There were only a few moments to consider his next move. Clive alone had taken a significant chunk out of Hirrus. That was undeniable. But even if he hadn’t, the raw weight of numbers arrayed against him meant he wouldn’t last long in this fight.

The adventurers advanced, readying their weapons. For a fight Hirrus knew he would lose.

Instead, he did the best thing he could think of, given the situation.

Hirrus left.

The mechanics of his leaving were the best he could come up with on the fly. While not physically present, Clive himself was still the primary antagonist. He’d selected this room well to corner Hirrus. It meant there weren’t many options available. The only escape Hirrus could see was a row of windows against the back wall. They were placed high up on the wall, and were only a couple square feet each.

Reaching them would be a challenge, and squeezing through the narrow space would be nearly impossible.

He had a tool to mitigate all of that, though.

Clive’s hit squad had hand-delivered it to him not long ago.

While the room had been well-chosen to corner him, the size of it meant that he had plenty of time to employ the RiesenFeuer Arcana to blast an opening in the back wall, just as the adventurers had blasted open the inn.

The blast rocked the building as chunks of stone were shot from the obvious support wall.

“Stop him,” one of the adventurers said before Hirrus could make it more than a step towards his escape route. “He’s making a break for it!”

One of the others flung their hands up at Hirrus, and a green orb flew through the air between them. He had no time to dodge. It stuck to Hirrus like glue, but had no immediate effect. No debuff that he could see.

“Got him,” the woman who had flung the orb snapped, waving the others back with a gesture. “Circle around to the back door and cut him off, he won’t get far!”

Hirrus wasn’t sure what she meant by that, and while he expected her Arcana was going to do something unpleasant to him shortly, it didn’t appear to be impeding his ability to eject himself from the situation.

Split Second let him dash through the opening faster than they could stop him.

Once he was out the opening he’d created in the wall, he dropped to the grounds behind the building. He hit the ground running, activating his Electric Field ability to put on a long-lasting burst of speed to get him the space to consider his next move.

He only got two more steps before there was a sudden high-pitched popping sound right behind him.

Hirrus whirled to find an armored figure next to him. It was the woman who’d flung the orb at him. Her shortsword was in hand, now glowing the same greenish hue as the pulsating ball stuck to him.

That was when it exploded.

It was a thumping blast of force, and the greenish glow of it engulfed Hirrus' entire body. The burst did four thousand one hundred and seventy damage, and applied a debuff. For the next five seconds, his movement speed was reduced by 40%, outstripping the 30% he was gaining from Electric Field.

He wasn’t able to elude the woman as she lunged in with her glowing blade.

The sword lanced for him, and while his legs felt sluggish and weighed-down, his arms were under no such effect, and his Arcana’s attack speed buff brought his icy greataxe around more than fast enough to deflect the weapon. She whipped the blade with flair and speed appropriate for her flashy opening, but her form was sloppy. It was as if she had the tools to look good, but not the familiarity to make her attack effective and efficient.

Hirrus' axe crashed against her shoulder before her second strike could come in.

The impact of the axe sent her reeling back. Six thousand six hundred and fifty-two damage drew a choking yelp from her. She danced back with unexpected speed. Another Arcana must have been aiding her disengagement, since he couldn’t hope to keep up with her while slowed down by her sticky bomb attack.

“How the fuck,” she snarled, grabbing at her shoulder, where the axe had cracked apart the metal plated pauldron. Her facial features were dainty, with an upturned button nose and cupid’s-bow lips, but when she looked up at him again they were twisted with undisguised rage. “You fucking bastard! I’ll kill you before any of them even get out here to see it!”

Considering Hirrus still had over thirty thousand hit points left, that didn’t seem likely to him. But he wasn’t going to criticize her until he saw what she had planned. Perhaps she had been holding something back.

But that wasn’t the case. What she had planned was, apparently, to run at him with her glowing blade held forth.

His axe swept up, intercepting her charge. Her strike scraped against his chest for one thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven damage, but the blow he dealt in return was another over six thousand damage.

There was no contest.

The momentum of her enraged charge carried her corpse past him, where it flopped to the ground in ignoble defeat.

Hirrus was surprised to learn that all of the effects she had inflicted had come from a single Arcana. He made a note of how varied and versatile a tool such abilities could be.

Seeker’s Spike

+2 SUP +32 Crit Rating

Damage: 1xATT + 1.75xRES

Cast time: 0.25 seconds

Cooldown: 50 seconds

Added effect: Damage is dealt 4.5 seconds after striking the target, and inflicts a 40% move speed slow for 5 seconds. Activating this Arcana again during this time will teleport you to the target, granting you +40% move speed and +15% physical damage for 5 seconds.

He didn’t have time to consider the potential here and now.

What he needed was to get clear before-

Near at hand, a door flung open in the back of the building, covering the yard with a wedge of light. Three people piled out of the opening before Hirrus could take two more steps. His third step was finally unburdened by the earlier slow effect, but the adventurers behind him were already catching up, and only grew more numerous.

“Get in front of him!” a voice came from behind. “Cut him off! Don’t let him get out into the countryside!”

That they feared his escape was all Hirrus needed to know about the situation. They feared failure more than death by his hands. Feared what that failure would mean in the eyes of their overlords.

He could certainly kill several of them before they brought him down, depending on the potency of their Arcana. But unless he could force them to split up to fight in smaller groups, he was going to trade those deaths for his own.

If they didn’t want him to escape, then that was exactly what he needed to accomplish.

Sprinting down the hill to the wall, Hirrus was surprised to find that there were no guards already positioned to block his way. The guards being focused on the tighter perimeter afforded by the buildings had made penetrating those defenses a challenge, but it meant that once he’d busted out through the wall, there was no one in the way to stop him. He considered using his High Jump to clear the wall again, but he was unsure if he would need it later in his escape.

He had other ways, anyway.

RiesenFeuer wouldn’t be ready for another full minute, and so Hirrus slammed his awareness against Arcana that would increase his physical potency. Iron Typhoon and Going Ape lit up in his mind, and he focused all his strength into the head of his greataxe. He whipped the weapon around, bringing it up and then down when he reached the wall.

The impact brought the momentum of his sprint to a full stop, but the strike hit the wall like a battering ram. He knew the defensive statistics of the wall would far outstrip those of any adventurer, but the brick still cracked beneath the power of his blow. For a moment, it appeared like it would hold, but the double strike blow imparted by Iron Typhoon came in, turning the crack into an opening.

It was just wide enough for Hirrus to squeeze through.

“Fuck!”

The strange word spoken in anger came from right behind him, and he turned to see a stout-looking adventurer wedged into the opening only a foot away. The man could have fit through if he wasn’t wearing plated leg armor that was just a little too wide to allow his thighs through the gap.

Just the same, the man flung his hands out towards Hirrus, and a blade of sand flew through the air, striking him in the face. It only did one thousand two hundred and two damage, but applied a blinding debuff that sent the world dark.

“I got him!” the voice crowed. “I got him! Get out there and finish him!”

“Fucking how?” someone said with a frustrated sigh. “You’re blocking us in here, fatass!”

Unable to see, all Hirrus could do was blast behind himself with Peppered Breath. It was a cone attack that would fill the area, hopefully slowing them down. Unfortunately, he was only aware of it hitting one target, but with the huge BUR bonus of Going Ape, it inflicted a staggering fourteen thousand two hundred and thirty three damage to that target.

Hirrus turned without seeing where he was going and ran in the opposite direction.

He hoped he wasn’t about to blunder into reinforcements before his vision returned.

A moment later, the burn effect of Peppered Breath rewarded him with the knowledge that the man who was wedged into the wall had burned to death, as well as a new Arcana.

Ascension’s Sands

+10 GLE +160 Cleave Rating

Damage: 1xBUR + 1.25xSUP

Cast time: 0.125 seconds

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Added effect: Inflict Blind for 10 seconds.

Hirrus felt himself staggering on his way away from the wall, the uneven ground making for dangerous going while he couldn’t see. But he didn’t hear any sounds of pursuit. He wasn’t sure if that meant they’d feared his damage output, or if the man who’d blinded him had died plugging the gap, stopping them from getting out that way.

Regardless, it was only a few more seconds before his vision returned.

A quick glance around told him that his blind choices had been well-made. He’d stayed running on relatively flat ground, which meant he’d circled around the nearest hill, cutting off line of sight to Clive’s estate.

He wasn’t out of danger yet, but with no adventurers in sight, the onus was on them to find him, rather than on him to escape them.

Not that he could be lazy.

Being so far ahead, though, meant he had a moment to plan. He was grateful for how he’d escaped - creating the opening in the wall meant they would believe he’d gotten in the same way. They wouldn’t be prepared for him to High Jump over the wall again. If him returning was even on their mind, they would be guarding the hole he’d cut on his way out, and looking for a similar one to have been his entrance.

All he had to do was evade his pursuers, circle back to the estate, and get inside before Clive’s would-be guards had the chance to give up the chase.

In the meantime, his Phrase of Luminosity Arcana, applied liberally, would ensure that when he found Clive again, he wouldn’t be entering at a disadvantage.