Between Lash, Bladefin, and Crackle, they had enough flying and mobile minions to pull another divide-and-conquer plan, this time planned and intentional. The entire volunteer group assembled inside the tunnel, Firelord and the ranger standing by, even some of the Tamers had broken off pieces of chain or torn hinges or bars off the doors to create makeshift weapons.

They were ready.

Levi stood just inside the tunnel entrance, Bolt and Packrunner flanking him. Lash hovered overhead, hesitant for once instead of rushing ahead into the fight.

"There's only a half hour left on my revive cooldown," Levi assured him. "If you don't make it back, I'll rescue you before we leave." It would mean exiting into the compound above without Tink to cover him with illusions, leaving him more vulnerable, but given the chaos he planned to unleash he doubted that window would matter. Not compared to having Lash available. His mental attacks were by far their greatest weapon against creatures too physically powerful to be quickly dealt with any other way.

Lash nodded himself in agreement and smacked his tendrils together in a soundless 'let's do this' kind of way. Grabbing a Bladefin copy in each tendril, he dove forward.

The kalvex pack had settled down to lounge in the shadows barely in sight by the edge of the distant curve in the ravine, but as soon as Lash got close they jumped up to take up the chase.

Lash unleashed the Bladefins, bobbing just out of reach of the leaping, snapping, antler-slashing kalvex.

Bolt raced forward. The pack split. Half raced after Lash and the remaining Bladefins as they fled further away (only three of the eight with Lash were still flying, the others had been killed in the first moments of the exchange) while the other three turned to meet Bolt.

Bolt turned and ran back towards where Levi and the rest waited, a somewhat blatant ambush, but not enough to deter the angered kalvex. Some bounded forward, more reminiscent of deer, while the third ran more like Bolt and Packrunner, less elegance and more power.

Levi sprang into action as soon as he was sure the other half of the pack was safely out of range, not going to double back on them. Packrunner outraced him, leaping to intercept the one kalvex that the Bladefins had managed to injure.

The ranger started firing, and the rest of the fighters closed in. With three targets, there was plenty of room for everyone to get in, but it also exponentially increased the number of injuries.

Bolt and Packrunner focused in on the injured one, while Skarm and Firelord did their best to distract a second with marginal success. Crackle and the eight Bladefins who'd stayed back with Levi darted in and out.

Levi ran alongside the most injured kalvex, stabbed his own swords into its back and held on tight, riding it like a bucking bronco. He pushed Destruction through his sword with one hand, the other holding the Beast Bite clamped on to keep him from being thrown off.

Someone cried out, sharp and familiar sound of pain. Levi blocked it out. The kalvex lashed out at everyone around them. He couldn't do anything. This fight needed his full attention.

If the pack had split less evenly, they'd have continued to tame the kalvex one by one, but with three opponents there was no room for error, no time for hesitation. In a way, this was easier. They just had to do as much damage as possible as fast as they could. But it was also three enemies, all level 19 at a minimum.

He kept pulsing mana into his swords at a steady rate, watching the kalvex's health drop just as steadily. He could keep this up long enough to finish this one off, but not much longer.

He glanced at his minion screen. Crackle was low in mana and stamina but still had two copies up. Bladefin was down to three copies, and Levi didn't see any locally so they were probably all with Lash now. Lash was injured, but not severely. Good. So their side of things was going according to plan.

Their side of things wasn't going nearly as well. Firelord had used his mana entirely now and retreated, his fragile kobold body not even as sturdy as a gremlin for close up fighting. Skarm was taking a page from Levi's book, clinging to the back of a kalvex with both hands of long claws dug deep into its sides, slashing at the back of its neck with his curved blade of a horn, but even incidental bites from the other kalvex in the area were adding up and the gremlin had barely a third of his health remaining.

And there were bodies. He didn't know if they were injured or dead, but both pained him. Levi knew from the moment they engaged that this wasn't going to be a bloodless victory, but he'd hoped things would go better than this.

Despite what he'd said, he heard a few people trying to cast Tame anyway as his opponent's health fell into the right range, but none of them took and they didn't have time to delay for trying again. People were dying every moment he failed to control this fight.

His opponent fell, and he sensed more than saw the alert become available. Someone had leveled. Hopefully Lash. No time to deal with it yet. He ignored it for now, rushing into the next fight against the second most injured kalvex. This one met him head on, whirling to stab its wickedly twisted horns clear through his chest and out the back, his own momentum helping to impale him.

"Big mistake." Levi had been impaled before plenty of times. It usually didn't turn out well for whoever was doing the impaling. Except the Demon Lord Vorish, who'd killed him in the first timeline, but he chose not to count that.

The kalvex raised its head, tipping him almost upside-down.

A little disorientation wouldn't be enough to save it.

Levi stabbed down with both swords in pure reflex. His Beast sword straight into the kalvex's eye, clamping the sword's spectral mana jaws down on its face. His other sword went into its back, giving him a second anchor to keep himself from being shredded as it shook its head, trying to dislodge him.

Levi's health plummeted as the jerking motions of the bladed horns currently driven entirely through his body tore jagged wounds that would have been entirely fatal to anyone not more than a little comprised of pure system mana by now, but at level 17 he could survive something like this.

He consciously held back his health, allowing the damage to continue to worsen, ignoring the blood pouring down over the horns and focusing his full effort on bringing the kalvex's last remaining health down.

Skarm dove into the fight, biting at the kalvex's legs. Bolt tackled its other leg. Levi felt it give under him, falling to its knees. He released both swords, tumbling forward with it and sliding himself off the horns with a squelch.

Levi felt lightheaded and dizzy. Perhaps from being flipped around repeatedly. Perhaps from blood loss. Probably both.

Someone tried to drag him away, but he staggered to his feet and lunged. The kalvex still had 12% of its health. Between 50 and 100. He had to finish it. If it could do this to him it would tear through everyone else.

Levi slowed down the flow of health, held it back though it wanted to rush in and fix the huge tears through his torso, forced it to move slow and at maximum efficiency. It didn't matter if it hurt longer, or had a higher possibility of scarring or leaving long-term damage. He'd lived with pain and scars before.

20%. 18%. Levi could drain it completely and not fix this.

He didn't think about it. He fought. His mana was down to the dregs, a tiny flicker of a pulse every several eternal seconds.

His world was nothing but the enemy before him and the allies beside him, the blade in his hand and the reflex for survival and protection.

8%. 7%.

No thought.

Action.

Fight.

Survive.

Kill.

Live.

Then it was over, in a burst of power and light.

Congratulations, Levi Morrison!

You have 1 level available.

Applying to default class.

"Verify!"

He hadn't been in a fight that close for a long time.

Tamer level increased to 18.

+9 health, +9 mana, +9 stamina

Skarm has reached level 15!

Horned Gremlin threshold 3 attained.

Evolution threshold advancement progress: 3/3

Evolve to Armored Gremlin

Evolve to Dustclaw Gremlin

Evolve to Flickering Gremlin

Combined Evolution: Cen Combined Evolution: Centoo Combined Evolution: Gremlin Two

Skarm has 5 stat points available.

Skarm has 4 ability points available.

It took a moment for Levi to realize he was laughing.