Lucas stared at the empty space where the Commander had stood just a moment ago, puzzled. But unlike him, the creature wasn’t fazed by the magic.

  It immediately switched its focus to Lucas, its head snapping toward him. The glow of its body flared brighter, and Lucas felt the shift in the air instantly, his skin aching from the pressing cold.

  He tried to scramble backward, his instincts screaming for distance, but his legs wouldn’t move. A thick layer of frost had already seized his boots, pinning him to the frozen earth. The ice was alive, crawling up his thighs with a terrifying speed, stealing the warmth from his blood and replacing it with a numbness that was somehow more painful than the cold itself.

  He panicked as he realized death was very close - already climbing up his body, closing in with every passing moment.

  Lucas scanned the clearing, his eyes darting around in a desperate search for anyone left standing. But there were only the heavily wounded and the dead. In a final act of defiance, his trembling fingers fumbled beneath his armor, grabbing the crystal. He hurled it at the creature with every ounce of strength he had left, watching as the stone passed through the creature’s chest, clattering onto the frozen ground behind it.

  “FUCK YOU!” he screamed, his voice cracking as hot tears spilled over, instantly cooling on his cheeks.

  He instinctively recalled Karl begging him to walk away from the abandoned house, to lie and say they found nothing. If he had just listened, if he had just been a coward, they would all still be breathing.

  His gaze drifted to the stone platform where the little girl lay unconscious. Looking at her small, fragile form, the regret he had felt earlier vanished without a trace. It was foolish, suicidal even, but that was who he was. He knew that if he could rewrite the past, he would have forced the commander to wait for the Unbowed or convinced him to demand reinforcements, but he never would have walked away from a dying child.

  This must be how pops felt as he died, he thought, a fleeting connection to the father who had buried himself under rubble to save strangers.

  The moment stretched endlessly. Lucas thought it was the effect of the monster’s cold, or perhaps the way time stopped right before the end.

  But then he noticed the ice had halted its climb at his waist. The creature in front of him froze in place. It wasn’t in slumber. Lucas could still feel the monster’s oppressive aura around him.

  “WHY… ARE… YOU… HERE…” Its whisper reached Lucas’s mind

  It can tell I’m from Earth? The thought sparked a tiny ember of hope. If this thing recognized his origin and cared enough to point it out, that was leverage. It was the only card he had left to play. He couldn't fight it, and he couldn't run, so he had to make himself worth interrogating. He had to stall.

  “I was summoned here.” His jaw was stiff, his teeth clicking together so hard he could barely form the syllables.

  He chose not to lie. He doubted he could fool a creature like this anyway.

  “I… WILL… NOT… LET… YOU…” the monster hissed, voice carrying anger for the first time.

  Lucas felt a burning pain in his chest, sharper than what he felt when he first saw the dragon. The agony spread through his limbs, hot enough to actually drive out the biting cold. But the strain broke him. His legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees, his mind slipping into a gray fog.

  He had no idea how much time had passed.

  Finally, the roar of thunder broke through the silence in his head. Sudden flashes of light knocked on his closed eyelids. Lucas struggled to focus, fighting the exhaustion weighing him down, and forced his eyes open.

  The clearing was washed in chaotic hues of white, cyan, and red. The creature, the one that had dismantled his entire squad, was blinking from spot to spot. It vanished and reappeared, barely avoiding bolts of lightning that scorched the stone the instant it showed itself.

  The lightning wasn’t its only problem.

  A thick red streak chased the monster, striking the spot just a fraction of a second too late every time the creature teleported.

  Lucas blinked. Hard. He failed to analyze what was happening around him. He was drained both mentally and physically, but he could feel the numbness receding. Thoughts clearing.

  He pushed himself up, but failed as his head hit something hard. He crouched back down and finally noticed the faint silver shimmer surrounding him. It was a dome, large enough to shelter him, but too low to let him stand.

  Who… Before the thought finished, he saw her.

  The woman stood a few steps away, a long wooden staff with a glowing silver gem held in her left hand. With her right, she directed the lightning, guiding the strikes she rained down on the creature.

  “Do not touch the barrier,” she ordered Lucas, her eyes never leaving the fight.

  She extended her hand. Five silver symbols flared to life on her fingertips. The lightning stopped. Instead, a circular wall of force materialized instantly around the spot where the monster had just landed.

  “Masterfully done, Miss Evelyn,” a man’s soft voice called out.

  “Gio, hurry,” Evelyn said, her pale face tightening with worry.

  The man nodded, dissolving into a thick red streak and closing the distance instantly. He materialized in the air right above the trapped creature, hanging there for a split second. Twin blades appeared in his hands, gleaming red against the creature's cyan mist. He swung them in opposite directions, carving an X across the monster’s chest.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Only when Gio pulled back did Lucas realize the blades hadn't actually touched the creature. The red X shimmered in the air an inch away, growing brighter until it turned pure silver.

  As the shimmer got too intense for the naked eye, an explosion came, making no sound. The silver sheen showered the entire clearing, deflecting as it clashed with the barrier surrounding Lucas. Despite the explosion having no sound of its own, it still deafened him, muffling the noise of the cavern as if he were underwater.

  Lucas couldn't hear whatever Gio said next, but Evelyn’s voice he did hear.

  “The specter sacrificed its core. Gio, get the children beyond its reach!” She gave the order without looking away, her voice calm despite the urgency of her words.

  Children? Lucas was puzzled, watching closely as the cloaked man blurred into a thick red line.

  Contrary to his expectation, Gio didn't rush toward Hannah. He charged to the opposite side of the cavern entrance. Lucas caught only a glimpse of a small figure in Gio’s arms before the silver barrier protecting him shattered, obscuring his vision.

  “Too slow, Gio,” Evelyn said coldly. She extended her hand toward Hannah just as a cyan light erupted from the spot where the monster had stood.

  The specter surged toward the girl, its cloud-like shape reaching her just as the protective barrier began to take form. Evelyn’s furrowed brows and trembling hand made it clear she wasn’t certain the shield would close in time.

  But the monster didn't care about the girl. It rushed past her without wasting a fraction of a second, pivoting mid-air to lock onto Lucas, who now stood completely exposed.

  Shit.

  Lucas shifted his stance, trying to bolt toward the exit. He couldn't hit the specter, and he certainly couldn't block it. His only option was to run.

  It has a range. If I increase the distance… He formulated the plan on instinct, the adrenaline clearing the last of the daze.

  Invest all AP in Agility! he screamed in his mind.

  [3 Attribute Points allocated to Agility.]

  Thank god it worked.

  Lucas pushed his body to the limit, feeling the sudden strength flood his legs. His thighs swelled, propelling him forward. His speed visibly increased, and the distance between him and the specter, which had been rapidly decreasing, began to close more slowly.

  But despite the boost in Agility, Lucas was still only a slightly faster human. The creature chasing him was a specter.

  “Run towards me!” Evelyn called out. The gemstone on her staff was already shimmering, silver energy swirling from it toward her free hand, slowly knitting into symbols on her fingertips. “You must trust me if you want to survive!”

  Lucas made his decision instantly. The woman had already saved his life with the barrier while he was unconscious. Refusing to put his faith in her now made no sense.

  He pivoted hard to the right, narrowly dodging the specter as it shot past him. But the creature recovered instantly, turning back with terrifying speed.

  “Let the specter catch you when I tell you,” Evelyn’s voice echoed directly in his mind. “Right before it assumes control over your body, it will materialize. And my Sanguine friend here will finish it. Don’t fear, I will protect you. But you must trust me!”

  What’s the point? Even if I don't, this bastard will still catch me.

  Lucas cursed inwardly, legs pumping as fast as they could. It was one thing to trust the mage; it was another to willingly embrace the death chasing him.

  “NOW! Stop before my spell fades!” Evelyn’s voice rang in his head again as the silver symbols on her fingers flared to their peak brightness.

  The sight made Lucas hesitate for a fraction of a second.

  “Aaagh…” He yelled, spinning around to face the creature.

  The specter’s chilling aura was inches from his face when a wave of silver energy crashed into them both, locking them in place. He couldn’t move. Every muscle in his body went rigid, and even drawing a breath became a struggle.

  Then he saw Gio appear right above them, freezing in the air for a split second just like before.

  For the first time, Lucas saw his face.

  A small smirk played on his pale lips, revealing four sharp fangs beneath. His red, vertical-slit eyes were fixed on the specter, unblinking. He swung his blades, but this time he didn’t trace an X. He aimed directly at the glowing cyan orb pulsing in the center of the specter’s form.

  The blades didn’t hit.

  The specter detonated just before impact. The blast was weaker than the first one, but focused entirely on Gio. The force slammed into the man, sending him flying backward, his blades skidding across the cavern floor.

  “How many cores does it have?” Evelyn whispered, worry cracking her confident tone for the first time.

  I’m going to die.

  The thought arrived uninvited as Lucas hit the ground, shoved back by the aftershock of the blast. He scrambled backward, trying to retreat, his fingers clawing at the uneven stone of the cavern floor.

  That’s when his palm slid across the sharp edge of a blade. The steel bit deep, and both the metal and his fingers were instantly painted red. He ignored the stinging pain and grabbed the hilt.

  His body suddenly felt heavier, the blade’s weight seeming to multiply twofold in his grip.

  [Strength requirement not met for Lilith’s Fangs. Penalty applied. Weapon effects locked.]

  Lucas laughed at himself. Since coming to this world, misfortune had stalked him like a shadow, and he had finally had enough.

  He shot up and lunged forward, raising the short blade into the air with an effort. His gray eyes locked onto the specter, which was still frozen in place.

  It took just one heavy step to close the distance. The blade hissed through the air, descending on the cyan smoke figure that had shrunk significantly - barely larger than a football.

  “YOU… MUST… DIE…” The hiss echoed in Lucas’s mind, but it only fueled his anger.

  The edge of the blade struck the cyan barrier protecting the specter. The recoil shuddered through Lucas’s arms, almost jarring the weapon from his grip. But he endured and pressed down.

  He leaned his entire body weight onto the hilt, like a cook trying to force a dull knife through frozen meat.

  Then a bolt of silver energy struck the barrier from the side, shattering it like glass. The blade plunged down, hitting the specter. It didn’t pass through smoke; it hit. Lucas felt the resistance, though softer this time, and heard the sharp cracking sound as fractures spiderwebbed across the cyan orb.

  He increased the pressure until the cracks spread and the core finally detonated. Cyan energy poured outward, biting into his skin and freezing his hands instantly.

  Did it die? Lucas thought, grimacing against the cold and pain. His question was answered immediately as the sound of wind chimes filled his ears and blue windows began flooding his vision.

  [You’ve gained 500 Experience Points!]

  [Soul Reaper (Beginner) proficiency limit exceeded. Skill advanced to Soul Reaper (Adept).]

  [New skill acquired: Brute.]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve leve…

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  The next chapter will be out on Monday. For the first month, the schedule will be M-F, 5 chapters each week. If we manage to hit RS Top 10, I might switch to daily posts.