It took over half an hour before he gave up and walked away. The defeated young man grabbed a frog leg and helmet of water and walked away, cursing under his breath the whole time.
“Well…” Ula’s eyes lit up as she bit into one of the lizard steaks. “This is good!” She swallowed the mouthful. "Well, Judah, do you want to join us this evening?”
“NO!” Frederica shot up. “Don’t you remember what he did!” She touched the back of her head that was hidden by a leather helmet.
The older woman shrugged. “You heard Dawson. He isn’t going back out there with us unless you give him the necklace.”
“But…” The blonde looked around, then pointed at Patrick. “Why can’t he go?”
“You already have a Tank and don’t need two.” The older man leaned back in the beetle shell that he had somehow turned into a lounge chair. “I’m better out here anyway.”
“But. But…” Frederica turned to the younger Tank beside her and slapped his shoulder. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
The young man swallowed the frog meat and looked around. He held up the leg a little. “Good job on the meat!”
“Ugh! You’re hopeless!” The blonde stomped her foot. “Fine! But he doesn’t use his magic!”
“I promise!” Judah bounced up and turned to Penelope. “I’ll stay right by you and—”
“No.” Penelope shook her head. “Your job is to stand next to Marlow and use
“I just said—”
“Fireblast has a range of thirty feet. You’re going to be over fifty away from him.” Penelope cut the older woman off. She fought off a shiver as she cleared her throat. “He won’t be able to hit anyone with that as long as he stays in front of Marlow.”
Frederica started to argue, but her eyes met Ula’s, and she dropped the rant to an inaudible grumble.
“Great!” Ula clapped her hands. “We’ll plan to start back up at six, which will give us time to do two more rooms before we can think about bed.”
“Um…” Penelope cleared her throat. “If we only do two more squares, start at seven in the morning and go until eight again, taking an hour to eat—”
“Just tell us the answer; we don’t care that you can do all that fancy math without a calculator. You don’t have to show off.” Frederica huffed.
Penelope flinched but took a deep breath and continued. “That gives us twenty-five hours to clear forty-five squares. We won’t make it.”
The blonde’s fair skin paled as she shot to her feet. “We’re going to be down here when they all get out?”
Ula motioned for the other woman to sit down. Once she’d taken her seat, the grandmother turned to Penelope. “What do you propose we do?’
Penelope shoved her hands in the robe’s large pockets so people couldn’t see her squeezing her fists tight. “We need to go until at least ten. That only gives us six more hours, which won’t be enough, but we’re also assuming that each square is going to take an hour.”
She pulled her right hand out of her pocket and flicked it in a semicircle. “Here.”
“Eight is Wolves and Snakes. Nine is Boars and Scorpions. Ten looked like Lions and..." She swallowed. “Rabbits.”
“Do you have the stats on them?” Ula looked up from her menu.
Penelope shook her head. “I can only get you the stats on stuff that is in a square that’s next to the safe zone.”
“I forgot you said that already.” Ula shook her head. “Well, neither of these look like they have any defensive skills, so as long as we coordinate our attacks, we should be fine.” The grandmother looked over at Judah. “Though we probably shouldn’t take him in there for his first outing.”
“I can do it!” Judah puffed out his chest. “I’ve been practicing!”
The party leader shook her head. “Let’s stick with what we know right now and get you some levels, then we’ll see about taking you into the seventh column.”
“Okay!” The young man smiled. “When are we going?”
Ula stood up. “Since we’re on a time crunch, we’ll head in there as soon as everyone is done eating.”
**********
6E had a Shadow Assassin leading the Demons with three turtles and two lizards.
“Make sure you keep the boss taunted.” Penelope glanced at Oakley. “It should have at least an assassination skill, and it’ll go for one of the three of us.”
“Will do.” Oakley nodded and they headed in.
Penelope got closer to the group than she had been, just in case Oakely lost aggro with the boss and it decided to go after the backline. She focused on burning a hole through the barriers while Ula and Frederica took care of the lizards.
When the Demon flexed right before it was going to teleport, she threw herself into a roll and pointed her wand where she had just been.
“LIGHT BLAST!”
Her spell washed over empty air.
The Shadow Assassin had hit Oakley, who was on his back with his shield over his chest as the Demon motioned for the turtles to move.
“LIGHT TORRENT!”
As soon as the turtles started spinning, they dropped whatever remained of their barriers, which would have made them easier targets. Except one didn’t.
Her spell crashed into a fresh barrier while the other two turtles spun into the Tank.
“NO!” Frederica screamed, rooted in place.
Ula had started moving, but her warhammer wasn’t stopping the attack, and they had a larger issue.
The Demon wasn’t taunted anymore.
The glowing red eyes focused on Penelope, but she could tell that they weren’t looking at her, only trying to make everyone think it was. “JUDAH! FIRE!!!”
The young man looked confused but pointed his staff towards the Demon and released a wave of flames.
The flames wouldn’t have reached the Shadow Assassin even if the Demon hadn’t teleported again, but that wasn’t the point. Judah was in between Penelope and Marlow, and his flames had blocked the Demon’s view of the three of them.
It wasn’t expecting Penelope to utter her spell under her breath and point the four
The Shadow Assassin appeared with one of the four inside it.
That was enough to stagger the Demon and give Penelope time to hit it with two more. The Demon dropped its loot and vanished back to the Abyss. Judah’s eyes widened as he realized what had just happened. He stopped his spell and moved back behind the Healer.
The rest of the fight was simple. Oakley got battered more than usual, but his armor was only dented, and Marlow was able to heal the bruises. The enchanted loot was leather pants with a point of Speed, which was given to Judah as his first piece of loot.
The next square had a mace-wielding Shadow Warrior. It went as smoothly as 6B had and earned Ula a pair of metal leg guards that gave her two points in Power.
6G held a buffer, which they handled like they had 6C. It left behind the spell
6H had a Shadow Knight, which they wore down like 6A and 6D. Ula and Marlow both hit level ten after they finished this square. The Demon left behind a ring that granted two points in Defense, which was claimed by Frederica for Oakley.
6I and 6J were both Shadow Assassins. Judah was more cautious, and Oakley was better prepared and didn’t get knocked down either time. Frederica got a leather jacket and a pair of leather pants out of it; both gave her a point of Speed each.
Penelope took one look at 7J and shook her head. “There’s three minutes until midnight. I think we’re done.”
The others agreed and started trudging back to the camp that Patrck was making.
Penelope sighed as she rolled her shoulders. “Are we going to have enough time?”
“Seven and eight go faster since the monsters aren’t as tanky.” Jeru appeared in front of her. “The challenge is going to be nine and ten.” He shook his head. “The monsters in nine are tanky and ten, well…” The blue Elf shuddered and the next words held too much reverence. “Has Demonic Rabbits…”
“I’m too tired to unpack that.” Penelope rubbed her eyes and yawned. “That’s a tomorrow me problem.”
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