I Keep Running

John edged away from Abigail, not meeting the gaze of the dozens of scarlet eyes on the boss as he used Advanced Spy. They were already in a party, and so he turned on party chat. On the count of three, break left.

One… two… three! He sprinted right, looking back to see her delay for less than a second before charging away. The Maze Fiend erupted in a sound closer to a roar than the shriek they’d seen from the shadows. Why didn’t you run!

You didn’t say go! A car-sized claw swiped at Abigail, and she leapt over it, the lower half of her body converting into flames as the claw swiped through her in the air then reforming them as she landed.

You’re so lucky you can just become intangible at will! John said, Jumping all over the place to leave images behind and confuse the monster.

Is now really the time? The pyromancer slipped past another attack with her fiery form, flipping back and using an explosion to propel herself faster toward the exit of the room.

They thought they were safe once through the threshold of the room, but the monster crashed through it after them.

Can I hit this one? She had half a mind to go back and fight the thing. When she saw it wasn’t translucent, she thought nothing of it, but as it crashed through walls, she realized it had a physical form.

Yes but it is way too strong for either of us! It’s double your level! John watched with dismay as she turned on her heels. Her whole body slowly turned into flames, and he watched both her health and mana tick down as fire slowly swirled into her hands. Her hair lit aflame, and rose high into the air before it too was diverted toward the growing explosion in her hands. She squared her shoulders, sparks saturating the air around her.

He used Auric Vision to detect her magic and was taken aback by her overflowing aura, nearly three times its normal volume. He used Advanced Spy to get a better look at her stats.

Holy shit! Those modifiers are three times what they normally are! He thought she actually had a chance of killing their enemy with those stats, though her health worried him. He rocked back and forth on his heels, eager to retreat as his eyes ping-ponged between his god-like ally and the stronger terror she sought to kill.

Her back straight as an arrow, she stood stock still as fire erupted from the ground beneath her, cracks spider-webbing across the floor. The solid, brick surface of the wall nearest to her spalled into chunks, reaching John three meters away. Swirling pillars of flame encircled her, burning from a deep red to an incandescent blue. She was floating, the mass of fire that was her legs assimilated into the bomb in her hands. In an instant, the fire that had circled her drew closer, the circle growing smaller and smaller until she was naught but a head in a chaotic mass of anger.

“Hraah!” she screamed with exertion, and suddenly she was human again. The fire rushed to fill her as though she were a vacuum, and a lance of brilliant blue flame erupted from her hand and slammed into the raging monster. It was knocked back into its room, and a chunk of its health was taken away… but its injury just irritated it all the more.

The brunette swayed on the spot, sparks dripping off her fingers. She was pale, and as she stumbled backwards about to fall. John Jumped behind her and caught her.

The shadows all around them took shape, and coalesced into two dozen Maze Shadows which all rushed toward them at once. John Jumped out of the way, firing his gun three times into the crowd as he held his ally with one arm. His heart pounded in his ears as his eyes darted to the enemies all around them. He wasted an activation of True Sight because they were all visible, and all hungry for blood.

“Sorry about that, John, I was just… tired of being on the defensive,” Abigail admitted at his side, pressing closer into him as he backed away from the numerous enemies.

“Trust me, I get it.” In a weird way, this reminded him of when he was bullied at school. Something much stronger than him that he couldn’t reasonably try to hurt was trying to hurt - in this case kill - him, and its cronies were helping.

He slipped his gun into its holster and threw her over his shoulder, taking the map back out with his now free hand. “Don’t worry, running away from bullies was my specialty.”

He used half his mana to Jump and get a headstart as the combined forces surged after him. The phantoms warped from shadow to shadow in their pursuit. Three appeared in front of him and he tossed Abigail into the air, drawing his weapons and gunning them down before catching her again. Ivory clicked empty, meaning his last three bullets were in Ebony.

“Alright, we’re not far now!” John readied to Jump forward again… but was taken off balance as the giant monster behind him swiped at his leg, taking out most of the walls around them and a good chunk of his calf even though it only grazed him.

This sent him tumbling down, grasping his already healing leg in pain. To his surprise it was Abigail who recovered first. She stood above him, blue fire coiling over her body and mingling with the normal yellow-orange flames. Her health had barely recovered, and yet it ticked further down still as she launched a wave of blue fire along the floor. This sent their enemies reeling, not very hurt but stunned.

John grabbed her leg and Jumped into the next corridor through the hole opened by the boss. Just in time too, as the boss thrust its claw where she was a second ago.

The walls shifted again; though it was a native of the maze destroying it, their hardness adjusted nonetheless. They turned a jet black, and John guessed they would be unable to break through it anymore.

“Wait a minute!” John said, dusting himself off and looking at the map. “This passage is about to open!”

The wall slid open as the words left his mouth, and they went through it. After a few more seconds, it closed, and John saw the bricks crack as the boss attempted to get through the now-reinforced walls.

Another loud crash and one of the monster’s enormous claws made its way through the wall. “We’re almost out now. Can you move?”

“I’m okay,” the brunette answered, shaking her head to clear it. Her skin rippled, and the blue-orange flames rolling off her disappeared. Looking to her health, he noticed that it had stopped ticking down. Her mana, however, was totally tapped. It didn’t even look like it was regenerating.

Though her health had stopped decreasing, she didn’t look good. She rocked back and forth in place, was pale, and couldn’t stand straight. “Hide with me.” John took off his duster and sprawled it over both of them, sinking into the shadows. Just in time, as two Maze Shadows emerged from the wall, looking around for them. Go away go away go away- Their eyes swept over the spot John and Abigail were hiding in plain sight before they crept back through the wall. He finally let out his breath, sighing in relief.

“We’ll be out soon. This way.” He turned right, coming to a fork in the road with her. “There should be four paths… unless one closed.” Think…

“The middle path!” John didn’t quite remember which one was which compared to the map he had seen before, but guessed based on what he saw beyond each path that the middle was correct.

Gamer’s Luck Level 12

I don’t want to think that was entirely luck… he turned left with her once more, now following the correct path again. A radiant light spilled out of one of the upcoming turns, and John used the last of his mana pool to Jump to its entrance.

“This is it! Let’s go!” They sprinted toward the heavenly light, **** to get out of the depressing maze they had been **** into.