They started early the next morning.

The burn squad sat out since there wasn't any underbrush to clear away. Penelope stood just behind Patrick as the other two teams walked along the inside of the barrier to the middle.

"They're not attacking?" Circe kept her bow drawn as she eyed the monsters.

"They've dug in." Patrick growled. "This is what that last group tried, but they've torn up all the stuff we could use to burn them out from behind their barricades."

"Not all…" Penelope pointed her wand at the floating <Light Balls> at the edge of her range. "Cover me while I try something?"

Patrick eyed her through the visor of his helmet, then shrugged, hoisted his shield, and turned to face the monsters. "What'cha need?"

"Just cover." Penelope looked over at Allis. "Aly, wait until I've got enough laid down."

The other woman scrunched her brow in confusion, but the look on her face didn't last long. Vines shot out of the floating balls of light, wrapping around the nearest wooden barricade.

The Horned Bear behind it easily ripped itself free from <Vine Snare>, but that didn't get rid of the plant debris that piled on the ground behind the cover. A Minothorn roared and ran into the open space between them. It ripped one of the stripped pine trees out of the ground and threw the 6-inch diameter, ten-foot-long log at the group.

"WALL!" Patrick raised an <Earthen Wall> up in front of him. Archer Storey, the Tank from the right group, added a second <Earthen Wall> to reinforce the first one.

The wall cracked as the log smashed into it. The need for a barrier cut off the other's line of sight to the monsters, but Penelope was still able to see, thanks to using <Clairvoyance> through the <Light Ball> she was holding back.

"Give me a flame!" Penelope dismissed her orbital setup when she cast <Tornado Alley> on the ground in front of the Minothorn. The horizontal stream of air did little to push the heavy creature back, but the moment Allis targeted the spell with <Flame Stream>, the monster lit up like a dry tree.

"I've got it!" Circe used <Shadow Chain> to grab the burning monster's hands and pull it down to all fours.

"We've got incoming!" Frederica pointed at the three-headed reptilians spreading out to the sides. Horned Bears lumbered around the barricades deeper in, while Minothorns tore the logs from the barricades out of the ground.

"So much for digging in!" Patrick raised another <Earthen Wall> to his left, then made a roof over the bunker. "Pen! Give us a burn line to keep those things off us and we'll push forward where we can!"

Penelope dropped her concentration on the air and recast her orbital setup. With one ball in front of her and one on each side, she was able to spray <Vine Snare> on the ground, but with only one fire Caster, Allis wasn't able to keep the fires alive for long, especially with the Reberus throwing dirt on the burning vines like a dog digging a hole.

Note to self, we need all three fire Casters. Penelope gritted her teeth as she focused on emptying her mana as fast as she could. "Somebody lock down the charge or we're going to get ran over!"

"You want them to run or to stay in place!" Riva wove her hands, charging her dark spell, then releasing a blast of <Fear> to their left.

"Thea!" Patrick pointed at the 52-year-old Buffer. "Help Pen lay down fuel for Aly! Fae and Peter, keep an eye on those Casters! We don't need something sneaking up on us!" The armored man turned to the melee attackers. "Freddy, I know you can't go invisible and go after their leaders, but coordinate with the other close-up people and finish off anything you can reach."

"We've got to do something about the Healers!" Frederica pointed at the mushroom-cap monsters.

Penelope realized that there hadn't been an experience notification. She directed her main <Light Ball> she was looking through to check on the first Minothorn that was still on fire. The bark-skinned creature strained against the shadow bindings that were forcing it facedown into the flames.

"On it!" Frederica vanished.

"Somebody…" Patrick shook his head. "She's going to get herself killed."

EEEK!!!

Ding!

Experience +.33

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

Penelope adjusted her orbital vision to find the monster who released the death wail.

Frederica stood triumphantly over a decapitated Cafforn. A grin spread across her face as over a dozen monsters turned their attention to the older woman standing in their midst. Somehow, the Assassin had found one of the mushroom cap monsters that was away from any Slurns, but now that she had reappeared, the slug monsters turned their slimy antennas towards the human behind their lines.

Jeru… Penelope closed her eyes as Frederica threw herself at an Oakorn. Reset it before I have to watch her die again.

"You can save her." Jeru took a deep breath. "Use <Blink> through the <Light Ball> closest to her!"

How is putting myself in the middle of a bunch of monsters going to help either of us?

"You want to watch her die or you want to salvage this run?"

Penelope activated the spell.

The magic yanked her body from behind the barrier, throwing her thirty feet past the <Light Ball> on her right.

Patrick swore loud enough for her to hear the frustration in his voice, but not enough that she could hear the words. Not that she needed to hear what he said to know how upset he was with her.

The monsters froze as every one of them turned their attention to the woman who had just appeared in their midst. For a moment everything was calm, then one of the Reberus howled, triggering the rest of the monsters to join in with howls and roars.

I've got their attention; now what do you want me to do?

"Poison." Jeru pulled up the two spells she had from her Toxic Wand and her Toxic Ring.

Toxic Jar - Poison the target. Each additional instance of poison doesn't extend the timer; instead, it increases the potency of the current stack.

Cursed Life - Deals extra damage to the target based on how many debuffs it has.

"The burning already counts as a debuff, and Snare will put another one on them. Poison will increase how much magical damage they take and you've got a 25% boost to poison damage, which will make this more effective in a tight group. Cancel <Clairvoyance> to give yourself another <Light Torrent>, then keep them in a ring around you and Frederica. Toxic Jar lasts for five minutes, so cast it once, then blast everything with <Snare> and <Cursed Life>. You'll miss a lot because <Clairvoyance> won't be helping you aim, but things are so close right now, you won't miss much."

Penelope activated <Blink> to move her out of the jaws of a Reberus.

You realize that this is too technical for me to pull it off correctly for the first time! Penelope slapped a Minothorn across the face with the wand in her right hand, then <Blinked> again to get away from its fist.

"Good thing you've got a couple tries to get it right."

I'm not sure I like—

Crunch

Penelope turned to her left in time to see Frederica scream as a Reberus bit off the older woman's left arm. The other two heads snapped forward, one clamping down on Frederica's right arm and the other closing over her head.

Pain shot up Penelope's back as she was lifted into the air, then blinding light yanked her to the last reset.

HOW WAS THAT SALVAGING THE RUN! Penelope <Blinked> into Dawson, knocking the Poison Caster over, then turned her attention to Derek.

"It could've worked." Jeru insisted. "I hoped the monsters would focus more on the squishy Caster than the elusive Assassin."

You wanted me to be bait… Penelope got between Derek and the portal to the surface.

"Really, Red?" Derek rubbed his temple, then pulled out a knife. "Of all the people we've killed, you're one of the last ones I wanted to do this to."

"Then why haven't you learned my name?" Penelope <Countered> his attempt to <Blink> around her.

"You think there's a way that your boss lets me surrender and live?" Derek shook his head. "Come on Pepper, let me go, and I promise I'll stay out of your way!"

"Like you kept your hands clean while Dawson killed Ula?" Penelope <Countered> his spell again, then used <Snare> to pull him down to his knees. A second set grabbed his wrists, dragging him down on all fours. "And that's still not my name."

"You knew?" Derek strained against his bonds, but without his spells, he was helpless. "Please! Peyton! Peach! Pebbles! Paris! Pe—"

His head fell off his shoulders.

"That was for my mother, you arrogant prick!" Nina flicked her sword, then kicked the headless body. "And her name is Penelope!"

Penelope sighed and looked around. I'm getting way too comfortable with letting them kill off this team.

"Hey, Isaiah is still surviving, so it's not like the whole team is dying." Jeru grinned.

Whatever. Penelope took a deep breath. So how many times am I going to have to run this before I figure out how to <Blink> around with my <Light Balls>?

"However many it takes." Jeru chuckled. "Good thing you can try it as many times as you need."

The image of Frederica dying, accompanied by herself getting gored, flashed across her mind. It doesn't feel good. Penelope glanced at the portal. Not one bit.

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