I crouched down under the fire-scarred window pane, staring into the portal in the centre of the room. Its partner was placed in the distant tree, disguised by the branches and the remaining leaves. Through this world-bend, I saw the Player approach.

  ‘It’s time,’ I said. ‘We ready?’

  ‘We wouldn’t be a very good Player-slaying team if we weren’t, would we?’ Val replied.

  ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ I closed the portals as the woman grew closer; there was no point keeping them there and maybe tipping her off as to our presence.

  We would handle Elinor as we did Jacob. Arzak and Lore were the members of our team who could handle the most damage—particularly with one of Corminar’s ever-stronger fire resistance potions in their systems—and so they’d be up in the woman’s face. Conveniently, this was also where they did the most damage. The elf would attack from afar, but rather than worrying too much about dealing damage, he would work in a support role, firing poison- and potion-tipped arrows into the fray depending on what was required. Val would deal damage with her new life-draining magicks and her old imbue lightning magicks, but her top priority was on healing Arzak and Lore if they received meaningful damage.

  And me? Nowadays, I was the one who could deal the most damage. I would portal in and out of battle, striking with my knife and needle darts. My damage would be boosted if I could just remain out of sight, using my Stealth and execution passives. It was Lore and Arzak’s job to make sure that was possible.

  But of course, I still had a familiar trick up my sleeve—one that I wouldn’t waste.

  At my side on the upper floor of the farmhouse, Corminar slowly raised his head to spy out the window.

  ‘How close?’ I asked.

  ‘Perhaps thirty seconds,’ came the elf’s reply.

  I nodded, then looked down at my drawn dagger. The markings upon it crackled with the green magicks of Witchcraft; I had let Val etch one of her spells into it. And maybe not the one you’re thinking of.

  I looked over at Val, across the room at the other window. How I’d come to share a window with Corminar rather than her was a mystery. Though out of my sight, I knew Lore and Arzak were downstairs, ready to storm through the door and rush the Player upon my signal.

  And it was time for that very signal.

  I opened a portal beneath me, falling through it into the air above the Player, and I fell, knife pointed downward. I activated Execution and relied on my Stealth Attack passive for even more damage, on the basis that I would go unnoticed. But as I fell, the enemy suddenly rolled to one side, and out of the way.

  Missing the Player, I landed clumsily on my feet, my dagger hitting only empty air. At the same moment, Lore and Arzak charged forth from the house, and I instinctively opened a portal in front of them to help them cross the distance sooner. Up in the top windows, Corminar and Val let loose arrow and spell… only for these to be blocked by the Player’s ward.

  How could this enemy have such quick reactions? How could they have been so ready for all these attacks.

  It made no difference; I still had a trick up my sleeve, after all. As Arzak and Lore sprang forth with their combined three swords, I opened a portal at Elinor’s side, matching it to my newly placed saved portal.

  Water gushed forth from the portal, drenching the Player and with enough force behind it to stagger her, knocking her to one knee.

  I struck then with my dagger, activating the magicks that Val had etched into it. Lightning erupted from its tip the moment metal hit flesh, its damage boosted by the tonne of water I’d just tipped over Elinor.

  ‘We’ve come across a fire sorcerer Player before, see,’ I said. ‘We’ve got experience in handling your sort. So when I hear that we’re facing down a specialist in fire magicks, my first thought is: is there a lake nearby? There wasn’t, today. But there was a well. And I imagine the villagers won’t mind it drying up for a few days if it means being rid of you.’

  The Player staggered back to her feet and pressed her hand forward. Flames shot out through the damp skin, but they were weak, ineffective. I struck her with the blade once more, and lightning magicks shot out to damage her and tense those muscles.

  ‘Lore, Arzak—’ I said, before being interrupted by the enemy.

  ‘She told me you would do this.’ Elinor’s eyes met my own; an act of defiance.

  ‘What? Who did?’

  But I didn’t get my answer. The woman slammed her eyes shut, pressing her eyelids together so hard that at first I thought she was concentrating. Moments later, however, I realised she was pushing through the pain. Flames erupted from all around her body, turning her into a raging inferno—and evaporating the water I’d poured over her. Seconds later, when she was dry once more, the flames stepped out of her body… and another fire spirit was born.

  ‘Guess that answers the question “where do baby fire spirits come from?”’ Val muttered.

  Our plan was shot. Our traditional strategy simply wasn’t working, and I’d now exhausted the trick up my sleeve. It was almost like Elinor had known what to expect from us—the Player had just said “she told me you would do this”, after all. Had Tana, the Council’s leader, briefed them all on how to survive us?

  And just how far did such a briefing go? If we improvised on the fly, could the enemy anticipate it?

  ‘New plan!’ I bellowed, then snapped down to the ground to activate Shrill Perimeter. The banshee’s wail erupted immediately, due to Elinor being already inside the spell’s perimeter, forcing the Player to snap her hands to her ears. The rest of the team, who were already familiar with—and very tired of—this ploy, reacted only with grimaces. I looked at Lore and Arzak, pointing at Elinor, and shouted, ‘Attack!’ They wouldn’t be able to hear me over the noise, but they got the message. While the pair of them occupied Elinor for a moment, I portalled back into the house.

  ‘Corminar! Val!’ I shouted over the still ear-splitting noise. ‘Forget what I said! Go for damage!’

  The pair of them nodded, and Corminar began firing shot after shot after shot with little thought for what was on the arrowheads—as long as it was poison, I was happy. Meanwhile, I opened another portal back outside, grabbed Val by the arm, and hurried us through it.

  Fire erupted from the Player’s hands, washing over Lore and Arzak. From their singed clothes, I could tell that this wasn’t the first time. There was only so long that Corminar’s fire resistance potions would hold, and I suspected that time was coming up fast. We had to make this quick, and the way to do that was to go all out on the offensive, giving Elinor everything we had with little thought to protecting ourselves.

  Val blasted the enemy with the green lightning effect magicks that I was becoming so used to, beginning to drain the enemy of life. The fire spirit turned on Val at the sight of this spell.

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  ‘Nuh-uh,’ I told it, even though I knew it wouldn’t understand me. I stabbed it in the chest once, hard, and then retreated.

  The howling beast charged at me. The moment it had sufficient momentum, I opened a portal between us and sent it tumbling into the sky as far away as I could manage. It would survive this drop, but by the time it got back to us, its creator would—hopefully—be dead.

  I hopped through a portal myself, appearing at Elinor’s rear while she fought off Lore and Arzak’s attacks with temporary shields of fire. I wasted no time in activating Knifestorm, coupling it with my stealth passive so that every strike would deal more damage. Elinor cried out with pain as the attacks hit.

  We were doing it. Soon, we would have another Player death under our belts. I considered offering Elinor the same deal we’d offered those Players before her: death or reset progression. I knew we should offer her that chance, as it would render her harmless, at least for a year or two. But it was difficult when you could see, first-hand, what she’d done to the local area. Still, I swallowed my pride and sought to make the offer.

  ‘Elinor!’ I shouted at her. ‘Do you yield?’

  At this, the other Slayers ceased their attacks. But they didn’t lower those weapons, not for a moment.

  ‘I—’ Elinor started.

  At that moment, a figure shimmered into existence at Arzak’s side. It wasn’t a spirit, but a person. One that I had, perhaps, mistaken for a shadow, out of the corner of my eye. From the surprise on Lore’s face, he also hadn’t seen her.

  The woman held a knife to Lore’s heart, but didn’t press it in. Instead, she said only, ‘Dead.’ In a blink, she disappeared once more.

  ‘What the…’ Val mumbled, stumbling backwards.

  Moments later, the woman appeared behind Arzak. Had there been a shimmering there a second ago, or was that my imagination? This new enemy placed her dagger on Arzak’s neck, drawing only the slightest drop of blood. ‘Dead,’ she said, then disappeared once more.

  ‘Styk, what do we…’ the witch muttered, at my side.

  I threw a knife at the spot where the stranger had been standing moments earlier, only for it to soaring through the empty space. Wherever she was now, it wasn’t by Arzak’s side. I grabbed Val by the wrist, pushing her behind me, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of movement. Any signs at all. A crumpled leaf here or a splashed puddle there. But I saw nothing.

  A muffled cry rang out from the farmhouse, then Corminar tumbled from the window. Only an elf as spry as he could manage to land on his feet. He stood up slowly, and the woman appeared in front of him, knife on his chin.

  ‘Let me guess,’ Val said.

  ‘Dead.’ The woman looked over at me. In the half-second before she disappeared from sight once more, the spot where she’d been shimmering from the effect, I could have sworn that she smiled at me.

  Did I know her from somewhere?

  ‘You’ve made your point!’ I shouted at the invisible enemy. ‘Now, why don’t you—’

  ‘Elinor. Leave us now.’ I spun around to where I thought the instruction had come from, but there was nothing.

  The fire sorcerer stood staring at the same spot as me, then nodded. She turned to leave, and every fibre of my being wanted to stop her. But I couldn’t. For the first time in months, I felt powerless. This new enemy could kill us all before we even set our hands on Elinor once more.

  It was quiet as the five of us watched the Player flee.

  ‘Show yourself!’ I shouted.

  And at that instruction, they did. The woman shimmered back into sight only a dozen feet in front of me and Val. I raised my dagger to defend myself—and to defend Val.

  ‘You can lower than weapon,’ the woman said. Her face felt familiar to me. ‘I won’t hurt you.’

  ‘You were there, weren’t you?’ Val asked, head poking up from over my shoulder. ‘At our wedding. You were there.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have missed it,’ the enemy replied.

  It really was a familiar face. An awfully familiar face. One that made my stomach churn, though my brain hadn’t quite yet caught up. Maybe I didn’t want to know the answer. Maybe my subconscious was protecting me from it.

  But when the woman spoke, there was no room left for denial.

  ‘Hello, son,’ she said.