A not-so-distant roar filled the forest as Ethan ate through the distance separating him from his target and for a moment, he considered aborting his charge and making sure the Lord of the Swamp wasn’t about to start raining magic on top of them, but with four enemies around him, he just had to take his chances.

  Purple electricity was still crackling along his scales as he stabbed with the dagger. He aimed for center-mass, not caring to hit anything vitals. He just needed to score a nick for the dagger’s effect to trigger, but the man wasn’t taking any chances.

  The purple-tailed man hopped back, black boots sliding against the soft soil and out of the aether, a dagger set with a purple gem dropped in his hand, crackling with electricity as a small smile played on his lips. “Doesn’t look like you ever used one of these,” he said to Ethan as the latter stepped forward again. He parried Ethan’s stab with his tail, slapping the arm away as he called out. “Boss, we put this one down or we keep him?”

  Ethan stabbed forward again, his movement clumsy, and the tail came down again right as the man stabbed back, and Ethan’s eyes lit up. He’d hoped the man would repeat the gesture and he did. The man’s contemptuous look flickered as his own dagger plinked against Ethan’s scaled-forearm. He began to pull his tail back, but it was too late .

  “Kill him,” shouted Edwin as he ran toward the two of them

  With a small adjustment, Ethan angled the point of the dagger so as the tail came down, it embedded itself on the tip of the dagger.

  The man’s face contorted into a grimace of pain and rage. “You fucking—”

  Ethan let go of the dagger and with that same hand, he shot a point-blank, horn-empowered [Small Fireball] as he unfurled his wing and almost regretted it.

  The wings stretched painfully as the violent burst of air threw Ethan back. There was a booming flash of light and heat and even though the blast buffeted him back with incredible speed, he was still engulfed with the angry red flames. His head was ringing, and he felt as if a monster had just stepped over him, but that was nothing compared to what had happened to his opponent. As Henry was propelled up and away from the blast, he saw the fleshy comet of fire and smoke fly out and smack against one of the mushroom trees before the man dropped down like a thrown rag-doll.

  Unfortunately, there were no notifications, not that he expected it to be that easy and in any case, he couldn’t dwell on that as once more, he was under fire.

  Something whistled past him, barely missing. Ethan ducked and turned behind to find the suit-wearing man he’d blasted earlier aiming at him from behind the cover of dead drake. Something wet splashed against his back and instantly, his mana rushed out of him and his flames guttered before he was wrenched backwards. Rolling with the momentum, Ethan ignited the air around him. The air with scorching fire as he manipulated the flame to create a sphere of roiling flames. Within the second, the threads burned away in motes and out of the flames came another fireball. It shot toward Edwin like a thrown blob of white-hot metal, and Ethan extended his wing and jumped in the direction of the purple-tailed man, only to be forced back to the ground when a black shadow fell from the canopy.

  “[Above,]” came Ember’s warning, but Ethan was already responding to the threat. He flared the wings with a snap, halting his movement and raised his right arm to parry the descending dagger. The women just had to keep falling. She was barely visible, like a ripple in the air among the dim background, and only her pale features and the grimace of anger were visible along with few scorch marks around her face. With a quick movement, she switched her attack and swung low to bypass his right arm, right as Ethan raised his left to cast a spell.

  Ethan barely had time to twist his chest so the dagger wouldn't be too close to his heart. The dark-tip touched his scales and were blocked for a fraction of second before it slipped through, like a whisper, and Ethan felt the muscles under his left pectoral seize up with pain, right as the spell left his left claws.

  A wide-arc of off-white, almost translucent magic slammed into the woman’s midsection with a mighty thud. Her body deformed under the impact as the magic forced the air out of her lung and a moment later, she was flying away, thrown just like Ethan had been when he’d first encountered this spell.

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  This is getting difficult, he thought as he took in the situation. The suit-wearing man was now taking potshots at Ember who was struggling to dodge both of him and the threads of white around her. Edwin was just watching him and Ember, like a spider waiting for its prey to tangle themselves in its webs, milky-white wand at the ready, while the man who ate the fireball point blank was still lying still.

  And the shadow woman’s about to come back.

  His chest was pulsing with pain. Poison, most likely. He was sure he could deal with it quickly enough. The problem was he needed to finish up the electric dude, but as soon as he headed there, Ember would be in trouble. Edwin was waiting for him to move so he could capitalize on the situation.

  In that case…

  “[Ember, run for it on the next fireball. Head to to the prisoners and see if you can free them.]”

  There was a quiet moment, then the cat’s labored voice came through.

  “[You’ll owe me after this.]”

  Ethan didn’t respond. He just waited for the fireball to be ready once more as he held his flaming palm against the stab wound under his breast. The electric-man was struggling to get up, but he couldn’t just yet, and Edwin was slowly sidestepping toward him. Toward where Ethan needed to go, and in a few more steps, Edwin would be completely barring the way toward the still fallen man.

  “Not too late to talk, Ethan,” he called out and took another step. The soil crunched under his feet and they all froze as the ground thudded all of a sudden. The clearing was quiet for a tense second, then two, then they all burst into action.

  Ethan sent a fireball at Edwin right as something small cracked painfully into the back of his shoulder. Edwin waved his wand around and the air crisscrossed with threads. In response Ethan raised both arms and summoned a jet of fire to burn the barrier of thread and at the same time, he stole a quick glance behind in time to see an orange blur disappear in the brush.

  Good. Ember’s out.

  Ethan leaped upward and cut off the flames as he took to the air. The shadow rippled above but Ethan quickly flitted past it and looked down at the scene below him. Edwin was shouting at the purple-tailed man to get up as he peered up, trying to keep track of him, and Ethan hoped the glare of the mushroom caps would make him difficult to see. He flew around in a small circle and made sure the lord was still busy elsewhere. He flapped his wing a couple of times, laid eyes on the man he marked with the Harvester’s dagger, and began dropping.

  For now, he needed to finish up the electric man, and then he could pick Edwin and his team one by one. All of them at once were too much for him. Between Edwin’s mana-stealing and sticky webs, the poisonous daggers of the shadow women and the metal-shooting caster, he could be in serious danger in no time. Especially as he was sure he hadn’t seen everything they were capable of just yet. But if he could isolate them and attack them one by one, then he’d win. But he’d have to be quick about it.

  If I give them enough time, they could rally. They could make plans and be ready for me.

  For that, [Mana Heart] should give him an edge. He should be able to harry them and pursue them for a while.

  That’s a problem for later. For now, let’s see if my aim’s better.

  The gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on him. Ethan knew very well what was about to occur.

  Edwin was a huge contributor to the anger burning in his chest, to the murderous thoughts he was having. He wanted to make sure the man would never hurt anyone anymore, but his decision wasn't purely emotional.

  I’m stopping them so they can’t use others as fodders. They were ready to kill others. They were ready to kill me. And if I let them walk away, they will absolutely kill more.

  It was still difficult to accept, but once more, just like every other hostile participant he had met, it was him or them.

  Ethan’s hair ruffled as he dropped out of the sky. The lance appeared in his arm as he sped down to the ground. He primed the charge, and the lance glowed with red runes as he passed the glowing canopy of the giant mushrooms.

  “Marcus!”

  The man was on his knees as he looked up to see Ethan coming down at him. He was suffering from multiple burns. His left eye was swollen shut, and as Ethan cut through the air toward him, he felt the threads catch on his wing and chest and snap. The man tried to back away, to stand up and run, but he stumbled. He turned and raised his gem-tipped wand, but Ethan was falling a lot faster then he seemed.

  The purple bolt hit Ethan in the guts right as the lance pierced through the man's chest, detonating before it continued through and embedded itself into the ground. Ethan, gritting his teeth from the pain in his feet and knees, readied himself to swipe with the claws only for the notification to arrive, confirming the man’s death. He got up and threw another fireball toward a raging Edwin, dismissed the lance, and when he went to pick up the dead man, the wound in his chest pulsed, and his vision went dim.

  “He’s blinded,” he heard from above. Ethan whirled and surrounded himself with fire, and this time, the voice of the shadow-woman was much closer. “Now!”

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