Riana spent the first half of the battle with the Ice Essence running for her life.

Riana Blake: Level 9

(Mage)

Health: 83%

It was embarrassing, really. She'd leveled while helping clear the prison dungeon’s respawned monsters, and begun imagining herself as a protector. She could be the magical girl who’d swoop in and turn the tide of the battle.

Reality didn’t quite play out how she’d imagined.

One of the early clashes formed several ‘pengolin’ Essence monsters, each of whom chose a target and pursued them vigorously, splitting the group and forcing them away from the Essence itself.

Riana didn’t know if that was intentional strategy or simply the mindless actions of creatures seeking to kill their adversaries, but either way it divided the battle significantly.

By the time she finished off her own monster pengolin and could return to the center, the Essence itself was gone and only Mark the tamer and one of his kalvexes could be seen, rushing off down a side street. She didn’t see whatever he was chasing, but since the kalvex was the highest level of anyone here she doubted they’d need her help.

From the sounds of shouting, the bulk of the fighting had moved the opposite direction, so that’s where Riana went. She came across Gordon and Flomper, engaged in a battle with two dozen tiny spiders. Gordon darted in to strike, retreating before he could be retaliated against, while Flomper slowed the progress of any that came too close to reaching him.

They worked together in a smooth rhythm that came closer to a dance than anything Riana had yet witnessed.

As much as she’d love to stay and watch, she knew her skills weren’t needed here. She still fired off a Gust at the nearest cluster of spiders as she ran by, dropping their health substantially for a very low cost since Gust was her current focus spell.

“Thanks!” Gordon called after her.

“Any time.”

Then she was past, sprinting toward the ongoing fight with as much speed as she could muster without drawing on stamina.

There was no ‘the’ fight any more by this point. A group of rangers on a rooftop fired down at a half dozen crabs, a group of fighters had cornered an angry dwarf, a mage and a fighter stood back to back as they fought a mixed group of spiders and crabs…

Riana threw in a Gust or three whenever it seemed appropriate, easing the pressure on her fellow fighters, but for the most part they seemed to have things as much under control as possible with such powerful adversaries.

“Where’s the Essence?” she asked each time.

“Haven’t seen it since we split off these.”

Shrugs, vague gestures.

“Was heading that way last I saw, but it’s been minutes.”

Riana had just come from that way, so that was useless. Increasingly, it looked like no one knew. Everyone was preoccupied with their own smaller fights.

With twenty-some people in the area, they were doing a pretty good job of supporting each other and containing the Essence outbreak.

She ran past a trio guarding an injured scout as he drank his emergency health potion, then doubled back to help them once it registered in her mind what she’d seen.

They’d been assigned into groups for this very reason, since at the current level having a medic in the active fighting would be more a liability than anything. Anyone injured would have to either retreat to their staging area outside the town, or deal with the minutes of debilitating weakness that came with using the magical restoratives. There’d been enough potions retrieved from the prison dungeon for everyone in the Essence strike team to have one of each type, giving them a solid emergency buffer.

Essences were nothing to treat lightly. They’d already lost at least two people that she knew of, and Riana needed to find it before it killed anyone else.

“Don’t suppose any of you know where the Essence went?”

No one did. Even the injured scout whose mana ping was much stronger than Riana’s could only shrug.

Giving up on asking for directions, Riana decided to scout for herself. She darted into the first building she reached, ramming open someone’s front door and sprinting for the nearest staircase.

Any civilians had long since fled or hidden by now, but she still felt a little awkward running through the place with complete disregard for its owners. She crashed through an emergency exit, then jumped toward the roof and pulled herself up with a tiny stamina boost. She’d grown stronger over the past month, but not to the point where she could hoist her full weight with ease.

Ah, there! The Essence was moving parallel to Riana’s recent route, toward a cornered warrior facing off with a mixed group of the Essence-spawned monsters.

Riana leaped into action. No time to waste. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, running at full speed, cutting a diagonal across town to head off the Essence.

It was faster, but it was taking a direct route of smashing through buildings which did slow its momentum if only a little. She jumped into the fray a full eight seconds before the Essence would reach them, giving her just enough time to rescue the beleaguered warrior.

To her initial surprise, she recognized Drakonias. Then immediately realised she shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course he was the one alone and surrounded. If the guy had ever heard the word ‘tactics’ he’d certainly not bothered to retain it.

“GUST!” Wind blasted out in front of her, slicing the essence monsters into ribbons. Or, at least, dropping their health a percent or two, but that was the same thing practically. A dozen more casts burned through half of her remaining mana, but also cleared the majority of the crabs and brought the dwarf down to below half.

“We have to–”

But Drakonias couldn’t hear her; he’d taken advantage of the opportunity to chug a mana potion, trusting her to cover him. Riana wanted to smack him as an idiot, but until he was able to perceive the world again it would do no use to yell.

A minute later Drakonias rushed back into the battle with his usual grandiosity, “You’ll not defeat me, vile one. Not this time.” He lunged at the dwarf with his sword leading.

The dwarf sidestepped and grabbed the sword, but Drakonias turned the lunge into a slash with a brief flare of mana and the dwarf’s health dropped as he carved a brilliant orange line down its palms.

“No time.” Riana didn’t wait for him to acknowledge, grabbing his arm and running for the nearest house. “We have to get away, the Essence is coming!”

Drakonias ran backwards to keep up with her, continuing his duel with the dwarf one-handed. He focused completely on the fight, as though they weren’t running through someone’s front hall.

Between Riana’s haste, the dwarf’s swiping claws, and Drakonias’s flailing sword, they made quite the mess. Portraits tumbled off the walls, furniture toppled, and deep gouges tore through the wallpaper into the plaster.

Not that a few scratches would be a problem for long.

Before they could find the stairs, the Essence crashed through the wall, sending up a cloud of plaster dust as it utterly demolished the flimsy obstacle.

Drakonias tugged free of Riana’s grip, seizing his sword in both hands. He launched himself into a reckless flurry, hammering through the dwarf’s remaining health with what looked like pure desperation.

“Gust,” Riana cast, the bladed wind barely slowing the Essence.

Level 2++

(Ice Essence)

Health 22%

Then Drakonias was in front of her, shoving her back and out of the line of fire. In almost the same motion he threw himself into a dramatic sprint, leap, and slash combo.

"OVERCHARGE!" The blade pulsed in brilliant power, as Drakonias soared over the Essence's head in a tight flip, sword extended downward to shear it clean in half.

Riana didn't know if it was luck or skill, but either way it looked awesome. He was going to be insufferable after this, wasn't he?

Both halves of the Essence twitched and shifted, their shapes reforming as the Essence itself ceased to be.

...leaving two undersized ice dragons in its place.

Level 2+

(Essence Drake)

Health 100%

Level 2+

(Essence Drake)

Health 100%

"ONE FOR EACH OF US," Drakonias roared, eyes lighting up. “Today, we become dragon slayers!”