Levi closed the distance between them in a blink, Destruction sword stabbing out. The manabow clattered to the floor, its icy glow fading as it lost contact with its owner's hand.

Skarm took advantage of this to jump up and clamp his teeth around the hand in question.

The guard staggered another step back, kicking at Skarm in a futile attempt to shake the gremlin off.

Levi kept driving forward, relentless.

Already unbalanced by his own flailing, the ranger toppled backwards, Levi landing atop him.

Timothy Adams:

Level 19

(Ranger/Scout)

Health: 59%

Levi stabbed the Destruction sword down through the guard's arm, pinning it in place and curtailing his attempts to dislodge Skarm.

Checkmate.

It didn't matter how much health he had, Levi could wear it down. The enemy had nothing to strike back with, all his armor tracings were defensive in nature.

Bladefin closed in. Levi pulsed mana down both blades, Beast Bite's jaws grinding against bone, Destruction corrosion pouring straight into flesh and seeping into the blood. The enemy couldn't escape now however much it struggled. But... there was no struggle. The guard's movement had stilled, despite health still over 50%. He stared up at Levi, fear in his eyes, paralyzed in the face of his own imminent death.

Levi's rage faltered. Those weren't the green flame of eternal hatred he expected from a demon warrior, not the elemental-glowing eyes of a monster.

Just the fearful eyes of a trapped civilian. This man wasn't even level 20. Helpless. Relying on Levi and the others to protect him.

Levi felt suddenly nauseous, a bitter sting rising in the back of his throat.

His vision swam, breath catching.

This was another human.

He had never--

He'd almost--

Levi withdrew his Beast sword in a spasmic jerk.

The ranger didn't move. Only kept staring, gasping for breath.

Skarm paused his biting and dropped to the ground, looking up at Levi questioningly. The fish backed away, hovering in place.

Levi knelt there, his gaze as trapped by the eyes of his victim as any soul-seeker's power.

He'd seen that helplessness too many times. Hadn't he sworn never to let it happen again? Hadn't humanity lost enough?

This time it wasn't a demon or a dungeon monster who'd caused it.

Levi choked, swallowed, the acid taste lingering. He couldn't think of what to say. What to do.

Adams spasmed, coughing. His health continued to drop. Blood ran down his arm from where Levi's sword still stabbed through, brilliant red rivulets that joined the growing pool beneath his gremlin-chewed wrist.

Levi couldn't move. He'd frozen up completely, trapped between present and past/future.

If Adams had made the slightest move, if he'd tried to fight back, if he'd said a word, the decision would have been made, Levi's battle-honed and reinforced reflexes made no allowances for things like emotion. If he had even a subconscious flicker of suspicion that this man was still a threat, his instincts would take over.

But in the moment, staring down at him, he didn't see a man complicit in kidnapping his family, who knowingly stood guard over imprisoned innocents.

He saw only another person.

Someone who could be a powerful ally.

Someone broken who needed to be protected.

For so many years he'd been putting everything he had left on the line to protect everyone. Every last human who could survive. It felt utterly wrong to disregard that unless he absolutely had to.

If the man had continued fighting, or if Levi's initial attack had been enough to finish him... Levi could have forgiven himself. Could have shrugged it off as necessary and moved on.

Probably.

Right now, seeing that empty hopelessness, the deepest core of him rebelled at the thought of following through on his attack.

Slowly, Levi got to his feet, drawing the Destruction sword up and out as he stood.

"I'm here for my wife and son. Don't get in my way." He was surprised how calm his voice sounded, betraying no hint of his inner turmoil.

Adams choked and twitched, mouth opening wordlessly. His health was still draining, but more slowly.

Levi turned to Crackle. "Which way?"

His scarab bobbed in the air, then flew ahead confidently.

Levi followed the rust scarab deeper into the tunnel. He didn't look back.

Timothy Adams lay where he'd fallen, eyes following the madman until he was out of sight.

The ongoing injuries gradually stopped leaking health and his body slowly began repairing itself, but his frantic heartbeat never slowed.

He'd faced monsters far beyond his capabilities to defeat and never run from battle. He'd survived four months of the most intense initiation and bizarre on-the-job training he could imagine. He'd grown up with three older brothers!

But he'd never thought a man could look so... implacable. He'd seen nothing in those eyes, no hesitation, no compassion. Tim was higher level, he should have had some advantage, but the tempo of the fight had been on a whole other level. Even the fastest of monsters had never come close to such absolute triumph over him so quickly.

Never in his life had he been so absolutely convinced that he was about to die.

He was not being paid enough to deal with things like this. Monsters, sure. Magic, why not. But this man had been a different kind of monster. 'Volatile magical entities' indeed. If this was the kind of thing that happened when normal people were allowed unrestricted access to magic and dungeons, then their whole job of keeping them sequestered from the rest of the population made perfect sense.

But then... he'd walked away. He let Timothy go and walked away. Like he didn't even matter enough to kill. Barely an obstacle.

What was a man supposed to think in the face of that?

Timothy's health had already reached 70% by the time he regained enough control of himself to get to his feet, and his legs still threatened to give beneath him even then.

The thought of trying to stop that man again or wasting time to warn his partner or raise an alarm didn't even cross his mind. Whatever was going on behind the scenes, whatever shadow war between magical cabals may be happening, Timothy knew now that he wanted nothing to do with it. And if he was ever forced to take sides again... he'd choose whatever side didn't involve him ever facing that man as an enemy again.

The only question that lingered in his mind was whether he would hand in his resignation in person, or just walk away.

He made his way to the opening of the tunnel, sending out a mana ping to detect any monsters in the area. In his current condition he'd be easy prey. Thankfully, the dungeon still hadn't finished refilling yet. The local kalvex packs were still absent, and a focused ping along the route between where he stood and the exit showed no serious threat.

The importance of watching the entrance no longer seemed as consequential as it had ten minutes ago. Perhaps it was a side effect of staring death in the face, but everything about his job here had abruptly lost any importance to him. He couldn't quite bring to mind whatever reasoning he'd used for making this place his top priority.

It felt like he'd been shocked out of a dream. With new clarity and perspective he realized that all he cared about was to hurry home to his own family, to hold his wife, to see his daughters in person again.

And, most essential of all, to get as far out of the way of that madman as possible before he came back out.