Lee immediately headed back inside. "Send the best fighters to me, Alejandro. I'll do what I can. I have a feeling that we'll need it." Miller had found him by then and Alejandro ordered him and Jackson to stay with Lee. Then he started giving orders through the new 'radios', calling people by name and ordering them to report to the garage.

They came to him, one at a time, and Lee scrapped every Rune that he could, including his batteries and staff. He doubted that he would be doing much outside [Three], not anytime soon… He sharpened weapons, strengthened armor and handed out Mana batteries to casters. There wasn't time to take their Mana and create specialized equipment like he'd done for Bradley, so he stuck with batteries for now.

Then he ran out of Runes to take back and the pressure started building. Lee focused on what he could feel of his brother, trying to get a sense of whether he was fighting or not. As best he could tell, Stan was calm… mostly, at the very least it didn't feel like he was fighting for his life. "I hope this doesn't cause you problems." The pressure continued to grow as he created more and more Runes.

Skill Level Up: [Soul Reinforcement]

Skill: [Soul Reinforcement] has reached the Initiate Threshold. No Evolutions Available. Upgrade to Apprentice Available. Proceed? Y/N

"Of course proceed." Lee felt something from Stanley as the usual request for agreement went out. It felt like… attention? Focus? "It's not over yet, Stan," he thought to his brother.

[Soul Reinforcement(Initiate I)](Epic)(Passive)

The Soul of a Runic is of Vital Importance. Push your Limits and Grow Stronger.

Does not Increase Soul Attribute but instead Increases the Strength of what is already there, allowing the Runic to do More with Less.

Increases the Elasticity of your Soul.

-10% to Any Damage to your Soul.

"Good. I might need that." The relief that came from the level up was short lived and Lee continued placing Runes until it started to feel like he might damage something. He had just turned away the next fighter and picked up his Rune disc 'radio' to call Alejandro, to let him know to stop sending people, when Alejandro's voice came from it.

"Lee, come back out to the wall. Something is happening."

Icy fingers of dread and anticipation, dug into him as he approached the wall, flanked by his two bodyguards. Lee stopped at the base of the wall. His double jumping Runes were gone… "Don't suppose one of you can just toss me up there?" he said to his shadows, before turning to head towards one of the staircases Bradley had erected after the enchanting.

"I could…" Jackson said softly but didn't pursue the offer.

Lee saw the reason Alejandro had called as soon as he finished climbing the stairs. An army was coming for them… a small army. Smaller than the dust cloud they were kicking up. He couldn't pick out much detail in the still distant force, but there was an awful lot of shiny bits all throughout. Like metal weapons and armor. "Shit. It isn't that many though… I could probably kill a lot of them with a single beam." His thoughts were interrupted by something dropping into his [Mana Mind] range overhead.

Lee glanced up but saw nothing visible where his mind could see the small orb of magic. "What is that?" he thought. It moved smoothly and slowly through the air, a thread of Mana trailing behind it, stretching up and over the wall barrier, toward the newly appeared castle. The orb appeared to be turning and twitching about… "Like an eye…" Lee shredded the thread of Mana running to it and the orb unraveled, dispersing as if it had never been. "That can't be good," Lee thought and hurried to find Alejandro. Wilson was there when he arrived and Lee quickly told both of them about the 'eye' in the sky.

"Checking out our forces?" Wilson asked.

"Likely." Alejandro was frowning. "Probably more of them then, ones that you didn't see…" He looked back at the approaching army. "Does that seem like too few of them? Or are they that much stronger…"

Lee got that sick feeling of dreadful anticipation in his stomach. "Should I take a shot at them?"

"No," Alejandro said, "not yet. Let them get closer before we reveal that attack."

"Why wait?" Wilson piped up, "Let's start blasting them now!"

"How confident are you in the wall, Lee?" Alejandro asked instead of answering.

"Well, shit. Not confident at all against something I've never seen before and have no idea how strong it is!"

"We'll find out… but hold off. If they break formation or start charging, then blast the hell out of em. They are wearing armor, carrying weapons, maybe they can be reasoned with… Where is Trak with his necklace?"

"Here, General!" Trak stepped around from behind Lee, then pulled his amulet free and handed it to Alejandro. "Bark, bark."

"Thank you, Trak." Alejandro held up his 'radio' and repeated his instructions to the other officers spread around the Fort. He also confirmed that there were no other enemies in sight, other than the ones coming from the north.

The army stopped at a good distance from the wall and the abrupt shift from the growing sounds of stomping feet, to sudden silence was unnerving. Then one of them walked forward, out of the formation. They were all close enough to make out some details now and Lee had to rub his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Are those Orcs?" They were mostly covered in matching armor, so all he could really see were faces and a few patches of skin between the armor. The skin was green… and they had bestial faces with… tusks?

"What's an Orc?" Alejandro asked.

The lone 'orc' who had moved ahead roared. "I am General Gutripper! Send out your General to face me!"

The sound of his roar didn't match with the words, neither did the volume and Lee assumed that he must be wearing something akin to Trak's amulet, though he was still too far away for [Mana Mind] to see.

"So they can talk…" Wilson didn't sound happy about it. "Does he think we will just hand over our General? Or is this some kind of duel thing?"

"I'll go," Alejandro stated, "Maybe it wants a duel." A chorus of dissenting voices rose up immediately. "Not alone," he continued, "I'll take Bradley and…"

"I will accompany you," Saira said, as she rose up alongside the wall. The vines that carried her up unraveled from her legs and she stepped onto the stone. "We will keep him protected."

A few minutes later, Alejandro jumped off the wall, Bradley and Saira at his side. Mar was sneaking behind them, apparently having volunteered herself without telling anyone. Lee would have said something but he was sure that Bradley and Saira knew the girl was there. Bradley carried his staff but wasn't covered in stone at the moment, due to Alejandro's suggestion that they not show any more of their abilities than necessary. Hiding the Runes wasn't an option because no one was going out there without at least some protection. Together, they all slowly approached the orc general.

Lee pushed his [Mana Mind] to its limits as he followed them, looking for anything that might be an ambush. He was somewhat reassured when he saw the vines following Saira underground, all of them pulsing with Mana from [Three]. There was a lot of power in that team, Defensive and offensive, but also a prime opportunity to strike a major blow against them if it was a trap… They left his range and Lee kept his Mana at half, his hand resting on the lip of the tower window and ready to blast the shit out of anything that moved wrong.

Alejandro had left his disc activated and Lee's Rune radio was in Wilson's hands behind him. Everyone in the small tower could hear the sounds coming through of feet stomping in the dirt. The sound stopped and Alejandro spoke, "I am General Morales. What…"

"You will surrender." The orc's voice boomed, both from the disc and the air. "You will be enslaved or you will die!"

Lee tensed, his hand raised and pointing at the enemy as mutters broke out among the crowd of people in the tower behind him.

"You expect us…" Saira's voice came from the disc and she was quickly interrupted by the orc.

"Speak only when I address you, breeder!" His voice didn't carry through the air this time, only from the disc.

Lee could still see a few of Saira's vines within his range below and felt the sudden surge of Mana through them. "Here we go!"

Lee waited for her to make the first move, but nothing happened… and the orc spoke again. "You have until the red star reaches the top of the sky. We have scouted your forces already, you are a fresh Dungeon world and lack combatants. This," he waved a hand at the army behind him, "is but a fraction of our forces. Surrender or Die!" He turned and marched back towards his own forces. Lee watched them, waiting for any surprises, but the army marched away and back towards their castle without incident.

Lee waited for his people to return, entering through the gate to avoid showing Bradley's ability to travel through the earth, all the while watching for any more of those eye-like things with his Skill. He was about to head back inside but stopped when he saw the gathering crowd around Wilson's office. "That can't be a good sign, can it?"

~~~~~~~

Mar

~~~~~~~

Mar was quiet and still where she stood behind Bradley and watched the giant green monster bragging. She assumed it was bragging, it had that look and tone about it, but she couldn't understand what it was saying. From the looks of things, the others could understand it and that fact meant her power was working.

While it talked she moved slowly out from behind Bradley, placing her feet very carefully to avoid disturbing anything on the ground. It gave no indication that it could detect her and her Mana seemed to be draining at a normal rate. She took a few more steps while pushing her abilities to the max, and felt no spikes that would indicate a near detection. "This one at least isn't very observant." She almost drew her knives when it snarled at her mother but it didn't do anything else and finally turned to go.

Mar followed the others back inside the Fort, after she tried to say something and Alejandro shushed her… Once inside, they found Lee standing just inside his building and watching a large crowd around Wilson near the office.

Mar felt the old man's Mana as they approached, she didn't like it. It felt like eyes staring at her, and her cloak did nothing to shield her from that gaze. "Stupid overpowered bullshit!"

"We should surrender!" one man shouted from the crowd. "At least we can live!" More variations of that sounded out.

"Idiots!" Mar cursed and her voice echoed out a few feet away from her actual position.

"They are just scared," Bradley said from her side. "I haven't seen any of them fighting before and I don't think any of them have even left the Fort. They don't know what we are capable of…"

"Cowards!" Mar spat.

Bradley pulled her into a side hug. "Not everyone is cut out for this life, Mar. They didn't have a cynical badass to show them the way… some people have seen what is out there and can't take it."

"Variations of that have been bandied back and forth for a while now," Lee said tiredly when they got to him. Of course people would be scared, especially the weak, the ones who hadn't been making any efforts to get stronger. Better to live on your knees than die on your feet… or something like that. Scary monsters were threatening them and all they could hear was 'die or surrender'. "I have no intention of surrendering," Lee said, "and I doubt Wilson or any of you will as well."

Heads nodded and Mar said, "Alejandro, I…"

He held up a hand. "Wait. Lee, any more of those 'eyes' show up?"

The old man shook his head and Mar frowned. "What eyes?"

"Inside," Alejandro said, waving them all to follow, "Mar I think I know what you want to do, and I'm not against it." Her mom frowned in her direction and Mar ignored her. "Have you appeared or disappeared in the open?" Alejandro asked, and when Mar confirmed that she hadn't, he continued, "Keep it that way. It will be less likely that they suspect you if they don't know you exist."

"Absolutely…" Her mom almost shouted and cut herself off halfway. "Mar… can you… are you certain?" She seemed torn between anger and fear. "Bradley!" She spun on him. "Can you…"

Mar was still surprised by this new side of her mother. She still had that overbearing and overprotective instinct, but she was fighting it. "A spy mission?" Lee said, while staring straight at her.

"Cheater." Mar forced herself to drop the invisibility and looked at Lee while nodding. "Yes." She looked at Trak, now wearing his amulet again. "Tell me if you can understand the next thing I say." She let the invisibility wrap her up and then boosted all of her Skills, ramping up the Mana cost and with it, the effect. "Trak, I'm going to poke you in the nose if you don't understand me."

Her voice came from a random direction and Trak turned that way, head cocked to one side. Mar stepped right in front of him and booped him on the nose. He jumped in surprise and spun around, looking and sniffing in an attempt to find her. "You can't find me," Mar said, "none of you can." She tapped Bradley's ear and he turned with a frown. She could feel the pulses of Mana from her mother and they slid right on past, slipping around her as she tapped her mother's nose.

She turned to Lee and forced as much Mana as she could into the Skills as she stalked towards him. "I can still see you Mar." He reached up and caught her arm that was reaching to poke him. She frowned and eased up on the Mana use. "We don't know if any of them have similar abilities," he added.

"You are the only one who can detect me now," Mar said, "even Bradley can't feel my feet on the ground anymore."

"See!" Saira jumped in, "it is too dangerous!" Apparently she had lost the fight against her old instincts…

"Lee is the freak!" Mar snapped and yelled back. Then glanced at him apologetically, "No offense, but your Skill is overpowered. No one else has anything like it. And…" She raised a finger to hold off more complaints. "I can tell when you are able to see me…"

"Really?" Lee asked surprised, "How?"

Mar grinned triumphantly. "I know that there is a large area around you where you can detect me. The Mana changes and I can even tell when I get close!"

Lee pulled his ability away from her and off to one side. "Can you…"

"It's gone," Mar said. She half closed her eyes in concentration and pointed towards the edge of his ability. "Now it is right over there." She reached out a hand slowly, inching towards the bounds of it and stopping just outside. "There." She could feel that ability easily, her mother's and Bradley's abilities were much harder to notice… but of course she could hide from them and not from Lee's.

Lee was impressed. "That is… a good sign."

Her mother opened her mouth and Mar looked at her. "I can do this." She closed her mouth, face unhappy, and nodded slowly. "But why couldn't Trak understand you?"

Mar smiled and pointed at the amulet. "Can I borrow it?" He nodded and started to remove it before she added, "Try to talk to me while I'm wearing it." She put the amulet around her neck and vanished. "Trak, can you hear me?"

"Yes," Trak said.

Mar ramped up the power of her Skills. "How about now?"

Trak tilted his head. "I can not understand… did you remove it?"

"I didn't," Mar said, after reappearing. "I was just testing something." She gave the amulet back and continued. "I couldn't understand the monster out there either. My Skill blocks whatever it is that comes from the amulet, but still lets me understand what I hear if I'm wearing it." She glanced around at everyone and felt the eyes weighing heavily on her. She vanished. "So I take the amulet, Bradley gets me inside the castle and I see what's what while listening to whatever I can overhear."

"I could go with you," her mother said, still struggling with the idea of her doing this.

To be fair, Mar was terrified as well… but she wouldn't hide behind the walls and beg to be enslaved like the cowards outside. This was a job that was practically meant for her. Something that no one else could pull off. "Bradley will have to wait underground, assuming they don't detect him… and if that happens it's off anyway. Can your vines reach all that way?"

Her mother held up a hand and a blood red vine burst from the flesh of her palm. "They are always with me! But…" she begrudgingly admitted, "I will be greatly weakened without the Mana here."

"It's just as well, Saira," Alejandro cut in, "I would prefer you here. Especially if Bradley is unavailable." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I will not insist on it though, this is a dangerous mission and I will not keep you from your child." He looked apologetically towards where he'd last seen Mar. "Not that you are a child, Mar. It is a parent thing." He smiled and waited for her mother's answer.

She looked back and forth between all of them before settling on Mar, after a pulse of Mana located her. "I… trust you, Mar. Please be careful… and call me if you need help. I will be there." She held up her own disc and then started back outside. "I will prepare for the enemy." Mar felt the surge of Mana very easily as her mother stomped outside.

"She is upset." Mar stepped up to Bradley and reappeared. She took his hands in hers and felt her cheeks heat up, knowing that the others were watching. "Are you okay with this?" She faded slightly but managed to not vanish entirely.

"I'm not okay with any of this," Bradley said, "but I will do what needs to be done." He leaned in for a kiss but then stopped and only rested his forehead against hers. "You have your disc, right? Have you tested it against your cloak?"

Mar sighed. "Yea, damn thing goes right through it. So you can't call me or someone might hear, you'll have to wait for me to call…" The damn Runes were as overpowered as Lee's other abilities.

"Watch out for the smell," Trak piped up, "It stays behind when you disappear, if they have good noses then you must not appear even once inside, or they will know you are there." He pulled off the amulet and held it out.

"Thanks." Mar squeezed Bradley's hand. "Ready?" He only nodded.

"I'll get back to work," Lee said, "that little break helped. I'm ready for another two people, Alejandro." He frowned while looking at the ground and muttered, "I can handle it…" He looked up. "Make it four more," he said, and wandered to his usual spot near the elevator.

Bradley took them both underground while they were obscured by some of her mother's trees and the sounds of the fort vanished behind them. Mar breathed out a sigh of relief when they left Lee's Mana influence and looked at the stone faced Bradley. "Are you okay?" His face was lit up just enough to see by the glow coming from his staff and he didn't look at her. "You know this is the right thing to do, right?"

He closed his eyes and the forward motion stopped. "I…" He was holding the staff in a white-knuckle grip as he took slow breaths. "It's just so…" He tried to meet her gaze but she didn't appear.

Instead she put her arms around him. "I'll be fine. If not, you can just come barging in and save me. You're a badass, remember?" She felt his face move as he smiled.

"You keep telling me that, but I am still so scared every time… and now you are going into danger alone. I am somehow even more scared now than I've ever been before…" Mar didn't say anything. She just held onto him tighter as her own fear resurfaced.

Eventually she felt motion resume and she stayed there in his arms until he stopped again. "We're underneath the castle," Bradley whispered. "I think there is a basement… tell me if you sense any magic that might be an alarm."

Mar nodded, squeezed him tight, and turned to focus her senses. "Not that way," she said and he shifted towards another direction. That happened a few more times until they found a spot just next to a basement that had a lot of magic in it but not around it. Roots emerged overhead as he lifted them closer to the surface.

"I don't feel any footsteps around here," he whispered, "and I can't tell how big the plants are up there," he cautioned, "but hopefully it will give you some cover. Be safe…" He slid backwards away from her and a crack of light appeared overhead. Wind moved steadily over her from the crack as Bradley expanded the tunnel behind himself. Then a stone wall rose up between them and the breeze died. Small grooves appeared in the wall below the crack of light and she easily climbed up as the hole widened very slowly.

She looked through first and saw only bushes, weird ones with giant leaves. They were short though and she had to crouch to stay within the cover. Mar almost flinched when she felt the Mana approaching, but managed to stay mostly still. Her head turned slowly until she found the source, one of the giant orcs. It towered above her at what must have been eight or nine feet tall as it scanned the area. It didn't look down and a few pulse pounding moments later, it moved on, walking with surprisingly quiet steps. "Is that why he didn't detect them?"

Mar slowly scanned the area herself. There were a few buildings nearby, one which might have been a barracks by how blocky it looked. Behind her loomed the castle. "Damn! That is huge!" And unfortunately, that was her best bet to find information. "Or the leaders…" she thought with some trepidation. "It couldn't sense me before." Of course that had been only the General… not the Commander. Assuming they used the same ranks… "I hope their Vice-Commander is nothing like ours."

The large double doors leading into the castle proper were closed. Mar waited for as long as she dared, but they never opened. It seemed that the random wandering guards didn't go in and out. So she went looking for another way inside.

After dodging a few more orcs, the unnerving silence which they moved with catching her by surprise more than once, she found a possible way in. A window.

The walls of the castle were not completely smooth, but they weren't far from it. Mar had a solution for that. She waited until she was alone and reasonably certain that none of the orcs on the walls were looking her way, and jumped. A very quick burst of Mana at the apex of her jump, and she jumped again.

Lee's overpowered Runes did have their upsides and practicing in the field had helped her to narrow down the bare minimum of Mana needed to jump off the air. She could have used even less if she did it closer to the building and right next to the obviously Mana rich walls, but she didn't want any of her Mana to accidentally trigger something in there.

Nevertheless, she made it and caught the window sill with one hand. Mar hung there for a moment, feeling the Mana around her as best she could. Waiting for a reaction or an outcry. Nothing changed, that she could tell, and she pulled herself onto the ledge.

She waited there, letting her Mana regen a bit and topping off her stores from the twin knives Lee had made with her Mana before. They blazed in her senses and she was honestly more worried about them being detected than herself. A good reason to drain them a bit. It didn't really help though, the Mana in them was mostly in the Runes and not the battery…

The next step was to test the floor. It felt the same to her senses as the wall and window ledge, so she suspected that it didn't have any additional surprises waiting. There was no reaction and she moved through the room that held a desk, bed and some cupboards. All of them were sized for much larger beings. The only door was closed and she stood at it for more long moments, listening and feeling for anything either in the door, or on the other side.

All was calm. Mar opened the door and stepped into a hallway that ran to her left and right. "Now what? How the hell am I supposed to find anything in this huge ass castle?" She might have not thought this through… "In movies the castle always has a big throne room… usually straight in from the front door." She shrugged and headed towards the front of the building, keeping an eye out for wandering monsters and stairs leading down.

It felt deserted as she moved through the castle. No sign of anyone or anything. "Were they bluffing about having more troops?" So far she had seen less of them here than in that little army. She found some stairs and followed them down. After a few more turns and some backtracking, Mar heard the first new sounds. Voices.

It took more time and more navigating through the maze of corridors before she found the source. It started as a low drone and got louder as she went. Mar couldn't understand what was being said though, it just sounded like gibberish. That is until she stepped out onto a balcony overlooking a massive circular room. "Found them…" A couple dozen orcs or so were spread out in a circle below. The noise she had been hearing was the sound of them chanting something over and over. She could also feel the incredible amount of Mana in the room. "That can't be a good sign."

"...protection only covers the walls. It does not extend overhead." A voice! Mar quickly moved to find the source. Relatively quickly. She still moved slowly, feeling for any surprises in the Mana around her. A task that was made much harder by the maelstrom of Mana in the room already. The voice continued, "It is a formidable protection and similar to what covers that one structure within. I suspect that is where the leader is hiding."

"Who is it talking to?" Mar wondered. She reached the railing and leaned carefully over, looking for the source.

"Ignore that structure unless I say otherwise. We will deal with the leader from here, after we bring down the walls." Mar saw the source of the voice but not who it was talking to.

She also saw the large image floating in midair in front of the biggest orc she'd seen so far. "That must be the leader… but that is…" The image looked like a satellite view of the apartment complex. "The eyes Alejandro mentioned? Wait, did he say 'bring down the walls'?"

"Understood?" the large figure growled and the image zoomed in. The view shrank and narrowed down on a point outside the walls. It stopped and a ghostly image of the orc general appeared standing near some scrub bushes. "The leader is Mine. That structure is Mine!" it continued, "If I see any of your forces enter it…"

"I obey, Commander." The ghostly image spoke and bowed towards the Commander.

"Good…" the Commander grunted, "Prepare to attack." It turned away from the image as it zoomed back out and then strode towards the chanting circle of orcs.

Mar was frozen for a moment as the image pulled back and before it was too far, she saw the ghostly outlines of an army. All around the Fort. "Shit!" Mar turned and nearly sprinted back into the hallways, fumbling her disc from a pocket as she ran. "No wonder it was so empty and quiet in here!" She found a room and slipped inside, closing the door behind her. She looked at the disc and the symbols spread over it. "Which one was Alejandro!? Shit!" She could only remember Bradley's. "Bradley! Call Alejandro! It's an ambush, they are already around the Fort!"

"What?" Bradley's voice came through. "What are…"

"The Fort is surrounded! They are invisible!" Mar dropped her cloak for a moment, just in case it was interfering with the communication, and then pulled it heavy over herself again. Her disc was quiet and she hoped that Alejandro was getting the news. She couldn't sit still, plus the room only had one entrance and exit. She went back out and the chanting seemed louder than before. Mar headed back to the big room.

Her eyes landed on the large image of the apartment complex right as twin beams of white light lanced from the rooftop and swept across the fields around it. Fires bloomed in the brush behind the beams and then one of them slammed into something else. The sound of a crack, followed by an explosion, set the leader spinning back to the image. It growled and yelled, "You are discovered! Attack now!" More beams lanced from the roof of [Three], this time burning right into the army that had been revealed. "Damn Rats!" the leader snarled and turned back to the still chanting circle. "I'll deal with you." Then it started chanting with the others and the Mana surged higher.

"Fuck! Oh Fuck!" Mar looked back and forth between the image of the army charging her home and the rapidly rising crescendo of chanting. "It said it would deal with the leader. It thinks Lee is the leader. It is targeting Three!" The building was tough, beyond powerful. Even her Runed weapons couldn't do more than scratch it. She could see more beams lancing out from the other side of the building and then saw the waves of light rise up outside the walls and sail forward to slam into them. "That's a lot of magic…" She saw one lone spell go past the walls and strike a building with a bright explosion. "It won't hold forever…"

Her gaze leapt back to the leader. "It will target Lee. Don't they usually put all the children inside Three…" Mar moved before she could stop to think about it anymore. She sprinted along the balcony, heading for the back of the room and the leader. Her twin knives were in her hands. "I can disrupt it… the Runes are overpowered…" A step took her onto the railing and then she pushed all of her Skills to the max and jumped into the open air.

"The Runes on the walls didn't hold up against that barrage… I can't let it finish this spell." There was so very, very much Mana below her. Mar couldn't sense anything beyond the fact that she was totally screwed as she sailed through the air. All of her practice jumping around with the Runes in her shoes must have paid off, because she was right on target.

Mar turned a somersault in the air and dove straight towards the giant monster's green head, blades extended ahead of her. A dome of light flashed around the monster and then shattered into motes of light as her weapons plunged through. She struck true, both blades slamming into the thing's head, hilt deep, and light flashed blindingly bright. Mar didn't have time to finish her fall before the room exploded with Mana and she was blasted back into the air.

She came back to herself with ringing ears and Notifications screaming about her low health. Mar groaned and opened her eyes. One of her knives wasn't in her hand and she used that hand to grab one of the Anubi's little potion bottles from her belt. It tasted vile but the ringing diminished and she was gratified to notice that her invisibility was already active as she struggled upright. "Did I get it? I know I stabbed it in the…"

"Damn Rat!" a voice roared and her heart fell.

"How did the fucking thing survive that!" She moved through the dust clogged room, looking for her other knife, and felt the pulse of magic an instant before it arrived. She poured Mana into her Skill as it washed over her. Mar didn't know what exactly that spell was, but it held hints of the Magic her mother used, a seeking spell. It wanted to know where something was, while her own Skill told the world that there was absolutely nothing of interest here. She drained all the Mana from her remaining knife as her own plummeted and she ran for the open doors at the other end of the room. "I stopped it. That is enough. I just need to…" The doors slammed shut and another pulse washed through the room. "...escape."

"Come out little Rat! Where are you hiding?" the voice bellowed.

The dust was settling and Mar could see that most of the other chanters were down, some even had glowing Cores next to their heads. The big one was bloody but still standing. Magic glowed between its hands and then shot out in an expanding disc.

"Bad!" Mar jumped as high as she could and the Magic passed beneath her. She both heard and saw the crack appear in the wall of the room, all the way around. She spent a bit of Mana and jumped off of the air to reach the balcony above.

"There's the Rat!"

Mar had to jump again to dodge the ray of fire and almost lost a shoe to the flames. More spells followed after she landed on the balcony and Mar took off running as the monster flew into the air. It rose up above the height of the balcony and spun in a slow circle. She pumped as much Mana as she felt could be spared into her cloak and kept moving. All the doors up here were closed now as well and she didn't dare stop to try one.

"A very sneaky one…" the voice growled, and then started chanting.

Mar felt something familiar and shot a glance back. The orc was holding her other knife and as she watched, a glowing line started to form between her and the knife.

"but not sneaky enough!" it roared and started another spell.

Mar dove off the balcony ahead of a fireball and the explosion sent her tumbling through the air. "I can't escape… I fucked up." She hit the ground hard and slid into a wall, a glowing line still connecting her to the knife in the monster's hands. "I saved them… gave them a chance…" The monster flew towards her, a grin on its ugly tusked maw.

The ground shook underneath her as Mar struggled to get back on her feet, to keep fighting as long as she could. The orc loomed closer.

Then the floor exploded upwards.

Mar tumbled back as stone flew up in a spray of destruction. A beautiful stone covered man appeared within that explosion, between her and the monster that was coming for her.

Bradley spun in a blur, even before the stone could start to fall back down. A glowing staff left an afterimage of a horizontal disc hanging in the air. Then it slammed into the orc with an extremely satisfying crack.

Light flashed in different colors and the orc shot like a cannonball into the wall across the room. Bradley turned to her, his face expressionless behind a stone mask. Mar screamed and dove to the side as she saw the magic coming up behind him. Bradley started to turn back but was too slow.

A flash of light accompanied a deafening boom and Bradley was blasted past her.

He left a crater in the wall where he landed. "Why won't this thing die!"

The cratered wall surged and then exploded outward like a claymore, and Bradley was the shrapnel. He met the chanting orc on the other side of the room, before it could finish its next spell.

The orc left its own new crater in the far wall.

Mar scooped up both of her knives and drained the newly reclaimed one of its Mana stores. She vanished right as another spell sent the charging Bradley back flying across the room.

"Damn you!" the monster roared and started casting another spell. This time with only one arm, the other hanging limp.

"It can be hurt!" Mar sprinted sideways, looking for an opening as Bradley once again came flying out of another crater in the walls.

The monster had learned and was already flying upwards. Bradley sailed beneath it, and slammed to a stop directly below it, against a suddenly sprouted pillar of earth. Then he shot upwards.

Mar could feel the massive amounts of Mana that Bradley was expending, even over the orcs own powerful spells. He couldn't keep this up much longer…

The orc finished his spell and blasted Bradley straight back down into the shattered floor of the room. She felt the wide pull of earth Mana coming from the new crater. "He's out and drawing on the earth…"

"Die you annoying pest!" the orc roared as yet another spell bloomed in its one good hand.

Then Mar planted both of her knives deep into its back.

She'd been aiming for the head but her Mana had bottomed out in the jump. The glow of its spell faded as the orc screamed in pain. It spun and she wrapped her legs around its waist to try and hang on.

A hand grasped onto her leg and it was Mar's turn to scream as it crushed the bones inside her foot, while it tried to pull her around and off its back. Mar only screamed louder and twisted the two knives in its back as hard as she could.

Bradley soared into the air in front of the orc and stopped above it, staff raised and poised to strike down into the unprotected head of the monster. It let go of her foot and caught the staff as it came down like a lightning bolt. The impact forced all of them closer to the ground and Mar started stabbing her way higher, climbing the monster's back towards its head. Bradley used the leverage of its grip on his staff to pull himself in closer, and drove a stone fist into the thing's face. Mar raised her knife to stab into the back of its head.

A blast of magic threw her away before she could drive the blade home.

Mar hit the ground and landed on her shattered foot.

A loud pounding and cracking sound woke Mar up.

Her eyes saw the huge orc, blood pouring down its back, one arm limp, and the other hand… it was holding Bradley by his leg and slamming him into the ground. Over and over. "Like that movie…" she thought thickly. "Bradley!" She found one of her knives within reach and snatched it up. Her hand tightened on the grip as she labored to her feet and started hopping towards the monster, every jump sending agony piercing through her. "Hold on!"

The orc must have seen her coming, because he suddenly spun and she watched with horror as he hefted Bradley. To throw him at her. She met Bradley's blood shot gaze as he dangled there and then the confusion in his eyes cleared as they widened in sudden alarm. The ground surged around the orcs feet and dragged it down into the ground.

Bradley followed the monster down, still clutched in its grasp. Mar hopped once more, and dove in after them.

She found both of them down there and saw the monster's hand wrapped around Bradley's throat, his face red and eyes fluttering. His stone armor mostly crumbled away and his own, still stone covered, hands were digging into the creature's arm.

Mar planted her knife deep into the monster's skull, and twisted it. Hard.

The Enemy Fort Commander has been Slain! Contributions Earned. Defeat the Remainder of the Enemy Forces to Claim your Rewards.

"We did it!" Mar hit the ground and the pain from her leg mercifully sent her into unconsciousness.

She was brought right back by a disgusting liquid being poured into her mouth and threatening to choke her. "Gah!" She choked and coughed as warmth spread through her body. Then tears welled up as she heard the only thing she wanted to at that moment.

"Mar! You're okay? Please be okay!"

She opened her eyes and dragged the panicked face down to her. "I'm okay." She kissed him. "Are you okay!?" Mar relaxed in the wonderful feeling of victory and the peaceful silence of dead monsters as she lay in Bradley's arms.

Then she gasped and struggled to sit up. "The Fort!"

Bradley stood and pulled her upright. A stone shelf held both of her knives and she realised that they were underground, and moving. "We're almost there," Bradley said and leaned on his staff. She sheathed her blades and took the hand he held out to her tightly in her own trembling one. "Let's end this."

~~~~~~~

Lee

~~~~~~~

After Mar and Bradley left, Lee pushed his Rune limit to the max again and then stayed out of the way during the large influx of children to the building. Trak, sans amulet, had rejoined his pack and they were churning out healing potions. Runners occasionally emerged from the room to hand off batches.

Lee eventually went looking for Alejandro and found him in the courtyard, talking to Martin with Maria at his side.

"This is the best place for you," Alejandro was saying, "not only are you vital to the future survival of this Fort, but everyone will feel better with you here as a last resort."

Martin didn't seem happy about being forced to hide inside [Three] but a glance at the children from Alejandro and the older man sighed. "Very well," he said and turned to the horde of small humans, "come children, I have a new story to tell you." There was some grumbling and a lot of frightened faces, but they all followed him, crowding into one of the apartments. A few people Lee didn't know going with them, likely to provide childcare support.

Gabriel was in the crowd, easily discernible by his Mana, as well as the Staff he still held. "I forgot to drain that…" Lee was torn between taking away what was likely a source of comfort for the boy, and creating a couple more Runed pieces of equipment. Anita was with him and Lee could see her holding onto the staff, clearly enjoying the glowing lights." "His is weaker than mine, probably only good for one other piece… I'll just push myself a bit further."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lee asked Alejandro, once the children had moved away, "This building tends to be targeted…"

"Yet it still stands while others do not," Alejandro replied, and then sighed. "It is the best option out of many bad options."

"Yea, I get that…" Lee muttered, "I'll keep an eye on them."

Maria was staring rather intently at him but she only nodded and turned away. "Thank you, brother," Alejandro said, and followed his wife. "Stay inside!" he called back.

Lee looked up. "I guess I can work on the shield without leaving the building." He analyzed the RuneScape over the courtyard as he walked up to the third floor. "I think I can improve it…" His attempts to remove it however, were stymied when it wouldn't release and give him back the Soul. It took a few minutes to realize that [Three] had claimed it and added it to the defense. "I didn't know it could do that." Though it did make sense, seeing as how the building had changed other things over time. It didn't have the same white core of Source energy that most of the building did, but it may have had some traces of…

"The enemy is invisible outside the walls!" Alejandro's voice suddenly yelled through the disc in his pocket. "They are attacking any minute! Get ready! This is not a drill!"

Lee immediately pushed his [Mana Mind] range to its narrowest and furthest reach. Nothing met his sweeping scans. "Did they figure out my range with the eyes earlier?" He glanced at his bodyguards and then started jogging. "We're going to the roof." He sent a thought to [Three], "Lock it down, Three." Lee felt a few doors swing shut and some deadbolts slide over. He even saw the metal gate in the garage start rolling over to close off the larger area from the outside. "Save your strength," he added to Three, "this might take a while to finish. Emergency life-saving only."

"But didn't Alejandro…" Miller started to say.

Lee cut him off as he ran. "You can stand in front of me! Let's go." He arrived on the roof and Miller did indeed stand in front of him shield up. Jackson took his back. Lee didn't mind and put his arms around either side of Miller. "Close your eyes!" he advised, and then fired out a beam from each hand, twenty percent Mana each. He slowed the Mana release as much as the Skill would allow and swept the beams across the fields outside the Fort.

He hit something!

The air flickered and an army the size of that first one appeared beneath that flickering effect. Lee pulled in Mana from [Three], stopping the connection to the Well at the desired amount. Then he blasted the revealed army with another two beams. It looked like the damage was very satisfactory, but he couldn't see past the blinding glare or confirm with [Mana Mind].

Then a wave of magic came flying into his [Mana Mind] from the west. "We really are surrounded!" Lee pulled Mana from the Well and forced his mind against the spells before they could reach the wall. He shredded what he could and the wall blocked the rest.

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn]

He saw sections of the RuneScape dim under the barrage of magic where he hadn't been able to block enough. Lee pulled in more Mana and blasted at the source of the spells, even as he heard explosions behind him. They sounded like they were inside the Fort…

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn II]

He grit his teeth against the pain. He already knew that he would burn today… it would suck, a lot, but he wouldn't let it stop him. Screams and roars were coming from all directions as he blasted anything he could see past the walls.

Then the approaching forces were too close and he couldn't see them behind the wall. Lee thought about moving to the wall but decided against it. It was too much risk for too little gain. Besides, there were people on the walls around him already. They were firing on the enemy with arrows and spells. Lee had decimated the orc mages before they could do much to the walls and the defenders were holding well as a result.

To the east however, things were not going as well. Lee saw a swarm of orcs coming over the wall through a gap in the barrier. He blasted them and broke the tide. But even as he did, Lee wondered how many other places had failed. "I made the shield segmented… so now they can break through smaller spots." He had wanted to avoid the shield failing in entire sections and that had probably been the right call… but watching knowing that the enemy was getting through his shield sucked. Mostly it was the ranged attackers, the Magic users and archers that were breaking through. The melee had to jump and take a swing at the shield to even start damaging it. That made them easy pickings for the defenders.

Lee kept blasting at anything he could see, but it was actually rather quiet around [Three]. "Are they actually not targeting me? Did I scare them off?" It was a nice change… and yet it meant that he couldn't do anything more to help. Most of the complex was blocked from his sight by the next building.

The Enemy Fort Commander has been Slain!

"Are we winning?" he thought, "I haven't seen Mar or Bradley since they left…" He thought he could feel some of his Runes to the north towards the enemy base… And then everything changed. The only thing that saved him was that [Mana Mind] detected the flying threat before it reached him.

Lee spun and blasted his beam into the sky. The white light struck and revealed a descending shield. It wasn't blasted away or destroyed, though it was slowed and the orc landed further away on the roof rather than on top of him. It was the general from before, Lee was sure of it as he saw its face peering over the glowing and red hot shield.

"Inside!" Miller yelled as he moved between them, right as the orc threw its shield at Lee.

The impact pushed Miller back towards Lee, but Jackson was already dragging him towards the stairs and out of the way. "Damn, Jackson is fast!" The orc charged in, right behind the thrown shield and Lee had another thought. "Orcs are so much bigger in real life!" It swung a sword bigger than Lee in a horizontal slash at Miller. The much smaller man got his shield up in time to block the strike, and was sent sailing off the roof… "Shit! ...he'll be okay." But one of his bodyguards was now out of the fight… "I should have listened to Alejandro…" Though to be fair, he had done a lot of damage and at the very least slowed down the assault at his end of the Fort.

The orc did not slow down his charge, instead leaping straight towards Lee as he was hauled backwards by Jackson. "It really wants me… I didn't kill your leader!" Lee was ready though and with Miller out of the way, he blasted half of his Mana Pool at the orc General.

Debuff Upgraded: [Mana Burn III]

The massive broadsword snapped up in front of the charging monster and caught the Mana Beam on the flat of the blade. Lee wasn't trying to slow the discharge of Mana this time, he went the other direction instead. And yet disappointingly, the general wasn't quite blasted from the rooftop. It slid to a stop near the edge, broadsword glowing white-hot and now bent where the beam had been blocked.

"Three, Kill this one!" Lee sent to the building. If any target was worth taking down, this had to be a worthwhile expenditure of Three's power. At least he really hoped they weren't all this strong…

Roof tiles exploded around the monster, firing shrapnel like buckshot into it from three different directions. Lee saw it block one with the sword and the damaged blade snapped in half. Then Jackson dragged him through the door and it slammed behind them. Lee watched with [Mana Mind] as the monster was impaled by a few shards of roof tile and was finally sent flying from the building.

"Damn, it's not dead yet," he thought when he heard the loud bellow of rage from outside. "Thanks, Jackson!" Lee panted slightly, "you saved me!" The man looked pale and was trembling on the stairs, staring at the door they'd just come through with dread on his face. "It's not up there anymore," Lee said, "let's go!" He had to yank the man to get him moving and then they moved quickly down the stairs, jumping easily to the landing and then the third floor. They burst through the door and Lee refilled his Mana while pushing his [Mana Mind] to its limits, looking for… "There he is!"

Miller was sprinting back towards the building, a horde of Orcs on his heels. He'd gotten lucky, if the orc had swung from the other direction he might have been thrown clear out of the Fort. Miller appeared unharmed though and even his Runed shield looked undamaged, but the Orcs were huge and their long legs were eating up the space between them.

Lee forced a Rune onto the skull of the closest orc and its pace quickly deteriorated as it clutched at its head and screamed. "That works…" Unfortunately it had taken a lot of Mana to force the Rune inside the creature. "I'll be used up too fast at that rate…" Lee could see that their swords seemed to be holding some enchantment, but none of their armor did. He started placing Runes, one after the other on the nearest of them. Lee started with breastplates and moved to helmets next. He used the same Rune that he'd used on the giant bird before. Heat, burning fiery heat, with just a bit of extra Mana to kickstart the effect. He did try to place one on a sword, but as expected, the enchanted blades provided even more resistance than simply placing the Rune inside their bodies.

Then the general entered into his perception, moving fast and angling for Miller. All of that one's gear was enchanted and it wouldn't slow him down fast enough either way… Lee pulled out the shield RuneScape from his [Rune Storage] and forced it to manifest in the air between the orc and Miller.

Holding it in midair was hard and the Mana drain to keep it there was even worse. That wasn't even counting the crushing weight of the Runes on his Soul. Luckily for him, the general crashed into it a second later and the entire thing shattered, easing the strain. But it did succeed in stopping the general, just for an instant. The same instant that a black spear shot between the bars of the garage below like a cannonball. It struck the momentarily halted orc and shattered into pieces as it blasted the general across the former parking lot and into the side of the building next door. "Nice shot, May!"

[Three] must have been paying attention, because the door Miller was sprinting towards popped open as he arrived and snapped closed again, almost before he was through. Like a mouth gobbling him up.

The general orc leapt from the crumbling wall of the other building and roared, "All forces to Me! Your General command…" Another black spear shattered against its breastplate, sending the orc back into the wall and cutting off its orders.

Lee saw the enchantment in its chest piece flicker and capitalized on it. Forcing a Rune into the metal and pumping Mana into it. The orc roared in wordless rage as it clawed its way free of the rubble once again, tearing off the now glowing breastplate in the process. "Kill them…" It dodged the next spear and snatched a sword from a passing orc. It hurled the blade blindingly fast into the garage, threading between the bars to fly straight for May. The woman caught it on a large shield, sliding backwards slightly, then picked up another spear and calmly threw it faster than Lee could track.

The orc general took the spear in the chest and was blasted back against the other building as the weapon sank deep, then shattered halfway into its flesh. It straightened with a roar as Mana surged wildly from within the monster. A red glow suffused its body and the thing pounced towards [Three].

It hit a first floor window and one of its arms punched through the magical glass. Lee could see the glass digging and stabbing into the beast, trying to cut through the arm and seal the hole. It brought the other arm around and punched another hole through the glass. "Stupid glass! I should have had Three put more bars there!" It wrenched and tore at the glass in a frenzied rage until it was suddenly able to haul itself through and inside [Three], right next door to the apartment the children were in… It must have heard something, because it turned on the wall between them and started pounding.

Stone, glass, and rebar all exploded from the walls and ceiling as the building tried to kill the intruder. Lee could see its arm already healing from the glass window and it practically ignored the impaling rebar. Simply pulling itself free and ripping chunks of its flesh out with the metal.

Lee could see Gabriel on the other side of the slowly crumbling wall, could see him frantically drawing out a shield RuneScape inside the one he'd already created with the staff. He was using the already created one to copy off of. "Clever boy… but it won't hold for long against that thing." He saw Martin leave the room and head next door, Miller came running into the courtyard behind him. "Three open the door!"

The door opened with a bang that drew the enraged orcs attention and it charged towards the opening. The thing was almost too big to fit through the doorway and Martin took the opportunity to stab it twice through the head as it squeezed through. It did not slow the monster down in the slightest… "Some kind of berserker rage?" He could see the wounds in its head already healing. "With a goddamn healing factor…"

The orc got through the door and lunged for Martin. The man seemed to slide out of its path and ducked under the reaching arm, stabbing it in the chest as it passed. Lee was waiting on the balcony above and drilled a fifty percent Mana Beam through its back as entered into his view.

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn IV]

Miller stepped into view and slammed the monster in the face with his shield. It staggered slightly and then returned the blow, sending Miller flying across the courtyard and out of sight. Lee could hear children screaming and the monster did as well. It spun towards the room and a blinding beam of Mana shot from the doorway, into and through the orc. Lee saw Gabriel holding his staff, now sans Runes, and then saw the boy sway, and collapse on the floor.

He collapsed outside the double shields that he had put up…

The door slammed shut before the orc even started moving and then Martin was there, weaving between its flailing blows and taking chunks from its flesh with his blade. Miller was still getting back to his feet when a glancing blow clipped Martin and he stumbled.

A follow up attack sent the man tumbling and Lee saw him tuck into a roll as he hit the ground. His sword flew from the now broken arm as the orc pounced, then Miller skidded to a stop above Martin and activated an ability. A glowing dome of magic appeared above the two men and the orc's descending blow bounced off the barrier.

It roared and turned back towards the room full of crying, screaming, children. Lee blasted it again and the orc dashed underneath the overhanging balcony. It started pounding on the windows… May was charging up the stairs, all of the Anubi behind her as well as some other people Lee didn't recognize. "They won't be fast enough…" Lee jumped over the railing and heard the terrified Jackson behind him, shouting for him to stop.

Lee landed and hesitated to fire when he realized that his beam might go through the orc. "Hey shit face!" he shouted instead, "remember me?"

The orc glanced back and then turned to face him, something lighting up in its eyes. "Does it see the Legendary Class or just remember that I hurt it?" The question was moot because it immediately charged him in a single bound that cleared the entire length of the courtyard. Lee yelped and tried to jump aside… and slipped on the blood splattered tiles.

He fell straight down and the orc sailed over his head. Lee had the presence of mind to fire another blast into it as it went over him. His beam took off its left arm at the shoulder and blood rained over him. Lee closed his eyes, they weren't helping him anyway, and fired another beam into its back when it hit the wall.

[Mana Burn V]

The building shuddered and Lee apologized, "Sorry Three, I don't mean to shoot you…" The wall that the orc crashed into shot out rebar, stabbing into the monster's head and body. But it ripped itself free and bounded back to Lee. It landed above him as he scrambled to back up on the slick tiles. Bloody holes in its body were closing before his eyes, or rather his mind, and the stump of its arm had already stopped bleeding. It lifted the remaining arm and brought it down in a crushing blow on Lee's prone form.

A shield RuneScape flashed into existence around him and caught the blow, rebounding it away before shattering. Lee fired another beam, aiming for the thing's face. It juked its head to one side and the Mana Beam only burned off an ear.

[Mana Burn VI]

The orc roared and lifted its arm up for another blow.

A screaming Jackson landed on the orc's back, his sword punching all the way through to burst from its chest. The orc roared in agony and reached its hand over its head. The huge hand closed over Jackson's head… blood sprayed as the hand tightened and then yanked, trying to throw the man away.

Lee watched in horrified fascination as Jackson's head was ripped from his body and sent sailing across the courtyard. It almost immediately stopped its flight and seemed to almost teleport back. Just like that, Jackson was whole once more. His eyes were wide with horror and pain as he met Lee's gaze. He was still on the orc's back, clutching the blade that was impaling the monster while the orc itself seemed to have forgotten about the man after presumably killing him.

It reached for Lee and he saw anger kindle in Jackson's eyes. The man produced a dagger and drove it hard into the back of the orc's neck.

The orc flinched in surprise and tried to roar through the gurgling blood pouring from its throat. Its hand slapped at the wound and closed around the knife, and Jackson's hand with it. More blood sprayed and Jackson screamed when his arm was ripped off and thrown away, knife still in his hand. Lee was still making gradual progress backwards and he lifted a finger towards the monster's face.

It juked once again but Lee was ready for that. His other hand shot a beam that blasted through one of the orc's legs, removing it at the knee and dropping the orc to the ground. "Sorry, Three!" he thought through the burning pain in his arm.

[Mana Burn VII]

Jackson's scream ended when he clambered forward and sank his teeth into the orc's neck, his remaining arm around its throat. The orc roared and tried to grab him but only ended up face planting when it lifted its one arm from where it was supporting its body. Jackson rode it down, gnawing with his teeth the whole way.

The orc shoved at the ground, sending itself into a tumble in the air. It landed on its back with a crunch and then rolled off the now silent Jackson. Its eyes landed on Lee and it roared. The orc tried to crawl towards him but [Three] acted again, sprouting metal spikes that snared its hand and leg. It was alternating between pulling its leg free and then its hand, all the while the missing arm and leg were getting longer…

Lee pulled on the Well and forced a Rune through the storm of Mana inside the monster. Forced it right onto the orc's skull. "Burn with me… you son of a bitch!" Lee screamed.

[Mana Burn VIII]

The orc roared louder and behind it Jackson stood up. Lee stared in awe at what he could see happening inside the man. "Did he just evolve?" The orc heard the bellowing roar that emerged from Jackson and turned to face him, struggling to stand on its stump and one good leg. Lee wiped his face with a slightly less bloody sleeve and opened his eyes just as May and the Anubi entered the courtyard, with more coming in behind them. All of them stopped at what they saw.

Jackson was covered with a red glow and his eyes were blinding pinpricks of crimson light. He was growling, a deep, deep growl, and so very angry. He pounced. The orc's swing missed and Jackson slammed into it. His hands sank deep into the towering monster's gut, and started to rip it apart.

The orc screamed and pounded a hand down atop the undodging Jackson's head. The head vanished into pulp and someone screamed, but Jackson's hands only switched from ripping at the monster's gut, to shredding the arm that had attacked him. The red light that covered his body was brighter over his hands, almost looking like claws…

The orc screamed and lifted its now shredded arm out of reach as Jackson's head was suddenly whole again and the human simply switched to carving out the orc's undestroyed knee. His head was slapped into paste again and Jackson took off the orc's lower leg in reply. It toppled to its back and Jackson pounced onto its chest as his head once again reformed. His glowing hands clawed at whatever he could reach, face, throat, chest. All of it was ripped bloody by the roaring human.

Lee could see smoke coming from the orc's ears as its brain was literally cooking inside its melting skull. "How is this fucking thing so tough!" Then it finally and suddenly went limp.

Enemy General Defeated. Contributions Earned. Defeat the Remainder of the Enemy Forces to Claim your Rewards.

Jackson did not stop after the Notification. He kept snarling and ripping at the corpse until it was a gooey mess across the floor.

A glowing Core appeared in the mess as Jackson finally started to slow down. He eventually stopped and stood over the remains, chest heaving, his breath the only sound in the area.

"Good job, Jackson," Alejandro said from right next to Lee and he flinched. He hadn't even noticed the man approaching. "Fight is done, you can rest now."

Jackson bared his teeth and growled low at Alejandro. Lee stood up slowly and that burning red gaze jumped to him. "Thanks, Jackson," Lee said, "nice evolution!" He kept his eyes on the man, not sure if he was fully in control at the moment. Behind him he could feel Maria zipping around between the wounded and into the room to check on the children.

Then she zipped next to Jackson and put a hand on his cheek. Lee and Alejandro both twitched as her Mana pulsed and the growling man lifted a clawed hand towards her… and then stopped. He stared at her for a long moment, then the red glow faded from him and he toppled to the ground, unconscious.

"He is fine," Maria said, "we go."

Alejandro nodded. "Yes, Mi Amor." He glanced at Lee and then the others in the courtyard. "It's not done yet, lock this place down while we finish it." They both sprinted back outside and out of Lee's perceptions. He was gratified to see no orcs anywhere in his range.

Lee wanted to collapse as well, he was sure it would feel so much better to be unconscious right now… instead he forced his burning body to move over and pick up the Core.

[Berserk Troll Regeneration](Epic)(Passive)

Watch that last blow, it's a doozy.

Greatly Increase Regeneration at the cost of Massive Increase to Caloric Requirements.

If Health drops below 5% Enter into Extreme Regeneration and Berserk Mode.

Requirements:

[Troll Blood]N/A

That explained it. He also noted that the requirement wasn't a race but only blood. "Was it a halfbreed?" Lee assumed that the berserk part included an increase to strength as well… "If this guy was the general, how strong was the leader?" A moment of worried concentration later and he found Bradley's staff. It was nearby, inside the Fort. Two knives were moving around right next to it. "They made it back!" Lee half collapsed and half sat down on the disgusting floor, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders.

Miller approached him. "Are you okay, Lee?"

"Just tired. So tired…" Lee felt hands gently pull him back across the courtyard and to one of the walls. "Thanks…"

"We should clean this up before the children come out," Miller said quietly and gestured at the gory mess. Lee nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the wall. It was quiet in the children's room and Martin was in there with them, so it was fine. He opened his eyes again when Miller placed Jackson next to him, and found Trak crouching nearby, staring at him. "I'm sorry, sir," Miller said, drawing his attention back. "I shouldn't have used the bubble, I trapped myself and left you out here."

Trak was looking between them but he wasn't wearing his amulet and couldn't understand. Lee smiled tiredly. "Relax, Miller. You saved Martin's life and you should never have to apologize for saving someone."

"But…"

"We survived Miller. Enjoy the win. Learn from it if you can, but you did good. You saved lives, mine included!"

Victory! [Greenfield Village Fort] has Prevailed in [Dungeon Warfare]! Contributions Awarded! Spoils of the Defeated Fort Available based on Contributions.

"See… we… won." Lee finally let the fatigue and pain drag him under into the wonderful darkness.