Two days later, we stepped into another golden C-Rank portal.

This time, Jessie wasn't outside, though. She was at school, and instead of her, three GC reps in shades and suits waited for us. That was part of the deal. The other part had been the limo dropping us off at my place—but not before a pair of reps and a C-Ranker entered my apartment, went into my bedroom, and took my core. It was, according to Councilwoman Myers, a necessary precaution to avoid Paragon-based problems. Angelo Lawrence agreed with her.

And I was fine with that. We'd negotiated something that could work for me. And Jessie could keep her job, albeit under surveillance to make sure she didn't try to break into anything else. It was the best deal we were going to get, given the circumstances.

So, there we stood, in a trampled clearing, surrounded by dead pine trees and crude-looking wooden stockade walls. Karina was still with us. The GC had been very clear about one thing: we were absolutely not allowed to bring someone else into this monster hunt. They were already taking a massive risk even allowing us to hunt the Paragons to begin with.

And it had to be us. They could take the core I'd gotten just fine, but they couldn't use it. Not without being involved in the kill. They could consume it—and both Ellen and I were worried about that—but they couldn't use it. That was all the insurance we were going to get.

So, there we were, standing in a Warren portal. The same kind as the trap portal Jeff and I had entered.

"No ambush," Jeff said nervously.

Yasmin nodded and got to work applying buffs all around, and within a minute, we were ready to start clearing the portal. Before we went, Jeff held up a hand. "Okay, last time I fought in a Warren, I lost teammates. I'm not doing that again. We move fast, make good decisions, and watch our backs. Yasmin, I want you on overwatch. If anything strange happens, you call it. Kade, you're point.

"Got it." I pushed ahead toward the palisade fence and the small gate at its base. As I ducked through it, a boil-covered, green-and-tan monster almost as large as me turned, its armor creaking slightly as its axe raised overhead.

Hobgoblin Sentinel: D-Rank

So did its half-dozen friends.

Instead of panicking, I called out. "Enemies. Six. D-Rank," then dropped into a two-handed lunge that passed the hobgoblin's attempt to guard by a full inch, punched through its sternum, and sent a wave of electricity surging into the monster's body. As I whirled and sliced across the thing's shoulder, I couldn't help but think about the hob I'd fought at E-Rank. How long it had taken to kill. How I hadn't even been the killer, in the end.

I wasn't weak like that anymore. My sword flashed and sparked as I ducked around the too-slow counterattack. Three more thrusts, and it died. Just like that.

Jeff shouldered his way past me, Raul in his wake. The fight lasted less than a minute before all seven hobgoblins were dead.

"Good job, team," Jeff said.

I nodded and kept pushing. We had a boss and a Paragon to kill.

It wasn't all hobgoblins.

As we pushed through the surface warren toward wherever the goblinoids' tunnels started—Warrens always had tunnels, unlike some higher-ranking portal worlds—we alternatively drowned in oceans of goblins, hacked through armored shield walls of hobs, and fought mounted raiding parties. There were only two constants. The goblins never stopped coming, screaming at the top of their lungs and driven by the need to slaughter.

And we slaughtered them.

Even the C-Rank bugbears didn't pose too much of a challenge. They never came in groups of more than three or four, and since Jeff could keep them from swarming me and Ellen hardly had to spend Mana on the lower-ranked enemies, it became just a matter of wearing them down and picking them off one by one.

The whole time we murdered our way through the portal, I had two things on my mind.

First, we'd gotten strong—and we'd gotten good at fighting together. Raul and Karina were a little less well-oiled, but the machine was coming together. This was what a delving team could be, if it fought together consistently. I didn't want to jinx anything, but it felt like we were ready for B-Rank portals—or at least close.

And second, I hadn't seen any sign of a Paragon yet.

The dark mouth of a massive cave loomed in front of us as I finished stabbing a screaming, howling goblin in the chest. Greenish blood covered every inch of my clothes. Jeff was absolutely soaked in it, and even Ellen and Karina had taken splashes of the stuff. "Think your guy's inside?" Ellen asked.

"We don't know if he's my guy," I said. "But yes."

"Well, let's get in there," Jeff said. "Everyone's resources looking good?"

"I'm a touch under half on Stamina and Mana," I said. Everyone else was pretty similar. I did have a single Stamina and Mana potion in my pocket—I'd bought them with the C-Rank portal money I was making now—but they were an emergency option, not something I wanted to rely on.

"Alright, lead the way, Kade."

I stepped through the cave mouth.

Inside, it was more of the same. Dripping stone walls. Wooden walls made from stripped branches strung together with bark and vines. Skulls, bones, and the smell of decay, piss, and worse. But there were no goblins. Not in here. And there was another scent that overpowered the typical stench of a goblin village.

Ozone. Burning, too-dry ozone.

I brought the dueling blade to my nose, so close my hair stood on end, and sniffed. The smell was the same.

"The Paragon's just ahead, I said quietly. "It's going to be lightning."

Jeff nodded. "Got it. Any ideas for beating it?"

I shook my head. "Let's see what we're up against."

As we pushed down the hall, we found our first goblinoids.

They were dead. Fried, with electric scorch marks across their bodies. And they'd been running from something. Portal monsters didn't run. If they did, it was to get a better angle to attack later—even in a C or higher portal, they were driven by bloodlust.

I flipped one over. Its face was etched with pure terror. A shiver ran through my spine.

Then I kept walking down the hall, Tallas's Dueling Blade at the ready.

"What the hell? What the hell is this?" Jeff asked.

I stared at the boss, silently agreeing. She'd been a bugbear—a massive, bloated bugbear, armored with riveted, rusted plate and carrying a hammer. Wounds covered her entire body. She was hardly breathing, clawing her way toward the door with a single remaining arm as too little blood trailed behind her from her weakly bleeding stump. Her remaining eye was locked in a vicious glare, but it wasn't aimed at us.

It was aimed at her usurper.

Thunder-King Yalagan: C-Rank

The Hobgoblin Summoner—I recognized it from the trap portal—wasn't anything special. The size of the other hobgoblins, wearing robes the color of stormclouds, and leaning on a twisted, root-like staff. Its face and exposed skin were all scorched, burned, and pitted with lines, as if electricity had surged through its body.

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It sat on the wreckage of the boss's throne; the cave we'd entered was a crude mockery of a throne room, right down to the tattered banners and skull-encrusted chair. The cavern floor and ceiling were covered in cracks, and the stink of ozone was overwhelming.

The bugbear boss died, and for a few seconds, I stared at the timer.

Portal Collapse In: 59:53

I knew why Jeff had reacted the way he had. This Paragon was eerily similar to the boss that had nearly wiped out our team. The boss that had only died when I'd used Stormbreak in a last-ditch effort to win.

Yalagan's eyes locked on Jeff, and sparks flew from them as he stood and cast.

The spell went off faster than we could react. One second, Yalagan stood about my height. The next, he was surrounded by lightning. Ball after ball of it emerged, forming a framework as electricity arced across him in a cage so tight I couldn't even see the hobgoblin inside of it.

The cage shifted, shapes re-forming until a pattern emerged. A massive ogre, fifteen feet tall. One arm was twisted behind its back, while the other gripped a massive club made from thunderheads.

Stormborn Ogre Eidolon: C-Rank

Jeff locked his eyes on it. I could feel the hatred dripping from his voice as he quietly said, "Kade, let's finish this once and for all. For Angie and Carlos."

I nodded. Whether this was the same monster or not didn't matter. We needed to win this. Tallas's Dueling Blade came up in my two-handed grip. And the Stormborn Ogre roared lightning and charged.

An arrow jammed into the monster's chest. It didn't even pause as the wood vaporized and the arrowhead melted. Karina fired a second one, then a third. Nothing changed. Then the ogre was on us.

Jeff used his taunt skill and his Unique, Retaliate. The ogre's club slammed into his shield. The C-Rank metal held instead of vaporizing, and Jeff's sword didn't melt when it sliced into the Stormborn Ogre's chest. But it didn't do any damage, either.

"Kade, thoughts?" he yelled. Ellen's Shadow Box ripples across the boss's body. Nothing.

I didn't respond. I was too busy moving, trying to flank. The obvious key was Yalagan himself—just like the fight against Experiment One. If we could get to him, he'd die fast—a C-Rank Hobgoblin Summoner might've been tough to a group of E and D-Rankers, but we'd gained a lot of power since the last time we'd fought one. But to get to him, we had to get through the ogre.

And so far, we hadn't made any headway on that front.

But I had a feeling. A gut feeling, but something all the same. I stabbed into the monstrous Eidolon. And this time, it reacted. Not much—the motion felt less like it was trying to kill me and more like it was trying to swat a fly. I parried it. The ogre turned. Then the club moved in earnest. It ripped through the air fast enough to make a tiny thunderclap, and I barely parried that one, too.

"What are you doing, Kade?" Jeff yelled.

"Back off!" I didn't have time to say more. A pair of Rainfall Charges and a single Lightning Charge hung over my sword's tip. I used one on Cloudwalk; the ogre's blows shook my arms to the shoulder, and I was deflecting them instead of catching them. Then I backpedaled as my danger sense lit up in front of me.

The Stormborn Ogre exploded. Lightning rippled out in every direction, covering Jeff and throwing me backward. Raul hadn't engaged yet. I saw him running in the corner of my eye. But my eyes were on the Eidolon—and the Paragon inside of it.

For a moment, as the ogre exploded in lightning, its electric body had dimmed, and the cage around the Paragon had weakened momentarily. I'd caught my first glimpse of Yalagan since the fight started. But I couldn't react in time; the ogre re-formed and kept coming at me, club swinging.

Jeff emerged from the lightning explosion charred. Fury filled his face. I waved him off. Jeff would be fine—especially if he backed off. But if we didn't bring the Stormborn Ogre down, none of the team would be helpful.

They couldn't hurt it. I could.

I kept backpedaling, but shifted back to my two-handed stance. As the lightning Eidolon pursued me, I planted my back foot and threw myself into a vicious lunge. It caught the ogre in the hip, and it roared in pain. Then I spun to pull the blade free. The monstrous club hit my shoulder. Lightning poured across the weapon and into me.

But the Stormsteel gauntlet and breastplate took the worst of it. My skin blistered under my armor, and I jerked away from the monster. One hand came off the sword. I readied myself. Checked everyone's positions.

And I fired a Thunder Wave into the boss.

I echoed it with Lightning Strikes Twice. Then I repeated the process, casting and echoing until not two, but four versions of the spell filled the air. My Mana dropped like a rock as the air between the ogre and me filled with electricity. Arc after blue-white arc filled the gap.

The Stormborn Ogre overloaded.

The Eidolon screamed, a base sound so deep it sounded like thunder—until the real thunder drowned it out. The ball lightning that made up its body glowed, first yellow, then white, then blue. Then they started exploding, rippling thunder across the arena.

When they stopped, half its body was gone.

It stood on one and a half legs, its head missing its right half, its single eye locked on me as smoke poured from its head. Then it collapsed to the left, lightning winking out. Yalagan stepped out of the massive wound. His eyes fixed on me. "You…again…" His voice sounded like stones grinding against one another, a raspy, yet surprisingly high-pitched sound.

"What?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Almost…killed…you…before…" Yalagan said. "Got…a…second…chance…"

"He's the same summoner," Jeff said. "How…?"

"Won't…get…third…" Yalagan finished. "System…demands…victory…"

Then he threw himself up into the air, raised his staff, and spun. Thunderheads spewed from its tip. Before I could react, the entire room was filled with them; ten feet from the floor, lightning arced from cloud to cloud. It all converged on Yalagan's staff. An arrow hit him. Green blood rained down from the wound—and from the Orb of Darkness that slammed into his chest a moment later.

The Paragon ignored both blows. His staff glowed brighter and brighter. So did the lightning burns that covered his body. His cloth robes caught fire, but he ignored the blazing material except to shrug it off.

I started up Energy Font to refill my Mana and dropped my armor for a moment. Before it could even start ticking up, Yalagan slammed into the ground staff first.

Every crack in the floor filled with lightning instantly. Ellen and Yasmin's bodies lit up as electricity poured into them, and I rushed the boss. "Tear…you…apart…" he said.

I slammed the dueling blade into his face.

He pulled back, blood erupting from the wound. Then lightning cauterized it shut. I stabbed twice more as my Mana ticked upward slowly. The summoner's staff crashed into my chest. Ribs popped, but didn't crack. The burning blow scorched through my shirt. I resummoned my breastplate.

The lightning cracks on the floor surged a second time. This time, Ellen and Yasmin were safe. Jeff blocked his, and it rebounded into the staff, then surged across the ceiling. Lightning arced through the air, and the room turned into a grid of electricity.

Yalagan laughed maniacally.

I stabbed him in the chest.

This time, he fell back, coughing as the wound burned shut. And this time, I saw something new. It wasn't the dueling blade cauterizing his wounds. It was his own lightning. My weapon's blows were only adding to it.

And it was spreading fast. Covering his body from both old wounds and new.

I'd been the only one who could kill the Stormborn Ogre Eidolon, but my blows weren't accomplishing anything against Thunder-King Yalagan. If anything, they were making things worse.

"Ellen! Take the Paragon out!" I yelled.

Then I backpedaled, trying to disengage as Jeff charged in behind the boss.

An arrow hit the boss. Then Shadow Box shredded his skin. The wounds didn't cauterize shut—at least, not as quickly. But they still did. A pair of Lightning Charges circled the dueling sword uselessly, along with a single Rainfall and two Winds. I couldn't use any of them. Not effectively.

All I could do was watch and wait for an opportunity.

As the team hammered the boss, something shifted. My limited Mana started to rapidly drain into a zone around me.

"Oh, shit!" I yelled. "Stormbreak!"

I didn't know how Yalagan had picked up my Unique skill. But it was the only thing that made sense. Positive and negative charge zones formed around us, and electricity filled the air, making my hair stand on end.

We had seconds to react. If I couldn't stop it, Stormbreak would kill us all—the boss included, most likely. He'd survived it once, though. There was no guarantee he'd die to it again.

I had only one play.

As my Mana pool drained, I quickly summoned a single Ariette's Zephyr. It danced around my finger for a moment. Then I threw it at the boss.

Headwind wasn't supposed to counter skills. It was only supposed to work on spells. But I didn't have any other options. So, as Stormbreak finished, I tried to counter it.

And it worked. Yalagan stopped casting.

The storm that had been brewing still existed, though. All that energy needed somewhere to go. Jeff activated Split-Second Shield. I threw myself behind it.

And Stormbreak fired.

It had only one target. All the electricity that had been building hit the only place it could: the center of the room. And Yalagan.

His entire body burned bright white, and an agonized scream echoed through the room for a moment. "But…God…said…"

Then the lightning overwhelmed even the Paragon of Lightning. He exploded, leaving behind a core of white light that crackled and sparked.

Thunder shook the ceiling. Rocks started to fall. "Get out!" Jeff yelled. He pointed at the cave's entrance, and the team started running. So did I, but I dashed toward the core. As stones crashed down around me, I used Gustrunner, grabbed the lightning core, and sprinted for the door. I didn't stop running until we stood in the goblin village.

We'd done it. We'd gotten my second Paragon kill. But I needed three more, and the Governing Council had been adamant that I got one a month—at most.

And worse, Yalagan's words—and his very presence—had raised more questions than I had answers for. My brow furrowed as I stared at the core in my hand. "Did he say 'System?'" I asked. "And 'God?'"

Ellen's hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up; her face was half-covered in burns below her robes, and one of her oversized pigtails had been singed away. "We've got a lot to figure out, don't we?" she asked.

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