The splatter of Darius’s skull was fresh, the brain matter leaking from the club-like arm of the Maedra that had killed him. Bone fragments jutted from the killer’s flesh. Skin oozed onto the floor and the Maedra carved into the Elf’s corpse with vigor as they devoured the flesh of the recently deceased. Their hands raked at the meat, tearing chunks away from the body as they shredded it apart. Within seconds, their meal was indecipherable. In the same time frame, a barrage of Fire Spears screeched across the air, impaling the flank of the Maedra horde.

Jake’s eyes pulsed with power, his Sensory Magic elevated as the boy stared down his foes. He breathed through clenched teeth, his lips peeling away as his anger boiled over. His mind was empty aside from the unwithering desire to slaughter everything in front of him. His skin was hot. His mana raged within him like an erupting volcano. However, his heart was calm. His blood ran chilled through his body as the boy controlled every breath. He had nothing to fear and nothing to hold him back. There were no doubts. There was no hesitation—only the overwhelming desire to kill.

He took advantage of the Maedra’s instinctive need to feast and filled the air with an array of Fire Spears. Within each tip, he added a trio of explosive runes. As the spears impacted their targets, covering the Maedra bodies with fire, the runes erupted in a beautiful symphony of booms. The Maedra were blown apart, chunks and pieces of their meaty frames scattered throughout the cavern. The rocks beneath them were shattered and pushed aside, turning into shrapnel that struck any other Maedra that found themselves too close. Darius’s body, or what was left of it, was vaporized beneath the heat and nowhere to be seen as the smoke cleared.

However, there was no mourning. After firing off his volley, Jake stepped over to the edge of the pathway and extended his hands outwards. Mana shot out through the air as he reached outwards towards the various exit tunnels around the cavern. He connected himself with the stone, sent mana rippling through the archways, and then collapsed them all. The passageways out of the Maedra nest crackled and crumbled, heavy boulders falling as the tunnels were broken apart. Even the one leading to where Helena and Lydia wasn’t spared. Jake sealed the Nest, ensuring there would be no retreat for the Maedra.

“If only you could feel suffering,” Jake snarled as he glared down at the Maedra beneath him. Both literally, and figuratively. These beasts were pathetic creatures. Their existence was pitiful, weak, and undeserving of the life they had been blessed with. Every second spent on them was a waste of mana, of life essence, which could be used for anything else.

What a joke.

“Since you can’t, I’ll make this quick.” Jake’s eyes widened as he pushed a large rock off the edge. Immediately after, he triggered a wind spell that sent the rock careening into the face of an unlucky Maedra. The Maedra was crushed, its body splattering from the violent impact. The mana crystal within its chest was crushed to dust.

Jake could see it. All of them. The crystals within the Maedra’s chests all glowed faintly in front of him. He had optimized his Sensory Magic and had put enough mana into the skill that he could detect everything within the cavern. By adding even more, the dense mana circulating through the sigils behind his eyes was causing the pulsing hearts of the Maedra to glow. The crystals within the cavern, even the mana pool, were all glowing as well. Any more and he could probably even see the lines the mana used to flow through the air. However, there was no need for that.

Jake pushed his mana out of his lower back, generating four mana tails which he extended outwards. He then extended his fingers and reached out for the mana in the air, connecting himself with the natural flow around him. As he took in a breath, he steadied that flow, familiarized himself with the feeling, and then ignited the fuel surrounding him. In a flash, he created an array of Fire Arrows, each with explosive runes within their tips. The new spell was a minor adjustment to the Spear spell. The Arrows were thinner and he made dozens more than just a handful of spears. In doing so, he increased the number of Explosive Runes in play.

The Maedra were howling up at him, their meager arms and legs dragging them up the slope as they climbed towards him. A number were rounding the corner, lumbering through the craters his Fire Spears had created and over the rocks which had fallen. However, they were all quickly targeted. Jake fired off his barrage, piercing their flesh and planting the arrows almost on top of the mana crystals. The ensuing explosions tore through the remaining flesh and either blew apart the crystals they had targeted, or exposed them for a second arrow to finish the job.

Their cries went silent, the sounds of their bodies slumping over being the last noises they would ever make. For Jake, that wasn’t enough. His magic had cut through the first few rows of the Maedra but their numbers held strong. On top of that- the dead hadn’t felt any pain. They hadn’t suffered. Not like Darius had. Not like Jake had. Not like Chul had. Jake reached to his hips and pulled free his two daggers. The Dwarven blade immediately began to glow as mana raced through its metal core. The three enchantments on it flared to life, each glowing a dull red to match Jake’s mana state.

“AH!” Jake took a heavy step to his left and his weapons sliced through the first Maedra like butter, carving its flesh out of the way before he blasted apart its limbs with a trio of Fire Balls. The mana crystal was hit last. Jake drilled it with a Wind Arrow, skewering the Maedra’s chest and blowing the lifeless husk into its allies.

Through the hole the body made, Jake lunged forward. He dove into the heart of the horde, his blades whirling as he cut through flesh. He aimed for limbs, for joints. He sliced off arms and legs, beheaded those with screeching mouths, and then filled the air with flame as he scorched the air around him. The Maedra wailed in a mixture of frenzy and turmoil as the boy carved through the wall of meat.

The battle shifted from a one-sided meat grind when the Maudraga survivors began to throw spells Jake’s way. Seeing the lower ranking Maedra so easily being cut down, the Arachkin-type called for magic and began to order the surviving Guardian-types forward. The air filled with the blue balls of pure mana as the Maudraga targeted the bottom the of ramp where Jake was making his way toward. As the boy reached it, their spells began to fall.

The boy was quick to react and kicked a few corpses into the air, using them as shields to protect himself as he set his feet. His tails twisted to face the new threat and then plunged into the rock. Utilizing rock and wind magic, Jake cut dozens of medium-sized stones from the floor and wall and then launched them up to intercept the falling spells. The stones smashed into the blue balls, which exploded and rained mana down into the air. Jake grinned and let out a hot, smooth breath through clenched teeth. That fresh mana in the air- he latched onto it.

Dozens of fire spears appeared above the horde of Maedra in front of him, their blazing points aimed angrily down at their targets. Then, like rain, they fell. A wildfire erupted as the Maedra burned. There were no explosive runes in these spears. Pure fire. Pure hatred. The flesh melted as the temperature rose, and the Maedra collapsed one by one as their bodies slothed into pools of goo. Jake stood at the bottom of the ramp, his eyes reflecting the flames as he glared towards the Arachkin-type. It lurked well out of reach of his daggers, but not his magic.

To remind it that it could be killed just as quickly, Jake made a show of forming a Stone Breaker just off his hip. The Arachkin-type stared back, watching warily as the boy formed a massive lance of compressed wind magic. Like a ballista, the boy fired the completed spell toward the Arachkin-type. Its eyes widened and its jagged legs quickly pulled it out of the way as the spell screeched through the air. It smashed into the wall, digging several feet into the rock before blasting apart, shattering the stone and causing the wall to quake from its strength of it. Wind swirled and a dangerous gust whipped outwards, spiraling in every direction as the wind contained within the heart of the spell was unleashed. Even with the distance the Arachkin-type had moved, it was still caught in the gale. Flesh ripped away from portions on its legs. Armored bone emerged from beneath.

“I’m coming for you, too,” Jake hissed as his fingers gripped down onto his blades. He then directed his attention back to the horde before him and stepped forward to meet the wave of flesh. He stepped hard into the Fang Style, his body moving like a razor as he pivoted through the bodies in front of him. His blades carved left and right, his feet carrying him between limbs as he danced through the fray. His blades rang with strength, a layer of mana coating them as he applied fire magic to heat their edges. His dwarven sword held firm from the enchantments, while the Elven blade was more of a natural weapon when it came to cutting up his foes.

While his hands converted his enemies into minced chunks, the boy’s mind coiled and his mana tails whipped behind him, flinging a mixture of fire and wind arrows in every direction to strike out at the mana crystals. Using his Sensory Magic and pairing it with rock magic, Jake protected his flank using rock pillars or by dropping the floor out from beneath those in his blind spot. The Maudraga continued to rain down their spells but Jake moved swiftly to avoid getting pinned down. When he couldn’t dodge, he either utilized the body of an enemy to shield himself or cut off the spell with one of his own.

His body was ablaze with energy, with heat. The crest glowing in the center of his chest fed his body relentlessly with mana, fueling his deadly dance. Blood coated his blades. It soaked through his clothes and his skin began to change in color as he bathed in it. He was making progress when the first Guardian-type stepped up. It pushed through the horde, a gap opening as the regular Maedra moved aside for their much larger brethren. Jake didn’t hesitate and met the new foe with vigor.

The Guardian-type roared as it slammed its shield down on top of the boy. Jake’s eyes widened with excitement and he met the shield with a powerful gust of wind, stopping its advance cold. Then, he summoned forth three Stone Breakers, smashing them into the shield at point blank range. The thick, bone-like shield cracked as the Guardian-type recoiled. It howled and smashed down its feet, holding firm against the counter attack. As the Guardian-type reset, the smaller Maedra filled the space. Jake switched from Fang Style to his Sword Singer stance. His hips opened, his feet widened, and he created a mental bubble around himself with his Sensory Magic.

A ball of death. An Ultimate Sphere. As the Maedra charged, lunged, jumped- Jake’s blades swirled as he cut his defensive line in the stone. Every hand that reached out was removed. Every mouth filled with fire. Those in the air were smashed away with powerful winds. Those too low were skewered by stone. Those to close were sliced to ribbons by greedy metal. Jake’s eyes flashed brightly as he poured mana into them and his muscles throbbed with strength as Light-magic fueled his stamina.

When the area cleared, he turned to face the Guardian-type once more and knelt to the floor. He stabbed his dwarven blade into the stone to free his left hand and then leveled his palm at the Guardian-type.

“Block this, you resilient fuck-” Jake dumped magic into his hand and created a torrent of swirling wind at his fingertips. The wind blew away the rotting corpses of the dead and cleared the floor of loose rocks. The Guardian-type instinctively raised its shield to defend itself and the Maedra next to it faltered. They hesitated long enough for Jake to gather enough power into the spell. With a squeeze of his hand into a fist, the loose wind swirled into a fine point. A lance of wind.

Twisting his hand, he locked in the spell and then yanked his elbow back like a trigger. The piercing wind howled forward, coring through the thick shield and then the upperhalf of the Guardian-type’s much weaker body. The corpse crumbled with a thud. Jake snatched his dwarven blade from the floor and rose back to his feet. His eyes and heart ablaze, he glared towards the remaining Maedra.

They hesitated.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Jake snarled. His hands squeezed around the leather wrapping of his blade hilts. Sweat accumulated on his skin and his face, but there was no fatigue in his body. He was careful to make sure to deal with any lactic acid buildup. In tune with his breathing, he made sure to cast recovery magic often.

“Fear.” Jake’s lips curled into a wild smile before he let out a faint cackle. The boy looked at his arms and at his body, taking in the sight of the Maedra blood on him. When he did, he realized something- there was mana within that liquid.

“Oh?” Jake stabbed his blade into the floor again and then slid his fingers through the blood. He tested it, tested if it would hold his mana. He applied just a little and found that the blood reacted with a faint pulse. He wasn’t entirely sure but the properties seemed to align. Like magic ink, he may be able to write with it.

“Convenient,” he rumbled before planting his hand firmly on the floor. As the Maedra recovered from their moment of terror and decided to charge again, Jake created a dome of stone around himself. He sealed himself away to protect himself for a moment from the frantic enemies. Once the walls were sturdy enough, he cast a light ball spell so that he could see. The walls immediately began to thunder and shake as the Maedra pounded against the stone and Maudraga magic crashed into the top of the dome.

Not having magic ink was the primary reason Jake had put a hold on performing any sort of physical enhancements on himself. His weapons were one thing- he could carve permanent enchantments into those. His skin, on the other hand, required a special ink which would both hold mana and remain in place for a long period of time. If the Maedra Blood worked well enough as a conduit, then he could utilize it as a base at least for the fight. While he was doing fine so far, the Maedra were still fairly large in number, and having to deal with so many at once was tedious. It would be foolish for him not to increase his lethality. If it didn’t hold for the entire time and either faded or lost its potency over time, he would make do with the short duration.

The walls were already cracking, however, so Jake knew he wouldn’t have time for any complicated sigils. The boy tore off his shirt, exposing his two Markings as well as the Sigil flaring on his chest- it was a Curse Sigil. Now that he had eyes on it, he recognized where it was from. He sucked his teeth but said nothing as the howls of the Maedra once more reached his ears. The boy slicked his fingers through the blood on his skin, wiping the liquid from his forearms as he smeared it over his shoulders. He used his fingernails for the precise lines and the tips of his fingers for the thicker circles. Applying mana to the blood, he was able to accurately write in the words of power along the lines.

He applied Strengthening and Fatigue Reduction Enchantments to his arms, Fatigue Reduction Enchantments to his abdomen and thighs, and Agility Enhancement Enchantments to his thighs and lower legs. Then, he applied three Hardening Enchantments to his body, which caused his skin to stiffen. It felt odd at first but the feeling subsided after a few moments of wiggling his limbs. The boy wanted to apply Magic enhancing runes as well, but the dome was already beginning to crumble. He was doing fine on that front, so he would take his chances.

Jake snatched his blade from the floor and pushed mana into his skin, igniting the Physical Enchantments all at once. They lit up simultaneously, taking on a red hue in the similar way Chul’s carapace had glowed. Even Jake’s Markings came to life as the eyes of the Arachkin and the Dragon within them burned a bright red. He felt light. His muscles were relaxed and the weapons in his hands felt like feathers. Moving from foot to foot was done with ease and almost unnoticable effort.

It was time to finish the job.

Taking the Sword Singer stance, Jake adjusted his footing and faced towards where his foe would be waiting. His tails whipped at his back as wind howled around him. With a powerful push, Jake blew apart the dome and blasted the stone structure outwards. The rocks smashed through the Maedra, pushing the initial rows back and clearing open a space for Jake to maneuver. He didn’t lunge first, however. No, he held his ground and fired off an array of Fire Spears into the sky. The Maudraga spells arcing towards him were intercepted and destroyed before they could reach him. Then, he returned the favor with a volley of his own, raining down dozens of Spears and Stone Breakers onto the Maudraga forces.

The Maedra around him recovered quickly and surged forward from every direction. With his enchantments, however, they moved far too slowly. Jake whipped into action, his body twisting around as his hips and feet carried him like a storm through the flesh. He recognized that killing each Maedra individually with his blades was quickly becoming inefficient. Thus, he began to strike out more aggressively with his magic. The boy remain disciplined in cutting into the horde with his blades but he began to put more focus into clearing the space around him with explosive blasts and gales of wind.

Small explosions ignited the air as he fired off Spears and Arrows at point-blank range, blasting apart multiple Maedra at once. Whenever a Guardian-type dared to try and match him, Jake switched from sword to magic entirely. There was no point in wasting time with those beasts. He shattered their shields with explosive arrows and then blew apart their bodies with Stone Breakers. The Maudraga continued to rain their own form of hellfire but their numbers were dwindling. After the initial catalyst explosion, the ratio of Maedra to Maudraga had been nearly halved. It was always fairly low in the first place. Now?

Now, there was barely a handful left. Jake countered their barrages with those of his own. He wasn’t as accurate due to having to fight the forces in front of him but he utilized wide-range strikes and covered more ground with larger spells to catch whatever he could. If he missed, he missed. There was no time to suck his teeth or be annoyed. The boy simply maintained his focus and fired off another volley the next time he earned his chance. Even if he missed, Jake’s spells landed on the heads of Maedra.

Slowly but surely, the boy whittled down the Maedra numbers. The number of Guardian-types left standing plummeted into the single digits. The Maudraga frantically moved about to avoid getting caught by the falling skies. The smaller Maedra continued to throw themselves forward but did so with less and less enthusiasm as they watched their comrades be slaughtered by the menace in front of them. Jake was ruthless and relentless. He met their aggression with unwithering violence. Before he knew it, Jake had pushed into the center of the cavern and a mountain of corpses lay at his feet. He stood atop a small mound of dead Maedra, his blades and body coated in their blood. The mess on his skin inevitably caused the enchantments to smear and dissipate but the fight was largely finished.

The boy stood tall on his mountain of death, his fingers firmly holding his fangs. With the tides having turned, the Maedra eventually stopped throwing themselves at him randomly. The Arachkin-type took more direct control over their movements and was calling out strikes from its position on the wall. It called for magic volleys, then sent forward Guardian-types paired with the smaller Maedra. When that didn’t work, he tried to attack Jake with three Guardian-types at once, which similarly failed. Another volley of magic, another surge of small Maedra. A pairing of magic and Guardian-types. Like a king atop his hill, Jake glared towards the Arachkin-type, leveling his weapon at the creature as he waited for the next move. The Arachkin-type didn’t call for one, however. It stared at Jake, silent. The fighting ceased for but a moment.

“Is that it?” Jake spat. He swept his eyes over the remaining Maedra force and laughed. “Is that everything you pathetic creatures have?!” He shouted, his voice booming through the cavern. The Maedra chittered and gurgled but remained in place as he looked down on them.

“When I first came to this Ravine, I feared you,” Jake rumbled, his smile flattening as he remembered the first time he had ever encountered the Maedra. It was atop Chul’s back so he had nothing to fear but just the sight of the creatures had made him sick. They were a grotesque manifestation of how Life could go wrong.

“But I’ve learned,” Jake licked his lips, cleaning them of the blood which had splattered on them. “I’ve learned that you’re nothing but fodder.”

“Killing you is a mercy.” His eyes widened as he stared down the Arachkin-type. He called forth an array of Fire Spears, embuing their tips with multiple explosive runes. The Maedra all took a step back as the dark cavern lit up around Jake’s position. Without even a wave of his hand, he fired them off in every direction. The spears tore through the Maedra lines and the creatures screeched as they were burned and shredded. Fire rained down all around him, silencing those screams one by one. The Maudraga were the first to be wiped out so no spells could be fired in answer.

The Guardian-types used their shields to try and block the strikes but the ground burned around their feet. While the shields of a few held, their bodies crumbled behind them. The smaller Maedra began to scatter and run only to meet their end as a spear pierced their back. A few bold enough to challenge Jake’s position only to be crushed by a powerful Wind Arrow from above.

Jake stood there in silence, not even smiling as the stench of melting flesh filled the air. The screams echoed and rang through the cavern as the Maedra burned. He watched without emotion as they died one by one. There was no feeling of victory. There was no feeling of pride, joy, or glory. As they fell, he looked down as one might on an insect. At one point, they were a mighty threat. They could have killed him. They could have caused him harm. How foolish for them to have thought such a thing was still a fact.

As the fires raged and the tougher and more stubborn Maedra continued to struggle, Jake’s patience ran out. He conjured up a volley of Wind Arrows and killed off the stragglers. Two Guardians were still standing, leaning onto their heavy shields as they tried to protect those behind them. However, Jake utilized his Stone Breaker spells to crack both their shields and their wills. Those they protected were skewered by the very stone they cowered behind.

Utilizing a mixture of wind and water magic, Jake doused the flames and cleared the cavern. He cracked the last few mana crystals that glowed and finished off any that had tried to hide from him. Once that job was done and the corpses began to dissolve, there was only one enemy left. He looked up at the wall, his eyes leveling on the Arachkin-type. It stood there, tucked into a small hole it had found that barely covered a third of its body. Its eyes stared out from the darkness of that hole as it remained as still as it could.

Jake extended a mana tail forward and filled the rock around the Arachkin-type with mana. It must have sensed it, as the creature hurried to escape the hole. Jake huffed at the missed opportunity but he pulled the stone hole in on itself anyways. Then, he cast wind magic to blow the Arachkin-type off the wall. It screeched loudly as it soared through the air. Jake pulled rocks down from the ceiling, smacking the Arachkin-type out of the air and drove it into the ground. It landed with a powerful slap, its legs bending awkwardly beneath it. Before it could run, Jake dropped large stones onto each of its legs, shattering them.

The Arachkin-type screeched once more, its mouth spewing out a green liquid that sizzled upon contacting the stone floor- acid?

“That’s a dirty trick,” Jake muttered before he shoved a large rock into the Arachkin-type’s jaws. Its eyes rolled from the pain and the gurgling noises deepened as the rock plugged the creature’s throat.

“I was going to let you live. To use you as an example but I know your kind. You beasts learn in the strangest ways.” Jake stepped up to the creature, stopping a safe distance of a few feet from it. The Maedra looked at him, its eyes a mixture of terror and instinctual anger. It shook its body, its limbs wiggling in a gross manner beneath the rocks.

“Letting you live would only leave me to potentially run into an even messier foe later, and I don’t have the patience for that.” Jake walked around the creature, avoiding its mouth and head as he stomped onto its back.

“I don’t know if you can understand me but I’ll have you know that your nest is only the first. I’m going to exterminate your kind. One by one. Tunnel by tunnel. Nest by nest.. And this is just the start of that.” Jake snarled as he knelt onto the upper portion of the Arachkin-type’s body. Its eyes rolled to stare up at him and Jake placed his dagger onto the Maedra’s body, just above the mana crystal lodged beneath.

“For Chul, I’ll become something even your kind will fear.”

Jake shoved his blade down, the weapon piercing through the crystal and shattering it.