“Did you really have to cut off his head?” Ozzy jerked and felt the sharp ends of several bones dig into his insides as Remir’s head landed in his lap.

  “Tier 1s can cast all the way up until their heart stops.” Emil said his voice curt and matter of fact as he wiped his blade “clean” on Remir’s burnt and bloody shirt.

  “So… suppose we loot this place and run?” Ozzy asked.

  “Absolutely.” Emil said, a smile cracking out of the stone facade of his face.

  While it was incredibly large most of the loot in the room was confined to the walls, with the most useful of it being located generally around the area where the cores were.

  After downing a looted health potion that was probably worth more than he was, or maybe not depending on what the college of science had to say, he was up and running and shoveling loot into what had been Mikaela’s dimensional bag.

  They shoved shards, the three cores, potions, expensive looking monster parts, and even a painting Ozzy fancied. Somehow managing to sack what was likely a lifetime’s worth of wealth from the room. Ozzy was almost tempted to use one of the shards though with explosions and combat reaching a crescendo outside he’d rather not be in soul crushing pain when someone decided to come check on how Remir was doing watching the prisoners. Though he doubted anyone would.

  Since their captors had neglected to properly kidnap them Ozzy and Emil were very aware of where they were. It was probably because the elf had never intended to let them leave alive but Ozzy wasn’t complaining.

  Leaving the huge tiled room they made a right, stealing quickly down a corridor which led to an atrium and the buildings front doors. Which was coincidentally where about thirty core users were busy casting spells, firing bows and crossbows, conjuring shields, and generally getting about the business of combat.

  The sheer quantity and vastness of magic being used was awe inspiring, and Ozzy would have stopped to gawk had Emil not immediately grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back around the corner.

  “Shoot” Ozzy muttered, pressing himself into the wall next to Emil like some caricature of a sneaking rogue.

  “We’ll have to try the other way.” Emil said, nodding his agreement of Ozzy’s in-depth abstraction of the situation.

  Rushing back the other way they were met with a second corridor, through which they could finally hear the sources of the roaring explosions.

  Ozzy looked questioningly at Emily for a decision. The last thing he wanted to do was to be the one to decide which way they went to their deaths. He had already made one horrible decision today, it was Emil’s turn.

  Wordlessly Emil trudged forward, and together they made their way as carefully and stealthily down the corridor as they were able. Continuing on for about the space of a minute they stopped as they reached a set of double doors. There was just a hint of light peeking through the underside of the doors and it flashed each time one of the now deafening explosions rang out, the doors trembling from the force of them.

  “We can fight our way out of the tier ones or try and get by a distracted tier two.” Emil said, staring at the double doors with cold anticipation.

  Ozzy was about to answer him when he was interrupted by a familiar voice coming from somewhere past the doors.

  “You’ve gotten slower Glenda.” The arrogant and amused voice of the elf who’d only just minutes ago been about to kill Emil said, going on to laugh.

  “Gods I can’t wait to blow that stupid tongue of yours out of your head.” A throaty and grinding woman’s voice spoke loudly, a clear strain in it.

  “Shhhh,” The elf hushed her, “Best save your breath for running, we both know it’s your best bet.”

  An explosion rocked the building, it was larger than the ones before had been, and it was like a starting gun had gone off. He hadn’t been able to hear it before due to the rolling thunder of explosions but now he could distinctly hear the swishing and cutting noises of a thin blade.

  “Ideas?” Ozzy asked Emil.

  “I’m somehow not dead after following you through several things that should have killed me. I’ll leave the plan up to you.” Emil said, laser focused on the door and what might lay beyond it.

  “Follow my lead.” Ozzy said, summoning his rifle as he cracked the door open a hair.

  Standing in a courtyard were two individuals within a maelstrom of battle, spells flew back and forth between lines of ranged warriors and over the heads of at least thirty core users stuck in a raging melee. It was pandemonium in its purest essence, all save for a random woman and the elf taking literal pieces out of each other with swords.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The woman was built like a rugby super star, and muscles rippled across her frame whenever she stabbed, slashed, or defended. She was older too, looking to at least be middle aged. Most startling however was her height, Ozzy would have barely come up to her ribs, and she practically towered over the elf.

  Between the elf and massive woman, the elf was far the martial superior, and the woman was covered from head to toe in cuts, stab wounds, and chunked flesh. Despite her state however she moved like someone in peak condition, making the elf work hard to stay off of her blade.

  They had a sort of rhythm going, they would clash with movements so explosive they were hard to keep up with, then they would disengage as someone suffered a hit. Regrouping and re-evaluating their opponent and looking for an opening. Several times the elf had managed to land not just one strike but several, his speed was nearly double that of the woman, and she’d have made Ozzy eat her dust breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

  Watching the fight Ozzy was overcome with an anger he didn’t quite understand. Watching the elf, he couldn’t help but rage at the bastard’s infallibility. It was like he was unstoppably, uncheckable, and without equal. He could do whatever he wanted and was doing so liberally. Literally toying with the enemy leader while his own men and women died in combat.

  This elf was the antithesis to everything he sought to strive for, and he couldn’t stand for it.

  “Do you have that power ring we looted from Mikeala?” Ozzy asked Emil.

  Emil took Mikeala’s bag from him, digging through it for a moment before producing the ring and handing it to him where he quickly scanned it.

  *BEEP BEEP*

  Item identified:

  Ring of Rumbling Power

  The Ring of Rumbling Power is a magical ring with a special power enchantment. Projectiles shot, cast, or thrown, while wearing the ring of power will move 25% slower but land with 25% more force.

  It was an enchantment practically perfect for a gun, sure it’d be an issue at longer ranges but the elf was only fifty meters away from him right now. This rings moment had come, and he doubted it had ever been used for any weapon like his before.

  Ozzy summoned his rifle and went prone, balancing his rifle on the ball of his fist as he took aim on the center of the courtyard and waited.

  The elf and woman went through engagement after engagement, the bouts never lasting more than a few seconds each. Yet every time they stopped to pause it was more often than not the woman left bloodied.

  It was very nearly getting impossible to tell where she had been struck, by this time in the fight she was practically more blood than person, and red streaked down her body in a constant flow. Blood pooled around her feet, wherever she stepped bloody footprints followed, creating an insidious pattern at first until as her injuries compounded, she simply left puddles.

  Even as he wanted to act however he was stuck, the pauses they had between their bouts lasted for more heartbeats. Completely impossible to plan for or even capitalize on, he needed them to talk again, but each time the stupid elf started up one of his monologues the woman jumped him. Little did she know the only help she’d ever get in this fight depended entirely on letting the elf talk.

  Nearly half a minute passed as Ozzy waited, it felt like an eternity, and he watched as the woman became slower and slower. Reaching the point where she jumped back, reaching for a potion only to be followed and struck, a quick slash from the elf’s sword severing her reaching fingers.

  “I told you Glenda, you really should have run when you had the chance. I’m going to miss these little soirees you spring for me. Though I will admit, they have gotten a little old of late. Desperation has never looked good on you.” He smirked, flicking his sword and sending a stream of blood flying off the end of it.

  BOOM

  An explosion rocked the courtyard, it was no different than the ones that had already been going off save for in result.

  Ozzy had summoned a very different round for the elf. While he’d been using explosive rounds with everyone else, he wasn’t convinced of their lethality on stronger opponents. Remir after all had been healthy enough to beat him half to death, and there was no way the elf was weaker than that guy. He needed to make sure he just did damage period, and so he went with a tried-and-true classic.

  The round was styled after an earthly full metal jacket round, the goal was penetration, lots of it.

  Ozzy had aimed for the base of the elf’s skull, it was a kill zone shot, even for these magical crazies, yet he didn’t hold his breath. His hesitation seeing Remir walk off a direct hit from the gun to end all guns had nearly cost him his life, and he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

  Flying true to his target the round slipped under spells and through the clashing melee to strike the elf, though his aim had been ever so slightly off. Rather than hitting him in the head it landed about two inches lower, slamming into the elf’s spine in the center of his neck with a massive crack.

  The elf dropped, flopping around like a fish out of water and gulping air as his eyes went bug eyed. It looked like he was seizing, his mind not sending his body quite the number of signals it needed to in order to remain standing.

  Without even so much as a glance around to see who’d helped her Glenda fell on the elf with a fury. Smashing, chopping, and tearing as she turned the enigmatic elf into a piece of mangled meat quicker than Ozzy was able to get to standing.

  “I can’t believe that worked.” Ozzy mumbled, just in time for an explosion to collide with the doors, sending him and Emil flying down the corridor and knocking him unconscious.

  ***

  Ozzy came to groggily, watching as men and women in edge slinger colors raced up the hall past them, fleeing for their lives as the attacking force sent spell after spell in after them. It was only a matter of time until- BOOM.

  A second explosion, down the hall and in the midst of the fleeing edge slingers sent Ozzy airborne again, throwing him into the door and just out of the hallway. He just barely managed to maintain consciousness and felt pain as someone kicked him hard, sending him back into the door and flipping him over onto his back. Weakly he raised his hands, hoping beyond hope the warrior would recognize him as the “innocent” bystander he was.

  Despite his prayers the rough handling continued, not stopping until he spotted a familiar towering woman lean over him and smirk.