Morton slams a fist against his armored chest in challenge, steam starting to rise from the gashes in his metal suit inflicted by the vipers. Foam builds up and rises within each of the tears, sealing the damaged areas. No wonder Morton feels so confident after the mauling the vipers just gave him. His armor can self repair.

"This is such bullshit." I curse to myself, summoning my own magic and feeling my muscles begin to strain in eagerness of the upcoming fight. I doubt it will be enough to achieve parity with Morton though. The snake people could use magic too, and Morton curb stomped them hard.

The Mark of Hackal on my ass burns all of a sudden just as Morton pounces at me with speed that belies his massive bulk. Forewarned, I manage to flash step to the side, just in time to avoid Morton's fist crashing into my head. My opponent's knuckles instead plow into the stone wall like a sledgehammer, gouging out a hole as a spiderweb of cracks burst into existence from the impact. Not wasting this opening, my wrist flicks out the way Ramon had demonstrated, guiding the dueling sword straight into Morton's unprotected back.

The sword darts out like lightning, stabbing into my opponent repeatedly with a shower of sparks. Not a single attack managed to penetrate. No surprise there, the crystal blade swords used by the snake people were far heftier and failed to get the better of Morton's armor. But what's really worrying is how the dueling sword can't even deal with the foam clogging up the damaged bits of the iron carapace. I might as well be stabbing at stone.

No convenient weak spots for me to take advantage of. Though I suppose it would really be wishful thinking to hope for Morton to be bested so easily.

"THREAT DETECTED." Morton announces, his voice echoing across the chamber. The armored abomination blurs and the Mark of Hackal flares to life again.

"I get the message!" I yell back, addressing the Mark and Morton at the same time.

Throwing the eyes of Ea about, I hurriedly lock on to an empty spot at the opposite end of the chamber and perform a flash step. My body is thrown into motion just before Morton's arm lashes out in a vicious haymaker. From how the wind whistles as his fist passes through empty air, that punch would have taken my head clean off if it had connected.

"Certainly more exciting than fighting goblins." I comment offhandedly, phasing back into existence. The pain on my ass hasn't abated though, and that means Morton isn't done with his attack just yet. My concentration focuses once more as I hurriedly set up another flash step.

Pivoting on the balls of his feet, Morton turns to face me again and lowers his entire frame. His legs explode into action, sending Morton's bulk flying forward like a rocket. Forewarned, I flash step right through the incoming human shaped battering ram and Morton slams into the wall with a thunderous crash. The top half of his body burrows into the wall, causing the entire cavern to shake. Loose pebbles break off from the ceiling and shower both of us like raindrops.

Morton places both palms against the wall and with a single push, frees himself from the hole that his headlong charge made. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, Morton regards once more, but I sense that this time his gaze is more considering. Almost circumspect.

"NOTE: HEURISTIC SCAN INDICATES TARGET SHOWS ADVANCED CAPABILITY." Morton says to whomever he keeps rambling to, "DEFENSE PROTOCOLS INCLUDE POSSIBLE USE OF PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS."

"Don't just call me a "target." That's just rude." I snort, but my mind is thrown into another bout of panic. I've been able to survive so far precisely because the Mark has been giving me early warning of all Morton's attacks. And from the insane talk my opponent's babbling, it looks like he's just worked that fact out for himself.

Whatever, I'm not going to stick around for a fight where I could possibly get one shotted into oblivion. I swing the Eyes of Ea about once more, putting the opening in the cavern into view. Dropping the metaphorical anchor on my desired destination, I trust the flash step to carry me toward a safe escape. The invisible pull grabs my body and I'm sent lurching backward.

Morton gives a bark of alarm, not expecting me to be able to flash step in a direction I'm not physically looking toward. Not that the cursed blindfold lets me actually physically look at anything, but I doubt Morton knows all the precise details. I give the armored titan a cheeky wave as his incensed figure starts to become steadily smaller. Morton reaches out with both hands, grasping frantically at air. A static crackling sound fills the cavern and to my utter amazement, Morton literally begins tearing a hole in empty space.

A swirling vortex emerges between Morton's hands and he continues to pull, expanding the slit in reality until it become man sized. Morton than sidles through the gap in reality, disappearing from sight.

Is it over?

I'm about to heave a sigh of relief but to my horror, the air surrounding the flash step's landing area begins to distort, the blue portal summoned by Morton crackling into existence. Metal arms extend from the portal accompanied by that signature clanking. The pain on my ass shrieks to life, burning deep all the way into the rectum.

Teleport. Morton can actually teleport. No wonder the invisible walls set up by the snake people couldn't stop him from entering the mining complex.

The second my body phases back into physical existence, I throw myself down to the ground with desperate urgency. Its barely enough to avoid Morton's right arm that parts the air like a guillotine. But this stunt also forces me to land hard on my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and leaving me at the nonexistent mercy of Morton who now towers overhead, drowning me in his shadow. The shadow moves, and I can tell that Morton's raising both hands together, ready to deliver a hammer blow that will end everything.

"Its not over yet!" I snap and sweep both legs out, catching one of Morton's own legs in a secure lock. Exerting my augmented strength, I apply pressure to the rear of Morton's leg, a textbook attempt at performing a takedown from a prone position. Morton's body merely rocks gently, his leg as solid and unmoving as a deep rooted tree trunk.

That's fine though. I was just looking to get a secure grip on him. And guess what I can do with flash step once I manage to grab on to something?

I can carry it with me.

The Eyes of Ea jerk upward. Destination point - the cavern ceiling.

The flash step's nimbus embraces both of us and we are sent flying into the air, landing squarely on the ceiling. Gravity quickly reasserts itself and I feel Morton flailing about frantically as we begin our descent back down to earth. Surging strength into my arms, I punch into the ceiling, creating a pair of crude handholds. The dueling sword falls unattended, landing on the ground. Morton's grabby hands land on the satchel but no way the satchel's strap can bear his weight. The strap snaps in a bare instant, sending Morton plummeting downward with the dueling sword.

Morton lands badly, his entire frame juddering from touchdown. But he's already starting to recover, easing himself back up to his feet, the joints of the armor rasping in protest. The satchel lands on his head and Morton tosses it aside with a contemptuous wave of his hand. Its just a moment's distraction.

But all that I need.

Releasing the handholds in the ceiling, I let myself fall while pumping all the magic I have into the rhino skin augmentation. As the wind howls in my ears, I draw my fist back while Morton looks up with a start. Not that I can tell what his facial expression is thanks to that helmet, but the sudden cooling of the Mark is proof that he's abandoned whatever attack was cooking thanks to being thoroughly taken off guard.

My fist lashes out, carrying it all the momentum and magic I can pack. My knuckles strike Morton's chest plate like a hammer hitting a gong, and my enemy body snaps back down gratifyingly. I keep pouring more magic into my arm, following through with the blow. A small crater opens up as Morton's body grinds into the earth and I hear a small gasp of pain coming from underneath all that armor. My enemy goes slack and the hope within me starts to overflow.

Then Morton raises his own arms and the the Mark burns with its warning. A low laugh comes from behind the helmet. And I realize the mistake that I had made.

I've gotten too close to Morton. There's no time to prepare for a flash step against the incoming attack. Time slows as my mind desperately searches for a way to escape this death trap. Morton's hand grabs me roughly by the collar and lifts me easily over his body. Metal fingers snake toward my neck, seeking to break it. I brace with the rhino skin spell, but at best I have mere seconds.

My questing fingers brush the hilt of the dueling sword that had fallen next to Morton and I grab on to it like a drowning man. The dueling sword is a mere straw before the crisis I am facing, but sometimes, a straw is exactly what you need.

With the last of my strength, the slim blade of the dueling sword is shoved into the eye slit of Morton's helmet. The blade meets with unexpected resistance and the odd whirring noise coming from inside Morton's body starts up again, causing the weapon to shake violently. I maintain a firm grip on the weapon and keep pushing it in for dear life.

Morton releases his grip on me and seizes the dueling sword's blade, trying to pull it out. I fall forward, putting all my weight into the sword. As the vibrations cause the pommel to slap painfully against my arms, I'm rewarded by the sensation of the blade sinking into something soft and meaty.

And for the first time in this entire fight, Morton screams.

Thrashing about like a wounded animal, Morton roughly throws me off his body. He then seizes the dueling sword with both hands and in a single motion, snaps the weapon into a thousand pieces.

"SECURITY PROCESS TERMINATED." Morton howls in incomprehensibly, "T - T - T - TERMINATED -"

"That's right, I terminated you." I flip Morton the bird, my lungs hungrily gulping the stale air in the cavern, "Whatever you are."

Morton wobbles back to his feet, pawing at his helmet rabidly. He then flees out of the cavern, garbled noises coming from his mouth.

I did it. Its finally over.

Exhaustion overwhelms me and my body slumps into the dirt. My last thought being sleeping among recently exploded corpses can't be very healthy.

But my body is really past caring.

.......

Addendum

..... some variants of malware may also disable the system descriptor table, preventing security software from working properly. In such a case, the administrator is advised to run the recovery program to restore functionality before ...