Plvoer put the arrow on his bowstring back in the quiver at his hip then leapt and climbed up the wall using his unique skills, his Hollow Bones curse aiding him. Hand to eyebrow, he peered down the pathway, no doubt using his enhanced vision to try to see what they’d be facing next. He turned back and said, "Up ahead are more traps, but I can see a switch farther down. That must be another rest spot."

  Livio grinned at their luck. Luck they sorely needed. Then he heard the familiar pop pop of the elemental traps and vent activating behind them. "The vents are reactivating now that the monsters are dead! Plvoer, show us the way through!"

  The team followed Plvoer as he leapt from the wall and darted down the winding path, dodging blasts of icy wind. He expertly avoided the ice spikes that shot from the walls, but when he was forced to make a sudden stop, Sam bumped into him and he stumbled. Not even a second later, a jolt of cold air hit his knee.

  "No!" Livio shouted and tried to push past the others to get to the eagleboy.

  Plvoer tried to regain his footing but was quickly engulfed in a cloud of frost. His screams were muffled as the ice encased him, freezing him in place.

  Livio heard the others yelling, and saw them slowing and bunching up in a vain attempt to get to Plvoer. “Keep going! If we stop, we all die!” he shouted, fighting back against his own tears. He’d lost another one.

  “Shouldn’t we try to save him, Coach?!” Alphonse asked, desperation in his voice.

  “No!” Livio shouted, “Keep moving! The temperature is about to shift, and we won’t survive that. Now, go!”

  Alphonse only hesitated a moment longer before he rushed into the open space on the left side of the hall.

  “Rober! Shields up!” Livio yelled, seeing the burst of blue over the young bearboy’s head. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would keep him alive.

  Rober acted quickly, doing exactly as he was told. Cold air burst from a vent overhead, blasting into the shield and quickly parting around the sides, inflicting freezing damage where the cold licked at his sides. Then it was over, and he was moving again.

  Livio felt a surge of relief as he looked ahead. “Al, heal him as we move. Sam, take the lead and burn us a path through. I see the next bend just head.”

  Sam nodded, clenched his fists, and slowly brought them together. His hands glowed as if they were holding a molten coal, and he pushed them forward. Jets of flame shot forward and extended to their sides, superheating the air, countering the cold vents, and melting fired ice spikes before they could even reach them. The steam would hurt but not nearly as much as the ice if it hit any of them.

  “Run, run, run!” Livio ordered, raising his axe over his head to act as a shield against the cold jets that would be coming back with a vengeance once Sam was through. But they would make it through. And by all the gods did he hope they were near the end.

  Just a few meters farther and they were out, but Sam's spell began to falter and then go out entirely as he collapsed from mana exhaustion, toppling toward a glimmering wall of razor-sharp icicles. Rober reacted quickly, lunging forward to catch the snakeboy in his arms before he could be impaled.

  Livio looked at his charges, students that he’d taught, fought, and bled alongside. He focused his gaze on Al. The Hero. The one meant to save the world. Livio didn’t have much of a family. Just a brother, who had a couple of cubs. He knew what it meant for the world that a Hero had appeared and what it would mean if that hero died in the lair. He wanted his nephews to have a chance to grow up.

  “Rober, it’s going to hurt, but I’m asking you to charge through. Get into that bend,” Livio ordered.

  Rober nodded solemnly as he cradled Sam to his body, trying to use his shield to protect his companion. “I’ll get through, Coach Liv.”

  “Good, now go,” Livio ordered, grabbing Al by the scruff, and tucking the young man close to his body.

  “Coach, what are you doing?” Al demanded, trying, and failing to struggle against the bearman’s superior strength.

  “You’ve got to get through this, you hear me? You’re going to save the world, and you can’t do that if you die now,” Livio shouted to Al, barely audible over the gusts of icy air that bellowed from the walls, floors, and ceiling. He moved quickly behind Rober as the bearman charged through the traps.

  Livio raced after, leaping over sharp icicles, dodging rock-hard ice balls shot from the walls, and protecting Al from danger. Then he felt a sharp chill as he stamped his foot over one of the jets and realized his leg had gone numb. He stepped forward again, only to hear what sounded like glass breaking and find his foot missing. Thankfully, he felt no pain as the freezing temperatures had numbed him. With every step towards safety, he felt more vents hit him, until an icy blast tore through his side from the wall, freezing his arm until it was completely numb. Still, he trudged forward, each step requiring more effort than the last, ice and cold slowing him down as he went.

  “Remember this, Hero: if you ever doubt your life is worth it, then remember all those who sacrificed for it. Now, you survive and, by the gods, be a great damned hero!” Livio said through chattering teeth, feeling his whole body starting to go numb. With one final heave from his remaining good arm, he threw Al through a small gap in the cold even as the darkness closed in. A satisfied smile crossed Livio’s blueing lips. He had done his part.

  Chapter 52 – Amalgamation Mutant

  Fire and Ice don’t coexist as a rule. The thing that came out of the hole broke that rule.

  The lift shuddered to a stop as the creature emerged from the dark tunnel, its body split down the middle into two distinct halves of energy. The left side of its form glowed a frigid blue that cast a frosty gloom over the area, while the right side blazed a fiery red, sending searing heat waves radiating outward. Sparks flew from the place where the two halves intersected. It stood two times taller than even the burliest of Ben's teammates, brandishing a club of solid ice and a sword of burning flame.

  Robin was in its direct path, but she held her shield high, ready to offer protection. The monster roared and slammed its weapons down on the metal shield with such force that she was driven to her knees. With newfound strength, she pushed the weight off and retaliated with her mace – her own fiery red energy sliced into its icy leg, eliciting an unearthly hiss of pain from the beast.

  Yui saw the opening and jumped into action. She charged towards the monster with her agility and speed. She timed her attacks perfectly, aiming for the ice leg that Robin had just attacked. With each strike from the Ninjato sword, splinters of ice flew out in all directions.

  The monster stabbed at Yui with its flaming sword but Robin was there the next instant, deflecting the flaming blade with her shield away from the foxwoman.

  “Come on, big ugly. Let’s exchange pointers,” Robin taunted, using a line she’d gotten from a cultivation novel she’d told them she read.

  “Han, focus your attacks on the fire half. Your water magic will do the most damage there. Burion, your shadow blades should have a disruptive effect on that lightning, make use of it,” Ben's Handler barked orders, some of the military commander he first knew him as showing through. “I’ll focus my efforts on the cold side.”

  With a determined nod, Ben ran toward the mutant, charging up his mana to form a long shadow blade. He swung overhead, reaching as far as he could, and felt his blade slice into the small of the beast’s back. The lightning wavered and flickered and there was a bellow of pain from the creature.

  Before the mutant could turn, Ben retreated into the shadows while the others moved around him, attacking from different angles. Yui and Robin worked together, the former striking as quickly as a deadly viperkin and the latter taunting to keep the mutant's attention. Han launched a barrage of magical assaults, aiming for its fire side with streams of water, and switching to stone bullets when necessary.

  Ben's Handler used any weapons he had on hand--spear, sword, axe, bolos, and even throwing daggers--anything to distract it from Yui and Han.

  Unfortunately, it seemed like no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t make any real progress harming it, as they could barely break through its thick hide.

  Resolving to give it one more shot, Ben charged up a larger and heavier sword. Then, he activated Shadow Cloak and crept into range of the monster and waited till its back was turned to him before striking with all the strength he could muster. He swung up and thrust into the same area of the beast’s back he'd injured before, the longer blade of his conjured weapon stabbing deeper, a spray of thick steaming blood shooting from the wound. He cheered that he had finally managed to inflict it with his Bleed Skill.

  The mutant reacted with an enraged roar and spun around wildly, throwing everyone back in an attempt to shake them off. Some more violently than others.

  Ben felt the jarring impact as he tumbled across the floor, his armor and Thick Skin barely containing the force of the blow. Jagged shards of pain ripped through him as he clambered to his feet, and with a single thought, a heavy shadow blade materialized in his hands. His job was to inflict as much damage as possible while Robin kept the beast’s attention locked on her.

  What happened next was a sight to behold. The beargirl fearlessly charged the monster, slamming her shield into its chest before hacking away at its ice-cold leg. It roared in rage and brought both weapons down at her in one fell swoop. She deftly dodged the club and deflected the blade from her body with her shield in one swift motion. But that wasn’t all she had in store for it. With a mocking, cringe-worthy taunt, she challenged, “Is that the best you’ve got? You’re a thousand years too soon to be trying to take me on!”

  Ben gritted his teeth and focused on his attack. He had to push harder, make the beast bleed more. He swung the heavy blade overhead again, barely managing to cut into its back. He missed the previous spot he had cut by a couple of centimeters, instead creating a new one and spilling more of the creature’s blood. He wanted nothing more than to climb the beast and make a clean kill, but its skin was too hot, then cold, then hot again, making it impossible. So, he kept chopping at it, adding new gashes, and widening the old ones.

  Every time the mutant did its deadly spin move, tossing them aside with burning sensations and shocks, he hoped it would be the last time. But it was as if it wasn’t learning from its mistakes; it kept striking at Robin with the same double weapon strike.

  Meanwhile, Han Shen was trying to freeze it with ice needles, Yui was whirlwind slashing with her sword, and their Handler was attacking with his spears and swords, but still, nothing worked. The monster just wouldn’t drop.

  Finally, Ben got a lucky blow. There was one wound on the creature's back that he had deepened with every attack, and this time, his blade sliced right through its other side.

  The mutant howled in pain, and he thought they’d finally done it. They finally killed it with that blow. But as the wound ripped open, there was no blood. Instead, what seemed to be a new layer of skin began to cover the split, morphing and expanding to form two monstrous creatures, each a smaller but still towering version of the original, one blue and one red. He recoiled as the new figures pushed aside the torn remains of the mutant's former body.

  Ben shouted, “It’s dividing!”

  In mere seconds, they were faced with two terrors instead of one!

  Robin was experienced enough by this point that taunting them both was easy enough. The problem came from the mutants’ new intelligence. It was like their forced combination had somehow dumbed them down, and now with the split, they had both regained some semblance of intelligence. Robin dodged the downward swing of the club and moved to deflect the fiery sword when the club wielder suddenly turned and swung sideways, crashing the massive weapon into her side. He heard the crunch of metal bending and bones cracking. She was hurt, but still fighting as she dodged the follow-up slice from the fiery blade.

  “Focus fire, take down the fiery one first!” Signore Barducci yelled, getting everyone moving again.

  Ben spread Shadow Caltrops under the two large beasts, hoping to slow them down and give Robin some reprieve, but the magic proved to be little more than a nuisance to the monsters.

  He still had his Zhanmadao and had no interest in wasting the mana he used to create the weapon. He went for the knee. Trying to cut it in half again seemed like a bad idea. What if it just created more mutants? Could they handle that in their current state?

  With a mighty swing, he chopped into the back of the left knee joint and felt his blade sink deep. He heard a howl and watched a geyser of dark red blood erupt from the wound as Bleed took effect and the beast lurched back. He had hoped his Sever skill would have activated and cut through the leg entirely, but no such luck. Worse, he had managed to distract the beast from Robin.

  It turned so fast, Ben wasn't prepared. In one swift movement, it raised its blade, and he barely had time to bring his own up in defense. Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, and then he was sent careening across the room. His arms burned with pain, and when he looked down, he saw what had happened: both arms were broken, one with a bone sticking out of it, and the other at an unnatural angle. He knew then that his time in the fight was done.

  He could feel the heat of the beast's rage as it pursued him. He heard Robin's attempts to taunt it, but the beast seemed to be beyond reason. The badgerman had done too much damage, and it was now determined to make him pay.

  Desperately searching for a way out, he saw the frost gauntlet and knew that the only way to survive was to lead the beast inside. As much as it hurt to move, he started running, trying to stay ahead of its snarling fury.

  He felt both the heat of the beast's rage and the cold of the gauntlet fighting each other as he stumbled on and forward. Feeling something inside him awaken as he sensed when to make his next turn, he shouted triumphantly over his shoulder, "Missed me!"

  The beast only grew angrier and continued its pursuit, but he kept running, hoping that if he could just stay a step ahead of it long enough, it would eventually be consumed by its own anger.

  Ben sprinted through the icy world, his limbs aching with every step. As he dove to the left, shards of light seared through his vision, intensifying the burning sensation in his arms. His dive was clumsy, and he face-planted into the ground, rolling desperately right and then left to avoid jets of searing cold that shot up from the floor and ceiling. Behind him, he heard a roar of anguish and knew the mutant had followed him, foolishly, into the gauntlet.

  Ben attempted to stand, but a sickening whoosh filled the air. Instinctively, he dropped to his knees and elbows just in time to watch a giant blade slice through the wall overhead. If he hadn't dived, it would have cleaved him in two. Squirming forward on his elbows, a scream of pain contained in every movement, he escaped from the ice-cold protection of the blade and scrambled back onto his feet.

  He flew around corners and over obstacles, pistons of frozen air barely missing him as he raced for freedom. The mutant was still relentless in its pursuit, but he could no longer feel its fiery grasp - only his own agony as he propelled himself forwards with shattered limbs.

  He occasionally chanced a look back. The mutant was in bad shape. He had no idea how it was still moving. It was missing pieces of its face and skull. An arm looked like it had frozen solid and shattered at the shoulder, same for one of its feet. And yet, the monster pressed on, crawling along after him.

  If it was going to keep chasing Ben, then he was going to let it. He just needed to keep moving forward. If he could get to the other half of his team, they had a chance . . . he had a chance.

  He didn’t know how long he ran before he saw the bend.

  “What the hell is that?” a voice shouted.

  The sound startled Ben, and he missed the timing for a cold jet and felt the edge of a blast hit his left leg. He gritted his teeth and pressed his body so hard against the wall that it felt like his ribs were about to crack. All around him, cold jets erupted from the walls, slicing through the air like sharp daggers of ice. He started moving again, slower but still moving.

  He saw Alphonse and Rober, both standing a dozen meters away, watching the gauntlet, him, and the thing behind him.

  “Level boss!” Ben screamed as he hurled himself towards the wall, his broken arm aching in pain, and his feet slipping on the icy floor. He could feel the cold seeping into his skin and paralyzing him, but he kept running as fast as he could, every agonizing step closer to safety. His team waited for him not far ahead, and with them was Al's healing magic.

  Just as he reached them, he turned around to watch the horrific scene behind him. The mutant was frozen solid in the icy gauntlet, unable to move or fight back as the deadly blasts slowly chipped away at it until finally falling motionless-- it died just one meter short of them. His heart sank with relief as he realized he had made it out alive.

  “What happened to you?” Al asked, his golden glowing hands working to repair his broken bones and the damage he suffered trying to get to them.

  “Boss spawned when you flipped the last lever, comrade,” Ben answered. “We fought it, waiting for you to come. Thought that we might have even killed it at one point. Then the boss split in two.”

  “Is my sister still alive? Have you lost anyone?” Rober asked worriedly.

  “Still alive last I saw. Hurt, but alive. No losses yet, but there have been some close ones,” the badgerman answered, wincing as his forearm snapped back into position. “What about you?” he asked, looking around. He saw Beau and Sam leaned up against the wall, both unconscious. But he didn’t see Plvoer or Coach Liv.