Hirrus was pinned down. There was nowhere to retreat to without putting himself or someone else in danger. If he tried to cross the room, they would know.

One of his foes-to-be had just blasted the entire wall apart. Bricks still tumbled from the hole, crumbling to the floor with an audible thud.

He didn’t want another attack like that.

Hirrus tried to think about his options. Taking an explosion of that kind directly to the face would likely be fatal. While Hirrus knew it was probably the work of a powerful Arcana and it would not be ready for use for a while. But he didn’t know if such powerful adventurers could have more than one like that prepared for him.

On the other hand, they’d just blasted the building open. If he stayed where he was, they were going to bring the whole building down, possibly killing everyone inside.

Doomed to stay, and doomed to go.

“What’s happening?” Dahlia yelled in a whispered tone from across the room, having been awakened by the blast. In the light that spilled through the hole in the wall, Hirrus could see she was unharmed. She clutched at her sheets, pulling them to her chest as if they would protect her.

“Don’t worry, “Hirrus whisper-shouted. “Stay where you are. I’ve got this under control.”

The most pressing need was to draw this attack away from the inn. Even if he stepped outside to fight the group of adventurers, he had to make sure the inn wouldn’t be a casualty of any wayward attacks - especially if those attacks might catch a load bearing wall.

It might cost him taking a few hits during the run, but it was necessary. He had to get out there, secure their attention, and run to a safer place to stage a proper fight.

“Come out,” one of the adventurers demanded, as if they knew his mind. “We’ll make this quick. I’ve got an early Zoom call in the morning.”

Hirrus looked to Dahlia, motioned for her to stay put, and then swapped his nightclothes for his armor.

With a deep breath, and in absence of any other option, Hirrus took a running leap out of the hole in the wall.

The room was only on the second floor. His drop to the street wasn’t dangerous, but was far enough that when he hit the ground he had to land in a crouch, absorbing the impact with his knees.

“There he is!” the robed adventurer yelled. “Get him! Get him!”

The two heavily armored adventurers charged forward. Hirrus turned and broke into a run.

There was a crackling sound and Hirrus quickly juked to the left. Another little orb of flames sailed past him. The robed adventurer said something Hirrus couldn’t quite make out, but he didn’t focus on it. It was likely just another weird curse in that strange tongue.

As soon as he could, Hirrus ducked around the next corner and started running. He activated Split Second to get a big head start.

But Hirrus’ plan wasn’t to lead them on a long chase.

He just wanted to get somewhere safe to fight.

The Temple Village district was next to the city’s outer wall, and a few of the larger buildings closer to the main gate were made of solid stone. Hirrus was bold enough to hope that whatever blast had taken a chunk out of the brick-and-wood wall of the inn wouldn’t be sufficient to destroy a stone slab structure, or the reinforced stone of the city wall.

He drew up short and whirled, ready to make his stand.

Hirrus was shocked to see that one of the adventurers was already on top of him. The man’s enormous glowing blue axe was sweeping in at him before Hirrus could even set his feet.

Without any other options, Hirrus swept his own axe out. He aimed to turn the unexpected surprise attack into a trade. His axe scraped across the leather lamellae of the adventurer’s chest piece as the greataxe slammed into his own dark metal pauldron.

Empowered by Juri’s gear, Hirrus' strike did a surprisingly solid five thousand one hundred and twelve damage. For a moment, he thought the upgrades may have rendered him indomitable.

But the adventurer’s attack did five thousand four hundred and eleven.

Just slightly higher. And this was when the man was alone.

Hirrus likely had significantly more hit points than even this seasoned adventurer, but with three more of them rounding the corner to join the fight, this was going to be a rough encounter.

As he moved to ready another attack, the enormous blue ice axe came around again with overwhelming swiftness. Hirrus barely had time to meet it with his own weapon and parry the glowing edge upwards, letting it pass over his head. It bought him enough time to activate Iron Typhoon, giving himself the speed to keep up as the huge weapon whirled around a third time.

Hirrus was unable to avoid the next swing of the axe before it slammed into his gut, but he was able to land another attack of his own on the adventurer’s upper arm. Hirrus' attack dealt five thousand two hundred and twelve damage, while the adventurer dealt five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine.

Instead of swinging again, the adventurer darted back, clearly possessed by unnatural speed borne of whatever Arcana. Hirrus was about to move to pursue to try and deny his retreat, but the adventurer in black spiked armor rushed up to check Hirrus' advance.

This adventurer’s spiked metal club swept out in a clumsy strike, and Hirrus easily ducked under the blow before slamming his axe into the newcomer’s ribs. This man’s armor was much hardier, and so Hirrus’ blow only did nearly a thousand points of damage less, but the impact of the blow still sent the man stumbling back.

“Healing,” the adventurer with the greataxe shouted in a demanding tone. “Now!”

“Jesus,” the man in spiked armor said. “He hits like a fucking truck!”

The man with the greataxe grinned. “Nah. I’ve been hit by a truck. He hits like Orlina. Much worse.”

The other two adventurers caught up, and the one with the sword and shield made a gesture at the man with the greataxe. There was a golden glow that erupted from the ground beneath him, coating him in radiant energy that faded quickly.

“Fuck, is that it? Just this fucking slow-ass HoT?”

“I’m not a fucking healer,” the adventurer with the shield shot back. “I only have that spell equipped for the attack speed passive, not to actually carry some dumbass floor tank. And the flavor, I guess.” She motioned at herself. “You know, paladin vibes.”

The man in the robes puffed, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees so he could catch his breath. “Why don’t we have a fucking healer, then? Who the fuck arranged this?”

“Fucking Clive,” the adventurer in black armor muttered.

Despite the distraction of the nearby conversation, the man in black armor pressed the attack as viciously as possible.

The weapon swept straight down at Hirrus, and all he could do was turn to try and make it a glancing blow. He was successful, but it still dealt two thousand two hundred and sixty-five damage, sending him staggering to the left.

Hirrus came back with a backhand. The counter-strike would definitely have been a glancing blow, but the decorative spikes in the armor caught Hirrus' weapon and made it land solidly instead, dishing out five thousand one hundred and eighty-nine damage in return.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” the black-armored man cursed. “I’m out! I’m out! Trade in!”

“What happened to your fucking bullshit, Cary?” the man with the greataxe demanded.

The man with the black armor backed off, and the adventurer in grey platemail stepped up. Her sword was embedded in an integrated scabbard on her shield, and she’d put it there to be able to use her healing Arcana on the other adventurer. The adventurer tipped her shield, angling it so that her drawing the weapon swept the blade across Hirrus' face.

He tried to lean back to avoid the blow, but the blow connected, cutting across his jawline. It was a bloody cut that immediately dropped a curtain of red down his neck and into the purple velvet of his armor, but the hit only did two thousand three hundred and six damage.

Hirrus pressed the attack with his new opponent. He smashed his axe down against her shield with a snarl.

Iron Typhoon increased his speed, and so the shield blocking the blow was no impediment.

As soon as her weight shifted with the force of his attack, he swept the weapon underneath the shield, smashing her in the thigh. The armor there made a crackling sound of brittle metal meeting too much stress, and the blow dealt four thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight damage, and was shortly followed by a double strike, adding another three thousand six hundred and fifty-one damage.

The adventurer staggered under the force of the blow with a gasp. She took a few steps to the side, and Hirrus saw why they were so willing to throw their hit points at him recklessly.

There was no time to escape.

The man in robes - Cary, if Hirrus had heard right - was holding up his hands, directed at Hirrus, and the air was shimmering in front of him.

“Bite the dust!” Cary yelled, ripping his hands apart and unleashing the Arcana.

There was a whoosh of flames and an enormous orb of fire materialized in the shimmering space. It was about four feet in diameter, and filled the air with heat and blinding light.

Hirrus didn’t even have time to process an appropriate response before it ripped across the alleyway and slammed into his chest.

When it struck, it engulfed Hirrus' entire world, exploding in a blast that took him from his feet.

It dealt a staggering ten thousand two hundred and forty-five damage. That was more damage than Hirrus had ever taken at a single stroke. It was a huge chunk of his total hit points, and he barely had time to register it before he landed on his back on the ground, Juri’s armor striking sparks on the stone street.

“Thank fuck,” the woman in grey armor said. “He got a double strike off on me. One more hit like that, and I was going to-”

She cut off when Hirrus sat up.

The front of him was blackened with soot, and the smell of burned hair was strong enough that he was sure he didn’t have any eyebrows anymore. But even that blow had been less than a fifth of his total hit point.

Hirrus’ decision tree screamed that he should be stunned by the attack. But he was free of its guidance. Hirrus struggled to his feet.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” the adventurer in leather armor shouted, gesturing angrily with his icy greataxe. “You’re fucking kidding me!”

“Uh, um” the adventurer in robes started to stammer. “I’ve got another forty seconds before the next one of those. Oskar? You’re supposed to be the super badass. I assume you have another trick up your sleeve?”

“As soon as this fucking stupid HoT gets me out of kill range, I’ll get right on it,” the man with the greataxe shot back.

“Cary,” the woman with the shield said, taking a defensive stance. “Message Clive right now. Tell him what we’re dealing with. Everyone who’s described this thing as a dungeon boss is underselling him. The next team needs to come armed for bear. We need a real raid team on him.”

Hirrus managed to get his feet under him. He brushed the soot off of the front of his chest. His enemies looked on in fear. They were trying to regroup and plan for their next assault, and Hirrus couldn’t allow that. Alric had warned him that adventurers were very good at developing strategies when armed with enough information.

Cary had to be stopped before he could warn this attack’s mastermind about anything.

Hirrus didn’t wait longer. He charged in at the adventurers arrayed against him. The woman with the shield stepped up to block Hirrus, and he flung up his hands with an Arcana of his own. Purple pellets struck her shield and armor, dealing one thousand eight hundred and fifty damage, but sending her staggering back out of his path.

Cary barely managed to get a weapon out - a gnarled staff - before Hirrus was on top of him.

Hirrus’ axe came down, and as soon as it landed, he knew the man was done for. The strike was a critical hit, and with the multiplier bonus on Juri’s gear, he dished out eleven thousand two hundred and sixty-three damage. That didn’t finish the job, but he was still within the last second of Iron Typhoon, and immediately after was a double-strike hit for another eight thousand four hundred and forty-eight.

The man was split open from shoulder to sternum. A spray of red coating Hirrus' face and hands.

“Oh my god,” the man in black spiked armor shouted. “He killed Cary!”

“Bastard!” the woman in grey armor yelled, charging in at Hirrus' back.

Hirrus whirled on her, tipping his head to the side to let her blade whip through the air past his ear. Her attack had been her entire focus, and it left herself wide open for Hirrus to drive his axe into her gut. The blow landed solidly for four thousand nine hundred and ninety six damage, accompanied by another crackling sound of her armor’s brittle metal.

She grunted under the blow, but stayed on her feet. Her sword came across his chest, inflicting nearly half of Hirrus’ damage as it slid a huge gash across the bloodstained purple velvet, and left a deep furrow in the metal chestplate beneath.

It was her last move.

Hirrus' axe came back across in a vicious backhand. Her shield raised to intercept the attack, but he angled his blow too high. It glanced off the shield and right into the side of her head, dealing four thousand eight hundred and seventy-five damage.

She hit the ground face-down, a pool of blood fountaining out of the deep wound in the side of her head.

“Oh fuck this.” The man in black spiked armor turned and made a run for it.

Hirrus couldn’t let the man escape, but only had limited options for dealing with someone at range. His instincts were developing now, and his attention turned to his available Arcana. Hirrus thrust his hand forward and pelted the man’s back with his TK Bullets ability. It did only one thousand five hundred and sixty damage, but his earlier assaults had hit the man harder than Hirrus had thought.

The knockback effect took the man off his feet, but he was dead before he hit the ground.

The last adventurer standing raised his greataxe. “Alright. Well, I guess we’re soulsborne up in this bitch.”

“What?” Hirrus squared off against the man. “You aren’t going to run?” His words were questioning, but his tone was more surprised.

He’d expected this man to act like all other adventurers. It was honestly refreshing to see one standing to face his death.

“Nah. Not unless you make me chase you.” He rolled his shoulders, and a slight reddish glow ran over the man’s skin. He bent as the knees and another bluish glow lit him from below. It was obvious that he was activating Arcana, buffing himself up for the fight to come.

“I’m not usually one for dramatic monologues,” Hirrus said, pausing in a certain way as if he was going to add a ‘but’.

Instead, he charged.