Alarmed and afraid, Shane looked around to see what else was frozen and was relieved to see tree branches moving in the wind while fallen leaves danced on the road.

A full minute passed before everyone around him began to move again. Without warning, the female bandit nocked another arrow.

"Only those who are guilty hold their tongue, you scum," she spat. Her words were icy.

The woman would let loose her arrow any time now. Shane braced and anticipated intense pain hoping it would somehow help moments from now when it came true. Instead, over one hundred pounds of rocky earth slammed into the female bandit, sending her ragdoll-ing into a nearby tree.

Her health bar emptied itself when "-32" appeared above her head. Shane didn't feel good about not being able to reason with her, but fighting for survival was also satisfying in its own way.

+17 Exp

His words causing them to act in such a strange way, made him feel like he was in less control than he should have been. He felt very little doubt that he was definitely in his company's game. His words must have been too far from what the AI would normally expect to react to—a feature that when working, Shane knew players would enjoy. This kind of frozen reaction did happen a few times during early testing but was eventually ironed out.

It was evident to him, the director's creator, that a freeze like this wouldn't happen again. He didn't want to rely on gaming the system like this anyway—In his mind, it was far more worthwhile to win by the rules.

The bandit left standing in front of him frantically searched the trees and flora for the thing that took his comrade out. Shane noticed this and decided to take advantage of this guy's lack of awareness. He held out his hand, pointing his palm toward the bandit.

"You should be more afraid of what stands right in front of you," Shane said coldly, his face hard like stone. The bandit wheeled around, startled, and began raising his shield against the cloaked man—but he was too slow.

"Ice Gun," Immediately, three dagger-like icicles formed in front of his palm. The next time the bandit blinked, he had already been impaled by two of the three icicles, with his shield managing to block only one from entering his chest cavity.

13 Damage!

14 Damage!

The bandit's health bar dropped to less than a tenth of his total as he fell to his knees, coughing up blood and gasping for air. The rush Shane felt attacking a person, mixed with the distaste and pity of attacking someone weaker than him, left him feeling apprehensive. Blood seeped from the bandit's wounds and traveled down the length of the icicles as Shane approached him.

"A part of me was hoping it wouldn't come to this, another part of me though…" he trailed off and studied the dying man. Shane realized too slow that the bandit had already pulled a dagger from his belt and punctured Shane's left foot in one quick movement.

A familiar comforting rage dulled the immediate pain reflected in his hit points dropping.

HP: 85/145 (-20)

Mana: 02/102

Fatigue: 35/118

Shane grit his teeth. "That other part of me was right after all!" he growled while his short sword cleaved through the man's neck.

This was a game, his game, but he couldn't stop himself from loving it. He couldn't stop himself from seeing it as real and feeling real emotions in response to the AI's advanced reactions. Shane was intimately aware of the systems behind how the AI Director worked, but even that knowledge didn't quell the reactions he had to these startlingly real interactions. A part of him was secretly proud of his work's ability to completely immerse himself in this game world.

The head bounced and rolled down the road a few feet as the body collapsed to the ground—blood spurting out in rapid pulses before slowly stopping altogether.

+15 Exp

This was the first time he had attacked what felt like a person and was too engulfed in his emotions to care. The outrage he felt at the bandit taking advantage of his hesitation was palpable. Of course the bandit would try a desperate move like that! You utter fool, he chastised himself internally.

Shane turned towards the last bandit fighting his skeleton crew. A quick glance proved his skeletons had put up quite the fight as the group's leader had less than twenty-five percent of his max hp. Unfortunately, Rogue was noticeably weaker and couldn't handle the bandit's heavy attacks with mere daggers—nor were they fast enough to dodge every blow. Tank's shield had been destroyed early on, and without it, Tank had perished swiftly after, but not before Rogue got in a devastating sneak attack that counted as a critical hit.

Luckily, Mage's spells were timed well enough to stop the yellow aura bandit from delivering a final blow. Even in his rage, Shane felt awe and appreciation towards his minions, acknowledging that if he were to upgrade them, their spells and AI that governed their tactics would likely improve. Being out of mana was troublesome, as it meant he would have to fight within melee range to help his minions finish the fight. Shane continued limping towards the sound of clashing metal with his bloody short sword at the ready.

He was inching closer to them, nearly enough to feel the blows. Strength filled his legs as he used Leap to close the distance, with his sword turned over in his hands for a plunging attack. The burly man had just dodged a dagger swipe, turned in time to see the attack coming, and began turning to wind up a massive blow upon Shane's landing. As he fell, Shane mentally instructed Rogue to do whatever they could to stop the bandit's preemptive strike. While also mentally guiding Mage to line up a powerful elemental spell for what he knew he had to do.

Shane's sword pierced nothing but air and dirt, as sadly expected. A half-second later and a heavy spiked mace would connect with his skull. Taking that kind of hit could be trouble, even with his remaining hp, so imagine the relief when Shane witnessed Rogue block the attack with both daggers. Rogue was no Tank, though, with the mace blowing apart their arms and sending the rest of them tumbling through the air behind Shane. He knew if he turned around, he would see bones littering the road. So instead, he used the bandit's miss as an opportunity to lunge at him and moved quickly to subdue him from behind.

Shane wove his arms under the hairy man's reeking pits and interlaced his hands behind the guy's neck—creating a full nelson headlock. The man was more muscular than he looked, which was a lot already. Several times he almost broke free, but Shane had an excellent grip and only had to react accordingly to the man's movements in time.

"Do it now!!" he shouted as the bandit tried desperately to wrench free of Shane's hold.

A roaring fireball the size of a basketball came flying out from behind the trees where Mage hid. The struggling man was too focused on getting free to notice, but Shane did while also eyeing his fatigue.

Fatigue: 90/118

He'd have to finish it quickly or else risk falling unconscious and be at the mercy of someone who could and would tear him apart. Before the bandit reacted, Shane used Leap while lifting the man towards the oncoming ball of flame. His muscles strained heavily as he and the heavy warrior flew into the air and collided with the spell. The fireball exploded, splashing both of them in molten flame, with the bandit getting the worst of it.

The heat was immense. Shane could feel the flames from the spell's blaze burning every part of him that wasn't behind the bandit. "-30" appeared above the head of the man before the shockwave from the impact blasted both of them out of the air and back onto the road with heavy thuds.

The bandit leader was screaming. He rolled around in the gravel and dirt, trying desperately to expunge the flames sticking to most of his torso and legs. Shane wasn't that much better off. His forearms were already forming blisters from the heat, and the wind had been knocked out of him. He slowly sat up, still struggling to force his diaphragm to fully expand.

HP: 60/145 (-25)

Mana: 02/102

Fatigue: 104/118

The lone bandit's health was just a sliver now. Rogue had been blown apart by the man's mace earlier, saving Shane's life, and he didn't have much gas in the tank left either. Mage was still alive, but their spells couldn't be rapidly fired one after another. It would take a minute or two before Mage could cast again. Shane sat on the ground resting, his eyes darting between the burning bandit and his slowly recovering fatigue.

Fatigue: 97/118

Fatigue: 96/118

For close to ten seconds, Shane watched "-1" repeatedly appear above the man's cursing form until he had rolled enough to put the fires out completely. Mage slowly made their way from the tree line towards Shane. It crouched down and helped him to his feet, just in time to see the bandit wearily get to his feet as well. His burns were atrocious. What fur armor remained was charred and in tatters and did little to hide the man's blackened, bleeding flesh.

Shane looked up at Mage, "you know, I was really hoping that fireball of yours would've done the job." the skeleton briefly looked at Shane as if to apologize before looking back to the bandit who was now slowly hobbling towards them.

As he did so, the man pulled out what looked like a healing potion and drank it. Green numbers that read "+40" appeared above his head for a moment.

"Great, he's got healing potions too," said Shane, his voice full of spite.

He quickly grabbed one of his own minor healing potions and downed it. The burns on his forearms and bruises from the harsh landing began to fade, easing some of his discomforts.

+20 HP

HP: 80/145

The fight didn't look to be over, not by a long shot. So when the bandit began prostrating himself in front of him, Shane's jaw almost dislocated itself.