"Jack!" the boy beside him screamed.

But Jack didn't dare lose focus for even a second. Knowing that what he had done was madness. That if that monster's powered up blow smashed through their wall, they were as good as dead.

All he could do, when the monster instinctively leaped from the edge of the already dissolving tarpaulin, as if to crash into and then through the wall, was focus his panicked mind and unleash his magic with everything he had.

"Break!" the boy beside him screamed through the slit he faced.

Even as Jack clenched his fists together, shouting "Ignis Sanguis Ventus!" As howling winds saturated with flame that, with all his modifiers in effect with Rank 5 Adept Bloodflame casting combined with a 100% boost from his Wind Gust should equaled an obscene 24-fold increase over baseline zero modifier damage.

Which did nothing to stop the roaring monster from flinging his blade right through the slit and into Jack's belly, piercing Arcane armor and sending Jack crashing back, even as his foe's roar turned to a scream when Vidrirg crashed into the spike-filled pit of acid below.

Warrior Power Move in effect! Fatal Throw mitigated to Crippling Injury, thanks to Deafening Roar! Wind Ward, Arcane Armor, Enchanted Gambeson, and Soul Tunic mitigate Crippling Injury to Medium Wound!

Power Move has critical component, despite inability to pierce Soul Tunic. Your kidney has been damaged. You are suffering from internal bleeding!

"Jack? Jack! Please get up. That monster's not dead. He's roaring for our heads! Please get up!

And Jack groaned through the notifications flashing across his mind's eye as he whispered the words to his life saving spell even as the copper bracelet grew uncomfortably warm with sudden heat.

"Sana Injurium!"

Enhanced Lesser Healing spell used synergistically with Greater Artifact. Blood Loss stabilized! You have taken 40 Damage.

Ignoring the pain and dizziness he felt, knowing he had to preserve the rest of his mana as best he could, Jack flashed a bloody smile as he slowly, carefully, levered free the wickedly glowing sword that had cleaved right through armor and gambeson both, stopped only from piercing his flesh by the impossibly sheer undertunic woven from his enemy's soul. And even still, coated by a silken buffer, the blade had dug into his flesh, savagely bruising the organs underneath. Jack suppressed a shiver, chilled to sense how much the blade hungered for his blood.

With a softly whispered curse he shook himself free of the stunned shock that had frozen him for too many seconds as the increasingly frantic boy by his side shouted out his one Power Word over and over until his voice cracked.

"I'm going to kill you for that, Worms! You think this pathetic trap can stop me? Centigrade shells are immune to acid, fools! Why the hell do you think I wear it? To protect against slimes, which you both soon will be, when I'm done with you!"

Jack swallowed a grimace as he forced himself back to the stone platform, meeting the terrified gaze of the boy who's voice was now hoarse and raw.

"Jack? You don't look so good."

Jack flashed a bleak smile, pulling out the small silver vanity mirror his mother had packed with his gear, odd recollections reminding him that it had far more uses than assisting with grooming.

"Neither does he," he said, smirking into the hate-filled gaze of the warrior who's now helmetless skull was covered in ugly looking burns, his clenched gloved fists looking like cracked, charred leather that had been put in a blast furnace, the lacquered protective shells that had covered the finger joints long since flaked away. As for the warrior's helmet covered curls, they now nothing but ugly wisps as the monster snarled and roared, shaking his empty fist at Jack.

"Too bad you didn't wear a chin strap, Idiot!" Jack mocked, otherwise ignoring the man's threats. And much to his chagrin, it appeared that his first level Wind Gust spell had done more to hinder his foe than his intricate acid trap. Because, save for a couple tiny trickles of blood, it looked like the spikes he had worked so hard on hadn't cracked through or found weak points in the leg armor the man had been wearing. Which seemed more than slightly ridiculous, but he had to remember that that particular monster had at least 11 levels worth of health points to his name, or whatever one would call the odd survival luck allowed Delvers to overcome such mad odds on such a regular basis. At least Jack managed to blow off the man's helmet in the split second Drake had stunned him in midair. As to whether that and the slight limp Jack sensed was enough to slow this monster down... that remained to be seen.

Jack smirked, sensing his buzzing companion getting into position as he hollered at his foe. "And I can't help but think that it's going to be awful hard to turn us into slime, when you so kindly gave me your favorite toy! Vampiric blade, am I right? Great for killing slimes when cutting into them with mundane steel won't do anything more than pit your blade!"

Jack's quip was met by cold, ugly laughter. "Don't worry, mage. I'll be reclaiming that blade and using it to cut you open, soon enough!"

That's when Jack noted the steel tipped javelin the man seemed to have pulled out of nowhere, Jack beyond grateful that the man couldn't see his tiny hand mirror from the other side of the narrow slit Jack was hiding behind in the dim light he now instinctively used Infravision to enhance.

"Well in that case, let me return it!" Jack roared, quickly lifting up one of the remaining blobs of clay, hoping to block the dim trickle of light from the gap he was pretending to rise from.

Finesse check successful! Strength Check failed!

Only for the blob of clay to be torn free of his hand by the powerfully thrown javelin now whistling down the corridor.

Jack's heart lurched with dread, realizing just how perilous his situation truly was.

Even if he had been expecting it. At least enough to give a sudden scream, his mirror making clear the dark smile of satisfaction on their enemy's face as Drake began to sob and cry for mercy with Jack's nod.

"Ha! Fool! You think there can be any mercy for you, after daring to defy me? Death is coming for you, boy! As it was the moment your father dared to cross my master. And there is nothing you can do about it!" Vidrig mocked.

And in the second he was peering down at what Jack suspected was a pouch of holding, pulling free yet another prize, Jack had already whispered the words to a frantically cast spell, a mere handful of syllables needed to launch multiple globes of caustic doom upon the helmetless head of a man taking advantage of a quick pause that had been nothing but a trap.

Even as the uncanny reflexes and intuition of a double digit classer had him look up and raise his arms at just the right moment.

Only to shriek as multiple globes of caustic destruction hammered into his desperately raised arms, enough splashing Vidrig's face to keep him blinded and disoriented, desperately raised hands protected only by too thin gloves that had lost their acid resistant plates and were now pitting and smoking under the caustic barrage.

Especially when streams of Acid Arrows suddenly transformed to far deadlier orbs now hammering into Jack's screaming foe with killing force, drenching Vidrig with the essence of Dissolution as Jack howled with the sheer rush of insight flooding his soul as Sharon's favorite ranged spell of generalized destruction became his own.

"Sublimato, motherfucker! Sublimato! Sublimato!"

By the time the man twisted around to retreat, it was already too late.

The sheer impact of Jack's globes hitting the back of the man's now bubbling skull sent the disoriented Vidrig, who now no longer seemed in full control of his limbs, crashing to the ground. Unable even to regain his feet upon the now slippery stone flooring as massive beach-ball sized orbs of hideously potent solvent knocked sent the howling warrior crashing back down to the slippery acid covered ground over and over again.

Jack howled with fiercest glee as his orbs crashed into the shrieking pile of suffering now begging for mercy with a broken guttural voice as chunks of flesh began sloughing off the dying warrior's desperately huddled frame. The slaver sobbed like a child as the floor was washed in a spray of his blood as muscle began to slough off, following pale fatty subcutaneous flesh and liquified skin, the man's dying screams eerily similar to those of the dozen or so victims that had already perished that day before the monster finally breathed his last, a final desperate sob as his body collapsed at last, now just a lifeless pile of dissolving flesh and bleached white bone.

As for the bright blue chittin lamellae that had served as the man's armor, that had already flowed into the sloshing spike-filled pit, the boiled rawhide backing and metal rivets that had held the chittin in place long since dissolved.

You have successfully defeated Level 11 Warrior! A portion of his endless potential is now your own!

Acid Arrow Has achieved Elite Rank 1! Perk retroactively chosen!

Acrid Arrow has morphed into Dissolution Orb (Journeyman, Rank 1) with all Acid Arrow Perks in Effect! You may now launch 4 Dissolution Orbs per casting for twice the base cost and casting time of the Rank 1 version of this spell!

For long moments their ears roared with silence, Jack looking down at his victim with a nauseating mixture of disgust and righteous wrath. Glad that the monster was dead, and disgusted with how grizzly a death it had been. And perhaps just a bit disgusted with himself, with how fiercely he had reveled in his kill.

Before dispelling that self-loathing with an angry shake of his head. Because it was one thing to aspire to be the hero of his story books and dreams. To be an upright paragon of virtue any woman would be proud to call her man. A dream he would happily embrace, in the world above.

But down here in the killing fields below, on the footsteps of nightmare and purgatory, his only duty was to survive and grow and keep his teammates alive. No matter how dark his revels. Now matter how ruthless and savage the rites he must embrace to ensure he lived yet one more day.

And though he had half-feared an uncomfortable flinch when his newest companion caught a glimpse of the darkness within his soul, all Drake did was flash a brilliant grin, eyes gleaming with a nameless emotion. "Nice Kill."

Jack flashed a relieved smile. "Thanks for the assist."

The youth chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I will never, ever forgive what those bastards did to me, and so many others. But at least this monster's death means I'm already about to level up." His features paled with a look caught between fear and wonder. "Maybe more than once!"

"Sweet!"

"How about yourself?"

Jack shrugged. "Never chose a class. At least not yet."

Drake looked at him in wide-eyed disbelief. "Jack, that's insane."

Jack smirked. "Not really. My best ranged kill spell just evolved to a Tier 2 version with all the perks attached. Of course, it starts at Journeyman Rank 1, which is great for reducing the cost a bit and mimics how well I can taste the spell in my mind... but I won't be able to cheese too badly on future additional perks, since the first one's already tied up." He flashed a wry smile. "Gamer bullshit aside, there's no sweeter rush than feeling the fundamental principles of magic, of reality itself, that so often seem so utterly incomprehensible, snap into crystal clear focus in my mind's eye. Even if all did was gain a little bit more clarity, just enough so that I can cast a bigger version of my favorite spell to even deadlier effect."

Of course that hadn't been the limit of what he had received with the surge of potency earned from killing such a powerful foe.

Elemental Armor is now Journeyman Rank 3!

Wind Gust is now Apprentice Rank 5!

Acid Spray is now Apprentice Rank 1!

Wind Ward is now Journeyman Rank 2!

Jack whistled, impressed despite himself. The fact that his Tier 2 spell had hit the Apprentice Ranks after a single perilous encounter made Jack think that his acid pit had probably done far more damage than Vildrig's cocky demeanor had suggested. Much like a well-armored knight collapsing into an ice cold lake, the poor fool would be soaked by the time he stumbled out. Only in this case, it wasn't ice cold water, but flesh dissolving acid that had gotten through.

There had to have been a reason, after all, why the powerfully built killer hadn't attempted the leap a second time, using who knew what titan-tier feats of strength a level 11 warrior might have access to in order to smash through Jack's wall and rip their heads clean off. To say nothing of superhuman stats, and a health pool that had allowed Vidrig to survive so many volleys of Jack's spell, even if he had been too crippled to do anything more than shriek like his former victims had, by the end of his ordeal.

If Jack hadn't had that acid-filled pit, if he hadn't been able to blow the man back with his combined Wind Gust and Blood Flame spell, taking advantage of that precious second when the man had been relying on inertia alone to leap for the wall... if young Drake hadn't also simultaneously stunned the man with his one Word of Power... if so many things hadn't gone just right, Vidrig would be laughing over their broken bodies at that very moment, Jack had no doubt.

He shook his head, both awed by his growth and humbled by just how close he had come to death. Because by the time his foe had finally dissolved, he had been completely tapped of mana as well. But Jack was forced to admit that the Path of Peril certainly did reward those who dared the treacherous ascent, awed to sense that both Rune Forging and Bloodflame were on the cusp of breaking through to Elite ranks as well.

He swallowed the surge of exultation he felt, instead spending a moment to focus on exactly how he wanted those abilities to morph, so he wouldn't be caught off guard with a retroactive perk forged in the heat of the moment that might, or might not, be ideal. Though admittedly the quadruple volley Dissolution Orb spell had been exactly what he had needed, even if his Elite Acid Arrow perk was limited to that single Tier 2 spell.