The streamer in the Blue Tracksuit, Yoyo-Ma Chapstick or whatever, raised a silver card towards our group. "Gift of the Sacred Yeti!" He screamed before sending a bolt of blue light straight at Max's back. Without thinking, I threw myself forward into the line of fire "Max, look out!" With my HP halved, I might die from this one hit, too. I needed a way to not get hit, while also not letting it hit Max. So I planted my feet, pulled my mace over my shoulder, and swung for the fences.The iceball impacted against the end of my mace and I could see spikes of ice growing along the head and shaft of my mace. I could feel the cold spreading through the metal of the handle as I continued my follow through, spinning even further and hurling the mace away before the power could be fully unleashed. Hurling it directly into Yacksuit.

  Bonk

  He staggered from the impact. Then the energy buildup from Backsuit's skill... I don't want to say it detonated, because it wasn't really like an explosion at all. It was more like the energy contained in the ball at the end of the mace just rapidly expanded. Suddenly, Yacksuit was trapped in ice, right up to his neck. I wanted to call it one down, but his electric serpent was still encircling us. I couldn't count on him being finished. I looked over at Racksuit. She was breathing hard, the fire from her skill card going from a torrent to a drizzle.

  [Brave Man's Shield Duration: 00:03]

  Looked like her stamina was running out just in time, too. The fire dwindled to nothing just as the shield expired.

  "Hey, guys?" I sighed "Does anyone happen to have a really amazing plan to end this fight and tie up the bad guys in a neat little bow?"

  "Nope" said Caroline.

  "I got nothing." Said Harper.

  "Best I got is plan where only one of us dies." Max grinned at me. "But I'm open to suggestions."

  "Yeah, I don't have a plan at all" I shrugged "But I can do something really stupid and hope it works out."

  I ran. There was just enough of a slope to the wall that I hoped if I ran fast enough I could scale it through momentum.

  "Connor no!" Harper shouted behind me.

  "Yo, Lightning dragon, kill that little dude!" Yacksuit yelled, and his serpent stopped circling the others to chase me. I was almost at the wall. I saw Racksuit pull out a glass vial full of blue liquid, a recharge potion for her SP. Moment of truth, would I be able to climb the wall? I threw myself forward, upward. My feet hit the stone at high speed. One step, then two. I was doing it! It was pure momentum, just speed as I angled myself up the rough stone wall,

  A cork fell past my shoulder. Racksuit was chugging her potion. If I didn't reach her, her phoenix fire would fry me, then the others. If I slowed down or started to fall, Yacksuit's Thunder snake would tear me apart. This was true life or death. And my momentum was starting to slow. I was starting to doubt that I had enough to reach Racksuit. She was just a few feet away, but she was drinking the last of her potion. She drew her card again and threw it up in my direction. The Flames were building up. It looked different, a new attack. Behind me I heard the crackling roar of the Thunder Snake. I looked behind me. I couldn't help it. The lightning wasn't just moving like a serpent now, it had grown an enormous cobra hood, a tiny reptile face. Lightning fangs extended as it opened its mouth to devour me. And that was the moment I lost my footing.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Gravity pulled me down the cliff face and directly under the striking lightning beast. Racksuit's fire blast went off over my head too, flying towards the others. It did nothing to save Racksuit as 50,000 volts of giant cobra barreled into her. She screamed. I think I saw her bones through her skin, like in an old cartoon.

  I had to put up my hands to shield my head as I fell. As the impact against the ground shook me, I tried to look up, tried to warn the others about the fire blast.

  But when I looked up, expecting to see my friends on fire, what I saw instead was a man in a blue tracksuit screaming while flying through the air. Backsuit screamed as the fire blast hit him and detonated mid air.

  The shockwave from the blast set the sphincter to shaking.

  "Oh shit," Harper yelled "I think it's about to open!"

  Light began to pour through the cracks in the Sphincter as it started to unclench. I'm starting to think I shouldn't run with that name nearly as much as I have been.

  I struggled to get my feet underneath me. My body had been through hell the last few minutes, but I just barely kept my knees from buckling and staggered towards the golden glow of the stairwell.

  "Connor!" I looked up to see Harper reaching out a hand to me, to drag me into the light. "I've got you, just a little further!" Fifteen more feet. Ten more feet.

  There was a crackling sound behind me, like something just shattered, but I didn't care, I needed to get through the stairwell. I needed to escape.

  That was my mistake.

  Pain flooded through my body as I felt my muscles seize up. The air around me smelled like ozone. It felt like I'd been struck...

  By lightning.

  Yacksuit, you dick.

  The world went sideways.

  [HP 5/65 SP 150/150]

  My HP was damn near zeroed out. Was this it? Was this an end to my adventuring life?

  "Connor!" Harper shrieked as I pulled myself closer to the stairwell. I could barely see them, I think there was blood in my eye. Harper tried to dive at me. I mean she actually jumped, fully left the ground, her hand reaching towards mine.

  Max grabbed her. "Cynthia, I'm sorry, it's too late. We can't leave the-"

  They were gone. They just vanished in the light of the stairwell.

  I felt hands on my body, as I was suddenly flipped over to face Yacksuit. "Hey, little dude." he said, thumping my mace against his other hand. "You look like shit. You're lucky Hoster wants you alive."

  "Yeah, lucky me." I sighed.

  "I'm serious. People love a good PVP stream, even if it's against a little nerd like you."

  He buried the mace in the sand next to my head with a heavy thud. One of the large man's hands reached down to squeeze my face. "They'd probably love to see you go squish. "Maybe after Hoster is done with you he'll let me stream a fight between the two of us."

  "Just one problem." I said, my voice muffled by his massive hand. "He'll have to catch up with us first."

  I threw my hand backwards, into the column of golden light still shooting from the stairwell. I could feel the pull of the dungeon's magic as my body began to shift through space, into the second level.

  Thunk. I landed in the course sand of the new dungeon tunnel.

  Thunk. And Yacksuit landed behind me. "You little shit." His gold skill card appeared in his hand. "You're dead."