Everywhere Nic moved within this second cavern, he was met with trickling waterfalls of moisture gathering over the rocks; a verdant crop of fungus and lichen grew everywhere, filling the rocky footpaths and winding ledges along the valley walls with strange luminous grasses, tall twisting mushroom stalks, and a squishing layer of soft moss that ‘bled’ captured moisture each time his foot pressed down into it.

It was a strange paradise, secreted away under the earth.

Nic climbed over rocky steps and leapt across to withered tree trunks sticking out of the wall, taking a circling route up. Above…

The battle was raging. The horn-headed gargoyles were constantly driven back, unable to cover the final ground towards the swordswoman. As for her…

She seemed almost bored.

None of them could approach through the sword-light net she wove, one sweeping crescent of light after the next carving itself in the air between them.

As Nic climbed he got a better look at the situation; the gargoyles were enraged because the Invaders had found their treasure, a massive vein of spiritstone. As the swordswoman held them back, the locust-headed insect demon was hacking away with an axe, cutting out huge chunks of precious ore and sweeping them into a magic bag.

Nic perched himself on a ledge and drew out his bow.

If it was a one-on-one fight, he’d bet his strength against one of the Invaders any day.

Two at once?

It could go his way, and it could go disastrously wrong. All it took was one trick, one treasure held in reserve, that Nic wasn’t ready for…

But they didn’t know he was here yet. Nic inched along, finding his route- three ledges that led around the outer walls of the valley and towards the balcony of smooth gray sedimentary stone where the two Invaders were hard at work carrying off the bounty of spirit stone.

He gripped two arrows in his jaw, and drew out a third, setting it to the bowstring.

There was a lull in the fight with the gargoyles. A moment where the woman was given the chance to rest, to let down her guard, the shimmering threads of swordlight fading out of existence around her…

Nic fired. The plucking note of Hollowsong filled the cavern.

He teleported instantly, flickering into place on the next ledge, the next foothold. He drew the second arrow into place in a heartbeat and fired again.

Another teleport, his aura burning away at an unchecked rate.

Another arrow, whistling across the divide between him and his enemy.

In one heartbeat, three attacks came from three different angles.

The first arrow caught her attention alright; she swept her blade down and a rippling swordlight annihilated it. The second arrow was already a split instant from her throat. Her sword pulled up at the last second, deflecting it across the thin, flexible flat of the blade. The third she met with a crescent sweep, seeking to cut the arrow out of the air…

It stuck fast to her blade instead. Nic had sealed the final one of his three arrowheads in sticky tar before firing, and wrapped an explosive talisman around the base.

With a sudden crack of fire in the gloomy valley, the swordswoman was thrown back.

Nic was already running. His feet wrapped in adhesive aura he shot across the walls of the valley’s edge, sprinting for the locust-headed demon.

His sword-hilt brushed across the wall and brought out a blade of heavy, gray-green stone. He dropped from the sky above the demon to bring his greatsword swinging down with thunderous force.

In the instant before he arrived, the demon reacted. It swung around and flicked its axe towards his head, forcing him to twist his trajectory and evade. Before his blade had landed, its thin, dexterous fingers had plucked a red paintbrush from the sarong of hides around its waist.

The paintbrush flicked across the air between them. A single line of inky energy was born.

Nic’s blow hammered down, sparks exploding up, and the inkwater defense broke apart. His blade clipped the beast across its chest, sending the locust stumbling back, but much of the killing momentum was already exhausted.

There wasn’t a heartbeat between moves. Nic’s feet hit the ground, his knees bending to absorb the force of the drop, and he pushed up out of that stance, converting the spring-loaded strength in his legs into a sprinting step forward; his blade swept out in a wide cut for the demon’s legs.

The locust-demon leapt upwards like a dancer, stabbing forward with the paintbrush delicately held between two fingers. An inky needle shot for Nic’s eye.

He stumbled back, twisting his spine backwards to let the blow clip his skull and rip away part of his scalp instead of piercing into the meat of his brain. The dodge was so clumsy it nearly made him fall onto his ass, the weight of his sword restricting him…

The locust-demon landed and advanced in one swift movement, swiping down at Nic with the perfectly soft and yet utterly razor-sharp paintbrush.

“Brother-killer!” It roared.

Nic twisted aside, swinging his body around the weight of the sword and, with all his strength, managing to bring the blocky earthen blade up to cross down over his shoulder and protect his body. The paintbrush flicked over the flat with a screeching note and a long line of sparks.

The locust hissed in satisfaction. Lines of ink exploded like tendrils, wrapping around the blade and binding it to the brush.

Nic smirked, and let the earth-blade vanish. The earth crumbled into loose stones, and a new one formed while the hilt was already mid-swing, a quick and agile blade of wind expanding out from the hilt. It swung in a brutally fast semi-circle and bit down into the calf of the demon’s leg. Its momentum sent it toppling forward as Nic drew the blade back to his hip, pointing outwards like a spear, and thrust for his enemy’s throat.

The locust unleashed its Shards. It opened its mouth and screamed, summoning a wave of force that pushed Nic’s blow back and sent his feet skidding across the earth, unbalanced him. Even as the echoes faded, eyes were opening in the dark, glowing irises and snow-white sclera blinking themselves into existence as their pupils flared with deadly light.

Nic didn’t wait to see what this next Shard did.

He was done waiting. After pushing his aura to the limits to teleport three times in rapid succession, he finally had enough, and he’d crippled his enemy’s leg to keep them from escaping his killing blow.

He poured energy into the nodes and the crystal Shard within his throat. With a single step forward, he spat a spear of gray mist into the locust-demon’s core.

It pierced through him like he was nothing, dissolving into threads and rivers of fog that poured into his body. Wherever the mist touched his black carapace went gray and crumbled apart, its stringy, insectile muscle dissolved into slime, and the bone beneath was revealed. In moments…

The demon had rotted to nothing. The paintbrush spilled from its dead fingers.

One down. It had all happened in less time than it would take to whistle a bar of song.

Nic turned just in time to see his other opponent escaping. As soon as the explosion had knocked her off guard, the gargoyles had descended. One had smashed her to the ground with its heavy talons and begun to thrash at her with huge, pulverizing blows. Nic had only caught the edges of the fight in his peripheral vision, but it had been bloody.

Only some kind of shielding treasure that filled the air with black ribbons had kept her alive.

Now she’d manage to twist away, and she ripped a string of red clay beads from her wrist to fling them up towards her attackers. Each bead grew as it flew through the air, moving like a living thing to slam into the gargoyles, the impacts cracking their stone skin and knocking them aside like dolls.

As she rolled back to her feet her eyes flashed. From that piercing, hateful gaze a line of misty swordlight erupted, slicing through the air like a serpent. It cleaved smoothly through the nearest’s gargoyles neck and cut its head from its shoulders. Without stopping, it struck into another’s chest and pierced through the rocky armor there…

She hadn’t actually killed the gargoyles before now. Her blows merely warded them away, but now? Now she was full of spite and anger…

They retreated up into the sky, leaving her to turn towards Nic. Blood drenched half of her face, lending a crimson savagery to her smile. “Pretty dirty trick…”

“Hey, I do what I can.” Nic croaked back.

Her blade was a short, simple affair; double-edged and white as a bone. It gave Nic an undeniable sense of threat. The person holding it? Equally scary.

They squared off for a moment.

She stepped forward, and her blade became a dancing line of light. Nic was outmatched from the first moment. Step after step he was forced to retreat, parrying where he could, being cut where he was an inch too slow, a heartbeat too late. The reach of her swordlight gave her an overwhelming advantage; the speed of her strikes made it impossible to close that distance.

Nic could only make a fighting retreat, and the ledge only gave him so far to retreat to.

The cuts ripped through the silvery layer of slime-armor Nic wore, leaving fast-sealing wounds below. No one strike carried much force, rather, they wove together so that he couldn’t advance without the force of his own movements tearing him to shreds.

And then-

There was a rippling, crystalline note. A piercing stab landed against Nic’s chest and stopped dead. Where the impact had struck against the Gwungo-armor, the slimy, slippery coating had evolved to form silvers scales.

“Did I do good?” Gwungo asked hopefully.

Nic grinned. “Oh, you did great.”

Stomping down into a single explosive step, he vaulted forward into the net of burning swordlight. They brushed against his skin and broke apart like spiderwebs. His own blade led the way, seeking for the swordswoman’s neck.