Taking on two enemies?

  Doable.

  Taking on three…

  Nope.

  My instincts screamed at me to move, and I darted toward the only option—the empty street to my right. Raising my shield, I a to deflect the ining blows.

  [Block successful. Mitigated amount of damage: 3, other damage halved. Suffered amount: 7][Block successful. Mitigated amount of damage: 3, other damage halved. Suffered amount: 7]Each strike sent shocks of pain up my arm, but I used the momentum to propel myself forward. The sudden burst of speed almost sent me sprawling, my feet skidding awkwardly over the uneven ground as I stumbled into the street. No time to recover—I straightened up and sprinted as fast as I could.

  Behihe grinding scrape of stone on stone reverberated through the crumbling walls. The golems were determiheir footsteps closing in as I pushed myself harder.

  Finally, I reached my moment. Digging in my heels, I turned sharply, raising my hand. “Ice Dance!”

  The runes fred to life as frost erupted from me, spreading out in a glittering wave. The icy sheet crept across the street, eng everything in its path, including the three golems. They were close now—too close—two charging side by side, with the third trailing slightly behind.

  “Let’s dan the ice, then!” I shouted, pnting my heels firmly to anyself. My whip shed out, snapping through the frozen air with precision. It struck the more injured golem squarely on the head.

  [Armor not pierced. Target lost 13HP (6/2 normal + 10 ice)]From all that damage, my blood was already turning to ice, boosting my ice damage even further. “Take that!” As they closed in, I started bag away toward the dungeon’s ter. If I ’t go there silently, let’s make some noise!

  I miscalcuted. Making noise was not a good idea.

  At all.

  A nervous gnce over my shoulder firmed my fears. At least ten of the stone soldiers had joihe chase, moving in frightening synization like a relentless unit. I gulped, pulse quiing.

  Why am I having so many problems since I came back? I should be walking over these noobish pyers and mobs like they’re nothing!

  In full sprint, I turned a er—and nearly skidded into another patrol. Two more soldiers stood in my path, their glowing runes fring as they registered my presence.

  With a resigned sigh, I muttered, “You know the drill.” I gave them a half-hearted wave. It wasn’t necessary, but it kept my spirits up. Without waiting for a rea, I bolted in the opposite dire, hearing the ch of sto as they joihe growing mob behind me.

  My fingers worked the runes on instinct. Salvation was in the only ace I had left off cooldown. “ Lightning!” I shouted, pivoting mid-run to unleash the spell.

  The crag arc surged through the air, striking the lead soldier with a blinding fsh before leaping to the others. The first row stumbled, their precise movements faltering as the energy coursed through them.

  [Critical hit! Target lost 32HP (16x2)][Critical hit! Target lost 24HP (12x2)][Critical hit! Target lost 18HP (9x2)][Critical hit! Target lost 12HP (6x2)][Critical hit! Target lost 6HP (3x2)]The temporary reprieve gave me just enough time to put some distaween us, but not enough to lose them. Their steps fell bato rhythm, the sound of their pursuit eg louder with each sed.

  My gaze locked on the pace building ahead, one of the few structures still standing amidst the ruins. Running aimlessly wasn’t an option—not that running oor pn. Absolutely not. The pace’s t silhouette loomed over the dungeon.

  That’s the pn, I thought, f my legs to pump harder. Get there. How I’ll save myself when I reach the pce?

  I grimaced as the sound of grinding stone grew closer behind me.

  Well… that’s future Charlie problem.

  Damn you, past Charlie! I cursed myself, breath ragged as I stumbled into what once might have been the pace gardens.

  Well, gardens might’ve been generous. The area was a chaotic mix of nature reg ruins—trees and shrubs f their way through crumbled stone and rubble. What robably once a fountain now stood as a sad, moss-covered basin, cracked ay, a single vine curling over its rim like a fg of surrender.

  Behihe relentless scrape of sto grew louder as my unwanted ente poured in after me. “This is where we part ways!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Thanks for apanying me home!”

  My sarcasm hit as hard as my whip—not at all.

  The golems remained unimpressed and uerred. Ahead, the pace walls soared, its weathered facade a mix of grandeur and decay.

  And, of course, the entrance was guarded by four more soldiers. Because why not? The more the merrier.

  Spears whistled through the air, one embedding itself into the broken ground mere inches from my feet. I zigzagged on instinarrowly avoiding ahat cttered harmlessly against a half-buried piece of rubble. I’d learned my lesson a few times already—don’t get skewered.

  Desperately sing my surroundings, I spotted a broken window up ahead. It was my only way in. A flicker of hope fred before reality doused it—the window was high, perched above a dead end.

  I skidded he bend, my heart pounding in my ears.

  Two options.

  First: keep running blindly, hope for the best, and pray I stumble across another way in. Unlikely.

  Sed: charge straight at the dead end, jump, and pray I could make it through that window. If I failed? The image of myself ered with no escape fshed in my mind.

  Then it’d be time for Pn D.

  D as in Ice Da stand.

  The grinding stone grew deafening.

  Decision time.

  In a luxurious mansion…

  Lisa stretched sluggishly, the silk sheets slipping down her shoulders as the soft sound of her wake-up system filled the room. The curtains slid open just enough to let in a bzing streak of sunlight; the heat rushing in and f her to squint.

  “Good m, Miss Lisa,” Droid v6 intoned smoothly from its station near her bed. “Your tte is ready.”

  She groaned softly, sitting up with a yawn. The rich st of fresh coffee filled the air, and her eyes nded oray beside her. A steaming tte and a small bowl of what could only be described as… healthy food… awaited her.

  Her hand reached for the tte first, the warm cup grounding her as she took a sip. The creamy blend nudged her groggy mind awake. She swung her legs off the bed, her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet as she stood.

  “Outfit suggestions for today?” she asked zily, ambling into her walk-in closet.

  “Based on your preferences, I’ve prepared three looks,” the v6 replied, projeg holographic images into the air with pre-programmed precision.

  Lisa sed the options. “Casual Chic,” she said with a snap of her fingers, and the automated rack slid forward, presenting perfectly coordinated clothes—a bzer, trousers, and casual yet stylish shoes.

  Ign the healthy food entirely, Lisa moved to her living room, tte in hand. She sank into her usual spot on the oversized couch, her legs curlih her as she scrolled through her feed, the m sunlight filtering through the sheer curtains.

  “Katherine released a new video?” she mused aloud, sipping her coffee. Her eyes flicked to the droid, but it ag in and out of the doorway again, stu the same irritating loop. “I thought Papa said he’d look into that…” she muttered under her breath, but the thought faded as she clicked on the video thumbnail, sending it into their holo-projector to view in full 3D.

  It opened with a se from Rimelion. Katherine and… Charlie? Cute as ever, standing under a spell that seemed to shield them from some monster in the background.

  “Katherine, pull out a teleport scroll! Now! Marketpce!” Charlie’s anding voice rang out.

  Lisa chuckled, shaking her head. She already knew where this was going.

  Katheriuro Charlie. “No. Always meet with glory.”

  “They know each other?” Lisa murmured to the droid, her brow furrowing. She gnced back at v6, still caught in its frustrating, unresponsive loop.

  With a sigh, she turned back to the s.

  Katherine was amazing. Lisa found herself on the edge of her seat, pletely fasated by the video. The fmes… those stunning, holy fmes! They danced across the room with such fierce beauty that Lisa almost fot to breathe.

  When the video ended, a link to Riker’s Rimelion Ranking page appeared. Curious, Lisa clicked it and scrolled down to see Katherine’s rank.

  “Ranked 19th?” she murmured, her jaw dropping slightly. “Woah!” Jealousy bubbled up, but not the bitter kind. More the ‘I o gratute her and maybe steal her secrets’ kind. She pulled up her friend's tact.

  Lisa hesitated, her fiill h over the pressed call i. Would Katherine even pick up? She had died at the end of the video, so maybe—

  “Ahoj Lisa!” Katherine’s face lit up the proje, cheerful as ever. Lisa blinked, surprised by how quickly the call ected. “Sorry ‘bout Dmitry.”

  That hit her like her instructor’s wooden ruler. “Hey, Kit!” Lisa forced a bright tone, w hard to suppress her now sour mood. “You ’t pick your fiancé, so it’s okay. You don’t have to defend that evil… boy.”

  Katherine’s smile wavered, a flicker of guilt passing over her face. “Still… not cool, yar a friend.”

  Lisa sighed, waving it off. “Maybe that’s why he did it. To show his superiority. Which… yeah, sadly, he is. But that’s not why I called!” She leaned forward, her excitement bubbling to the surface. “grats on hitting 19th p RRR!”

  Katherine’s cheeks turned pink as a shy smile spread across her face. “Charlie’s work, not moje. She called angel.”

  “Angel?” Lisa’s eyes widened, and she practically slid to the edge of her seat. “She’s so cuuuute! How do you know her?”

  Katheriated, her smile turning a little mischievous. “KatFan69.”

  Lisa froze for a moment before bursting into ughter. “Wait, wait—KatFan69 is Charlie? The super-cute Ice Princess is your mysterious strategist?”

  Katherine grinned as she nodded.

  Lisa ughed even harder, clutg her stomach. “Oh, that’s hirious. She’s adorable and brilliant? Well, she helped me with enting, but this…”

  “Charlie’s 8th,” Katherine added casually, a sly grin on her face, before ending the e, as if it was Kathrine’s doing she was 8th.

  “WHAT?!” Lisa’s yell echoed through the y room. Propelled by disbelief, she hurriedly navigated to the top 10 se of the rankings. The profiles there were even more detailed.

  And there she was. Charlie. Eighth pce.

  Alongside the data, a colle of videos was linked. One caught her attention: a real-life clip of Charlie in Riker’s tower.

  Lisa stared, her jaw sing.

  That cute Charlie?

  After watg it, Lisa shook her head, chug to herself. “Riker and his games,” she muttered. The man could turhe smallest iion into a battlefield of wits.

  Her gaze flicked back to the list of videos. “V6, get me some chips!” she called, not wanting to move from her spot.

  The droid’s usual hum of activity caught her attention, and she gnced over, expeg pliance. Instead, she found it in a frustratingly familiar loop, pag in and out of the doorway.

  “Good luck, whatever you are doing, Charlie,” she let out a sigh, and tore her gaze from Charlie’s and Katherine’s videos. “Okay, v6, let’s look at the sensor of yours…”

  Back to Charlie…

  It was a risk—a calcuted risk—but my only shot. I bolted toward the window, spears whistling past me like deadly warnings. Hah, no way you hit me! I was itle of the Northern Insurge times—because they kept postponing it in the real Rimelion and itle. They had hundreds of thousands, mages, and archers.

  Good luck hitting me.

  The memory of that chaos, of dodging fire and steel, kept my mind sharp and focused. My eyes locked onto the window ahead, mentally calg the jump even as another spear cttered against the rubble near my feet. I visualized the exact spot to unch from, noting the handhold in the brokehered stone of the window frame.

  Closer now.

  My attention shifted to my footing, ensuring my steps were precise. The optimal pce, the right foot.

  No room for error.

  And then I was there.

  I pushed off with all the strength I had, leaping toward the crumbling frame. The world blurred for a moment, and then my hands smmed onto the edge of the window. The stone was cold and unstable, groaning under my weight as tiny fragments chipped away beh my fingers. My grip tightened, urgency c through me, and I gnced back.

  Damn.

  Behind me, all the soldiers threw their spears as if they’d rehearsed it.

  The sound of projectiles cutting through the air spurred me on, a rush of adrenaline givihe strength to haul myself up.

  My arms burned, but I didn’t dare to stop.

  With one final pull, I slid into the window just as the spears struck the wall, splintering against the stone. Panting, I colpsed onto the cold, dusty floor, s down my face.

  Raiding the treasures could wait. For a moment, I just y there, staring up at the dim, cracked ceiling. “Past me,” I whispered betweehs, “go to hell. Seriously.”