I continued forward in the rain in a much better mood. That first battle was under our belt, and the enemies we had anticipated might be incredibly tough were well within our abilities. They were clearly a step above the monsters outside the city, but we had outpaced their growth.

Our party of eight was a force to be reckoned with, and there was no real gap in our defense or offense. Another magic dealer or a second healer would be ideal, but Thomas was a professional. I didn’t know how he was so good, but his healing was always on point.

“Inspect leveled up,” Jessica announced, “I can see if an enemy has any passives now. Oh, it seems I can also see what level another player is.” That… was fantastic news. Being able to tell what level another player was incredibly useful, potentially overpowered. Jessica would make a fantastic partner for an assassin if she ever decided to go that route.

We only made it two blocks before Jessica stopped us again. We faced the same encounter again. It seemed every Medusa had its own two slave Lycanthropes. The Lycanthrope I saw last night was a different beast altogether then.

Jessica told us their passives, “Stone Gaze: Enemies cannot stare into your eyes without turning to stone. Lethal Attraction: Your beauty makes it hard for others to not stare at your face.” Although we already knew this about the Medusa, being informed about the passives of monsters would be incredibly useful in fights in the future. “Slave Bond: You cannot disobey your master. Pack’s Fury: Twenty percent increased damage done per pack member fighting alongside you.”

It was actually useful for us to know the Lycanthropes’ passives now. The effect of Pack’s Fury hadn’t been discernible in the last fight, but now that we knew the nature of the buff, we all focus-fired the Lycanthrope’s down one at a time. It wasn’t necessary to do so to win, but was good practice.

Jessica kept us on the right track with a route that probably felt safe to the others: they couldn’t see what I was seeing. They didn’t realize just how many mobs we were walking past to get through this mess. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that without the cover provided by the rain and Jessica’s tracking, we’d be fighting 5 or 6 times as many monsters as we were now.

I was sure we could handle nonstop fighting, but we hadn’t come to Rotterdam to level and gain experience. We were here to try and save any family members we may have had left. There was the most basic of plans set in place after that: survive until the next challenge. So with that goal in mind, Jessica knew to avoid encounters as much as possible and press on to the residential area where Richard’s brother might be found and then, nearby, the address of Lucas’s grandparents.

The rain continued to pelt down on us; the incessant droning and being permanently wet irritated my nerves and made keeping track of time difficult. We came to a stop where Jessica stood in thought for some time.

“Is everything okay?” Lucas asked.

“Have you ever played Frogger?” she asked. “I need to focus.” That was her saying to Lucas and us all, in the politest possible way, shut up. I knew what Frogger was, but some of the younger ones may not have. The point was, she now had to find the pattern for us walk across the street without aggro. I could see the auras patrolling, and it wasn’t at all easy to find a path that did not involve fighting.

After two minutes, it became clear there was no such path to cross, and we would have to pull. Jessica explained this and all the stats on the key monster that we’d have to remove from the route. “Level Thirty-Two. Elite. Dual-headed Ogre Brute. Quick Wit: Having two heads gives you increased reaction speed and decision making. Ogre Race: Natural Strength increased by fifty per cent. Mace Specialty: Mace attacks have a twenty-five per cent chance to stun enemies.

“Ready?” Jessica asked while nocking an arrow.

Alan couldn’t contain his excitement as he rushed forward without even waiting for Jessica to place a trap. “We don’t need Quagmire, just pull!” he said. I wanted to reprimand him, but between the rain and him smacking his shield, I knew he wouldn’t be able to hear me.

Jessica looked back at everyone and then her bow twanged; another shot lost in the torrential downpour. Richard moved forward to Alan’s side and his iron shield glowed white; if it weren’t for the rain constantly pattering into it without a hiss, I’d have been convinced it was several thousand degrees in temperature, it glowed so bright.

The ogre came stomping through the street in our direction, and I felt its movement before I could even see it. Eventually it pushed through the grey curtain of rain and appeared in front of us, a towering giant.

The monster was at least ten feet tall standing there. Its arms were chiseled and muscular while its gut protruded laughably around its waist. Its shoulders sported two heads, each with one gigantic eyeball; its hair was braided back into a ponytail and disappeared behind its laughably small heads. Each arm carried a mace that a normal person would need both hands to hold.

The passives that the ogre had indicated it was a strong enemy versed in melee combat. This fight would be on Thomas and the three tanks while the rest of us simply pelted it from a safe distance. These were always the easiest enemies to deal with, almost a pure stat check encounter.

Alan rushed forward with a charge and Richard struggled to follow him in. Alan slashed out at the fat gut of the ogre only to find two maces coming down like missiles on his head. Fast!The ogre had reacted at an insane speed, even if it would allow Richard to slice across his stomach.

There was no chance of a proper defense from Alan, his arm being extended outward in an attack. He raised the shield high as he could as the two maces came down. The first sound in our fight that I could hear through the rain, was the clang of metal. Alan’s arm gave way instantly and he smashed into the concrete so hard blood exploded outward from his mouth.

His health dropped to 30% percent in that single exchange, and my heart went into my throat. Only a second had passed since the fight began. My minions hadn’t even reached the target; Richard was moments away from him. Alan lay there stunned on the ground.

Maria’s Ensnaring arrow hadn’t landed yet and there was no Quagmire trap in place. The maces rose again and were going to turn Alan into meat paste when Lucas arrived. His Nodachi pierced directly into the armpit of the ogre, completely stopping one hand from swinging. The other hand that was going to smash Alan instead changed course and swung sideways ready to pulverize Lucas instead.

Richard arrived just then with his shield raised and Holy Ground cast. He took the hit for Lucas and found himself sliding across the ground. The interference by those two gave Alan enough time to get out of the stun and roll along the floor to safety.

“Are you satisfied you idiot!” Maria yelled at Alan. I could tell she cared for him; not that I could understand it. My squad of undead fighters and her Ensnaring Arrow reached the Ogre at the same time, giving a bit more reprieve to the three fighting in melee.

Thomas threw out heal after heal onto Alan to top him off and Richard also aided with an instant cast heal as well. Despite the close call, Alan didn’t seem discouraged at all. He cast Battle Shout and then charged back in to melee range. This time he wasn’t alone.

Anna sent out Frost Bolts repeatedly focusing on the ogre’s shoulders, while Jessica and Maria shot at the monster’s eyes and took away its vision. Within ten seconds it was blind and immobilized. Between the hacking by my minions and Lucas sending out devastating slashes, the ogre no longer stood a chance and fell just fifteen seconds later.

“You are so stupid!” Maria ran up to Alan and punched him in the arm.

“What was that for?” He jerked back.

“You… you idiot.” She sobbed. “You could have died!”

“I was fine!” He looked at everyone. It seemed it took him a moment to see the looks of worry and disappointment on our faces. “…sorry,” he added.

“You were about as close to dead you could have been and still made it,” I said. “If Lucas hadn’t risked himself to save you, you would have been brain matter washing down the drains.” I had no doubt in my mind he would have been squished beneath his shield with no chance to retaliate.

“Let’s be smarter about it,” Lucas said, “no matter what we think of the enemy, full preparation every fight. That means a Quagmire, an Ensnaring Arrow, and not rushing in like a maniac on your own.

“Alan, you’re not fighting alone,” I added, “Richard and Lucas are both there, so work with them.” He already knew this, but he was blinded by hubris, or more probably his passive Battle Hunger. I was feeling a headache coming on. The passives were starting to be a problem, too.

No one else had anything to say about Alan’s little episode. Now we could cross the street on Jessica’s word, and we made it through two more blocks without encountering a single enemy.

Richard pointed to a furniture store. “I know where we are. My brother’s house is just three more blocks east.” I was thankful that it wasn’t necessary to go much further in towards the center of the city. I could feel we were on the cusp of walking into that territory where only Exceptional and Elite monsters roamed.

It was definitely much harder to skirt past those, and we would have tough battles ahead of us if we continued onwards. Instead, we turned to our right and carefully made our way with Jessica leading the front. Encounters were scarce, and those battles that were necessary went smoothly. Alan didn’t act up again, this time patiently waiting for Quagmire and Ensnaring Arrow before charging in.

The ogre elite seemed to have knocked some sense into him. We spent fifteen minutes making it past those three blocks, mostly because of our new outlook on safety, and wee were now in a residential neighborhood. Richard could see his brother’s home, and we had to stop him from rushing to it like a madman.

“Five more minutes won’t kill you,” Anna said. “Let Jessica do her job.” Everyone was excited; everyone was anxious.

This rain was saving us days and days of time, despite chilling us to the bone. If Richard’s brother had holed up and was still alive, what were our options? We could travel back to the hotel and give him a room on Floor 17. If I needed to use the spawn protection stone then, so be it. On the other hand, if he was only level one then bringing him with us anywhere was a massive risk: if any of these monsters so much as breathed on him, he’d fall over.

After careful consideration by Jessica, she announced that there was no way across to our goal without pulling another elite ogre. This time Alan redeemed himself, letting us set up properly and pull the mob through our traps. It was noticeably slower and Alan was ready for the initial double blow, putting all his effort into deflecting them with his shield.

During the fight, I got the opportunity to test my reanimated Medusa. I had hoped that her Stone Gaze would still be in effect against opponents and although that hope was faint, it still sucked to see my new passive didn’t work on the ogre. A passive like Stone Gaze would have been overpowered on a reanimated minion so I understood why it didn’t work, but damn it would have been good to have had it for PvP.

After the ogre went down, Alan was like a vacuum cleaner as he slurped up all the loot without a care. No one was in a position to use any new skills; the only items we needed to check thoroughly were the pieces of gear. Unfortunately, none dropped. Perhaps that was a reflection of the challenge: eight people around level 25 had no issue dominating a level 32 elite.

When the path was safe through the block, no one could stop Richard from rushing to his brother’s home. I followed him with a mix of emotions. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I imagined in that moment what it would feel like to be able to meet my parents. It had been two months, and despite my skepticism that anyone could survive by hiding, I didn’t rain on his parade.