Alex dived through the door as another bolt of energy flew over his head and slammed into the wall. The green semitransparent goo splattered across the drywall, the menacing hiss reminding Alex all too well that he had almost become a sludgesicle. He rolled to his feet and continued his run, shooting as fast and accurately as he could. The kick of his handguns was far more manageable now, but running and gunning made his aim mediocre at best.

The floating spirit pulled another chunk of green slime from its ethereal body and launched the ectoplasmic missile at him. The green glowing glob passed just behind him and he kept running to the other side of the empty ballroom, his butt puckering with every step. The spirit kept tracking him, keeping its ghostly eyes on its target, just as Alex had intended.

The rest of the team entered the room and launched their attacks at the spirit’s back. Sword, spear and arrow passed through its body, not causing half the damage they should have. The magic attacks from Rishi and Danny were what was really causing most of that damage.

Danny chanted her spell and a green glowing ball of condensed nature magic hit the specter in the back, tearing a scream from the monster. Rishi’s spells were cast without chanting as the man twirled his stone staff like a damn kung fu movie cliché until stabbing forward, the end of his staff pointed at the specter. A stone spear went flying from the staff and slammed into the back of the spirits head, ending its screams of pain as the ethereal head exploded into chunks of green goo. The floating body disappeared and a golden orb popped into existence.

Alex holstered his guns and took a deep breath as the fear of becoming a splat on the wall passed.

“You know, being the bait is not as fun as it looks.”

“Oh, quit your whining.” Danny laughed. “That ghosty didn’t even come close to hitting you.”

Alex pointed at the glowing green ectoplasm that was still visible on part of his cuirass.

Danny cast a heal on Alex. “Okay, I admit I didn’t see that one.”

Alex sighed in relief as the burning grey goop faded away and Danny’s spell healed the burns from the ghostly assault.

“Shits like napalm, bro.” Ty said, while looting the orb.

“Just happy it fades away after a time.” Toby said, rubbing his face where he had taken an ecto-missile to the face earlier.

“Getting Soul Points stripped away is one thing, but does it have to be so physically painful?” Silvia asked. “I didn’t believe it as bad as Toby said, but it was bad. It was very, very bad.”

“And here we are, thinking we were just lucky to find another black door.” Alex quipped.

Experience: 1,000 (6,000xp per Young Specter /6)

Soul: 2,000 (6,000 Souls per Young Specter /6(x2))

“Are you going to try condensing your Soul tonight?” Danny asked.

“Yep.” Alex said. “I felt that I could condense it at 50,000 Soul Points. I think I have enough of a buffer to stay safe.”

“The jump from 10k to 50k when condensing from Tier 2 to Tier 3 is ridiculous.” Toby stated. “It’s like the price to upgrade the Modifier is a foot note compared to the Soul Point cost.”

“I just hope the recoil on my guns doesn’t go up again like last time.” Alex said. “I don’t want to have to keep putting my attribute points into Strength when I don’t even use melee.”

“Maybe you should.” Ty said.

“You want me to club the mobs to death with my guns?” Alex asked deadpanned.

“No, man!” Ty exclaimed. “I’m saying you move like a damn ninja! Throw in some moves, like kicks and shit!”

“More kicks, less shit.” Rishi quipped.

“Huh. Ty might actually be a genius.” Alex said thoughtfully.

“More like an idiot savant.” Danny added, getting the bird from Ty.

“We ready to move?” Toby asked. “It’s almost lunch and we still got a Boss to kill and then run all the way back to the Bellevue.”

“Yes, we won’t forget your stomach, my little Panzer.” Silvia teased.

Toby grumbled something as he walked to the next set of doors. Alex saw the smile on Silvia’s face and just shook his head. He had known the two were in a relationship for a while now but he started to consider that maybe Toby was a bit of a masochist.

Well, he is a Tank after all. Wait! Ew! Bad thoughts go away!

The scream that tore through the building as Toby opened the door and everyone step back warily. Alex peeked in to see a ghost chained up to a gurney. The gurney and chains were just as immaterial as the ghost and they shook and rattled as the ghost fought against its bonds.

The chain started to snap apart as the ghost continued its struggle.

“It’s almost free!” Alex yelled. “Attack!”

The team ran into the room and Danny, Rishi and Ty stepped to the side and launched magic and arrows at the Boss. Silvia, Toby and Alex were running as fast as they could, but didn’t make it before the last of the chains broke apart.

The ghost leapt up from the gurney and floated in the air, staring down at them before letting out a roar. Even though the ghost was somewhat translucent, the tight spandex pants arrayed in a multitude of colors, along with a matching mask, let Alex know exactly what they were dealing with.

“It’s a fucking luchador ghost!” Alex yelled as he started shooting his guns.

“Boom! Boom!”

The explosions that hit the ghost cut off its roar and sent it flying into the wall only to disappear as it flew through it. Alex, Silvia and Toby started looking for any signs of the ghost’s reappearance. They had found the specters liked to ambush the team from the walls, flying out and attacking with a fury of ectoplasmic missiles.

The room was spacious and empty, reminiscent of hotel rooms specifically designed for company conventions. Looking around the wide-open room, a ghostly wrestler ring started forming around the trio and Danny, Ty and Rishi all started shouting as they raced forward. They rebounded off the rising platform, unable to reach the others.

“This can’t be good.” Silvia muttered.

Before Alex could agree, he was suddenly hit from behind and went flying into the ropes that surrounded the ring. The ghostly ropes reacted as soon as he touched them, trapping Alex’s arms. He suddenly felt the drain on his Soul Points.

“Don’t touch the ropes!” Alex yelled out in pain. “They drain your Soul Points!”

Toby and Silvia had already turned and were now fighting with the luchador in the center of the ring. Toby blocked a kick aimed for Silvia and she reacted by angling her spear over Toby’s head and thrusting out at the luchador. The blade grazed its chest and the specter jumped back but didn’t seem all that concerned. Alex pulled against the ropes, trying to disentangle himself but the ropes continued to tighten around his limbs. An arrow suddenly flew by his head, hitting the top rope and he felt the rope loosen up.

“Keep doing that, Ty!” Alex yelled. “It’s working.”

As much as he didn’t like arrows flying around his body, Ty hit the ropes one by one until Alex was finally free. He dropped to the floor and looked to see two stone golems circling the ring.

“They can’t get in!” Rishi shouted.

“Just have them free anyone who gets tangled up!” Alex yelled back.

Getting back to his feet, he watched as Silvia and Toby fought off the luchador. They were holding the specter off but they were being pushed back a step at a time. Alex aimed his guns and fired, sending twin Soul bullets into the wrestler’s leg. The luchador stumbled and Silvia and Toby pressed their advantage.

The shots should have given them a few moments to press forward, but as Toby swung down with his sword and Silvia thrusted with her spear, the ghost flipped over the spear and twisted past the sword in an amazing display of acrobatic talent. Falling back to the ground, the ghost grabbed hold of Toby’s head and preformed a stunner while landing on his ass and Toby’s jaw smashing into the wrestler’s shoulder. Toby flopped to the floor and Silvia shouted in protest. She thrust with her spear again but the ghost caught the spear and twisted over it, catching Silvia’s face with his boot. She flew backwards, landing hard on the ring floor.

“And the luchador drops both of his opponents to the mat!” Ty yelled.

“Not helping, Ty!” Alex shouted.

Alex opened up on the ghost, firing at a distance. Surprisingly, the ghost was being pushed back. Alex could swear he heard Ty still shouting.

“BE! AGGRESSIVE! B! E! AGGRESSIVE!”

When the wrestler’s back hit the ropes, he was suddenly flying forward and Alex dove to the side, barely dodging the attack. He hadn’t watched wrestling since he was a kid but there were some things you never forget and that was that the wrestler would hit the ropes behind him and would be running right back towards him at any moment.

Alex activated his Soul Sight and the world went grey as the pulse of each individual Soul within 10 feet could be felt. Silvia and Toby were starting to get to their feet just a few steps away from Alex but that wasn’t what he was focusing on. It was the luchador that had just bounced off the ropes behind him and was now racing back.

Twisting his body, Alex fired into the wrestler. He didn’t see the ghost so much as he saw the bright blue burning fire that was the luchador’s Soul.

“THUD! THUD!”

The Onomatopoeia Modifier worked as Alex hoped it would. The luchador was hit with both bullets and the Thud gave his bullets maximum stopping power. The ghost slammed backwards into the ground and Toby and Silvia attacked. They both threw themselves on top of the downed wrestler and suddenly a count was sounding from an unseen source.

“Uno!”

Alex jumped to his feet and ran towards them.

“Dos!”

He had seen one too many wrestling matches to know how this would end. Jumping forward, he landed on top of the ghost just as it was about to push his friends off. His added weight knocked the wrestler back down.

“Tre!”

The luchador, along with the wrestling ring, sunk into the floor and the Boss’ orb appeared above their heads.

“Quick thinking.” Alex said to the two as he rolled off them.

“Thanks.” Silvia said. “Just kinda popped in our heads.”

“Where are ya, Ty!” Toby shouted. “I heard you commentating out there!”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Ty yelled back. “We couldn’t get in the ring!”

“It’s true.” Danny added, walking up to them. “Our spells and Ty’s arrows could hit the ropes of the ring but wouldn’t go further than that.”

“Well, fuck.” Toby grumbled. “I wanted to hit him.”

“Danny already did.” Rishi announced. “When Ty tried to do the Wave.”

Alex snorted. “That’s our Ty.”

“I think she has been upping her Strength stat, bro.” Ty said, rubbing the back of his furry head.

Experience: 5,000 (30,000xp per Hector the Luchador Specter /6)

Soul: 10,000 (30,000 Souls per Hector the Luchador Specter /6(x2))

Boss Loot: Legendary Mascara

“What do you think, Rishi?” Alex asked. “Agility and Strength?”

Rishi nodded. “I wonder what happens if we put it on different armor? Will putting it on your vambrace be different than putting it on Ty’s shin guard for example? The Luchador definitely had some moves.”

“Huh, only one way to find out.” Alex said. “Ty, throw it on one of you shin guards, please.”

“Sure.” Ty said, pulling out the small purple orb and applying it to his shin guard.

“Plus five to Strength and Agility and a Drop Kick ability!” Ty yelled out in excitement.

Alex applied his orb to his right vambrace.

‘Lucha’dary Vambrace (Upgraded to Legendary): This vambrace now allows its wearer to close line their opponent with the skill of a Luchador! +5 to Strength and Agility!

Alex felt his eye twitch as he read the name. A rush of information flew into his mind and suddenly, he knew how to use a perfect close line.

“I got close line plus the stats.” Alex told them.

“That is useful information.” Rishi said happily. “Toby, put it on your pauldron if you please.”

Toby shrugged and placed the orb to his shoulder.

“Human Spear.” He read. “It’s just a shoulder charge but I’m sure I can find a use for it.”

“I wonder what happens if we put it on a weapon?” Danny asked. “My current staff doesn’t proc very much.”

“Remember, you can always save it.” Silvia added. “Our stats are starting to even out so maybe one of the other teams has a Legendary orb they would be willing to trade.”

“So, everyone liked the idea of the Player’s Market?” Alex asked getting up and dusting himself off.

“Oh yeah!” Danny exclaimed. “Everyone has been saving up for it.”

“But how many teams have gotten Legendary or Epic orbs?” Toby asked.

“Oh, you would be surprised.” Rishi said. “A lot of teams have been clearing the dungeons north where the Gnomes use to be. A lot of Events and higher-level doors have popped up.”

“Do you think that’s because of the distance between bases?” Alex asked.

There was a theory that the doors became higher level the farther away they were from a base. If the Gnomes base was now gone and the next nearest base was as far away as the Bellevue was from the Gnome base, then there were probably doors they hadn’t even encountered yet.

“Let’s head back.” Alex said. “I need to ask those teams some questions.”

“Are you forgetting something?” Danny asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Check our xp before we leave.”

Name: Alex Donner

Age: 24

Race: Human

Level: 9

EXP: 13,784/15,000

Class: Soul Survivor: Enforcer

Soul Tier 2: 84,002

HP: 480

MP: 300

Vitality: 33

Strength: 30

Agility: 32(64)

Dexterity: 29(58)

Wisdom: 22

Intelligence: 19

Since they were trying to hold back from leveling so that they could wait for the new players to arrive, they had to continue to spend their xp. If they didn’t check it after each of these stronger doors, they could accidently level.

Alex had already bought the Loot Goblin Modifier, several higher-grade Health and Mana Pills and a Storage Pack which held plenty of water and food. He was starting to run out of things to spend his xp on.

Blood Transfusion: This Modifier allows you to transfer your HP to another at a ratio of 2:1! Physical touch is required! Want to be a hero? Well, it’s gonna cost ya!

Alex had held out on the Blood Transfusion Modifier because he didn’t have a lot of health and the 2:1 ratio would make it hard to keep someone healed. He sighed as he purchased it. Even if it was only a little health, it could possibly save someone from dying. Letting the System Shop fade away, he and his team headed back to the Bellevue.

Just before exiting the building through the black door, Alex activated his Soul Sight. It was a precautionary measure against any ambushes and the more they traveled south, the more precaution they needed to take.

The sudden feeling of the Souls awaiting him just beside of the exit was the only warning he had. Diving forward with the help of his Agility, along with his Leather Boots of Hopping, he shot out into the street as the axe that had been aimed at his head went smashing into the ground.

“Ambush!” Alex yelled, dismissing his Soul Sight and taking a quick look up and down the street.

There were only two Tahloh’s, just like there always were, standing on either side of the doorway. Toby had already run out of the building, attacking the golden skinned Tahloh with the axe, while Silvia jumped out and struck out the opposite direction with her spear, stabbing into the other Tahloh’s arm. The eight-foot tall Tahloh grabbed Silvia’s spear and then latched on to her arm and threw her behind him.

Silvia went flying and Alex started firing his guns. The glowing blue bullets struck the giant center mass, pushing him back towards the door where Ty was waiting. The four-foot-tall red panda jumped forward feet first out of the doorway.

“DROP KICK!” Ty yelled, as he connected to the Tahloh. It sent the giant crashing forward and two stone golems rushed out of the doorway next and jumped atop the downed Tahloh. A grunt of pain from the giant was proof that the stone golems were not light.

Danny was out of the door next, rushing past Toby and the axe wielding Tahloh as she cast her root spell on the downed giant. With him taken care of, Alex turned to see Toby being lifted up and slammed into the wall.

Taking aim, he shot for the axe wielder’s knees. The shot connected and the giant fell to his knees, but he kept his grip on Toby’s neck, trying to crush his throat. Toby face went deep red from the sudden lack of oxygen.

A blur of leather and olive skin and Silvia was there, her Flying Spear leading the way as it bit deeply into the giants ribs just under his arm. Toby fell to the ground and breathed in deep as the giant’s arm went limp. As wounded as he was, the giant still managed to punch out, his long arms easily closing the distance past Silvia’s spear and his fist connecting with her chest. Silvia flew back again and slammed into the pavement.

Alex had already started to move forward by now and he unloaded his guns into the giant’s head. Finally, the giant keeled over and his body vanished as the golden floating orb signaled his death. Rushing to Toby’s side, Alex looked over his friend to see him still breathing though it seemed to cause him significant pain to do so. Before he could call out to Danny, she was already healing him the German Tank.

Alex took another look up and down the street before heading to the captured Tahloh.

“What is your name?”

The interrogation was over quickly, the Tahloh, whose name was Falzah, answered their questions curtly. It seemed that the Tahloh population was getting low in the City Zone and they had pulled back their patrols, hence why they were the first to be seen in the past week.

Falzah accepted surrender and his body faded away without Alex having to give a killing blow. He was thankful for that. The killing was easy with monsters but Alex still had trouble dealing with killing the sentient Races in the System.

The reason they hadn’t taken the fight to the Tahloh was that their base was located on top of the buildings and according to the giants who had been captured by Alex’s team, there was only one way up and that was through a fire escape that was heavily guarded.

After checking on everyone’s health and looting the two orbs, they finally headed back to the Bellevue. It took a half hour at a run but they made it back to their base without encountering any more problems.

They entered the dining room and Alex searched for Channy’s group. They were always out near the old Gnome territory and they might have found a new door.

“Hey, Alex.” Channy greeted him warmly. “What’s up?”

“Hey Channy.” Alex smiled back. “Just wondering if you guys had found any new doors recently?”

Channy laughed. “Oh, we found a new door alright, but none of us have gone in. Those black doors you and your team seem to love grinding are hard enough as it is.”

Alex brightened at that. “Care to share your map so we can try it out?”

Channy did and cautioned him as best as she could. No other team was as outfitted or upgraded as Alex’s team but it was still a risk to enter a door that was most likely more dangerous than even the black doors.

“Thanks, Channy!” Alex said after he got the map update. “You’re the best.”

Alex headed back to his team and gave them the good news.

“A door made of Jade?” Rishi asked.

“That’s what Channy and her team had said.” Alex answered. “One popped up where the old Gnome base was and almost all of the Worn Wooden Doors have been replaced by Iron Banded Doors or higher.”

Rishi, their resident analyst, thought it over through most of lunch before finally coming to his conclusion.

“So, best guess is it will be of Eastern origin. The Asian cultures have some nightmarish type of stories and urban myths. Truthfully, I would prefer to study about it tonight and head out first thing in the morning.”

The group agreed with Danny offering to help with the studying. It wasn’t very surprising that she offered to help. Since Danny and Rishi were both casters, they had both chosen the Elephant’s Wisdom Modifier. Most of the casters did. With a starting 1.5x to Wisdom and Intellect multiplier, it was an easy choice. There were a few other Evolution based Modifiers that would be helpful to casters above the 10,000xp cost but at the time of their arrival, not many were considering the long game. The only exception in their team was Toby and his Stalwart Modifier and even though he was somewhat behind at first, it was turning out to be the correct choice for the Tank. His increase in Vitality and his ability to aggro mobs made fighting much less hectic than before. According to Toby, he had over 1,000 HP which was over double what Alex had.

After lunch, they all agreed to run over to the former Gnome area and see if there were any Events that had spawned. Events were a nice change of pace to the doors and while they were sometimes more difficult, they seemed to follow Earth’s game mechanics a little more closely, making them significantly easier as long as you paid enough attention.

Alex and Ty scouted farther out west before heading north, trying to avoid the teams that usually hunted in this area. No need to step on anyone’s toes, especially when they were ahead of the pack in terms of upgrades. The rest of the team followed along, not bothering to comment. Even though they hadn’t seen the Monster Stampede for a while, they always kept an ear out for the wave of death that constantly moved throughout the city.

A whopping fifty-six blocks away from the Bellevue and they came across a promising looking Event. Promising in the fact that they were sure no one else would be stupid enough to attempt it.

The open space was dominated by a large community swimming pool and there were chairs and benches surrounding the pool, along with a lifeguard chair high above everything and a little snack shop towards the back. Alex, who had grown up in California, smelled the strong scent of chlorine and almost smiled at the familiar smell.

“Thoughts?” Alex asked.

“Why would anyone swim in this?” Danny said. “The smell makes me think my nose is going to bleed?”

“You didn’t swim in community pools growing up?” Alex asked in mock horror.

“You mean in Ireland? Where it rains a good portion of the year and we are literally surrounded by water?” She asked sarcastically. Alex noticed that her accent always became a little thicker when she was being sarcastic.

Alex smiled. “Well, when you put it like that…”

She shook her head in amusement.

Toby and Rishi had their heads together, discussing possible outcomes while the rest of the team kept watch. It wasn’t long before they came out of their little pow wow.

“So obviously we are thinking water monster.” Toby said. “The question is, will the monsters just come out of the water and attack or will they try to drag us in?”

“Well, that’s a horrifying thought.” Silvia quipped.

“Just so everyone knows, I don’t swim that well.” Ty said a little too quickly.

“Aren’t you from California as well?” Rishi asked.

“Fresno, bro!” Ty said vehemently. “It’s the Central Fucking Valley!”

Rishi put his hands up, trying to placate the man, er, panda.

“No reason to bite my head off.” He spoke. “I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

“Ty?” Toby asked. “Did someone almost drown at a pool party?”

Ty turned around and pointed his finger accusingly at him.

“I didn’t know it was the deep end, alright?!”

“Well, everything might be the deep end for you now.” Danny quipped.

Ty started grumbling, but everyone had the decency to keep their laughter restrained, if just barely.

As they moved into the Event grounds, Alex moved to the back with Ty. Ty had a tendency to overact when he didn’t want people to know what was really bothering him. He might have fooled the others, but Alex had come to know him well.

“Truthfully, is it the frogs?” Alex asked in a whisper.

Ty glanced around quickly to make sure no one had heard him and then nodded.

“Fucking frog nightmares, bro.” Ty whispered back. “Sometimes, I even have dreams of Kermit chasing me around with his banjo, trying to beat me to death.”

“I got your back.” Alex said, offering him a fist bump.

Once they had all entered the Event, the gates closed behind them and the water in the pool started splashing about. The group spread out, waiting for whatever mobs were about to appear. They were not even close to prepared for what happened next.

Several figures pulled themselves out of the pool. Their skin was the color pea soup and their bodies were grotesquely misshaped. Their bellies protruded out as if about to burst and their hands and feet were webbed and large gills ran down the sides of their neck. Worst of all, each and every one of them were wearing bikinis.

Alex gagged as he watched the strange scene unfold before them.

“What are they doing?” Silvia said.

The five…monsters, seemed to be trying to lure the group towards them in a particularly suggestive manner. They moved about, brushing up against their sagging breasts, only held safely out of sight by their bikini tops. One dipped down, pretending to pick something up and another blew a kiss at the group.

Toby looked like he was about to throw up.

“Please make them stop.” He said, looking a little green.

“Wait!” Rishi exclaimed.

“Dude, if you’re into it then you do you.” Ty said. “But please, leave us out of it.”

Rishi shook his head. “No! It’s our helmets, or more to the point, the enchantments on our helmets!”

“The BS Detector!” Alex almost shouted as he finally understood what was happening.

“So, we are seeing through their illusion?” Danny asked.

“Yes!” Rishi answered. “They are probably trying to seduce us into the water to drown us.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be mermaids?” Silvia asked.

“Actually, I believe they are Sirens.” Rishi said. “In older stories, Sirens and Mermaids were actually two different myths altogether.”

“Well, they are seducing jackshit.” Ty said. “Can we kill them now?”

Alex nodded. “At a distance. No one go near them.”

“That means I’m up.” Ty said, pulling up his bow.

Since they had all been trying to keep their xp below level cap, they had plenty of xp to spend on Class Modifiers. While some looked like a complete waste, there were a few solid choices for each Class as long as you considered how you could use it. Ty had found an interesting Modifier that didn’t seem very useful at first, considering how he had to shoot around his teammates, but in a situation where they could only attack at range, this Modifier was perfect.

Instead of pointing directly at the Sirens, Ty angled his bow up towards the sky. He held it for a few moments until the arrow started glowing brightly. Once the arrow started to pulse, he released and the team watched as the arrow arced high up into the air. When it started coming back down, the glowing arrow split into two, then four, then again into eight. They arrows continued to multiply until a hundred glowing arrows were falling onto the five Sirens.

The area around the Sirens was raining arrows and the grotesque monsters started screaming as they were struck with tens of arrows a piece. Ty sagged as the Class Modifier, Kyudo’s Fall, drained the small amount of Mana Points that Ty had. It was the small downside to his ability. Anyone that drained their MP even close to empty, became tired and suffered pounding headaches until their MP regenerated. Thankfully, Danny’s regeneration spell helped.

The Sirens screamed in rage and ripples were seen flying through the air towards the team. The surprising sonic attack would have crippled them if they hadn’t been so far away. As it was, they only winced as the high pitch pulse was sufficiently weakened by the distance. The Sirens turned and dove into the safety of the pool.

“Tell me we don’t have to go after them to finish this event.” Silvia said.

“Danny smiled. “We don’t. Ty, would you mind throwing one of your bombs into the water?”

“Oh, the Sirens want a party?” Ty asked, pulling out the small black sphere from his pouch.

The sphere started flashing and Ty threw the bomb an impressive distance. It landed with a splash and not a moment later, the muffled explosion had the water flying into the air, tinted red with Siren blood.

“Now that’s what I call a cannonball!” Ty exclaimed.

The ground started rumbling and the team went back to watching out for whatever surprise was coming next. The tentacle that rose out of the water was a terrifying surprise.

“Octopus?” Alex asked.

“Or squid, or kraken for all we know.” Danny said as she watched the fifteen-foot-long appendage raise out of the water.

“Ty?” Toby asked.

Ty had already pulled out his second bomb. “Bombs away!”

The bomb sailed through the air but before it had reached the water, the tentacle whipped forward, hitting the bomb and sending it right back towards the group.

“Run!” Ty yelled.

The group spread out and dived away as the bomb went off. The impact sent all of them flying and several thuds and moans of pain followed.

“That sucked.” Alex said, getting to his feet.

He was relieved to see that the others were okay, if a little shaken. What he didn’t seem to realize was the explosion had sent him precariously close to the pools edge.

“Alex, look out!” Toby screamed.

Even before the tentacle wrapped around his waist, Alex knew he was screwed. Launching in to the air, he held back his own scream since the tentacle was trying to squeeze the breath out of him. If it wasn’t for his armor, his ribs would have been crushed.

The team started attacking as soon as they got to their feet. Ty’s arrows were flying into the base of the tentacle while Danny and Rishi cast spell after spell. Alex could see the surface of the water, but the Sirens blood had made it murky. He could still see the shadow of the monster below and it didn’t seem terribly large considering the size of the tentacle.

He aimed his handguns and started firing as he used his Onomatopoeia Modifier.

“Buzz! Sizzle! Whip! Hiss! Fizz!”

It might have been the rush of adrenaline or the fact that he was hanging ten feet in the air by something that was trying to squeeze him to death, but Alex started using words that he didn’t even know the effect for. With his limited amount of oxygen, he probably should have used words that he at least knew would work, but he wasn’t thinking clearly at the moment.

Buzz worked as intended and the monster suddenly froze in place as the electrical currents rushed through its body. Sizzle had almost no effect on the water type monster as the fire effect gained no hold over the wet skin. Whip created a long gash running down the tentacle. Hiss must have poisoned the beast because the bullet wound was oozing something green and Fizz had started making the tentacle bubble underneath its skin.

As fascinating as all of that was, Alex’s attention was drawn to Rishi’s stone golem that was running towards the pool, its stone body starting to flash with golden light.

Alex holstered his weapons and pulled out a Health Pill from his ring, swallowing it. He felt the healing of Danny’s spell kick in and then just before the golem jumped into the water, he activated his Bleeding Heart necklace.

They had made a contingency for using the Epic grade necklace. Always have heals ready. Whether that was Health Pills or magical healing, the necklace only stopped a killing blow once. Once you were drained down to 10 HP, you could just as easily die if you had heavily bleeding wounds or were poisoned.

Alex shut his eyes just before the golem exploded underwater. The velocity at which the water hit him tore pieces of skin off his hands and face. Then the impact rattled around his brain, which he was sure would lead to several concussions and broken bones. However, he couldn’t tell because he was knocked unconscious.

The next thing Alex saw when he came to was Danny hovering above him, her wet hair brushing against his face as her green eyes stared into his.

“I’m fine, I think.” Alex said softly.

Danny smiled, tears falling from her eyes as she hugged him tightly. He held onto her for a moment, feeling that she needed it more than him. When she finally pulled him up, he saw Rishi looking down at his feet.

“I’m sorry Alex.” He said quietly. “I didn’t realize the explosion could proc.”

Alex gaped. “Are you telling me that the Baby Maker enchantment on your staff procced the explosion!?”

Rishi visible winced. “Yeah. It doesn’t proc much and I never knew it could happen with the explosion.”

How big must that have been?

“No worries.” Alex said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’m fine, so it’s all good.”

Rishi let out a relieved breath and Alex gave him a smile. He didn’t need to tell Rishi that he remembered the pain of his skin being ripped off vividly. Seeing the orb, Alex went over to loot.

Experience: 6,000 (36,000xp per Giant Snail /6)

Soul: 6,000 (18,000 Souls per Giant Snail /6(x2))

Loot (Event): Epic Snail Shell

Alex was happy with the Epic level loot but…Giant Snail? As the others bursting out into laughter, Alex realized what that meant and his horrified expression just spurred the group on.

“Bro, maybe we need to get you a pregnancy test?” Ty laughed.

Alex groaned. He had just been man handled by a 15-foot-long snail’s penis.