Madi made a fist with her left hand and pointed it at the cavern wall. She spread her fingers and light appeared at each fingertip. Orrin watched the pretty light show as Madi’s fingers glowed in an increasingly quick rainbow of colors. The sparkled lights settled into a lot of yellows with a few shades of green thrown in. With a push, Madi directed the spell into the wall where they’d heard the muffled sounds of the lost adventurers.

  Where the lights touched, the rock melted until it became wet dirt. More dots of light drifted in the air, creating a halo of loose gravel and mud in the otherwise impervious stone. Madi kicked the center mass of the circle and an impromptu window made of solid mountain fell into the empty space within. Lights from three different abilities and one torch shone inside the small cramped room.

  “We’re saved,” a female voice cried. A large arm swept out and blocked her way, as two men in blue robes stepped through first. The large arm belonged to an orc with a cleaver in each hand. A dwarf holding a shield and mace followed close behind. Both had blue strips of cloth tied to their own armor.

  The other four adventurers were a group of women, mostly armed with swords and spears. Two had buckler shields strapped to their arms while one gripped a tall staff with both hands, looking around wildly.

  “Be careful of the monster bodies,” Orrin said, noting a few bruises and cuts. He sent a couple of [Heal Small Wounds] into the more injured of the rescued, mostly the orc and two of the women. “We should collect any of your dead friends. There’s one body outside. How many of you were there?”

  The man who stepped through first huffed and began to step daintily over the horrors Orrin and Madi had downed. His dark hair was tied back into a long ponytail, clasped with gold beetle pins. The second man, wearing the same blue robe as the first, stepped forward and shook Madi’s hand.

  “Lady Catanzano, your reputation proceeds you. You saved our lives and destroyed these Denclovers without breaking a sweat. It is good to know that Dey is in such capable hands. My name is Jeremiah Francis Drambul, co-leader of the Golden Beetles,” Jeremiah spoke with the smooth and practiced cadence of a noble. “My team was misinformed of the strength of these monsters and the original group sent to take care of them. If not for our dwarven member’s [Stone Barrier] spell, we would all be dead.”

  The four females in the group picked their way toward the back of the cave until one let out a cry of anguish. Orrin leaned back to see them pulling the half-devoured body of a man from behind a stalagmite.

  Stalagmite, not stalactite, right? The ‘g’ means it comes up from the ground. Orrin pushed the random geology lesson from his mind. Was that guy in a party with all four of those gorgeous women?

  Orrin partially took in Jeremiah’s tale of their daring rescue attempt of the other party. They’d lost the [Locationist] almost immediately upon arriving. He ignored the story and watched his other robed compatriot loot the body of a blue-robed human without a head.

  Madi finally held up her hand to stop the man. “One party member lost from each group and the [Locationist] is dead. You failed to identify the monsters were not Denclovers. Why run into the cave and not leave for reinforcements?”

  “We heard the fighting and moved into the rescue,” the man with the ponytail said with a disgusted sigh. “If they had any strong men in their party, it would have been easy to fight these monsters, whatever you call them. You were able to take them down with just the two of you?”

  The man’s self-righteous voice and haughty attitude made Orrin want to punch his handsome face.

  “Guild rules dictate you assess the situation before moving in. If you don’t know what you’re fighting, you’re as good as dead,” Madi said, turning to the crying woman and rubbing her back as she dry-heaved. The other three party members stood in shock. “We’ll help you get back to the nearest Wall and you’ll need to give a report.”

  “The women can give the report,” Ponytail sneered. “We will push on to the front line.”

  Orrin frowned. “You four are not strong enough to fight the Horde. I’m glad you are all alive but how did you get clearance for a rescue mission? You’re both below level twenty,” Orrin pointed toward the two humans. He turned to Madi. “I know your father is letting the Guild set monster clearance quests in the Pass but this is borderline murder.”

  “We do not need anyone to tell us where to go,” Ponytail spat, stepping toward Orrin. “We have come to rescue the weaklings of Dey from your own failures.”

  Madi dug her knuckles into her eyes. “If you are in the Pass, you are under our laws. Where are you from so I know where to send you back to?”

  Jeremiah bristled but held a fake smile on his face that stopped before his eyes. “Veskar. The Gendy province. We answered the call to defend Asmea from demons but didn’t realize we would be used to clear monsters away.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Everybody is contributing,” Madi answered, letting her own annoyance seep through. “If killing monsters is too much of a challenge for your group, I’m sure we can find—”

  Orrin had pulled up his [Map] to make sure nothing else was in the back of the cave. The gray dot near the cave entrance flickered red.

  He jumped, casting [Decrease Dexterity] at max power on ponytail just as he turned and pointed a glowing wand at Madi. Mr. Ponytail crumpled to the ground.

  The orc roared and charged Orrin, but he was already rolling away, casting more debuffs. The orc was already falling forward when the blunt end of Madi’s spear hit his head, guiding him into the peaceful slumber of unconsciousness.

  The dwarf dropped his mace and stepped back, hands in the air. “I’m not dumb enough to attack a Catanzano. That’s how you end up dead.”

  Jeremiah closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose before turning his gaze to Orrin. “You attacked the crown prince of Gendy, Ezra Egnatius Eochaid. You realize what this means?”

  “His dad is terrible at picking names?” Orrin said as he set his feet to flip the orc over on his side. His face was in some of the dirt Madi made with her spell and he didn’t want the guy to suffocate.

  “Orrin defended me,” Madi said, her spear out and pointing toward Ezra’s still body. “Crown prince or not, he attacked me, unprovoked. If this weren’t the Pass, I’d place him under arrest and try him in Dey.”

  “Dey is not the Pass. There are witnesses here who saw you attack Prince Ezra first,” Jeremiah’s words were full of vitriol now. “You will regret this insult.”

  Orrin sighed at the cliché threat. He used [Identify] on Jeremiah, taking in his full stats and class before turning to the unconscious prince. Doing the same to Ezra, Orrin got some feedback damage from one of the man’s skills. He gingerly touched his head and healed himself before turning toward Jeremiah.

  “You’re level fifteen. [Protection Emissary] sounds powerful but your stats are shit. Ponytail here isn’t that much better. You should go level up a few times before taking on Guild quests beyond your level.”

  “I told them the same thing but they paid a lot of gold for me to stop asking questions,” the dwarf spoke up. He had moved to the wall and kept his hands up and away from his weapons. “Now I’m thinking this job was a mistake.”

  “Shut up, dwarf. You are part of the Golden Beetles and will act with the decorum that is due,” Jeremiah ranted and Orrin turned away.

  He whispered to Madi, “We don’t have time to deal with this. Now that they’re alive, can we leave?”

  Madi nodded toward the still catatonic party in various states of grief around the chewed body of their teammate. “We can’t leave them like that and I don’t trust the others to help out. I can send a message to have their access to the pass revoked but you can’t [Teleport] this many people at once, right?”

  “I’m also not going to leave you here alone with these dumbbells for even a minute,” Orrin sighed and looked around. “Can you get the other party ready to go? I’ll convince these guys to listen.”

  “Orrin… what are you going to do?” Madi shrunk her spear down to its smaller size and crossed her arms. “Gendy is a smaller province but they hold no small sway in Veskar.”

  Orrin held his hands up. “I’m not going to torture them. That would be bad. Do I look like a bad guy?”

  Madi’s eye twitched at the false grin on Orrin’s face. She peered over Orrin’s shoulder at Jeremiah. The man had stopped hounding the dwarf and was pale as he listened in on their conversation.

  “I’m going to take the girls out into the Pass to get some fresh air,” she announced loudly. One of the larger women in the group helped her pull the party away from their dead friend.

  In the quiet cavern, the slow drip of water deeper inside echoed in time with the breaths of the orc. Orrin pointed at the dwarf.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Drag Copperskull. Earthshaper, tracker, and adventurer extraordinaire… when I’m not taking jobs that might get me killed or imprisoned,” the stout man said with a bow. “If you don’t mind, I would love a bit of fresh air myself.”

  “Traitor,” Jeremiah hissed. “You would leave your party members alone and undefended?”

  “You might be an idiot son but I’m not. This is the [Hero]’s party member, Orrin. From the stories I’ve heard when people get on his bad side, they end up dead. I won’t lie and say the princeling didn’t attack. Vet reacted poorly but at least he went down before he got any attacks off. You paid me to lead you through the Pass and complete some quests for glory, not to die for his stupidity.”

  Orrin let the men argue. His plan was to buff the orc and Ponytail back into a vertical position and then convince them that leaving was their best option. He could drop them again if he needed to and even carry the orc if pushed.

  “You are fired,” Jeremiah clenched his fists but kept himself from striking at the higher-leveled dwarf. “Effective immediately.”

  “Hey Drag, how much would you charge to carry someone back to the nearest Wall?” Orrin interrupted the fuming silence between the two.

  “Huh? What?” Drag kept one hand on his hammer and turned toward Orrin. “Carry who?”

  Jeremiah dropped like a sack of potatoes.

  Orrin slapped his hands together like he was dusting them off, having debuffed Jeremiah’s strength until he fell. “Any of these three. I don’t have time to deal with their nonsense.”

  Drag carried both of the humans out of the cave, one over each shoulder. Orrin came out behind him with the orc draped over his back.

  Madi took in the view and shrugged but Orrin saw a tiny smile on her face. “Better you than me, I guess. This way.”

  Instead of going to the empty Wall they’d teleported to, Madi directed them toward Dey. She spoke with Drag at length as they moved. They approached one of the newly manned Walls and were spotted almost immediately. A scouting party met them and took the still unmoving forms of Vet the orc, Ezra, and Jerimiah from Drag and Orrin.

  “Make sure those two are deported from Dey gently but sternly,” Madi commanded. “The orc should be questioned but left to the Guild to deal with. He tried to attack Orrin after he stopped an attack from the prince here.”

  The commander of this particular Wall saluted and had some of his troops tie up the low ranking Veskar men. “Do you need any rest… or do you have any reports from the frontline?” the man wore plate armor and towered over both Madi and Orrin but shrank before their combined power and reputation.

  “We’re heading back there now,” Madi said as she tapped Orrin’s shoulder. “Take care of that party, captain. They lost a member and are mourning him.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Orrin waited for Madi to turn away before he teleported them back.

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