/If it’s one on one, bet on Ion.

  I’m serious. I once saw Ion walk up to a cavern crawler twice their level as a rookie, and then crush the thing. Monstrous./

  -Bobby “Gossip” Rich, level 22 climber

  - - -

  I’m in a spot of trouble. As the enormous cavern crawler charges at me, I throw my entire body to the side, [Suppressing] it with everything I have and finding that, for once, it’s just not quite enough.

  [Cavern Crawler lv. 37]

  The creature crashed past me and the wind sends my hair flying. It’s strong. Incredibly strong. Mana pours out of me as if I’m a fountain, tearing itself from my vessel to slow its movements. Even then, even when having to move through a swamp of trouble, the thing is fast.

  Those dozens of chitinous legs tear up the ground, and it comes barreling at me again like a freight train. No projectiles, no tricks, just raw mass in motion, slamming towards me. It’s fast and vicious, with a dozen legs clacking against the ground.

  It’s a huge thing, almost as big as a car, with wriggling, forward facing teeth on its jaw. They extend forwards on fleshy muscles whenever it tries to bite me. There’s nothing for Richard to eat, and frankly, I’m even more glad we stocked up on magic before, now.

  As I dive out of the way again, rolling against the stone, I focus in, my [Suppression] crashing down even harder. It gives me a nosebleed, wrestling with the crawler for control. Luckily, I don’t need to win.

  [Suppression 11 > 12]

  Richard appears from my side, opening her mouth wider than I think she should be able to. One of my needles exits from it - first slowly, like a sword being swallowed in reverse, then all at once accelerating and slashing forward.

  The magical weapon sinks into the hide of the crawler, and it screeches, thrashing and breaking the hold of my skill. Its magic is tossed into disarray, but it still has enormous physical bulk to throw at me, and now, in desperation, it's deceptively fast.

  It crashes into my side a moment later, sending me flying, tumbling off to the side.

  Ah. So that’s what it’s like to get hit by a car.

  Not one to be outdone, I quickly stand to my feet, ignoring the blood from a half dozen abrasion wounds on me, and drive my knife into its side, having coated it with solid mana. It sinks deep into the monster’s body, and I start pumping even more mana in, lengthening the blade while inside the monster. More needles leave Richard’s mouth, stabbing into the critter.

  [Solidification 6 > 7]

  My enhanced weapon sinks into the thing, tearing through its organs. When it starts thrashing, I give it one last, horrible present, with a twist of [Solidification] and [Deconstruction] working as one, I weaken the solid mana, and when the monster’s internal defenses touch it to dispel the magic, it explodes.

  [Deconstruction 8 > 9]

  [Job up! Enchanter 8 > 9]

  I barely have time to consider that the system thought of that as an enchantment as the monster shakes me off. Instead, I hop back, pulling at my vessel to [Suppress] the beast again. It thrashes and fights me, but with its mana disrupted and in a mess, it’s weaker, now.

  Richard moves in at the same time as my shadow. Kuro rears their head, a small, formless blob darting across the cavern, and sinking into the shadow of the crawler. Small, needle-like teeth rise from the darkness, sinking into one of its legs at the same time as Richard takes a big bite from its side.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  A moment later, the crawler thrashes, and a pulse of mana spins out from it. The wave slams into Richard, pushing her back, but I break it before it gets to me. Some kind of shockwave based skill?

  The crawler whirls, golden ichor flowing from its side, and leaking from Richard’s teeth. It turns its attention to the stunned hiy’ht, confused on the floor. [Selection] flies out, and I manage to [Deconstruct] the stunning magic a moment before its teeth reach Richard, letting her roll back as Kuro takes another nip at its legs.

  Another pulse of mana, its insides slowly coming under its control again, this one travelling into the stone beneath me. I focus on it, throwing a [Deconstruct] at it, chipping the spell, but it holds. Another wave of my magic breaking hits it, tearing off a bigger piece of the working. It’s enough that by the time it hits me, it only stabs into the bottom of my foot rather than tearing my leg clean off.

  [Class up! Nullmage 1 > 2]

  Three points trickle into my vessel as my ability to break magic was once again put to the test. I [Suppress] the monster again, just in time for Richard to dodge another attack. I’m lucky she’s small and nimble, able to avoid the worst of it. Her teeth close around the thing again, tearing off another chunk of meat, splattering her in ichor, and at the same time the flesh goes down, more of our stored needles come up.

  I see the thing course mana through its own body, and its wounds begin knitting closed a little, when three of my needles hit at the same time, disrupting the spell, mangling it. The magic is broken, and the regeneration turns twisted, making more vital ichor spill forth from the monster, drenching the floor. Kuro greedily drinks it all.

  Using the chance, I step forward, pulling my last goblin axe and slamming it into the monster’s face. It turns towards me at the last moment, and instead of hitting an eye, the axe glances off a tooth, digging deep into the thing’s gums.

  That does, however, put me in biting range.

  Teeth dig into my arm, raking furrows through my flesh as I lunge back. Pain floods my veins with adrenaline and my heart pounds in my chest. I dull the horrible ache, and focus on everything affected by [Selection]. The caves matter just a little less, as it all reduces down to the fight.

  Now, the crawler is fixed on me, having tasted blood. Even as another needle pierces its side, the monster comes at me, and I step back. It follows, and I hammer down some more with [Suppression]. Another needle hits its side, and Kuro bites another leg. We’re bleeding it dry.

  Then, the monster sheds its carapace.

  All at once, massive plates of chitin fall to the wayside. The thing shed half its weight in a second, lunging at me far faster than ever before, and tossing me to the ground beneath it. It’s lighter, but still heavy enough to press me into the ground.

  My head slams against the rock and the world blurs for a moment. When my eyes focus again, all I see is teeth. My heart screams of death, and my mind sharpens even further. [Suppression] comes down with violence, my good arm grabbing its maw and pushing back against the monster.

  Second by second, the teeth inch closer to my throat. I smell the horrid stench of its mouth, so bad I can barely filter it out. A tooth touches my skin, my hand quivering as I push. It breaks skin, a drop of red flowing forth.

  I grit my teeth, pushing with my arm and mind, before focusing, doubling down, and slamming all the rest of my mana into a [Deconstruction]. It’s inelegant, pure violence given form, and slams into the things face.

  The teeth, so close to tearing out my throat, crack and crumble. My arm dislodges rotten enamel, pushing the breaking fangs inside the monster’s own mouth as its weapons fall apart. I quickly adjust, grabbing the axe in its mouth, pulling it out, and slamming it upwards, coated in the dregs of mana I can scrounge from the very bottom of my core.

  It strikes into the roof of the crawler’s mouth, pouring spittle and ichor on me, as the thing roars, leaning back. Kuro and Richard have been tearing into it, and once I wriggle out as it thrashes, we quickly kill it. I pull out the axe and give it a final slam through the head.

  [You have killed a lv. 37 Cavern Crawler]

  [Level up! 23 > 24]

  All my points go into vessel. I smile, seeing that it’s naturally gone up by one, too, as well as my power. Then my lips twist downwards in disgust as I remember the sticky mess I’m coated in. It’s disgusting. I want a shower, desperately.

  Still, when the new points come in, I turn to Richard, kneeling over her. She has a few scrapes and a couple shallow stabs and slices from the legs. I heal her with the bits of mana I have left, then struggle to my feet.

  Bloodied, covered in ichor, and feeling disgusted, I smile at her. “Let’s bring back the good news,” I say.

  “You healed me,” Richard says.

  “Yeah,” I reply, tilting my head at her. I’m limping on one foot, and one of my arms dangles by my side, deep, bloody furrows in it. “And?” I ask.

  She gives me a look, then smiles. “Thank you, Snow,” she says. “That was kind of you.”

  “I try,” I say. Then, I start limping back down the tunnel, ants already swarming past us, retrieving the body. “Now let’s tell them.”