“You ready?” Ethan looked to Miguel and Sam. Behind the wooden door he could hear rowdy bandits drinking and laughing. His plan relied on their distraction.

Both his friends nodded and Ethan checked the time. With David, Tae-Won and Leah so far away they had no way to communicate easily so they arranged their attack based on the shared timer. Thirty seconds. Ethan watched the timer countdown. At 00:49:05 he triggered his Enrage. His muscles felt tighter as all his pent up anger was released.

At forty eight minutes remaining exactly he kicked through the door in front of him.

The thin door shattered as it was ripped from its hinges. Splinters of wood flew into the crowded great hall as all the bandits turned and looked at the explosive intrusion.

Before many could get to their feet, Ethan leapt into the middle of them. The shockwave from his impact sent several tumbling backwards as he swung wildly with his enchanted axe. The few that managed to gather their wits and attack the intruder found their weapons bouncing off the shield Miguel had cast while Ethan was in the air.

Behind him screams of terror and pain echoed in the stone chamber and a blast of heat radiated at him. Sam had entered immediately after Ethan, summoning a vortex of flame that burned every bandit in a searing cone directly in front of him.

Seconds later David bashed through the door at the opposite end of the hall, using his Consecration to draw the attention of the bandits at that end. Leah followed quickly summoning a weak tornado in between David and Ethan. The small windstorm picked up tables and benches and flung them across the room. Rapidly she shifted form to a massive lion and entered the fray.

The drunken bandits fell quicker than Ethan expected. His axe cleared through the tightly packed attackers, severing or crushing limbs of the ones that he didn’t manage to kill. A few fortunate ones landed blows of their own but Miguel quickly healed him. He was finally getting his wish of something to do.

A downward slash took off the head of a bandit charging at him and Ethan took a quick glance at his health and stamina. He’d been enraged for longer than he ever had had before, and couldn’t risk exhaustion in the middle of the brawl.

HP 102/199

Mana 195/195

Stamina 187/390

Half his stamina was gone and there were still dozens of bandits to kill.

Off to his side, he saw Sam conjuring a large swirling ball of blue energy. With a push, he released the ball at Leah’s dwindling tornado. The icy blue energy collided with it and formed a blizzard. Suddenly shards of ice were flying through the entire room.

“Hey!” Miguel shouted, blood trickling down from a cut in his face. A razor sharp ice shard had cut him.

“Sorry, thought that would be a good idea.” Sam apologized as he cast bolts of shadow and curses at bandits.

“It was, good improvising.” Ethan complimented his friend as he cut down another attacker. He couldn’t see Tae-Won amidst the chaos of the battle, but that just meant he was doing exactly as he should: attacking and disappearing.

A thud and a sudden sharp pain hit him in the shoulder causing him to wince. Ethan reached back and pulled out an arrow as another lodged into his side. Blood poured from his wounds and a “Bleeding” debuff appeared in his view.

“Miguel!” He called for healing, looking for the archer who was shooting him. The bandits were packed together trying to reach him. They climbed over tables and benches, blocking his view of the archer as another arrow whizzed passed him.

Ethan swore in frustration and lifted his axe high over his head before slamming it into the ground. His Earth Spikes spell cast as the weapon impacted the stone floor. Frozen ice spikes shot out in a wave of destruction sending the bandits and tables flying as ice covered them.

Two more arrows struck his chest in painful thuds. Miguel still hadn’t healed him. Ethan felt the adrenaline build as he used his Second Wind. Instantly he felt energized as his health and stamina regenerated.

The ice wave had cleared enough space Ethan could see the archer near the dias. With a powerful leap he launched himself at his foe. The terrified bandit tried to raise his hands in defense but Ethan’s axe cut through him. Severing an arm and lodging in the man’s neck.

His back to the wall, Ethan finally was in a position he could survey the battlefield. Ending his Enrage to conserve stamina, he glanced quickly around the room to check on his friends.

David and Leah were still close together. David dodged and blocked attacks rapidly and easily, striking out with holy powered attacks at regular intervals. He kept all attention on himself leaving Leah free to dart around the battlefield in lion form. Sporadically she’d shift to caster, heal or launch volleys of lightning and shift back to lion before anyone could target her.

Closer to him, Sam kept a rapid turret of Darkbolts and curses flying. The cursed bandits moved slower and attacked less accurately and the shadow blasts pushed them back. However he was bleeding from multiple wounds and Miguel was directing a beam of holy light at him to restore his health. It seemed to be working as Sam stood up straighter and let loose a double blast of his Darkbolt, sending a charging bandit flying into a wall. The hooded man crashed into the stone structure with a sickening crack and didn’t get uo. Ethan’s stomach dropped when he noticed flickers of purple energy crackling around Sam’s eyes, the early indicator of Mana Depression.

Tae-Won, on the other hand, moved like a dancer on the battlefield. He dodged attacks easily, countering with quick slashes and jabs of his daggers. Small cuts that didn’t always kill, but left crippling wounds to slow his enemies. Ethan watched him vanish in a cloud of smoke only to reappear a fraction of a second later behind another woman with long black hair. Blood arced through the air as he slit her throat.

“Sam!” Ethan called out as he charged back towards Miguel. “Be careful of Mana Depression!” He swung his axe down hard on the arm of a bandit who was trying to attack the healer with a two handed mace. The man turned and faced Ethan instead, fear in his eyes as he cradled the stump that remained of his arm. Ethan finished him quickly, splitting his head open with his magic axe.

“I got this,man!” Sam’s voice was starting to take the same slightly crazed tone that Miguel’s had when they’d fought the dragon. He continued rapidly casting dark purple bolts of magic across the room. The bandits writhed in pain under the dark magic Sam was almost casually throwing into the room.

Ethan hacked his way over to his friend, growing increasingly concerned as Sam cast the same quick spells over and over again. When he’d eyed the room seconds ago, the tide of the battle was turning in their favor. Nearly half the bandits were dead or dying. But if they ran into any surprises, having Sam suffering the withdrawal symptoms of Mana Depression would seriously hurt their chances.

His arms became lead weights as the battle continued. Every swing of his axe seemed to take more energy than the one before. Ethan flicked his eyes at the health and stamina. His Second Wind has helped. His health wasn’t in a terrible position but his stamina was much lower than he realized. If he hadn’t canceled his Enrage he’d be almost exhausted at this point.

We need to finish this quickly! Ethan dodged and swung at an attacker. From what he’d just seen they had maybe another fifteen to twenty bandits left to kill. If they could do that quickly then they’d still have plenty of time to get the duke’s daughter out and get their quest reward.

“David!” Ethan called down the room, trying to get his friend’s attention amidst the carnage. His axe ripped through the throat of a bandit as he called out again “David!

The second call got David’s attention. He looked up to see Ethan beckoning him closer. The group of bandits was nowhere near as big as it had been. It was time to finish this battle and get out of here.

“Leah!” David called out to the Druid who was busy ripping off the arm of a particularly unlucky bandit. She promptly dropped the arm and shifted back to her natural body.

“What’s up?” Electricity crackled in her hands as she clapped them together. Lightening shot forward from her hands and arced through two of the bandits. In front of her, the shockwave knocked another four off their feet as thunder echoed through the hall knocking stones loose from the walls and ceiling.

David was thrown several feet from the force of the Thunderwave. A high pitched ringing was all that he could hear, the concussive air blast had blown his ear drums. Blood ran down his neck and his head throbbed in time with his heart beat. Disoriented and deaf, he finally got to his feet and white hot energy radiated through his back. Acting only on instinct, he swung his sword wildly as he turned around.

Miguel’s surprised face, wordlessly mouthing something, greeted him and he managed to halt his swing in mid air.

In a rush of air, all the sound in the room returned to him.

“I said, ‘You okay?” Miguel looked concener as David shook his head to refocus.

“What? Yeah, Leah’s Thunderwave got me good.” The battle continued around them, but was now limited to only four bandits. Leah, once again a lion, was raking her claws across the back of one of the remaining mobs. Another swung at her exposed back with an axe, causing Leah to roar and break off her attack. In a puff of smoke, Tae-Won appeared driving his daggers into the bandit attacking his wife. It fell to the ground and he vaulted over the bleeding form of his wife to finish off the bandit with the clawed back. David shouted out a word of power, and holy light flared around the bleeding feline. Her back knit itself back together and Leah returned to her feet.

Across the room, Ethan was doing his best to hold off the two remaining bandits. He was furiously dodging and attempting to parry, but the attackers were wearing him down. Miguel was rushing over to heal him, but he was still seconds away.

Ethan was hurting badly. He didn’t have enough stamina to Enrage and once again he was only a few seconds away from Exhaustion. His only spell was still on cooldown, as were Ignore Pain and Second Wind. He needed Miguel or Leah’s help or he’d have to use his Escape Crystal just to survive.

He took a step backwards, dodging a slash from one of the bandits. The second took the opportunity to stab at him with their dagger. The sharp weapon just barely pierced his armor, but stabbed him in the chest nonetheless. Ethan winced and swung out with his axe. The misty axehead carved into one of the bandits who fell to the ground dead.

“Alright fucker.” Ethan panted as he taunted the last remaining bandit under his breath.

The bandit looked around the room and, seeing that he was the only one of his crew left, turned to run.

Right into David’s sword.