Frederica was the one waiting for them when the barrier came down.

  The blonde woman was screaming at the others while Judah was trying to calm her down.

  “I thought you said Ula would be the first one up?” Penelope muttered under her breath as she picked up the gray robe and put it on.

  “You try remembering the quirks of six hundred different humans, not to mention the five thousand non-humans in the city!” Jeru folded his arms across his chest. “She’s really got it out for you though.”

  Penelope sighed. “I don’t know why. I have no interest in trying to build a relationship with someone in here.” She shuddered. “How could you keep saying the same thing to someone in every loop without it feeling like they’re intentionally forgetting you?” Penelope touched her lips as she thought about the loop where she got the card. “I can’t imagine what that would be like.” She looked at her companion. “I already told her that I don’t have any interest in seducing Oakley, why does she have it in for me?”

  “People apply the way they would act to others. Since she would lure a young man out alone and seduce him to do her will…” Jeru looked at Judah, who was still trying to defend her. “Yeah… he’s not helping you by trying to help you.”

  “Ugh!” Penelope picked up the discarded armor and started walking towards the gathering crowd.

  “We agreed to share things as a group and she’s running off by herself again.” The older woman motioned at Judah. “And look at what she’s done to poor Jughead! She’s got him thinking that he doesn’t need to be our cook anymore!”

  “She didn’t–”

  “Judah.” Penelope silenced him with a word. She groaned inwardly at how fast he complied. Penelope turned to the party leader. “Ula, I couldn’t sleep, so I cleared the west squares that I could do on my own. Judah woke up while I was doing them and asked if he could get some experience to level up.” She pointed at the pile of gear. “He’s been collecting the gear and watching.”

  “And now he wants to be her little gopher instead of learning how to cook better!” The blonde glared at Penelope. “What are we going to eat if she gets him killed?”

  “Frederica, we’ve got more than enough cooked meat to last us a week and there are only three days left. “ Penelope swallowed when she realized everyone was looking at her. “I wasn’t going to get him killed. I was just pointing out that she didn’t have a logical argument.”

  “Why you…” Frederica threw her arms around Oakley’s neck. “Can you believe she just called me dumb?!”

  “I…” Penelope turned to the tanned older woman. “The gear from the square right there.” She pointed at the pile. “What I’m wearing…” She pulled on the robe. “Is a piece of Magic gear that buffs metal spells, so I’m the only one who can use it.”

  Ula looked at the pile of items, then nodded at 5C. “Why did you skip that room?”

  “Told you they would get suspicious.” Jeru groaned.

  Penelope ignored him and shook her head. “It’s a stun Caster just like the one I fought in 4A.” She pointed at the minions. “When I can kill the little monsters first, then I can swamp the Demon with spells to kill it before I get stunned, and I just have to wait for the paralysis to wear off. The spiders and frogs are all ranged attackers, so I doubted I’d be able to kill them before the Demon got close.” She looked at Frederica. “I actually think about what’s in the square before I let someone follow me somewhere.”

  Penelope looked away from the daggers the blue-eyed woman glared at her. Everyone’s gaze was suffocating, but Frederica trying to lock eyes with her felt like metal drilling into her skull.

  Penelope closed her eyes and took a few long breaths while Ula thought. She felt like she was waiting for a mom to decide who broke the vase.

  “Penelope. Every person here is important. If you and Judah had died, we’d be short almost all of our ranged damage—

  “HEY!” Dawson interrupted. “I’m a Caster too!”

  “Dawson.” Ula gave him the mom glare. “Hush.”

  The young man grumbled as he looked down at his feet.

  “Now.” The oldest woman there continued. “We are a team, which means we need to act like it.” She looked at Penelope. “So no more doing rooms by yourself. And…” Ula looked at Frederica. “Quit stirring up stuff. Fight the monsters, not our team members.”

  Penelope nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Okay…” Frederica sniffled. “It’s just…” She ran her right hand across the back of her hairless scalp. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt like this. When I think about it, I just get so emotional.”

  “Pull yourself together, girl. You’re fifty, not five.” Ula shook her head and looked at everyone. “Since we’re all awake now, we’ll start back up after we eat.” She looked at Judah. “There’s a lot of people mixed in with the monsters. You need to be able to hit your target every time so you don’t hit someone else.” She nodded south. “Once you can hit a stationary target from max range, we’ll talk about rotating you in.”

  “I’m going to go practice! I’ll have it down today. You’ll see!” The young man was smiling ear to ear as he ran to find a target.

  Ula chuckled as she started walking back to the camp.

  “I’m not fifty!” Frederica called after the older woman. She turned to the man whose neck she was still clinging to. “I’m barely thirty; you believe me, don’t you?”

  Penelope shook her head as she walked away.

  **********

  Frederica took the helmet instead of Ula.

  The extra Power made her attacks stronger and helped to hide the missing hair on the back of her head. It turned into sheer vanity, but Ula gave in to shut her up.

  5C proved to be difficult for the group. The melee unit headed in first like normal, and Oakley was stunned as soon as he got in range of the Demon. Without a taunt to hold their attention, the smaller monsters attacked whoever the Demon directed.

  Ula was doing her best to hold the two frogs back as they smashed their tongues into the immobile Tank.

  “I need some help over here!” The grandmother screamed as she tried to slice a tongue.

  “A little busy!” Penelope flicked her wand, sending a pair of towards the closest spider. The Demon had decided that she was the most dangerous enemy and was keeping all the monsters just out of her reach.

  The three spiders had spread out and were harassing the ranged party, which was having to group together. Dawson was red in the face as he screamed. “Poison! Poison! Poison! Why aren’t these spiders getting poisoned?!?”

  “He needs to use instead of

  .” Jeru sighed. “He should have realized that the spiders are immune to the poison status by now.”

  “The spiders are venomous, your poison isn’t strong enough to affect them. Use an attack spell.” Penelope pointed her wand at another spider. The attack and fade tactics were making it impossible for her to hit a monster because they could stay at the edge of her range while still being close enough to hit others.

  “HELP!!!”

  Penelope looked over at the screaming blonde.

  Frederica had tried to sneak up on the Demon, but had gotten stuck in the webbing. Cutting herself out had drawn the attention of the Demon, who was shooting electricity out of the tip of its wand into her.

  “Move!” Penelope pulled all of her to the north west as she ran to help the older woman.

  “Wait up!” Marlow took off after her. “Nature’s Touch!”

  Penelope forced the Demon back, cutting off the attack, but Frederica had a black hole in the middle of her armor. The scent of burnt flesh filled her nostrils as Penelope stood over the blonde, daring any of the monsters to get close enough for her to hit them.

  Frederica was covered in a soft green glow as Marlow caught up to them and started healing her. Dawson was right behind him, greenish goo shooting out of the tip of his staff.

  Oakley roared, drawing everything’s attention back to him as he shook off the stun. Ula used the moment of changed focus to charge one of the frogs and smashed it between the eyes with her war hammer.

  “Once we kill the Demon, the little ones will rush us, and we can finish them off.” Penelope patted Marlow on the shoulder. “I’m going to finish this. You good?”

  “I’ve got him.” Dawson stared down the shaft of his staff like it was a sniper rifle. “Go!”

  Penelope nodded and took off towards the Shadow Caster.

  You know it’s going to stun you the moment you get close enough?

  “Light Blast!” Penelope cleared the spiderwebs on the stone floor in front of her. “I’ve got eight balls, and hopefully, they’ll keep the little ones off of me until I can move again.” She took a deep breath as she ran faster. “If not, I’ll try it again.”

  The convergence of projectiles that she commanded hungered for the Demon as she chased it down. The Demon roared, pulling the other monsters away from the rest of the party to help it.

  Given the reprieve, Marlow cast healing spells one after the other on Oakley and Frederica while Dawson stood between the Healer and the monsters. Ula finished the second frog, then charged after the spiders.

  Penelope was fast enough that she caught up to the demon before it reached the corner. She twisted as it fired multiple paralysis spells. The spells went wide as she guided her spells into the Demon. The first one smashed into the side of the Shadow Buffer’s head, the second one caved it in, and the third reduced the Demon to a pile of goo.

  Penelope turned around and pointed her wand at the charging spiders. The projectiles were at the other end of her range. Instead of trying to use the that were already active, she dismissed them and focused on recasting the spell.

  “Light Torrent! Light Torrent!”

  It took two to kill a Demonic Spider. One to crack the shell and another to tear a hole in it. That left her with two extra to keep the webbing off of her.

  Ula reached one of the spiders before her spells did. The War Hammer grew in size as the grandma brought it down on the back of the spider, crushing it.

  The other two fell to Penelope’s spells, and the barriers came down. Penelope let her shoulders sag as the party leader walked up to her.

  “This is why I didn’t try this alone.” She chuckled as she sat down.

  Ula nodded. “Thanks. I don’t think we could have done this without you.” She held out her hand.

  “Same.” Penelope took the outstretched hand and stood up. She turned east and started walking. “Let me know when they’re ready to do the next one.”

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