“Spin strike” Lucas muttered, circling around the woman clad in heavy armor. Her skill which launched rays of extreme heat at the target went wide and Lucas struck her. The blow was stopped by her armor, but after she put all her attention on Lucas, two arrows was sent on her way. This time armor hadn’t been able to help her and the arrows pierced her flank. She dropped to the one knee and Lucas pounced, activating “Guiding strike” and finding the weak spot on the neck. The woman gurgled, blood flowing from the cut of her neck and she was on death’s door. Lucas stabbed her hard, his sword finding the way to her brain and the woman was finally dead. If what Margaret said was true, they were halfway there to finish all of them. He also had to admit the woman was right about not separating, as some of the troopers were hard, even if they lagged in level. He and Maggie exited the small terrace that hosted the fight, finding the rest of the party nervously pacing. Margaret spotted them first and spoke.

“Anyone hurt?”

Both Lucas and Maggie were shaking their head and Margaret showed the thumbs – up, before waving to them to continue. With the pace they were able to manage, they found the next heavy in less than two minutes. They charged the man, taking him by the surprise and overwhelming him, Ted being the one to land the killing blow. One by one, heavies were taken out and before they knew it, there was only one left. When they arrived at his position, however, they hadn’t found him there. Lucas took the time to look outside the window, the destruction he saw disheartening him. One block, the one they chose to approach the skyscrapers, was completely leveled, while two others bore marks of heavy destruction. He focused back on the discussion the party had, Margaret one to lead the discussion.

“We should be able to assault the main barracks. That is probably where we will find the General” the field medic spoke. Lucas and the rest of the party agreed with her and they were quickly on their way, Lucas picking up Chen while Ted carried Margaret in an effort to get even more speed. They scaled the stairs of the skyscraper effortlessly and soon found themselves back at the welcoming lobby. There, Carmen and the remaining heavy awaited them.

“Third time is the charm? I will finally be rid of you” Lucas said while cursing himself mentally for forgetting to pick up her whip when she dropped it during their last bout. Carmen hadn’t been inclined to answer him, content only to stare at him angrily. On her right, the heavy begin channeling some skill and that was the signal the party needed, spreading out and assaulting with all of their might. The heavy released his skill, wave of sound negating everything they unleashed, throwing them all backwards. Catching Lucas in the middle of his spinning, Lucas course was changed and he hit the wall with a heavy thud.

“You take 330 points of damage”

“Fuck, this hurts” Lucas thought as he tested his body. A rib or two were cracked, but luckily there wasn’t serious damage. He stood up, able to spot Carmen’s whip swinging furiously through the air, landing hits on Chen who was unable to avoid. Lucas quickly picked up the pace, forcing Carmen to jump backwards when he sent “Guiding strike” her way. Margaret took her chance, her skill stabilizing the Illusionist and he got up with anger in his eyes. Not having more time, Lucas refocused on Carmen. The woman had thorns sprouting on her whip, Lucas avoiding strike after strike, feeling the heat. He finished his somersault, using “Dodge” to avoid the last attack and when he prepared for the next, he never came. Surprised, Lucas scouted the battle, finding Carmen furiously swiping at the illusions of the rest of the party. Chen was channeling, doing admirable job muddling the battle and taking the heat of the real party members. Heavy trooper fared even worse, completely unable to differentiate between the illusory attack and real ones, three arrows already pierced into his body. Lucas carefully approached the Mistress of the Whip, who was getting increasingly frustrated with the amount of illusions around her. That frustration left her blind and Lucas activated “Death by the thousand cuts”, furiously striking the latex – clad woman. She looked shocked while blood was starting to form around her feet, but she recovered and jumped out of the way. She put down her whip and took out a bottle containing the familiar red liquid. Lucas wasn’t keen on letting her recover and he pressed forward with the attack. Carmen dodged the “Spin strike” which Lucas used as the opener and narrowly avoided “Infused piledriver” which was chained right after. Instantly anchoring himself, Lucas turned and sent “Guiding strike” on Carmen’s way. She did manage to avoid the attack, but not as cleanly as the two that came before, edge of the blade catching her on the thigh. She finally decided against the potion and sent her whip flying. Lucas could feel the weight it now possessed as it flew through the air but he found himself unable to effectively avoid it, managing only to move his head out of its way. He felt immense pressure striking him on the shoulder and a sickening crack and he dropped down to one knee.

“You take 404 points of damage”

Margaret tried to move towards him, but sharp – eyed Carmen managed to spot her movement and send her whip towards her, striking the medic at the torso and sending her flying. She then raised it for another swing, her whip now sprouting thorns. Lucas closed his eyes, awaiting the strike but it never came. Instead, Lucas heard heavy grunt and found Ted in front of him, whip completely entangled with his club. With a strong pull, Carmen tried to disarm their tank, but managed instead to pull Ted down wholesale. He waved to Lucas and with a heavy grunt he did a flip backwards before explosion flashed before his eyes. Carmen screamed in pain and Lucas took his time to drink a health potion.

“You restore 350 health points via health potion”

Feeling familiar sense of pleasantness coursing throughout his body, fixing the worst of the damage, Lucas focused on the aftermath of the explosion. Ted was standing back on his feet, eyeing carefully the now heavy damaged Carmen. Blood was flowing freely from her now, both Lucas attack and Ted explosion damaging her heavily. There were patches of charred meat, but the worst damage was to her whip, now only half of its original size. Heavy trooper was defeated, Maggie landing a final blow during the momentary distraction explosion caused with an arrow that went through his eye. Lucas was happy to see battle was nearly over, slightly worried over the fate of Margaret. She did take a direct hit trying to help him and he wasn’t the one to forget something like this. His worries were calmed somewhat as he saw Chen pouring a potion in her mouth and she being weak but awake. He then focused on the battered Carmen, the woman who was proving to be a worthy opponent. He certainly couldn’t complain about boredom when fighting her, seeing as she was stronger than all of them individually. Only their emerging teamwork managed to contain her and even that was with the heavy toll. But now, as he already noted, tables were turned. Carmen was getting the same read and she tried to dart towards the door. Lucas wasn’t going to let her escape and he went into full sprint, positioning himself in between Carmen and the door in less than two seconds. Praising his passive, the star of his tools, he took out his sword and sent “Guiding strike” towards Carmen. She was forced to jump backwards and that’s when multiple arrows went flying, Chen and Maggie working in tandem. She rolled to her left, trying both to keep her distance from Lucas and avoid arrows, leading her directly into the way of Ted’s club. Ted made contact with his swing, loud crunch denoting that Carmen’s off hand was now unusable seeing as it was broken. The woman screamed and sent her whip flying towards Ted, but he dodged it at the last possible moment. He then charged her, forcing her backwards once again. The cloud of arrows was on point, and unfortunate Mistress was forced to roll towards Lucas. Not the one to turn down gifts, he activated “Stinging cut”, making a deep gash on the flank of the woman and leaving her thrashing on the ground in pain. Unceremoniously, he activated “Guiding strike”, his arm automatically finding the base of her skull, gladius going through bone and brain matter both and finally defeating the hardest opponent Lucas ever faced.

“You have slain Carmen Diaz, Mistress of the Whip, level 49”

“Congratulations! You are now Duelist level 43”

“Stat allocation in progress…”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“Stat allocation completed”

Delighted at the prompts, especially the level – up ones, he finally remembered to spend his free points, throwing two into Constitution and one into Intelligence, hoping he was close to passing the one thousand points threshold for both mana and health points. He approached to the weak Margaret, finding her with a shy smile.

“Did we win?” she asked with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

“We did, and thank you” Lucas said to the woman before taking her on his back and exiting the skyscrapers with the rest of his party. Now, only barracks with the General remained.