“To think I used to enjoy going to the mall,” Jenna thought grimly as she dodged yet another murderous charge from the beast she faced.

  The juggernaut barreled into a tree, crashing through it as if it were made of sticks.

  It had the waxy, inhuman appearance of the corpse of the blind swordsman, but it was not based on a humanoid shape. The hulking brute resembled a rhinoceros the size of a van, with a set of stag antlers instead of a single horn.

  As the creature charged past her, Jenna thrust her elven spear at it, but she could not penetrate its steely skin. She realized she would need to invest heavily in strength to accomplish that, but she also required points in agility if she wanted to keep evading the beast’s attacks. In that moment, she recognized how much she relied on the rest of the Losers for the big battles.

  She could excel at any task, but only one at a time.

  Jenna seized the moment the beast needed to turn around for another charge, sending her mind into overdrive as she searched for the best strategy.

  During her brief stint as an adventurer, Jenna had learned that one second spent planning was a second well spent.

  This time, when the beast charged at her, she didn’t jump to the side—she somersaulted over it. The beast continued forward until its momentum was spent, then it braked with its hooves on the ground and turned around, preparing for another attempt.

  Jenna was no longer in sight. The beast howled in frustration, trying to locate her. Somehow, she had vanished mid-air. Then the monster stopped moving, its head raised as if listening to a sound only it could hear.

  After a moment, it started trotting toward the center of the forest, unaware that it had already found Jenna. She had shrunk down to toy size during her jump and was now clinging to the creature’s mane, praying to whatever gods existed in the multiverse that it wouldn’t notice her.

  She used the brief pause to reach out to Bob through their blood link, letting him fill in the details.

  “You've managed to defeat one boss without eliminating the host. Congratulations on that, by the way; good job, Bob,” Jenna thought as her mind raced through multiple scenarios.

  “The Fleshweaver will likely try to overwhelm us with as many bosses as it can.

  The more pressure we are under, the more vulnerable we will be to its stealth attacks. It has already lost two bosses—the swordsman killed by Billy and the girl you just freed. It will try to recoup its losses.”

  “So far, one-on-one attacks haven’t been effective. The Fleshweaver will probably change its tactic. I believe it’s trying to guide the rhino to Billy’s location to launch a coordinated attack on him.”

  “Take care, Bob, there are still a few bosses around. He could try it on you, too,” she added.

  “Jenna, this is just like the Battle of Babylon,” Bob replied, his frustration palpable through the link.

  “No matter how many bosses we defeat, if the Fleshweaver escapes, we have lost. It will simply rebuild its army and start over.

  It’s hard to detect the Fleshweaver, let alone hit it. It feels like an invisible spider made of jelly. I was on high alert, and it nearly caught me twice. That thing is the real threat,” he added.

  The rhino finally came to a stop in a clearing within the magical forest. The clearing opened onto a stone building with large windows on the top floor, which looked like a security office.

  Jenna gasped in surprise as she recognized the tall elven warrior fighting at the foot of the building. It was Billy.

  She had never seen him in that form before; she guessed it was the Elven War Hero version, which was supposed to be quite expensive. He looked absolutely stunning—pity about the elven lack of facial hair.

  Billy was battling a wizard-like creature that hurled plasma bolts at him while gliding on a magical disc. He dodged the attacks effortlessly, but as he was not primarily a ranged fighter, he could not counterattack effectively.

  Jenna noticed an almost invisible shape crawling along the ceiling toward him—the Fleshweaver. Just then, the rhino snorted and charged toward Billy at full speed while he was occupied dodging the floating wizard's plasma bolt. The Fleshweaver had almost positioned itself over the Everlasting. Things seemed desperate for the Elven Hero.

  Suddenly, the rhino fell flat on its face as something powerful grasped its hind legs and pulled, lifting them off the ground. The monster looked back in amazement and saw 18-foot-tall Jenna gripping its hind legs. She swirled the rhino around like an Olympic hammer thrower and hurled it toward the floating wizard, all the while warning Billy about the impending Fleshweaver attack.

  “Billy, over you! Dodge!” screamed Jenna- then she held her breath, waiting for the result of her actions.

  Many things happened at once during that single second:

  -Billy dove to the side, avoiding the rain of crystal filaments by inches. He continued his dodge by rolling on his shoulder, landing on his feet, and throwing his spear at the glassy giant spider in one single fluid move, but it dodged the attack as if it were a toy thrown by a kid.

  -The rhino monster flew through the air, trying to understand why the world was gyrating around him.

  -The floating wizard nimbly dodged the incoming beast by maneuvering its flying discus.

  -Jenna let her breath out.

  -The next second began.

  Bob moved cautiously toward the forest. The dungeon had tried to lead him away from it—a clear signal that the rest of the Losers had gathered there. Jenna had sent him a mental image through their blood link, indicating her approximate location.

  Billy had killed one boss, and Bob had freed a second. Jenna was riding a third, which left at least three unaccounted bosses plus the Fleshweaver. If only Billy had not shut down his blood link, the three of them could have tried to meet at a specific spot.

  As he entered a small clearing unoccupied by the magically conjured trees, he suddenly heard the rustle of leaves a few feet ahead. He quickly used his powers to hide before he could be discovered.

  Veil of Shadows (Shadowcraft 3): Become invisible for as long as you do not move. This ability can only be activated if no one is looking directly at you. It has a seven-minute cooldown, which is waived if no one witnesses your reappearance. It also sets off all other invisibility cooldowns.

  Two bosses entered the clearing moments after he turned invisible. One was an eight-foot-tall giant armed with a warhammer, while the other was wizard-like and wielded a staff. Both had blank faces with shark-like smiles.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Good, they didn’t seem to notice him. He could afford to play it carefully. His powers would allow him to remain undetected indefinitely, as long as he stayed hidden while they searched for him. Then, he could resume his quest to find his companions.

  To his dismay, the two bosses were not the only ones who entered the clearing. They were followed by four skeletal figures clad in ancient armor.

  The brute held a boy, who looked no more than ten years old, and he appeared terrified. Bob realized they had chosen this spot for its maximum visibility.

  Both bosses began to speak in perfect synchrony, in the same voice, as if performing in stereo.

  “You owe us two Avatars, human,” they stated in a clear, diaphanous voice.

  “One for the one you freed, and another for the one your friend killed. We will have restitution. You have five minutes to show yourself before we start hurting the cub. Notice I did not say ‘kill’; I said—”

  “I know what you said,” Bob interrupted, leaping from the shadows and delivering a flying kick to the wizard's back.

  Hammer Strikes the Anvil (Pugilism 3): Any blow that would cause significant damage to an adversary instead turns their skin rigid, encasing the opponent in their own body. This requires a rank three Fleshshaping perk.

  The boss fell to the ground, stiff as a plank, as if he had been turned into a living statue. Bob knew the effect wouldn’t last long; he should have gone for the kill, but he didn’t want to harm the innocent man trapped inside that flesh suit.

  “Run!” he shouted at the boy as he turned to face the rest of the enemies. To his dismay, the four skeletal warriors accompanying the summoner were unaffected by their master being temporarily paralyzed.

  Bob summoned Curtis’s Palooga ball from his enchanted elven necklace. Gold was rumored to be particularly effective against the undead. He enhanced it with Spheric Polivalence, Air Friction, and Ball Ricochet.

  The ball became incandescent as it rebounded between the skeletal warriors' skulls, causing them to explode. He aimed for the giant’s face with the last hit, but he swatted it away like a bothersome fly.

  The giant lifted his hammer and charged at Bob, attempting an overhead blow.

  Dance of the Dragonfly (Pugilism 3): Double your Body stat, but only to dodge blows. This ability can be used as often as desired, but hitting an enemy or being hit while the Dance is active will deactivate it for seven minutes.

  Bob danced around the warhammer like a graceful performer leading a clumsy partner. He knew he couldn't take on both bosses at once. This wasn’t about winning; it was about giving the kid enough time to escape before he, too, had to retreat.

  The brute lifted his warhammer over his head, and Bob steeled himself to dodge again. But this time, it was a feint. The warrior let out a dreadful howl that knocked Bob off his feet and threw him to the ground. He hadn’t expected a sonic area-of-effect attack; now his Dance of the Dragonfly technique was useless for the rest of the fight.

  “Wind Kisses the Ball!” he shouted as he threw the Palooga ball from the ground, attempting to use the old but reliable boomerang effect. He intentionally missed, hoping the projectile would hit his enemy on the back of the head when it returned.

  It didn’t work. The brute turned his head just in time as the ball came back to Bob's hand. He had just witnessed Bob make a perfect throw that had taken down four opponents at once. Such a spectacular failure on his second throw could only be a ploy.

  At that moment, Bob realized he wasn’t up against a mindless monster but an experienced and cunning warrior.

  He heard movement behind him and turned around to see the other boss finally shake off the paralysis effect and rise to his feet. The boss uttered some words of power, and in a flash of light, four more skeletal warriors appeared around him.

  The pill. The damned pill. Why hadn’t he made a couple of them instead of just one?

  “Are you okay, Jenna?” Billy asked as she finally reached his position.

  “As well as any girl with an idiot boyfriend who shuts down his only means of communication with his team while fighting three bosses at once could be. Peachy, just peachy,” she replied.

  “Save it for later, Jenna,” Billy told her curtly.

  “We’re going to get attacked again by these three, and I’m sure the remaining ones are on Bob. I have a plan. This dungeon simulates every feature of a modern mall, including the tech-driven ones. I think the security office is on the second floor of this building. Can you throw me up there?”

  Jenna, now in her enlarged form, picked up Billy and shot him through the second-floor window like a ten-year-old girl trying to throw her Ken’s Elven Prince model into her friend’s house. Billy crashed through the window, rolled on the floor, and landed gracefully on his feet. With a Dexterity stat of 100, there were few things one could not do gracefully.

  Billy scanned the room, hoping to find the control panel.

  Jenna turned around to face the two bosses, aware of the menacing presence of the Fleshweaver on the ceiling.

  Meanwhile, Bob desperately tried to avoid the barrage of attacks coming from the bosses and their summoned undead minions.

  Billy finally found the microphone and clicked it on.

  “Mic proof,” he said, activating the device. His voice resonated throughout the mall. Then, he began to sing in a beautiful, clear voice:

  The Song of Belegrin x4: Any ally hearing you sing the Song of Belegrin who is under the effect of mind or fear magic will have the duration of those effects reduced by one minute for every full five seconds they hear it. All mind effects with a set duration will be dispelled after one minute of hearing the song. Permanent effects, like madness or feeble-mindedness, will be healed after one full hour of listening to it.

  The rhino and the wizard, advancing on Jenna, screamed in unison, desperately trying to plug their ears.

  The blows raining down on Bob stopped as all his enemies started writhing on the ground. The song strengthened the Avatars’ resistance to mind control; they were trying to break free of their flesh suits.

  Bob received a new notification: "You have unlocked the Harmony Pantean Skill."

  Jenna noticed the Fleshweaver's vague, almost undetectable form begin to slip toward the air ducts. “Billy, it’s running away!” she screamed.

  Without stopping his song, Billy threw the Spear of Belegrin towards it. The spear pierced the spider's lower abdomen, pinning it to the ceiling. The Fleshweaver screamed in agony, trying to pull the spear from its body.

  Jenna cursed under her breath. Bob was the only one with ranged attacks. Billy could summon the spear back to him, but doing so would free the Fleshweaver. They had only one chance to kill it, and they were about to lose it in the dumbest way.

  Suddenly, a rain of arrows pierced through the Fleshweaver’s form. It screamed once more before dying. Jenna turned around to see who had finally performed the deed.

  A tall hunter stood behind her, holding a magically conjured bow.

  At his feet lay the mangled remains of the creature that had controlled him and forced him to adopt a stag form, although he had appeared much bulkier while in that state. Billy’s magic had helped him break through the mind control and destroy his captor.

  Two stag antlers emerged from the hunter's forehead. It was Bran, the hunter—the Avatar exiled from Babylon for attempting to kill Dignity. His form shimmered and transformed into a white, majestic stag that escaped into the forest.

  “Steven, wait! Please, we only want to talk!” begged Jenna, but he did not stop. Then, the dungeon began to tremble. The remaining trapped avatars had finally killed their captors as well.

  With the death of the core and all the bosses, the mall began to disappear, releasing its stored essence.

  Billy released his avatar form and merged with the essence. It was time to create something new.