It’s just a game.

He’ll be back.

It’s fine.

Shar repeated the thoughts like a mantra, trying to calm her frantically racing heart as she watched Ethers body dissolve, but as she saw a thin line of glowing blue light leave his fading corpse, something in her head snapped. She charged at the gray skinned goblin, raising one hand as she did.

The thing - the Demon that had once been a young goblin woman - smiled, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth. She darted towards Shar, clawed fingers dripping with Ether’s blood - only to suddenly throw herself to the side as a burning carving knife flew down from directly above her, striking the spot where her head had been a mere fraction of a second before.

Shar smirked as she snatched her weapon off the floor. Her bluff charge had worked. She’d bought the time needed for Perseus to grab his weapons and enter the fray! She hadn’t really expected his attack to hit - she just wanted her weapon back.

The memory of their battle against the first Demon was all too fresh in her mind. She knew what spell she’d need to take down the monster in front of her - but she wasn’t about to use it mindlessly, no matter how angry she was.

The problem with [Flash Fry] was that no matter what, it took her down to 1 MP. The more MP she had, the stronger it was, but it would always exhaust her. If the blindingly fast Demon managed to avoid her spell, the battle was lost, so she did her best to push down the fury coursing through her veins, and focus.

Perseus was faster than Shar by a wide margin, but even he was barely able to avoid the beastly thing’s attacks. Her claws tore through the air, blue flames gleaming at the tip of each razor sharp digit as it pushed back the [Rogue]. He feinted with his right blade before aiming at the monster’s eye with his left, but she caught both knives with her bare hands, smiling at him.

“Not good enough.” she tightened her hands around the blades, only to hiss in pain as the metal resisted her attempts to crush it, cutting into her palms. Taking advantage of her surprise, Perseus twisted the blades free, slicing off several of her clawed fingers with one smooth motion. He tried to follow up by slicing her throat, but the beastly girl leapt backwards with speed that even his best skill couldn’t match. He smirked, blurring after her as best he could.

He didn’t have to worry about her physical attacks now, and as deadly as her flames might be, they weren’t any faster than the blasts of flame the boss or even the lesser blazewolves had used.

He darted left, and, as he’d expected, the 4 foot tall Demon twisted to run away from him, almost on instinct. He turned sharply then, triggering every speed boosting skill he had to run straight towards her.

[Dart]

[Shadow Dash]

[Lunge]

She was still faster - but only barely, and she knew it. What she didn’t know, didn’t realize until it was too late, was that he was herding her towards the corner.

Relying on speed alone, the Demon tried to escape the trap by bouncing off the wall and leaping over the [Rogue]’s head, but he’d expected that as well.

“[Leap]!”

The daggers slammed into the Demon girl’s shoulders as the pair plummeted to the ground. “Game Over, Demon!” Perseus snarled as he yanked his blades free and prepared to land a fatal blow.

“Diros.”

The word made him pause - only for an instant, but that was all the tiny girl had needed. Freshly regenerated claws tore through the pale [Rogue]’s wrists in an instant, leaving hemorrhaging stumps in their place. Screaming in pain and astonishment, Perseus toppled from his place atop the once wounded Demon as his HP plummeted.

“My name,” she said with a sinister smile, “is Diros. Remember it.”

“Mine’s Perseus,” the dying man replied calmly. “Nice to meet you. Pity we have to cut this chat short, but…”

A wall of flames suddenly surrounded the pair, a burning ring that slowly formed a dome over them as Perseus smirked.

The blinding flash that followed nearly made him miss the system message.

You have died.

What a shame.

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

If she’d been truly caught off guard, Diros would’ve been burnt to a crisp by the well timed [Flash Fry], but she’d been waiting for this moment since the doors to the boss room first opened. She lashed out with her own flames, timing the burst of blue fire as best she could to try and push back the intense wave of heat and pressure. It occurred to her, as she took a moment to recover from the burns left in the wake of her desperate defense, that if the pale man could’ve seen what remained when the smoke cleared, he wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfied with his parting line.

Shar was almost as astonished as she was livid, but she didn’t allow her surprise to slow her down. She charged towards the Demon, fury pushing her exhausted body onwards as she flailed at Diros with her knife.

The girl that had once been a goblin idly batted aside the first few swings before grabbing the [Battle Chef]’s wrist. “You’re all too weak,” she said quietly. “I thought you seemed strong before, but I guess that just means I was weak too. This isn’t nearly as satisfying as I’d been hoping.” Blue flames slowly climbed up Sharlette’s arm, eliciting a shriek of pain.

Diros simply watched, more bored than anything else. What was she supposed to do now? If revenge was this easy, it was pointless! She supposed she could try seeing what the world outside the valley was like, but-

Her wandering thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt sensation of a knife slamming into her stomach. Looking down, she saw that the redhead had dropped her knife, only to grab it with her other hand and stab her in the stomach with it. The girl lacked whatever skill the [Rogue] had been using to pierce her hardened skin, but there was something more than brute strength behind the blow this time. Something hot.

Congratulations Sharlette!

In times of strife, we show our true colors.

Yours have burned brighter than any of us could’ve expected.

[Battle Chef] class upgraded into [Inferno Chef]

Skill [Burning Spirit] acquired!

Spell [Roast] acquired!

End this.

Blue flames coated all of Shar’s limbs now, scorching her flesh, but bringing with it a newfound strength. She broke free of the bewildered Demon’s grasp, twisting her knife free as she took a step back. The blue flames were clinging to both of them now, burning in the places where they struck each other - and although the shallow cuts that she’d managed to inflict healed before her eyes, Shar noticed with a grim satisfaction that the burns didn’t.

Just like with the first Demon, or the werewolves that had attacked them on the way to the dungeon, Diros wasn’t able to recover from fire based attacks - a strange weakness, for someone who wielded such powerful fire magic themselves, but a welcome one!

She lunged towards Diros, the Demon’s eyes widening in surprise at the sheer speed with which the human woman moved. The blue flames now clinging to her knife leaping forwards to extend her reach as she aimed a vicious [Slice] at the Demon’s throat - but the flames met only empty air as the suddenly cautious monster threw herself to the ground.

Shar screamed in pain and fury as the Demon rolled to her feet and lashed out, leaving a shallow cut on the redhead’s ribs. She sent another [Burning Spirit] empowered [Slice] towards her foe, but once again, they dodged at the last second, this time leaping over the thin wave of flames. Once again, the Demon lashed out as she moved, this time scoring a shallow, but painful, gash on Shar’s shoulder.

“Neat tricks. This is much more fun! But you’ll still lose.” Diros wore a wicked smile as she taunted the [Inferno Chef], but she was barely able to keep her voice steady. This was the first time since her rebirth that she’d found an enemy that might actually be able to hurt her. She felt her heart thundering in her chest - a peculiar feeling for someone who’d had their heart torn out before - and her clawed hands were trembling with a mixture of adrenaline and anticipation as she stared at the furious human woman.

The Other Voice was screaming inside her head, demanding that she run away. She was in danger. She could lose!

But she wouldn’t. She’d spent years fighting opponents bigger and stronger than her, desperately struggling to survive as a goblin in a world ruled by humans, dragons, and elves.

This? This was nothing, she reassured the Voice.

“What’s wrong?” she mocked Shar, dodging another clumsy attempt to slit her throat.

Instead of answering, the redhead lashed out again, the flames surrounding her flickering. The Demon darted towards the girl, feeling a brief flicker of satisfaction as she saw the way her opponent instinctively threw herself back.

The thin line of blood on her cheek was proof enough for both of them that this was anything but an even match. See? Diros thought at the Voice. She’s slowing down. She darted towards her foe, clawed hands spread wide to deliver the killing blow. She waited for the instant her opponent would dodge, the split second opening she’d have the catch her prey when their feet left the ground and they couldn’t move properly-

It never came.

Instead, the redhead swayed on her feet, looking exhausted, and lifted one hand, palm held outward. She spoke the name of her latest spell in the split second before her opponent’s claws reached her throat.

“[Roast],” she rasped out as the last of her strength left her. Then the flames clinging to her skin flared with a blinding light, and her own body crumbled to ash.

You have died.

Don’t blame yourself.

You are still needed.

Rest well.

Desperate screams of pain tore their way out of Diros’ mouth as a thin layer of blue flames wrapped itself around her, slowly but surely eating through her flesh. She tried to channel the same raw magic that increased her strength and speed into the strange system that allowed her to regenerate from harm, but it was no use.

The flames didn’t stop.

They didn’t fade or flicker.

Relentless and unforigving, the [Inferno Chef’s] dying curse ate away at her skin, outpacing her regeneration no matter how hard she tried.

The Voice mocked her. It scolded her for her arrogance. It demanded that she beg for its aid, that she submit to it and follow its every order from here on out.

She refused.

Slowly, the accursed Demon crawled towards the place where her latest minion had fallen. There was power there. Magic, lying just beneath the stones. She could feel it, taste it, so close at hand and yet so far…

Clawing against the stone, Diros suppressed a panicked sob. She didn’t want to die, but she wasn’t strong enough to overcome this spell. She couldn’t run from this. Couldn’t beat it. Couldn’t outlast it. She was doomed.

A small, wet nose pressed itself briefly against her hand. Blinking, the Demon gazed dumbly at her familiar. He hopped high into the air and slammed down on the floor with enough force that his landing made a sound like the crack of a whip.

Diros smiled through the pain. There was still a chance.

She channeled the bewildering might within her once more, this time focusing solely on her raw strength. She struck the bloodstained stones once, then twice. Bob joined in her frantic efforts as best he could, hopping in unison with each blow.

The third strike was met with tremors, all throughout the Dungeon.

The fourth found the doors behind her slamming shut of their own accord.

But it was the fifth and final blow, the one that shattered her right arm and brought with it a fresh wave of heightened agony, that shattered the floor beneath her.

Screaming in pain and triumph, Diros plummeted into the shimmering stream of energy that lay below, followed close behind by a most peculiar rabbit.