Zarya settled down in her position overlooking the entrance to the Dungeon of Terran Life. Even with the hand-drawn map provided by her commander Alatu, it had taken her men nearly an entire day to find its location. But in their defense, the entrance wasn’t at all what they’d expected. In lore, dungeons had grand entryways, with soaring arches, and magnificent art adorning the walls. Meanwhile, this one consisted of nothing more than a rusted iron door.

  Now that she had found the dungeon, she only had to wait for the Terran squire to arrive and her forces would ambush him. The survivors of the skirmish near the town had claimed he’d only used a single card. Which suggested he was a mere level 1.

  Such a low level was to be expected. New squires normally spent weeks mastering their combat decks, and then months obtaining their first cards. And that was back on Daskia, where they had access to skilled decksmiths and the best tutors. She doubted the Terran would pose any serious threat to her trained warriors.

  Zarya had half of her men wielding firecallers concealed in cover around the dungeon, while the others rested in a hidden camp nearby. She doubted the Terran squire would arrive any time soon—most likely he was busy learning to use his deck—but she would be ready when he finally ventured forth.

  As this was the only low-level dungeon in the area, the squire would have to come here eventually to begin leveling up. Unless he was foolish enough to take on the far more dangerous world monsters. But if that was the case, he was probably dead already.

  For what felt like the hundredth time, she scanned the positions of her men. She would have preferred ambushing the enemy squire from within the dungeon. But dungeon monsters had an unfortunate habit of attacking those who entered without a combat deck.

  “There is no need to worry,” Kratala said softly from beside her. “Your preparations are impeccable and the Terran will fall to our attacks. Before the day is out, you may become a squire yourself.”

  “I can only pray the Holy System smiles upon me,” she whispered. “However, what if a regiment from this world’s military accompanies the squire? There is much that can go wrong.”

  “Then we will slay them as well.” Kratala hefted her mana axe, the head glowing with an eerie red light. “These Terrans are as weak as a newly birthed kosifar beast and are no match for my weapon.”

  “I hope you are correct.” Zarya gave the symbol of thanks to her friend Kratala. She appreciated her friend’s supportive words. For if she failed here, a fate worse than death awaited—she would become Alatu’s pleasure slave.

  Kratala made the symbol for silence. She then pointed at movement among the trees before she sank down behind a leafy bush.

  Zarya followed her friend’s gesture to see a Terran male and woman approaching the dungeon. She was surprised at the aura coming off the squire—it felt strangely powerful for someone who was only level 1.

  What surprised her even more was the imposing presence of the man. He stood taller than most Daskians and had broad shoulders with well-defined arms. She would have considered him quite attractive if he had horns, but even without, his face was pleasant enough to look at.

  For a second, she doubted her plan. The Holy System had clearly chosen this Terran for a reason. And Alatu had claimed this man had slain a Slaviigolaris squire.

  Though, to be honest, she questioned whether that was true. Not only did he appear to be unarmed aside from a primitive rifle, but his companion only possessed a small dagger. Had he truly slain the Slaviigolaris leader, he must have stumbled upon it after something else had mortally wounded it.

  She dropped her hand to the energy sword sheathed on her hip. The grip felt comforting in her grasp as she waited to order her men to unleash fiery death upon the enemy.

  “Go and fetch the rest of the men from camp,” she whispered to Kratala. “Return with all haste when you have gathered them.”

  “Is such a thing necessary?”

  Zarya nodded. “I do not wish to take any chances. While he appears weak, there is something about him that unsettles me.”

  Kratala made the sign for acknowledgement and then crept down the hill toward their camp. She quickly disappeared into the thick foliage. The soldiers would take a few minutes to don their armor and arm themselves, but until then, she would keep this upstart squire busy.

  Zarya lifted her voicecaller and prepared to give the order to attack. She couldn’t allow the Terrans to reach the dungeon entrance, where they may find cover. She wanted to cut them down in the open space surrounding the door.

  She held her breath as the Terrans approached the prearranged kill spot. Only a few paces away, the Terran woman froze in her tracks. Had she spotted something amiss?

  The dark-haired woman’s gaze swept the forest before she took half a step backward. As she did, her hand dropped to the dagger sheathed on her thigh.

  Cursing silently, Zarya searched for any of her soldiers out of position. Most of them were equipped with stealth suits, which should make them all but impossible to spot. And the rest had found cover behind trees and thick bushes.

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  Her brow furrowed in confusion when she realized none of her soldiers have stirred. Not a single one of them should be visible to the Terrans. Only an upgraded bodyguard had such sharp senses.

  Zarya’s eyes widened with alarm as she came to the terrible realization that she wasn’t dealing with a level 1 squire. Suddenly, the aura and the lack of weapons made sense. The Terran was at least level 3, possibly with several cards in his deck.

  Her men were walking into a slaughter.

  Before she could order her forces to fall back, the Terran woman said something, and the man swung his weapon around. But before he could get off a shot, a pair of firecaller beams lanced out of the forest, turning the barrel into slag in his hands while another missed his head by less than a finger span.

  Immediately, a shield sprang to life around him and the woman disappeared, before reemerging from a cloud of swirling darkness. A barrage of firecallers targeted the minion, but the woman easily evaded every shot. She back flipped away and then surged toward the closest soldier.

  Zarya could only watch with dismay as the woman’s blade darted out, slashing one of her men’s throats in the blink of an eye. As she watched the minion move among her soldiers like an avatar of death, she saw her future ambitions crumbling.

  I must not fail, or I will become Alatu’s pleasure slave.

  After hesitating for a minute, she tore her sword free from its scabbard and marched down the hill toward the squire. Her only hope was to slay the man while his minion was busy battling the firecallers. As long as he didn’t possess any other minion cards, a slim chance of victory remained.

  Ignoring the screams of her soldiers falling to the woman’s dagger, she charged down the hill with her sword held high. She reached the man’s position and swung her weapon in a wide arc. The blade simply bounced off his shield.

  The enemy squire glanced over at her, seemingly barely concerned with her presence. Then he returned to watching his minion slaughtering the soldiers.

  “I will not be ignored!” she screamed, a flood of rage making her face contort. Taking a hold of her manasword with both hands, she slammed it against the shield again. The barrier barely wavered from her attack. How strong was his shield?

  Before she could attack again, the squire reached down to touch a ring on his finger, and then a man stepped out of the swirling circle of dust a short distance away.

  “Spare her life if you can,” the squire commanded his newly arrived minion. “I… owe her.”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to knock that off, girlie,” the man said, tipping his wide-brimmed hat back.

  She lifted her weapon to strike again, but froze as the man drew two weapons lightning fast from their holsters. They almost resembled miniature firecallers.

  “I’m not going to ask again,” he drawled. “Drop the sword, or I’ll blow your head off.”

  Zarya mentally activated her armor’s mana shield and then sprinted toward the man. Her actions seemed to catch him off guard, and his eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Her blade descended in a mighty swing, but passed harmlessly through a cloud of shadows.

  She stumbled to a stop, shocked at the minions sudden disappearance. No card costing only 1 energy should have such abilities. Was she fighting a card that cost 2 energy? Did the Terran squire have an artifact already?

  Shaking her head, she spun around as the gun wielding man reappeared. How had the Terran squire gained such power so rapidly? It was no wonder he’d barely acknowledged her presence. He’d probably already upgraded his shield as well.

  I cannot become Alatu’s pleasure slave, she thought fiercely. No matter what, I will not fail in my mission.

  She lunged forward, trying to catch the hat-wearing minion with a surprise strike. But he easily dodged her attack, unloading his guns at her. Each round hammered her armor, sending her staggering back. The succession of blows drove the air from her lungs and a searing pain blossomed in her chest.

  Glancing down, she saw spiderweb cracks spreading through her dark armor. A few more hits, and the mana reinforcing it would fail completely.

  Zarya needed to find a way to defeat this minion immediately, or she was going to die. From her pocket, she grabbed a gravity grenade. She’d wanted to save it for future battles, but she was fighting for her life. And if she was lucky, the enemy squire might be caught in the blast.

  She threw the grenade and then hurled herself away. As she hit the ground rolling, she heard the muffled thump of the detonation. This was followed by the g-force increasing around her until it felt like she was in a voidship lifting off from a planet.

  From her position on the ground, she looked over at the minion who had been in the epicenter of the blast. A shocked expression was plastered on his face as he was dragged to the ground. His bones snapped like dry twigs before he was crushed into a puddle of blood and skin. He then disappeared into particles of light.

  Dragging herself back to her feet, she watched as the squire regained his footing. A force field no longer shimmered around the man. The gravity grenade had been powerful enough to knock it out. If only she had been able to afford a second one, she could have finished him off. Instead, she’d just have to do it with her sword.

  As she strode forward, an ominous dark blade appeared in the squire’s hand. Her eyes widened as she realized he possessed three cards. How many more surprises awaited her in his deck? Had the madman done nothing but level up since becoming a squire? How much favor had the Holy System shown him?

  “My name is Zarya, and I will know your name before I slay you,” she said, her chest aching with each word. The minion’s bullet had done more damage than she first thought. She might even have some broken ribs.

  “My name is Warren Caddel,” he growled. “And if you put your sword down, no harm will come to you.”

  Zarya used her fingers to signal defiance and then dashed forward. She launched a series of careful strikes, only for him to clumsily parry each one. Spinning around on her heel, she snapped out with a quick kick, catching him on the arm.

  Warren stumbled back but quickly regained his footing. He shook his arm out before taking a hold of the hilt with both hands. Warily, he circled her like a predator sizing up its prey.

  Back on Daskia, she’d been one of the finest swordsmen in her class, and it was clear that Warren was an amateur. Which meant he hadn’t leveled up his Defense stat. As more of her men’s anguished cries filled the air, she realized she may still have a chance at victory. She just had to pray to the Holy System that he hadn’t increased his Melee Attack stat yet.

  Screaming in defiance, she hurled herself at Warren. She slashed wildly, hoping to catch him off guard. But instead of crumbling under her attack, he went on the offensive, his sword flashing through the air in precise strikes.

  She stumbled back, desperately trying to block each attack, but then the world upended as he swept her feet. His next blow sent her sword spinning away.

  How are his attacks so skilled? What level is this monster?

  Landing heavily on her back, she felt the air whoosh out of her lungs. She flipped over onto her stomach and scrambled toward her weapon. As her fingers touched the hilt, she felt the cold touch of a magic blade at her neck. When she looked up, she saw the hard face of the Terran squire glaring at her.

  She had failed. And now she was going to die.