Chapter 28

Leon woke with a start and sat up. Ava! He looked at his status; full health and no fatigue. He sprinted to the opening and threw open the flap. Seconds later, the wolves sprung toward him. She wasn’t on the table anymore.

His heart thundered as he let go of the flap and spun around to wake Hert, and then he saw her. She’d been lying inches from his back and seemed to be unharmed. Leon breathed out. Hert must have created an opening. No matter how much Hert had changed from what they saw in the memories, glimpses of him came through, acting heroic.

Leon sat on the leather and leaned his head in his hands. He’d brought them all into trouble. There was no use in moaning about it, though. He was alive, and he’d get them out. Somehow. There were eleven monsters out there and twelve in the other chest, unless Hert had beaten one or two before he entered the camp. About ten more than his fatigue could take, unless he could sleep more. He popped open the camp’s info and raised his eyebrows. Seven hours left. They still had a chance, then. Worse than if he could have waited until the last chest to use the camp, but still enough, if he could get through the ones outside.

He looked from Hert to Ava, trying to decide what to do. Both of them had collapsed the previous camps before the time was over, so maybe this time, they’d be more careful. Still, it would be safer to let Hert rest—with two people in the tent, it was less likely that they would accidentally collapse it, and Hert might have gotten further injuries when he rescued Ava and got to the camp himself.

Ava should sleep too. She had lost her staff and been so broken up after seeing her death, and she needed time to cope with that. And she needed to get the MP back. Leon didn’t think he’d be affected in quite the same way with his own memory—he didn’t regret the decision he’d made. It was for the good of his family, and he’d see it through.

Leon let them be, picked up both his weapons from the floor, and opened the flap. He’d do this alone.

*******

Leon woke up to Ava and Hert arguing over him. He’d been fully restored.

“What’s it to you, anyway?” Ava said. “You didn’t like me from the beginning, and you’ve left Leon to fend for himself so many times.”

“What’s it to me? If he hadn’t coddled you as much as he did, you wouldn’t be here, and he wouldn’t have—”

Leon sat up, and both Ava and Hert looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Leon!” Ava threw herself in his arms, hugging him tight. “You’re awake!”

“You’re conscious?” Hert asked and grabbed Leon’s wrist, pressing a thumb on his pulse.

“What do you mean?” Leon asked and gently pushed Ava away. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We couldn’t wake you up,” Hert said. “You’re painted red as a Christmas ornament, and your pulse basically didn’t exist. You just kept bleeding. I thought you were a goner. I hoped you’d snap out of it, but it surely didn’t look like it. I’ve watched you for like four or five hours.”

Leon frowned. “I must have just fallen asleep, then. You know we heal while we sleep. I had to do something since this is the only camp we have.”

Ava grabbed his arm, felt over his skin, and peeked into the holes of his tattered clothes. “Are you hurt anywhere now? Do I need to heal you?”

Leon started shaking his head as Hert smacked the back of it with his palm. “You went out there alone? Are you suicidal?”

“No, and remember, I’ve done this before. I realized that we needed to take care of as many enemies as possible before the last chest. I took out most of them.”

“Alone. Again. Just a few hours ago, you almost died! How stupid can you be?”

“It was safer—”

“Safer for who? There were eleven monsters out there, and more than half of them had your own level. When you did it before, they were fewer and of lower level.” Hert stood and sighed, pulling the hammer and shield out of his pack. “Go back to sleep and get rid of whatever injuries or fatigue you have left. I’m going to take out the rest.”

“Don’t. I’m full, so let me grab—”

“There!” Hert barked and flung out his arms. “You tell me not to go out there alone, but you have no problem doing the same yourself.” Hert shook his head. “Stupid. How do you think it would make us feel if you died because you wanted to help us? How do you think it would affect us? That we’d shrug and carry on?”

Leon’s voice came out like a whisper. “I made you go into the tower. You got hurt, and I didn’t know how much. Ava is without her staff and also needed to recoup MP. I thought—”

“Oh, that makes it alright, then,” Hert spat.

“Don’t be too hard on him, he’s really trying.” Ava rose and put her hands on her hips. ”I still believe he’s the one who can take us out of here, and he hasn’t given up.”

“He gave up on you,” Hert said.

“I didn’t—” Leon began.

“No, he was wounded. He had no other choice. And I was safe there. The wolves couldn’t reach me.”

A timer popped up in front of Leon. “Ten minutes left of the camp.” He hoped that would end the argument.

Hert clenched his jaw and fists. “Both of you are just too selfish. You only think about what’s good for you, your own solutions, and doing it your own way, with no thought of the consequences. Ava; clinging to Leon like a lifeline, because she believes he’s her ride out of this place.”

“I—” Ava stepped forward, and a blush crept up her throat.

“And Leon; deciding what’s best to do, for himself, without asking others. And when you do ask for opinions, you go ahead and act, anyway.”

“You’re no better yourself!” Ava said. “You gladly let Leon take the fall, every time, instead of helping. Always cowering behind that shield and out of reach, until Leon is so wounded he almost dies. And then you help because you know you can’t beat the floor without him. That makes you the selfish one.”

Hert narrowed his eyes. “I knew people like you when I was alive. They tend to think they’re smarter than anyone else, that everybody loves them. Manipulators, through and through.”

Ava’s lips wobbled. “I’ve changed. I’m not the same person as I was in the memories.” She dug her fingers into her arms and stared at the floor as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I was a Scab for a year. A year! Leon helped me from that.”

“Both of you, stop.” Leon rose as well. “Hert has a point, and I’m sorry. I’ve been selfish.” Leon looked into Hert’s face. “I’ll be careful to listen to you guys from now on.” Leon put his hands on Ava’s shoulders. “And of course you’ve changed. I believe we all have, in one way or another.”

“Good.” Hert nodded to Ava. “Are you going to freeze up on us again? Put Leon and me in danger?”

She gave a curt shake of her head without looking up.

“Alright then.” Hert stretched out his back and rolled his shoulders. “Wow, felt good to have that out. Now, let’s survive these last two chests together. I can’t say how I’ll react to my own scene until we’re there, but I’ll do my best. We’ll get through it.”

“Yeah. There are two wolves left out there, meaning fourteen wolves in total. With my fatigue, I can take down maybe nine or ten of them, but with your and Ava’s help, we can get out of here alive.” Leon looked at the timer. “Before the tent collapses—what do you remember of the place where you died? Is there anywhere we can reach a safe place? We’re likely going in there just after my memory has ended.”

Hert clenched his hammer. “I can’t remember much from that time. It’s dark, and it’s a room with little to no furniture.”

“You can’t remember more than that? Any details would help, especially if you think you’ll space out.”

Hert shook his head. “That time is a blur. I was barely conscious, most of the time.”

Leon patted his back. “Alright. We’ll have to take it as we go. Let’s—” He cleared his throat. “Everyone ready?”

Hert nodded, and Ava stepped toward the entrance.

Leon walked between them, pulling out his weapons. Before he could lift the flap, Hert grabbed his shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay? With your death?”

Leon gave him a grim smile. “Yeah. I made my choice, and I don’t regret making it.”

Hert frowned, and Leon walked out, holding his swords to his sides, muscles tight and ready.

The camp collapsed as the two remaining wolves sprung at them, and the memory started playing again.

“So tomorrow—you up for lunch?” Sarah asked, her arm still outstretched from trying to grab his arm.

Memory-Leon spun to face her. “Sarah, it’s really nice to see you again, but I won’t meet you. I’ll probably be cooped up in my cabin for most of the trip. Another time, maybe.”

“Alright, then.” She swallowed. “I guess I’ll head off to bed.”

“Take care.” Memory-Leon sucked in a breath as Sarah left.

Leon kicked out at the first wolf and hit the chest, while Hert bludgeoned the second. Leon shot a glance behind him, where Ava stood, biting her lip and fidgeting with her dress.

Slightly beside her, Memory-Leon ordered a shot of vodka, and as his copy tipped it into his mouth, Leon swung at the clubbed wolf, causing a long gash in its side. Hert raised his hammer toward the second one as it sprung at him, but missed by a hair. Leon stabbed forward and pierced its shoulder. It yelped as the first one attacked again, and Memory-Leon walked past Hert to the outside, where he approached the fence and checked his phone. The glass doors hissed shut behind him.

Leon stomped into the approaching wolf’s chest, and Hert banged the hammer on its head. Then Leon slashed at the second wolf. Hert slammed his weapon onto the side of its jaw, and it fell to the side. Leon stepped onto the wolf’s throat and pierced the chest while Hert kicked the dazed wolf. As Leon finished it, the three people that had stood outside stepped in. The wolves’ bodies dimmed and disappeared.

“Monsters done,” Hert said, and put the weapons away. “Twelve to go.”

Leon’s throat tightened as he watched his memory play.

“How did you die?” Ava asked and stepped beside Leon. “Who killed you?”

Memory-Leon put a foot on the first rung of the railing and held fast to the metal beam at his side, and his brown hair moved in the wind. The head leaned slightly up to smell the salty sea air.

Ava turned around, scanned the bar, then the corridor beside them, and the outside deck. “Who pushed you?”

Memory-Leon’s head tilted to watch the foaming sea while he climbed further up.

“You didn’t,” Hert said, his tone disbelieving. He stepped closer to the glass doors, and Leon followed on numb feet.

Leon wet his lips. “I… I didn’t have a choice.”

Memory-Leon stepped onto the highest rung, stared at the horizon for a moment, and stepped out. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. They didn’t even hear a splash.

“No way,” Ava whispered. She ran past Leon and Hert and almost crashed into the doors to the deck. She stopped an inch from the glass.

“Leon!”

Leon spun to the side. Sarah came at a run with an unlit cigarette in her hand. His heart sank as she leaned over the railing.

“Help! Somebody, help! Man overboard!”

The few people inside rushed through the doors to look into the sea, letting Ava out, and she climbed the railing to look at the waves, just beside the place where Sarah stood leaning to scout for a drifting body.

“Where?” the bartender asked as he joined her. “I can’t see anyone.”

“Oh my god, oh my god! We just spoke! I let him—” Sarah drew back and sank onto the deck, where she hyperventilated and pressed her hands over her face, kneading her fingers into her hair. “Why? He seemed off, but… We just talked! He can’t… Why did he…” She scrambled onto her feet and leaned over the railing again. “Leon!”

A woman pulled her back as the scene shifted around them, and the bartender hurried inside with a “I’ll call it up.”

Leon stood, frozen, his throat tight.

“You disgust me,” Hert said, as a darkness slowly formed around them. “How could you do that to someone else?”

“You…” Ava landed on her feet as the railing disappeared and she frowned. “You killed yourself?”

“It was our best chance,” Leon whispered. “The only choice I could make, really.”

“Why?” Ava asked. “I never thought that you, of all people—”

“To find a cure,” Leon said, not looking at either of them. “I met a survivor of this game. I had to do it.”

“So? Changed, have you?” Hert poked Leon in the chest. “If you’re here to find a cure, it’s for someone else. Did you ask what he or she thought about your plan?”

The text popped up.

‘11 of 12 CHESTS OPENED

67 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’

Leon didn’t answer, but listened as footsteps from heavy boots thudded onto the concrete floor. Seconds later, a lightbulb flashed on in the ceiling, revealing a metal chair in the middle of a small, dark room. Leon took a step back at the sight of Memory-Hert. Blood sat caked over his face. One of his eyes had swollen shut, and a cheek was dark blue with an open slit, no longer bleeding. His swollen underlip had a deep cut, and the brush pattern of redness beneath it showed evidence of blood having been wiped away. The other eye was largely unharmed, but was only slightly open. His head swayed where he sat, and he clenched his fists within the handcuffs that held them to the chair.

“Let’s talk about it later,” Leon said into the silence.

“Ouch,” Ava said, stepping closer with a furrowed brow. “That looks nasty.”

The room was majorly empty, except for the chair, a steel table with various tools, and a clothing rack fastened to the wall. The space had a smell of moist dirt and iron, and it was cold. There was a door on the left side of the room that stood half ajar, but there were no windows, and the naked lightbulb was the only light source.

The heavy-booted man stepped into the room from behind them, together with the light steps of a short, brown-haired woman in a black dress, who clenched a black folder under her arm. Instead of approaching Memory-Hert, the slim woman walked to the righthand wall and put on an apron and gloves. She corrected her round glasses and glided toward him while waving the folder for her companion to come closer. She stopped just an inch from his arm.

“Oh Hert, it breaks my heart seeing you like this. What did you do to yourself?” she cooed and placed a gentle gloved hand around his cheek. “You know that we only want information. So why won’t you just tell us?” She brushed a finger over the cut in his lips, and Hert sucked in a shuddering breath. “It would be less painful.”

Memory-Hert’s uninjured eye snapped open, and he flung his head away from her touch, but failed since his constraints only allowed minor movement.

Leon looked from the captive memory version of the man to the current one. He’d paled and gnawed on his lips. Then, thuds on the cement floor drew Leon’s attention. The twelve remaining monsters were coming.

“What’s behind the door?” Leon asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Hert said, his voice distant. “I didn’t know there was one.”

Leon grabbed his and Avas arm and pulled them toward the space.

“You’re with the police. What made you turn?” Hert asked in a calm voice, betrayed by a slight tremor.

She kneeled beside him. “That doesn’t concern you. What does concern you is the information you’ve gathered. Brave, thinking you could get away with the journalist card. Or stupid; I haven’t really decided.”

Memory-Hert just stared at her.

Leon flung the door open as the twelve level six wolves entered the room, and shoved Ava forward, and then Hert. It was a small closet, with an almost full cleaning cart and a couple of shelves full of bottles. Ava clambered up on it and then continued up on a shelf. The bottles didn’t move even when she tried to shove them aside, so she couldn’t get on the shelf completely. Still, she pressed her back against them, and tried to make herself as small as possible. Hert jumped up on the cart and tried to balance between the supplies on top, and as the wolves spotted them, he grabbed Leon’s arm to help him up.

“You were such a good informant, too.” The woman said. “You’ll be sorely missed at the department.”

“They’ll catch onto you.”

The wolves ran toward them, but only two fit in the opening. Leon struck down his short sword at them and slashed into one’s shoulder. Hert looked at the memory scene with gritted teeth and madness in his eyes.

The woman smiled and patted Memory-Hert’s knee, making him wince. “No. I’ve covered my tracks well, just like you did. You never told anyone at the station about everything you found, or that you wrote a reportage about it. A reportage on that would make your career.” She squeezed his thigh, and he screamed. Red started staining the fabric. “Where is it?”

“No! There isn’t one!” Memory-Hert screamed.

Leon slashed out, again and again, making the wolves move back, but none to fall down. “Hert, use your hammer!”

The woman gave Memory-Hert a stiff smile and pressed her thumb harder into the concealed wound. “Where?”

Memory-Hert huffed, and then whispered, “Nowhere. It’s nowhere.”

The woman clicked her tongue, straightened her back, and wiped her hand on the apron. She nodded at the henchman. “Start with the leg again. Just don’t nick any veins this time.”

Hert sank down on the cart, and he pushed his hands into his face, rocking back and forth.

“Hert, I need you,” Leon said as two wolves jumped at them. Their front paws landed on the cleaning cart, and Leon swung the sword and dagger at one, making it fall back, and planted a foot on the other’s muzzle. “They’re going to come up here!”

Behind the wolves, the silent, broad man in heavy boots nodded and walked to the table, where he took a small, sharp blade and a pair of metal pliers.

He approached the chair while the woman leaned her back against the wall. The man ripped down Memory-Hert’s pants, revealing a stapled hole in his thigh.

Memory-Hert screamed as the closed pliers pressed on it and more red escaped.

“No good, chief. If I open this, he’ll bleed out.”

She waved with the folder. “He has two legs, doesn’t he?”

Leon tried not to think about the woman’s words or the man’s actions as the wolves launched toward them again.

“Ava, can you do something?”

She didn’t answer. Leon kicked another wolf and slammed the short sword into its neck. Even though it displayed a critical hit, it wasn’t enough to kill it. Seconds before the wolves launched again, Leon turned his head to look at Ava. She stared with wide eyes at the scene beyond the wolves, her mouth slightly open, with some kind of horrid fascination. Leon turned his head forward, just in time to block a wolf snapping its jaw at his leg. It bit into the sword and yelped before it backed off.

The broad man nodded as Memory-Hert strained in the chair, yet the movements were feeble. The man rested the plier on Hert’s injured leg, pushed the other leg to the side, and held the blade in front of Hert’s eye.

”You know we will hurt you, so why don’t you just tell us? You’ll only lose more and more pieces of muscle. You might not even walk again after we’re through with you.”

Leon kicked toward the wolf and stabbed at another one again. Finally, one sank down. Eleven to go.

Memory-Hert clenched his jaw and pressed his lips together so hard that he started bleeding from the cut. The woman sighed and opened the folder. The man pressed the edge slowly into the flesh of Hert’s thigh.

“Not too far up this time,” the woman warned.

“Yeah, yeah,” the man muttered, drew the blade back, and moved down an inch.

Memory-Hert screamed as it cut into the skin, and the current Hert echoed the noise.

A wolf sprung up on its fallen comrade and launched toward them.

“Hert, shield,” Leon shouted, but his voice drowned with the screams. Leon slashed out at the wolf coming toward them as another bit into his ankle, ripping him off his feet. Leon landed on his legs, and sucked in a breath as the corks of them pushed into the muscles. The wolf he’d swung at landed beside him and yelped when it, too, crashed into the hard things. The fangs around his ankle loosened as the boot slid off Leon’s foot.

“Ava, I need your help!” Leon said as he stabbed at the creature by his feet. The blade sunk into its chest, and as Leon kicked it off the table, it stayed fallen. The one with the boot spat it out and launched with another.

“What can I do? I don’t have a staff!”

“Kick them, punch them—whatever you can. If they grab me, there’s no getting out of here.”

“Y-yeah, okay!”

Leon kicked at one wolf and slashed down on the next. The two fallen ones acted as a step for the live ones, and sooner or later, they’d overtake them. He stabbed the short sword through a paw and the creature yelped.

“Ah!” Hert said, and Leon risked a peek behind his shoulder.

Ava stood with her fist raised over his head. “Snap out of it!”

Leon turned back to slash out at the coming two wolves as the woman walked up to Memory-Hert’s ear.

“Tell us. Where is it?”

Blood dripped from his lip.

The woman sighed. “Pinch a piece.”

The henchman opened the wound with two fingers and pressed the pliers in. Memory-Hert screamed through gritted teeth.

“We’ve been over your arms, stomach, and now legs. If you don’t start talking, you’ll soon lose a finger or toe. Is that what you want?”

Another wolf fell lifeless as something soft fell onto Leon’s back, almost making him stumble off the cart.

“You don’t need to shove me!” Ava screamed.

“Back off!” Leon shouted and planted his bare foot on an approaching wolf. He hit the jaw, and a fang ripped into his skin. Still, it tumbled back into the crowd of beasts.

“Sorry, Leon,” Ava said.

Leon sliced a wolf’s shoulder as another one launched up on the cart. It bit into Leon’s leg and pushed with its hind legs. He fell. Ava grabbed his arm, but the tugging match was no match at all against Ava’s small strength. Yet, it gave enough time for Leon to beat down with both weapons, and released him from the grip. Another wolf jumped up beside him and launched, jaws wide, at Hert. Leon let go of the dagger and grabbed the fur at its neck.

“Shield!” Leon screamed, and Hert looked at him with glassy eyes. Still, something must have come through, because a shield materialized in front of him, and Hert cowered behind it as the wolf slid from Leon’s grasp. It pushed against Leon’s leg, but even though it filled the cart, more wolves came at them. Leon grabbed the dagger, cutting the wolf’s belly as he stood. The enemies launched from the dead wolves’ backs and slammed into Leon’s crossed sword and dagger. Finding nowhere to stand, they fell back.

“Can’t we lure them away with something?” Ava shouted, kicking at the wolf between Leon and Hert.

“Don’t think so,” Leon grunted as he pushed another pair off. This was no good. If he couldn’t strike out, he’d deplete his energy far earlier than he’d counted on. Ava gave another kick, and finally, it fell off.

“Use the rabbit.” Ava pulled at his backpack.

“No!” Leon tugged at his bag, and the two launching wolves pummeled into him, sending him into Ava. She screamed.

Leon kneed the wolves on top of him as they bit into his shoulder and chest, and one let go.

Ava’s foot came at the one left, hitting its head, and then fangs bit into Leon’s ankles, tugging at him. His heart thundered in his chest, and he struck the dagger into the beast on top of him over and over.

The man’s voice reached them even though he whispered. “No good, chief. I think he’s going into shock.”

“He’ll snap out of it.”

“Hert!” Ava said from behind Leon’s chest. “Help him! They’re going to kill him!”

The beast on top of Leon fell down, and he pushed it off, trying to ignore the pain radiating through his body. The wolves at his feet tugged, and he almost fell. Then the shirt snagged on one of the cleaning bottles. He grabbed one of them with a hand and tried to pull himself up, but the wolves’ strength was too much. The shirt creaked, and the fabric ripped. Leon landed on the fallen wolves, and the two on his legs jumped toward his chest and head. Leon tried turning around, but slipped on the fur, and his hand sank between the bodies of the monsters under him.

A hammer swung from above, sending one of them flying. Leon kicked with his free leg and hit the next one, which dropped onto the side of Leon’s body. He elbowed it, and then came another hammer strike. Leon tried pushing himself up, but only lodged his hand deeper between the fallen bodies. Two more wolves launched and got sent back by the hammer. Then two boots jumped onto the body beside Leon, and a shield covered his view.

“Get up!” Hert said.

“Can’t,” Leon said and pushed with his leg against the floor.

“Ava,” Hert barked.

The torturer spoke again. “Not that kind of shock. Septic. Blood poisoning.”

“Impossible. You cleaned the instruments, didn’t you?”

“Of course,” he said. “But look at this. Necrosis has started setting in.”

Slim fingers grabbed at Leon’s free arm and tugged. Leon pushed away from the floor and after a few tries, he finally got loose. The shield in Hert’s hand cracked further.

“I can’t hold them anymore,” Hert said as Leon drew up his feet and sat on the still warm but lifeless bodies beneath him. He pressed his legs against them, and his back to the cart, inching himself up. Ava grabbed the backpack and pulled. It came free, without Leon.

Hert smacked a wolf over the jaw, and it sank down. “Don’t grab the pack, idiot! Grab him!”

Ava didn’t answer.

Leon pushed his legs harder and even though the fur slipped underneath his feet, he gained enough steadiness to heave himself up on the cart.

Ava wants to trade Troublemaker for:

Nothing

Do you accept this trade?

[Accept] [Decline]

“Decline!” Leon panted as he came up on the cleaning cart. “I’m up,” he shouted at Hert. He snapped the backpack from Ava.

“Hey!” She tried tugging it back. “That rabbit could save us!”

“It’s not your choice to make!” Leon said, pulling it onto his back. Hert bounced back two more wolves, and stepped toward them, almost stumbling on the skin. Leon swung at the wolves coming at them again, and both fell down on top of Hert, making him stumble.

“Antibiotics?” the woman asked, tapping her nails to the folder.

“It would take hours to get it here. He’d likely be gone by then, and it’s not like we can take him to the hospital.”

Hert pushed the shield over him, and the coming two wolves jumped on top and toward Leon and Ava. She cowered as Leon swung wide. One wolf landed on the cart, and the other fell onto the shield, still alive. Noticing movement, it clawed at the wood. Leon stomped down his foot on the wolf’s stomach. The fur was warm and rasped against his wound.

“Hert, you okay?” Leon shouted as he stabbed the sword into its throat. It wasn’t enough. It turned and bit his other leg. His knee buckled, but he leaned his back against one of the shelves. A message about bleeding popped up.

“Fine,” Hert’s voice said in a mumble.

Leon gasped at the pain in his leg and stomped his bare foot down again, as hard as he could. Something snapped inside the wolf’s body and it yelped, freeing Leon’s leg. Ava kicked at its head, but it seemed not to notice. Leon struck the sword into the wolf and it snarled.

The woman sighed. “Continue. Maybe he’ll tell us before he goes.”

“P-Problem?” Memory-Hert asked and coughed.

The woman smiled and patted his shoulder, making him wince. “Not at all. I think we’ve found a way to proceed.”

Another wolf launched up beside the other and hit Leon’s body, making him sit on the cart again. The caps burrowed into his muscles as he pressed the swords up toward the new one’s throat. His arms suddenly felt like they were made of lead, and they had five monsters to go.

The scene flickered and dimmed, and then they were back in the same room, but Memory-Hert sat unmoving in the chair.

Ava slapped the wolf over Leon as the other beside them launched at him, but it didn’t do anything. So, she kicked the head. The wolf scratched into Leon’s shoulder as it launched at Ava, and she ducked. It slammed into a shelf and sprawled back, landing on top of the one on Hert’s shield. A crack sounded beneath the cart.

“Shield’s done for,” Hert shouted.

Leon’s heart pounded in his ears, and his vision swam. Still, he stumbled up on his bleeding foot and stabbed both weapons into the wolf beside them, clearing the cart. It toppled over and landed on the two wolves standing on Hert. Even as Leon watched, the two split pieces of wood started to fade away.

Leon cast his eyes toward the memory scene. Hert’s mangled and bloody body didn’t move. They’d soon be thrown back into the stone room, where they could escape through the portal. They didn’t need to beat all monsters, they just needed to get out of here alive.

“Hold on for a little longer,” Leon said. “It’s soon over!”

“What now?” the henchman asked, holding his bloody gloves at his waist. He’d put away the tools.

“Leave him. I’ll get someone to get rid of the body.” The woman tapped her fingernails on her folder. “The department has helped his wife and newborn go into hiding, but I know someone who might be able to find their location. I’ll let you know.”

The man grimaced. “I’m not going to harm a baby.”

“I’m not saying you should. But it might work as a good threat to the mother.”

“What?” Hert screamed. “No, they can’t!” Hert’s hammer shot up, and a wolf tumbled back. He elbowed the other one from his chest and somehow managed to get to his feet.

“Ava, heal me,” Leon said, his vision flashing.

She muttered something about the rabbit.

“Please,” he asked.

A hand touched his shoulder, and the healing message popped up. He could only watch while Hert rammed through the wolves, their focus solely on him, and Hert swinging the hammer from side to side. A wolf bit into Hert’s calf, but he seemed not to have noticed anything except the delay. He flung the hammer into its head and barreled on toward the woman and man.

“Hert, you can’t hurt them!” Leon shouted.

Still, Hert swung, and the hammer went straight through them.

The scene disappeared as Ava’s heal finished, and both Leon and Ava sprawled onto the floor of the stone room. Hert looked around him with furious eyes, from one wolf to the next. The beasts circled him and took turns jumping at him.

Leon sprang forward, swords at his sides, and the stone floor cold against his foot. Hert swung the hammer and hit one, as another jumped up on his back and clenched its teeth into his shoulder, making him scream.

Leon’s body ached, but he pushed through, running into the fold and slashing around, hitting the wolves with less damage, but dividing their attention. He spared a quick look at Ava, who rushed to the side.

“My staff!” she said, picking it up. “Buff Morale!”

Energy filled Leon’s body, and a text popped up as he and Hert felled a wolf each.

‘12 of 12 CHESTS OPENED

76 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN

PORTAL UNLOCKED’

The remaining chain over the portal rustled and fell onto the floor with a clang before it disappeared. Leon stood with his back against Hert’s, fending off two of the three remaining wolves. Hert pushed the hammer into his wolf’s stomach. It sank down, and he slammed the hammer into the side of its head. It stayed down.

“We did it! Let’s just get to the portal,” Leon huffed, his energy depleting.

“Yeah,” Hert said.

Ava sprang toward it as Leon and Hert beat onto one of the two remaining wolves, and they too ran. Then the other wolf chased them down, forcing them to stop. Leon swung the short sword, and with a clang, it split into pieces, and the wolf snarled at the cut. Leon shifted the wooden dagger into his other hand as Hert pounded the wolf’s head with the hammer. It fell down. Leon kicked at the last one, and Hert banged the stone weapon into its skull. It emitted a dull crack.

“Critical hit?” Leon asked as the wolf slumped.

“I guess,” Hert said. He also breathed heavy.

“I can’t pass through,” Ava said. “The portal won’t let me enter!”

‘79 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’