The blightroot trees attacked with intent, churning the ground with their long root-limbs as they surged forward, accompanied by the sound of rolling stones even a hundred paces away. Unlike the horde of beasts that had raced past previously, these were not fleeing. They were here for their lives.

“What do we do?” Eve asked.

“I don’t know,” Marcela stammered. “How do we fight off a forest?”

“The dryad seems to be commanding them,” Hump said. “If we can bring it down, perhaps the blightroot trees will lose their focus. It might buy time for the villagers to escape.”

“And go where, wizard?” Len asked. “Did you forget the beasts that just fled past the village? We go out there and the villagers will be easy pickings.”

“We should run,” Nina said, not loud enough for the villagers to hear.

They all looked at her.

“The villagers will slow us down,” she continued. “But we can escape. There’s no reason for us to die when there is no hope.”

Hump’s mouth dropped open, stunned at what he was hearing from a Chosen, even under the circumstances.

“How can you say that?” Bud asked. “We have to try. There are hundreds of people here. Children. We can’t just let them die.”

“Matthias already died for these people,” Nina said. “Why should the rest of us? Our deaths would mean nothing.”

“Please,” Harlow said. “You cannot just leave us.”

“We will not,” Marcela snapped. “Nina, curb your tongue. You are a Chosen of Sumi, a lady of House Kelden, show some courage.”

Nina cast her eyes down.

“I need ideas,” Marcela continued, watching the creatures advance. “Fleeing is not an option, Hump. As Len said, there’s no way we can escort hundreds of people through the night.”

She was right, Hump knew it. “Then this barricade must hold,” Hump said. “If it falls, there’s nothing left to guard the chapel.”

“We should split up,” Emilia said. “Support specialists remain here with the villagers to hold the barricade, leaving the rest of us free to manoeuvre.”

“And focus our power where it’s effective,” Marcela said, nodding. “That’s good enough.”

“What can we do against these tree monsters?” one of the men asked. “You told us we would face animals.”

“We will handle the trees,” Marcela said. “No doubt more creatures will come, and we can’t stop them all. You must hold the barricade here.” Her eyes glanced at the chapel. “Remember what you fight for.”

“We will die before we let the barricade fall.” Harlow sat on Sally’s back, staring at the blightroot tree advance. Hump could see the fear in the man’s eyes. The creatures were barely fifty paces now. “We must protect the children.”

“You won’t be alone,” Dylan said. “I will stay here. My powers will be best served where they can affect the most people.”

Nature’s Spring was an invaluable asset to miss, but if it could give the villagers the strength and endurance to last a little longer, it was more valuable here.

“Len, you stay too,” Marcela said. “They will need your wards.”

“With pleasure,” Len said.

“Jim, Brielle, both of you are exhausted,” Eve said. “Best you lend your support here too.”

“What about your party?” Marcela asked Patrick. The rogue had taken command of Corvin’s group while the man acted as a beacon from the belltower. “Kesha—”

“I’m coming with you.” The archer said. “And I’m fine. Really.”

Patrick smiled softly. “We’re all coming. Our abilities lend more to offence than holding a line.”

Marcela sighed. “That makes thirteen of us.”

“The bad luck of the Fallen God,” Eve said.

“Now’s really not the time to care about superstitions,” Hump said. “I’d argue we’ve had all the bad luck possible. We need to move.”

“I’ll stay,” Eve said. “My afflictions can hit a wide area. Given time, I can kill them, but against a creature like the dryad I’ll be less useful.”

“Very well,” Marcela said. “The dryad is our target. We find an opportunity, and then we focus everything we have on it.”

Hump had that same fear he always did as they moved. Every instinct in his body told him to flee, yet instead he was running straight at the enemy. The blightroot trees would be upon the village at any moment now.

“We’ll attack from the left flank,” Marcela said, leading them left between two houses.

“I’ll conceal our approach,” Estra said. The illusionist waved her wand and started to chant. It was as if stars descended, and Hump felt a veil envelop them. The woman didn’t stop chanting.

They passed a cluster of four more houses and then they were out in the open. Distantly, Hump saw more beasts fleeing the forest, but they were too far off from the town to care, at least for now. Meanwhile, the blightroot trees were only getting closer. Most clumped together, ambling toward the villagers, but a few had broken away from the main group. Easy pickings.

“Once you have a chance to take out the dryad, don’t hesitate,” Marcela said.

“This better work,” Celaine murmured. “I’m not sure what we’ll do if they keep coming.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Bud said. “This is the only chance we have.”

Hump was already gathering his essence for the upcoming fight. He took a handful of rocks from his pouch and filled his left pocket—they wouldn’t be much use against the stonebark of the blightroot trees, but he felt more comfortable with ammunition close at hand.

He wasn’t sure who moved first, but when Hump heard boots, he followed. Better not to think about it. The more he thought, the more he realised charging into a horde of monsters was a terrible idea. In seconds they were out of the shadows of the village and on the open ground between Tailsend and Stonebark Forest. Corvin’s light illuminated the grassland clearly here, but under the cover of Estra’s veil, the creatures were unaware.

They continued around the left flank until there were only a handful of blightroots stood between them and the advancing dryad. The creature floated behind the line of trees, watching the village, unhurried. Up close, the red essence tainting its own became clearer. Hump had heard that they were creatures of intelligence, capable even of conversation to those that could commune with spirits. This one, though, was beyond that. At least for them, there was nothing they could do to save the fallen spirit.

Behind it, more creatures emerged from the forest. They lumbered forward, great cancerous masses of flesh, twisted into unrecognisable beasts from the animals they were once before.

“Shit,” Hump whispered. He wasn’t sure they could stop this even if they took out the dryad.

The blightroots reached the village’s edge. One tore through a house, crumbling it beneath the churn of its roots. Down the road, Hump saw the villagers hurrying into position, forming ranks behind the barricade. Arrows rained down upon the road, bringing down some of the disfigured monsters in howling screams, but doing little to the blightroot trees. Dylan’s essence rose from all of them in green trails of smoke. And then Eve’s power swept forward in a wave of purple miasma. The creatures slowed visibly, some of the wounded staggering as her poison infected them, yet still the blightroots pushed on.

Hump’s stomach sunk, but he forced his focus back to the dryad. The best way they could help them was to kill it.

“How close can you get us with your veil?” Marcela asked.

“I’m almost at my limit,” Estra said.

“Then we’ll clear a path,” Marcela said. “Fighters at the front. Nina, Hump, Emery, stay behind us and save your magic to take out that damned dryad. Archers, do whatever you can to support.”

“Celaine’s our strongest hitter,” Hump said. “She should be with us.”

Marcela nodded. “Let’s go.”

Hump’s staff shone now, essence pulsing through his blood as they rushed the last dozen paces before the veil fell. The moment it did, the closest blightroots turned on them, screeching excitedly. There were four of them close enough to be in the way, but faced with so many Chosen, such numbers weren’t enough.

Bud charged straight at the centre, radiating frostfire, his sword ablaze. He tore through branches and roots that lashed out at him, carving his way through to the trunk at its centre where he plunged his blade deeply through one of the red-sap eyes. Emilia went right, weaving her way through the creature’s defences. Marcela left, her sword perhaps even more deadly than Bud’s.

Dalton stayed close, the paladin glowing with light. His giant shield was before him, and somehow every attack that came their way seemed to find it, drawn in by his power.

And then they were through. Their chance was upon them, and Hump wasn’t going to miss it. He threw all the essence he’d been building into the strongest single target spell he had, and he let it loose. “Fire Beam.”

The ray shot forward, a deep, raging red. Beside him, Emery unleashed a howling vortex of fire and wind—it was the first time Hump had seen Corvin’s sorcerer in action, and he was certainly powerful. Nina’s spell was a second behind, a hail of raindrops pouring forward.

The dryad whirled in their direction and raised both hands. The air shimmered before it. Essence pulsed, and a weave of interlocking threads formed a shield before it. Layer upon layer of power, radiating green. Their magic broke against it, streaming around the creature and blasting the forest behind it. As their magic faded, the shield remained, cracked, but the dryad behind it was unhurt. The power of four spellcasters not enough to break it entirely.

Celaine’s arrow followed. It streaked silver, black lines trailing behind it like the embodiment of death. Fear descended, and Hump felt the strength of the hunter goddess, Owalyn, in her blessing. The arrow struck, and the shield shattered like glass, Celaine’s arrow burying in the dryad’s stomach and sending it blasting back. It fell to the ground, falling limply onto its back.

“Finish it,” Hump shouted.

Marcela rushed forward, water trailing her blade’s edge as she raised it overhead. She swung down.

A shockwave of essence sent her flying back. But it wasn’t from the dryad.

A ring of red swept from the depths of Stonebark Forest. The wind howled, trees snapped and cracked, tumbling through the forest in an avalanche of sound. For a moment, Hump thought the dungeon was expanding again, but there was no tremor accompanying the blast.

Suddenly, every beast let loose a roar. The monstrous creatures charged then, more masses of flesh than animals. Veins bulged beneath their skin, red with the dungeon’s light. Their eyes brimmed with power. Whatever that blast had been, it had strengthened them, and things were already looking grim.

“The dryad,” Marcela called.

Hump turned back to it as it floated into the air again, suspended just off its feet, the arrow still in its stomach. The dryad hunched forward, arms extended either side like claws, bellowing a screech that shook Hump’s soul. And in that moment, he felt temptation leak in.

They were desperate. They’d lost the fight, and whatever god-forsaken power had just swept from the dungeon core, it had only made things worse. The beasts before them were frenzied, shining with power. It wasn’t a fair fight, and it wasn’t one they would win.

But… Hump could dip into the reserve himself. He could feel it calling to him, whispering in his ear in gentle coercion.

Take it, it said softly. Use it to save your friends. Use it to survive.

It would come to Hump if he wished it. A power great enough to turn the tide—to save the villagers, his own party, the new companions he’d met following Marcela. And then he turned to see them fighting. Bud roaring back in defiance, not taking one step in retreat as monsters came at them. Emilia by his side, weaving around him in perfect harmony, deadly needle-like attacks and his hammer blows, but no less effective. Celaine shot arrow after arrow into the creatures, but their enlarged bodies were more difficult to take down than before.

If he gave in, what was to say he would not fall to the dungeon like all these creatures. Like the dryad before his eyes.

Lucile appeared before him in the red mist, her face stoic. You will lose.

No. Hump shoved her down, willing his power to come. Crushing all temptation with the blinding heat of White Flame.

The night brightened more as his essence soared, flame kindling before him, white hot, fuelled by his soul. He called upon all the power it would give him, and he let loose a beam more powerful than anything before it. Straight at the dryad.

A cone of white fire erupted, engulfing the creature and everything between. Burning so hot, it forced Bud and Emilia back.

As the blast faded, the dryad was no more. Its burnt-black body lay in a charred heap on the ground. Dead for sure this time.

Hump dropped to one knee and looked back toward the village. The blightroots and beasts were still going, unhindered by the dryad’s death.

“It’s not stopping,” Nina said desperately. “I told you, we should have run.”

They tore apart the line as Dylan and the others desperately fought to hold it. The druid channelling his Aspect of the Bear, standing before the tide without fear.

It’s not too late, Lucile whispered again. Take it.

Hump caught Bud’s eye and the knight shook his head, as if reading his mind. But what choice did he have?

There was a flash of light in the sky. A blindingly bright streak of yellowed surged their way like a commit over the village. Hump shielded his eyes as it landed in the middle of the village road, exploding in an array of yellow lightning and forcing back the tide of monsters. A man stood within the light, a sword in each hand extended at his side. From the rear, a spear pierced a line of creatures, tearing apart wood and flesh alike and leaving a mess of blood on the ground. A woman this time, and she wasn’t alone. Three more were standing with her.

Reinforcements had arrived.