"Yo, do you actually have explosives?" Jenny whispers as I peek around the corner of the flight of stairs leading to the ground floor.

"No, although I do have an idea about that I need to explore later. What I meant was I don't think this plan is going to work, and this IS 'plan B'. What we need to do is up our DPS on these guys so they run rather than fight. 30 guys is a lot for us, we might have the levels but they have the numbers."

I shake my head sadly as we make the halfway point on the stairs. The other half is a 180 degree turn to the ground floor. I hastily push Jenny back the way we came. The ground floor is swarming with guys trying to get out the main entrance. The entry way is largely glass. Zoe is just outside the door giving these guys a hard time, though I can't see her from my vantage point.

I whisper to Jenny, "Honestly our biggest hope was that these guys were still low level noobs, but they aren't low enough to just roll over and die. We're going to have to go for 'shock an awe' if we want to get out of here with your sister and the girls alive."

Jenny nods, "I got it yo, you wanna blitz these bitches, that might work."

"It'll have to, there's like 10 guys down there, if it doesn't we won't live long enough to regret it. Give me a second then we go."

I was a Mage damn it and it was time I started acting like it. I didn't need to outfight these guys or run them into the ground. I had one job, overwhelm them with magic and let the chips fall where they may. I might not be able to call a meteor down from the sky just yet, but it's time to really start using all of the tools I have.

Mana Shield 80MP Magic Shield ]Equal to 20% of MP 1H Cooldown Look but don't touch

My new trump card, no upkeep to maintain and a life saver in the right circumstance, like now for instance. I also raise a [Golem]. It defaults to an Earth type unless I use an elemental spell on it while it's forming. [Quick Sand], [Stone Skin] and [Haste] make me as ready as I'm going to be. I was down 291 MP and losing 11 more every second, but what could I do?

"Lets go!" I run down the remaining stairs with Jenny close behind. On the ground floor the men facing the entrance have yet to turn around. Some of them might have seen us but must have assumed we were one of them, having only seen us out of the corner their eyes. Before one of them can realize their mistake I let loose with my last level 15 upgrade.

Chain Lightning 20MP Magic Attack Stun +2 Targets What was that about twice in one place?

It's not a great spell for actual damage, it is in fact pretty weak, but I didn't use it thinking it would kill anyone. That's what [Ice Blade] was for. [Chain Lightning] isn't quiet, but it isn't thunderstorm loud either. It's just a loud buzzing like a million angry bees having an argument with the static on their televisions. It peaks and fades instantly, which is how long it takes to hit the first guy in the back, then a barely perceptible pause as it wraps around him jumps to the next man.

Before the second man is hit, The first has my [Ice Blade] point first through the back of his neck. I pull the blade out along with a spurt of blood and take a wild swing at the second man. Despite the stun effect of [Chain Lightning] he manages to lift a forearm. [Ice Blade] is easily stopped by the bone, hardly a flesh wound. Something slams into my [Mana Shield] and I stagger backwards, someone has a quick reaction time. A dagger and two crossbow bolts slam into my shield before the [Golem] finally arrives and dives into the mob.

Arrow after arrow follows it as Jenny does her part. Despite our onslaught none of themen are down yet, and what feels like forever as only been a few seconds so far. The man who got my [Ice Blade] through his neck is bleeding copiously through the fingers pressed to the wound, but the rest are mostly fine, if angry. The fight gets intense after that.

[Fire Shot] is level five and standard ammunition at this point, I alternate between that and [Chain Lightning] while the golem distracts and Jenny does the real work from the stairs. My shield is long shattered and I've had to use [Splash] a few times as well. I'm running low on Mana and about to put everything left into [Flame Thrower] when a large part of the front entry shatters.

Three men are lying on the floor, three are finishing the golem and the rest clamber out of the now much larger entrance way. I'm waving my [Ice Blade] rather wildly in the face of some John with two daggers when Jenny puts an arrow through is neck. I cast a [Chain Lightning] at the men assaulting my Golem but I'm too late to save it. The men seize up even has the golem crumbles into dust.

There's a pause as we size each other up, I keep a [Fire Shot] rotating above my palm. One of those guys is dual wielding wands. The other two have Thor looking hammers, which must be why they manage to take down the Golem so fast. I'm under 100 Mp and forced to drop [Quick Sand], [Haste] and [Stone Skin]. Right now I'm all bluff. There's a yell from outside from one of the men that ran through the entrance.

"You didn't forget about your boys, did you? If you think you're in trouble now, wait till the rest of our people get here." I grin as wickedly as I could, trying to project the air of someone who has already won. The looks of uncertainty they give each other turn into worry as another scream rings from outside.

A few seconds later the man with the wands, wavers and falls down, then starts to snore loudly. Even I'm confused at that, until Mr G waves for my attention behind the men.

"You should leave now, ladies, this fight is done."

"Like we gonna run from a punk kid and some runaway cunt!" The one on the right says venomously. I see Jenny stiffen slightly, but she doesn't have a great shot at him, or I'm sure she would have taken it and damn the consequences.

"Fuck you Danny, I'm happy to run from some punk kid thank you very much." The other one interjects. He looks down at their sleeping friend and open his mouth to ask the obvious.

"Leave him." I say, before he can get a word in. I call another [Fire Shot] and have both above my palms, "You two can leave or all three of you can stay, it's that simple."

The one on the left puts his hammer away in his inventory and pulls the other away through the broken entrance. Mr G gives them a wide berth. I'm tempted to make them leave their weapons, but I don't think it's worth the risk. Once the men are out of sight Zoe comes out of nowhere and Jenny makes a fuss over her.

As the tension disappears, I collapse. The only thing keeping me up after the short fight was Adrenalin, not to mention masking the injuries on my right side, which are many. I really shouldn't have been lifting that arm, I'm fairly sure there is a cross bow bolt stuck in it. Mr G does his thing and the healing light fixes our mostly minor wounds, Zoe and myself at any rate. Jenny was largely unhurt despite the long range attempts on her position during our fight.

I'm about to examine the sleeping man when Mr G come up beside me.

"Don't," he says, "A stiff breeze breaks that sleeping spell."

"It's fine, we have to make our way through the rest of the warehouse, and a hostage might be useful."

He gives me a funny look at that, but I don't back down. If it's them or us, I choose us and there is no point pretending to be polite about it. Still I back off and wait for now.

My max HP currently is 436, but after this battle I was at 294. I was fine right up until I ran those numbers through my head, then my legs gave out again for the second time. Damn it, I can't keep doing this hero shit. I lost over 400 HP in that fight. If it wasn't for [Mana Shield], I could be dead right now. If Mr G wasn't here to heal us, I would have to wait four hour just to regain full health or use my limited supply of potions.

This new world was really getting more complicated than I was hoping it would. My MP, at least, was in much better shape thanks to a higher regen, but it was going to take over 10 minutes with [Meditate] and [Prayer] to fully replenish. We might be able to afford to wait, but at least half the men in this place had to be on the work floor, somewhere between us and the women held here. So long as they didn't decide to attack us first we should be fine.

I sit down next to Jenny who is petting a winged kitten I thought was on the roof with that Silvia girl.

"Where he come from?" I asked getting comfortable and activating [Meditate].

"The roof. I sent him there with Silvia, but I guess he doesn't wanna go far from me, yo."

She and Zoe shower the little guy with affection while Mr G keeps watch. The main entrance will be a problem if any of the ones who ran off decide to attack from our backs, but nothing we can really do about it except split our already small force. Divide and conquer was the best way in the building but now we needed to stick together as we make our way across the work floor to the women. The emergency exits had been blocked even before Jenny escaped so, one way in, one way out and one way onto and off the floor. This should be doable.

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Zoe

I really like petting Argent. I'm glad Jenny finally choose a name. She could have chosen Silver, since she says Argent means silver, but he's not my pet so I don't get to choose. Leon looks tired when he sits next to us, but he looks tired a lot. Lots of the magic people at camp get like that too. The mean men here mostly had swords and stuff like me. They weren't tired at all.

I should feel bad for them, I know I killed them, even though Mr Gavin tried to tell me they were just asleep. They were just like the Goblins though, and I wont feel bad for monsters. I have to wipe my eyes some, but I make sure nobody sees, I don't want anybody treating me like a baby. I know I can help.

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Gavin

This is madness. These men are animals. Zoe was too young to know what they they offering when she was pretending to be bait, but these men are truly animals. I know Leon was very uneasy about killing humans still, hell, I thought I was too, but I don't think I'm going to have nearly as much trouble with it as I first thought.

I look over at Zoe petting Jenny's kitty and trying to sneakily dry her eyes. I get why Leon keeps putting her in harms way, but I'm not sure any of them understand the danger that little girl was just in. I look over at Leon, wondering if he was still having problems taking human life. I wonder if I might as well, but then I remember the genuine effort these guys put into trying to take Zoe's life.

No, I don't think I'm going to have a problem at all.

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Jenny

It's been a few days, but I'm here now, it only seems like forever. I know what these evil son of bitches have been doing while I was gone, though. For my sister and all the girls left here, it must have seem like forever and a half. I've gotten strong since I left though and I have strong people with me too.

It's all I can do not to just run on to the work floor and find Julia, but I trust Leon. By now I know he always has a plan. The best way to get my sister out safely is to just wait and do what he says.

Hang on Julia, I'm coming sis.

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Leon

I had nothing as far has plans go, but really we weren't doing too badly. There were between 10 and 20 guys left in the building and they had to know we were coming. The fact that they weren't all at the entrance when Zoe sprung her trap, meant some were either cowards or smarter than the average bear. hmm...

"Jenny, when we get in, keep your eyes on the sky, if they have any long range attackers, they'll be in the storage racks, I think, assuming they have any brains. You said the isles are small right?"

Jenny nods at me with some sort of knowing smile. Don't know what that's about but whatever. "Ok, we'll stay close together, walk from here to the west wall, then to the north corner. If they try to ambush us on the way back, we'll take the North then east wall back to this corner."

Sticking to the edge of the building was a necessity, there were no lights in the building except what was provided by a few very thick glass windows near the roof. They were more like clear bricks rather than windows. We could open the bay shipping doors, but anything any anyone could come in then. This was going to be dark and dirty, but we should be fine, we'll use the shipping doors to exit if nothing else goes right.

"Ok, lets go."

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