Penelope used <Clairvoyance> before they walked in.

"There's an open room on the left." Penelope pointed with her wand. "I can't see how far it goes, so it's at least 100 feet wide."

"So we need to expect a group in there." Patrick pulled his shield closer to his body. "Can you see the monsters?"

"No." Penelope shook her head. "I'm cancelling the spell now."

"You should keep it up." Kent grumbled. "Would be nice to know when the monsters were about to hit us."

"You know using it like that gives her vertigo!" Circe snapped. "Quit giving her a hard time for making our lives easier!"

"You do you, girlie." The older man waved her away. "Not my fault she can't walk around while using her spell."

"One kick and he'd never say anything negative to you again." Jeru kicked his incorporeal foot between Kent's legs.

I'm not going to rule through violence and threats. The memory of her threatening Kent floated to the surface. Penelope forced it back down. I don't want to have to be like that all the time to get people to do what I want.

"Say that again!" Circe clenched her fist.

"Circe." Penelope put her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "He's doing it to get a rise out of you so he has an excuse to fight. Let him act like a fool and ignore him. That'll be worse than any insult or fist you could lob at him."

"Won't feel as good as the ole punt in the nards." Jeru grumbled. "But you've got a point."

"But he's being a jerk!" Circe turned to Penelope. "He's old enough to know you can't talk to people like that!"

Penelope ignored the grin on Kent's face. "Unfortunately, he's old enough to know that he can get away with being disrespectful, even if he should also be old enough to know that it isn't kind." She focused on Circe. "He's doing it because he thinks it's funny to see your reaction. If you stop reacting, he'll either stop with the names or he'll use worse ones." She put as much venom as she could into her next words. "He should be smart enough to know not to do that."

The older man glared at her, but Penelope refused to meet his gaze.

WHOOSH…SCREECH

"Let's go!" Penelope motioned for Patrick to head through the barrier. "Take your first left, and we should meet up with Frederica's team!"

The armored man walked into the square, keeping his eyes focused down the tunnel. The room was close enough that Penelope had cast <Light> into it while she was using <Clairvoyance>. She kept her focus on the branch to the right, 30 feet from the barrier. Experience had taught her that there'd be a group of Demons coming from that direction, so she kept her spell ready as the others followed Patrick into the room.

Penelope <Blinked> into the room once everyone else was inside. Frederica's group was already fighting on the other side.

Ding!

Experience +4

The Shadow collapsed into an item pile of cloth gear. Frederica twirled her blades and pointed at the mouse-man closest to her. The nameplate over the four-foot-tall creature named it as a Tarek. Its beady eyes focused on the threat that had just killed its master, and with a shriek, it lunged.

Ding!

Experience +1.5

Frederica's blades sliced the monster's head clean off. She grinned and looked for her next target.

Oakley was holding his own against two spotted cats the size of adult tigers. The Spaeria growled and clawed at his shield, keeping him on the defensive but not posing much of a threat to the armored man.

The Gaelko, a four-foot-tall orange-scaled lizardman, charged at Penelope, leaving the Trop, a four-foot-tall gray-skinned demon with a scorpion tail, to stab at Frederica.

"Help Frederica!" Penelope pointed at the sprinting reptilian. "I've got this!"

Circe nodded, moving to the right, while Patrick charged between the women, focusing his taunt on one of the Spaeria. His silent casting was something that all of the team had adopted once they learned Penelope had acquired it.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A <Light Bolt> shot out of the tip of her wand and staggered the monster. It never had a chance of reaching her before she pumped three more of her spells into it, putting an end to its failed attack.

Penelope dismissed the experience notification and turned her attention back to the brown-spotted felines. They remained focused on the two Tanks, which was good, but they would swipe at Frederica any time she got close.

"We've got this!" Penelope focused on the closer one. They were the only two monsters left in this group, and the faster they finished this group off, the faster they could focus on finding the other three.

The large cat stood up on its back legs as it tried to bite Patrick's helmet. He managed to get his shield up high enough, but the weight of the monster was enough to knock him over.

Circe changed targets and fired at the Spaeria's head, while Penelope blasted spells into it. Five spells and lots of arrows later, the notification that they'd killed it popped up.

"Kent! Help Frederica get that thing off Patrick!" Penelope pointed at Circe, then at the last cat. "We'll finish this."

The older man grumbled something under his breath, but he moved away from Marlow to help with the heavy lifting. Oakley was able to hold his ground while the two women pelted the monster until it died.

"I'm going to guess that one was a Tank." Frederica wiped her hands on her brown leather pants. "They're solid enough to be a truck."

"Yeah." Penelope pointed at the bodies. "Tank, attacker, attacker, attacker." She frowned. "We haven't had a group that was just pure Power and Defense yet."

"I don't think the Demons put these together logically." Circe picked up the Trop's scorpion tail. The appendage was over three times longer than her arm despite the monster being much shorter than her.

"Solid means that there's a LOT of meat on these things!" Patrick cackled as he felt the fur of the Spaeria that had almost crushed him. "And do you feel how soft this fur is?" He turned to the women. "Damage from the neck up only on these things!"

"Even if it's sitting on you?" Circe raised an eyebrow.

"Marlow can fix any broken bones." Patrick insisted. "I don't want to have my new blankets full of holes because the two of you are trigger-happy and don't aim!"

"We don't…" Circe drew an arrow and fired it before Penelope could stop her. The shadow-covered projectile lodged into the stone beside Patrick's armored boot.

Patrick glared at the woman. "You just shot me!"

"It didn't touch you." Circe grinned. "See? I don't miss!"

"You could barely put a piece of paper between my foot and that arrow!" Patrick pointed at the ground. "Look at this!"

"See, it's not touching you!" Circe puffed out her chest.

"That's enough." Frederica pinched her brows. "Now I understand why Ula was always yelling at us." She looked at Circe. "Stop shooting close to people." She held up a finger to stop the rebuttal. "I don't care if you don't hit them. We don't shoot at allies." She turned to the smirking man. "And you. You're not sitting out to heal because a broken bone needs a day to finish healing, so no, we are not going to pull our punches just so you can have perfect hides. They can try to accommodate you, but we're clearing these for time, not fashion."

"Fine…" Patrick glanced at the other bodies. "You know this is going to be a very lean column if most of the monsters are the attackers…"

"We are not having this discussion again!" Frederica shook her head. "We don't eat the ones that walk on two legs!"

"But what about the tail? That can't count." Patrick whined.

"Burn it all." Frederica narrowed her eyes. "ALL of it."

"Okay…" Patrick picked up his shield. "Let's get this bummer of a zone over with." He trudged towards the door on the northern wall.

"I swear…" Frederica shook her head, then motioned for the others to follow him. "Let's move out! Riva, those sandals are yours!"

Penelope didn't bother scanning the enchanted item. If it was for Riva, then it had to be Aura gear. She moved closer to Circe. "That was pretty reckless."

"Shooting at him?" Circe scoffed. "Please, I've got a <Targeting> passive that puts a red dot on where I'm going to hit. As slow as he moves, there was no way he was getting hit."

"Still…" Penelope glanced over at Frederica, who just nodded. "We need to show unity. If we start fighting amongst ourselves when we go to talk to Dawson..."

"Don't worry, I know how to smile and say 'yes sir' when we're in front of strangers." Circe grumbled. "I'm just so tired of seeing the guys push you around."

"Thanks, but next time, maybe we try something a little less threatening to prove how good of a shot we are." Penelope punched Circe in the arm.

"Was that?" Circe's jaw dropped. "Did you just initiate physical contact?"

"That wasn't an invitation to hug me." Penelope held up her hand, stopping the embrace midway. "But I am starting to feel more at ease around you."

"If shooting at jerks is what it takes." Circe made finger guns and pointed them at Kent. "I'm about to make some Swiss cheese!"

"Stop that!" Penelope pushed Circe's hands down. "No more internal violence."

"Unwarranted internal violence." Circe held out her hand.

"Fine." Penelope shook the other woman's hand. "Now, let's focus on what we're supposed to be doing."

"Shooting bad guys, gotcha!" Circe winked, then ran over to Marlow.

"Puppy lovin'." Jeru sang in her head.

Just stop. Penelope tried to glare at the parasite. It didn't work well while he was being invisible.

"I'm just happy you're warming up to people." Pride filled his voice.

Penelope pushed the thought out of her head. It worried her that she was feeling more at ease around them. Not because of the possibility of romance, which was at zero as far as she was concerned. But because she wasn't sure how at ease she'd be around them once she did the full reset, and she didn't know how she'd mourn the loss of the friends they had been.

"That's a problem for the future past-you." Jeru offered.

Penelope couldn't shake the worry that was eating at her, but she pushed as much of it away as she could. There were still three more groups in this square to fight. She could worry about the past when it happened. For right now, she was going to live in the present.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.