Six wulves leapt into a, their legs straining as they slid into a tight circle around us. “Ighe dogs! Take her down!” I shouted at Katherine, gulping down anility potion.

  The sound of Katherine’s heavy footfalls rumbled as she charged straight at the [Bandit Leader]. Her sheer momentum caused the wulves to falter, parting just enough to let her barrel through.

  The Bandit Leader twirled her staff, f two glowing yellow runes. I barely had time to process their meaning before they dissolved into raw energy, which she directed into the leading wulf charging Katherine. A bright energy merged with its crimson fur, and the beast let out a growl.

  With a sudden burst of speed, the enhanced wulf luhree times faster, aiming to cmp down on Katherine’s neck. My favorite streamer adjusted her shield just in time and collided with the beast at full force.

  But the wulf didn’t budge. Its empowered strength sent Katherine flying with a single swipe of its massive paw. That was the st I saw of her for the mometack had bought me the opening I needed.

  While Katherine aheir attention, I slipped around to the left and darted behind the Bandit Leader. She was still focused oaff, eling another buff into her summons, her back fully turo me.

  Before she could plete the spell, I struck. My whip cut into her side with precision, earning a pierg shriek that could’ve woken the Irwen’s dead. She stumbled forward, her magic sputtering as she clutched at the wound. The muscle tore beh my whip, the sound sharp and siing, almost enough to make me pause. Almost. I wasn’t green.

  With another whip, she wailed again—a tortured sound that set my teeth on edge. “Shut up, stupid bandit!” I yelled, raising my arm again. “It’s your own damn fault!” I added one more strike food measure. Her screams eg into the night.

  [Critical hit x3! Armor pierced. Target lost 96HP (6x2x3 normal + 10x2x3 ICE damage)]Without needing any order from me, Katherine raised her sword and pulled all the wulves to her once more. With nobody left to aid the Bandit Leader, I shed out agaiing the bloodied end of my whip remind her who she was fag.

  Fighting humanoids always felt too real to me, which was why I hated it and avoided as much as I could. The test versio lesser-real than… This. The poor Bandit Leader tried to raise her staff, but I was quicker. My whip snapped out, tearing through the muscle under her sleeve. Not closing my eyes was hard, but it had to be done. Disabling her was the only option.

  It’s easy to swat away s, but doing the same to a se being? That was different. As she crawled under my legs, I held my position, watg her every move. Raising my hand again, I brought the whip down. Arike, and her left arm hung limp and useless. Desperation twisted her face.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, more to myself than to her. “I gave you a ce.” One more ssh, and her movements ceased. “Call off your wulves,” I demanded, my voice cold, mimig Irwen’s icy tone. “Or you’ll lose your life.”

  No, I wasn’t enjoying this. Lucy was always better at handling things like this. Maybe she still was. Such trivialities never seemed to faze her. But as I stared at the Bandit Leader’s torn robes and her pitiful form, my heart sank, and my face stiffened.

  “Yes! Fall back! Don’t attack them!” she sobbed, her words barely coherent as the red wulves dissolved into nothingness. Tears poured down her face, her body trembling. “Please, don’t kill me! Hunger—I just wao raros! He was smuggling dust! He’s bad, not me! Only him!” Her voice dissolved into heaving sobs.

  Katheriumbled toward us, her breaths bored, her body visibly exhausted. She said nothing, only reached out to touch my shoulder. No killing. I gave a small shake of my head.

  “Hey, enemy,” I said, my gaze log on the beaten girl sprawled at my feet. “In the name of the God of War, you are my prisoner.”

  “I accept,” she croaked, her voice barely audible. It was enough. A fsh of white light enveloped us for a moment, and a twisted white line bouo her before vanishing as though it had never been.

  The tension in my shoulders eased as I turned my focus to creating runes, weaving them carefully to heal us.

  [Perfect Runecraft! Healing x2 - 30HP]Woah. How did I pull that off again? Am I some expert rune crafter now? Despite the small thrill of my success, I kept my face as if I were sober. Unfortunately, the gentle light wasn’t enough to fully heal my prisohe whip’s wounds were deep and uneven, requiring three dedicated healing spells to get her stable. Her health wasn’t perfect, but at least she could move now.

  “Why not eff her?” Katherine broke the silence, pag around me like a restless wulf. Her sharp tone grated against my focus as I worked on another healing rune. I gred at her to shut her up, but as always, it was useless. She wasn’t bag down. “Tenth level’s close! She’s a bandit!”

  “Kit. No,” I said firmly. Before I could expin that this world wasn’t much different from ours, I remembered one crucial detail—she was o the game. Wonderful. With a sigh, I prayed she’d figure it out soon enough.

  Turning to the prisoner, I asked, “What’s your name?” I wasn’t going tue with Katherine. Better to show her.

  The girl scrambled to her feet, warily eyeing Katherine. “I’m Tera,” she said softly.

  “So, Tera,” I gestured to Katherine, who finally stopped pag. We formed a loose triawo feet apart, uhe glow of the moons. “Tell us how you ended up here. That way, she knows exactly who she’s killing.”

  “What do you mean? I told you—” Tera began, her fusion fueling Katherine’s growing impatiehe warrior drew her sword, the motion sharp and deliberate.

  “Phaf, ya evil Bandit Leader,” she spat, taking a step forward.

  “Let her speak,” I said quickly, grabbing Katherine’s shoulder. My strength wasn’t much, but thankfully, she stopped on her own. “Besides, if you kill her, I’ll have to go to the God of War temple to expin my sin. She’s my prisoner, remember?” I gestured tain. “Speak!”

  “Peaceful life—that was my thing. I’m a huntress. I only hunted animals.” Tera’s voice wavered as Katherine advanced again. e on, Kit, not now. Sharing my frustration, Tera blurted, “On my mrave, I swear!”

  “Like ya have a mum! Charlie, just eff her already,” Katherine snapped.

  “I do!” Tera’s voice cracked as she backed away from Katherine’s intimidating presence. “I’ve killed no one!”

  I sighed, turning back to Katherine. “Let me make this simple. Kit, this world isn’t any different from ours. Every local has a history, aspirations, feelings, and pain—just like us. There’s barely a difference. We’re visitors in her nd. And not good o that.”

  That finally got her attention. Katherine sheathed her sword, her gaze log onto me, intrigued. “See her?” I tinued, gesturing at Tera. “Her job is the first we repced. Pyers are hunting anything that moves and selling it at dump prices.”

  “Exactly!” Tera interjected. “You came—my job, gone! I gathered wulves, but I hit i. Wrong, I know! But I hit Regaros! He’s bad!” Her voice faltered, and she dropped her gaze to the ground, her eyes refleg the light of the moons.

  Katherine nodded slowly, and for a moment, I rexed. Big mistake.

  “Liar. We came st week,” Katherine said ftly.

  “Does it matter, Kat? We’ve got—” I started, but it was too te. Katherine didn’t give Tera a ce to defend herself. In a swift motion, she smmed the pommel of her sword into Tera’s head, stunning her. My heart sank as I moved to intervene, but before I could, Katherine drove her bde into Tera’s stomach; blood gushing from the wound.

  “Stop!” I shouted, hastily sketg a healing rune. Katherine didn’t need my and—something inside her seemed to snap. She pulled her sword free, but the look on her face was far from happy. Her wide, unfocused eyes stared at Tera, who now y unscious on the ground, spttered with her own blood. My healing spell barely kept her alive.

  Kat gnced down at her trembling, bloodied hands. “Monsters bad, but ‘tis… She’s like alive…” she murmured, her voice hollow.

  “Stupid Kat, why?” I grabbed her shoulder and shook her. “Why?! She’s my prisoner! And you attacked her after heariory! Killing nameless enemies is easier, huh?”

  Katherine’s gaze was distant, her eyes gzed over as though looking at me through a whiskey bottle. “Easy, ‘cause she’s enemy,” she muttered. Then, softer, “’t eho. Wat now?”

  What now, indeed? I gnced down at Tera, alive but barely. Friendship with Lisa—my promise to her—was more important than all the gold I could earn. I checked her position.

  [Your friend Lisa is offline.]Sadly, Lisa wasn’t in the game. Strange—I could’ve sworn she was ohe st time I checked. “Fet about all this,” I said, trying to shake off the unease. “Let’s just stick to the pn ao the dungeon. But Lisa’s offline, and I don’t know where to meet her. Should we wait he entrance?”

  “I’ll call her!” Katherine offered me her signature smile—a bittersweet expression that always stopped me in my tracks. It worked again, and for a moment, I wao pull her into a hug, to tell her everything would be okay.

  Before I could act, she seized the moment, fshihat same sad grin as she disected. By the time I realized what was happening, my arms were snapping at empty air. Damn charming streamer!

  Maybe disseg an elf had shaken her. Everyone remembers their first, after all. Even though she didn’t kill Tera, she’d e close enough to feel the weight of it. The game’s version of PTSD was a harsh reality, even for those who stuck to fighting monsters.

  ht had turhe moonlit field into a terrible mess. Blood staihe ground, and parts of wulves y scattered everywhere. Magic would eventually restore the ndscape, erasing all traces of the csh, but it hadn’t started yet. For now, the age remained—and in the middle of it all, my prisoner y breathing. Good sign.

  “Wake up.” I squatted beside her and poked her gently with the handle of my whip. “I know it’s bad, but e on—wake up.”

  At my urging, she groaned softly, her eyes fluttering open. She gnced around, dazed at first, before her gaze locked onto me. For a moment, she just stared, her expression bnk. Then panic set in—she shot upright, frantically cheg her body. I’d healed her fully by now.

  “Is she gone?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “Yup. I release you,” I said, keeping my tone even. “We’ve got a truce. You’re free to go.”

  She patted herself down, as though not quite believing she was whole, then gave me a quiod. “Thank you.”

  Her mad dash toward the trees was ical—she stumbled and tripped a few times before disappearing into the darkness. I couldn’t help but smirk.

  ime, I o remember to ask Katherine for her log-out token. My eyes drifted to the spot where she’d logged off earlier, a faint frustration nagging at me.

  Katherine had been offline for over half an hour, and boredom was setting in. I filled the time by practig Princess’ Grace.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t going well.

  The runes weren’t the problem—it was the precise positioning required within the circle that kept tripping me up. Whether by design or ht, it was trickier than it should’ve been. Or maybe it’s just magic, I thought, gring at the half-formed runes. No swords.

  With a loud bang, Katherine reappeared. “Hey!” she called, wavihusiastically as if nothing had happened. “Won’t e,” she said, grinning at me. “Said she’s sorry. Dmitry pwned her.”