Warren stepped out from cover, the dark blade pulsing in his hand. In front of him, Boone fought on valiantly, his body bleeding from nearly a dozen bullet wounds. As Warren emerged, a hail of goblin bullets struck his shield before ricocheting off into the cloudless sky. A dense fog of steam wafted across the battlefield, his enemies little more than shadows in the mist.

  Wrapping both of his hands around the hilt of his sword, he let out a war cry and charged at the mass of goblins. He veered away from the ponderous mech—a single strike from the saw blade or cannon could kill him—and aimed for the weakened flank where Boone was making his stand.

  His long strides quickly ate up the ground between him and his enemies, and he crashed headlong into the goblins. His blade sang through the air, cleaving one of the creatures nearly in half.

  Beside him, Boone gasped as the bullet wounds healed shut. “That’s a neat trick,” the gunslinger said. “Someday, you’ll have to teach me how you do that.”

  “It’s a trade secret,” Warren grunted. “Try to focus your attacks on the goblin walker.”

  “You got it, boss.” Boone spun around, his coat flaring out behind him, his eyes blazing red. His guns hammered away at the mech, but most of the bullets just bounced off the thick armor. Though one lucky shot struck a pipe, sending a plume of steam into the air.

  Waren knew his shield wouldn’t last long against the goblin’s guns, so he needed to stay in close where they couldn’t get a clear shot at him—unless they wanted to risk hitting their own kind.

  Rushing forward, he slammed his shoulder into the nearest goblin. The force of the impact sent the creature sprawling to the ground, its head striking a rock with a wet splat. While they out leveled him, they were still barely half his size.

  He spun around and slashed his blade wildly at anything within reach. His Melee Attack stat told him to focus on careful, measured strikes, but he just wanted to keep the goblins off balance. Eventually, they would recover and take him down with concerted fire.

  As his Energy orb overflowed, he cast Kassandra’s card. When facing this many enemies, he needed numbers over quality. Plus, it would help Saberlyn if he had more allies out on the battlefield for her bonuses.

  While Kassandra normally landed in an epic pose, this time she launched herself out of the swirling darkness. Her dagger appeared in her hand as if by magic and she landed on a goblin’s shoulders; with one hand, she grabbed the creature’s hair, while her other plunged her blade deep into its neck. But level 6 creatures were a lot tougher than they were used to fighting, and she had to stab the blade in again and again until it finally sagged to the ground.

  Now that he had Kassandra at his side, they tore through the ranks of the goblins. He suspected most of their creature’s stat points had been allocated to Ranged Attack, which meant they were extremely vulnerable in hand-to-hand combat.

  A pained grunt behind him alerted to Boone being in trouble. He glimpsed the gunslinger going down to a glancing cannon shot. When he turned to look, nearly half of Boone’s chest was missing.

  “Sorry boss,” Boone said, spitting blood. “I think—” He was cut off mid-sentence as he dissolved into shards of light.

  “Fuck,” Warren cursed. Most of his plan had hinged on Boone keeping the mech busy while he and Kassandra handled the goblins on foot. But with at least fifteen of the brutes remaining, they were in serious trouble.

  For a second, he doubted his plan. Was it worth risking his life to level up?

  Then his thoughts turned to everyone in Sayers Mills being held prisoner by the Daskians. If he didn’t grow stronger, they were all doomed. The people of the town needed him. His sister needed him.

  He swore none of the goblins would leave this ravine alive.

  “Keep the mech busy,” he shouted at Kassandra. “I can handle the goblin brutes.”

  “How am I supposed to keep that thing busy?” Her brow shot up. “And there are so many goblins!”

  “I’ve got it under control—” As if the universe wanted to immediately prove him wrong, another fusillade of bullets struck his shield; it wavered before collapsing. He was now unprotected against the goblin’s ranged attack.

  However, he quickly learned that defense also alerted him to incoming shots. He ducked one, but another slammed into his arm, making his elbow disintegrate. He stared in shock at his shattered joint before plunging his blade into an injured goblin on the ground. Almost instantly, his bones re-knitted, and the skin reformed over the wound.

  As he finished off the last goblin from the group he was fighting, he lowered his head like he was walking into a heavy sleet and charged at the other brute patrol. They let loose a ragged volley of shots at him, but most missed their mark. One struck his thigh, nearly making him stumble, and another punched a hole through his ear.

  Holy shit, that was close.

  He pushed down the stinging pain and crashed into the nearest goblins. His momentum knocked over three of the pint-sized creatures, and he followed it up with punches, kicks, and wild swings of his sword.

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  The battle descended into a vicious melee. As one of the goblins he’d knocked over bit his ankle, he reversed his sword and drove it through the creature’s head. Ripping his weapon free, he spun it around and slashed it across another goblin’s chest.

  The creature cried out, tumbling forward, and collided with his side. The impact knocked him off balance, his next swing missing his target.

  Another goblin frantically pressed a bullet into its gun and raised it to fire. He hit the weapon with the flat of his blade as the trigger clicked, barely knocking the end of the rifle away from his face. As the weapon discharged, a cloud of steam enveloped his head. The blistering hot fog scalded his skin and made him stumble back.

  Coughing, he didn’t even see where the next round came from that tore through his chest. Pain exploded through his torso and he struggled to draw in a breath. He looked down to see an alarming amount of blood pouring out of the wound.

  Warren did his best to ignore the pain, knowing without the adrenaline coursing through his veins that he’d wouldn’t be standing. He roared as he swung his sword with all his remaining strength. The blade sliced cleanly through his attacker’s arm; its hand and forearm, still holding its steam rifle, dropped to the ground.

  He sprang forward, driving his blade through the chest of the wounded goblin. As he did, he felt the soothing sensation of healing wash over him. The pain from his numerous bullet wounds faded away, his vitality flooding back.

  Warren brought the pommel of his sword down on a goblin struggling to its feet; the heavy metal circle struck with a sickening crunch, and its head lolled unnaturally to the side. Another wave of healing bathed his body, removing every ounce of exhaustion.

  When he turned to search for the next target, he realized the surviving goblins had fallen back a few paces, and they stood with their guns leveled at him. Clearly, they were too smart to continue facing him in melee where he held the advantage.

  But he wasn’t about to let them gun him down unchallenged. During his battle, both energy orbs had refilled. Instantly, he summoned Saberlyn.

  She burst out of a flurry of leaves, and like Kassandra, she immediately went on the offensive. The red-hair beauty slammed into the goblins surrounding him, her claws tearing through their skin like parchment. The howls of goblins filled the air as she ripped through their ranks.

  Warren turned to check on Kassandra and frowned at what he saw. Neither Boone nor Kassandra had managed to put a dent into the mech. While the armor had a few dings, and a couple of pipes were leaking steam, they’d barely damaged it.

  Another goblin scream made him look up at the pilot; the creature looked half roasted alive as jets of steam bathed it. Maybe all they had to do was survive long enough for the steam to kill the goblin pilot. Not that he was sure that was an option.

  Turning his attention back to the goblin brutes, he waded into their ranks. What little cohesion they’d managed to restore had disappeared under Ava’s assault. She fought with a ferocity he’d never seen before, her claws carving deep gouges in the goblin’s body. Already, she’d killed three of them and showed no sign of slowing down.

  He followed in the young woman’s wake, finishing off any injured goblins to top up their health. After a few minutes, the last of the goblin brutes had been slain, leaving only the towering mech to deal with.

  Ava faced the mech and flipped up her bangs with her index finger. “Wow, look at that thing. It’s like something the Turner boys would build in their scrap yard. Did you know they did sculptures there? They invited me out once to look at them, but it turns out they just wanted a threesome. Can you imagine that? Not that I’m against the idea. Still, you don’t invite a girl out for one thing and then spring something else on them. That’s just plain rude.”

  “Ava,” he said, breathing hard. “You need to take that thing out.” As he watched, Kassandra narrowly dodged a cannon shot and a follow up swing from the hand mounted saw blade. If it wasn’t for his sword healing her, he was almost certain she wouldn’t have lasted this long.

  Without another word, Ava bounded forward and leapt up on the mech. She raced along its arm, easily dodging its clumsy attacks. Skidding to a stop at the cockpit, she raked her claws across the cage protecting the pilot. The metal peeled like tinfoil under her attacks, and in mere moments she would reach the goblin piloting the walker.

  But then a nozzle sprang out from a hidden compartment on the mech and a jet of steam blasted Ava in the face. She let out a cry and groped at her eyes before toppling off the mech.

  With a cackle of glee from its pilot, the mech lifted its leg and stomped on the tiger-woman. She instantly dissolved into shards of light. Which left only him and Kassandra, and a single card in his hand.

  “Hold it off just a bit longer,” he shouted at Kassandra. “I have a plan.”

  “Are you serious?” she called back. “I’ve barely held it off this long!”

  He watched as his second Energy orb slowly filled. Another minute or so, and he could finally cast his Lab Accident Card. It provided an insane number of stats to its target—hopefully enough for Kassandra to defeat the mech.

  Warren winced as the saw blade nearly took off Kassandra’s head. But at the last second, she managed to duck and spring backward like an Olympic gymnast. She landed awkwardly among a pile of rocks, her ankle twisting, and her face scrunching with pain.

  She could only limp backward as the mech raised its blade to strike again.

  Warren cursed as he waited for his orb to refill. “Come on,” he muttered to himself. “Hurry the fuck up!”

  As the mech prepared to finish off Kassandra, the last of Warren’s Energy filled at the same time his artifact ring came off the cooldown. Using the Ring of Vlasiiang, he immediately cast ‘Lab Accident’. A prompt appeared, asking which card to cast it on. As quickly as he could, he selected Kassandra.

  He expected her to grow in size or at least turn into a green rage monster. But nothing changed visibly on Kassandra. Had the card not worked?

  All of his worries disappeared as she tossed her dagger away and caught the descending goblin walker’s arm. With a twist, she tore the limb off in a screech of tortured metal and a hiss of escaping steam. She then wielded the arm like a baseball bat, pounding the mech like a pinata.

  With each strike, pieces of metal broke off the walker while the pilot shrieked from inside the cockpit. As the arm disintegrated in her grasp, she dropped the mangled remains. Then she strode forward and punched her hand right through the leg armor.

  She strained, her muscles bulging, and then ripped the leg right off. The damaged mech toppled to the side, crashing into the stony ground. She waded into the fallen walker, ripping off armor panels until she reached the cockpit. There was a scream that was immediately cut short. Then only silence.

  Somehow, Warren had managed to win against a far superior force. He’d also managed to gain two levels in the process. A few more battles like this one, and he’d finally be able to drive the Daskians out of town. He just hoped his luck held out that long.