"Now, strike as one!"

"Dragon Cleave!"

"Naga Strike!"

Spells and Power Attacks resonated across Jack's interface, now so attuned he could sense the bursts of thought and intent as if he was catching glimpses of his party members focused intent as they struck out with killing intent, their dread soul-bound artifacts effortlessly tearing through the carapaces of the latest hellish denizen to flood this hellish realm, massive swarms of skittering centipedoids with mandibles so sharp they could chew through steal like butter.

Especially now that the girls attacks had evolved, each of them having earned no less than 10 levels in their basic cleaving blows, each of the girls choosing to evolve their forms along different paths that would allow them to rupture even magical wards, pierce any physical defense even beyond what their artifacts would allow, or simultaneously attack and defend with Chu Hua's mongoose form, a defensive choice perfect for a tactician who was now spending a good portion of her level up points developing skills that would allow the party to synergistically strike and defend like a well-oiled machine.

Yet much to Su Li's surprise and horror, even their increasing mastery of the battlefield and all the precautions taken didn't entirely discount the misfortunes of folly and war, when one of the hellish myriapods swarming from the hole Jack rapidly constricted burst out just in time to sprin for Su Li the instant she was off balance and all eyes were focused on separate prey, vicious mandibles plunging into the base of her neck... only to find to her profound relief that blood rune strengthened mithril was one element even their fearsome mandibles couldn't pierce, for all that they tried.

"Sister!"

For all her terror, Chu Hua's movements were now those of a consummate master, Her evolved Mongoose form and Advanced tier of Warrior's Grace showcasing itself in the infinite control with which her naginata flickering forward at impossible speed to both slice open and tear off the Hell-pede from her sister's back in a flicker of chittin and viscera. A feet performed so blindingly quick Jack had barely caught it, Su Li now choking out a quick chant that caused her hand to glow as she healed her own damaged neck which otherwise might have swollen for the horrific bruising, even if the frustrated centipede had been unable to tear it open as it had so fervently attempted.

And all Jack felt was a furious killing rage, both at himself and the horrors that had swarmed with such chilling speed and lethal intent, this time not hesitating to jam half his forearm in the crack and snarling past the hideous burst of pain as near instantly mandibles tore into his Crimson Gauntlet... but not before Jack roared out the first two words of his spell, which was all he needed to instantly incinerate the horrors in the now forked hallway ahead with flame.

"Ignis Ventus Sanguis!"

He only needed to say the first two words aloud now, the split second casting time now a mirror of his Tier 1 spell, so tight and efficient his control had become. And though this time he paid a bitter price for his caution, the extra second he took to carefully say all three words aloud aided his control all the more. Vital, in such tight perilous chambers which in the end only worked to their advantage. He couldn't help but flash a fierce smile through his sudden sharp pain as he sensed the mental shrieks of literally dozens of those Level 16 Hell-pedes as he now thought of them as they shriveled and died, leaving nothing but their impossibly hard chitin behind. A fitting end to creatures possessing mandibles so sharp and deadly, and movements so hideously fast, that one had actually managed to chomp off one of Jack's fingers and tear halfway through a second finger before the split passage became a superheated blast-kiln, the half dozen of Hellpedes closest to his liquid flame instantly consumed, shells and all, a heartbeat before another dozen exploded, their insides flashed boiled inside their sealed carapaces as Jack sealed off the stone slit a second later, the burns on his face so much less than they should have been, were it not for his familiar deliberately spraying him with the chilly icewater they now habitually had at the ready to whip into the air before every encounter. To say nothing of his own growing resistance to vagaries in heat and cold as he got ever closer to mastering the element of Flame.

"Jack, your hand!" Chu Hua's anxious voice washed over him, before it turned to a gasp of awed disbelief as yet another of the perks of surviving so long in the Deeps of Orange tier Abyss and ever strengthening party unity manifested in ways transcending any standard class paradigm as his fingers fully regenerated themselves in a matter of seconds.

Your party has slain 26 Hellpedes! You have directly slain 21 Greater Centidedes!

You have declined claiming extra potency for personal kills. All potency has been evenly distributed among all party members.

You have gained increasing mastery of the skills Rune Forging & Artisanal Manipulation.

You have gained increasing mastery of the spell Windfire.

Congratulations! You have achieved Elite Rank with Windfire! (Tier 3 Masterwork Air/Fire/Blood spell) You have chosen the Perk: Savant's Boon! - With a basic Arcane Manipulation skill check, you can manipulate your spell as you see fit! (Note, a skill check is still needed with significant alterations of your spell.)

Excess Potency transferred to Pristine State Restoration.

All injuries have been healed with the death of your foes.

And the awe Jack felt as he was struck with sudden epiphany, flashes of insight regarding how best to manipulate the confluence of Air and Fire, how very similar liquid flame was to the viscocity of blood, at least in the ether, sent him crashing to his throbbing knees. So overwhelmed by the flashes of insight shivering across his skull that the sight of his mangled fingers being restored in seconds hardly registered, for all that his friends gasped.

He was overwhelmed by sudden insight, realizing what a fool he had been, to only now realize how the very same skill he had used to such wondrous effect shaping his fusion of blood and mithril could equally be used to manipulate the blazing cone of liquid fire roaring forth from his impossibly deadly and now absolutely favorite spell. Appreciating at that moment to the depths of his soul the wondrous confluence of Air and Fire, fed and given deadly life by his own essence, flowed through the ether like the most ephemeral cloud of diluted mithril.

He shook his head in wonder even as he squinted at the bright red heat coming from the stone that would have cracked at the temperature differentials, were it not for blood runes. To say nothing of his familiar's own mastery of summoning bone-chilling gales of wind, so very useful for allowing them to survive unscathed the seconds they were all subjected to the blast kiln furnace of Jack's spells.

And now his skills had evolved to the point that he could manipulate the infusion of blood and mithril saturated with the power of his runes to forge weapons that existed only in realms of Shadow and Nightmare, not to mention reinforcing all of their armor armor with a protective coating of mithril and blood runes that not even hell-pedes could puncture.

Elite ranks aside, he he only now realizing how he could use that same sense of pressure and control over that priceless, wondrous magical alloy to manipulate his magical spells in the same way?

Of course he knew it was not that simple. Most magic was far too frail and ephemeral to manipulate like he did Mithril ore. But Windfire was now so saturated with his potency, with his blood, he could now shape and mold it to his will.

Of course, he knew this had limits. Liquid flame infused with blood potency was a far different beast from mithril, and he dare not experiment with such a deadly spell in such close confines being utterly untrained, unpracticed, going on hunches alone. At least, not without being extremely careful, starting only with the most minute of changes, slowly increasing his mastery from there.

yet he couldn't help but give a fierce, satisfied smile at his own resolve, filled with a sudden sense of heady euphoria near the equal of teamates cheering having finally broken through to Level 13, his friends truly growing into their powers at a legendary pace.

And all he had to do was look at a jubilant Su Li, bouncing in the arms of an overjoyed Elof, to know how precious their lives were, how close they had all come to death, Su Li's near decapitation having only been a single mithril boosted choker away from becoming a horrific reality, showing that even at an absolutely absurd level 13, they were still just a single misstep away from oblivion, dying in these corridors just as completely and utterly as if they had all been wiped out at Level 1.

And never had Jack felt the desperate need to master his spells, master his tactics, and master himself as much as he did at that moment, for all that he was haunted by the desperate need to excel and improve himself, and finally forge his damned class, nearly every day.

Knowing that their greatest trial and very likely the spot of their imminent demise was just a stone's throw away.

He swallowed a bitter chuckle.

What he would do for an Air Essence orb, preferably one with a tinge of crimson, wondering if his hunch that he could then fuse all of his elemental affinities into a single glorious bloody whole.

"Jack?"

The group's excited jubilation at having survived another close brush with death, and the incredibly sweet rush of the greatest runner's high imaginable as they all broke through to level 13 almost simultaneously, was such that it took them long moments to register Jack's grave expression.

No matter that he had tried to hide it.

Yet his girl's perception was now so keen, and she knew him so well, that she could feel the pounding of his heart as minute vibrations through the stone floor.

To say nothing of the other connections they now shared.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

Jack took a deep shuddering breath, gazing for long moments at the strikingly beautiful girl with such elegant features, her almond eyes frowning gently at him, the brilliant lustre of her irises blossoming from brown to amber to what was now a sparkling ruby hue in the endless weeks he had come to know her, windows to a soul blossoming exponentially as they all fought for their lives with every breath, it sometimes seemed.

Even so, the way she bit her lip, making her look so fetching and adorable even as her eyes radiated such concern touched his heart as he glimpsed underneath her mantle of near inhuman power, an uncertain girl worried about the boy she had claimed as her own.

Soft fingers gently wrapped around his now completely healed yet naked digits, having protected his hands with Crimson Armaments alone. A mistake, it turned out, for all that the spell had leveled considerably in his time in this hell hole.

"Jack, talk to me? You look like you saw a ghost!"

"And far worse horrors than ghosts, we're forced to kill every day," said Veti with a bemused smile, before she furrowed her brows and paled, as if she too could sense what Jack was trying to hold back, having known Jack, been partied with Jack many months longer than Chu Hua and her sisters.

But she was graceful enough to turn what might have been accusation, or fear, into a question.

"Jack?"

Jack swallowed, doing his best to calm his racing heart.

The jolt of forboding flicking his soul with icy tendrils of dread.

Because they had a right to know.

Even if it could kill them.

They had a right to be free.