In the lighting of the cavern, they finally got a clear idea of what had attacked Clarisse that night. With glowing red eyes, sharp claws in place of toes, lizard-like skin instead of proper fur, and a row of spikes along their backs, a pack of more than a dozen creatures bounded towards the duo, met first by Nikolas.

  “Chupacabras…” Nikolas spoke under his breath before glancing at her and igniting the broken blade to full length. “Burn them alive!”

  Clarisse was caught off guard by the blade’s transformation, almost dropping her fireball accidentally as it ignited. Although she was happy to see it had a similar effect on the chupacabras, who had come to a halt to acknowledge their frightening adversary as he let the sword’s edge scrape against the ground. The piercing sound of the sword casually slicing into solid stone without much effort made her take a step back cautiously. She wound her arm back and threw the fireball, arcing it over Nikolas and creating a distraction for him as it lit the ceiling up before landing behind the pack and ending in a fiery explosion.

  Nikolas took advantage of their collective unwillingness to attack an unknown creature, lunging forward and slicing the closest chupacabra’s jaw apart before turning to the others and slashing low at them. The pack was apprehensive at first, surrounded by both loud sounds and flashing lights, but the smell of fresh blood made them leap at Nikolas, attacking him with claws and canines.

  Clarisse began forming another fireball between her hands, when her line of sight was cut off by drops of blood which were spreading all over the scene in front of her. She closed one of her eyes as she felt a drop almost enter it, tossing her half-formed fireball on the ground in front to protect herself from the chupacabras.

  Nikolas seemed to be overwhelmed at first glance, being tackled and bitten from all sides as the pack converged on him as their prey of choice, but all the blood being shed belonged to them. Using his cloak and greaves to keep them at bay, the fox-eared adventurer grabbed, kicked and cut down the chupacabras one after another from himself. He had reduced their numbers to six already in this way, with three in front and the rest circling around him.

  From lower down in the cavern, a few other human voices echoed upwards but were drowned out by the whimpers of hurt and dying chupacabras. Clarisse quickly retreated backwards when one of the surviving chupacabras redirected its attention at her with a deep growl. “You… you’re the one from that night!” she exclaimed upon seeing that the creature sported a darker, burnt patch of skin on its side - a wound from their last encounter.

  The creature seemed to also recognize her, baring its fangs as it wound up its hind legs to pounce at her. She threw a hastily formed fireball with one hand at it, hoping to catch it off guard as she reached for her dagger with the other. The chupacabra retreated backwards, barely evading being burnt again and circled around to approach her from the side.

  Nikolas drove his blade into the ground through the next chupacabra, twisting it until the creature went limp with a pathetic whimper. Around him, the last three of the pack growled and barked at him, but none of them showed any intention of getting closer.

  “Have it your way,” he said in a monotone voice, flicking his sword to change its shape. The glowing edge of the blade became shorter, with its spare energy flowing down into the handle and extending its length until the sword had turned into a spear with a large blade on the end. He lunged at one of the two to his left, running the spearhead through the chupacabra before it had a chance to react, and then swung it in an arc to his right to catch the other one on its edge and slice off its front legs.

  Meanwhile, Clarisse found herself in a staredown between the remaining two chupacabras, who had decided to approach her from both sides. Her mind went back to the pain she felt in her leg when she got bit, making her panic slightly. With a growl, the burnt one pounced at her face while its companion lunged for her legs.

  Clarisse threw a fireball at the burnt chupacabra, intercepting its jump and setting it aflame once more. To her surprise, her new boots held up against the other one’s teeth, giving her enough time to shake and kick it off of herself before jabbing low at it with her dagger. She had bought herself a few precious seconds of time, turning around to see the first one writhing on the ground, attempting to put out the fire from its skin.

  Right as Clarisse was catching her breath, a third chupacabra bounded towards her, running away from Nikolas upon finding a more suitable target. It only made it a few feet before the fox adjusted his grip on the spear and threw it, impaling the creature and killing it by the time its corpse landed next to Clarisse.

  “Whoa…” Clarisse said, both impressed and scared by the spear throw, before looking back at the burning chupacabra. As far as they knew, it was the last of its pack and on the brink of death. She gripped her dagger tighter, building up the resolve to put it out of its misery.

  Nikolas walked up to stand beside her, leaning on the handle of his spear still lodged inside its target. “Good, you managed to stay in one piece.”

  “Should I kill it? It should be harmless now, right?” Clarisse asked, averting her eyes from the burning creature as it whimpered in pain, hurt badly enough by the impact of the fireball to not move much besides crawling away from them.

  “Well, don’t you want reven-” Nikolas began, before suddenly picking up his spear and turning to glance an incoming projectile away from below in the cavern.

  CINK! THUNK!

  Clarisse snapped her head towards the sound to see that Nikolas had deflected something which had been launched at them. It was a moment before she heard the sliced pieces of a crossbow bolt clatter to the floor behind them, followed by another command from Nikolas.

  “Finish it and join me. I’ll be down there.” Nikolas said, flourishing the spear and descending into the cave again.

  “O-okay!” Clarisse replied nervously, the bolt had caught her completely off guard and reminded her that being an adventurer entailed dangers like that. She looked down at the whimpering animal, waiting a few more seconds before stabbing its neck and twisting the dagger. The chupacabra went limp soon after, its body burning up and releasing a dreadful stench.

  At the lower end of the cavern, Nikolas spotted two individuals standing on the edge of the light. A man scrambling to reload his crossbow, and a woman who kept coming in and out of his line of sight as she ran back and forth, trying to move something around the turn of the corner. He flicked his spear, reverting it back to its sword form before breaking into a sprint down the slope of the cavern.

  “Hey you! Stop right there or I’ll shoot!” the man called out, pointing his reloaded crossbow at Nikolas. He held his finger over the trigger until he thought Nikolas was close enough to not parry it again. “Stay right there!” he called out once more, taking a few steps back and glancing to his left for a moment.

  Nikolas slowed his approach, holding his blade in between them, the edge poised to strike. “I’ll let you surrender if you want to do it right now.” he declared confidently, reaching into his bloody cloak with his left hand to pick up something from inside.

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  Clarisse followed soon after Nikolas, treading carefully to avoid stepping on the multitude of animal carcasses left in his wake. She held her breath to avoid the dreadful smell, willing herself not to vomit. As she approached, she saw the staredown between Nikolas and the other man clad in loose bits of leather armor over his burgundy robes, apparently coupled with a chainmail underneath from how it reflected the light of her flames.

  “How did you find us!?” The man asked, his voice betraying deep panic. “Speak, or I’ll shoot you! How many of you are outside!?” He shouted, alternating his aim between Nikolas and Clarisse.

  Nikolas stepped to his side, intercepting the bandit’s aim at Clarisse. “You’re not very good at hiding, and there should be about… ” he narrowed his eyes, exhaling sharply. “Forty-odd hungry adventurers on their way soon.” He glanced briefly at Clarisse before returning his gaze to the man.

  Clarisse paused for a moment, only nodding once she caught onto his bluff. “Yeah! We’ve been combing the forest since last night. They won’t show you any mercy, so tell us where you’ve kept your prisoners!”

  “N-no… no way!” The man replied aggressively, taking a few steps back. “You’re lying… Stay away from me!”

  Nikolas lowered his sword, elegantly stepping past the man and glancing past the corner lower into the cavern. “Even if so, what difference does that make? We already killed your litter of blood-sucking creatures, and right now, you have a great opportunity in front of you-” He put his left hand around the man’s neck and on his other shoulder, now holding a shining dagger in it.

  A shiver ran through the man’s body, freezing as he felt the cold edge of the dagger against his neck. Clarisse noticed it as well, just as shocked as he was at how naturally Nikolas had closed the gap between them and was now standing behind the man. “How-?” she whispered.

  “We know you’re not alone. So… why don’t you rat out your companion down below? Take us to her or the last light you’ll see will be her flames.” Nikolas spoke smugly, slowly pushing the crossbow lower with his sword and holding it there.

  Clarisse raised her hands, igniting them, although there was a clear uncertainty in her eyes. “Y-yeah.” she said, a quick glance at Nikolas signaling her unwillingness to hurt another person.

  More concerned by the dagger pushing into his throat than the threat of arson, the man squeaked out a reply. “O-okay… she’s down there- she has the prisoners with her.” he pointed down the cavern with one hand, the other still holding the crossbow tightly.

  “Right.” Nikolas replied, grabbing the man’s collar and making him face the path down. “Why don’t you call her out then? We’ll walk down together.” He looked back at Clarisse and gestured with his sword for her to follow.

  The man took a deep breath, contemplating his lack of options for a few seconds before finally shouting. “Musha, they’ve got a knife to my neck here! Please- you have to help me!”

  There was an uncomfortable silence for about half a minute. “She’s there, please, you have to believe me.” the man muttered. “She wouldn’t leave me behind…” he spoke in desperation, half-trying to convince himself.

  “Oh, I do.” Nikolas responded with a shrug, before pushing the man a few steps ahead. “Any harm that comes to your prisoners, your buddy here gets the same!” he called out, pushing him forward and walking alongside him.

  A woman clad in tattered iron and leather armor emerged from around the corner right as he pushed the man forward, holding a crossbow in one hand and a double-sided axe in the other. She aimed quickly, locking her sights on Nikolas and letting the bolt loose.

  “Nik!” Clarisse called out in horror to warn him as she saw the projectile shoot towards him, but by the time she spoke he had already reacted. Nikolas pulled his prisoner in front of himself in response to the crack shot, using him as a human shield.

  “AUGH-!” The man cried out, dropping his own crossbow to clutch the new wound in his chest as he fell to the ground. “WHYYY…?” he cried out, cursing his luck as he bled on the rocky floor.

  “Gerbert, you oaf!” The woman, presumably Musha, yelled in annoyance as she backed away, dropping the crossbow and brandishing her axe as she took a defensive pose. “Can’t do a single thing right…”

  “Burn the wound shut!” Nikolas commanded Clarisse before whipping his hand sideways to throw a dagger at Mikaela.

  Musha barely caught the shining knife coming her way before raising her axe in front of her face to block it. The dagger still chipped a piece of the axe’s metal with itself as it ricocheted off the wall next to her and fell to the ground. “Hah-” she laughed at her triumph, but it was to be short-lived.

  Using the brief moment when the axe had cut Musha’s line of sight, Nikolas dashed forward, transforming the rigid form of his blade into a spiraling whip and lashing at her legs with it.

  The whip wrapped a full loop around Musha’s knees before she pushed the burning segments down to her ankles with the axe. Her first instinct upon seeing Nikolas close the gap between them was to run, but the whip made her trip and fall after a few steps.

  Nikolas transformed the weapon again once he was close enough, returning its fluid braids into a long spear. He ratcheted the polearm upwards, catching the underside of the axe and launching it into the air out of Musha’s grip.

  “AH!” The femme bandit reeled back, holding a newly inflicted wound on the side of her face as she stared down the length of the spear mere inches from her nose. She looked both angry and stunned, breathing shallow breaths as she tried to comprehend how the weapon had changed forms so quickly.

  Meanwhile, Clarisse had been left to tend to Gerbert, who was bleeding profusely from his chest due to the bolt lodged securely in it. “Oh… Pl-please, help me!” he called out to the pyromancer, panicking.

  “I’m here- okay… burn your wound?” Clarisse tried to reassure him, but she was equally confused about what else to do. The sight of the open wound was revolting to her, even more so all the blood spilling out of it. “Can you take it out?” she asked Gerbert, looking at the bolt.

  Gerbert didn’t reply besides incoherent cries of pain as he grabbed the end of the bolt sticking out of him. The first time he tried, his bloody fingers fumbled at grabbing its fletching and slipped, leaving it as it was. “Argh! S-sorry, I’m- I’m doing it!” he said, only finding the redhead’s horrified expression as more of a reason to panic.

  “Do it faster!” Clarisse pressured him, putting out the fire on her hands and placing them on either side of the wound. “Now!” she said, trying to hold her breath against the metallic smell of blood reeking from him.

  Gerbert closed his eyes, wiping the blood on his robes and grabbing the fletching as tightly as he could. “Hmm- It hurts- Ow, ow OW!” he cried out as he yanked the bolt out, which was accompanied with a loud crunch of bones and a throbbing pain as his skin closed around the damage to his collarbone and sternum. “It’s out!” he called out, dropping the bolt as he let his muscles loosen, partly in relief and partly out of shock.

  “Okay, this might hurt. I… I don’t know. Probably.” Clarisse mumbled, using one hand to pull his robes and chainmail aside and placing the other on the wound before igniting it. “Please work… Aireme, save this man!” she whispered to herself.

  “AH- It burns!” Gerbert complained, kicking one of his legs upwards for a moment and trying to wriggle away from instinct.

  “It’s fire!” Clarisse replied with eyes wide open in annoyance. “Of course it burns. It won’t take long…” she said as she applied pressure over the wound until the entire area around it had seared shut. She removed her hand, wiping it clean on his robes while inspecting her handiwork.

  Gerbert seemed to have gone oddly silent midway into the cauterization, his body laying limp. “Hey. Hey, are you okay?” Clarisse asked, afraid that she had killed him for a moment before noticing he was still breathing. Unconscious, but still breathing.

  With the spear still pointed at Musha, Nikolas glanced around to find a pair of drying horse carcasses in one corner of the cave, and a human and a dwarf tied and gagged in another corner along with a cart, presumably the missing postmen and their deliveries. Looking back, he saw Clarisse give him a thumbs up as she sat back on the floor, exhausted from the experience.

  “Looks like we’re done here.” he said to Musha, turning his spear back to a sword and putting it to her neck. He pressed the tip against her skin, drawing a thin line of blood from the defeated bandit.

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