Hunter let the trident pull him toward the flames, and he watched as the twinkly emerald fire began to spin toward the tines like they were being summoned. He knew his mouth was hanging open, but he didn’t care if the imp saw his shock. It was a violent little beast. In the few seconds that it took for the trident to absorb the flames, it started to grow colder. It was a surprise to Hunter because he assumed the fire would heat the metal of his weapon. The fire only ignited that strange hunger in his chest.

I want more, he seethed.

He glanced up at the snarling imp, and it started to shake its gauntlet-wreathed arm threateningly. Hunter didn’t care—he finally found something that might help him survive in this post-apocalyptic hellscape. It was only bad luck for the imp that it happened to be its own weapon.

He charged the imp while activating his sprint skill. The breeze whipped by his face as he was once more with melee range. So far, stabbing the imp had done little to curb its enthusiasm. This time Hunter wanted to see what blunt force trauma would do. He grabbed the trident’s shaft like it was a miniature baseball bat, and he was swinging for the fences.

The metal trident clanged against the imp’s skull, and the force of the strike launched it off of its feet. Hunter pursued the imps falling form and brought the trident down on the imps face in an attempt to turn it into paste. He only hit it twice before an uneasy feeling began to spread from the trident. He realized that in all three of his attacks, he hadn’t received a single point of health.

On instinct, he switched to using the point and plunged it through the throat of the imp. He was rewarded with a rush of healing energy.

I guess only the tines absorb anything. Bashing the imp isn’t going to work.

Stabbing the imp was a losing game. The trident didn’t do enough damage to kill the imp. Its natural regeneration outpaced the amount of damage that the weapon could inflict. Seizing upon his internal desire, Hunter reached for the bracer on the imps forearm. It tried to resist, but it was pinned to the ground by the metal in its neck. Its thrashing was strong enough that Hunter had to put both hands back on the trident to keep it from coming loose.

As the demon was resisting, damage notifications kept floating in his vision. Each of the thrashing limbs was enough to inflict significant points of damage. Hunter found himself in the untenable position of riding a bucking bronco while knowing that he would be crushed under its hooves if he fell off.

The imp went still for a moment, and Hunter looked at it in suspicion. He saw the tiny muscles in its neck begin to clench as it tried to release another screaming assault. Luckily the trident prevented the sound from escaping. He felt it grow cold to the touch as it greedily absorbed the energy from the attack.

Without delay, Hunter snaked his arm down to snag the bracer from the imp. When his fingers touched the gleaming metal, he had the same sense of unending hunger that emanated from the trident. The teenager felt a thrill of glee as he plucked the bracer off the imp. He watched in fascination as the metal resized until it became a small golden manacle.

The imp reacted with gurgling screams of fury as it tried once more to escape the trident. Hunter only grinned while trying to savor his relative victory. He looked at the manacle before slipping it on his wrist.

Minor Greed Imp’s Focus (Lvl ??): This common-tier focus is used to transform mana into a Flame of Avarice. In addition to causing fire damage, Flames of Avarice can bypass some of the target’s defense to steal energy. Overuse of this item will escalate demonic corruption. Due to its demonic origin, familiarity with this item will not precipitate skill growth.

Hunter smiled at the description. The focus might be exactly what he needed to defeat the imp. The detail about demonic corruption was new, but it only confirmed his feelings from the trident. At this point, Hunter didn’t care if he was corrupted. The Archivist had thrown him into this Rift without giving him the ability to defend himself.

I’ll do what I need to do to survive, he promised.

With his new focus, Hunter stood up and moved to release the trident. He wanted to leave the imp incapacitated so that he could blast it with fire. He wasn’t sure if Flames of Avarice would hurt the demon, but that wasn’t his plan. He would rely on its ability to absorb energy rather than the elemental fire damage. If demons indeed spawned from Hell, then it would make sense that they would have a better than average fire resistance.

Hunter abruptly realized that he still hadn’t removed his hands from the trident while he was still thinking. His eyes were locked onto it while he thought of immolating the spiteful demon pinned below. He marshaled all of his eight willpower to pull his hand away from its length. By the end of the exercise, sweat was beading on his forehead.

When it finally released him from its grasp, he let out a sigh of relief.

This weapon is dangerous, he realized.

Yes, but it’s powerful, another part of his whispered back.

Hunter wasn’t sure if that was his thoughts or something coming from the trident itself. He had the sneaking suspicion that he didn’t want to find out. He moved back a couple of paces until he felt like he would be safe from the fire.

Now, how do I activate this focus?

He shook his arm as the imp had done, but it didn’t elicit any response. Hunter frowned down at the manacle on his wrist. It sat there cold and unresponsive. As he was staring down at his tool, the imp started struggling against the trident. It was already using its hands to pull at the obstruction in its throat.

Hunter started to panic.

C’mon, I need this to work! Please!

As if his thoughts guided his body’s actions, he felt an icy chill manifest in his chest. It felt like something in between the burn of wasabi and the refreshing taste of mint. It spread through his veins like frigid fire before traveling toward the arm with the manacle. There was a clicking sound and then emerald flame wreathed his fingertips.

Not knowing what else to do, he threw the fire like he was trying to whip a speedball. The fire jumped from his fingers and roared toward the trapped imp. When it exploded on the ground, flames shot out in a ring of fiery death. The flames swept past him, and Hunter flinched at their approach. When they passed, he realized that he was unharmed.

He grinned and studied the effects of his attack. His mana had reduced by about a quarter, and the results were more than he hoped for. The fire blackened the flesh of the imp and green tongues of spectral fire licked against its flesh while it gurgled in pain. It wasn’t dead, but he was confident that a few more hits would cause it to stop fighting its imprisonment.

Yes, this is how I’ll survive.