Nash and Tom rushed forward in a charge, with Luke and the others trailing after. Not wanting to shout, Luke attempted to message Nash through the interface, but that didn't work. Their party leader didn't have a communication gem.

  Speeding to catch up with them, Luke hissed, "I didn't mean we should charge! The others aren't far. Feels like a trap."

  "There is a time for strategy and a time for getting your feet wet!" Nash yelled, not caring who heard them, it seemed. "Our party is not one put together for stealth missions. We bash things!"

  "What do you mean?" Luke asked, glancing over his shoulder at the other three, who were falling behind.

  "Each party has a purpose. Didn't I tell you guys?"

  Tom let out a low grunt. "You didn't."

  "Oh," Nash said, still not slowing down. "Anyway. Our job is to go into dungeons and beat the ever-living crap out of monsters. Other parties have other purposes. Also, we have you, Luke! You're the second-highest-leveled person in the whole guild. We'll be fine!"

  "You expect me to carry you through this?" Luke asked.

  "Nah, nothing like that, but you have to agree it's a pretty good indication that the guild likes us, putting the five of us with the golden child!"

  Luke felt heat rise in his chest. "Don't call me that."

  "I'm just messing around, but the point stands! This party is made for rock and roll, and we're about to roll! Let's go!"

  They reached the line of flat-top stone houses, and Nash charged into a narrow path between two of them, Tom following right behind after glancing back at Luke with a shrug.

  "Stupid," Luke muttered, coming to a stop.

  Feeling something hurtling at him, Luke jumped back just in time to avoid Perienka crashing through the wall from the house on the right, reaching for him. Dust and bits of stone rained down her shoulders as she lunged after him, not giving Luke a second to breathe.

  Swiping at her extended hand with the staff, he jumped back again, pushing off with threads of mana to create some distance. A javelin appeared in her already reared back fist, and she threw it with enough power to make the tip of the weapon, cutting through the air, produce a whistle, far too fast for him to react in time.

  Dropping the staff, his arms powerless all of a sudden, he looked down to see blood seeping out of a hole in his lower chest. Stumbling to the side to get out of Perienka's way, Luke groaned as the pain caught up. The damn thing went clean through. In less than a second, he was down to 40% health and was forced to use Weaver's Renewal to restore the missing flesh, or risk dropping below the threshold.

  "Luke!" Priyah shouted, running toward him with the twins in tow.

  Turning to them, he reached out a hand, shouting, "Back!"

  They stopped just in time to avoid an enormous blue fireball crashing into the floor right in front of them. In the far distance, Michelle Wong stood on top of a tall stone tower. Before he had time to do anything else, a quick jab with another javelin from Perienka pierced his right forearm.

  Gritting his teeth, Luke stepped in rather than try to escape. She was fast. Far faster than her size indicated, and she'd been waiting for him. Taking out the enemy healer was a good strategy, so he couldn't fault her for it, but it wasn't like he'd just roll over and let her pummel him into submission.

  Grabbing her wrist with a thread of mana, Luke used another to reach behind her back. Weavestep put him in a much better position, and another thread bound her legs together while he used a third to enter her mana channels. She'd shown him what she could do. Now it was his time to show her. A quick slice through the nerve bundle at her left shoulder made her limb useless, but she reacted far faster than he anticipated. The thread around her knees snapped like a piece of string, and she pulled on her wrist with enough force to lift Luke off his feet. Spinning, she kneed him in the right side, crunching into his liver.

  Stopping himself from puking took every ounce of willpower, but catching his breath was impossible as he stumbled back and released the thread so she wouldn't use it against him again.

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  More blue fireballs soared through the air, forcing the trio to hide behind the buildings where Nash and Tom fought against Lloyd.

  Out of reach from Perienka's knee, she extended a foot instead, pushing him backwards as Luke drew a ragged breath, still spluttering and reeling from having his liver almost ruptured by a single attack.

  Rather than keep on the attack, Perienka just stood there, regarding him.

  "What?" Luke asked.

  She didn't answer, and the seconds ticked on. Then he noticed it. Weaver's Perception allowed him to sense the mana flowing through her system, and something being carried with it. Healing. Perienka's fingers twitched as she regained control of her arm.

  "That's cheating," Luke said.

  She laughed at that, and he grinned. Both of them were restored at that point, and Luke pondered how to go about this. The others would need him, judging by the cries of pain just a street over. The other opponents were drawing closer too, and Michelle was still up on that tower, a large spellweave forming in front of her. Something big was coming from their mage.

  "You can take a beating," Perienka said. "But I need to end this now."

  That matched Luke's sentiment, and he focused as she rushed in, a javelin raised in her right arm. Like the first attack, she threw it as she charged. This time, though, he was ready for its speed. Weavestep brought him out of its path, and when another hurtled right to the spot where he appeared, Luke used three threads of mana to push it to the side as he dodged away. All three threads frayed and broke, but it was enough.

  Perienka appeared right in front of him and twisted her hip. A punch followed, but Luke saw it coming. With Weaver's Perception, he was able to tell what muscles she used much earlier than if he'd just watched with his eyes, and that gave him an edge. Ducking under the blow, he reached forward with a palm, placing it right over her meta-heart. A downward elbow struck Luke's arm, cracking it in two places, but the pain was nothing more than a dull ache in that moment, his system flushed with adrenaline.

  Needle of Life shredded several nerve bundles, leaving both her arms useless, and Luke followed up with Weaver's Rupture, shattering the mana channels leading to the place of injury to keep her from healing. Perienka didn't let that slow her down, and another knee struck Luke's left side, followed by her forehead slamming into Luke's face with a crunch. That one hurt.

  Blood flowing down his face, Luke healed as he spun up more threads of mana, wrapping them around her legs even as he stumbled into her. The shift in weight made her fall backwards with Luke on top. She smashed the back of her head into the stone ground and let out a grunt. Not wanting to give her a moment to heal, Luke kept up the attack and elbowed her in the face. Even with all that, unable to use her limbs at all, she writhed and reached for him, trying to bite down on his shoulder.

  "Enough!" he shouted, coming up to stand next to her. "Yield!"

  Perienka was still at 50% health and wouldn't stop squirming, so Luke walked up to his dropped staff and held it over her face. "Yield."

  After spitting a considerable amount of blood to the side, she turned to him with a grin. "Fine. You win. Doubt your friends are doing well, though."

  With those words, her bracelet let out a small beep, and the light turned from green to red. Panting, Luke fixed his broken nose and winced at the sound and pain of it snapping back into place. The arm wound was deep, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He'd dropped as low as 37% during that fight. Too close. Far too close.

  Turning to head toward the buildings, he waved goodbye to his fallen opponent. "See you around, guild mate."

  "Hey!" she shouted. "You're not going to heal me?"

  "After!" he shouted back, hurrying to catch up to his friends, hoping they'd managed well enough without him. Judging by the sounds, it'd been quite the struggle.

  Emerging out onto a street, Luke spotted Mas sitting on the ground, back against a pillar, with a pissed-off expression on his face. The light on his bracelet shone red. Priyah stood not far off, hands covering her face and blood running down her right arm, a cut through her jacket and blouse. Right next to her, less than five inches from her back, Darius reached for her with a dagger in each hand, a look of wild frenzy on his face. It was like a still picture, because neither of them was moving a muscle. Darius's arms trembled a little, and his eyes shifted this way and that, but that was all. A floating, half-transparent stream of red rose from the enemy's shoulder, pulled toward Sam, who stood next to her brother.

  Little by little, she was draining Darius's health points. Some of that health transferred over to her brother, but most she stored somehow. Farther down the street, Nash battled against Henry while Tom's hammer cleaved the air again and again as he swung it in wide arcs, trying to hit well... nothing at all, as far as Luke could see or sense with Weaver's Perception. The building walls and even pillars around him crumbled, but that was all his weapon reached.

  "Priyah, Mas!" Luke shouted, hurrying past. "Are you guys OK?"

  The expression she turned toward him was frightened but determined, and under immense strain. Her answer came as a single groan. "Fine."

  Mas just glared at him.

  "The tall man with knives will soon reach thirty percent," Sam said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

  "I'll go help the others. Shout if you need me, and make sure to check the sky. Fire will be coming soon!"

  Hurrying closer to Tom, Luke caught the giant man's expression. Utter fear.

  "No, no, no," he kept saying, his eyes wide with terror as he flinched back again and again, trying to dodge out of the way of some unseen attack. When Tom caught Luke looking at him, he shuddered and cried out, reaching a hand toward Luke. "No! Stay away, devil!"