The Firespitter came slowly. Their bodies were grey and metallic-looking, covered with holes. Headless creatures the size of a dog with no desires except blood.
There were only two of them. Luck smiled on Enkidu for once. Still, two was plenty for an unawakened scout to take on. He let out a breath and surged forward.
Two jets of flame lanced through the air, hot enough to burn holes into stone, intersecting where Enkidu had been just a second ago.
With a fluid roll, he dodged, feeling the warmth of death kiss his nape. His mind already constructing a picture of how this fight should go.
The two Firespitters jumped at him in the short cooldown of their fire abilities, hoping to crush him under their deceptively heavy bodies.
His roll transitioned fluidly into a low slash and step through. The two beasts sailed over him, but one of them landed without a leg.
Cripple the enemy, then get a decisive kill once he is safe enough.
He didn't attack the second, uncrippled Firespitter yet, because their fire skill's cooldown was ending.
The dungeon was filled with heat and light as two more streams of white-hot flames danced through the air. Enkidu dodged the best he could, but his speed couldn't keep up.
Scorching pain lanced through his shoulder as the skin practically melted from his bones. Enough pain to make a man run mad. Enough pain to render someone unconscious.
He knew this because he had been forced to experience all types of pain throughout his life.
So he pushed through it and dodged another leaping attack. Eyes closed, among the scattering ashes of flame and his own skin, Enkidu jumped onto the back of the firespitter.
A short bellow escaped him as he stabbed through the beast's back and into its core. The beast fell silently, and Enkidu turned to the second crippled foe.
It hobbled towards him. Its fire skill would discharge once again in two seconds. His body moved the moment it fired, tracing the correct path to dodge the flames.
He strafed to the right. Once the flames subsided, he would cut off a second–
The creature stumbled due to its missing leg. The fading flames turned upward towards Enkidu's head. There was no way to dodge, so he put his sword in front of his face.
Pain overcame him for the first time in years. Blinded and filled with harrowing pain, he stumbled back and fell onto his back. His face was burning..
But even through the pain, he heard the Firespitter hobbling toward him. His fingers felt numb and distant. But he tightened them around his sword.
The creature managed a leap to crush him. But Enkidu raised his sword. The creature impaled itself on the blade, but not deep enough to puncture its core.
Enkidu's eyelids were mostly burnt away. Half-blind, he gazed upon the uncaring beast. Even impaled, it still waited for its chance.
Three seconds until its fire skill recharges.
Maybe it was time to give up. The thought of death never filled Enkidu with fear. Rather it gave him a strange relief.
Two seconds.
Yet even then, his conditioning pushed him forward. He pushed the sword harder. The voices of his comrades buried told him to pierce the beast's core. To survive.
One second.
The red glow building in one of the monster's whole stung his ravaged eyes. Where its head should be, a giant hole was instead. The next shot would be large enough to burn through his skull and leave him headless.
But not today, unfortunately.
Enkidu's blade sank into its chest with one final groan of exertion. The light instantly died. The creature became a hollow husk.
Suddenly, he realised how heavy the beast was, his arms screamed from the effort it took to hold it up.
Pivoting the blade, he pushed the beast aside. His body was ruined, but he could still walk.
"Just give me a few minutes," he mumbled to himself.
But the sound of approaching enemies made him jump to his feet. Too many. Almost twenty firespitters were coming, alerted by their eerie connection to a survivor.
He hobbled to a crossroad in the dungeon, one road led to the exit, while the other went deeper into the nest, where the monsters came from. They would reach the crossroad before him.
"It was a good run." He said in resignation. "No one can say I didn't try my best to escape."
In his last moments, Enkidu thought of his family. Many among his fourteen siblings wouldn't think much of his death. Some would even be happy.
But he'd like to think that Lyra would be sad at least. Maybe some of his friends from school would care too. The ones that were dead in the rubble behind him.
"Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself.
He hadn't cared much for his other classmates who died. Even the passing of his siblings was just a normal occurrence. They all lived on the edge.
He had accepted death. But death wasn't willing to take him just yet.
A thunderous crash filled the dungeon hall, and ahead, a plume of dust rose at the crossroad. The Firespitters were met by a full team of hunters.
Backup was finally here.
Two men in red armour sliced through the beasts, moving in flashes of crimson. Meanwhile, with a burst of white light, someone appeared in front of him with a Jump mage.
The jump mage wore a thick blue robe and a triangular headpiece with a focus crystal embedded in it. The man let out a sigh of relief. "You're still alive."
The other person was dressed in combat attire. Instead of knives and weapons, however, she carried vials and healing patches on her utility belt. A healer.
"We took off the moment we heard it was your recon team," the healer said breathlessly. Then a harsh glare from the jump mage shut her up.
The man gave Enkidu a softer but more cautious look. "Any other survivors?"
He simply shook his head and let the healer work on him. She applied those skin patches to his face and used her spells to try to stop bleeding. Meanwhile, the jump mage's radio blared.
"Acorn, your anchor is established," the voice informed. "How many survivors do you have? So that I can prep–"
"Just one." Acorn, the jump mage, said bluntly. "Enkidu Twilight."
The radio was silent for a moment. "The most important one. Command was listening in, they'll want to speak to him. But anyway, you're cleared for long-distance jump."