Penelope hugged herself as she waited for the Dungeon to blast.

  She stood behind Patrick, while the rest of her strike team stood behind her.

  “Bradley was perfectly capable of coming in here!” Patrick whined again. “I’ve got lots of work to do!”

  “Bradley is only level four, and you’re eleven.” Penelope sighed. “We’ve been over this. Once we clear 13B, Bradley will join my team again, and you can go back to cutting up monsters.”

  “I’m not only cutting up monsters!” Patrick huffed. “Freddy has me running the whole base like I’m some kind of captain of the guard!” He snorted. “I think she forgets that tin can is more than just a bed warmer!”

  “Hey!” Circe smacked the back of Patrick’s helmet. A look of horror crossed her face as she realized what she’d done, then she scooted behind Penelope.

  “What was that for?” Patrick turned around, glaring at the woman in front of him.

  “For being crude.” Penelope put her hands on her hips. “Frederica has a lot to think about, and you’re the one who is always at base. It just shows how much she trusts you, and here you are badmouthing her!”

  “Whatever.” Patrick spat at the wall. “Probably hurt your hand more than my head.” He knocked on his helmet with his gloved hand. “Harder than a rock!”

  “And full of them.” Circe whispered.

  “I’ll help you organize the guards on our time off.” Kent offered as he slung his arm around the other Caster. “Robert can handle the Wizards, so you can focus on the non-combatants.”

  “I’m not sure—”

  WHOOSH…SCREECH

  The Dungeon drowned out Penelope’s attempt at stopping the pair from gaining more authority.

  “Sounds great; let’s go!!!” Patrick charged through the barrier.

  “Wait!” Penelope glared at the Assassin before running after Patrick. She’d already cast her spell, so his path was lit up, but the others wouldn’t go in until she did. Considering the Tank was already running towards the door on his right, they needed to get in there and back him up as fast as they could.

  “We’re supposed to go left!” Penelope called as she hurried down the tunnel. “That’s going to have…” monsters. She finished in her head. Of course he’s going to try to clear this place as fast as he can.

  “He’s an adrenaline junkie, which makes his fascination with experimenting a little strange, but considering how many times he’s blown himself up…” Jeru chuckled. “Maybe not.”

  Not helping! Penelope got behind the Tank just as he set his shield in the doorway and twisted it.

  BAM!

  BAM! BAM!

  “There’s a magic on in there!” Patrick glanced over the lip of his shield. “Gimme a light!”

  Circe was beside her, which was all the extra firepower she was going to need.

  “Going dark!” Penelope yelled as she cancelled the spell in the tunnel and cast it in the room.

  The rectangular room lit up, giving her a chance to see what was shooting at them, but the brown axehead swinging down grabbed her attention over the minions.

  CLANG!

  Patrick hung onto the shield as it slammed against the floor, leaving the top half of the doorway open. The metal barrier wasn’t enough to stop the second swing of the huge axe. Patrick was smart enough to realize that, and he let go to roll away from the doorway.

  The blade of the axe bit into the stone, sending a shockwave that knocked Penelope and Circe off their feet. The Shadow Warrior stepped over the shield, kicking it back into the room as it raised its axe again.

  Penelope cast horizontally on the opposite wall.

  The twin twisters pushed her and Circe away from each other and flattened Patrick, but the Demon took the brunt of the blast, throwing it back into the room.

  Penelope rolled forward, coming up in a crouch as she aimed in the room at the downed enemy. fired three times in rapid succession, reducing the Demon to a pile of gear and giving her a chance to take in the lesser Demons.

  Ding!

  Experience +4

  Closest to her was a pair of six-foot-tall, thin sharkmen with long, horizontal beams across their noses, like a hammerhead, each with a red eye on the end. Their fists were fused into clubs, while their mouths opened too wide. Swirls of air formed inside the giant maws, but instead of releasing an air blast, they began sucking her towards them.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  A pair of black arrows shot over her shoulder, silencing the one on her right. Penelope herself to the other side of the doorway, braced herself against the wall with her left hand, and launched a from her right palm at the one on the left, then another. It didn’t go down until the third spell was sucked into its open mouth.

  Ding!

  Experience +1.5

  Experience +1.5

  Penelope rolled behind the doorway as a pair of hooks scraped the floor where her legs had been.

  “What is up with these deformed monsters!” Circe screamed as she turned her bow at the four-foot-tall, grinning demon.

  Instead of hands, hooks protruded out of its red wrists. The grin that split the demon’s face went almost all the way up to the horn over each ear. The loincloth it wore spoke to a little intelligence, but the hunger in its eyes professed that it was mostly a monster, hungry for death.

  Ding!

  Experience +1.5

  An arrow stuck out of each eye, but the grin stayed, smiling up at her as the monster fell into the hall.

  “Two more! UMPH!” Circe slammed into the wall behind the doorway. A green glow covered her as Patrick pulled her into the tunnel, away from where the creatures inside the room could see her.

  The owner of the magic blast was another upright Demon. A thick, reptilian tail steadied it as the scaly, four-foot-tall monster took a deep breath, bloating its gray chest like a frog. The reptilian mouth split open, releasing another air blast through the doorway.

  BAM!

  BAM! BAM!

  Now that she could see, Penelope noticed that a Demonic Ant like the ones she’d fought on the first floor was standing next to the Tatzon, as the nameplate over its head called it. Except the nameplate over the ant labeled it as a Breeze Ant, despite looking the same as the wolf-sized variant on the first floor.

  “I’ve got the one on the right!” Penelope didn’t bother to look at Circe; she trusted the other woman to take out the Tatzon. It also gave them both the most cover as they shot at the ranged monsters.

  Light magic and shadow arrows fired through the doorway as another volley of air blasts answered their attack.

  Ding!

  Experience +1.5

  Experience +1.5

  Penelope sank to the floor as a green glow covered her. The spells she’d cast would have used just under half of her mana in that fight, less considering should have given her some back. She opened her menu to double-check because she felt more exhausted than if she’d drained herself completely.

  “The Hamarks have a mana drain ability they hit you with while you were getting sucked in.” Jeru answered the question she was about to ask. “That’s why you’re in the single digits.”

  Shouldn’t my new passive have taken care of that? Penelope looked at the passive she’d acquired the night before when she’d hit fifteen in the last fight the night before.

  “It did.” Jeru sighed. “It reduced the drain but can’t negate it. Think about how low you would have been if you didn’t have that skill.”

  “You okay?” Circe huffed as she leaned against the stone wall. “Those suckers really do a number on you!”

  “Hamarks.” Penelope pushed herself to stand, then scanned the item pile. “Kent, the axe is the enchanted item. Grab it and put the other gear in the other bag.”

  “Why do I have to carry the gear?” The older man whined. “I’m the oldest one here!”

  “You’re also the strongest one here.” Penelope offered a hand to help Circe up. “And the one doing the least. You should have been right behind us when Patrick tried to clear this room.” She grabbed the collar of the Tank’s metal armor as he failed to sneak into the room. “You’re not going anywhere until we talk about you just running off!”

  Penelope pulled on the armor in an attempt to force Patrick to sit, but the Tank didn’t budge. He slid off his helmet and flashed her a huge grin, but before he could say anything, Circe kicked his legs out from under him.

  “Pen said, ‘Sit’!” The Archer glared at him with her hands on her hips, then turned to Kent. “You want some?!”

  “What about him?” Kent jabbed his thumb at Robert. “He didn’t do anything either!”

  “The fight was over before he got here, and…” Penelope cast in the hallway and motioned at the two pillars of stone blocking off the tunnel ten feet behind her.

  “He made sure that nothing could attack us from behind while we were fighting the group that this suicidal maniac pulled!” She nodded at the quiet man. “Thanks.”

  Penelope turned back to the still-seated Tank. “You can’t run off on us like that. You would have been dead if Circe and I hadn’t gotten here in time, then the rest of us would have had a hard time surviving against that Warrior.” She pointed at his shield in the middle of the room. “Your shield trick isn’t going to work every time, and it really doesn’t look like it’s going to work on this column with the Hamarks ability to suck.”

  She held out her hand. “So are you going to slow down and let everyone get into position?”

  “Will you leave me back at camp if I say no?” Patrick took her hand and stood up.

  “No.” Penelope clenched her jaw. “I’ll tell Marlow to let you die.”

  “WHAT!” Patrick turned to the Healer. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

  “We have to be a team. Your antics are going to get someone killed. Better you die than have to live with the guilt of getting someone else killed.”

  “Whatever. FINE!” Patrick shoved his helmet back on and stomped into the room to retrieve his shield. “Let’s get this over with!”

  I’m not sure he’d feel remorse if he got someone killed. Penelope thought about Aretha, the woman who’d died in the very first square of this floor. I wonder if Frederica feels guilt over her death.

  “Why do you think she didn’t add another melee attacker to her party?” Jeru sighed. “But Patrick never changes. He’ll stick with you guys because you’re honorable and he can trust you, but nothing that goes wrong will ever be his fault. And you can expect that this humiliation you’ve given him will be repaid.”

  Great, just what I need. Penelope looked over at Robert. “You can take those down now.”

  The older man nodded, and the stone pillars crumbled apart. Once the path was clear, Penelope motioned for Patrick to take the lead. He brushed past her, bumping her shoulder as he went.

  This is going to be a long day. Penelope grumbled to herself as she followed behind the upset Tank.

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