strength, only part of his speed. His leaps were restrained, his retreats slower than absolutely necessary.

It was slow and subtle, building up a false image of himself in his opponent's mind. He really was a cunning fighter. Levi rarely had the chance to pay this much attention to him in a fight and it was fascinating to watch.

No wonder gremlins remained a threat, albeit a minor one, even into dungeons leveled in the 40s.

Then, without warning, Skarm charged. Charles swung his swords wildly to intercept, but he wasn't fast enough. Skarm moved just a little faster this time, burning stamina as he leaped

Skarm slammed his claws into the chainmail across Charles's chest even as he drove his horn up between shirt and leggings to slash into the guild leader's stomach.

Blood oozed from between the chain links and Charles screamed.

Levi couldn't help a small, vindictive smile. First blood to Skarm.

Skarm took a solid hit across his back in return for his strike, felt the Destructive power burn into him, but he'd done what he wanted to.

He dropped from the incensed enemy's chest and sprinted down the hall at full speed.

"COME BACK HERE!"

Skarm cackled as loudly as he could, turning to be sure the sound would echo mockingly back to his enemy.

A pair of gremlin ambushers jumped out of the walls at him, but he knocked them aside and ran past without slowing down. A swarm of scarabs flew out and came after him; he paused just long enough to slash the nearest group out of the air to make the swarm furious, then continued to run.

Behind him came the thundering footsteps of the angered Charles. The human ran face-first into the ambushers running along behind Skarm, and as he'd known they would they stopped running after Skarm and turned to the nearer adversary.

Skarm slipped into one of the now-abandoned alcoves, hiding in the shadow as he watched.

Charles Warner: Level 4

(Earth-Human Fighter)

Health: 84%

More gremlins attacked, most bouncing off the armor, but one of the scarabs got in a bite at the back of his neck. Skarm grinned.

Charles Warner: Level 4

(Earth-Human Fighter)

Health: 81%

A few more of those, and Charles would be down to the range where Skarm could beat him for good.

Skarm waited until Charles was facing away, fighting off scarabs as he growled in anger, then jumped at his back. He couldn't believe anyone would be so dumb as to leave a known weak point once it was used against him, but he wasn't going to question his good luck.

With a stamina-fueled leap, Skarm stabbed his horn up into the space between over-armor and lower armor. He felt as his horn skidded off Charles's spine, leaving a long gash up his back.

Charles Warner: Level 4

(Earth-Human Fighter)

Health: 70%

"DGAHGH!!" Charles stabbed back with both swords, nicking Skarm across the cheek, but leaving his front open. Another scarab bit him on the neck and Skarm knew he would be slowing down.

Almost. One more should do.

And still the human didn't correct his glaring vulnerability. Even with blood dripping down his front and back, he didn't take the three seconds to cinch his belt down right, but kept flailing as if he could punch the world into submission.

Skarm retreated further down the dungeon, into the fourth room, where he drew the attention of another scarab swarm and led them back to where Charles was still struggling against the first groups.

Skarm jumped in to finish off the injured gremlins. The last thing he wanted was Charles getting credit for killing them.

That brought his enemy's focus back to him... and not the buzzing swarm coming up from behind.

Levi and the other guild members waited, him with a faint smile, they with looks of concern. He'd slipped on his lens so he could watch the fight through the walls, and Skarm was performing marvelously.

It made him immeasurably proud of the little gremlin's progress. From a complete weakling left to guard the door, to a formidable skirmisher even without his centipede mount. And he'd only grow more powerful as they leveled more. The options for extra experience and stat points, apparently unique to gremlins, were looking more appealing every day.

Skarm waited until his opponent's movements were slowed by the scarab venom, then finished off the swarm with a combination of leap-slashes and stabs that Levi considered truly impressive.

"Do you think they're coming back?" the girl with teal streaks in her hair asked. "Should we go after them? It's not safe to be alone in a dungeon."

"They're coming back now," Levi answered. Skarm was running at a little bit slower than his normal pace, a flawless facade to convince Charles that he could still catch him as he charged after the gremlin in a blind fury.

He marveled at how deftly Skarm had manipulated the guild leader's emotions. Truly, an intelligent gremlin was something not to be underestimated.

"Enough... running!" Charles bellowed, as the gremlin made no sign of slowing and charged through yet another hall. He was gasping for breath now, but refused to give up. He, the leader of the Doom Raiders, would never be defeated by a mere gremlin!

He made as if to follow, but stopped as soon as his opponent's footsteps faded to the next area. Setting the dungeon monsters on him? Thinking it was so clever? Well. He'd show it. He wasn't going to give in.

He drank three potions in quick succession, one of each type, and braced himself against the wall as the stunning, dizzying side effects flooded him. He knew he was completely vulnerable for those few seconds, but his enemy had already left, and between them they'd cleared out all the normal dungeon creatures.

He staggered back to his feet, the weakness passing and leaving him fully reinvigorated, and his lip twisted into an ugly grin.

Time for round two. And this time, he wouldn't be caught unprepared.