Pushing up, Helena, Lydia, and Jake climbed the remainder of the slope to join Darius. The four of them then crept up to the entrance of the massive, well-lit cavern that was waiting for them. Massive mana crystals hung from the ceiling, a number jutted out from the walls, and there was even a pool of pure mana gathered at the center of the room. Within the massive space, as Jake had predicted, the floor was covered in Maedra. An absurd number of the creatures were spread throughout the room in almost a random way as they vied for space within the stone room, a room large enough to hold more Maedra than Jake had ever seen at once.

At the center of the room and encircling the mana pool, Maedra babies crawled and lumbered around one another. They swam in and drank from the water, their bodies contorting and bubbling as the sustenance fueled their growth. Five or six far larger Maedra, likely fulfilling the Caretaker role, kept the babies close to the water as they grew. A group of juveniles in the middle of their growth cycle were gathered next to the babies and were standing rather peacefully as their bodies continued to gurgle and change. Around them, several massive Maedra coated in thick armor with massive shields stood by, silent. Guardian Maedra were present in other locations as well, spread out evenly through the room to maintain order and provide protection from threats.

Jake looked up around the ceiling and spotted two Arachkin-type Maedra lurking around the crystals but they were asleep from what he could tell. The set of eyes each creature had were closed and their mandibles retracted. Thin lines of saliva leaked from their mouths as they drooled from their high positions of overwatch.

The number of Maedra within the room was far beyond what Jake could count but it was exactly what he had expected when he was told that their target was a nest. Maudraga, Armored Maedra, the Arachkin types, standard Maedra, and even what looked to be a number of other grotesque abominations were scattered around, waiting to either be poked or sent out. The only thing missing was whatever pushed out the babies. Jake couldn’t quite see how they were being formed and that was the constant missing link. Maedra babies were the smallest he had seen the creatures thus far. How they came into existence was still a mystery to him.

Jake felt his stomach twist at the thought of having to fight all of those beasts. With there only being three fighters on their side, it would be suicide to prod such a nest. Jake even believed that all of Ewana’s fighters wouldn’t be enough. There were too many, and this was the Maedra’s home. They would likely fight to the very end for their children, just like any other creature. Granted the Maedra fought to the death anyway, this would be a different kind of rage.

As Jake got his emotions in order, Darius gave Helena a tap to get her attention. She nodded and then herded both Jake and Lydia back into the tunnel. Lydia was told to return to the packs and wait, and she hurried away. The diligent Halfling knew her role and understood she wasn’t much use here other than being in the way. Thus, she slipped into the dark and waited out of sight. Jake wished he could do that. It was better than having to deal with what they were about to do.

“I’m going to toss the canister into the center of the room. Think you can hit it, Helena?” Darius asked. However, Helena frowned.

“I’m not exactly accurate, Darius,” she answered. Darius shrugged.

“We’ll have to try. There’s no alternative. Unlike the other nests, I won’t be able to get close. The moment I take a step onto that floor, it’ll be a frenzy.” Darius plucked a rock from the wall and began to scratch at the floor, outlining the cavern. He marked their position, the target where he wanted the canister, and where they would attack from.

“I’ll toss the canister high and aim for the area near the juveniles. The babies aren’t a threat and we can kill them off later, so cast your spell and target there. Jake-” Darius circled where the juveniles were are and then placed an X where he expected to lob the canister. Then, he marked down another location separate from Helena. “We are going to hold the base of the ramp until Helena hits her target.

“Did you see the Arachkin types?” Jake asked. Darius nodded. Jake looked at him oddly after the acknowledgment. If Darius knew about those two on the ceiling, then why wouldn’t they pay them any attention?

“The Arachkin types tend to remain stationary until the horde itself is threatened. The Maudraga will attack from behind while the Guards form a wall and push up. The regular types will remain behind the shields. It’s what we’ve seen in the past,” Darius used the rock to make a small diagram of the enemy formation but it didn’t settle Jake’s mind. The Maedra were not creatures of habit. They didn’t follow the rules and they didn’t fight to survive. They fought to kill, to eat. They had no tactics that they followed and assuming they did was akin to leaving yourself open to an ambush in the night.

“No, that won’t work, Darius,” Jake said. The Elf rolled his eyes.

“How many times have you fought a nest?” Darius spat, his golden eyes narrowing. Jake clenched his jaw and glared at his compatriot.

“Zero, but-” Jake tried to explain himself, but the Elf scoffed and cut him off.

“Exactly, zero. Just do what you’re told and we’ll be fine,” Darius rumbled and then turned his eyes down to the battle map. Just as he placed the rock down to mark off another portion of the map, Helena reached out and placed her hand atop his.

“Delmuth. You may wish to listen to the boy,” she said with a soft whisper. Darius shot her a glare and opened his mouth to say something, likely in anger, but he held his tongue. Helena wasn’t one for going against him often. However, she never did let him tumble headfirst into a problem blindly. She let him stumble and learn but there was plenty of experience behind that blindfold of hers. Experience Jake wondered if Darius was lacking.

“Fine,” Darius released the rock in his hand as he tossed it over to Jake. “What do you have to say?” Was the rock a talking rock?

“The Maedra won’t come as neatly in rows as you want. If they did, they would have guards along the edges of their groups. They don’t. The guards are placed neatly across the entire area, like pillars.” Jake created a circle off to the side and then marked off where he had seen each of the Guard-type Maedra. They were each equidistant from the others, as if their location acted as a meeting area for their groups. Further, Jake had counted the organization of each group. There was a balance of 7-to-3, 7 Maedra to 3 Maudraga. The larger the size, the more of each. Around the edges of the room beside the other three exits, two guards were posted at each tunnel exit. The Arachkin on the ceiling were centered in the room, one on each side of the large mana crystal.

While looking at the room, Jake had felt something off about the neatness of the space. Now that he had it drawn out before him he could better see why he was so unnerved. Much like how the Ewana forces were broken up into teams and platoons- the same was done for the Maedra. A sign of intelligence was there, right in front of their faces.

“As you can see, the Maedra have squads and platoons in place. They’re organized in a hierarchy, just like how the Oryx do it. The Arachkin are likely battlefield commanders, the Guards are the squad leaders, and the Maudraga have the Maedra at their disposal. It’s neat. It’s clean. It’s a well-thought-out setup. And if we look at the babies and juveniles, the types currently growing mimic these numbers.” Jake paused for a moment, glancing up to see how Darius was reacting. The Elf said nothing at first and continued to stare down at the map Jake had drawn. When Jake looked to Helena, she smiled at him and motioned for him to continue.

“The Arachkin-types move last because they need to continue to oversee things from their perch. If they move in, they can’t give orders. The guards likely made a wall because whatever you did before the fight warranted them to move forward.”

“Have you ever fought the Maedra like this before?” Darius asked suddenly. Jake blinked and sat up.

“No, but it only makes sense. If they don’t follow this, then they’re just going to rush us and we’ll have to fight against whatever comes our way.”

It was true that Jake hadn’t fought the Maedra on their home turf. Nor had he seen the Guardian and Arachkin-types in action. However, the organization of the Maedra nest reminded him a lot of how the Oryxs had organized themselves for the Operation. The leadership organized into a central hub in the center. Scout teams were split into mages and fighters, while the Warriors made up the bulk of the vanguard force. If it was true that the Maedra were learning and growing, then the Oryxs were the only form of reference the Maedra had to battle strategy. Thus, Jake gambled on the idea that the Maedra had learned, somehow, how the Oryxs organized their forces and they were now mimicking that organization.

Gambling wasn’t the smartest way to handle such a situation, Jake was sure of that. However, it was better than going in completely unprepared and being surprised. Without his Sensory magic, Jake could only put together a visual picture of the Nest. He wasn’t sure of exact numbers, of any traps, or of any Maedra lurking out of sight. All he could do was make guesses and prepare based on the information his eyes could pick out.

“Then we’ll do it this way,” Darius started. He cleaned up the space around them and then once more drew up a map of the nest area. He placed a mark for Helena and Jake, and then marked himself lower down the small ramp towards the Maedra. “We’ll bet that the Maedra follow your idea, Jake. If it’s correct, then they won’t come all at once. They’ll move enough bodies to fill the ramp and then the other groups will move up behind them in quick succession. They’ll fight as teams. When one team is too damaged, it’ll move out of the way for a fresh group, or it’ll be thrown forward, or it will be integrated into the group behind it.” As Darius drew the expected tactics of the Maedra on the ground, Jake used his brain and past experience to try and visualize the scene he would soon be forced to face.

“How effective is the canister spell?” Jake asked, peeking over at the pulsing blue weapon.

“If it goes off properly, at least sixty percent of that room will be eliminated,” Darius said flatly. Jake swallowed a lump in his throat. Sixty percent was a lot. That was a big boom.

“Which is why we’re staying far away,” Jake muttered. He glanced down at the map and noticed just how far off they were standing. They were practically barely peeking out of the entrance of the cavern, with just enough of a visual to see where the canister was expected to land.

“What if Helena misses?” Jake glanced over at the woman but her expression remained unchanged.

“Then we run. If the canister isn’t triggered properly and breaks when it lands, the contained mana inside will dissipate and the spark will be lost. We’ll be left with nothing.” Darius tossed the rock in his hand and then rose to his feet. He adjusted his blades and then his clothes. “Which is why we can’t miss. When the fighting starts, keep your head down. Fight until they’re all dead.”

“Even with the canister, fighting with just three people against that mess is asking for trouble,” Jake rumbled as he too began to adjust his gear. Darius chuckled and grinned.

“After this canister goes off and Helena casts that spell Lydia drew up, the number of Maedra left behind will be nothing more than battered scraps. We’ll be fine.” Darius gave both Jake and Helena a once-over with his eyes to satisfy himself, then he checked to make sure they were both mentally ready. Jake sighed and nodded, while Helena only briefly smiled at him.

“What’s that sigil, anyways?” Jake asked, pointing at the magic circle Lydia had drawn and handed to Helena. The woman didn’t answer, though. She only smiled and slid it into a pocket within her top.

“A secret. Let’s go,” Darius pulled his blades free from their sheathes and began to move up towards the cavern entrance. Helena bowed her head briefly, her lips moving in an inaudible whisper as she said a prayer to her God of choice.

Jake, on the other hand, stared down at the map Darius had drawn. He then glanced towards the cavern entrance and Darius’s back. They had the element of surprise. Yet the Maedra had their numbers and tenacity. The odds weren’t exactly stacked in their favor, even with the catalyst. Darius’s confidence in success was either due to him being a lunatic or that secret sigil spell was something far more important to their victory than Darius was letting on. Jake could choose to trust them. He could be silent and let events play out, but Jake wasn’t fond of giving the Maedra any wiggle room.

“Helena.” Jake muttered as the woman finished her prayer. She paused and looked at him. “I need you to remove this seal,” he said as he exposed his waist. The magic circle on his skin pulsed faintly, throbbing as it worked to contain his mana.

“You know I can’t do that,” Helena answered with a slight frown. Jake nodded.

“I do, but you can always replace it afterwards. Right? I don’t trust this fight and if something goes wrong, I’d rather not be turned into Maedra food.” It was one thing to keep his magic locked away for practice, but this was a lot bigger than practice. Fighting without his magic against this size of enemy was stupid. Helena eyed him warily for a few moments, likely considering her options.

“If either the canister or that sigil spell fail- can your magic hold off the Maedra?” Jake asked. He wasn’t entirely confident that even he could do it but he knew at least he could do more than Helena. He could pump out more powerful spells quicker and he could attack a wider range of enemies. Where her magic wasn’t as strong and the area she could affect was far more narrow. Unless she was concealing more powerful spells due to the cramped space of the tunnel, of course.

“Sorry, Jake, but I have to trust Delmuth,” Helena gave him a smile, a warm and trustful smile full of belief in her comrade. “And so should you. He’s a lot smarter than he looks.”

There was a desire for Jake to continue to argue, however, he could see in her face that she wouldn’t budge on this issue. Jake was stuck with the seal on his hip for the time being and he would need to fight that horde with his arms bound. He hated that idea but if Helena wouldn’t help him, then he would need to figure out another way to get the seal off. If things went wrong, the best he could do would be to make a run for it. These idiots wouldn’t be the death of him. As much as he was thankful for Darius’s help, he owed the Elf nothing. Trust? Trust got you killed.

“Ready?” Jake knelt beside Darius as the Elf peered over towards Helena. The woman moved her free hand slowly through the air, creating a set of four runes that each glowed a bright red. When the spells were set, she gave him a brief nod. “Good. Here we go.”

The Elf slipped out of the tunnel and Jake moved forward to the edge of the cliff they stood on. The boy knelt beside a set of rocks and glared up towards the pair of Arachkin-types. Then, he looked towards the enemy below. The babies were still swimming and drinking. The juveniles continued to grow. The adults were still loitering, posturing, and one team was leaving the nesting area for a tunnel. Jake waited for a few moments and then looked down toward where Darius had moved. The Elf wrapped around the edge of the cavern, following the steep path down to the lower area. Once he reached his position, he stopped and faced the direction he would need to throw the canister.

Helena stepped forward and raised her hands. The spells in front of her glowed brightly, shimmering with power as she primed them to fire. Darius unhooked the canister from his belt, twirled it in his hand, and then raised it over his shoulder. With power and balance, the Elf chucked the canister. It arced high into the air, soaring over the heads of the Maedra. Darius moved out of the way, quickly hiding himself behind the cover of some rocks. Jake watched the canister flip end over end as it sailed through the air. Helena’s eyes widened, the light behind her blindfold flashing as she ignited the runes she had drawn. Four fire balls streaked forward, screeching through the air with velocity as they raced to meet the canister. Immediately after , Helena ducked into the tunnel.

Jake followed the spells with his eyes, peeking over the rocks he hid behind as he watched them fly toward their target. The first shot whiffed, missing wide right. The second cut underneath. The third fizzled out before even reaching the canister. Jake thought even the fourth would miss. However, the last fire ball struck true. It smashed into the right side of the canister, the core of the fire spell crackling and flaring brightly as the second element of the spell triggered. The bright flash engulfed the canister as the glass shattered. The outer mana melded with the mana from within, the spark contained within the heart of the canister screeching loudly as it lost its stability. The mana fuel inside the canister sparked like oil. Then the air ruptured as the ensuing explosion ripped through the cavern.

“Holy-!” Jake shouted as the bright light filled his vision. The boy tucked behind the rock as a terrible shockwave tore through the room, blasting the Maedra within off their feet. The stone floor cracked and shook, loose rocks lodged in the ceiling fell free, and several mana crystals dangling from the walls careened towards the ground. The boy could feel his back getting pelted with debris and the taste of dirt filled his mouth. His head throbbed and his ears rang.

The canister certainly had done its job.

As the world around him calmed, Jake pulled his head from beneath his arms and quickly surveyed his surroundings. First, he checked for his allies. He looked to see Helena safe within the tunnel, but the entrance was now partially blocked. A portion of the tunnel had come loose and caved in. Thankfully, Helena looked unharmed. Jake then looked for Darius and spotted the Elf at the bottom of the ramp- at the far bottom. Between them, a number of large stones had fallen and a portion of the floor had been shattered. Passage would be impossible unless he could both clear a portion of the way and then jump the new gap that had emerged. Before he let himself feel dismay, Jake then checked the Maedra and the rest of the cavern.

Where the canister had exploded, there was a large crater and plenty of Maedra body scraps. The mana pool was leaking into the fresh crater and nearly all of the juveniles and babies had been either killed, maimed, or crushed by fallen debris. The adults were scattered, pushed away by the powerful blast and were similarly trying to get a gauge of their surroundings. The two Arachkin had been blown from the ceiling, one dead by a massive mana crystal that had fallen on it. The other was safe from harm. A number of Maudraga and Maedra were killed by both the blast and fallen stones, while a majority showed severe damage from the canister explosion due to their proximity.

However, majority of the Guardian-type Maedra were unharmed. Their heavy bodies and thick shields had protected themselves and any allies that had hidden beneath them. As Jake had seen, the one Arachkin-type was unharmed and was quickly hissing and gurgling out orders to its subordinates as it crawled over the debris towards a wall. A motion likely so it could climb and gain a vantage point of the area. Most of the Maudraga were still unharmed compared to the Maedra, and the general number of survivors was more than Jake had desired.

The damage was significant, but not so much that the Maedra would be easy to deal with. The remaining numbers, even with injured making up the majority their ranks, would easily be enough to kill off three isolated Adventurers.

“Helena! The sigil spell!” Jake shouted as he pushed himself to his feet. He staggered, the room swirling as he tried to get her attention. The woman didn’t respond, however. She was slow to her feet and leaned heavily against the wall. Her staff didn’t look normal.

“Helena!!” Jake repeated. He lost his footing, his sense of balance still off due to the heavy ringing and the awkward spinning in his head. He had been struck by a large rock on the back of the head, but his hands had protected him from too much damage. In the moment, he didn’t think much of it. But now he was beginning to wonder just how much protection his hands truly had been.

Even with the ringing, Jake heard a chorus of violence at his back. The boy whirled around, his eyes meeting with those of the Arachkin-type. It spotted him, clear as day, standing atop the cliff face. Its fangs chittered, its eyes reddened, and a terrifying screech rang out through the cavern. The Maedra below echoed the call to war and Jake felt his stomach fall out from beneath him. His knees trembled, his eyes widened.

Fear grabbed him by the throat. Instinct called for magic, but heat tore into his flank as the sigil scratched into his flesh burned. The boy grit his teeth and continued to call for his mana, fighting the pain as he turned back to face Helena. She had earned her footing and was stepping into the cavern. The blindfold around her head was crooked, exposing one of her pale white eyes. It glowed brightly, shining grandly within the rather dark cavern.

“Helena, the spell! The spell!” Jake continued to yell as he scrambled over to her. Helena fell to her knees as he neared her, her staff falling by her side. When he finally made it to her, she looked up at him with utter despair. She held the sigil spell in her hand, the paper between her fingers-

-two pieces of it.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she coughed and looked down. “It tore when I reached for it. It was stuck in my clothes.”

Jake felt his gut sink further and all hope fell from his mind. Whatever that spell was, it was meant to clean up the mess. Without it they were dead in the water. Running and sealing the tunnel behind them would be the only way out, but first Jake needed to get Darius. The issue would be how. If Jake was messed up and without magic, he had no tools to rescue the Elf. Other than maybe yelling. Even so, he needed to move. Doing nothing would get them killed. At least if he moved, he might be able to find out something.

“Get back into the tunnel, Helena. Go get Lydia and start running,” Jake grabbed the woman’s staff and checked it for damage. The crystal in its core was still functional but the staff itself was cracked in the middle. Jake sheathed his daggers and then shoved his knee into the crack, shattering the staff in half. He then tossed the dead weight and tested his mana with the staff. The staff accepted the flow, but boy did it send ripples of pain up his side. Not as much pain as when he tried to cultivate on his own, but enough to make magic uncomfortable.

“I can’t leave without you two,” Helena coughed, wheezing slightly as she pushed herself up to her knees. Jake clenched his jaw and looked at her. Her head was bleeding- she had been hit with a rock as well it seemed. Though her body was tough due to years of adventuring, or whatever life she had lived, her frame was still relatively thin. She was out of the fight. Jake didn’t have time for this.

“Shut up and go, Helena. Or you’ll be killed when the Maedra reach you,” Jake turned away and looked down for Darius. The Elf was getting his bearings and to his feet, but his right arm was unnaturally hanging by his side. At the same time as Jake was looking at him, Darius looked up towards Jake. They made eye contact, and then Darius looked down to see the state of the ramp.

“But-” Helena tried to continue her protest, but Jake snarled and glared angrily her way. He felt his blood boil and his adrenaline pump. His heart throbbed hatefully within his chest. There was no contingency for this and every wasted second was cutting their chance of survival in half.

“GO!” He yelled before forcing himself to his feet. The boy dumped mana into the staff, pouring his strength into the crystal at its tip as he generated enough to cast a healing spell on himself. The spell felt dilluted as it came out the other end of the staff, as if the strength of it had been fractioned due to him utilizing a medium rather than his own hands. On top of that, the required amount was significantly more. How inefficient was this fucking thing?

“DARIUS!!!” Jake shouted, his voice being drowed out by the screaming and wailing of the Maedra. The beasts were gathering themselves, the survivors recovering much more quickly as they seemed to aid one another back to their feet. The Arachkin on the ceiling screeched out loudly, but it seemed to be struggling to make enough noise to compete with the others.

“Darius! Get over here!” Jake belted out, his voice cracking from the thin coating of dust and dryness. The groggy mist over his mind was fading. He could hear again, somewhat but not really due to the constant screeches, and his balance was back. But his body still felt a little sluggish. At least the pounding in his head was gone. The pain from the seal on his hip was only getting worse as he forced more mana into the staff, eventually forcing the boy to kneel. It was like a hot knife was being jammed into his flank.

“This fucking-!” He snarled and glared down at the seal burning through his shirt. It was working overdrive to contain his magic, fighting against everything Jake was doing to contain the power within him. If it wasn’t for his sheer amount of mana, Jake doubted he would be so lucky to even use magic at this point. However, with the staff as a tool, Jake quickly gathered his mana and then shoved the tip of the staff against his hip.

The sigil was a Light-element. Its edges were rather smooth, but the text wasn’t Seraphim. It was a knock-off enchantment and a lower-class one, utilized likely by a novice when it came to such things. Thus, Jake found it easy to tear the sigil apart in terms of make-up. He pulled his shirt out of the way, press the tip of the staff into his side so roughly that the very point of it broke skin. Then, he dumped mana into the sigil. He opened his eyes, glaring at the bright marking as he felt his power slowly begin to return. He forced more and more mana into the spell, overwhelming it as it flared desperately, trying to do its job.

“BREAK, GOD DAMN YOU!” Jake’s voice cracked as he howled. He felt his chest pulse with power as he poured every ounce of mana he could gather into his hip. The white, glowing light was dyed a thick red as it was contaminated with his own mana. The black lines began to contort and twist, the ink within the letters bleeding as it held on with every fiber of magic within it. Jake felt his own mind begin to fog again, his vision narrowing as red seeped in along the edges. His teeth ground together, his jaw creaking. His muscles tensed powerfully, pain and heat ripping through his body as he felt the tension build all throughout his frame.

Just as Jake felt the last of his strength bubble to the surface and felt his anger about to burst- he heard a loud crack. The sigil’s lines split, the ink ripping as the light flared out of control. The boy shut his eyes and grimaced as he felt the sensation of a knife in his hip twist and violently spread through the rest of his body. Pain tore through every fiber of his being. He let out a soundless gasp, his hands opening as all of the tension evaporated from his body. The sudden mixture of pain and the release of tension in his muscles caused him to crumble, his muscles convulsing as mana that was gathering in his hands now raced back into the rest of his body. Simultaneously, his internal mana flow went into overdrive. Now freed from the grip of the restrictive sigil, his Mana Source roared to life. Jake was incapable of controlling either as his mind reeled from the pain he now felt.

A recipe for disaster. With Jake unable to control himself as his body slumped over, his energetic mana flow raced to fill the empty void that had been created due to him forcing it to attack the sigil. The mana he had used but hadn’t been spent, now flowed backwards to rejoin the flow. Both new and old moved in opposing directions, and they quickly collided within Jake’s chest. The surge caused an overflow occurred. Too much mana for the boy’s body to handle. It wasn’t meeting at his fingertips, but within his chest. The collision of the two flows caused a rupturing within him, a weakening of his mana flow as his body struggled to handle the overload.

The only option was to push the excess elsewhere. The mana bled into the boy’s blood system, mana mixing with the red cells within his upper torso and arms. It leaked into his lungs, his liver, his throat. The contaminated blood flowed through his heart and pumped into the rest of his system, carrying the dangerous mixture to every other part of his body.

Jake’s eyes opened, his vision foggy as he gasped for air. The pain of what was happening kept him in place, paralyzing him as the excess mana merged with his life functions. He hacked up black blood, the liquid spurting from his throat as his body began to try and expel the poison. He realized what was happening, but felt powerless to stop it. The excess mana was already too far along and catching it all was impossible.

This was it, wasn’t it? Not even dead by Maedra, but by his own mana. The boy’s fingers pressed at the ground as he spit up another throatful of black. He wheezed and coughed, trying to get air down but only ended up spitting more liquid out with every breath. His skin color began to fade, his vision blurred, and he felt his muscles weaken further.

“This…” He coughed. “...is such bullshit!” He coughed again and curled his right hand into a fist. He could feel his chest tightening and his breath getting shorter.

He rolled onto his back, forcing himself over and he dragged his hand onto his chest. He could feel his consciousness beginning to fade as the heat in his body spiked. The wails of the Maedra sounded so far away now but the urgency in his mind remained. If he lay here long enough, he would die. It would be too easy to just let death take him, but doing so was not on his to-do list.

The boy closed his eyes, steeled his mind, and let out a final cough. He felt the splatter of blood on his face before he locked his teeth together. He put pressure on his jaw and then drew in deep through his nose. His chest cavity expanded, the sensation to cough filled his throat as blood leaked into the vacant space. But as he breathed, he grabbed onto his mana forcibly. He pushed it into his hand and out his fingertips. It poured out, spilling over his chest. The mana leaked out raw at first but as he gained more control over his mana flow, the boy began converting the mana to work with light element spells. He pumped mana into his lungs and heart, focusing on the source of his oxygen as well as his blood flow. He worked to cleanse the blood of the poisoned cells as it cycled through his blood stream and stabilized his oxygen flow.

Like sucking the serpents poison out of a fresh bite wound, Jake pulled the poisonous mana out of his system and expelled it through his hands. He coughed violently several, hacking up the last of the blood lodged in his throat but he forced himself to keep breathing. Pushing through the discomfort as he struggled to live. Slowly, his consciousness stabilized along with his mana flow. The heat coursing through his skin began to cool. The pain raging through his very bones subsided. The excess mana was pushed out of his hand and either forced out, or utilized to speed up the recovery process.

“...That sucked,” he wheezed as he finally forced himself to roll over. Time was still short, and the boy couldn’t just lay there. He had no idea how much time he’d spent on the floor but he knew it was wasted time. He clambered up onto his hands and knees, crawled to a stack of rocks, and forced himself up them so that he could see over towards where he had last seen his Elf companion. Coughing, wheezing, and his vision still blurry, Jake spotted the Elf.

The Maedra were tearing through his good arm as they overpowered him. Jake’s eyes widened as he watched, just in time, to see his teacher be tackled to the floor by the horde. Darius screamed prolificly, his good arm swinging until the very last moment when a Maedra tore it from its socket, ripping the flesh and dismembering the man. His golden eyes widened only for a moment before his head was crushed by a powerful fist. The beautiful face of the experienced Adventurer was turned to pulp.

The ringing returned to Jake’s ears.

The redness around the edge of his eyes darkened his vision.

The thoughts of fear and terror vanished from his mind.

The pain and weakness that he felt throughout his body dulled.

Again.

It was happening again.

“No…”

A powerful pulse surged outwards from Jake’s chest.

“No..”

Adrenaline dumped into his system. His mana flow thumped and blazed with power.

“No.”

The stones beneath his fists cracked as his muscles flexed and his hands squeezed onto them.

“No.”

His thoughts became clear, as there was only one thing on his mind.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

A familiar sigil burned through Jake’s chest, black ink appearing on his skin as an outpouring of mana surged through his system. His mana source flared to life, kicked into overdrive as the black sigil called it into action. The boy’s brown eyes darkened, his pale skin turning even more translucent as the power of unrefined mana tore through his body. A barely visible red aura distorted the air around his figure, the sheer amount of mana leaking from his frame causing the very air to change.

He was going to kill them.

Every single fucking one of them.