The sheer, blue waves cast about Patricia from my Echo Snare dissolved right as the trap caught her spell.

Patricia glanced down at the hand she had used to cast her spell for about half a second. She was obviously confused why it looked as if her magic projectile had seemingly fallen flat before her feet instead of shooting at the mangled creature looming before her, a monster appeared to have been formed from slabs of gooey flesh and nothing else.

However, Patricia recovered quickly and landed an expert shot with her crossbow, the arrow digging right in between the creature's beady, oozing eyes.

I awaited the usual warm, tingly feeling of a pool of essence making up the form of a stolen spell to overcome me, but that didn't happen. Instead, new knowledge spilled into my head like someone had turned on a faucet. All of a sudden, I knew how to cast the echoed version of Patricia's spell, like it was instinct–as every bit a part of me as the instinct to smile when I heard something funny.

But that strange yet instinctual feeling was fading… fast. According to my Echo Snare Skill, I only had twenty seconds to cast the trapped spell once I caught one. And as every second ticked by, the strength of the spell slipped more and more away. A coldness spread throughout my body as the spell continued to fade, akin to what it was like to lose too much blood.

My chest tightened, and I could barely remember to breathe. I had to act quickly.

Thankfully, my mind was stronger than the anxiety that came from feeling the trapped spell slip away from me like one of those sly lizards I used to attempt catching as a boy in Edrona. Patricia had been throwing bolts of white, lightning-like projectiles at the monsters–a good spell for someone who depended on ranged fighting like she did. All I needed to do was aim and… cast the spell, right? My echo of her spell wouldn't be as strong as when Patricia cast it, as per the stipulations of my Echo Snare Skill, but it should prove effective all the same.

I glared at my hands as if they were foes I intended to cut down mercilessly. I then urged the spell from my mind and commanded it to simmer toward my fingers as I prepared to cast it.

A giant lizard (about three times my size) slithered toward me, directly to my left, with a fiery red and purple head that resembled that of the dragon Sarina and I had defeated in that cavern. To my right, a winged wolf-like thing snarled at me with its yellowing teeth. The muscles in the wolf's shoulders rippled underneath its flank as it stalked in my direction.

Before I moved into action, a slight tingling sensation arose in the fingertips of my right hand. The spell was ready.

I didn't have time to debate my next move. I shifted my spear to my left hand, prepared to protect myself from the lizard if I needed to, but the winged, gray wolf was closer. With the spear still poised toward the lizard, I met eyes with the wolf. I then pointed my right fingers straight at its maw and shot the essence out of me before the wolf could pounce.

A bolt of lightning–real lightning that actually sent a shock of shudder-inducing electricity through my body–shot from my hand and sliced through the air with so much speed it released a loud crack.

The side of the blinding white bolt struck the wolf, catching the monster just before it attempted a swipe at me with one of its menacing claws.

The spell slashed open the wolf's cheek, then continued through its flesh until it struck bone. The fur around the monster's gaping, gory wound had been singed by the lightning bolt. Trails of smoke danced around the gash where hairs and whiskers had burned away.

The wolf teetered over, landing on its right flank on the ground with a soft whimper–a sound more cat-like than beast-like. Though its chest still rose and fell from its labored breaths, the monster made no effort to push itself back onto its feet.

A brush of dry, rough scales raked against my face as my lizard enemy attempted to strike me with its tail. Somehow, it mostly missed, barely scraping my forehead.

I turned on the scaly foe with a scowl and barreled toward it, simultaneously forcing essence stores through my spear and both of my arms. I jumped high into the air and slammed the tip of my weapon between the lizard's eyes. My muscles groaned underneath the strain I put on them as I maintained a flow of essence through them. But as the lizard monster fell limp underneath me, I barely paid heed to the discomfort as satisfaction overtook me.

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As I yanked my spear out from the corpse, I noticed my right hand still tingling. I can't explain how, but I knew I had one shot left of my echo of Patricia's spell. Perhaps her spell always summoned two bolts at one time?

I glanced around, searching for my next target, then noticed the same lion-like beast I'd attacked earlier with my copy of Reese's highly accurate, light-beam spell. The lion had recovered enough from my spell to return to stalking its prey: Cinthara.

The shot the second and final bolt of the lion, hitting the monster on its right shoulder. The monster's leg underneath the new injury completely gave way, and the lion crashed into the ground face-first.

Cinthara turned on the lion, her violet eyes glowing ablaze with a passionate fire. She stared down the beast and positioned a pearly-white boot right in between its massive ribcage–so huge and covered so thick with fur that it seemed her foot had been swallowed by a golden dune of sand.

With an almost inhuman snarl, Cinthara sliced her rapier's blade across the wide throat of the lion. A river of blood spurted from the monster's wound at a steady flow that gave no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The lion shuddered for maybe five seconds and opened its maw to try and utter a howl, whine–something–but no sound came out. Cinthara had sliced through the creature's jugular with impressive strength. The shudders slowed to a stop, and the life in the lion's dark eyes faded to nothing.

Within the few seconds it took for the lion to die, Cinthara had already advanced toward one of the final monsters from the ambush at the other end of the cave.

I moved on, as well, replicating Reese's spell once again, which was even easier the second time now that I had officially stolen a copy and had the spell in my memory banks. The yellow light shot through the fingers of my right hand toward the monster that Gareth and the rest of the group, save Cinthara, fought together, striking the giant bug straight in its hard face, just where I had directed the spell to go.

The beetle that towered over Gareth, who was already tall, by at least two feet, howled an ear-splitting scream as the spell hit. It made the bug hesitate, giving the team just enough opportunity to strike it down.

I channeled all the essence from the spell I'd just cast to throw another Echo Snare in front of Patricia as she thrust a bolt of lightning toward the bug to administer the final blow. Within the next second, I took my second echo of the small girl's spell and hurled my own lightning bolt toward the final enemy that slithered just behind me.

The snake's upper body ascended above me, poised to strike. But before it could, my bolt slammed straight into the snake's teeth, knocking the fangs out and dizzying the monster.

The upper half of the snake fell forward, threatening to knock me over from where I stood. With a quick burst of essence through both my legs and the armor surrounding them, I hurled myself to the left before the snake could crush me.

I ran back to the fallen monster with just as much speed and thrust my spear through its hard scales and successfully squished through to the other side of the snake with all of the strength I could muster.

A chorus of cheering erupted all around me just as soon as the snake died at my feet. I whirled in a full circle, studying our surroundings and realizing that we had defeated the entire monstrous horde. Two dozen corpses lay mangled beneath us, a gruesome yet beautiful sight.

I joined in on the cheering, allowing my comrades to slap me on the back triumphantly. I could even hear Eira participate with her own soft trillings. I'd nearly forgotten about my pet sitting there in the belt pouch at my hip. Experimenting with my new Echo Snare Skill had taken all of my focus.

Cinthara sidled in next to me with a tired smile and a mixture of different types of colored blood dirtying her once-perfect set of armor. Though she looked just as pretty as always. Maybe even more so, if that made sense. The sweat dripping from her hairline and the redness in her cheeks, caused by the exertion of battle, offered her delicate features a subtle glow.

Cinthara caught me staring and flashed me a questioning look. I swallowed and averted my gaze.

"Well done, Elite Group #1!" Gareth cried over the cheering, saving me from my awkwardness.

The cheering stopped, replaced by the sounds of heavy breathing, as our exhaustion hit us like a sudden onslaught of falling boulders.

I tried to keep my breathing steady, determined to maintain a continuous flow of essence streams through my body to stall the eventual crash that would come from the extensive enhancements I had made to my body with the streams during the battle.

"What now?" I directed to Gareth, wiping away a bead of sweat off my lip. "Was that all we needed to do? And how are we supposed to climb out of here?"

I stared at the pack still tied to Gareth that held the ladder we'd used to climb into the deep rift. Though the rope ladder could easily be used to get us down into the depths of the chasm, it wouldn't prove very useful in getting us out of them.

"The exit will appear any minute," Gareth said.

I shared confused glances with my other teammates. He'd never mentioned any sort of "exit" before, let alone one that would appear.

I opened my mouth to question Gareth's words, but he interrupted me with, "While we wait, harvest what you can carry from the monsters. Once the exit opens, we don't have much time before it will close again."

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