Nacho counted them in a glance. Twelve. No, fourteen. All armed, all alert, all converging on the three intruders who had somehow made it this far into their supposedly impenetrable fortress.
"The shaft," Sera said, pointing toward the dark opening on the eastern wall. "I’ll hold them here. Get Vael out."
"Like hell you will."
"This isn’t a debate, Nacho. She can’t fight. She can barely walk. Someone needs to clear a path, and someone needs to make sure she gets through it."
Vael’s hand tightened on Sera’s arm. "I’m not leaving you."
"You’re not leaving me. You’re going ahead." Sera’s voice softened for just a moment, and she pressed her forehead against Vael’s. "I’ll be right behind you. I promise."
The guards were getting closer. Nacho could see them forming up, preparing for a coordinated assault that would overwhelm them through sheer numbers.
"Thirty seconds," he said. "I’ll buy you thirty seconds. Then we all go. Together."
He didn’t wait for permission. His tentacles spread out in a fan around him, creating a barrier of darkness between the guards and his companions. Storm Manipulation crackled at his fingertips, not the full devastating power he’d used to kill that first Siren, but something more controlled, more focused.
[-2,000 MP | 4,190 / 6,190 (Regen 1/s)]
Lightning arced from his hands in a cascade of blue-white energy, striking the stone floor in front of the advancing guards. The shockwave sent half of them stumbling backward, their formations breaking apart as they scrambled to avoid the electrical discharge.
"GO!" he shouted over the thunder.
Sera didn’t hesitate. She swept Vael up in her arms, ignoring the other woman’s weak protest, and sprinted toward the mining shaft entrance. Nacho retreated after them, his tentacles lashing out at any guard foolish enough to get too close.
The shaft was dark and cramped, exactly as he remembered it. Sera was already inside, moving as fast as she could with Vael’s weight in her arms. Nacho ducked in after them, then turned to face the entrance.
The guards were recovering, regrouping, preparing to follow. He could see their lanterns bobbing in the darkness of the holding area, getting closer by the second.
His inventory had one more trick that might buy them time.
He pulled out everything he’d collected over the past few weeks. Crates. Barrels. Broken furniture. Random debris from a dozen different sources. He threw it all into the shaft entrance, creating a barricade that would slow pursuit even if it wouldn’t stop it entirely.
"Move," he said, already running. "Don’t stop until we’re outside."
The climb felt longer than the descent had. Every step was a battle against exhaustion and the knowledge that enemies were right behind them. Nacho could hear them clearing the barricade, their curses echoing through the shaft as they pulled debris out of their way.
Ahead, Sera was starting to flag. Vael wasn’t heavy, but carrying dead weight up an incline while running for your life would tire anyone. Her breathing had gone ragged, and her pace was slowing.
"I can take her," Nacho said.
This time, Sera didn’t argue. She transferred Vael into his arms without breaking stride, and for a moment their eyes met in the darkness. Gratitude. Relief. The unspoken acknowledgment that they were in this together, whatever happened next.
Vael was light in his arms, too light, her bones pressing against her skin in ways that spoke of months without proper food. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder, her whole body trembling with exhaustion and something that might have been relief.
"Almost there," he told her. "Just hold on."
The entrance materialized out of the darkness, a grey smear of light against the black of the shaft. Cold air rushed in to meet them, carrying the smell of snow and pine and freedom.
They burst out into the night and kept running. The vegetation that had concealed the entrance now worked against them, branches whipping at their faces and roots trying to trip them with every step. Behind them, voices echoed from the shaft, getting louder as the guards finally cleared the barricade.
"The tree line," Sera gasped, pointing toward a cluster of evergreens maybe a hundred yards ahead. "We can lose them in the forest."
It was a reasonable plan. The forest would provide cover, break up their pursuers, give them a chance to disappear into the night.
It also assumed they could make it that far.
The first arrow whistled past Nacho’s ear close enough that he felt the wind of its passage. The second buried itself in a tree trunk inches from Sera’s head. He glanced back and saw archers emerging from the shaft, nocking arrows with the ease of long practice.
"Zigzag pattern," he said. "Don’t give them a clean shot."
They ran in weaving lines, changing direction every few seconds to throw off the archers’ aim. Arrows thudded into the ground around them, but none found their mark. Titan Body was working overtime, his enhanced reflexes letting him anticipate each shot just enough to adjust his course.
The tree line loomed ahead. Fifty yards. Forty. Thirty.
An arrow grazed Sera’s arm, drawing a thin line of blood across her bicep. She didn’t slow down, didn’t even flinch, just kept running with the same relentless determination that had carried her through everything this world had thrown at her.
Twenty yards.
Something massive crashed through the underbrush to their left. Nacho’s Combat Precognition screamed a warning half a second before a figure emerged from the darkness, moving faster than anything that size should be able to move.
It wasn’t human.
The creature was humanoid in shape but wrong in every other way. Eight feet tall, with grey skin like weathered stone and eyes that glowed a sickly yellow in the darkness. Its arms ended in claws that looked sharp enough to cut steel, and when it opened its mouth to roar, Nacho saw row after row of needle-sharp teeth.
[Warden-class Guard Beast. Level 35. Warning: Combat capability significantly exceeds current parameters.]
"Shit."