"What are you doing, Jack?"

Jack smiled up at Chu Hua after spending long moments gazing down at his friend's broken weapon, even as he looked up to gaze at a furiously scowling Aroust, no longer holding back his fearsome corona of killing intent he had tamed so utterly while wearing the mask of a fencer in the world above, here allowed to blaze unchained as he plunged one of their few remaining backup spears into the carefully spaced murder holes Jack had instilled in the walls to allow them just enough room to eye their enemies and do exactly what Aroust was doing, channeling his internal energy before exploding off his back-foot, his spear tearing through the air to slam into the midnight black scythe-like claws scrabbling and tearing at the battle-slits in the wall, flailing desperately at the humans the horrors were so eager to kill.

And Aroust's spear struck with the force of a charging knight.

Jack had absolutely no doubt it could have pierced even a breastplate of solid steel.

Yet to his dismay, it skittered right off the thick midnight hide of their horrific foes, even if he had temporarily forced one hideous claw back through the slit.

Jack was surprised by the venomous curse slipping past Chu Hua's lips. "Aroust is a worthy warrior, Jack, but even the best quality steel is worthless at piercing the hides of these creatures."

Jack gave a considering nod. "I know."

"And Veti is afraid to even shout her curses, afraid she'll weaken your barrier and if that happens..."

Jack sighed and nodded. "I know."

He then looked to Barlton, glaring at a separate murder slit from Aroust's own, carefully aiming his massive double shot crossbow before the string snapped and a bolt tore through the air, earning a screech and frantic scrabbling, but no other sign that it had done anything at all.

He was sensed Chu Hua now sitting beside him, the pair of them now gazing at the wall and the horrors beyond together.

"So what do we do?"

Jack turned to smile at the strikingly beautiful girl. "We do what we've done for the last two days. We continue to experiment, to see what works. Aroust continues to hone his Serpent Strike. Even I can tell his form has gotten tighter, he's striking out with even more power, speed, and accuracy than he had before. And Elof. In Ah Lam's care, he's actually learning how to use a spear properly and thrust with enough skill and killing intent that he'd be a feared soldier on any mortal battlefield.

Chu Hua's soft warm hand squeezed his own. "And the pair of them only have spears that haven't shattered to kindling because of you."

Jack nodded. "A pair of Resilience Blood runes I mastered long ago, using the absolute last dregs of potency I have. "

Chu Hua's gaze turned apologetic, her face now inches from his own.

"Because my sisters and I... you gave us your very life force, keeping us alive."

Jack felt his cheeks blaze at how close her cherry red lips were, soft brown eyes pinning his own, before gazing down at her own chest. "And you fixed my lamellar. Repairing all the ruptured plates with just a touch of your fingers," she said with a certain amount of awe.

Jack smiled. "I'm only sorry I can't make it stronger." Her eyes widened at those words. "Not yet, at least. I need to be very sparing with what little I have left for what comes next."

She furrowed her brow. "What comes next?"

Jack gazed intently at the slitted wall his friends were honing the edges of their skills against, the mana so rich and thick and terrible, the monsters so fierce, that they were gaining potency and leveling up at least a couple key skills, just by surviving, just by enduring the crucible before them, fighting against nightmare instead of screaming in the corner, which Elof had done for a good hour the night before, before being comforted by Ah Lam of all people, Barlton and Aroust both having to hold back their disdain.

And somehow, it had helped, for all that Aroust's gaze had made it clear he thought Elof already broken, the gentle, soft spoken girl by his side, so different from the outrageous actress of the day before... or so good at switching roles, being the confidant and friend Elof had clearly needed.

Before becoming a firm task mistress the next day, demanding Elof push himself like never before. Meditating, practicing the most basic thrusts with his spear until he was hitting the lesser construct of a target the girl had pulled free of storage, along with what was thankfully a generous several weeks worth of rations that would keep them all going awhile longer, exotic as the food was from their normal fair.

And in the space of a day, with the howls of monstrous horrors and the sweet dark miasma of nightmare flooding their lungs and souls, Elof had evolved from a still green youth who had barely earned his levels to a focused spearman whose skills were not only repolished but Jack was halfway convinced his young friend had picked up at least a single free rank in a warrior's feat as he roared 'Serpent's Strike!" his spear blasting through the clay maniquen once more.

And the way Ah Lam cheered him on, going form hard taskmistress to excited cheerleader made Jack wonder if maybe, just maybe, the outrageous performance of the day before was hinting at truths the girls had hidden behind their outrageous facade. And his eyes didn't lie, noting the way Su Li and Aroust were alternating warrior feat-enhanced strikes at the monstrosities beyond the slitted wall, even learning to strike in tandem, sharing pleased smiles when they managed to make one monstrosity or another scream.

And the look in Aroust's eyes when an over extending Ah Lam had almost gotten speared by a chillingly fast scythe-claw slipping through the murder slit as the horror tried to jerk her weapon forward and her off her feet made it clear her interest had not gone unreciprocated.

Fortunately those deadly scythe-like claws couldn't grip worth ship, and with Jack's bloodrunes in play, they couldn't chop into or chop a grip into the shafts of their weapons.

Even if they were effectively running out of time, with limiting rations, doing no better than bloodying the occasional horror's metaphoric nose.

Jack turned back to a worried-looking Chu Hua. His cheeks flushed as her warm hand clasped his own, heart racing with something in addition to constant fear, mind awhirl with thoughts of a girl literally a world away, who had made it very clear she would tie Jack to no strings, as if Stormy could just how crazy his life might become. Yet still, he missed a certain sensual dark skinned girl who had touched her heart. Even if she felt as transient as a dream right then, and was literally a world away.

And Chu Hua, gazing at him so intently, hand squeezing his own, was visceral and real in a way he could scarce put into words. And even as he castigated himself for daring to fall for two people, when soft full lips touched his own, he didn't fight it, relaxing into the kiss as his blood sang with a fierce, visceral hunger, finding himself holding her so tightly, now taking the lead and kissing her so fiercely, so passionately, before breaking it off endless seconds later.

He swallowed, breathless, flashing her a smile both apologetic and desperately hungry.

"Now? Now I go back to what I've been doing while our friends have been keeping those assholes busy."

Her features paled. "Jack, if you make even one mistake..."

"I know."

With those words he slipped forward, taking advantage of the furious occupation of the shadow fiends with furiously thrusting glaives, spears, and naginatas. Fruitless actions as their weapons could do little more than scratch near impenetrable Orange Tier defenses that were all but immune to steel's caress.

But hardly so fruitless as all that, Jack thought, as he made his way up the indentations he had carved into the reinforced stone with his will, feet away from the frenetic melee, his friends wasting time only for a few worried glances before thrusting through the murder slots with renewed vigor, doing all they could to claim the attention of their foes below while Jack worked his magic above.

Shifting stone so slowly now that he was all but depleted of potency, forced to rely on mana alone. Stone he had already reinforced by his own blood and will so could only move in small increments, as if he were working with hard river clay, his fingers and perhaps his will as well, aching and sore once more, and perhaps his willpower as well, feeling drained to his soul with is efforts as he worked on carving out an additional alcove in the ceiling that sloped over the rigid wall he had made, giving a view of the horror's deadly scythe like claws desperately hacking at the wall and slits before them, being rebuffed by polearms that did nothing but grab their attention and focus their fury, unable even to snap the annoying sticks wielded by their prey as Jack did all he could to strengthen the ceiling passageway he forged by dint of sweat and will, dreadfully certain he was over extending himself, bitterly afraid that even with chalk and monster bile the resilience wards would not be enough to stop his enemy's Orange Tier claws if they cottoned on to what he was doing... yet knowing they had no choice.

That if Jack didn't do something, eventually their food would run out and they would weaken and die, surrounded by living darkness crushing down upon their souls and the shrieks of the nightmare horrors that, as days turned to weeks, Jack feared eventually would break through even his bloodwards.

Because master tier or not, he was a level 0 nobody who actually had the gall to think he could survive in anything but the most humble of delves, head so filled with foolish dreams of maximizing his potential that his fragile body, now lacking any class at all, was just a single deadly swipe away from breathing his last.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut, allowing himself only a second's indulgent regret, pushing his self recrimination and a girl's desperate kiss out of mind, focusing once more on the task that had given him such a splitting headache before, yet was now more determined than ever to do.

Slipping his will alone into the inky black floor of the passageway, under the feet of his enemies, imagining that indestructible stone somehow softening, its unbreakable molecular bonds turning fluid and freeflowing as the monster's howls turned high pitched and uncertain as Jack's head began to pound, mana depleting to near nothing and this time, it was done.

Artificer Skillcheck successful! You have managed to loosen Tier 4 dreamstone currently under the feet of your enemy! Shadow Bears are suffering -4 to all finesse checks. Shadowbears are currently sinking into the floor!

Jack choked back a groan, surprised to see his mana crash all the way down to zero, realizing there was a price to pay, trying to shift Orange Tier dream matter under the feet of level 16 enemies that were in a distinctly different zone from his own buffed and reinforced territory just feet away. His own dileanation that had most certainly saved their lives now cost him a massive amount of mana to overcome, Jack's trembling hands coming so close to dropping one of his few remaining blue mana potions before taking a few trembling sips, exhausted mind suddenly haunted by the image of howlin bears leaping up through the quicksand-like morass they were now sinking into and effortlessly plunging their deadly claws through a less than perfectly warded ceiling tunnel and disembowling Jack before pulling him down into the furious nightmare below.

For it was furious as a full half dozen horrors screeched and struggled, his friends understanding instantly that now, more than ever, they had to distract their foes for all they were worth.

"Now, Veti!" Barlton's voice, echoing even up to where Jack was.

"But I can't, Barl. What if I weaken the stone and they poor in?"

"You've been practicing fer hours, lass! Ya know the banes that ya have the most control of! Strike the demon bastards with that, right quick. Do it now!"

And much to her credit, Veti did.

Even as their friends desperate jabs kept the horrors focused on clawing through the wall as opposed to, say, retreating, the hallway rang with the sounds of Veti's voice.

"Os Infirmare! Ruiticias! Tarda! Sicco Impetus!"

Words Jack sensed flowing past the largest vent as desperate claws slipped out, seeking balance from the sand so frictionless it was almost a liquid. Words that strove to degrade tough bones and chittin, sap their foes vitality, slow them down and inflict a desperate clumsiness upon them. And much to Jack's awe and relief, he sensed multiple curses take hold, only the one seeking to weaken their bones flowing off without purchase, as flesh that was utterly reslient to steel remained so.

But there was more than one type of bane, Jack thought, embracing the final desperate step of their gambit, Jack being the one who must dare dropping his forearms through a pair of carefully placed wholes as he gazed at the eyeholes he had made, whispering three words that took forever to utter. Words Jack knew could have been cut off a dozen times by the inhumanly fast milling swarm of monsters below who nonetheless couldn't find the purchase needed to leap for the ceiling.

Until, of course, one nightmare abomination of blackness actually did.

Dark beedy eyes in a pitch black face that looked a hideous amalgamation of bear and serpent, twisted ears immediately triangulating on Jack's quiet whispers even over teh sound of it's brethren and twisting about to leap frantically through the air, blasting through the ceiling just as effortlessly as Jack had feared it would.

And the agony he felt was just as horrific and jolting as Jack had feared it would be.

But even the gurgling scream in the back of his throat couldn't stop Jack from whispering the final syllable, and the world became a white hot crescendo of living flame.

"Ignis Ventus Sanguis!"

You have instantly plugged fortification slits with stone. Stone lacks any supernatural properties. Stone successfully protects against heat backlash!

You have successfully cast Dissolution Orbs (Instant Cast).

Frictionless stone powder has now been drenched with universal solvent!

You have saved versus agony and successfully cast Windfire!

Your foes have suffered Catastrophic Damage!

You have suffered Severe Damage reduced 2 tiers due to elemental affinity (it's your own spell) and Crimson Armaments!

The words washing over him were meaningless. All that mattered was the searing fires eating him alive even as he forced himself to push on, howling out the basic words to a level 1 Wind Ward that just barely kept the superheated air from searing his face off as his trembling arm continued to wash the horrors below in flame. Flame made all the hotter and more furious as the sand below, now fully lubricated by the universal solvent, also caught ablaze.

And Jack's screams were equally cries of furious glee as he channeled all his terror into furious hate, savoring being able to strike back at the horrors that had caused them such terror and unrelenting fear, savoring their howling shrieks as they danced to his flames, burning for his pleasure as he heated what was now effectively an extremely caustic sand pit into a blast furnace as one second blazed into another, Jack's tightly clenched eyes at risk of cooking right out of his head before the pain became intolerable and he finally shut the roof vents with a desperate act of will, body and mind now flooded with potency of his kills.

Even as he came perilously close to death, scrabbling back even as the air turned superheated and his skin cooked against the suddenly scalding hot stone as he struggled back, back, lungs screaming for air, not even trying to pace himself as the popped right out of his crevice to crash onto the ground, crying out in pain as he took great deep big gasping breaths as his spirit familiar's wind ward covered him in swirling cooling currents. Currents he could only now allow himself to feel, knowing that keeping that elemental in the crevice with him would have both alerted the horrors to something above and left his friends vulnerable to getting cooked, should the hastily patched murder holes give out under heat or desperately clawing limbs, several even now beginning to collapse as howling nightmares shrieked from just feel away as their party scuttled back to the far side of their last stand barricade, only to sense an equally massive horde of nightmare horrors still trying to smash through the wall now at their backs as they gazed at the furious blaze beyond the far wall, Jack's familiar alone keeping them from all being cooked alive.

Jack groaned as a concerned looking Aroust gently put him down, flashing Jack a fierce smile. "You did good, Jack. Damn good."

"Though he definitely looks the worse for wear," said a worried looking Veti. "His face and hands... hell, his eyes! Those are fourth degree burns!"

Jack groaned in pain. "What about my intestines?"

Here Veti frowned. "What about them?"

"I was..." Only then did he realize, feeling his tortured ribs with a trembling hand.

Miracle of miracles, the horror's vicious claw had not torn through the mithril reinforced gambeson. It had just bruised Jack's innards so bad he thought he was dying. And just might have, had he not had access to healing magic, like his own artifact or the soothing touch of Chu Hua, who he couldn't even see, save as an outline of heat and magic, now favoring him with a brilliant smile as she lay her healing hands on his scorched forehead.

And between one heartbeat and the next, his vision was restored, only then appreciating just how close he had come to death, how it was a miracle he hadn't collapsed in heat stroke and surely died.

Then the pain hit and he screamed for long seconds as wildly firing nerves calmed at last and his interface blazed with fresh messages.

You are directly responsible for the deaths of 6 Level 16 Shadow Bears!

Windfire is now Journeyman Rank 5!

Dissolution Orb is now Adept Rank 5!

Greater Air Spirit has increased in Level!

Artisanal Manipulation is now Adept Rank 4!

And it was all Jack could do just to keep himself in one piece, feeling almost as if his soul was about to explode under sudden terrible pressure as the potency of so many deadly adversaries was greedily devoured by his spirit, and he, the utter fool with no class to blossom under the pressure.

Only his sense of spells growing terrible and potent in his mind; his sense of how best to manipulate an enhancer's deadliest low tier spell growing ever clearer, his connection to the elemental crossroads between Air and Flame, catalyzed by his own furious bloodmagics, growing ever more profound, hands blazing excess potency with liquid flame even as he choked back a scream from agony even more profound than the pain he had endured just moments ago, doing all he could to lose himself in the cool Midnight Mantel so close to this level of nightmare and dream, allowing all the excess potency of his mad battle for survival somehow flowing into the cool, now near indestructible walled off corridor they called their own as his mind suddenly exploded with fresh new insights in how best to manipulate the physical world around him.

And it was a good thing the excess burst of potency fused itself to their miniature sanctuary. For with the death of half a dozen of their own, the nightmare horrors were tearing at the far wall with a fanatic zeal that transcended any concept of sanity.

And still, they could not break through, at least during the endless hours Jack lost himself in the bliss of unconciousness before being forcefully pulled back to the realm of the living once more.

"Jack, we got a problem!"