They ate lunch in 13B.

  They had found one of the command center-type circular rooms in the northwest side near the 14th column and 13A and gone back there to eat.

  “I can’t believe I’m level six already!” Cecil flexed. “I’ll be part of the main force by the end of the day!”

  “Calm down.” Skylar adjusted her glasses. “The main force only needs the highest-level people so they can open the area for us.” She scowled. “You’ll only catch up to them once they cap out for this floor.”

  “Ah, man.” Cecil sat back down and held up a piece of almost burnt Belch Rat meat. “I’m getting tired of eating meat for every meal. When are we going to get some bread or something?”

  “The moment we run into a bread monster.” Patrick growled. He glared at the younger man. “You’re welcome to eat some of the monster hair or scales if you want.” He motioned at Robert. “I’m sure Stones over here could grind up the bones if you want to try to make bread that way.”

  Is there a bread monster?

  “I’ve seen plant monsters that you can harvest seeds from that work like grain.” Jeru thought for a moment. “But those have only ever been on the nature floor. It’s much easier to just wait until you can go into the city and buy what they have there.”

  Cecil grimaced and threw the meat back on the small pile in front of them. “I’m good.”

  “Speaking of Stones…” Patrick turned to Frederica. “I need him to make some walls. It’ll be a lot easier on the guards if we just wall off the safe zone.”

  Frederica swallowed her meal and turned to Penelope. “How far ahead do we need to get before we have enough of a cushion to look for Dawson?”

  The room went silent. It was just the four teams, but they’d all been chatting in their own little groups. Penelope tried to shake the feeling of being very naked as all eyes turned to the edge of the room where she’d been hiding.

  “The thing that takes the longest is exploring the rooms inside each square, and that’s not going to get any faster the deeper we go.” Penelope looked down at her hands. She still felt exposed, but at least her mind wasn’t reminding her of all the stares. To distract herself, she checked the time in her menu.

  “We know we have at least 84 more squares to clear, and it’s taking us over an hour on average, and that’s without considering that fights might start taking longer if there is more attack and fade like we were doing on the first floor.” Penelope hesitated, but the others would be able to do the same math she did, so there was no reason to try to obscure the numbers.

  “Spit it out, girl.” Patrick grumbled. “Some of us don’t want to sit here all day and watch you think.”

  “If we stop today, and if Dawson’s group hasn’t cleared any more than 11G, then we’re looking at seven squares a day.” She cleared her throat. “Which is more than we’ve managed to do so far.”

  “We’ve had a few setbacks, but you’re right…” Frederica looked over at Oakley. “What do you think?”

  “Dawson is DANGEROUS!” Kent jumped up. “He KILLED one of us, and you want to know what we think?” The former financial analyst growled. “There’s only one thing you do to a rabid dog like that, and it’s put it down!” His gaze hardened as he glared at Frederica. “Permanently.”

  Oakley stepped in between the two, his shield ready to block an attack from the other Assassin.

  “I hear what you’re saying, but at what cost?” Marlow held up his hands as he got in between the two men. He turned to the angry man. “A war amongst ourselves right now would only weaken us, and there’s no way that we are so much stronger than him that we’d walk away unscathed.” All warmth left his voice. “How many of us would you sacrifice to avenge someone you met less than a week ago?”

  “You’re a coward.” Kent spat. “We’ve got two parties of Tier Ones and over two parties of level sixes.” He spread his arms as he turned around, looking for support. “Come on, you have to see it! The longer we wait, the stronger they get!”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Actually.” Penelope swallowed as she stood up; Circe fell into step behind her. “They shouldn’t know that you can send four groups into a square, which means that the longer we wait to confront them, the stronger we’ll be.” She turned to Frederica. “We’ll be level twenty if we keep going the way we’re going in column seventeen. Unless they’re able to clear squares faster than we can, that should allow us to cap out, and then if we have to clear their squares, we’ll be able to let the lower-level groups go in and clear them with some of the people from Patrick’s harvesters.”

  Frederica thought for a moment. “How long would that take us?”

  “We should be able to get through 14 and 15 today, which means we would be able to do 16 and 17 tomorrow.” Penelope glanced over at Kent. “One more day to cap us out.”

  “You’re still not going to kill him.” The older man spat. “You don’t have it in you.”

  “She might not, but I do.” Frederica blinked behind Kent, grabbing his wrist and pinning him to the floor, one of her daggers against his neck. “I’m still in charge, and you’re coming dangerously close to starting something you can’t finish, so unless you want to be the first person I have to execute, CALM. DOWN!”

  Kent struggled but couldn’t break free of her grip. “This is abuse!”

  “This is making a point.” Frederica hissed. “You might have the same class as me, but you don’t have experience with it. Even since you’ve hit Tier One, you’re still staying near the back, out of the fight. Stop acting all big and tough.”

  “I think…” Marlow put his hand on Frederica’s shoulder. “The point you’re trying to make is that we’re all worked up. None of us want to see a murderer go free, and we’ll make sure that Dawson pays eventually, but right now, we don’t have the power to bring him to justice.”

  “Lies!” Kent struggled. “Somebody help me! Are you all going to stand there and—”

  Frederica knocked him out with a single punch.

  The leader brushed off her hands as she stood up. “We don’t have time to fight amongst ourselves.” She turned to Oakley. “Move him to one of those rooms.” She turned to Robert. “Lock the door once he’s inside. I’ll talk to him once we get finished with the next zone.”

  While the two men hurried to comply with her orders, Frederica turned to address the rest of the group. “This whole situation we’re in is very stressful. I get that, but if we turn on each other, then those monsters out there…” She jabbed her finger towards column 14. “Are just going to slaughter us like they did when the bosses on the first floor broke loose.”

  She waited a moment for that to sink in. “I know many of you might not like me, but I know you hate those monsters more, so how about we put our differences aside and fight the thing that wants to kill us in our sleep?!”

  Marlow started a slow clap, which Penelope joined, then Circe and Eldri, until finally all of the people in the room were clapping.

  “Okay.” Frederica motioned for the clapping to stop. “Pea, looks like you need another person on your team when we go after the next zone. Who do you want?”

  “Skylar.”

  The whispers started immediately, none of them loud enough for her to hear.

  “I know she’s a Healer.” Penelope raised her voice. “But Power is her second highest stat, and carrying the gear was Kent’s job.” She looked over at the thin blonde. “Getting another Healer to Tier One will make the groups more survivable almost as much as bringing an extra Tank would.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Frederica turned to Patrick. “Tell your people what you want them doing while we’re in the next zone, then get ready to head back out with us.”

  “Should’ve picked Brad…” Patrick grumbled as he walked away.

  “What was that?!” Frederica called after the grumbling man, but he didn’t turn around to answer her.

  “What are you going to do?” Penelope nodded to her left, where Oakley and Robert were locking up Kent.

  “I’m going to talk to him and see if he’s calmed down once we get out.”

  “Doubtful.”

  Not helping. Penelope tried to focus on the woman talking to her instead of the voice in her head.

  “If he has, then I’ll let him out; if not, then we’ll have to add someone else into the rotation and phase him out.”

  “Hopefully he sees that we’re all on the same side and we just want everyone to get out alive.” Penelope shook her head.

  “He’d sell his own mother if it meant making a dollar, and you can believe that even if he hangs his head, he’s never going to forgive Freddy for knocking him out in public. It might not be today or even a week from now, but some day, he’ll get revenge for it.” The blue Elf’s voice grew more urgent. “Sometimes he can play ball, but you need to cut him loose before he has a chance to get too strong to deal with.”

  “I doubt it.” Frederica suppressed a shiver. “But we’ll see.” She motioned for her group to gather up. “Everyone meet up at the intersection in 13A, and we’ll start in the new zone.” She clapped her hands. “Let’s hurry! The faster we get this done, the faster we can all rest!”

  Penelope hung back as she waited for Robert and Patrick to finish their tasks.

  “She should have killed him.” Circe spat as she glared at the prison cell. “Would have sent a stronger signal.”

  “Girl has a point.” Jeru agreed.

  “It would have.” Penelope shook her head. “But then Frederica would have been staying in power through fear and strength. It would have only been a matter of time before someone decided to try to overthrow us.”

  “If she’s not willing to kill threats, then people will have nothing to lose if they take a run at her.” Circe glared at the bars. “Mercy only lasts until someone gets lucky.”

  Penelope watched the younger woman head for the door.

  “This.” Pain filled Jeru’s voice. “Is one of the hardest parts to watch every time.”

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild