An Unbeatable Foe

Cress's heart ran rampant in her chest, pounding in her ears like a thousand stampeding horses. A haze that made her dizzier than her drunkest night drooped her eyes as she stared at the dagger in her hand. It was heavy. Far heavier than she could bear.

"I-I can't…"

"Calm down," Dian said, putting his hand on Cress's. His voice was gentle, though Cress could tell it was masking the tension gripping the man's body. "I'll make sure you won't have to use it. We've made it this far, right?"

"Y-Yeah. I trust you. All of you."

"I want to at least. But here you are, casually spouting death flags. This world isn't a game or a book, yet for some reason it follows certain stereotypes. I hope I'm wrong…"

"You can count on us," Marcel said with a confident grin that couldn't distract Cress from his trembling hands. They were putting up a brave front for her.

"What if we destroyed the tunnel?"

"What?"

"What if we destroy the side we came from? It won't do us any good to flee deeper and it'll stop us from being attacked on both sides."

The party looked at Cress, dumbfounded and then to each other. It only took them a moment to nod in agreement and soon Dian was digging through his pack. There were three crude grenades in his hands when he finished.

"These won't be enough to collapse it, but if you," he looked at Mia," hit them with a fireball, it might just do the trick."

"Let's do it then," Mia said with a hint of confidence in her voice that made Cress's chest swell. She might not be able to fight, but she'd at least contributed.

It didn't take long for Dian to chip into the sandstone walls of the tunnel and place the bombs far enough away that the explosion and subsequent collapse wouldn't injure the party. Marcel proposed waiting, but conceded that it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Three… Two… One…" A searing flame that stole the oxygen from the room coalesced into a raging sphere at the tip of Mia's maple staff before shooting down the tunnel. The bombs ignited as planned and the room shook as the tunnel collapsed. Fine, sandy dust spewed in and covered the party and a few small chunks of sandstone broke from the ceiling. In short, the plan went off without a hitch.

"The explosion might draw more spiders, so stay on your guard."

Just the word sent a shiver through Cress's body and she fought away the image of the Cave Stalker. Even the dagger in her hand reminded her of the beast's fangs and she wanted to throw it across the room. She wished Mia would refresh her Lion Heart spell or that she could take her medication, but Mia needed to preserve her mana and the orange bottle in Cress's scuffed purse was down to two pills.

"I just need to focus on my grounding techniques. Focus on the feeling of the rough wall against the palm of my hand and think of William. They don't expect anything from me, so the best thing I can do is stay calm and out of the way."

She wanted to cry, to sink to her knees and curl up into the fetal position. She wanted to be at home, snuggling her mom on the couch, listening to her gossip while getting her hair brushed.

"It's coming."

Marcel's voice trembled and cracked a little, like a teenage boy standing up to a bully, though Cress couldn't sense anything. Still, seeing her terrified friends' bravery inspired her. Maybe if they made it out of this she could convince them to take her in as an apprentice until she found a way home. It might even help with her arachnophobia since Earth wasn't cursed with mammal-sized arachnids.

An eternity passed with the party rooted in a defensive position. Mia and Dian remained in the back while Cress kept to the side out of the way. Marcel stood bravely at the remaining entrance of the tunnel, sword raised in an anticipation in front of him. It was clear that the trio was a veteran party (A-Rank according to Mia), but it also made the situation that much tenser. A-Rank was the second highest rank attainable and they claimed to be on par with the majority of S-Rank parties.

Unfortunately, it didn't matter.

A tall, slender, hooded figure stalked in from the dark of the tunnel. The shadows hid the figure's details, but its build stirred thoughts of a classic Silvan Elf, or maybe even a Drow since they were in an underground, spider-infested cave. In its hand it held an obnoxiously long, slender straight sword that resembled a Chinese jian that it scraped against the edge of the tunnel creating sparks. Classic villain behavior.

"Not a step closer," Marcel warned, his gruff voice echoing throughout the cave. "We don't want any confrontation. We're just trying to take an injured civilian to the surfa—"

Cress didn't have time to even gasp as her eyes widened in disbelief. Before Marcel could finish his attempted parley, his sword clattered to the stone floor, his hands removed from his wrist. Blood sprayed from his dismembered wrists onto the tan sandstone around him and a guttural cry reverberated through the cave, ringing in Cress's ears. Mia's golden healing light instantly enveloped the man, but his anguished voice was silenced before it could take effect as his head joined his hands with a gut tearing thud.

"MARCEL!" Mia screamed, her teeth bared in anguish. Golden light caressed and flickered from Marcel's body, confirming what everyone already knew.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening," Cress repeated in her head, her chest so tight she couldn't breathe. She squatted in terror and squeezed her head between her hands, praying that crushing her own skull would wake her from her nightmare.

"You bastard!" Dian roared, firing his hand crossbows. The bolts flew true at the attackers head and a spark of hope ignited in Cress's chest. From what she had gathered, people in this world were fast but few were fast enough to dodge projectiles.

Few being the keyword.

The hooded assailant caught the first bolt in their elongated, sun-kissed hand and used it to bat away the second bolt that trailed a fraction of a second behind it.

"Dian, dodge!"

Mia's frantic warning barely reached Dian in time as the tip of the jian narrowly missed Dian's heart and merely nicked the edge of his rib. His hand crossbows clattered to the ground and his remaining dagger was in his hand, launching a stabbing backhand at the hooded assailant.

"Fire!" he yelled. A stream of searing flames erupted from the tip of Mia's staff like a flame thrower, engulfing the enemy swordsman in tandem with Dian's stab.

It wasn't enough. Cress's lungs screamed for oxygen and she could only watch in horror as the cloaked attacker tanked both attacks. The tip of Dian's dagger chipped when it made contact with the figure's neck, gliding off harmlessly and even though Mia's flames were hot enough to turn the surface of the sandstone to glass, their assailant acted as if they were standing enjoying a summer breeze. Only their cloak burned away, revealing a woman that, to Cress's shame, made her racing heart skip a beat.

The tall woman's dark brown white tipped hair danced in the flames and her tan skin was flawless. She wore a metal chest plate that glowed orange like it was being forged at a black smith, yet the searing hot metal had no effect on her at all.

They'd never stood a chance.

"Cress, run," Mia yelled, casting a healing spell on Dian's bone-exposed hand. The flames had hit him, too, though like the woman, he hadn't cried out. He'd even managed to somehow keep hold of his glowing hot dagger, but he dropped it as his muscle and skin rapidly regenerated.

"You bitch! This is for Marcel," the blond haired man proclaimed, throwing a punch that would have instantly killed someone like Cress. A small grin teased the corner of his mouth when the blow connected directly with the tall woman's nose… only to vanish she didn't even flinch. Instead, it was Dian who let out a high pitched yelp, pulling his fist back to reveal a swollen hand with several broken fingers.

"What the hell is she made of?! She killed Marcel in a flash, and she's toying with Mia and Dian. I should run. If I escape, I might be able to make it to the town they told me about and find people who can help… or avenge."

Avenge. There was no helping Dian and Mia anymore; Mia's resigned, pleading smile assured that. They wanted Cress to live and carry on their memories as cliche as it was.

"I'll get help," Cress said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sprinted down the dark tunnel, leaving her newly friends to their fate. To her surprise, a small white orb hovered above her head: a final parting gift from Mia.

She didn't look back as she ran from the smell of burning air and blood. She couldn't. Just like when she fled from the Cave Stalker, she accepted she could only run. Even when her lungs felt like they were being stabbed with a thousand knives and her legs felt like logs, she kept running. Dian's dagger was still clenched in her hand, though she doubted it would be of any use.

"What else do I even have?" Cress asked herself, reaching her free hand into her bag and blindly rifling through. "I have my pepper spray, but I doubt that would do anything except blind me. Tissues, my phone… Wait, what's this?"

Pulling her hand from her purse, Cress stared down at the gold coin in her hand. It was the same lily engraved coin she had returned to the ground. How had it gotten into her bag?

"God, I'm so sick of this fantasy bullsh—"

Cress's head cracked against the hard stone of the tunnel, knocking her back and onto the ground. Dian's dagger slid several feet away across the floor and she muttered a flurry of curses as she grabbed her forehead. She'd been too distracted with the stupid coin and the tunnel had curved at a sharp angle she hadn't anticipated.

"FUCK!" she bellowed, slamming her fist into her throbbing forehead.

Cress's shoulders shook, barely supporting her as she pushed herself to her feet. The short, painful break had tricked her body into thinking she could rest and she could barely move. Her chest heaved and she could only hear her own panting and the sound of her blood rushing in her head. Her legs wobbled, resisting her command to move and she couldn't even take a single step forward without collapsing to her knees. Above her, the light orb flickered like a flashlight with dying batteries… Mia had been the batteries.

"I'm sorry… Mia, Marcel, Dian… I'm sorry Mom, Ian… I really tried."

Luck is fickle. Though Cress's body had given out on her, her collapse actually saved her life. As she apologized to the people she had failed, the tip of a sword passed harmlessly over her. Of course, that didn't stop the rib-cracking kick that followed.

Blood spat from Cress's mouth as her back bounced off the hard tunnel wall. Pain instantly shot through every nerve in her body. Her choked, agonized scream echoed down the pitch black darkness of the tunnel.

"Get... Fucked," Cress spat, gasping for air. She clenched her fists, though she wasn't sure if it was to make one last ditch attempt at defending herself or to brace for her death, and was surprised to feel the hard edges of the gold coin digging into her palm.

"Stupid ass coin! This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, I'd be at home, tucked in bed… It's not fair!"

Refusing to die with the bauble that was responsible for her death, Cress chucked the gold coin at the woman. At the same moment, the woman's finishing blow connected with it and suddenly Cress felt a familiar blast of wind envelop her.