An arrow flew straight for Kasia's heart, too fast to shoot it out of the air.

  I [Blink]ed, shoved my hand over her chest and summoned a revolver, the arrow splintered against it.

  Another arrow was already at my throat. I pulled up my other hand and summoned my second revolver over my neck. The arrow struck the cylinder and deflected sideways.

  Pain seared through my left shoulder as an arrow tore straight through me. A second buried itself in my upper arm. A third slammed into my leg, just above the knee.

  Two archers dropped out of the trees. A man with a knife stepped out from behind another tree. “Not bad,” he said.

  I fired a double [Clean Entry] at the archers the moment his mouth opened.

  The right shot landed and the man’s head burst violently apart. The left didn’t; my arm was too damaged and I was too slow. The other archer managed to jump out of the way. My shoulder healed, but the rest didn’t. The arrows were still inside of me.

  The other man looked shocked for a fraction of a second, then rolled right. I tracked him, fired again, but the remaining archer was already moving to strike again.

  He nocked and drew in one fluid motion, lightning crawled over the shaft.

  Oh, come on— I shoved Kasia to the ground. “Down!” The lightning arrow cracked past where her head had been and blew a chunk out of a tree behind us. When I looked back up, the archer was gone. The knife-man, was gone too.

  I yanked the arrow out of my leg, then caught a sliver of motion—someone peeking from behind a tree, just long enough to confirm I was dead.

  I [Blink]ed behind him and raised my guns—

  Arms clamped around mine from behind, wrenching both behind my back. The archer. He’d anticipated the teleport. Smart.

  The knife-man stepped in front of me and pulled out a blade coated in something thick and black. He drove it straight toward my ribs—

  I inhaled sharply and pushed fire up my throat. [Flame Breath.]

  It hit him full in the face. His skin went liquid in an instant. He screamed, staggered, burning, and I hooked my legs around him, dragging him into me so the flames washed over us both. The wound in my leg healed instantly.

  Fire raced over my clothes. Good. My buffs kicked in. Movement, attack, everything spiked.

  The archer behind me swore and let go, the flames forcing him back.

  I tore the arrow out of my arm. The archer fired another lightning arrow, but I [Blink]ed away. He fired again, but to his surprise I shot it out of the air and the arrow exploded. He fired again, I shot it out of the air again.

  I shook my head. “Don’t bother.”

  He stood there, frozen.

  “Any last words?” I asked.

  “I—”

  I activated [Clean entry] and fired. His entire head and torso exploded. “Don’t care.”

  [You have gained 1 level.]

  [You have gained 1 skill point.]

  [You have gained 3 stat points.]

  The wound in my arm sealed closed, and I felt surprisingly good. The fire hadn’t even hurt.

  I glanced back and saw Kasia staring at me with wide eyes. I looked down and noticed I was still completely on fire. “Uhh… Vasil?”

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  “Yes?” he asked.

  “How do I… turn it off?”

  “Just roll on the floor.”

  “What?!”

  “Just roll on the floor and the fire will go out.”

  “There’s no off toggle?”

  “Probably not.”

  I grumbled and dropped to the floor and rolled until the flames died. I inspected my gear and was pleased to find it was completely intact. I pulled a lock of my hair forward. Still perfect. Whew.

  I immediately selected [Mana Shield]. I’d prefer to avoid being a human pincushion in the future. Then I dumped the three stat points into Dexterity, taking it from 18 to 21. Without [Quickdraw] I actually might have died there. Investing more points into Dexterity would probably be wise. Clearly I still wasn’t fast enough.

  “Anyway,” I said as I walked over to the archer. “How do you get experience as a [Frogbag]?”

  “Hecate,” he said and motioned to Kasia.

  I turned around. “Right. Did you want to loot these guys?”

  Vasil sighed. “Hecate. This is not normal for her.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, not normal for me either. Who’d have thought we’d be finding free loot in this place, huh?”

  Kasia didn’t say anything. I stepped closer to her and noticed she was shaking. “Are you cold?” I asked. “You can put that guy’s shirt on, it only has a little bit of brains on it.”

  Kasia whimpered.

  Vasil moved beside her. “She’s in shock, Hecate.”

  “I thought that arrow missed!”

  “She’s in shock because she’s not used to fighting and killing.”

  "Really?” I looked at the bodies again. “Because of this? This was barely even a fight.”

  “Hecate,” Vasil said quietly.

  “Hmmm.” She did look pretty shaken up. What could I do to make her feel better? “Can I get you a hand? Two hands? I could cut them off for you.” I offered.

  She shook her head fast.

  Damn. I was certain that would cheer her up. Such a generous gift would’ve cheered me up.

  What would Perry do in a situation like this? Or my father? Right.

  I sat down next to her and put my arm around her. She leaned into me, head on my shoulder. I waited until she stopped shaking. “How are you?”

  “Better now.”

  “Good. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Faster than you think.”

  She just stared at me with those big blue eyes of hers.

  “You alright with me looting them?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  I figured I’d skip cutting off the hands or the burnt head this time. No need to make her feel bad again. It had taken three kills to gain a level, so they probably weren’t that powerful anyway.

  I walked back over to the archer and hovered my hand over his gear to see if anything tickled my magic sense. His boots appeared to be enchanted, so I cast [Artifact Index] on them.

  [Boots of Quickness - Boots]

  +8 Dexterity

  +25% Movement Speed

  I pulled them off and tossed them to Kasia. “Put these on. They’re too big but they are better than those sandals, and when you turn eighteen at least you’ll have some extra movement speed and Dexterity.”

  She silently grabbed the boots and put them on.

  I went through his pockets. Nothing. Not even a healing potion. Then I hovered my hand over his bow. That was enchanted.

  [Spark - ShockWind - Bow]

  Toggle: Infuse your arrows with 50% extra Lightning damage.

  +5 Dexterity

  +25% Movement Speed

  “Hey!” I called to Vasil. “This bow is called Spark. Looks like it has a runestone combination in it.”

  “Spark is a relatively common one, and it uses common runes. Most people know it. It’s not very good, though. Especially not compared to what you have.”

  I held up the bow. “Yeah. Guess not.”

  I offered it to Kasia. “Take this. At least you’ll have a weapon. Grab his arrows too.”

  Then I moved on to the guy with the molten face. The smell wasn’t great, so I quickly went through his pockets. He had a single health potion, but also nothing else. These guys were disappointing.

  I hovered over his knife. It wasn’t enchanted, I guessed whatever that black stuff was must have been a skill. I tossed it over to Kasia. “For protection.”

  The other guy didn’t have anything either, and his bow wasn’t even enchanted. Lame. Must have just been some bandits looking for an easy target. If a couple of idiot bandits could mess me up like that when caught off guard, I shuddered to think what some inquisitors might do. Perhaps there were some skills that increased awareness. Maybe the answer was to just simply pump up my Dexterity. Food for thought.

  “Let’s move on,” I said, and started walking.

  Actually, if Vasil knew that runeword, and I had both Shock and Wind… why hadn’t he said anything? I stopped and turned to him. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me about Spark if you knew I could make it?”

  “Because it’s a waste of runestones, unless you can’t get any better, and I have a feeling you will be getting plenty more.”

  “So you’re not holding out on me?”

  “I’m on your side, Hecate. I want you to succeed.”

  “Alright.”

  We continued walking. I kept glancing at Kasia every few steps, just to make sure she wasn’t about to fall apart again. At one point she caught me looking and gave me a small smile.

  Good. She was doing better.

  Maybe it was silly of me to assume she’d be fine after almost getting murdered. Getting almost murdered wasn’t normal for most people. I kept forgetting that. Was I ever like her? I didn’t even remember anymore. With everything that had happened since I’d left Graecia, it felt like a lifetime ago.

  The swamp thinned out ahead of us, trees pulling back until the outline of a town appeared in the distance.

  I looked at Kasia again. She didn’t seem scared now. Just tired. That was expected, it had been a long trek.

  Either way, she was my responsibility. If she was going to feel safe with me, I’d have to actually keep an eye out for her. Not just assume she’d be fine.

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