Penelope dropped one of her spells on the dying Wigon.

  Ding!

  Experience +3

  “Circe! Shoot the ones Oakley is holding off!” She twisted the pair of , but the monster died before they reached it.

  Ding!

  Experience +3

  Green light glowed over Marlow as he shoved the dead bird off of him. The crossbow in his hands fell away from the Demon’s chest. The weapon used mana to fire, but that was something Marlow usually had an excess of. While the older man didn’t like shooting into a group, he was competent enough to fire point blank.

  “I’m good!” He scooted back towards the intersection, his left hand pressed against the wound on his chest. The monster had torn through his robe, drilling a shallow hole into Marlow’s chest. “Get the others!”

  The pudgy Wulf bounced as it ran headfirst into the pair of , winking them out on contact.

  Ding!

  Experience +3

  “Bradley! Get to that door and don’t let anything through!” Penelope pushed around the men as she swished her wand in the air. “LIGHT TORRENT!”

  The four complete with their echoes, appeared in front of her. Keeping a pair of the glowing balls above the others so they could see to fight, Penelope ran towards her opponent, vaulting over the corpse of the flabby monster.

  The tunnel was only seven feet wide, which wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver. Now that there was a fat corpse behind her, she wouldn’t be able to retreat if things went poorly with the Shadow Knight and the rest of its monsters, but they were being attacked by three groups at once. If she didn't secure this side, this was going to be another reset.

  The silver-clad Demon moved behind its shield and charged. It still had a pair of bugs somewhere behind it, but that was a problem for future Penelope to worry about.

  The projectiles moved up as close to the ceiling as she could get them to go over the shield, then she curved them back towards her. The shield blocked her field of view, but the darkness behind the running Demon told her they’d all hit something.

  Ding!

  Experience +3

  Experience +3

  Well, that takes care of the extra monsters. Penelope’s hand slipped as she failed to brace against the flabby corpse behind her. She’d wanted to have something to hold onto when she cast , but the hip-high mound wasn’t a solid backstop. The spiked shield was only a few feet away from her, so she released the spell as she rolled over the corpse.

  The spell forced the Demon back a few feet. Her ears hummed as the pressure in the tunnel changed. She needed to pop them, but the threat in front of her was more imminent. She released her spell again, this time knocking the Demon back even farther.

  It braced against the impact, halting its charge as it attempted to weather the spell.

  I need to focus… Penelope clenched her jaw and focused on condensing the spell. She needed the full might of the twisters, but moving horizontally instead of vertically. As the magic of the spell built in her mind, she focused on how she wanted it to change, holding the spell like she did with her light spells, keeping it charged until she needed it.

  “TORNADO ALLEY!”

  The blast from the air knocked her over the monster’s soft body to the rough stone floor and rolled her until she hit Marlow. Her ears rang as she blinked away the fog. The experience notification rang, adding to the disorientation, but she waved it away without paying attention as she stretched her jaw to pop her ears.

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  The older man hunched over as the stiff wind blew over him. “You okay?” He grabbed her left elbow as they both stood up.

  “Just some road rash.” Penelope nodded at the hole in his robe. “You?”

  “Low Heal.” Marlow waved his hand over her body.

  The aches stopped throbbing as the scratches under her silver robe glowed green.

  “It broke a few ribs, but I’ll make it.” The older man swallowed. “Do you need—”

  “I’ve got this. You just focus on keeping the Tanks up!” Penelope turned back to the prone Demon, struggling to stand up.

  “HAIL STORM!” She bounced over the springy barricade and took off down the tunnel. The ice was harder to manipulate to the point that all she could do was focus it on an area, but that allowed her to build up ice on and around the Demon since most of the spell was focused on a specific area instead of just a general one.

  “LIGHT TORRENT!” The second spell stopped growing ice on and around the Demon, but there was enough built up that the metal-covered monster slipped as it tried to find its footing.

  WHOOSH…SCREECH

  The blast of air from the middle of the square came from the other side of the Demon. The sudden blast of air combined with the slick surface resulted in the Shadow Knight faceplanting towards her. With its back exposed, Penelope sank all of her projectiles into the Demon.

  Ding!

  Experience +7

  That’s everything back there. Penelope braced her hands on her knees and allowed herself to catch her breath. The gymnastics and running had dropped her stamina down to the single digits.

  Ding!

  Experience +3

  Experience +3

  “Two more down.” Jeru announced as he appeared in front of her. “Freddy took the Caster down, so all that’s left is the Knight and a few little ones.”

  Casualties? Penelope thought as she walked towards the intersection.

  “Aretha Reynolds, the other Hitter, died under the Wigon. The others stayed out of the fight and managed to survive.” Jeru motioned at the unconscious form of Kent, who leaned up against the wall on the east side of the intersection. “Kent tried to get in a hit and got bounced off the wall, so they moved him to the side closer to the safe zone.” The blue Elf shook his head. “The melee attackers need to stay out of the fight until they build up some more stats.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What did you say?” Circe turned around.

  Penelope hadn’t realized that she’d used her outside voice. Jeru had been talking to her like a regular person instead of in her head, and she’d responded in kind.

  “Don’t put this on me.” Jeru snapped. “You know that its better to converse with me in your head all the time.”

  Penelope blinked. “Sorry, I was just thinking about how Kent was moved.” She shook her head. “I agree that it’s the best place for him.”

  “Oh.” The brunette teen looked disappointed.

  “If you’re done talking, we could use your help over here!” Frederica walked out of the room to their right with Bradley on her heels. “I don’t know how many more of these things are in there, and Oakley could use someone who can shoot to take out that Tank!”

  Penelope looked down the tunnel where Oakley was doing his best to stand in the middle of the path, keeping anything from getting around him, but it was also keeping Robert from being able to shoot around him.

  “I killed one!” Circe’s face brightened as she held up her bow. “It takes three shots, but I can kill one of the bugs!”

  Penelope looked over at Marlow.

  The older man patted the crossbow in his right hand. “I counted sixteen minions and two bosses.” Marlow looked over at the three people behind her, then back at Penelope. “Go. We’ve got this.”

  “I want to try something…” Penelope walked past Frederica and pointed her wand down the tunnel. She focused on where the Shadow Knight was standing. The Demon had its shield angled just slightly so that if she cast anything from the ceiling, it would hit the top part of the shield.

  Penelope focused on the ground. When she’d been practicing with the spell the day before, casting it on the ground would create a couple palm-sized ice patches, then the spell would fizzle. None of them had been thick enough or close enough together to create what she could by letting it just hail on top of an area. This time when she focused on the floor, she held the spell as she changed it to firing up instead of down. Her vision swam as she focused on the alteration, but she held onto the spell, then whispered the words.

  “Hail Storm.”

  A barrage of ice pellets shot out of the ground, bouncing off the back of the Demon’s shield.

  The Shadow Knight shrieked as it dropped the defensive item and jumped backwards, out of the erupting spell.

  “NOW!” Frederica shouted as she pointed at the defenseless Demon. “OAKIE! GET DOWN!”

  Their Tank hit the floor as Circe and Robert blasted their skills and spells down the hallway.

  Ding!

  Experience +7

  Penelope canceled the spell. “I think we got him.”

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