This cramped "shelter" is clearly short-lived... You'll need to take care of this human scum soon...

The small metal wand you're holding in your hand vibrates increasingly louder...

The tip of the wand seems to be gradually enveloped in a veil of misty glow, causing a small pattern of intertwined leaves to appear to be moving (like real tree leaves in the wind).

"Kheh… Heh… You can't hide from me for long, you pathetic piece of shit! My magic will turn your bleeding entrails inside out! Heh-heh-heh!" - the footsteps of a mad scum sound from the hallway; he's clearly determined to find you and has no intention of stopping.

And then... you hear him chanting some new spell!

And soon (through the narrow gaps in the collapsed cabinets), your keen eyes notice tiny spots flying in all directions from the hallway and here and there through the gaps in the walls.

These glowing spots resemble fireflies, but are clearly magical in nature.

Because of their appearance, the third floor of the tower has now become much brighter...

In other words, your advantage of being able to see well in the dark is negated: now this mad maniac mage can also see well thanks to the light emitted by these tiny flying magical things.

Worse yet, a minute later, one of the "fireflies" flies right into your "shelter"!

You simply don't have time to react...

A tiny, glowing insectoid creature notices you and quickly flies away, clearly intending to inform its spellcaster of your hiding place.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" - you curse silently, your hopes of biding your time and sneaking up behind the dangerous, bearded human bastard to quickly slit his throat with a dagger instantly dashed.

You toss aside the small metal wand and quickly crawl out of your "shelter."

In your haste, you didn't notice that the tip of the wand, vibrating and glowing with a strange, greenish, magical light, had come into contact with the forehead of a sculpture of a naked woman. The sculpture instantly became engulfed in a magical glow, and its stone surface seemed to distort and undergo unnatural metamorphoses...

However, you didn't see this process – in those seconds, you jumped to your feet in the center of the room, snatched your short bow from your backpack, and nocked an arrow.

"Maybe I can pierce this son of a bitch's throat with arrows... I just need to get within shooting range..." - you think, running out into the corridor.

Those nasty "fireflies" are flying around...

Your ears catch a muttering sound in the distance...

Could it be another spell?!

At the far end of the corridor, you spot that hunched-over crazy scumbag!

"Aha! There you are, you little thieving prick! How pleasant it will be to tear your flesh to pieces! Kheh-kheh-kheh!" - your enemy easily spots you (thanks to the "fireflies").

You don't waste any time...

One arrow is already on the bowstring.

Twang! Whoosh!

Twang! Whoosh!

Twang! Whoosh!

The ringing, sharp sounds of the bowstring straightening...

The whistle of an arrow cutting through the air in flight...

Three arrows with sharp steel tips fly swiftly toward the face of the human frenetic.

And all three arrows... bounce off the translucent magical aura that envelops this hunched, ugly figure with a powerless metallic ringing! Alas, the human mage had managed to cast a protective spell on himself...

He makes quick movements with his staff, and a sharp piece of ice, like a combat dart, flies lightning-fast from its grayish-silver cone-shaped tip, aimed at you.

If your combat reflexes had been just a little slower, that sharp shard of ice would have pierced your stomach right now, causing you to die in excruciating, slow agony.

Luckily, you managed to fall face-first onto the dirty floor.

Bad news: you were holding your right hand too high...

Because of this, the sharp, rapidly flying shard of ice caught the top of your short bow.

Snap!

The bowstring snapped violently, and the top of the ash wood simply broke off and flew away, smashing against the wall of the corridor. Hmm... it looks like you just lost one of your most effective weapons...

You quickly jump to your feet, frantically grabbing the hilts of your dagger and scimitar...

With a cry of despair, you run as fast as you can toward your madly laughing enemy, intending to strike him down with steel in honest close combat.

You... fell five steps short.

Making magical passes with your left hand and drawing a "pattern" in the air with his staff, the bastard...simply vanishes.

You stop, disconcerted, almost continuing to run due to inertia and nearly tripping over bat droppings (most of them, after all, have probably flown away from the tower for the night's hunt).

You turn around sharply...

"Fuck... this fucking piece of shit..." - you exclaim, seeing the hunched silhouette of a maniacally giggling human scum towering across the hallway (not far from the entrance to the side room where you'd recently been hiding), stroking his stinking, straggly beard and looking at you with the mocking gaze of a sadist about to "dissect" your body.

"What a nimble little thief-bastard! Not nimble enough, though! Ha! Ha! Ha! Get ready, you're about to die in agony, you piece of shit!" - your enemy is already triumphant and clearly preparing to attack you with the magic of his staff.

Suddenly, from the side room, a swift figure pounces on this hunched, bearded, ugly human, grabs him by the throat, and begins to strangle him from behind. This... this is that very "sculpture of a completely naked woman"!

Only now, instead of stone "flesh", you are surprised to see quite ordinary flesh...

The flesh of a beautiful and graceful naked brunette elf-female...

Due to the element of surprise, your enemy couldn't immediately understand what was happening...

However, the naked girl's strength was clearly not enough to simply break the bastard's neck...

He strikes the girl in the side with his left elbow, and her grip on the mage's neck weakens...

As a result, he casts another spell: the translucent protective aura (which previously only prevented ranged attacks) thickens, and light-blue "thorns" emerge from it, wounding the elf girl's defenseless naked body and causing her to recoil with a cry of pain. You see all this... and your body reacts faster than your mind - you are already running towards the enemy, who has raised his staff over the girl lying on the floor, covered in blood.

A second before the human-scum can deliver the finishing blow to the... "former sculpture", you pounce on him, attacking him with a flurry of slashing and stabbing blows from all sides.

Alas, the sharp steel doesn't reach the enemy's flesh - but you notice a sharp weakening of his defensive aura.

On his face, with its ugly, straggly beard, you notice with satisfaction a grimace vaguely resembling fear...

"Two parasites! Two rats in my lovely house! Aargh! Heh-heh-heh-heh! I'll turn you all into a bloody mess!" - before you can completely destroy the protective aura, that stinking bastard manages to teleport away again.

You quickly glance around, trying to figure out where your enemy is now.

Lying on the dirty floor, bloodied from multiple stab wounds (the "thorns" on the mage's protective aura were numerous...), the naked elf-girl points with a weakened, graceful hand toward one of the distant passages leading to the side rooms.

There, the wall is almost completely destroyed...

And your gaze catches the end of a tattered gray robe flashing through the doorway...

You run there, straining your remaining strength and feeling a pain in your heel (the lack of a boot is very unpleasant).

Having reached it, you see a hideous silhouette, dressed in a dirty, torn gray robe with holes, climbing a rope ladder that clearly leads to the fourth floor of this tower. It seems the stone staircase has completely collapsed due to time or other causes...

Your enemy has almost reached the top...

There's only one problem for him – you threw your sharp steel dagger at him with almost reflexive speed.

The steel pierces deep into the flesh just below the back...

A deafening cry of pain...

You stagger to the side.

The clumsy body falls from a height of about three meters...

So...

At your feet, sprawled on the dirty stone floor, lies the body of a hideous old human mage, who is still alive after all.

A pool of blood quickly and profusely spreads beneath his backside.

A shiver of revulsion runs through you as you realize precisely where you must retrieve your dagger from.

Even in this situation, this crazy bastard continues to giggle maniacally: «Kheheheheh... You just don't get it, do you?! I am eternal! I am great! You will all fall to your knees before my greatness! I have seen the secrets of Kial-Khuvat himself! Beg for my forgiveness, you pathetic worms!»

You put an end to this insane, delirious farce.

A powerful slashing blow from the scimitar.

Another.

Another.

And another.

Probably this is how somebody butcher pigs in a slaughterhouse...

Severed limbs and a severed head in a pool of blood...

You spit on the carrion, bend down, and carefully (trying to keep your hands as clean as possible) remove your dagger from the bloody mess.

"Alas... It’s a shame he was so insane... I would have been interested in trying to know a thing or two from him..." - you hear a melodic feminine voice behind you and turn around.

A beautiful, seductive, naked brunette elf-girl leans against the stone remnant of what only vaguely resembles a doorway.

Her smooth, delicate skin is covered in small, bleeding puncture wounds.

And she sees what your scimitar has transformed the human mage's body into.

To your surprise, there's not a trace of disgust or fear on her face...