“Be careful!” Revayne yelled. “That’s a Planar Bonestrider. It’s incredibly strong.”

  She didn’t have to tell me twice. I remembered perfectly well how Se-Vigilance had fought against this thing—or another one of its kind—and how she had needed actual effort and time to overcome her adversary.

  Which meant we were Pits-shitting screwed.

  As was proven when Revayne directed all her effort at the Bonestrider. The inky Revayne-clones all rushed at the monster, accompanied by several gouts of ink and jet-black bolts of power. None of which left even the tiniest impact on our new enemy.

  It simply ripped a long, curved bone free from within itself before swiping its arm, shattering and destroying everything.

  My breaths stuttered as I blinked. I had barely seen the monster’s arm move. But even where I stood at least fifty feet away, I had felt the ripple of power that had emanated from just that physical swing.

  Revayne cursed. I couldn’t recall ever hearing her curse before. Shit.

  I briefly looked back. Se-Vigilance really was focusing entirely on the metal wall before her, the prismatic energy sinking into barrier the Nether Vein had thrown up. Alright, I really needed to stop looking back. Whatever came up, we needed to deal with it.

  “Don’t lose heart,” Revayne said as she stepped forward at the same time that the Bonestrider did. “Even if we can’t beat this thing by ourselves, we’ll destroy it together.”

  She really was good at making everyone feel fired up.

  So even when her subsequent clash utterly failed against it, we really didn’t lose heart. Revayne yelled as she rushed in and swung her blade. The Bonestrider essentially did the same. Just swung that bony arm with a bony weapon in its grip.

  The impact between their weapons meeting unleashed a small shockwave that made me shake. I didn’t dare look away, though. For just a second, it looked like Revayne was managing to hold her ground. Her arms were shaking, her eyes wide as her whole body vibrated so much, even I could see it.

  And then the Bonestrider effortlessly overpowered her. It almost seemed surprised it had needed to expend more power than it had been expecting.

  Revayne was lifted off her feet before she went shooting through the air to crash down hard behind us. I cursed again. She had flown out of the range of my light, where the Netherthreads ravenously descended on her. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “Don’t give up,” Ugnash shouted.

  Another adventurer raised his voice too. “It’s strong! But it’s not unbeatable.”

  As I finished manifesting some Illumination where Revayne had fallen, I noted that everybody else was rousing themselves to fight back against the Bonestrider. Even after every single one of us was pretty sure the effort would be futile, we weren’t about to just roll over and die.

  I could barely note the series of exchanges that shattered the expedition. The first adventurer to reach the Bonestrider faked it out, then threw what looked like a corrosive gas bomb. It had zero effect. The monster just swung its arm, and though it missed direct contact, the shockwave still sent the hapless Ogre screaming as he flew back.

  By that point, Ugnash had reached his target location. He yelled out, red aura flickering to life and manifesting a link between him and the Bonestrider, drawing its attention fully onto himself.

  This allowed the others like Khagnio, Cerea, and a few other adventurers to swoop in from either side.

  But the Bonestrider never rushed in. Never let itself be distracted for long. With a quick flick of its wrist, the bone in its grip shot at Ugnash faster than a cannonball and with several times the force. I shouted out, though Ugnash’s instinct was quick enough too. He dived to one side just as the supersonic-speed bone slammed through his tower shield.

  The others trying to take advantage of the distraction didn’t have much luck. One of Khagnio’s knives broke when the monster ripped out another bone to bash him back. At least he managed to dash away in time.

  Though, even his speed wasn’t fully enough. The shockwave from the monster’s swing caught him on the foot to make him stumble.

  It was only the other adventurers rushing in that prevented the Bonestrider from ending him then and there. I had also decided to stop being a spectator. Gravity went out, settling in a circle on the ground with Field Manipulation to at least slow down the beast. It didn’t seem to affect that thing at all.

  Because when the next adventurer reached the monster with a lunge of his spear, the Bonestrider’s arm swung in just as fast and just as viciously. The Rakshasa cried out as he was batted away, half his torso crushed by just that one blow.

  Cerea was staying back from the start, looking ready to bolt if our enemy’s attention landed on her for even a millisecond. I didn’t blame her wariness one bit.

  Especially because she was acting even while she remained at a distance.

  Her Aspect of Dimensions was coming to life. As the monster turned to face her, it got pierced right in that void-like head by the rapier blade jutting out of the swirl of monochrome mana. Perfect. Illumination’s Highlight Affix had suggested the head was the weak point.

  The Bonestrider screamed. I gasped in a hard but quick breath. The monster’s shriek of pain and rage tore through the air like chainsaws on my eardrums, but I didn’t care one bit. Our little distraction tactic had worked. That was going to be the way we’d stop that thing. Even the most incredibly powerful being could only pay attention to so many stimuli at once.

  Which the monster went on to promptly disprove by blasting out a beam of ripping energy.

  I had been just about to call everyone to keep up the pressure, having ensured that Revayne was alive and crawling to safety. But the Bonestrider’s injured head glowed almost as bright as the Protostar floating high above us.

  The laser that cannoned out of its head with a heavy keening noise proceeded to tear up the entire battlefield. People sprawled for safety as it swung everywhere with no discernible pattern.

  Reflection was all that saved me. Even then, even as the beams split apart and got deflected thanks to my Illumination Affix, I found myself flying backwards at the sheer impact force behind the monster’s blast. I got back to my feet as quickly as I could, breathing harshly as the laser ended. Just as I had started thinking we could do this, everything had turned to shit.

  The vaporized remains of several expeditioners were smoking all over the battlefield. Someone was crying out in agony, missing an arm but without any healers nearby to help. Farther off, Ugnash lay unmoving. His armour was smoking. Cerea looked stricken.

  There was no one left to pick up the cry about not giving up.

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  The Bonestrider was again standing at full height, slowly surveying the destruction it had caused. That wound Cerea had left on its head was pulsing out oily blood, but it no longer seemed particularly bothered.

  I stepped forward as it approached. Even if I wasn’t literally the only one who could still stand against it, I needed to do something. I was strong. I had grown. A lot. All that had to mean something. The Councillor’s words wormed through my brain again. I would be what I needed to be, and right now, I had to become an obstacle for this Bonestrider while surviving.

  It focused on me to the exclusion of everyone else as well, like it knew I was its main opponent now. The bone in its grip looked grislier and deadlier up close.

  With a yell, I charged, manifesting heat and light with Flare and Illumination as I did so. Agility’s Reflexive Mana threaded to life, creating javelins of mana piercing through me. My grip on my mace was as strong as I could make it, threads of Gravity flowing through me, ready to change my weight or that of my target’s at a moment’s notice.

  Against a creature of that calibre, I’d need them all. When it moved against me, I was proven right instantly.

  The monster’s movement was imperceptibly fast. Even as the motion of its swing blurred in my sight, my brain just wasn’t fast enough to actualize it and perform the right response. That was why I had something like Reflexive Mana.

  Fast as the Bonestrider was, it still triggered the mana lines that jerked my body away. I thought I’d turn around and counter, but then I was jerked around a second time before a sudden impact had me shooting across the metal ground. Something sharp and heavy had clanked into the pauldron of my armour hard. It had even punctured through.

  But Vital Mana had come to my rescue. A good chunk of the energy I had been summoning disappeared entirely, taking the damage that should have gored through me.

  I swallowed as I spotted what had just ruined my armour. Even after I had evaded the swing of the monster’s apparent bony weapon, another bone had erupted out of its back to spear into me, triggering Reflexive Mana but still moving fast enough to hit me.

  Alright. So even my Agility Augmentation wasn’t going to guarantee complete safety. Great.

  There was no room for hesitation or second guessing. I’d just need to pull out all the stops.

  I called on all my Aspects with all my being, letting the mana flow through me in a torrent, my mana core whirring faster and faster like a real generator. Concentrated Flare blistered into being and cooked the air, Illumination turned everything glowing like space itself was turning into sunlight, and Gravity had settled a huge field around me with void-purple threads that weighed everything down but myself.

  The metal floor of the Nether Vein groaned under the immense stress I was putting it through. The air around me thrummed and twisted.

  For whatever reason, the Bonestrider hadn’t charged me or attacked yet. I had room to prep. So I took full advantage.

  I found a corpse of one of the fallen monsters from earlier, the ones that looked like a far weaker version of the Bonestrider I was facing. Sacrifice burned the torn body away in a second, white motes dissolving into magical power that flooded my whole being.

  After crushing some runes, I made sure the Rituals I needed were active. Precaution, Defiance, and even War, though the conditions for making the latter work wasn’t going to rise so easily.

  “Come on, then,” I growled, facing the slowly approaching monster. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  It tilted its head just a bit, almost like it wanted to say that I should be. Then it attacked.

  I dodged with Reflexive Mana, the Agility Augmentation firing multiple times in quick succession. The monster managed to land a blow once again, but I was just pushed back half a dozen feet. A chunk of my Aspects disappeared with Vital Mana to remove all damage.

  But that was fine. I threw my mace at the monster. Granular Control had weakened the head enough and I had flung it hard enough that chunks of it were embedded in my opponent.

  “Got you,” I said.

  I focused everything I had on Infusion, determined to drag the creature down. There was so much Gravity in effect, both within the monster’s body and without as well, that it actually bowed down for a second.

  Having recovered my mace with a well-placed Field Manipulation on my gauntleted hand, I yelled and rushed in to take advantage of its disoriented state.

  It righted itself like a praying mantis striking out. I had expected that, had even expected those bones jutting out of its chest to push out the embedded pieces of metal from my mace. Which was why I had come to a halt well out of range of its blows.

  And proceeded to let Concentration go.

  A storm of furious, fiery detonations rocked the space between us. I was protecting myself from the inferno with Absorption, but the shockwave from all those simultaneous blasts had me scrabbling backwards ten or so feet.

  And then I was hurtling backwards as the monster thrust in. It missed, of course, my distance was perfect. But the blow still unleashed a punch of force that struck my gut hard.

  I didn’t even need to look down to confirm that my armour was crumpled entirely. A real strike would probably have seen that bony weapon punching through my intestines. What was worse was the way the monster just burst through the fiery detonation to continue attacking me. I had barely even scorched it at certain spots. It was otherwise entirely unharmed.

  Onyx-ranked. Fucking Onyx-ranked. At least. I had to remember that and not panic. Just focus on surviving.

  Getting close enough to land a hit with my mace would be a death sentence. That thing was far too fast and powerful. It would rip me to shreds, just like it had done to that spear-wielding adventurer. It was the primary reason I was maintaining distance, and evading when I wasn’t.

  It moved so fast. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up. All my little tricks and strategies were ineffective. Sudden bursts of Flare didn’t affect it one bit. I even struck with a Illumination, hoping to blind it. No such luck. It tanked through everything.

  I wasn’t just being kept on my toes. It felt like every single cell in my brain was on overdrive, like blood vessels were popping all over my skull.

  Here I barely avoided a devastating swing. There I somehow jumped over an obliterating shockwave. A storm of Netherthreads exploded out some bones jutting from its shoulder, forcing me to focus on Reflection while also evading its direct attacks.

  And even then, I knew I was failing. Mistakes were piling up. A dark thread managed to rip off a chunk of my ear. Instances like that kept happening, even with Vital Mana working overtime. I got my right arm partially dislocated, suffered a puncture wound to my shoulder, bore through half my arm’s skin evaporating in the explosion when I used Reflection against the beam.

  I staggered at one point in the battle, almost stumbling to fall on my ass. My heart clenched like it was being squeezed by a vice. My lungs just… didn’t work. I thought I was dead.

  But the monster didn’t immediately press its advantage. I had no idea what it was thinking, what was passing through whatever it had for a mind.

  As I regained my senses from the edge of fatal panic I had nearly succumbed to, I noted that everyone was regrouping. Or trying to. The survivors had used the brief reprieve to try and gather at one location. Several healers were working overtime to get everybody patched up as best as they could.

  At least I had been able to grant them some time and space to get back on their feet. Once I joined them, we could continue fighting against the Bonestrider together.

  But our enemy had other ideas. I froze. Crackling and growling came out from the darkness of the Netherthreads still kept at bay. Moments later, more of the monsters we had defeated earlier emerged from the gloom, swinging their weapons and rushing towards the rest of the expedition.

  Crap. Hadn’t we beaten these things already? How many of them were there?

  I was torn. Was I supposed to keep focusing on my battle against the Bonestrider that was going nowhere? Or would it stand still and let me focus on the returning threat of monsters that were a minor version of it? That seemed far too unlikely.

  My decision was made for me. The littler monsters completely ignored me and made a beeline for the rest of the expedition. I’d have rushed after them, but the Bonestrider’s face was glowing in preparation for firing another laser, one aimed straight at me. I growled, then channelled Reflection.

  I was pushed back by the severe force behind the beam. That worsened when Reflection tried to send it back, causing an explosion which had me hurtling even farther back.

  Well away from the expedition and even from the safeguarding light of my Protostar.

  Shit.

  With a piercing, unearthly cry, the Bonestrider rushed me down. It leaped before reaching me, slamming down with incredible force. Panicked, I backpedalled fast. Even then, even though I avoided a direct strike from the bone weapon, the shockwave from the impact ripped outwards hard enough to tear up the metal floor.

  I instinctively tried to use Empowered Deflection to stop the blast, but the wall of force sent me flying, tore through me so hard that every instance of my nearby Aspects immediately disappeared.

  The landing was hard. Pain radiated through my back. But I couldn’t pay it any attention. Not when I realized what exactly had happened.

  When I realized why the Bonestrider was once again not pressing its advantage.

  It didn’t need to. I had fallen for its plan. That thing… It had purposefully thrown me almost fifty feet away from the nearest edge of light from my Protostar, then shattered the remainder of my Illumination and any other Aspects near me with that last attack. If I hadn’t used Vital Mana, then the force of its blow would have torn me apart.

  But now, with all my protections gone, the Netherthreads all around me slammed onto my body, ripping into me and flooding me with darkness.