Nick watched as Jamie strode forward, meeting the beetle's charge head-on. The man swung his sword with such force that Nick could hear the swoosh from across the room. Nick saw the sword emit a dull glow that he would have missed if he hadn’t paid attention just as it was about to make contact with one of the beetles. Nick held his breath as the blade connected with the monster’s carapace, the sword barely even dug into the hard material. The sharpness of the blade wasn’t the devastating factor though, it was the sheer power behind the blow. The beetle was launched off the ground and shot towards the closest wall, exploding on impact. Nick’s jaw dropped.

Jamie didn’t seem phased by what had just happened and moved on to the next beetle without a moment's pause. Jamie pulled the sword back to his shoulder and stalked towards the beetle, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. The beetle circled him for a moment then dashed forward, though its speed left a lot to be desired. Jamie easily timed the strike, once again empowering his sword and cleaving into the side of the beetle. The sword just wasn’t sharp enough to actually make it through the critter’s carapace but it didn’t matter. Once again the beetle was sent flying. When it made contact with the wall it broke apart into a hundred different pieces, no longer fitting the description of a beetle.

Jamie brought the sword back to his shoulder and turned to Nick with a smile, the smile widening when he saw the shock etched across Nick’s face. Nick wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that.

“I’m not a big fan of the sword, I need a blunt weapon,” Jamie grinned.

“Uh-huh, seems like you’re making it work just fine to me,” Nick replied.

Jamie twirled the massive sword around in his hands. “Yeah, I guess so. So what’s next?”

The two of them then cleaved, punched, and stomped their way through the next nine waves with ease. Even when 50 of the nasty little critters threatened to overwhelm the duo they stayed calm. Nick knew he could make it through the wave, he’d been through worse, but he wasn’t sure how the hell Jamie was so calm as they faced down the Horde. As the wave had started and the beetles started to materialise on the other side of the room Nick looked across at Jamie. He saw that the man was standing tall, a calm gaze surveying the Horde, his sword at the ready. He didn’t look like a young man who’d just been dropped into this strange environment merely a day ago.

As Jamie swung his way through the waves, battering the monsters with ease Nick felt a little jealous. How had this guy acclimatised so quickly? Why was he so calm and collected about this? Nick had struggled so hard over the last few weeks, he’d been left completely wrecked by some of the things he’d been through. Now, here was this guy, who had just gotten here but was already looking like he owned the place. That just didn’t feel fair. As they finished off the last monsters of the 10th wave, Jamie’s shoulders began to sag, he was breathing heavy. Nick felt a little better about himself now, he wasn’t tired at all, he could do this for hours. Endurance Sap was incredibly effective against the Horde rooms, the ability seemed to give him the same amount of endurance back no matter what he was hitting. This meant that if he could finish the critters in a single hit he was practically breaking even on energy spent verse gained.

“That,” Jamie panted, “was a lot of fun.”

Nick grinned. “It was, wasn’t it?”

The message asking if they wanted to start the next wave popped up and Nick eyed it. He’d explained how the Horde rooms worked to Jamie when they’d been making their way towards it. Nick felt the urge to accept the prompt, a small part of him wanted to see Jamie fail. He was only level two, there was no way he could contend against the stronger monsters the Horde would send at them. Nick could, he’d be able to show Jamie just how much stronger he could become, just how much stronger Nick was. Nick looked across at Jamie and the man looked back at him. Nick could see the exhaustion on the man’s face. This wasn’t a good idea. Nick accepted the prompt.

The five larger beetles spawned across from the duo. They were significantly larger, now had fierce-looking mandibles on their heads, and their carapace looked harder. Overall, they were almost Brutes in their own right, five of them. This had been such a mistake. Nick had let his ego royally fuck this one up. Nick charged toward the monsters, he needed to take as much of the heat as he possibly could. He couldn’t let Jamie get killed because of his own ego problems.

“Hey, you bug-eyed freaks! Come and get some!” Nick Jeered.

The beetles charged toward him and Nick activated everything he could. Hasten sped him up, he used Fight For Your Treasure, which thankfully worked. Nick almost chuckled to himself, I guess the real treasure was the friends we made along the way. Nick felt his speed increase and his body felt far stronger than he’d experienced before. Nick was faster than the bugs could react and Nick closed the distance in the blink of an eye. He slammed his fist down through the head of one of the beetles, killing it instantly. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too hard. Nick then tried to pull his fist out of the creature but couldn’t, it was properly wedged down through it.

Two of the other beetles didn’t let this chance go to waste and charged into Nick, he watched in horror as the other two charged toward Jamie. Nick kicked one of the beetles, barely slowing it down, then awkwardly jumped over the beetle he was stuck in, putting the body between him and the two other beetles. Nick desperately tried to yank his hand free before the beetles closed in on him again. He felt his speed suddenly drop and activated Hasten again. He tugged and tugged, feeling a sharp pain in his hand. Nick didn’t care, he needed to get free or things would be worse than just a sore hand. Nick finally yanked his hand free and grit his teeth. His thumb had been mangled beyond use.

Nick didn’t have time to complain, the two beetles had closed in on him again. Nick dodged to the side and struck down into the side of one of the monsters, his fist leaving cracks along the carapace. Nick then dodged around, activating Hasten to stay faster than the critters. After five hits one of the beetles stopped moving, leaving him with one left to contend with. Nick was finally feeling tired, constantly activating Hasten seemed to finally be taking its toll on him. Nick pushed on and engaged the last beetle, the monster happy to meet his charge. Nick grabbed the creature by its mandibles and pried them apart, he raised his foot up and was about to stomp his foot down when he heard a mighty roar.

The sound reverberated through Nick’s entire body, flooding him with strength. Nick’s foot then came crashing down, stomping right through the critter’s skull, leaving Nick holding two mandibles. Nick then spun on his feet and charged toward Jamie. The man was backed into a corner by the two beetles, looking completely exhausted. His sword wasn’t in his hands, it was wedged firmly into the side of one of the beetles, which didn’t seem remotely bothered. Nick charged with everything he had, crossing the room with a speed he hadn’t reached since his escape from the mansion on the 50th event room. Nick tackled one of the beetles, barely knocking it out of its lunge toward Jamie. Nick didn’t manage to stop the other one though. It jumped at Jamie and clamped its mandibles into the man’s chest plate. Nick heard the metal bend and creak and panicked. Nick desperately shot his aura out and coated everything he could in it, directing the force to freeze everything.

It worked and the world froze, except for Nick. He grabbed the creature’s mandibles and pried them apart, cutting his hands on the sharp inner edge of the things. Nick didn’t even think about it though, he just had to get the creature off Jamie. Nick saw that while the mandibles hadn’t made it through the armour, it had crushed it significantly. The pained expression etched across Jamie’s face showed the damage it had done. Nick’s aura began to dissipate and the beetle began to move, letting out a scream of sorts. Nick got to work, he stood between the monsters and Jamie, refusing to move out of the way and let them attack the man further. Nick hunkered down and let the creatures go blow for blow with him. Nick had to prioritise defending against the beetle that still had its mandibles, which let the other creature attack him more freely.

It didn’t seem to have many offensive options left to it, but it still had its mouth. The creature would take bites out of Nick’s legs whenever he let it get too close. After paying his pound of flesh, Nick finally dealt enough damage to the beetle with mandibles to put it down for good and could turn his attention towards the beetle that had his blood running down its jaw.

“My turn fucker!” Nick yelled.

He charged into the oversized bug, lifting it onto its hind legs. Nick kept pushing and tackled the beetle onto its back. As its legs madly scrambled around trying to get a grip on anything Nick jumped on top of it and started slamming. Ignoring the pain shooting through his hands, he just kept punching. He wasn’t sure when the creature had stopped struggling, he knew he didn’t stop punching though. His vision had gone red and it was only when his fists began to make contact with the tiled floor beneath the beetle that Nick realised what he had done and stopped.

Nick rolled off the very dead critter and collapsed on the floor. He saw the prompt for the next wave come up and firmly declined. Nick’s body was suddenly wracked by an incredible weakness, the strength from all of his skills leaving him. His vision began to darken as the strongest tingling filling his skill had ever given him began to dance its way across his body. Nick then passed out.

******

Jamie looked at the collapsed kid near him. Calling him a kid probably wasn’t the fairest, he was only a year younger than himself at most. That didn’t matter though. Jamie winced, His ribs had definitely been broken by the beetle monster. Jamie inspected Nick and watched in wonder as he saw the dude’s flesh begin to knit itself back together. He’d heard one of the brothers explain the skill back in the restaurant last night, but it was something else entirely to watch it work. Jamie wanted a skill like that, healing was an awesome thing to have, he could certainly use it right now. He tried to stand up and struggled, each movement sending pain racing across his body.

He reached over to his sword, which was now just lying on the floor, he’d be amazed to watch the massive beetles just collapse into dust and gather in the centre of the room. He used the sword to prop himself up and hobbled over to Nick, getting back down and rolling the guy into the recovery position. Jamie couldn’t do much else for him, he’d only ever had basic first-aid training, this was a bit above that training. Jamie then sat back against the wall and went over what he’d just been through. He couldn’t lie to himself, it had been pretty awesome. Up until the end that was.

Fighting his way through the waves had felt amazing. He felt like a titan, unleashing his fury on his enemies. It had been an amazing outlet for the anxiety he was feeling. He had found himself in such a strange place, filled with strange things. Violence was simple though, that he could understand. He had never been a violent guy, only getting in a handful of fights during his life. That had changed when he’d died though. One of the first things he’d done was fighting those demons that came after him in the car park, and now here he was, almost dying fighting against demonic bugs of all things.

The violence helped him make sense of what was happening around him. After spending the night with Clare, who had been far stronger than a woman of her size had any right to be, he’d realised something. Everyone here was built for fighting. Almost all of the classes he’d seen were focused on combat of some form. The amount of ‘peaceful classes’ felt tiny compared to the combat orientated. It gave a very simple message to Jamie. He had to fight.

So, that’s what he was going to do. If he had been sent to Hell to fight his way through it, he’d put up one hell of a fight. Knight had felt so incredibly right to him, especially now that he’d used its skills. A class that let him fight with integrity, and rewarded him for doing so. What more could a man ask for?

Jamie then looked at the monster in human skin before him. Nick seemed like a good guy, though his true colours had leaked out during the last fight. The kid fought like a cornered honey badger, it was brutal to witness. Jamie could only be thankful that he was on Nick’s good side. That’s another thing that had taken him by surprise, Nick had fought tooth and nail to protect him. The kid might be a monster but Jamie saw a heart of gold in there, one that Jamie couldn’t just give up on. Maybe this was why he’d been sent here, to save the kid before him? If that was his task then he’d live up to it. With a smile on his face, Jamie gave in to the exhaustion.