Kiri tapped my arm, and my bones strengthened. I Sprinted, but not to the centre like others. I sprinted to the right towards the archer. As I started the Sprint, I was light on my feet, but I soon stopped the Gravity Filter, as I planned to be using my full weight.

Kiri was right behind me, and I raised my shield to catch any arrows.

The archer was firing arrows for all he was worth, but he was not shooting at me. I followed the arrows with Void Sensing, and he was aiming at The Claw. The Claw was fast, though and wove in amongst other combatants in the area. My guess was that he had some vendetta against the Claw and thought this was his only way of getting him. It was a bad decision.

His shield warrior was no slouch, though and moved to intercept me. He was braced to take my charge, and I wanted to test myself as well. I went low with my shield and saw him angle his shield at the last minute to deflect me. This had also been my training, and I angled to counter, and when our shields clashed, I activated Seismic Smash.

My charge only partially countered his shield angle, and my momentum shifted me to the side enough for his sword strike to snake past my shield, cutting into my greave that turned an arterial cut into a scratch that didn't penetrate Tough Hide.

The Shield warrior didn't come off without damage, as my Seismic Smash literally shook his foundation. I am sure he has some sort of sure-footed skill that helped him keep his feet, but his knees still buckled.

My claws slid on the wet stone as I rotated, bringing my axe in a sideways slice. He was forced to bring his shield to counter, but I enhanced it with the power of Death Strike. He got his shield in place, but his feet were not planted, and he stumbled back.

This enabled me to get my feet sorted and go on the offensive. He was good, but he had already failed. Jinx had not stopped when I engaged the shield warrior. She had run past and sliced the archer's hamstrings, and he went down in a heap. She laid him out with a hilt strike to the head.

The Shield Warrior stepped back and held up his arms. "I am done," he said. "My contract is to keep him alive," he pointed to the archer. "I told him he needed three of us. I will only fight if we are attacked further."

I saw Jinx nod, so I backed off and moved to engage the other person who had come for the archer. Jinx was dual-wielding short swords, and she was pretty good. In order to dual-wield, you needed Journeyman Level swords and a high Mental Agility. She could use each hand independently and parry with one while striking with the other and moving both to a double block, etc.

My weakness in Mental Agility was showing. My Void Sensing picked up everything in the pit, but I could not concentrate on everything at once. I was engaged with a spearman, and my focus was on her. I would flick my attention to others near me, watching for a backstab, but I could only concentrate on one thing at a time.

The Pit was a messy brawl, and I kept my attention on Kiri, me, and those close to us. The Spear orc that had come for the archer was also good. Only my Journeyman-level Shield kept it away; even then, I had some small bleeds that I had to stop. She wouldn't allow me to close with her into axe range.

She tried to draw me away from Jinx, who was engaged with the Weeping Angel and his dual swords. I refused to be drawn away from being near Jinx. She was my priority. I used the spear orc's attempt to pull me away as a chance to strike at the Weeping Angel and disrupt him. The two were not together. They just happened to be close.

Both Jinx and the Weeping Angel were bleeding, as dual-wielding swords was a good offence and weak defence. I am pretty sure the Weeping Angel had Regeneration, just like Jinx. Jinx had the advantage of my clotting her blood and closing her wounds now and then. It made her seem like her Regeneration was much higher than it was.

Then my opponent got side-swiped by the Smasher, coming to help his gangmate. She went down with a broken leg and possibly a broken hip.

The Smasher would probably have stopped to finish her off if I had not darted in with my axe. I had seen him coming, so I was ready, and I sliced deep into one of his arms before he swung his hammer loosely at me to get away. My shield easily deflected the hammer, and I was pushing hard at him with my shield and axe.

His hammer was designed for two hands, and while he had the attributes to wield it with one hand, it was not as practised. His arm had blood pouring from my cut, but was still partially functional.

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I whistled. It was our signal that I needed to go on the offensive, and Jinx should stay close. The Smasher was on the back foot, and he was one of the dangerous ones in the Pit. Together, the Weeping Angel and the Smasher were a pair we needed to keep apart and make sure they stayed down.

I kept pushing forward after Smasher with shield and axe, fighting offensively. Then the Smasher did something weird with the hammer, and it changed direction when it shouldn't have, and it came in low, and I took a hard hit on my thigh. It was some sort of powered strike, and not even Jinx's hardened bones and my Damage Shield could stop my thigh bone from breaking.

I stumbled, and I saw the Smasher smile. I still deflected his next strike and sliced the side of his face with my axe, but I could not put any weight on my leg. His next skilled strike was caught on my shield, but it sent me flying backwards.

I dropped my axe as I slid back on the wet stone. He came at me fast with revenge on his face for my cut. Swift Hands and Knife Throw, put a knife in his thigh just above his knee. My knowledge of Anatomy told me where the tendons were, and it was enough to have him slip to his knees.

His hammer still came down at my legs, but I managed to move them out of the way and then Jinx flashed past with her orange hair flying and stabbed him in the back. The Weeping Angel was after her and was really angry, so she couldn't stop as she tripped another combatant on her way past. That competitor fell in the Angel's way and slowed him down, and I got one of my knives in the Angel's ribs.

I recalled the two knives, and I struggled to my feet, heading for my axe.

"Should have stayed down," I heard behind me, and a Rat came for a backstab. His stealth was excellent in the open environment, but he couldn't hide from my Void Sensing. My Shield met his stab, and I kept twisting and used a partial Tooth of the Mountain to get close and into a Crushing Embrace.

He was a rogue type and fast, but not tough. I crushed him with claws and teeth, the shield making it awkward. My thigh was screaming in pain as I tossed his broken body away, saying, "Stay down."

Jinx was in trouble. Her swoop past to kill the Smasher had cost her, and the Angel was very good. I know Jinx/Kiri had training from proper sword experts, and it was clear the Angel did as well. Was he some sort of fallen noble? He was certainly more aggressive in his sword work than Jinx. He possibly had more than one healing skill as well, as her wounds and my knife didn't seem to slow him down.

I chanced a quick look at the wider pit. There were three main fights going on, Jinx and the Angel being one of them. The Claw was in a brawl with three others, and it seemed it was everybody against everybody. The other fight was two-on-two, but I don't know whether the pairings were just for convenience. A spearman and a mace wielder were fighting a swordsman and a knife-wielding Rat. That fight was close to us.

The Angel had his back mostly to me. I couldn't get there fast with my leg, so I slipped my shield off my arm and threw it like a disc. I aimed for his legs to take them out from under him, or at least tangle them. I might have the specialised Knife Throw, but I still had the generalised skill Throw Weapons.

Kiri must have seen me as she moved, so his back was directly to me, and the shield struck both legs at the back of the knees. He didn't fall down, but he did stumble, and Jinx was waiting for it.

She twisted he sword in a move that sent one of his flying out of his hand, blocking the other sword with her own. She then went furiously on the offensive, taking advantage of the situation. The Angel was not out and tried several sword moves and switching to unarmed moves, but that was something Jinx was good at as well, and she sliced and stabbed. It looked like the Angel was going to surrender when she took his head off his shoulders. There was no coming back from that.

I had limped over to my axe while Jinx was busy and picked it up. Everybody was busy, as my leg was making it obvious I was weak.

Jinx wiped her blade clean on the corpse at her feet and then walked over to me. She touched my hip, and I felt several pulses of Fuse Bone hold my thigh together. I reciprocated with Blood Clot, Extract Impurities, and Close Wound. Then we each had a shot of Revitalise.

We studied the Pit. The Claw was finishing off his last opponent, but one of his arms was limp. The last person standing from the other fight was the Rat. He had just finished slicing the hamstrings of his swordsman partner.

I saw the Rat give the Claw a nod and move to circle us, and the Claw approached from the front. The Claw's arm seemed to be getting better every second.

He growled at me. It was definitely at me, and my beast nature growled back. His hackles rose as I had slipped in some Dread. I hadn't meant to, but it was a straight reaction. He wasn't going to back down, and apparently, I wasn't either.

I assessed him. He was missing several knives. He had blood on his claws and mouth. He tested the movement of his arm, and it was getting better.

I had my axe, but my shield was out of reach. I moved toward him, remembering to limp. Jinx will watch my back now and keep the Rat away.

Suddenly, the Claw howled, dropped to all fours, and sprinted towards me. His damaged arm means he has a small limp. I stop my limp forward and prepare to receive him.

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