"Okay," said Ashtoreth. "That was all a bit too much to deal with right away. So I'm thinking, why not spend a day or so in here and everyone can find their bearings?"

They were standing in a cave whose entrance was on the uppermost reaches of the rocky hillside where they'd spawned. Ashtoreth had killed the giant lightning centipede, but just as she'd turned away from that task to try and calm Kylie down, a massive hydra had emerged from the jungle and demanded her attention, too.

Once it was dead, Dazel had informed her that he'd found a place they might take cover, and she'd led them up the hillside into the dark crevice they now occupied. After killing the cave's resident acidic leeches, she'd tentatively waited for any more megafauna to attack… but none had come.

"We can maybe make some space now that we're all pretty strong," she said. "Clear some rock, maybe, and I can conjure the house. We can relax, go over our strategies for the world outside, that sort of thing."

"Primal worlds like this are a dime a dozen in the inner realms," said Dazel. "Outside is probably just wild animals. They won't be looking for us—they probably don't even have an understanding of what a scenario is."

"I want to farm," said Hunter. "You guys can stay here if you want, but I want to get out there and get stronger. Every second we waste could make the difference between life and death for someone else once we get back to Earth."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Hunter, but overall it will be better if we stick together," said Ashtoreth.

"All right, but I also need to eat," he said. "I guess none of you do because you're undead? My loot parcels have food in them, but that's the only place I've found anything edible."

"What," Kylie said. "Don't fancy the idea of eating dino meat? How about centipede?"

"Let's not be at each other's throats," Frost said wearily. "A break is a good idea. Let's at least wait until the aftereffects of that… that thing wear off." He glanced at Ashtoreth. "You said it would take an hour, right?"

"Right," she said. "Though you'll still remember it happening, which, uh, sucks."

"How do you know?" Kylie asked. "You ever been eaten by one of those things before?"

"Oh no," she said. "I never got trained to handle the Abyssal Rift. That's for other fiends."

"Hell is also invading that place?" said Frost.

"Nah," said Dazel. "It's their job to protect the rest of the cosmos from the Near Ones. Part of the Mandate of Heaven. But the infernals who get stuck with that job are the rejects, the exiles. It's like being sent to the wall in the Game of Thrones books."

"Actually," Hunter said. "The books are called 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. 'A Game of Thrones' is just the first one."

"Oh wow," Dazel said. "Thanks, Professor Wolfhard. No one would have been able to understand me if not for your corrections."

"Just saying," Hunter said.

"Professor Wolfhard?" Kylie asked. "Do I ever want to know?"

"His made up last name is Wolfhard."

"No, my real name is Wolfhard," said Hunter.

"Hunter Wolfhard?" Kylie said incredulously. "Is that like a made up porno actor's name but for nerds?"

"That's exactly what it's like," said Dazel.

"All names are made up," Hunter said. "That's my real name."

"My theory is that it's Jaxxon with two x's," said Dazel.

"It's not Jaxxon."

"Can we stop this?" Frost asked. "I get that you guys are young, but this kind of behaviour is going to push us apart and make this next year even harder to get through than it needs to be."

"I agree," said Ashtoreth.

"Great," said Kylie.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"We should do some bonding exercises," she said. "We could eat a meal together, or share stories, or talk about our favorite music and shows!"

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the lightning-hurling centipedes outside," said Kylie.

"Ugh," Hunter said, looking at her in disgust. "You are just so utterly wretched. How is it not just exhausting to be so negative all the time? I don't get it—you aren't happy about it, but you still spend all your energy making sure to punish every single person who gives you even the slightest modicum of attention?"

Kylie opened her mouth to protest, but Hunter wasn't finished.

"Grow up!" he snapped. "You're not the one who got the shitty end of the stick when you were forced to spend time with me!"

"Stop it!" Frost said, standing. "Hunter, that's enough."

"I'll be the judge of what's enough," Hunter said, rounding on Frost.

"Don't test me, boy," Frost said, raising his voice.

Dazel slid through the air to land on Ashtoreth's wings. "Would you glamour me up some popcorn?" he whispered.

"Quiet!" she whispered back.

"You got a wife, Frost?" Hunter asked. "You're not wearing a ring, so if you did, she's an ex-wife, now."

"You watch it," Frost said, raising a finger to point.

"If you had a family to get back to, you'd have mentioned it by now. You might have kids but you don't live with them if you do."

"Hey!" Frost said sharply. "I said watch it!"

"Or what?" Hunter roared. "Or you'll escalate, officer? I could kill you both in half the time and with twice the effort it take me to sneeze! The only thing that can protect you from me makes you burst into flame!"

Frost shut his eyes for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice had softened. "Hunter…."

But Hunter ignored him. "I've got more of a life than the both of you put together," he said, his voice quietly furious. "And it's gone now. I have no idea what I'm going to do if, if… if my family, my girlfriend just… don't come back from their tutorials. I won't even know if they're okay until a year from now, and if they are okay, I'm not going to be able to just hunker down and protect them—oh no, logic dictates that at level 300 I'm going to need to fight so that everyone who still has family has the greatest chance of seeing them survive!"

He threw his hands up. "So why am I the only person who actually gets that we need to be here right now? That above every other person alive, we've all lucked into the best chance of survival there is—for us, for everyone we care about, and for Earth."

He let out a long, rattling sigh, then turned to walk toward the entrance of the cave and sat there with his back to everyone. Frost and Kylie both stared at him as he went, seemingly stunned.

"Psst," Dazel said. "I don't know if this is weird, but I think I like Hunter the most, now."

Ashtoreth made a noise of frustration. She felt she ought to say something, but didn't know what. Conflict resolution in Hell had a decidedly different flow to it than what she'd seen in human media.

Before she could say anything, Kylie stood, turned and walked toward Ashtoreth. She stopped just in front of her, staring.

"Uh, hey Kylie," Ashtoreth said.

Kylie sighed. "Can you just, um…." She looked tired and in pain, like she'd suddenly gotten a splitting headache. "With the spells. I, uh…." She winced. "Look, I'll help, okay? The system has an input or something for my spell slots, but I don't know how it works."

"Don't worry, Dazel will teach you!" Ashtoreth said.

"Dazel."

"Yeah—he probably knows magic better than me! Dazel, you know a few basic spells, right?"

"In the same way that a library has a few books in it, boss."

"Teach Kylie how her spell slots work. And please, please—"

"Don't be an asshole," he said. "I got it, boss. Look, Kylie: if I annoy you too bad, you can kill me. Sound good?"

"Um."

Ashtoreth frowned and eyed the demon suspiciously as he rose into the air and led Kylie over to a mostly-flat section of cave wall before burning some glowing runes onto the stone. Yes, he'd done what she wanted… but perhaps too readily.

Did Dazel want something with Kylie?

"While they're at it," Frost said, looking over at her. "I've got another conjure armament upgrade. Have for a while. You said earlier that there are other weapons that can be made with it—better weapons because they play to the system's limitations… or something like that. Would you show me how to create one?"

Ashtoreth stared at him. She didn't know how any of the previous events had actually inspired the humans to put one foot forward toward accomplishing her goals, but she wasn't going to object. She also wasn't going to offer any further encouragement, mostly out of fear that she'd break something.

"Absolutely!" she said, breaking out into a grin. "What sort of weapon do you think suits you best?"

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.