Rey's eyes darted to his two friends, who were supposed to die at the hands of Luthrols. They watched wide-eyed as the dark poison kitties that were the size of a pickup truck chewed up the ground as they rushed towards them.

  He shook his head. "No, no, no, they should still have more time."

  The others looked at him at that. He wasn't lying. By all rights, they should still have another month or even two. Why was that kid hellbent on killing off his friends so fast? He quickly checked his Mana and immediately shat a brick.

  [Mana: 51/600]

  He knew precisely when to send these things.

  But it wasn't all bad. The others were at full strength. They could pick up his slack. He had enough Mana to down the cats, and the other could swoop in to finish them off, but there was a part of him that thought there was more to it than that.

  Even Aearbon was on his feet, no longer looking like he wanted to die. Instead, he looked the opposite. There was a vicious expression on his face. One that would make grown men piss their pants and go to their mommies, ask them to change their diapers.

  He would've bet his nonexistent savings that this was about to go from 'adventure' to 'toxic murder-kitty nightmare.' From the looks of things, the same might be true for Aearbon's ambush of tigers. He always found it so badass that a group of tigers was called an ambush.

  The things were nature's killing machines on steroids, and even he was pissed at the Hell's version of panthers. Must be from some territorial dispute.

  Rey felt someone squeeze his hand. It was Kassandra. He had forgotten that she was still holding his hand. Despite the shitty situation they were going to be in, he found that her touch brought him strength and clarity of mind. That was until she opened her mouth to speak and did the most un-Kassandra-like thing.

  "Do you think this is Filomena's canon event?" She whispered.

  Rey's eyes flashed anger briefly, and he squeezed her hand hard enough to make her flinch. He didn't mean to do that, but after the promise of not speaking about canon events, she was the first to break it. He had expected this of Ajay but not his Kassi.

  She understood the meaning and mouthed the word 'sorry'. Rey gave her a nod before turning to the others.

  "Well, Aearyboy, you might get that warrior's death you wanted, after all," Rey said, drawing attention away from the Luthrols. "There's death on those truck-sized demonic cats, just don't give up too easily or Hell might take it as suicide, and you really don't want to take that route."

  Ajay's hand lit up with fire.

  "Cool your tandoor, hotman," Rey interrupted him. "And you better not even think of starting up a storm, babes."

  Now, Kassi squeezed his hand. He glanced at her sideways. Well, well, well, I didn't know you were of the jealous kind. He didn't see this side of her since they hadn't gotten together until after the star-crossed lovers died. Their shared grief and the fact that they had no one else but each other had brought them together. He winked at her to let her know, message received.

  "I want you two out of this fight." Making everyone stare at him, even the nine-foot tiger turned towards him at that. "Neither of you is to even shoot a little spark, unless one of us dies. That's right. For all intents and purposes, you two can have a tryst in the bushes. Hey, all this fighting will give you a chance to make all the noises that you want. I promise I won't try to listen in."

  Ajay and Filomena glanced at each other and back at him, unbelieving.

  "You cannot be serious," Filomena finally said.

  "I'm always serious." He held their gazes for a moment longer, letting them know that this had to do with Filomena's canon event. He didn't know if this was her canon event. He couldn't even be remotely sure about that, but he had to do something. Try something that might save their lives.

  His logic was simple—Luthrols had killed them. If they don't fight them at all, maybe he can change their canon events. Would it work? Who knew. Only time would tell, but this was better than taking the chance and sending them to their deaths. He looked at Ajay intently, pleading with his eyes to understand.

  "Okay," Ajay finally said. "We'll be here for support. Just call out if you need anything."

  "You appear to have a death wish, too?" Aearbon asked in his half-growling way.

  "Not really. I want all that experience to myself. Though how I'm going to do it since you made me waste so much of my Mana and broke my scythe in a pointless fight is still beyond me."

  "I'm with you, Rey," Kassandra said.

  "Oh, I know that, babe."

  "How are you two going to fight while holding hands like that?" Filomena called, trying to suppress a smile, while her boyfriend was openly snickering.

  They awkwardly let go. Rey felt a little heat on his face, while Kassi was straight up turning red as a tomato.

  "Shoot straight, and don't miss."

  She nodded with a smile. "You got it, boss."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He wanted to make a 'sleeping with the boss' joke, but decided to keep that on the back burner, too. There was still time for that. Oh, I have so many jokes that I just can't wait to try.

  With that, the unlikely trio turned towards the dark, poisonous shapes racing towards them. Rey looked at his broken scythe, and the first thing he wanted to do was bury it in the side of Aearbon's head. The only reason he didn't was because he had just wasted a Healing Potion on him.

  He had ruined the thing. It was more like a pickaxe than an actual scythe now. He would make him buy him a new one once they were out of this mess. The demons were close enough that he could see their long fangs protruding from the side of their mouths. They dripped a mixture of saliva and a green liquid, which was clearly not saliva. Then there were the spikes on their backs, which were their personal poison delivery and poking hole system.

  [Luthrol – E+7]

  [Luthrol – E+7]

  [Luthrol – E+7]

  "Oh, thank God, they are only Rank sevens, and here I was thinking they would be D-Tiers," Rey commented.

  Aearbon looked at him sideways. "Why would there be D-Tiers demons in Purgatory?"

  "You don't know the people I've been pissing off. I call the one in the middle."

  "I'll take the left one," Kassandra said.

  Aearbon wanted to be a sour puss and didn't say anything. Rey was about to remind him not to take their targets, but then he remembered this was a Baaghror; they were all about respect. So, he had nothing to worry about.

  Kassi took off to the right, shooting an arrow at her target, drawing its attention. Aearbon roared loud enough that even Rey wanted to hide in the bushes. The luthrols took that as a challenge and roared in return.

  Aearbon took off for his luthrol, while Rey stood there and waited. The one in the middle came for him. The tigerman was off trading blows with his target, while Kassi kept hers at a good distance.

  Filomena coughed. "Are you going to do anything?"

  "I am but you, especially you, better not do anything." Rey glanced at Ajay. "You understand?"

  He nodded. "I do."

  Then he looked to Filomena, who deflated with a sigh. "I understand."

  Their eyes widened, which told Rey all he needed to know. He activated Repulsion without even turning around. The poison kitty went flying after losing a fistfight with empty space.

  "Okay, kids, watch the place for me. Papa has to go to work."

  He cracked his finger and ran off after his prey. He had enough Mana to kill that thing at least. He sped up as fast as he could. The poisonous panther jumped to its feet when Rey was still ten feet away. He activated Gravity's Domain under it and dropped it to the ground.

  The thing squirmed so much that he had to up the gravity to nearly ninety percent for it to stay down. After that, Rey whistled a tune as he walked at a leisurely pace. There was tremendous downward pressure on him once he entered the Domain, but he managed to keep his footing. It was tough, but it was manageable.

  He planned to swing the scythe from afar and be done with it, but since his weapon's shaft was cut in half, he had to get up and personal. He took the long way around to make sure that he wasn't facing the beasty's mouth, as these things had a habit of spitting acidic mouthwash.

  "Time to say night-night." Rey raised his scythe high in the air and brought it down on his head, killing it instantly. He huffed. "If I knew it was going to be this easy, then I wouldn't have shat my pants worrying about it so much. Now, I need a good dry cleaner, which is going to be easier said than done."

  [+1 Dexterity]

  [You have killed a Luthrol (Exiled) – E+7]

  He looked over, and the others were not having such an easy time. Kassandra's luthrol was circling closer and closer. She had stuck him with a few arrows. The thing was bleeding, but it wasn't out yet. Meanwhile, Aearbon was out there, slap-fighting a cat the size of a midlife crisis. Overall, the result was not looking good for him. He was bleeding in many places, and poison dripped from other places, but despite all that, he was fighting with all his might.

  By rights, Aearbon needed his help more, but if Rey went to help him, the tigerman would turn on him in an instant. He would never forgive him for interfering in a one-on-one fight. It would be akin to spitting in his eye. So, Rey went to help his lady love, who would not mind the help.

  He ran for Kassandra, but he saw what was going to happen before she did. She rolled to the side to avoid getting clawed with its long claws, but she didn't see the tail that the monster whipped at her. It would've caught her square in the chest and sent her rolling, but Rey activated a Gravity Orb where its tail was, which kept it there.

  The Luthrol was confused as to why its tail wasn't moving in the direction it intended. All it felt was the pull of the orb that kept its tail there, as it couldn't see the orb. Then its feet were lifted off the ground as the orb was about to take it for a spin.

  Kassandra looked at the Luthrol, confused for a moment, before she saw Rey coming towards her. "Thanks"

  Rey grinned. "Anything for you."

  She had it covered after that. She put three arrows on her bow and aimed at the creature's forehead. The arrow tips glowed with a silvery light. They left a silvery streak as they sailed through the air. The next thing Rey saw was that the Luthrol's head exploded. Rey shut off his gravity orb as the demon's corpse had begun to spin around the orb.

  Rey raised a hand, and Kassi made a motion of high-fiving him. This proved one thing—his training was working. He was making them overpowered. At this rate, they would dog walk any threat they came across. It was good. More than good even. It was great. He just needed to keep this up.

  Well, Mr. Fate, your plan to kill my friends failed. What are you going to try now?

  Rey turned towards his friends, whom he had asked to stay out of the fight. Kassandra caught up to him with a big grin plastered on her face.

  "That was surprisingly so much easier than I expected," she stated.

  "Did you just ask us to stay out of the fight because you wanted to hog all the experience?" Filomena asked when they were within earshot.

  "You know why," Rey replied. "Besides, from now on, any Luthrols we come across, you two will steer clear of them. Especially you, Miss Lightning McQueen."

  She got the meaning and nodded in understanding. Rey hated that they couldn't talk openly. He needed to find another dungeon, and the only one he knew of was the one that lay close to Minaros, but they had time before they needed to venture close to that hellhole.

  There was a loud grunt, followed by a shriek. Rey snapped his head to it, and he did not like what he saw. Aearbon was driven to his knees. Most of his upper body was covered in a dark, sickly liquid. The Luthrol was in its death throes and would die any moment, and so would the Tigerman if Rey didn't do anything.

  "Son of a cankerous succubus with no tits!" Rey cursed, making his friends raise eyebrows. "How many Healing Potions do we have left?"

  "Two, maybe three," Ajay replied.

  "Give me one, and fast."

  Ajay ran to get the Healing Potion. In the meantime, Rey activated a Gravity Orb over the stream and collected enough water to wash the poison off the dying tigerman.

  "Are you sure about this, Rey?" Kassi asked.

  "I can't let him die here." Rey quickly added. "If he dies here, we'll end up fighting a shit ton of demons who'll be gunning for his soul. I'm not equipped for such a fight."

  He wanted to say more, but Ajay returned with the Healing Potion. Rey hurled the water-logged Gravity Orb at Aearbon and dashed off after it to save the Tigerman...again.