Jeru tapped on Penelope’s face.

  “Hey, it’s time to get up.”

  Penelope had worked on her spells until almost three before her parasite had begged her to get some sleep. Four hours later, and the rest of the camp was already stirring.

  “What—?”

  Penelope sat up inside the makeshift tent and looked at her menu.

  Penelope flung the robe that she’d used as a blanket off of her and bolted to her feet. She pulled on the stiff cloth helmet as she scrambled out of the fur that was draped over large monster bones.

  “It lives!” Ula smiled at the younger woman and motioned at the small pile of meat near the fire. “Patrick made sure to leave you some food.”

  Penelope looked around. Her ‘tent’ was the only structure that was still standing where there had been seven tents, two baths, and the weird cauldron just a few hours ago.

  “Where—?”

  The Hispanic grandmother motioned west. “I had the boys start moving stuff out of the way. We don’t know how much space we’re going to need.” She glanced south at the portal to the surface, then looked back at Penelope. “Dawson’s afraid that people are going to steal their stuff, so he convinced Patrick and the others that we needed to move it to the side instead of the front.”

  Ula looked at the boss room. “We decided that we’re going to let the time run out so all of us can fight.” She turned to Penelope, who was chewing her breakfast as fast as she could. “You don’t have to eat that fast, sweetie. You’ve got plenty of time.”

  Penelope swallowed what was in her mouth. “We can’t do that–-!” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. Her heart was thundering in her ears, and oversleeping was making things worse.

  When she opened her eyes back up, Penelope saw Ula staring at her with the same disapproving look that her parents had almost always worn.

  “We already talked it over, but why do you think that?” Ula crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  Penelope swallowed the lump in her throat and focused on the other woman’s lips. Her mind was in full flight mode, but she’d learned not looking at the other person in this type of situation would end with the other person always dismissing her.

  “Your group was the third one to come in here.” She took the opportunity to nod towards where Oakley was carrying a load of monster parts.

  “Yes.”

  Penelope looked back at the older woman. “What did people think happened to the rest of us?”

  Ula thought for a moment. “That you’d either died or were too busy fighting to get back out.”

  “Right.” Penelope pointed at the entrance. “As soon as that barrier comes down, how long do you think it’s going to be before the level ones start coming down here to see what’s going on?” She motioned towards the fire Caster. “Judah almost died to level nine monsters, and we’ve been fighting for three days. How well do you think they’re going to fare?”

  “We’ll have the whole floor to fight in.” Ula motioned at the lowest-level person in their group. “Patrick has already volunteered to keep people back when they start coming in since he’ll be too low-level to do much.” She hefted her warhammer. “Don’t worry, we’ve got this.”

  “But—.” Penelope cut herself off.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “It’s going to be fine.” Ula patted the younger woman on the shoulder. “The boys will take down your tent while you finish eating.” She smiled. “Try to take a breather before it starts, and when this is all over, you can take the rest of the day off while we get ready to start the second floor!”

  Penelope stared at the party leader as the older woman walked away. Jeru, how bad is it? She turned around and started pacing towards the entrance.

  The blue Elf appeared beside her. “There have been times where they’ve used this strategy, and there haven’t been any casualties.”

  Penelope took a deep breath as she stopped and looked at him. How many?

  “I don’t know, a couple dozen?”

  Out of how many times? Her mind raced to do the math, but even her estimation was low.

  “About three thousand.”

  Ice washed through her veins, forcing a shiver out of her. “That’s…” She swallowed.

  “Not good odds, no.” Jeru cut her off. “Also, you’re using your outside voice.” He pointed behind her.

  Penelope turned around and saw that everyone had made their way back from the new drop spot and had gathered around her tent. They were less than fifty feet from her, which was close enough that they could hear her muttering to herself.

  “Do you think they heard?”

  “You say ‘that’?” Jeru nodded, then shrugged as they all continued to go about their business. “They probably think you’re either mad about being overruled or that you’re being weird and doing math.”

  “That’s..!” Penelope sighed and let her shoulders sag as she stopped her outburst. “Is there anything I could do to stop this?”

  “At this point?” Jeru mimicked looking at a watch on his bare left wrist. “By the time they finish loading up your tent and put it over with the rest of the stuff, it won’t matter if you can convince them or not.” He motioned at the timer on her screen. “There’s no way for all of you to finish the fight before the monsters get loose.”

  But it’s the same amount of monsters as if we had challenged them in the room?

  “More or less?” He waffled his head. “No one has been able to get the exact same setup twice, so there’s no way to say for certain, but it is only ever six.” He swallowed. “Just don’t let them get out of the Dungeon. They get stronger once they're free of the restrictions they have on them here and lots of people will die topside if one of these gets loose.”

  Great. I have to fight a battle I can’t prepare for and make sure that none of them get out of the… Her thoughts connected what Jeru wasn’t saying.

  Oakley can’t taunt them. She glared at the Elf.

  “He…” Jeru grimaced. “Can taunt one of them at a time.”

  Which means that we’re going to be fighting a group of the strongest monsters we've ever faced, and we’re going to have to fight them one-on-one?! Penelope closed her eyes. What happened to sharing information!

  “Sorry…” Jeru started wringing his hands together. “I just thought that you’d have asked me to reset the run by now and we could talk about that part of the fight later.”

  Penelope rubbed her temples. You thought I would have given up by now?

  Jeru nodded, but the motion went unseen because Penelope still had her eyes closed. “When Judah got hurt and then with the whole kicking the puppy thing—”

  “Wait.” Penelope opened her eyes to the Elf with a finger on her lips. You were expecting me to give up?

  Jeru sighed and backed up. “You’re kind, Pea. You don’t want to see the others die and honestly, most people die the first time they try the tenth column because the bunnies…” He suppressed a shiver. “They’re just evil. So yes, I underestimated you again. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting that you’re…” He chuckled and shook his head.

  I’m what? Insults that she’d heard her entire life began playing through her mind. Stupid, slow, weird, retard, freak, and the deluge kept pouring.

  Jeru banished it with a word.

  “Incredible.”

  “THAT’S!...” She caught her voice when her mind registered the unexpected response. “What?”

  “You’ve done more in less than a week than most people have been able to do in a month.” He motioned around at the Dungeon. “If you have to reset, then that adds four days that you have to live through again. Bryn holds the record for the fastest first floor clear, and even she needed two weeks to do it. Even if you do fail today, I doubt you will on your next attempt. You’re blowing everyone out of the water, even the people that I tried helping from the start.”

  “Oh…” Her entire argument deflated as she started to realize the implications of what all he was saying.

  “Look. You need to quit doubting yourself, and I’ll try to remember that this is your first time. I need to be more proactive with what I can tell you and not just explain things after they happen.” He jabbed his thumb towards the other group. “Now, why don’t you go get in position so we can finish this thing?”

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