Lily and I dove in opposite directions as a massive vertical wave of flames flew at us. It blinded me briefly, but a moment later, I saw his silhouette gliding through the fire and coming right at me.

  I dove out of the way and made a run for it—no matter how fast he was, I was still faster, and it was still two on one! I was worried about Lily attacking this guy, though. He seemed powerful—too powerful. It didn’t make sense! Rakul had seemed like the leader, so I thought the strongest of the red masks were already dealt with!

  I suppose they left their strongest out here in the forest because their fire powers would be less useful in the caves, where there was little to burn.

  When I turned to try to reorient myself against my opponents, I saw a flying X of fire coming at me. Too low to dive under, too wide to slip around—I turned and ran away from it, feeling the heat at the back of my tail. I spotted a thick tree and skidded around it, the flames just barely licking across my flank as I took shelter.

  Should I place Death Mark on this Kenshaw guy now? I felt like I’d need every advantage I could get to beat him. But if I did that, there would be no way of catching the other one before he got to his Direwing.

  I watched Belra through my mind’s eye; he was getting closer to the cliffs, but still within my reach if I moved fast enough. But there was no getting around that wall of flame! How could Kenshaw even have the mana to do that!? It was totally unfair!

  Kenshaw appeared around the side of the tree, slashing a flaming sword down at me. I hop-dodged away in alarm and found myself running once again, zipping left and right between trees, just trying to stay away from this maniac!

  Wait, but that’s a critical question—isn’t it? How is he doing this?

  He was summoning incredible amounts of fire, but wouldn’t that require deep wells of mana to pull off? Was it the potion he just drank?

  As I continued dodging through the trees, Lily ended up alongside me, and she whined with anxiety. I wasn’t sure where Grick had gone, but I’m sure he was staying far away once he saw what this guy could do—and that’s what I’d prefer from the little green goblin at this point.

  “Goddamn mutts!” he screamed through the forest once we had some distance on him. I looked back over our battlefield. There was fire everywhere, but… then I noticed something odd.

  Things were not burning quite as they should have been; in fact, some of the flames were traveling away from things they should just be eating through and instead heading towards the wall. I focused on a dried, fallen branch, as it was the most obvious way to confirm what I thought I was seeing.

  Sure enough, the flames just flowed right off it, almost like liquid, and started heading towards the firewall, the crawling flames leaving the forest floor below moderately singed but not burned.

  I see. So that massive wall isn’t something he could just summon with a massive amount of mana. He has skills that let him do those fire slashes, but then once they set the surrounding area aflame, he gets to cheat and get a little extra value by redirecting those flames with some kind of fire manipulation skill.

  If I was right about it, and upon thinking about the skill like that—it actually all made sense.

  In fact, I would say he isn’t very powerful at all, and he downright sucked at using his flame manipulation ability!

  If he had good control over it, then we would be screwed. He would send the flames constantly chasing us, and there would be no way we could escape for long. Instead, he was just having his bonus flames travel in one direction and form a wall.

  I gestured to Lily, and she traveled right along my flank as we found another unburned area of the forest to hide in. We had managed to lose him, and I noticed he was now not being so aggressive.

  If he were truly powerful, why would he have his ally run? He would have kept him by his side and fought together. But instead, he put up a barrier and told him to flee. Then he drank some kind of potion that seemed to change his physical attributes. It looked painful though, suddenly having his muscles bulge like that. In fact, his voice had become much more strained than the calm one he had before. It wasn't just aggression; he was causing himself pain.

  I started to see this whole thing as it was—a desperate last-ditch effort against an opponent he realized he couldn’t beat. His last stand against the Hell Hounds.

  He suddenly flew at us again, whatever tracking spell he had picking us out of the shadows.

  Lily jumped to the side. I went low, looking to chomp his leg. Unexpectedly, he kicked, his shin finding the side of my muzzle, and his boot kicking under my chest and lifting me.

  I was thrown back, the blunt shock rocking through my body. It must have been that potion that had given him such strength.

  I hit a tree, toppled to the ground, and rolled. He ran at me for a follow-up attack, but Lily skitted between us and split into three clones.

  “Gwaaaah?!” he vocalized in surprise, having not seen Lily’s tactics yet. She came at him from all sides, forcing him to retreat and giving me time to get my bearings down again.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  As Lily flanked him from all sides, I charged ahead—coming right down the middle.

  His eyes flicked towards me, instantly recognizing the threat, but his sword was low and out of position. He attempted an underhanded swing, but it was sloppy and off target. I felt the flames dance along my side, but the blade didn’t even come close as I aimed for his elbow and used {Crippling Bite}!

  I locked my teeth on the joint and twisted. I felt it giving slightly, but not quite breaking.

  He stumbled, unable to get me with the sword from this angle, but instead, a closed fist came at me and crashed across the side of my skull. As I hit the ground, he lifted his sword and slashed twice.

  Another crossed wave of flames came at me, this one I didn’t have time to dodge, so I dove right into it, accepting the damage it would cause and also knowing Lily would be joining me.

  It burned my face most of, I felt the heat sink deep in my body and burn my fur, but I didn’t let it slow me down.

  Kenshaw let out a roar of anger, and maybe just a little fear, as he charged forward to meet me head-on.

  Lily hit his back, probably sinking teeth in, and causing him to flinch towards me. His sword was raised, so I went low and went for his leg—{Crippling Bite}!

  As soon as my teeth clenched down, something was suddenly different. I felt a clean impact with his shin armor as my fangs sank in, and then a system message popped up.

  [You have learned a new passive skill!]

  Piercing Fangs lvl 1

  Your fangs can now pierce through armor!

  Ha! Guess going for these red masks’ legs has paid off!

  My teeth sank right into the thick leather guards and down to flesh, where they drew blood. But even better than that, this time when I shook with my Crippling Bite, he instantly fell, my grip too powerful, and a moment later I felt that lovely, lovely snapping of bone reverberate through my jaw.

  He roared in pain, lifting his sword high, his ember eyes bursting with actual flame. But he wasn’t swinging his sword at me; he didn’t even try to get off a counterattack as I backed off to plan my next strike. He wasn’t even looking at either of us anymore.

  I barked at Lily, Careful!

  She instantly stopped her charge.

  The flames along his sword shot a beam of fire into the sky, and as I glanced around, I realized something. The flames that had been moving toward that wall had changed direction, and not only that, thin streams of flame were suddenly detaching from the massive wall in the distance, like multiple mini cyclones, and heading towards him.

  I growled at him, almost as if to ask what exactly he was doing. There was a look in his eyes, though, not just the flaming embers making him look demonic, but the way his face twisted into a painful smile.

  His sword suddenly spun in his hand, pointing down, and he grabbed it in both fists before slamming it into the ground.

  The moment the sword was embedded in the forest floor, a massive wind blew through. I backed off another step, looking at Lily. She looked back uncertainly. I didn’t understand what he was doing either. Some kind of ultimate attack?

  Then, I realized the flames that had been moving toward him suddenly snapped at him much faster, as if they had been awaiting permission.

  The thin streams thickened instantly, twisting into vortexes that tore free from the wall and bolted across the clearing before slamming into Kenshaw’s body.

  Kenshaw threw his head back and let out a sound that was like a roar and a laugh at once, like ecstasy. Yet despite that, I saw how his skin glistened and reddened angrily, the veins popping along his muscles, neck, and face, his flaming eyes widening and teeth clenching.

  It was the face of a man being burned alive, but he was trying to bear through it! The flames crawled across his skin, soaked into his armor, poured into the cracks between plates and seams like liquid light. His muscles bulged again, far beyond what the potion had done, veins glowing orange beneath his skin and he started to look like he was going to pop.

  Oh no! A suicide attack!?

  I barked at Lily, then turned tail and ran. Lily followed but as she came to my side she searched the area around her in a panic. She yipped anxiously at me, clearly asking, ”Where’s Grick!?”

  I skidded to a stop for half a heartbeat, spinning my head to scan through the smoke and firelight. The forest behind us was chaos. Burning undergrowth, falling embers, snapping tree branches, shadows twisting wildly as the flames were ripped from everything they touched and dragged toward Kenshaw.

  I didn’t see Grick, but when my eyes locked with Kenshaw I was shocked by what I saw. The man was forcing himself to his feet despite his broken leg. He was completely engulfed in flames. When the wind tore the fire aside, I saw flesh cooking beneath it, skin charring and peeling as fat liquefied and burst.

  Then, even more horrifying, the flames seemed to form a massive face in front of him, like an elemental spirit or a devil right out of hell. Amidst the flickering tongues of fire, I swear they were arranging into wide, grinning teeth.

  “Now—return to the depths, beast!” Kenshaw screamed, suddenly yanking his sword up and pointing it at me.

  I barked at Lily, telling her to get away from me. It was clear which of us the attack was meant for.

  I had a gut instinct that this wasn't something I could simply outrun. He wouldn't bet everything on one final attack if he didn't know it would work, not when he still had some life left in him. And his last words were like a declaration—stating an undeniable fact. He had no doubts in his mind that this would work.

  I didn't have time to consider my options, so I acted and ran right at him—right into the face of the demon as it was finally let loose. I heard an unworldly scream, but couldn’t say if it came from the demon or the man who had summoned it.

  I leapt right into its opening mouth and let it swallow me whole. Instantly, I felt pain like I never imagined before. A roaring inferno surrounded me, burning me from all sides, blurring and destroying my eyes, stripping away my fur and soon my skin. I made a conscious effort not to inhale because I didn’t want the flames pouring into my lungs too.

  But this was the only way.

  Still airborne and trapped in the inferno, I could barely see a dark silhouette at the end of it. As my eyes blurred and blackened, I focused on it, lifting a paw for my own final attack, one that would both end him and possibly save myself—if there was anything left to save.

  It was a Hail Mary, but too late for second-guessing.

  I descended closer to the silhouette of the burning man, forcing up one paw through the pain.

  My vision blackened more until it was extinguished, my eyes probably melted inside my skull, but all the same, I slashed forward blindly.

  {Soul Rend}...

  Vitals - ???

  Health: 0 / 4s8saf0

  Mana: 12a2ffda31/12a313ed

  Stamina: 1a2sfa3f31/12s31dfs24