Chpt. 11) Tier seven dungeon, level one

Ford woke to a loud banging on her tent. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she looked at the time in the lower left of her vision. It was six A.M., and she heard Farah’s voice from outside, “Wake up, it’s time to go.”

Ford groaned and said, “Alright, I’ll get up.”

“Huh, what?” Max said as she too woke up.

“Time to get up,” Ford said as she sat up with Max, still laying on her forcing Max up as well. Ford grabbed her fedora and put it on, then climbed out of the tent putting on the top half of her robe. She looked around and saw everyone had already broken down the rest of the camp and waited for Max and her.

Max crawled out and noticed the same thing together. They broke down the tent and tossed it over to Ee, who said with a sly grin, “Have fun flirting last night?”

“Yes,” Ford said.

“What? No,” Max said at the same time.

“No,” Ford backtracked.

“Yes,” Max also backtracked at the same time. They looked at each other, a little confused.

Ee started to laugh at them and said, “Well, as amused by that joke as I am, let’s get moving. The dungeon is this way.”

“Before we do,” Ford interrupted, “there is a couple of things I need to go over quickly.”

Ee slumped and said, “Like, what?”

Ford turned her attention to everyone else and said I found a skill that allows me to monitor everyone’s stats if you permit me, that is.”

Lilly nodded, “Sure, ye can moni’or my stats.”

“Mine as well,” Morgan said.

Gimble and the twins agreed as well, and so did Farah. Benet said, “You can moniter my stats any day.”

“Eww,” Max, Lilly, and Ford said simultaneously. Then Max said, “Of course, you can monitor my stats anytime,” then she bumped her shoulder against Fords.

“No worries there,” Ford said, smiling at her. Then everyone’s health and mana bars came up underneath hers, just a touch smaller and with their names above them.

Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes. Benet then complained, “Oh, come on!”

“I regret asking about the flirting, and you do not have permission from me,” Ee said, in her usual bored tone.

“That’s fine. Kii, Mizu, do you two have any extra skill points?” Ford asked.

“No,” Kii answered.

“Why?” Mizu asked.

“I found a skill called radar that allows you to find enemies within a certain radius of you, and it would be perfect for your sniping.”

“Alright,” Mizu said.

“We’ll check it out,” Kii said.

“Stop it,” Ford barked.

“Can we go now?” Ee asked.

“In a moment,” Ford answered. She looked at the twins, who had two bows strapped to their backs, and the snipers and asked, “Can I have one of those bows?”

“Why,” they asked simultaneously.

“I can use any weapon, and I would like to have the option to use a bow.”

The twins bit their lips, Mizu on the left, Kii on the right. Then they nodded, and Kii took off one of his bows, “This is our uncommon elemental bow. Ten mana per arrow, ten times that if you mix essences.”

“Thanks,” she said, closing the notification after getting it and putting the bow on her back.

“Speaking of weapons,” Max said, “I don’t have any. Or any skills to use.”

Ford looked at her blankly, then at Lilly, “You two didn’t talk shop about skills while I was out?”

Lilly crossed her arms, “Well, we were worried abou’ you.”

“It was hard to think of what to do for skills after you attacked,” Max defended.

Ford sighed, “That is no excuse. Farah, how many skills did you go through to find a way to kill me?”

“Forty-two. I spent two points on one that might negate your healing,” Farah answered instantly.

A little fear flashed across Ford’s face as she said, “See, Farah could.”

“She’s a Drake,” Max said.

“She’s cold-blooded,” Lilly added.

“WHAT!!?” Farah snapped.

“Oh, this is going to be good,” Wrath whispered in Ford’s ear.

“HEY, hey, hey. That is uncalled for, so apologize while I look at Creation skills,” Ford said, stepping in between Max, Lilly, and Farah. Max and Lilly did so, and Farah, reluctantly, backed off.

Ford then opened up her skill tree and went to the creation mage skills. Skill: consolidate: turn dirt into granite; requirements: INT: fifteen; cost: one hundred mana per thirty centimeters; level: zero of five

Skill: wall: create a thirty centimeter by two-meter by two-meter-high wall out of the dirt around you; range: two meters; requirements: INT: fifteen; cost: one-hundred mana.

Ford ignored the rest of her skills because Max probably couldn’t get them. She then said, “Put a point into consolidating and wall, used together you should be able to make a granite wall. Wait, you do have two skill points, yeah?”

“Yes, I do hold on,” she then pulled out her Grimoire and started reading through the list of skills.

Ford watched for a moment and said, “This is going to take forever. Max!”

Max placed a finger where she left off, looked up at Ford, and said, “This would go faster if you didn’t stop me.”

Ford walked over to her and placed her forehead against Max’s, and looked deep into her blue eyes and said, “Look into my eyes,” then pulled up the Yggdras system skill tree, “do you see it?” she asked.

“Uh, umm. Y-yes,” Max stammered, a little shaken by the closeness.

Ford pulled away, “Good, now think of having your Grimoire in that format in your Yggdras system. It’ll be behind the quest.

“O-okay,” Max said, a little disappointed. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated for a bit.

“She’ll never get it?” Ee said, “she doesn’t have the abilities that-”

“Got it,” Max said, “I also got the skills that you told me to get.” Ee’s mouth dropped, and Ford stuck her tongue out and opened up her void inventory, and pulled out Lilly’s old staff, giving it to Max. “Uh, thanks,” she said, “I feel so special.”

“It’s Lilly’s old staff; also, it’s all we got.”

“Can we go now?” Ee grumbled.

“Yes, let’s go,” Morgan agreed.

“Alright, alright, let’s go,” Ford relented. Then they all followed Ee’s lead into the forest toward the mountain.

***

Once they got to the foot of the mountain. There was a large granite wall easily twenty meters high, and in the center of that wall was a massive stone archway. Five meters high and four meters wide, each stone on the arch had a rune on it that even Ford couldn’t read. The door itself looked just like the granite wall around the arch.

Ee turned to them and said, “There are a few things you need to know,” she started raising fingers as she listed them, “One, the dungeons are more complicated than the practice dungeon.”

“No shit,” Ford and Lilly said simultaneously.

Ee shot them a glare and said, “Two, each hallway has a challenge made by the gods and leads to the rooms. Three, there are seven rooms, and each one has a boss made by one of the gods. Four, unlike the practice dungeon, EXP and stat increases aren’t reduced. Five, the dungeons level is based on the highest party member.”

Everyone looked at Ford, who looked impish, “Since there is a higher level than everyone else does that mean more EXP?”

“Yes,” Ee answered, then she walked over to the left edge of the arch and put both of her hands on it. A black wall filled the inside of the arch, and the runes started to glow, “Get going.”

Ford gulped and said, “Well, let’s not get killed. How’s that for a plan.”

Benet nodded and said, “That’s a good plan.”

Ford walked forward and into the dark portal. It felt like Ee’s portals, so it wasn’t much of a surprise. After walking through, she stumbled into a dark room closely followed by everyone else. Once they were all inside, the room lit up with green crystals.

The room was full of large trees that towered far into the sky above; however, Ford couldn’t see that far. Each tree looked like tall Kapok trees, usually found in the rainforest, pine trees, and cottonwood trees. Along the ground were bushes of every different kind. Some of them had barriers on them.

“Hey, Benet,” Ford said over comms.

“Yes?”

“Are those berries edible?” She asked, pointing at a collection of purple berries and red berries.

He walked over and examined them, “Yes, they are.”

Ford came up beside him and started picking them from the bush. When Benet did nothing, Ford said, “Well, you going to help me pick or not?” Benet snapped out of his confusion and started picking berries, and together they cleaned off the bush and placed all the berries in Ford’s inventory. Pretty soon, she had twenty-five purple berries and twenty-five red berries. Then she turned, and Max and Lilly came walking up with berries as well. Ford put those in her inventory, and she had fifty purple berries and fifty-nine red berries.

“Why pick those now?” Farah asked.

Ford looked at her and answered, “Because I bet there will be a battle soon, and I don’t want to waste these berries. Whatever they are.”

“You don’t know what they are, and you want us to eat them later?” Farah said, a little annoyed.

“I know wha’ they are,” Lilly stated, “the purple ones are blood barriers, and red ones are night berries.”

“Wouldn’t it be the other way around?” Ford asked.

“And why are they called blood berries?” Max asked.

“Tha’s easy. The blood barriers only grow where blood has been spilled. They’re like weeds. The night berries, however, only grow at night. Both are delicious, and we can make medicine out of them. They both grow all over Vyne,” Lilly explained.

“Yes, very fascinating,” Morgan said, as he walked toward the center of the room, “let’s get on with the challenge.”

“Yes, let’s,” Ford agreed and followed Morgan. They received a quest when they all walked into the center of the room, which was the only space with no foliage. Quest: catch me: survive catching the Bug; secret objective; reward: two-hundred EXP, secret reward.

“S-survive catching a b-bug?” Max asked.

An evil smile crossed Ford’s face, and she looked at Max, “Is the Bug the problem, or is it the survive? What’s the secret objective and reward?” Ford asked.

“The survive part, obviously, and I don’t know,” Max snapped. At that moment, a small humming ball of light flew down in between them then flew off behind a tree.

Ford spoke over comms, “Benet, you and I will get the Bug, the rest of you try to,” the rest of what she was going to say was cut off as her warning ability went off, and her mini-map filled with eight red dots all around them. Ford turned and saw one of the cottonwood trees near them whipping its branches at them. Ford drew her sword and sent a slash of darkness at the tree before anybody knew what was happening. The tree groaned and cracked as it recoiled from the attack. “The rest of you,” Ford continued, “don’t die!”

“No shit!” Farah said, “I’ll help you and Benet. I’m useless against these trees.”

“Fine, go!” Ford said as they all scattered. Ford caught a glimpse of the glowing Bug and ran towards it, staying hot on its trail. “I found it!” she announced.

Benet’s dagger flew past her the next moment, and he appeared holding the handle. He ran along next to Ford and asked, “What’s the plan?”

“Give me your knife!” Ford said, and he handed it off to her, “Go cut it off,” she said, pointing in a diagonal direction to her right. Benet ran off in that direction. A flash of pink came up from behind a pine tree and lunged at the Bug, just barely missing it as it flew up along a pair of the Kapok trees. Ford jumped up and between the two trees putting her sword away and drawing her Karambit.

The Bug turned sharply to the right, and Ford threw the vanishing dagger, yelling, “Now, Benet!” just as the dagger was about to reach the Bug, Benet appeared holding its hilt, and he reached for the Bug, but as he was about to close his hands around it the Bug dived just barely escaping again.

Ford cursed and stopped jumping up, letting herself fall to the ground, which was as scary as ever, her warning skill went off, and she was too slow to react as she felt pain stemming from both her sides as the trees grew branches that impaled her, dropping her HP by one-hundred. The branches grew slowly inside her, puncturing her lungs, liver, kidneys, colon and slowly wrapping around her heart, making her HP drop five per second.

She screamed in pain and spoke over comms, “KII, MIZU! DO YOU SEE ME?”

“Yes,” Kii said.

“That looks painful,” Mizu commented.

“I bet it is,” Kii said.

“WILL YOU TWO STOP COMMENTING ON HOW PAINFUL IT IS AND SHOOT THESE BRANCHES!”

“We can’t,” Kii said, “our bullets do nothing but put holes in the wood.”

Ford tried to scream again, but she couldn’t breathe, “FIRE AND AIR ESSENCES!” she yelled over comms, her HP hitting one-eighty. The next second, two explosions went off to either side of her, burning her arms, and she fell to the ground, breaking her right leg, bringing her HP down to one-hundred. She pulled the branch from her right side with a wordless scream and tossed it aside, then did the same to her left. Her HP quickly shot up as she healed and finally breathed.

She looked down at her robe, noting the sleeves that had been burned off and the holes in the sides, ‘If I survive this,’ Ford thought, ‘Ee is going to kill me.’

“Not if I kill you first,” Wrath whispered.

‘Shut up,’ Ford thought as she looked up and saw a bush with yellow berries. Her strategist skill activated, and she spoke quickly over comms, “Lilly, are there yellow berries that grow on Vyne?!”

“Wha’ how is tha’-”

“YES OR NO!”

“THEY DON’T!” She responded angrily.

“Perfect!” Ford started picking five of the berries as fast as she could and ran back toward the center of the room, jumping over logs and dodging tree branches that attacked her. She got to the center and saw the Bug fly by with Farah close behind. Ford crushed the berries in her hand and held them up high.

The Bug made another sharp turn as Farah was about to catch it, and it flew straight toward Ford, landing gently in her hand. Ford closed her hand around the Bug, and a notification appeared. Quest: catch me: complete; reward: two-hundred EXP, familiar, Sunny, received.

‘Sunny?’ Ford thought, then another notification appeared. Familiar: Sunny; a sun fly that lives on the sun or in volcanos; it lives off sunlight and likes being chased and eating berries. Would you like to join with the familiar? Yes/No. Yes. Sunny is now your familiar.

Ford smiled and opened her hand to see all the crushed berries had been eaten, leaving only the little ball of light. “Hello, Sunny,” Ford said, “I’m Ford. Nice to meet you.” Sunny flew up and around Ford’s head then hovered in front of her. Then Farah clapped her hands around sunny, smashing it.

“HA, HA. Got it!” Farah said, unusually happy. Ford stared at her in disbelief; Farah noticed and said, “I used to chase bugs as a child. Shut up.”

“That was my familiar!” Ford exclaimed.

Farah looked down at her still clasped hands, and her eyes widened, “Oh, sorry,” Then Sunny flew through her hand as if it didn’t exist, hovered in front of her, and buzzed. Bzz, bzz, ba, bzz, bzz. Then flew off. Ford stifled a laugh and turned away from Farah. “What?!” She asked in her usual annoyed voice.

“I’m pretty sure it just said, ‘Naa, naa, na, naa, naa,’” Ford chortald. As Farah clenched her fists and looked for Sunny, Ford spoke over comms, “Is everyone okay?”

“Yes,” Max answered, “but we’re lost. This room is bigger than you’d think.”

“Who’s all with you?”

Lilly answered, “Max, Morgan, Gimble, and I.”

Ford turned to Sunny, “Sunny, can you find them and bring them back?” Sunny flew in a circle and sped off in a direction to the left, “Follow the ball of light. It’ll lead you back to us.”

“Okay. I don’t- AH!” Max squeaked, “Never mind, we see it.”

“Benet, Kii, Mizu. Where are you?”

“Look up,” the twins said simultaneously. Ford did and saw the twins tangled in some cottonwood branches, “Can you get us down,” Kii asked.

Ford drew her sword and made a couple of quick slashes of darkness, making the twins fall from the tree in a jumbled clump of branches and limbs. Benet walked up and said, “Here, I’ll help you out of there.”

Ford jumped back with a yelp and said, “Where the hell did you come from?!”

Benet looked at her and said, “It’s a skill I acquired recently. It’s called shadow walking. It allows me to jump between shadows. It takes a good portion of mana and can only go so far at level one, however.”

“Neat. Don’t do that to me again, please,” Ford said. Benet nodded and continued working on getting the twins freed. Then Sunny came buzzing through the forest, closely followed by Max, Morgan, Gimble, and Lilly. “Alright, you made it,” Ford greeted.

“What is the shiny light?” Gimble asked.

Sunny flew over to Ford’s shoulder as she said, “This is Sunny. He, or she, is my new familiar.”

“I think it’s a she,” Max said.

“I think it’s a he,” Benet countered.

Ford smiled and said, “This is Sunny. She is my new Familiar.”

“HEY!” Benet complained as everyone laughed.

Then Farah yelled, “Loot!”

Ford’s head shot up, and she saw the bag fall toward her. She jumped backward and successfully dodged the loot bag, “AHH, HAHAHA!!” She exclaimed, pointing and laughing at the bag. Then the bag flew up and hit her in the face hard enough to knock her on the ground. Ford groaned and pulled the bag off her face, “I fucking hate these bags.”

Out of everyone, the only other people who got hit by the bags were Max and Gimble. Max, because she didn’t know about it, and Gimble, because he didn’t notice. Ford opened her bag and dumped it out.

A golden monster core dropped out and a small ring. Ford put the core in her inventory, picked up the ring, and read the notification. Item: alarm ring; quality: common; effect: wake you up at six A.M. Ford nodded as though it were to be expected and asked, “What did everyone else get? Let’s keep it to rare items and above for sharing for now.”

Benet spoke first, “I got a rare short sword that gets longer the more mana I use on it. Lasts only one minute, though.”

“Common boots,” Kii said.

“Epic sword that has the same description as our sniper,” Mizu said.

Ford’s head snapped around, and she lunged at them, “Give me,” she demanded.

“AH, fine, fine, take it,” Kii and Mizu said in unison.

Ford took one of the blades and read the description. Item: Versatile blade; quality: epic; effect: can be made into any blade type weapon; effect: can be used in various situations; requirements: imagination; cost: two hundred mana per shift.

Ford’s head drooped, “Aw, can’t make them into more guns,” she said, disappointed, then handed the sword back to the twins.

“That’s disappointing,” Kii and Mizu said.

“Got uncommon gloves,” Gimble said.

“Common armor,” Farah said as she put on a chainmail hauberk.

“Uncommon necklace,” Morgan said, putting it on.

“I got an Epic necklace,” Lilly said, holding it up for all to see. The necklace was made of tiny golden chain links connected to an ornate flower of gold and rubies. “The Sun rose,” Lilly began to explain, “it adds ten intelligence, charisma, and luck to my stats.”

Ford stared at it, mesmerized, then said, “So, when you put it on, you’ll go from beautiful to drop-dead gorgeous and smart.”

“Essentially, it does,” Lilly said, putting it on. Ford didn’t feel any more attraction to Lilly, but she did look beautiful with the necklace on. “How do I look?” Lilly asked.

Except for Farah and Max, everyone said, “Absolutely, beautiful.”

Ford shook her head and looked at Max, staring at a silver ring in her hand, her mouth agape. Ford walked over, sat next to her, and asked, “What did you get?”

Max closed and opened her mouth a few times then, finding the words, said, “Legendary alchemist ring of destruction and creation.”

Ford’s jaw dropped, and she touched the ring to read the description. Item: alchemist ring of destruction and creation; quality: legendary; effect: create any material if you know the molecular structure of the item you’re making and the item you’re destroying; effect: soul bound to the wearer; imagine a circle, then visualize what you need to activate.

“Whoa, we should take that from her and use it ourselves. It’ll make us unbeatable,” Wrath whispered.

“Put that ring on now,” Ford said, barely containing herself.

“But what if I get a better ring,” Max said.

“There is no better ring. Put it on!” Ford said, starting to get excited.

Max nodded and put it on her right ring finger. “Now what?”

“Now we play with it.”

“Play with wha’?” Lilly asked.

“Legendary alchemist ring of destruction and creation!” Ford exclaimed excitedly. Then she grabbed some tree branches that the twins were stuck in and brought them over to Max. “Okay, Max, take these branches and make them into diamonds.”

“What?” everyone said at once.

“I can’t make diamonds out of trees,” Max said.

“Yes, you can. Trees are made of fifty percent carbon, forty-two percent oxygen, six percent hydrogen, one percent nitrogen, and one percent other elements. All we need is the carbon stacked in a hexoctahedral pattern. Now take a deep breath and concentrate.” Ford explained.

Max nodded, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She then placed her hand on the bundle of wood, and it shifted. Every particle of the wood came apart and swirled around her hand. She then turned her hand palm up, and some of the particles coalesced in her palm and formed a small orange ball in her hand no larger than the tip of her thumb. Max opened her eyes and smiled at the orb in her hand.

Ford picked it up and examined it, “It looks like you were almost perfect.”

“What do you mean almost?!” Max said defensively, “It’s a diamond! Made of wood!”

“You got the structure right, but you accidentally added nitrogen. Carbon and nitrogen make yellow diamonds, then when you add the structure, which causes red diamonds, it turns orange. Almost perfect,” Ford explained, “Now let’s try again while everyone takes a break.” Max reluctantly agreed, and everyone else took a break.

***

After destroying a dozen trees, Max made three orange diamonds, six red diamonds, and three Bort diamonds, all the size of Ford’s palm. “Good,” she said, “now we can rest a bit while I play with the diamonds.”

“What are you going to do with them?” Max asked.

“I’m going to make some items out of them. Just watch,” Ford said as she crossed her legs and held one of the orange diamonds in her hand. She closed her eyes and cast crystal heart, then crystal storage on it. When she opened her eyes and looked at the diamond, she saw that nothing had happened. She cast the spells again, and again nothing happened. She got frustrated and set the diamond on the ground.

“Wha’s wrong?” Lilly asked after noticing her frustration.

“I’m having trouble casting a spell, and I don’t know what to do,” Ford explained.

“Why don’t you ask your Grimoire,” Morgan suggested.

“Ask my what?”

“Ask your Grimoire,” Morgan said again.

“Tha’s a good idea,” Lilly agreed, “if ye ever have a problem with a spell, ye ask yer Grimoire for instructions.”

Ford looked between the two quizzically and took out her Grimoire. She looked down at it and imagined it opening to the instructions to cast crystal heart and crystal weapon storage. The Grimoire opened up, and at the top of the page, she read crystal heart. Ford leaned forward and started reading.

Crystal heart. Step one: gather materials: crystal(s) of any kind and blood of the person who will have the heart. Step two: coat the crystal in the blood and pour forty mana and stamina per second into it. Step three: while doing step two, use the mana and stamina to make veins in the crystal to function as a true heart. Step four: Leave the crystal alone or cast a secondary spell upon it. As Ford finished reading, the page turned.

Crystal weapon storage. Step one: gather materials: acquire a crystal core, monster core, or crystal heart and the desired weapon. Step two: cast crystal weapon storage on the crystal of your choosing and the weapon of your choosing.

Ford closed the book and nodded. She then took off her necklace and pulled out one of her Karambits, “What are you doing?” Max asked.

“The spell requires me to coat- ERRR,” She started to say as she dug the knife into her palm, making Max and Lilly scream in shock, “To coat the crystal in the blood of the person I’m binding with it. So that means I need to get some blood,” Ford picked up the diamond again and let her blood cover it before the wound closed.

She then cast crystal heart and imagined the blood coving the gem going through it. The blood covering the gem began to dig into the crystal, and Ford could feel the drain of forty mana and stamina per second. She imagined a human heart and all the cavities and veins it has, and after three minutes, she finished casting the spell.

She opened her hand and looked at the orange diamond. Inside was a network of glowing dim glowing lights that raced around two pulsating lights one after the other. It looked just like a heart made of light and life. Ford and everyone else marveled at it, except Gimble, reading his Grimoire. After admiring it for a moment, she drew her katana and cast crystal weapon storage on them. Her mana dipped five hundred points, and Ford imagined putting her sword away.

Within seconds the blade dissolved and swirled into the crystal, disappearing. She then imagined drawing her sword, and it materialized in front of her floating in the air. Then she imagined putting the sword away, and it dissolved again.

“Tha’ is an incredible skill,” Lilly said in amazement.

“That it is,” Morgan agreed.

Ford looked up at Morgan and asked, “How many points do you have in blacksmithing?”

Morgan looked flustered by the question, then he answered, “I’ve got enough to sharpen weapons. But that’s it.”

“Put some points into making equipment next time you level up. I’m going to need some.”

“Alright,” Morgan agreed. After that, Ford got to work making two more crystal weapon storages out of the other two orange diamonds and used one of the Bort diamonds for crystal battle music.

Once she was done casting all the spells, she stood and put her necklace back on. Ford put the diamonds she didn’t use into her inventory and kept the four diamonds she did employ in one of the pockets of her robe. “Alright,” She said, “Let’s get this boss battle going,” at that moment, an archway built itself and filled with shadows signifying the next room.

Max stood next to Ford and asked, “We’re going to get through this, alright? Yeah?”

Ford looked her in the eyes for a moment and said, “I have no idea,” then walked through the portal to the next room.

***

As Ford and the others walked through the portal, the room they entered was so similar to the last one that Ford had to take a second to check that the portal was working. Not that she had the chance since the archway collapsed again. Then Ford took a moment to take in their surroundings and noticed the only difference was the lack of bushes and pine trees.

Ford summoned her sword and gestured for the others to follow her to the center. They did, and once they entered the central circle, an HP bar appeared in front of them, and Ford couldn’t believe the name above it.

“WOLPERTINGER!” Ford exclaimed with a loud laugh.

“Wha’!?” Lilly asked, fear creeping into her voice.

Ford, still laughing, answered, “WOLPERTINGER! HAHAHA!!”

“Tha’s not funny!” Lilly scolded.

“It is a very funny name!”

“The wolpertinger is a very dangerous monster on my homeworld!”

“I don’t doubt-” whatever Ford was going to say next was cut off by a loud boom and another and another. She turned around slowly as the loudest boom stopped right behind her, and she was face to face with the Wolpertinger.

Standing three meters tall, a rabbit-headed monster with two fangs and deer-like antlers stood behind her. The animal’s body was a hare but had blue fur and massive sparrow-like wings on its back. Its bulbous red eyes were fixed on Ford as it sniffed the air in front of it. Then it snarled, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, then its antlers glowed blue, and Ford’s warning skill went off.

She quickly yelled over comms, “RUN!!” she grabbed Max by the waist and jumped to the right. Farah did the same with Lilly going left; Morgan ran after Ford; Gimble and Benet ran after Farah. All of them barely got out of the way as a stream of plasma stuck the ground, scorching dirt.

Ford looked back and saw smaller versions of the Wolpertinger jump off its back and glide to either side of it, five chasing after Ford and five going after the others. Ford drew her Willful dagger and threw it at the minion wolpertingers. Striking one in the head, then another in the wing as Ford summoned it back. Ford set Max down and looked at Morgan, who was having trouble keeping up, and the minions were almost upon him.

Ford cursed and ran forward, sword in hand. She charged it with three-hundred mana, sliced the closest minion in half down the middle, then threw two blades of light at the following two minions and then the third blade at the minion she clipped. Killing all of them. She took a quick count of everyone and said, “Kii, Mizu. Where are you?”

“We stepped into the center and ran one kilometer away,” one of the Twins answered.

“Thought we would be out of range of comms,” the other Twin said.

“You can go two kilometers away from me now. So do it and start chipping away at the Wolpertinger. While you’re at it, add a tool to the end of your rifles that silence them. Can you imagine that?”

“Rodger,” the Twins said simultaneously.

“Farah, how are things going over there?”

“Farah’s knocked out right now,” Benet said, “just a heads up, don’t let the little Wolpertingers ram you with their antlers.”

“Heard. Don’t touch the minions,” Ford said as the Wolpertinger roared again, charging its antlers. Ford ran at it storing her sword and summoning her bow. She launched three consecutive shots of fire and air essences, or explosion essence. The shots landed around the Wolpertinger, making it jump in surprise and look at Ford. It shot its massive beam at her as she dodged to her right and ran as the beam followed her for a few seconds, then stopped.

Ford put her bow away and drew her sword as closed the distance between her and the Wolpertinger. “Benet, let’s get the afflictions going,” she said.

“Heard, coming from your shadow.”

Benet emerged from behind her, and she sent a blade of darkness at the monster, yelling, “NOW!”

The blade struck the Wolpertinger’s front paw, and Benet disappeared and reappeared in a moment and said, “Affliction added vital shots do twice as much damage.”

“Got it,” the Twins said as the eyes of the Wolpertinger exploded in a shower of blood. It roared and back-peddled in pain.

“Good shot,” Ford said as she ran to the left of the Wolpertinger.

Its ears twitched in Ford’s direction, and Ford’s warning skill went off. Ford stopped but was too late. The Wolpertinger stomped its hind leg, and a wave of dirt and mud came flying at her. She turned to run, but she couldn’t. The wave of dirt and mud buried her, leaving only her head exposed.

Ford shook herself and spoke over comms, “Gimble, I need a hand here. Benet, draw its attention away from me.”

“How?!”

“Make some noise. It is relying on hearing right now thanks to the Twins.”

“Okay, here it goes,” Benet started to yell incomprehensibly, and the Wolpertinger charged after him as he ran away.

Gimble arrived a few seconds later and started to dig Ford out. “Need a hand?” Max said, arriving a moment later, closely followed by Morgan.

“Why did you come here? And yes,” Ford said.

Max tapped her staff behind Ford’s head, and she rose from the ground inside a dirt wall. Gimble started to tear apart the wall with his hands and soon got Ford out. “What’s the plan?” Morgan asked as he walked up from behind a tree.

Ford brushed more of the dirt off and said, “Farah, you up?” No response. “Alright, Morgan, Max, go watch over Farah. Lilly, meet Gimble and I in the center.”

“Heard,” everyone said.

“WHAT ABOUT MEEEE!?” Benet yelled over comms.

“No, keep doing what you’re doing,” one of the Twins said.

“You’re doing a great job,” the other Twin said.

“Keep the Wolpertinger busy till I say so,” Ford said.

“Called it!” the Twins exclaimed.

Lilly arrived a second later, and Ford nodded to her, “Get some lighting spells ready.”

“Why, ligh’nin’?” Lilly asked.

“Because we’re going to shock its fluffy butt,” Ford answered with a wry smile, “Benet, bring it back.”

“Coming your way!”

“We don’t need them,” Wrath whispered, “We can kill it ourselves.”

Ford climbed up Gimbles back and pulled out her crystal battle music diamond. “Gimble, when it gets close, use your force back skill,” Ford said when she was on his shoulders.

“Okay,” he replied.

Ford could see the Wolpertinger getting close and Benet just barely staying ahead. Then the back of the Wolpertinger rippled and shifted, and more minions came out of it. “Leave them to me,” Wrath whispered.

‘Shut up,’ Ford thought.

“Let me kill them!”

‘Shut up!’

“Let me free.”

“SHUT UP!!” Ford yelled out loud. The Wolpertinger’s ears twitched, and it started to run toward Ford and Gimble while the minions went after Benet. “Benet,” Ford said over comms, “head toward Farah. Max and Morgan are there. Max, Morgan, get ready.”

The Wolpertinger got closer, and Gimble charged, shields in front of him and roaring his war cry. Ford stood upon his shoulders and activated the battle music at one-hundred mana per second. With the drain per second and the recharge per second, the song will last thirty-three minutes twenty-nine seconds. Then the song was selected, ‘Red like roses part two.’ ‘Perfect,’ she thought as Gimble collided with the monster.

She was thrown forward and mentally anchored the diamond above the Wolpertinger’s head. The diamond floated to the spot and started to play, “I couldn’t take it, couldn’t stand another minute.”

The Wolpertinger stumbled backward, and Ford brought her sword down on the monster’s wings, severing them from its body. The Wolpertinger roared, snapping its jaws, trying to bite whatever attacked it. Ford was able to run away from the monster, and Gimble did the same.

The song kept playing, making its ears twitch irradicably, then its body started to ripple and make sickening cracking sounds. Ford looked up at the Wolpertinger’s HP and saw it’s at sixty percent. Then Ford looked at the Wolpertinger; its body shifted from the body of a hare to that of a coyote, keeping its rabbit head.

Roared and swept its tail from side to side sending waves of mud and rocks around it. Ford jumped backward, just getting out of the way of the attack. She measured the distance between her and the Wolpertinger at ten meters and cursed. She clenched her fists and said, “Kii, Mizu, can you keep it from moving?”

“Yes, just give us a second to line up the shots,” one of the twins said.

“I can help with tha’ too,” Lilly added.

“Heard, tell me when.”

The music started to reach its chores and went silent, “NOW!” the Twins yelled, and Ford cut her hand and activated embrace the pain with a curse; five seconds. The Wolpertinger heard her curse and turned toward her head down and antlers glowing; four seconds. Then two bullets struck the joints in its legs, and a lightning bolt struck its side, making it topple over and roar; three seconds.

The chores of the song continued, “REEED LIIIIKE ROOOSES,” she put every ounce of her strength and ran forward, striking the Wolpertinger in the neck, closing the distance in under two seconds. As she brought her blade down, she added one hundred mana to a blade of darkness and severed its head; zero seconds. As her ability ended, the head of the Wolpertinger fell to the ground, its body going limp.

Ford panted and looked up at the monster’s HP and saw it go down to zero. They had finished the fight. Then her legs collapsed under her as her stamina hit zero, and she went face-first into the pool of blood the Wolpertinger made.

“Are you okay?” Gimble asked over comms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Mind helping me up. I can’t feel my legs,” Ford said. Then a loot bag fell from the sky and hit her in the back of the head.