Although Dalsarel hadn’t been with us for very long, she had years of experience working with a team of other fighters thanks to being a part of her mother’s dungeon. Where I had to adjust my fighting style to accommodate Ferrisdae’s magic, the Dark Elf had nearly effortlessly switched to something that complemented the both of us.

  Dalsarel moved into position slightly behind me and to my left. That was the side I wielded my shield, and she was tall enough that she could attack over my head. It wasn’t something that I liked very much but I knew I could trust her not to accidentally hit me with her sword.

  The protector settled into a stance with bent knees, one fist close to his chest with the other extended. He made a shooing motion as if trying one more time to get us to leave.

  “Not going to happen,” I told the silver man as I approached. “But this doesn’t need to end in bloodshed. We just need to get into that building behind you. If you’ll—”

  Two things happened in alarmingly quick succession. I stumbled forward, having to plant my foot as the world around me suddenly became much heavier. The sound of Dalsarel’s heavy step wasn’t lost on me, either. It was as if the air around us was actively trying to push us down. Even the loose sand on the ground shifted.

  While we were momentarily distracted, the silver protector moved. He was just as quick as I had feared and it didn’t seem like whatever was happening to us affected him in the slightest. Swift, sure, but not overwhelmingly so.

  Not yet, anyway. Fighting with so much pressure on us was guaranteed to wear us down faster than usual.

  Gritting my teeth, I replanted my feet so that I was prepared to block the first strike. I could have sworn I saw the silver protector smirk at me as he raised his fist and brought it down. My shield was already in its path, moved into the optimal position as I firmed up my stance. I watched from behind the magical metal that allowed me to see through it and prepared my counterattack.

  The sound of metal hitting metal rang throughout the landscape. I wasn’t forced back, which seemed to surprise him, but my arm felt like I had just tried to stop a runaway carriage. Strong and fast was a terrible combination to be up against.

  While the silver protector was caught off guard, I swung my stone club at his unshod foot. He was wearing blue pants which wouldn’t have allowed the corrosion enchantment to take hold, so I had to aim where I could. Feet, hands, and head.

  I narrowed my eyes as he grabbed my shield and lifted his knee to slam into it. He had left his foot there as if sure he was going to be unbothered by the damage. My attack landed a split second before his, but his had more of an effect.

  The shield dented, but didn’t break. After the fight with Raitheus Razorbeak, when one of his cannonballs had almost completely destroyed it, I had made sure that the Department of Dungeons paid to have it enchanted so I wouldn’t have that trouble anymore. By the time the silver protector pulled back his knee, it was already mending.

  In contrast, his foot seemed mostly fine. There was a slight dent in his metal skin that was the size of my finger. It seemed as though his confidence wasn’t entirely unfounded, though he wasn’t healing like my shield was.

  The silver protector was forced to back away from me as Dalsarel finished her spell. Her sword cut the air over my head and would have sliced into him if he hadn’t already moved. The Dark Elf’s skin was glowing red, but the light dispersed as the magic seeped into her skin. She stepped around me as if the enhanced pressure didn’t bother her, and I tapped my hand to my chest.

  “Strength,” I cast in the divine tongue. It was one of the most simple spells I knew, but an effective one. I could have chased him down, but I wanted to see how the two of them compared to each other. Instead, I readied myself to step in when I was needed.

  Dalsarel attempted to attack the silver protector with an upwards swing, but was unbalanced by seemingly nothing. Her footwork was thrown off and I moved to intercept the enemy before he could capitalize on her mistake. I stepped in, deflecting the punch that would have landed cleanly in her midsection, and realized that the pressure was back to normal here.

  No, it was lighter than usual. The silver protector was actively altering the gravity around us. I didn’t let this revelation change my plan of attack as I lashed out, trying to strike him in the knee. He raised his leg, taking the blow to the shin instead, and raised it up before trying to bring it back down on me. I covered myself with my shield and took a step in.

  His leg hit metal with a glancing blow. I rammed into his other one in an attempt to throw him off balance, but I barely shook him. The silver protector attempted to get away as Dalsarel recovered, conserving the momentum of her blade into a horizontal slice. A bad feeling hit me a split second before I acted on it, and I dove to the ground.

  The enemy jumped just as the gravity became much harsher than it had before. Even though Dalsarel was under a strengthening spell much like my own, her blade descended as it became heavier. Not enough to hit me on the ground, but it very well could have decapitated me if I hadn’t moved.

  Rolling over, I got to my feet just as the silver protector landed nimbly a short distance away from us. He didn’t bother going into his stance as he kicked out at me at maximum range, putting his whole body into the blow. I was slower due to the gravity increase, but I braced my stone club with my shield as I skidded to a stop.

  He didn’t stop once he connected. The force of the kick caused me to slide across the ground until I came across a jagged stone. It bit into my ankle when I stumbled, and I tumbled backwards. The very second I was airborne, he switched targets to go after Dalsarel.

  His legs were much longer than mine and he was fast, so I knew I wasn’t going to catch up to him before he met my junior in combat. My eyes locked with Dalsarel’s for a moment, and we both made a decision.

  Still midair, my shield glowed with a bright red energy while her sword shone green. The silver protector’s step faltered for a moment before he raised his arm to block whatever she had planned. All around us the pressure became worse, but it was too late.

  Despite Dalsarel’s sword glowing from the martial art, a stream of flames appeared around her feet as she pushed off faster than she had moved before. Her sword moved unnaturally as she spun, bringing it close to her body as she unleashed a devastating slice.

  The silver protector would have taken a glancing blow from the attack if he had been allowed to stop when he wanted to. We had only exchanged a few blows but he was well aware of our reach and how to best use it to his advantage. What he didn’t expect was me.

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  My martial art activated and my shield accelerated, bringing me along with it. I barely weighed anything compared to most of the combatants we fought, but the enemy had rectified that pretty handily. When I slammed into him, he stumbled forward, and Dalsarel’s accelerated strike cut through his silver skin.

  The attack was powerful enough to slice through his wrist, sending his hand flying, and cut a gouge through his chest. There was no blood or other fluid coming out of him. For a moment, it felt like everything paused, as if the universe was trying to figure out what had just happened.

  With a wordless roar of rage, the enemy’s silver skin flashed gold as he spun and kicked me. I blocked, but was sent a few feet upwards.

  In one fluid motion, he turned and closed the distance between him and Dalsarel in a heartbeat. She backpedaled, keeping him at the edge of her reach. I could see the intense concentration on her face as her sword stayed firmly in the enemy’s path like a shield of her own.

  I, on the other hand, prepared to land on my feet so that I could hurry and assist.

  Only, that wasn’t what happened. Scowling, I looked down at the ground. Gravity hadn’t been turned off completely, but I had only just hit the apex of my flight and was falling slower than a feather.

  I had plenty of time to notice that her sword was wavering. Best as I could tell, the blade’s weight was constantly being altered, making it hard to keep in position. She lasted an impressive amount of time against the strange power before the foe stepped inside her reach, knocking the weapon aside and planting an open-palm blow against her sternum. She faltered for a moment, but recovered swiftly.

  The crack of thunder filled the air as Dalsarel touched the now golden protector’s chest. The spell’s powerful lightning coursed over his armor, ripping it to shreds and leaving scorch marks on his skin, but it didn’t slow him down. His fist slammed into her stomach with enough force to cause the Dark Elf to lift off of the ground. She grimaced in pain as she tried to move her sword into a better position to block the next attack, but he bounced to the side.

  Where her movements had become sluggish, likely from a different patch of gravity, his were becoming alarmingly fast. The golden protector lashed out with his limbs, striking with his fist, feet, elbows, and knees in a long, effective combo.

  Dalsarel fell to the ground as he hooked a leg around hers and disrupted her step. She threw her hand out behind herself and said a short chant. A blast of water appeared from her palm, pushing her forward towards the golden protector. The flat of her blade slammed against his chest, and she headbutted him in the nose.

  I understood why she did it since she was in a desperate position, but I couldn’t help but grimace. She was immediately made aware of her mistake because she recoiled from it, her forehead bleeding. On the plus side, it did look like his face was caved in.

  He capitalized by kicking her in the gut again, leaving her to double over. Instead of continuing his onslaught, which would allow me to hit the ground, he jumped away from her and right to me.

  It looked like he was about to punt me, to keep me airborne and out of the fight unless I did something about it. I still had a Trifecta burning a hole in my Dimensional Pocket, which would allow me to fly, but I didn’t want to use it so soon. Instead I retracted my stone club back into the Hilt of Holding and turned the dial by pressing it against my stomach and twisting.

  This had been something that I practiced for weeks to pull off, but I knew how to get from any setting to another by heart at this point. Both my flaming and icy sword were out, as was the scimitar that actively sought the blood inside my living foes. This construct was made out of solid metal, which was strange but not unheard of, and I had something special for that.

  I thumbed the rune to summon a blade, and a thin, five inch blade popped out. It looked comically small compared to the Hilt of Holding, but it was the strongest one I had.

  As the golden protector’s leg got closer, I maneuvered the blade so that I could stab it through his leg. He had shown an unnatural toughness so far, which was on par with the toughest armors that only a martial art could pierce, but I knew this was going to be too much.

  The adamantine blade went into his calf just as his foot connected with my shield. I went flying into the air thanks to the lacking gravity, but I didn’t make it far. It almost felt like my arm was jerked out of my shoulder when I snapped back.

  My shield bashed into his face, which was more effective than Dalsarel’s desperate headbutt, but that was all I could do for the time being. I wasn’t about to let go of my weapon to get a better angle to shield bash him.

  The golden protector’s one good hand grabbed me by my vest and lifted me up. I twisted the blade and pulled it with me, allowing it to slide through his metal body until it came out of his knee. Despite the wound, his leg still moved like normal. It came up and slammed into my thigh, pulling a grunt of pain from me.

  Before I could be sent back into the air again, I stabbed him in the chest. He had attempted to pull back, but he was too late despite his incredible speed.

  “Now!” I called.

  Dalsarel, recovered enough from the golden protector’s series of strikes, chanted another spell. Her blade glowed brightly as its composition changed into something more, and she disappeared. By the time I finished blinking, she had reappeared with a roar, thrusting her sword forward.

  The golden protector tried to shift the moment I had called out, to move into a position where he could see both of us. I hadn’t let him. When she cast her spell, I had already activated another martial art. He just couldn’t see it because my blade was already buried in his chest.

  When he attempted to move, my blade ripped out of him in the most violent way possible. Several lacerations appeared all over the golden protector’s bare chest. They each opened up into thick gouges as I pulled my weapon free, but there was still no blood or organs or anything but solid metal.

  I fell to the ground slowly as the enemy shifted successfully towards Dalsarel, but it was with halting, jerky movements. By the time he had eyes on her, it was too late. Her blade was thrust through his face, stopping only after the tip came out the other side. Without waiting to see if it worked, I went back to stabbing him with my letter opener.

  That is, I did until it became clear that the golden protector had been defeated. His metal body didn’t slump like a flesh and blood creature’s would have, but instead was locked in the same position he died in, unmoving. His outstretched fingers had almost connected with Dalsarel’s windpipe, which would have been a debilitating blow if not a fatal one.

  The Dark Elf sighed in relief as the gravity magic or whatever he was using disappeared, no longer weighing her down. She placed the sole of her boot on the golden protector’s chest and started pushing. The sound of metal on metal filled the area as she slowly pulled her weapon out of the enemy.

  I moved to her side and tapped her on the elbow with a healing hand. There had been a rattle in her breathing before, but it disappeared as I healed her. It wasn’t enough to completely renew her, but it would alleviate anything potentially fatal, her bruises, and stop that head wound from bleeding more.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  “Damn thing punched almost as hard as Cojisto does,” she complained as she finally pried her sword from its skull. The act made her stumble backwards as she got used to gravity again, and the golden protector fell motionless to the ground. “My weapon is not suited for a battle like this. It’s too heavy. If I had something lighter, then I wouldn’t have been as thrown off by his strange power.”

  “Yeah, a regular longsword would have been better,” I agreed as I laid my hand on my chest. In the same motion, my shield returned to its buckler form and I healed my own wounds. I hadn’t taken nearly as much of a beating as my junior had, but I still wanted to be fresh for what came next. “But we survived this, which means you can take this lesson to heart. I’m actually kind of surprised to hear you don’t have a side arm.”

  “I do,” she reluctantly admitted. “I just prefer not to use it.”

  “You use what you have to in order to survive.” Dalsarel seemed to take this as chastisement and lowered her head. I rolled my eyes and tapped her on the arm with the back of my hand. “Learn from it, and move on. Now, come on. That thing doesn’t have a connection point, so I’m assuming what we’re looking for is in that building.”

  We turned to regard the strange, silver dome before heading towards the only door it had. I found myself a little excited for what we might find inside.