The city spread out before Zeke, towering above and descending far below his position at the tunnel’s exit. An arching crystalline bridge stretched out in front of him, leading to an enormous, rocky spire that stood in the center of a yawning abyss. Zeke had no idea how deep it went. Miles, maybe. He certainly couldn’t see the bottom, mired as it was in deep shadow. But from his perspective, it looked as if it would go on forever.

The sound of vicious combat echoed throughout the cylindrical space. Metal rang against metal, and the screams of the dying filled the air as kobolds warred against dwarves. Zeke swept his gaze across the chamber, settling on one bridge after another, and he saw what he should have expected to see. Thousands of dwarves, each clad in gleaming suits of metallic armor and wielding impressively crafted weapons, fighting against the comparatively poorly equipped kobolds. Legionnaires towered over their shorter, stouter enemies, but the size difference didn’t offer much of an advantage. The dwarves were holding their own.

A nearby clash drew Zeke’s attention, and he looked across the closest bridge to see the sprinting former slaves charge into a defensive line of dwarves. Skills ignited, and the flash of bright lights and explosions filled the air. Ogres roared with vicious violence. Dryads screeched as vines erupted from the crystalline bridge to encircle their enemies. Gnomes and humans cast fireballs and sharp spears of ice. A dozen other races – from the hulking lizardmen to the smaller elves – screamed in defiance and unrestrained fervor as hundreds of skills fell upon the dwarves.

They took it all.

Raising their broad, square shields as one, the dwarves completely absorbed that first salvo, counterattacking with vicious skills of corrupted earth mana. In that initial clash, dozens of former slaves fell, speared through with rock and crystal or swept from the bridge by a wave of rolling earth. More fell as huge rocks hurled through the air to crack their skulls or pulverize their bodies.

But they didn’t stop.

The slaves had lived without hope for so long that, now that freedom was within their reach, fear had no hold over them. Failure meant losing something they’d already thought out of reach, and they couldn’t stomach that. Most welcomed death rather than go back to enslavement.

They tore through the wave of skills and charged across the rest of the bridge, and when the two lines of combatants met, they did so with a great clatter that briefly overwhelmed every other sound.

And then, the slaughter began.

“Brave souls,” said Jasper, his voice infused with adoration.

Zeke could only shake his head. There were a hundred other ways it could have gone down, and each one of them would have resulted in fewer lives lost. They could have set up and tested the defenses, slowly wearing the dwarves down. Or Zeke himself could have broken the line. His mind whirled with other options, but it all came down to one simple fact: he hated seeing so many of his people perish.

At the end of the day, though, it was inevitable. As much as it pained him, Zeke knew that winning a battle required sacrifice. Usually, that meant taking punishment upon himself, but on the scale of armies, it meant that some deaths were unavoidable. The charge, as chaotic and unplanned as it was, was the right move.

And it was effective, too.

At least from a purely mathematical standpoint. The slaves had lost a few dozen of their members, but due to surprise and overwhelming force, they’d demolished the dwarven defensive line and gained a foothold near the spire. Or they would, once they’d finished slaughtering the defenders.

The dwarves didn’t go down without a fight, but they were grossly outnumbered and, in many cases, out-leveled as well. Without the restrictive collars, the majority of the slaves were far more powerful than their captives – largely because they’d spent years surviving in the mines, and only the strongest and most competent managed to live longer than a few weeks.

“There’s also something to be said for adequate motivation,” said Eveline. “A smart man once pointed out the value of hope to me.”

Zeke didn’t respond. Instead, he just watched as the former slaves tore through the dwarves and poured into the interior of that huge pillar of stone. Inside was a maze of corridors and chambers, which meant that the fighting would inevitably grow even bloodier.

Above and below, the kobolds continued to clash with the dwarves as well. However, their attacks were punctuated by searing beams of pure light – their most prominent skill – as they fought to a stalemate. The former slaves might’ve been more powerful than the dwarves – at least from an individual perspective – but the kobolds couldn’t make such a boast. They were still monsters, and not even remarkable ones, so they could only do so much.

“You’re about to do something stupid, aren’t you?” asked Eveline.

“Maybe.”

“Don’t.”

“Yeah, that’s not a good argument,” he said. “They need my help.”

Eveline could read his mind, and no matter what she claimed, he knew she didn’t really stop herself from doing so. As a result, she knew the precise shape of his thoughts. So, she was well aware that any argument she might make would fall on deaf ears. Still, Eveline said, “They are fodder. Let them play their role as a distraction while you and the others –”

She didn’t get the chance to finish, because Zeke took a running leap – surprising Jasper in the process – and hit the wall a couple dozen feet above the bridge. Then, he started climbing. With his stats and attunement, he didn’t even need to find handholds. Instead, he just jabbed his fingers into the rock, molding it instinctively to provide the leverage he required. Like that, he skittered up the wall like a bug and climbed onto the bridge where the fighting was most intense.

Once there, Zeke embraced [Triune Colossus], channeling earth mana through the skill. His body grew, transforming in the space of an instant, until he towered over the battle as a fifteen-foot tall earthen monolith. He summoned his hammer and strode forward.

The dwarves reacted quickly, but their skills fell upon him with little noticeable effect. Some hurt, but to Zeke’s dulled sense of pain, it felt more like being stung by annoying insects. His every step came under a barrage of skills, and the kobolds instinctively made way as he waded into the fray.

He swung – a simple but well-measured attack that harnessed a good portion of his inflated strength – and the line of dwarves raised their shields to block. The hammer whistled through the air, the head blistering with the green energy of his Will, and when hammer met shield, it did so with an explosion of unstoppable force. A shockwave ripped through dwarf and kobold alike, sending both stumbling. However, the unlucky figures at the epicenter of the explosion got it worse.

Shields shattered into shrapnel as the stout dwarves went flying through the air and over the edge of the bridge. None of them even screamed. Some might mistake their demeanor for stoicism, but Zeke knew the truth. They just didn’t care enough – not even about their own lives – to scream in terror.

An enthusiastic roar erupted all around Zeke, evidence that the kobolds were not afflicted with such apathy, and they surged forward alongside him. Towering legionnaires thrust their spears forward, aiming beams of blistering light at the break in the line, tearing into the next rank of dwarves before they had a chance to react to the sudden shift in the battle.

Some died.

Others were merely burned.

But most survived due to the high quality of their armor. Zeke aimed to change that with his next swing. Stepping forward, he rotated his hips and exploded into motion. His hammer followed with undeniable strength, crushing metal, rending flesh, and breaking bones before sending his victims to tumble over the edge.

Like that, Zeke continued to advance, sweeping his hammer back and forth with controlled might. If he’d had demonic mana flowing through him, he would have leaped forward, plunging directly into the fray. However, with the stable earthen energy fueling his skill, he became a slowly shifting anchor, steadily advancing as he led the kobolds to eventual victory.

He took plenty of blows, but his natural armor turned most of them aside without issue. The attacks that managed to pierce through his enhanced endurance fell victim to [Cambion’s Awakening], which used the thick earth-attuned mana to quickly heal his injuries. The regeneration wasn’t nearly as explosive or instantaneous as it would’ve been with demonic mana, but it was more than enough to see him through.

Step by step, Zeke advanced, and the kobolds followed, giving him plenty of room to work while keeping his flanks covered as they supported him via piercing beams of sizzling light. And then, in what felt like the blink of an eye – but was probably more like a half hour – Zeke crashed through the final line of dwarves and saw that he’d reached the end of the bridge.

The carved pillar of rock that contained the heart of Min Ferilik loomed above him, hundreds of yards across and bristling with dwarven defenders. However, Zeke could only concern himself with a troop of particularly bulky warriors who’d planted themselves in front of the portcullis guarding entry into the column.

The largest among them was at least five feet tall, which meant that he was a giant among his people, and wore a heavy suit of armor bristling with jagged spikes and enveloped in so much demonic energy that, to Zeke, it almost felt like he’d stepped back into Mal’canus. The five dwarves on either side were similarly afflicted, though to a lesser degree than their leader.

“Fun fact,” said Eveline. “These dwarves are called the Blackguard. A few of them stumbled onto my mountain a few decades ago. Apparently, they’re the ones who spend too much time in Hell. It drives them crazy, but it also gives them power. The dwarves keep them imprisoned unless there is great need.”

As she’d spoken, Zeke saw the manacles around each of the dwarves’ thick wrists, the presence of which supported Eveline’s description. “This would’ve been good information a few minutes ago.”

“I didn’t remember it until I saw them,” she said. “Speaking of which, you’d better brace yourself.”

“For what? I’m not –”

At that very moment, the dwarves surged forward as a group, each one howling with feral ferocity. None wore any weapons, but Zeke discovered a moment later that they didn’t need them. Not really. Their bodies were weapons.

The leader leaped toward Zeke with explosive power that translated into insane speed. He moved so quickly that Zeke could barely track him, much less avoid the incoming dwarven projectile. So, he could only set his feet and brace for impact. Even so, he wasn’t ready for the sheer amount of force that hit him.

In his earthen colossus form, Zeke had to weigh at least a few tons. His body was composed of pure metal, rock, and crystal. Even his blood was like red-tinted mercury. However, even with all that mass to anchor him to the crystalline bridge, the dwarf’s impact hit him with such momentum that he couldn’t stop himself from stumbling backward.

And then, the dwarf enacted the second part of his attack.

When Zeke had seen that the dwarves were unarmed, he’d assumed that they had no weapons. That proved untrue as the dwarf twisted and climbed over him, digging the long, jagged spikes of his armor into Zeke’s body with every movement. Then, it shivered with demonic power, and suddenly, Zeke felt like he was being shredded into a million pieces.

Chips of rock and metal flew as the dwarf dug deeper and deeper, biting, clawing, and using his spikes to inflict as much pain as possible. It was agonizing, but Zeke managed to maintain his wits enough to grab hold of the dwarf and yank him free.

Or that was his intention. Instead, he only tore a piece of the dwarf’s armor away. He went in again, but that was when the rest of the group hit him. One after another, the jagged-armored and demon-powered dwarfs latched onto him, burying him beneath a tidal wave of ripping and tearing attacks. Zeke flailed, trying to throw them free, but it was to no avail. They were masters of leverage, and every time he managed to get ahold of one, all he managed to dislodge was a bit of armor.

Meanwhile, the tick-like dwarves dug into his body deeper with every passing second. As they did, they sent rivers of demonic mana flowing into his body. Without his attunement, Zeke would have already succumbed to the corrosion. With it, he’d begun to teeter on the edge of being forced to switch to the demonic form of [Cambion’s Awakening].

If that happened, he’d lose control and kill anything that moved.

“Maybe. Maybe not. You can control it, you know. Other demons do,” Eveline said, her voice dim in the face of the situation.

Zeke knew she was right, though. However, he also knew his own limits, and he was not at the point where he could trust himself under the corruptive power of the demonic mana. Soon, though, he wouldn’t have much of a choice; with only earth mana to fuel it – even as thick as it was underground – [Cambion’s Awakening] would eventually be overwhelmed. If it was just physical damage, Zeke would be fine, but with the addition of so much corrosion, his skill was being pushed to its limit.

“That’s kind of the point,” Eveline said. “So, the Blackguard are working as intended.”

“That’s comforting,” Zeke grunted, trying to rip another dwarf free. He actually managed to get a good grip, and a moment later, the Blackguard warrior was sent tumbling over the edge and into the abyss. Her scream held no terror. Instead, it was laced with sheer fury.

Zeke had no opportunity to ponder the implications, because the lead dwarf had managed to burrow deep into his chest. If Zeke had had any questions about whether or not his transformation affected his whole body, they were answered then and there. Thick, metallic blood misted into the air as the dwarf dug deeper, throwing shards of rocky flesh aside as he continued to carve a path to Zeke’s innards.

Panic gripped Zeke’s heart, but try as he might, he couldn’t do enough.

And then it happened.

The dwarf finally reached his destination, and with a gleeful howl from within the crater he’d dug into Zeke’s chest, he tore into Zeke’s heart. Immediately, Zeke went lightheaded and fell to his knees, which only encouraged the murderous creatures. Almost a dozen sets of hands dug into Zeke’s body, ripping chunks of metal and rock away with frightening ease.

“You have to,” Eveline coaxed. “It’s right there, waiting on you. Just absorb it, and you’ll deal with these things with –”

“No!” Zeke roared. Or at least he tried to. It came out in more of a croak. If he drank from that tainted well, he’d be lucky if he left anyone alive. It was fine back in the demon realm where everything was an enemy. But here? He had allies to protect. He had lives to preserve. He would rather die than embrace the demonic mana and go on an uncontrolled rampage.

The problem was that, with every passing second, the pain and dwindling vitality in his body drove rational thought away. Soon, his animalistic instincts would take over, and he’d grasp any lifeline available. When that happened, he’d find the tantalizing corruption and the promise of preservation.

Zeke struggled, both physically and mentally, but no solutions presented themselves.

He wanted to survive. He wanted to live and reunite with his friends. He wanted to ascend to the peak and discover what lay beyond. But in that moment, he wondered if he’d tried to climb too far, too fast. He could have stayed in Hell and carved a path to the peak of the realm. There were plenty of enemies, and with his attunements on his side, he had enough advantages to ensure that he’d progress relatively quickly.

But at what cost?

Being immersed in demonic mana would change him. Even in his short stint on the other side, he’d felt it creeping over him. A bloodlust he could scarcely control, further suffusing his mind with every passing moment. No – if he’d stayed long enough to reach the peak of the Eternal Realm, he’d have done so as something akin to a true demon. And Zeke couldn’t stomach that.

That surety brought him some measure of peace. Certainly, he didn’t want to die, but if doing so was the result of his conscious choice to maintain his humanity, then so be it. He would die content.

Zeke was on the verge of just letting go and surrendering to his fate when he had a realization. First, he wasn’t alone. Never was that more apparent than when he felt his three golems – who he’d left on the other bridge when he’d chosen to join the kobolds in battle – land with a trio of thuds. A moment later, he could feel them descend upon the clinging dwarves. Even as they were ripped free, beams of scalding light filled the air, cutting into the Blackguard with inescapable power.

One wasn’t enough to do much harm. Even two didn’t do the job. But fortunately, there were thousands of kobold legionnaires, and each one was more than capable of producing a spear of light. Under the weight of so much power, members of the dwarven Blackguard were obliterated, melted into a slag heap of molten metal, charred flesh, and agonized screams.

With the support of his allies, Zeke managed to gain leverage on the Blackguard leader, and with a mighty heave, he ripped the frothing creature from his chest. Even as Zeke slammed him into the ground, the dwarf didn’t cease his attacks. Instead, he bit and clawed like a rabid animal, only stopping when Zeke gripped his head between both his hands and squeezed with all his considerable strength.

The dwarf screamed, furious and pained as his face turned purple.

Zeke roared with determination, his metallic muscles flexing with inevitability.

Then, with the sound of wrenching metal, the dwarf’s helmet collapsed, and his head exploded into shards of bone, bits of brain, and more than a little blood.

Zeke took a deep breath and looked around. There were no more dwarves on the bridge, and the gate leading into the column of stone lay bare before him. They had accomplished the first part of the plan; now, they would have to get really bloody as they fought room-to-room and ascended the pillar as they searched for the exit.

[Cambion’s Awakening] continued to knit his earthen body back together, purging the demonic corruption along the way. It was inefficient, and it would take far longer than it should have.

“Better than most regenerative skills,” Eveline said. “Usually, dealing with foreign mana is extremely difficult. That’s why you’re just now getting the use of your arm back. I think…wait, do you feel that?”

Zeke hadn’t, but with her question, he focused on his senses. At first, he didn’t understand what had alarmed Eveline, but only a moment of concentration was enough to trip every alarm in his mind.

“What…what is that?” he wondered. It felt vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Not at first.

Zeke never got the chance to guess because a second later, the entire side of the enormous chamber burst as a huge, serpentine figure crashed straight through the rock. Its path sent it flying into the abyss and crashing straight through a couple of the crystalline bridges, not stopping until it hit the stone pillar a few hundred feet below Zeke’s position.

It took Zeke a second to recognize the familiar shape of the wyrm mother who’d raised the kobolds from beasthood. Huge chunks of her body were missing, and rivers of molten blood seeped from the wounds. Unlike the previous meeting, Zeke’s reflexive use of [Inspection] bore fruit:

Mikaena, the Jilted – Level 98

The kobolds let out wails of despair at seeing their mother so wounded, but their collective cries were drowned out when another figure slithered out of the side of the mountain. Pitch-black and blanketed in a cloud of red mist, the newcomer was a sleeker and somehow more intimidating wyrm. Zeke used [Inspection]:

Baraziq, the Blood Wraith – Level 99

Familiar figures crawled on his back, each one identifiable as blood wraiths as well. Zeke recognized them from his previous encounter.

“Minions,” Eveline said, her thought a bare whisper in his mind, almost as if she was terrified of drawing the powerful creature’s attention. “Each more powerful than you. This is a battle you cannot win.”

Just then, a group of the most powerful kobolds let out a roar of sheer fury and leaped from the crystalline bridge. A few fell upon the Blood Wraith, hundreds of feet below, but most hit the wall where they began climbing down to protect their mother.

In the past, Zeke might have looked upon the situation and decided that it wasn’t his battle. He would have abandoned the kobolds – just monsters, after all – to their fates. He had no interest in putting himself between two creatures as powerful as the pair of wyrms, not least because he had no hope of standing up to either one of them. Even with all his advantages, which gave him the ability to punch above his level, he’d still barely taken his first steps in the Eternal Realm. He had a long way to go before he reached the pinnacle.

So, he should have gone back to the freed slaves and continued in his quest to find the exit. Every ounce of reason in his mind told him as much.

But he couldn’t.

The kobolds, for all their monsterhood, had chosen to depend on him. And he’d committed to them in a way he didn’t really understand. They were his people, and for better or worse, he had taken on a responsibility to protect them.

“This is stupid. You know that, don’t you? They’re just monsters, and you don’t owe them –”

Zeke tuned Eveline out. Then, he took another deep breath and switched [Cambion’s Awakening] over to the demonic version. Instantly, strength surged through his earthen body, and, over the space of a few seconds, his wounds healed. He switched it back to earth mana after only a couple of moments, but even that was almost enough to send him into a berserker rage that would doubtless see him doing something stupid.

“It worked,” he mumbled aloud. He’d never switched so quickly, and the fact that it was possible opened things up for him. Perhaps he could use his demonic side after all.

“So it did,” Eveline said. “There’s no way I’m talking you out of this, is there?”

“Nope.”

And then, Zeke took a few running steps and leaped. His golems followed, and they began their descent into a battle they had no hope of winning.