The skull-shattering explosion mimicked the echo of a Howitzer cannon. I lost presence for a moment and stumbled to the side, trembling hand reaching up towards a wetness on my cheek. My left ear, closest to the explosion, was bleeding. I grimaced and quaffed a health potion, making my way towards the twins alongside Sae.

“Got 'em?” Sae was leaning on Astrid, squinting through the gaping hole that yawned open where the door used to be, beyond masked by enough dust to pass as a sandstorm.

As the dust receded, scaly corpses came into view, chunks of their bodies missing, cleanly cut through by the laser. “Think so.” Astrid huffed, breathing hard but otherwise undeterred. Considering the scale of what she’d just managed, the lack of tiredness was off-putting.

And a little disturbing.

The twins were strong, to be sure, but they hardly dominated the competition.

It was a reminder that every User still alive had been continually getting stronger, driven towards progression by the impending threat of another transposition event. Magic stood out because it was flashy and could cause catastrophic damage from a distance, but many melee Users were advancing far beyond the realm of human potential in both defensive and offensive capacities.

I was at a higher level than most. The combination of the Allfather’s backing, stumbling upon the adaptive dungeon, and early access to Kinsley’s store had allowed me to get an early head start, one I’d capitalized on to the best of my ability. Subsequently, the string of misfortunes and contentious paths that led me here helped widen the gap. Between pushing higher up the tower and clashing with problem members of the order, I’d tried to continue that trend.

But there was an uncanny sense, lately, that the gap was closing.

If I needed to deal with a User like Astrid—powerful, but lower level than me—the methodology was simple. Create enough of an opening to force through and either direct them to turn their wand or weapon on themselves, or use them against their allies.

But if the User was equal to my level or higher?

That was a problem. In an ideal environment with plenty of space and places to hide, I could punch far above my weight class. But this was the real world. You didn’t always get to pick your battles. If the wrong Users ambushed me at the wrong time, I was in a world of trouble.

Especially with family in the mix.

My eyes trailed to my sister, still ashen in Sae’s arms. “We need to get going.”

We darted across the street in loose formation, keeping me and Iris in the center to shield us from view as we circumvented the small groups of Users pushing back monsters, slowly making our way through back allies and side roads until our destination loomed in the distance, less than a half mile away.

Sae nearly took a step before her eyes glazed over, and she swiped a finger across her invisible UI. “Max is on comms and in range. Better late than never, I guess.”

“Max?” I asked dumbly, giving Sae a pointed look.

Minor mistakes could easily sum to disaster. Though the strike team didn’t require my presence to function, I spearheaded things often enough that the five of us had a working chemistry. Sae—the only person present who knew Myrddin and Matt were the same person—had to take special care.

She startled and glanced over at the twins. To their credit, they were too preoccupied with our surroundings to notice the slip. “Ops guy. Can hold his own in combat but has advanced reconnaissance feats.”

Switching gears, I played the role of an annoyed VIP whose life was in danger. “There are no freaks in sight. Whatever the hell the attack was about, they obviously focused on the outskirts. It’s right there.” I pointed at the building. “Quick jog and we’re home free.”

“Confident enough to bet your sister on that?” Sae challenged. When I scowled and didn’t answer, she continued. “Just sit tight for a second. Max will get back to me, and we’ll—”

Her eyes flicked to her UI, and Sae’s expression froze, the already light skin around her chitinous material paled ghostly white.

The private message came a second later.

Icy fingers gripped my spine. Max’s estimations were useful, but you couldn’t always trust them. A positive rating—15 being the maximum—only factored in elements that were currently present. A 15 could easily change to a three if some sort of threat beyond its range entered the fray. But for him to give us a 1?

There was something insidious in play. A massive ambush, or something just as devastating.

I considered our surroundings. The alley didn’t have any defenses, anything we could barricade save two large dumpsters with rusted wheels and a small mound of trash. The dumpsters could provide some cover in a pinch, though not much—especially under any heavy sustained fire. My instinct was to move, get the hell out, and find a place to hide. But if we moved before we knew where the danger was coming from, it’d be all too easy to run into it.

Astria had noticed the lapse, and tracked back to us. “Something wrong?”

Sae nodded, her mouth tight. “Serious threat. Waiting on Max’s cooldown for more info.”

A flit of shadows from above broke up the light, and there was a warning cry from the massive raven. It circled overhead, calling repeatedly each time it reached the left side of its circle, the call increasing in urgency.

“GUUUUUUU BAAAAAAAAAAH”

Something roared. Everyone present immediately covered their ears and winced. Beyond the deafening volume of the scream, it was strange. For one, it was guttural and raw, as if the creature who made it was malformed or injured. Second, it was broken up in the middle. In abstract, it almost sounded like two unintelligible words, the phonetics lost in pure, unbridled fury.

An oscillating whoosh followed, not unlike helicopter blades. Seconds later, a long pole with a bright yellow triangle on one end that was spinning almost too quickly to make out, smashed into the raven, sending it crashing onto the building below.

In the wake of the impact, the decapitated minotaur staggered into view on the street beyond. It hadn’t completely regenerated, and considering the damage to its ligaments and muscles, I had no idea how it was still standing. Headless and bleeding, it came to a standstill and pointed a gnarled finger at me.

“Guuuh Baaaaaah.”

“Give it back.”

Well, fuck.

Beyond cutting off the head and taking it with me, I’d done an astronomical amount of damage to the creature’s body after it was down for the count. Hard to imagine I was worried about overkill when this was the result. The fact that it was still standing at all bothered the shit out of me. Sure, it was probably the product of a necromancer and undead creatures tended to flaunt the rules but come on. It had a gaping hole where its neck should be. It was down three senses, and still managed to track me—

I stepped to the side, and its body shifted slightly, staying on target. That shouldn’t be possible unless it was being directly controlled. And it was still communicating, still showing personality. Unless…

It’s following the head.

I began to back away. The minotaur advanced toward me with lumbering footsteps, paying no mind to the others. Astrid charged up a spell, Astria supporting from behind.

“Tell them to stop.” I murmured.

Sae’s head snapped back toward me. “What?”

“The mage twins. Stop them.”

“Gemini, hold.” Sae said, using their official callsign.

“What, so furless-furry-dullahan can roll us over?” Astrid snapped.

“It probably can’t see you. And even if it can, its priorities have changed.” I said, projecting as much confidence as I could considering the circumstances. It’d taken out the bird, but only because the raven was actively hindering it and I got the feeling these things could sense each other. “Crack open the manhole and take the girls down into the sewer. Give me a minute to lead him away, then scorch concrete.”

She stared at me. “I don’t care how good you think you are. That thing will tear you to shreds.”

“It’s gotta catch me first.”

“Matt—”

“Get Iris to the Adventurer’s Guild. Make sure Tyler knows what’s happening. Send as many people my way as you can. I’ll keep the pins coming.”

Max gave us a near-zero chance of making it to the tower together. If I wanted to get Iris clear, that meant improvising. I had the beginnings of a plan. Hard to say if it was a good one, but it was better than nothing.

Sae took Iris and helped her and the twins into the sewer, memory guided me as I flew through the UI, pulling up Kinsley’s store and making a very specific purchase. I spammed through the invasive warnings and prompts letting me know my purchase had been logged and selecting “construction,” in the reason field. Considering that you had to be on the approved list—generally a non-fledgling member of a respected guild or vouched for by one—to make purchases on this section of the site, the warnings were probably unnecessary. But better safe than sorry.

Twenty minutes.

No small ask, when the battlefield had a way of turning minutes into eternity. I withdrew the bag from my inventory and fished out the contents. Considering how alive the body was, I half-expected the head to animate, maybe even speak to me. But compared to the body, it wasn’t looking so hot. The once red tissue was dull burgundy, the texture hypoxic and prune-like, eyes rolled up into the back of its head. With any luck, that meant most of its intelligence and higher reasoning were out of commission.

Ahead, the minotaur was still advancing slowly, hand out-held.

“Looking for this?” I hefted the minotaur’s head by the base of the skull. Then reached up with my free-hand, cocked my middle finger behind my thumb, and delivered a meaty flick to its nose.

The reaction was immediate. The creature roared, warbled voice full of rage and hatred. And rushed forward.