A sturdy blue wall of mana flashed to life, just in time to intercept the ball of fire. For a fraction of a second, the Fireball battled against the shield, throwing off hot tongues of flame, slowly weakening. With a snap of the imp’s fingers, the flames intensified, their temperature rapidly rising. The Mana Shield shattered like glass, breaking into hundreds of small pieces that slowly dissolved.

With the barrier gone, there was nothing left to protect Aaron from the wrath of the fire. The attack impacted his outstretched hand like a sledgehammer, bending it at an awkward angle. Skin tore and tendons frayed. The spell didn’t function as a normal ball of fire - it had physical force behind it. It would be more accurate to think of it like a Mana bolt that had been set on fire that was also capable of exploding. Before he could create a second Mana Shield, the spell exploded in a blast of fire, flinging him across the hallway.

Searing pain assaulted his senses as he tumbled on the ground, landing by Jess’s feet. He took a moment to just lay there. The world was spinning; he didn’t want to get up, not yet. The floor felt comfortable. Strangely enough, he smelled cooked pork. Who’s having a barbecue? He looked down at his hand; his eyes widened. All the way up to the elbow, his arm was red and raw - burnt to a crisp. He couldn’t move the limb even if he tried.

Congratulations! Mana Shield 1→3. 2 Skill Points Awarded.

He glared at the notification. Useless. With a force of will, he separated his emotions from his thought process. He needed to regain his clarity if he wanted any hope of escaping.

Testing the Skill out in the heat of battle had been a terrible idea. It was only logical that it wouldn’t be able to stand up to the imps who all probably had Skills in the level 60 range. The imps were all level 11 or 12; they had more raw firepower than him. He wouldn’t make the mistake of using Mana Shield recklessly again.

Across the room, the cervom Rogue angrily patted out a fire burning on its side. It had been caught in the crossfire. Whether it was an accident, he was unsure. The imps looked surprisingly happy at the sight of the injured deer monster.

The Rogue grabbed a knife from its belt and threw it at one of the imps as hard as it could. The blade dug into the rightmost red monster in a spray of blood. In return, a series of fireballs flew towards the Rogue. Aaron’s eyes widened. He never would have expected the invaders to turn on each other so easily.

Loud explosions rocked the hallway as their battle raged on. The element of surprise had been lost; now, everyone would know they were here. The hallway would be swarmed with monsters within a minute.

“Get up; we gotta get out of here.” She grabbed the back of his burnt shirt and pulled him to his feet. Then, she immediately sprinted away, not even looking to see if he was following her. With a hiss of pain, he grabbed a rock and activated Explosive Mark. Bright blue markings engraved themselves on its surface.

Not wanting to be the main course at an alien barbeque, he followed her away from the imps. He glanced back, just in time to see a large shard of rock stab through the cervom’s brain. The imp responsible locked eyes with him.

Aaron ran faster. He had no desire to fight while outnumbered and injured. He split his attention between finishing the engraving and escaping. That proved to be a mistake. His foot caught on an uneven piece of ground, sending him crashing to the floor. His burnt arm screamed in agony, but he managed to keep a hold on his engraving.

He looked down in shock at what had caused him to trip. Somehow, he had accidentally stepped into a perfectly symmetrical square hole. There’s no way that’s naturally occurring. What are the odds?

He hurried to his feet. However, by that time, the imps had caught up. To his surprise, Tony and Jess circled back for him. As the imps were preparing another round of attacks, Tony picked up a piece of rubble wistfully.

“Sorry, I'd rather not have my friends die!” he yelled as he chucked the rock at the Mages. It landed true, cracking one in the forehead. “Please dodge!” He threw another rock with deadly accuracy. The imp sunk into a perfectly square hole in the ground, barely avoiding the rock. “Thank you! Watch out.” A rock impacted an imp’s throat, causing the old man to cringe. “I swear I wasn’t aiming for that,” he muttered to himself.

Due to the old man’s low level, his barrage of rocks couldn’t delay the squad of imps indefinitely. With their preparations completed, the monsters launched their attack. Combining their power, they formed a large ball of fire - bigger than he had ever seen. It hurdled forward, singeing the hallway without having to touch it. It took ten of Jess’s Mana Bolts to stop its charge forward. It exploded in a giant blast of fire, momentarily blinding him.

He forced his eyes open in time to see a large rock blast through the wall of flames. He screamed a warning, but it was too late. The rock hit Jess's stomach; she collapsed to the floor with a scream of pain. Tony pulled her out of the way of another projectile.

Aaron’s eyes narrowed. This group of imps were smart; they had used the wall of fire as a way to hide their attacks. Who knew what else they had in store? It was too much of a pain to fight enemies that had access to a varied pool of Skills. This wasn’t a fight they could win at the moment.

Unknown to him, a whip made out of fire crept through the dwindling wall of flames. The attack was almost completely blended into its environment - virtually invisible. It exited the wall and lashed towards him. He jumped into the air to avoid it, but the red lash of fire followed him.

It wrapped around his foot with a sizzle. The hot flames burnt his skin - he suspected they would be doing more than that if he hadn’t invested in the Heat Resistance Path. He tried to pull his foot away, but the coil of fire stayed latched onto him.

Now that wall of fire had dissipated, he could see an imp holding the lash in its hands. It jerked its hand upward; involuntarily, he followed. A spray of spit launched from his mouth as he crashed into the ceiling, cracking it. The whip of flames disappeared, but their attack did not relent.

The highest level imp strained with effort, their outstretched arms shook slightly. The ground rumbled as a ten-foot-deep square hole in the ground fitted with sharp spikes on the bottom formed. He helplessly fell towards it. The only bright side to the situation was that he had somehow managed to finish engraving Explosive Mark through the commotion; it was ready to use.

He took a deep breath then flung the enchanted rock at the small red creatures. Before it could get close to them, he was forced to activate it. He needed to be able to use magic to avoid being impaled.

Rock violently exploded in a flash of blue mana as he activated Explosive Mark, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Congratulations! Explosive Mark Lvl 14→15. 2 Skill Points Awarded. Imp | Mage Level 11 Slain! 275 Exp Gained. 11 Invasion Points Earned

Imp | Mage Level 11 Slain! 275 Exp Gained. 11 Invasion Points Earned

He didn’t have any time to appreciate his efforts. He flipped in the air so that his feet would be facing the ground, then curled into a ball with his good hand placed below him. He used Mana Shield to create a platform. The Skill strained to arrest his movement; it held strong. After balancing himself, he awkwardly crouched on the small platform like an owl - the barrier was barely large enough for him to fit both feet on it. Somehow his spur-of-the-moment plan worked. He smiled. It hurt his shoulder like hell, but it worked.

"Come on, let’s get out of here,” Jess yelled, though her voice was strained. The rock had done serious damage, possibly breaking her ribs. A dense spear of wooden roots drilled through the hole in the ground, forming a walkway. “Thanks!” he told Jess as he ran up it.

Together they ran away. Just as Aaron was about to turn the corner, he took one last glimpse behind him. The earth mage had managed to erect a barrier made of stone, saving itself and one of its comrades. They were littered with cuts, but they could still fight. To put things lightly, they looked pissed. Even while injured, they dutifully pursued Aaron. The fight wasn’t over yet.

They sprinted down the next hallway, passing a collection of dead imps with a burnt human corpse in the middle. It seemed they weren’t the only ones fighting back against the invaders. Their luck took a turn for the worst as they continued their escape. The alien invaders had been drawn to the sound of their battle. With each passageway they sprinted down, they picked up more pursuers.

Their only saving grace was the cervoms' and imps' extremely poor teamwork. More often than not, they got in each other's way, causing their attacks to go wide. Honestly, they looked more likely to attack each other than continue chasing Aaron.

A constant stream of spells followed them, hot on their heels. Fortunately, thanks to their comparatively longer legs, they were able to stay ahead of their pursuers - just barely. They didn’t have to run far. Aaron had purposely selected a location for their ambushes near an exit.

Up ahead, a group of humans holding guns - likely inmates by their orange jumpsuits stood over a dead cervom Rogue.

“Run!” Tony yelled.

“What the fuck are you talking about, old man?” He trailed off as he noticed the parade of monsters chasing after Aaron. Collectively, their faces adopted expressions of extreme shock. One man’s mouth hung open, and another's eyes bulged so wide that they looked like they would fall out. “Oh,” he muttered simply.

A stray Fireball exploded next to the group of inmates. Without needing to be told twice, they fell into step next to Aaron’s group, occasionally shooting at the group of monsters behind them.

“What the hell did you do to get them so angry?” a particularly burly criminal asked him in between labored breaths.

Aaron shrugged, conserving oxygen. It took all his willpower to continue pressing forward with his injuries. He didn't have the energy to waste to have a conversation with the burly man.

They reached the final stretch of their journey. The hole in the wall that led to the outside world was only a few hundred feet away. However, there was a problem. A level 10 cervom Rogue and a level 3 cervom Crafter carefully inspected the opening in the wall. Their alien eyes widened as they noticed the group of prisoners sprinting at them.

Stuck in between two groups of monsters, they were forced to push forward. Together, the inmates launched ranged attacks at the two cervom. Though, secretly, Aaron held back a great deal; he needed to conserve mana. He didn't trust the new group of inmates; they were likely to attack him the second they escaped.

Between the Mana Bolts and bullets, the monsters didn’t stand a chance. Within seconds they collapsed, dead. Aaron glanced at their handguns; they couldn’t have too much ammunition left. Good.

They endured minor injuries, but they were able to reach the exit without any casualties. They filed through the opening into the pouring rain. Aaron didn’t stop running; just because they had left the prison didn’t mean they had escaped. The massive group of monsters could still chase them.

Once he put around a hundred feet in between him and the prison wall, he glanced back. The thick fog that covered the island made it hard to see, but if he focused, his improved perception allowed him to observe what was happening.

A scaled black cervom hand tentatively stuck out the opening. A drop of water fell onto it. It recoiled as if it had been burned. Aaron took note of the alien's strange behavior. Did they have a weakness to water?