Kara’s head spun, a vicious ringing blinding her vision. Shindro's Soul attacks were always devastating, that cunning bastard. Cut right through her Life Force Soul Armo-

She sprung up, raising her hand in front of her, Energy ready to burst.

Insufficient Energy

What did I say about fire and my flesh! A voice screamed inside her head.

Her vision cleared, and just as Nilbog had said, her flesh was on fire.

It hurt. She quickly doused the flame by rolling on the ground, her dirty clothes doing little but feeding the flames. She tried to sap the flames of their Energy with her own Energy, but once again she met with the same error. She tried to use The Sixth Movement: Desolation, but the skill too failed.

She had neither The Fifth Movement ready nor enough Equanimity.

Finally, Kara leaped up and took off her shirt, tossing it away as the flames quickly devoured it. She covered her chest with an arm, panting, but then quickly came to realize that she longer had any breasts.

Still uncomfortable with having her chest bare, Kara quickly relieved one of the corpses of its shirt. She also took his disregarded axe, a fun if somewhat impractical weapon to use for a mage.

Nilbog’s laughing could be heard in the background, that bastard. He tried to hide it, but not all thoughts could be concealed. It was his flesh burning, damn it.

Off a few meters away was the Ent Core’s body up in flames. The sword was truly a well-condensed bomb. The moment she had caught it, her last 8 Energy Points were quickly depleted as she stabilized the Thermal Energy for a split second.

Either Kara had grown spoiled rotten by the ludicrous amount of Energy efficiency spells she originally had, or that fire swordsman was extremely powerful for his level.

From the explosion, Kara guessed it was a little of both. The sword was not supposed to explode, but rather once it had penetrated, all of the flames would have been pushed in by a Kinetic push through the opening, causing enormous amounts of fire damage.

Kara, however, ran out of Energy before that happened. The blast radius shaved off a good portion of her HP, leaving her 42 HP. Her back was grazed as she tossed across the hardwood.

Unfortunately, Life Force Empowerment had a few more seconds minutes in it. The pain would increase then.

A bunch of notifications were at the corner of her vision, and while Kara was hungry to open them, she kept an eye out for the others; this was a survival round, not just a boss raid, and Kara was not feeling well. Her body was in tatters, both from the damage and overuse of Life Force and Energy.

Practically all her resources bars were nil, including her STM.

Still, as good as Kara performed, she still lacked teammates. Nilbog needed to grow, and hanging out with the right crowd was the first step. A few strings would have to be pulled, which is where Caldain would come into place.

That bow lady was a fine lad, not only having a decent technique but also possessing remarkable battle sense. She played this round too safely, however. She should have gone for the kill, but had instead hesitated. That rogue, Iris, was daring, to say the least, but she was not stable, not to mention she was a kid. Both were young women with promising futures, if she was ever a good judge of age. They had a promising future, and Kara needed to match them up with Nilbog.

The sole unfortunate loss was that spellsword. Mages had the second greatest firepower out of all builds; the first were spellswords. The death rate for them, however, was the highest out of all builds. Being in close range without being able to use Life Force Empowerment would end someone’s career with one mistake.

And for that spellsword that can dodge and move so flawlessly without Life Force was rare even among gems. He would have been a great addition. His only real fault was that he decided to go against Kara.

“You killed him.”

“Yeah idiot, he would have probably killed me if I didn’t, raid or no raid boss kill.”

That wasn’t me yo-

Yelling an incoherent combination of curses, Kara crouched and dashed to the side, covering her head in anticipation of an attack.

But nothing came, only the throbbing of her brutally bruised feet. She snapped around, her axe leading the way.

Iris stood close, twin daggers in hands, teeth bared.

She would regret not taking the chance to finish Kara off. Her HP was dangerously low and her STM even lower, but that was fine.

No Life Force, no Energy, no Equanimity, and no time.

Duel Duet

14 seconds remaining.

Kara doubted Nilbog survive against her in full condition, much less this one. She had a few screws loose but she was good.

“I liked him,” Iris whispered, stepping forward. “He was annoying, but I liked him.”

The tree was beginning to fall apart. Parts of the lair disintegrated, letting the bright sunshine in through--lovely scenery. Can that help her?

No, that girl didn’t seem like a person who would care about mundane things such as her own well being.

Could she get help from those around? Maybe tell them she’s an undercover officer, a promise of reward?

No dice for that, either. Everyone was fleeing, and none seemed too intent on getting involved.

Fight?

She had 10 seconds left, damn it. What the hell could she do with that with her body in such a tattered state? She wanted to save a minute or two to escape, just in case this happened, but the explosion had nearly knocked her out.

She should not have been so reckless. Greedy, greedy Kara. She should have just killed the fire swordsman and left his unstable sword, or at the very least she could have gotten Caldain to send someone with her.

Precious seconds wasted. Iris was ready to fight, and she would not be an easy opponent. One risky attack was all that Kara had.

She walked forward, swinging her axe around her index finger. “Why did you like him?” Kara said, still no idea with what to do. She was about to fail. Again. How many times will it take? When will she learn to behave so foolishly?

Levels! Nilbog yelled.

They gained 9, putting them at level 47 with 26 points to spare.

But applying the stat points would require a few seconds of stillness, more than enough for Iris to strike them down.

7 seconds left.

“He took care of me,” she said, lowering her center of gravity. She was ready to pounce.

“I have a fun solution then,” Kara said, her lips spreading from one end to the other, enough that even Iris stopped, raising her guard.

Kara was within striking range.

Fourth lesson, Nilbog: Be bold and confident. Girls like that, she said, and tossed the axe behind her. It swung a couple of times in the air before falling headfirst into the flimsy wood.

“Love me instead. I’ll take care of you better,” Kara said, and walked into her daggers.

Wait-

“-What?” Iris said, stepping back, but Kara’s hands caught her; one at her hips, and the other at her cheeks.

In the next second, Nilbog found his tongue inside Iris’s mouth, her eyes as wide as his. They were blue and she smelled nice, some part of him noted.

If you survive, don’t open the rewards screen, I need to be there. And remember: confidence! Kara yelled as her spirit flew away, pulled by some massive force.

“Ah,” Nilbog said, feeling the pointy ends of the daggers at his neck, potently juxtaposed with the softness pressing against his chest. Confidence. Something confident. He swallowed, and something similar to a smile got on his face.

“Don’t kill me?” he said, chuckling nervously. “Pretty please?”

She stabbed him right then, which, in Nilbog’s opinion, was quite the appropriate response.

Was the red orb still active?