Patrick was on her team.

  Penelope hadn’t interacted with the Tank from Ula’s group much. By the time she’d started working with groups, the teams had merged, and Oakley was more interested in tanking, while Patrick had been enthralled by dissecting the monsters. Which worked out great since they hadn’t needed more than one Tank.

  They waited in front of the barrier on the south side until the Dungeon released the timed air blast, then they headed in. Penelope cast over Patrick’s shoulder and followed behind him. Circe kept to her side with Kent, Robert, and Marlow bringing up the rear. Without a fixed room to illuminate, the light stayed a hundred feet in front of Penelope, though it didn’t go into rooms, which they learned at the end of the first hundred feet.

  They also learned something else. Patrick liked to explore.

  “Throw the light in this room.” Patrick stepped inside without waiting for her spell.

  “Wait a second!” Penelope grabbed the Tank, and despite there being an eight-level difference between them, she couldn’t pull him back. “We have to meet up with Freddy’s group first!”

  “It’ll only take a few seconds to clear this.” Patrick half-turned. “Ula would have let me.”

  His words cut her to the core. She was too stunned to respond. Before anyone could say anything, he was knocked into her.

  Patrick twisted his shield horizontally to keep himself from being knocked out of the doorway.

  “RAWR!” The pair of Wulfs inside the room clawed at the shield.

  The guilt his words carried vanished as Penelope switched into fight mode. Her wand pointed over his shoulder. “LIGHT TORRENT!”

  Ding!

  Experience +2.5

  Experience +2.5

  The light in the hall vanished as she cast it into the room.

  “BUGS!” Circe stepped around them both to shoot over Patrick’s right shoulder.

  “I got the big one! Look At Me!”

  They were in the middle of the room’s 150-foot length, with it being 50 feet wide. There was a doorway on the back left wall and another one on the right wall. Two of the hairy Wigons and one Flou bounced towards the upper opening above the shield. The Shadow Knight near the back stopped as the taunt grabbed its attention.

  Ding!

  Experience +2.5

  Patrick raised his shield, blocking the bug demons from getting out of the room.

  Is the only difference between those two things that one is hairy and the other isn’t? Penelope hadn’t looked at the two monsters side by side at the same time.

  “Demons come in all shapes and sizes.” Jeru’s voice filled her mind. “It’s weird that they’d have two so close together on the same floor, but I quit trying to figure out the demon’s quirks a long time ago. Maybe they have someone with a flea fetish or something.”

  That’s gross. Penelope pushed the thought out of her mind and cast her offensive spell again. Combined with Circe’s attacks, Robert didn’t get a chance to shoot.

  Ding!

  Experience +2.5

  Experience +2.5

  “See?” Patrick shoved his shield forward, pushing the pile of monsters back enough for him to slide into the room. “Like shooting fish in a barrel.”

  “What are you doing?” Kent blanched as their Tank back up to the right side of the room.

  “Rotating this guy so you can shoot him in the back.” Patrick backed up, rotating around as he did until he’d turned the Shadow Knight all the way around.

  With the Demon’s back to them, it only took a single round of spells from the ranged attackers to reduce the Demon to a pile of armor.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ding!

  Experience +6

  “Boo!” Patrick picked up a sheet of paper out of the pile as the group squeezed around the monster corpse pile to get into the room. “It’s a Tier One skill!” He pulled out the potion sling and brought both items over to Penelope. “Here you go, boss.”

  Penelope took the items and put them in one of her empty pockets. She glanced at the skill before she folded it. . We can give that to Bradley for him to upgrade the first one we gave him.

  “What’s going on?” Frederica had both hands on her hips in the doorway.

  “We took down one of the groups; no biggie.” Patrick shrugged as he headed towards the doorway behind him. “Penny! I need a light! I want to see where this goes!”

  “WAIT!” Fredrica screamed. “You’re not running off and doing your own thing! We need to move as a team so we can handle the monsters.”

  “Penny did fine on the last group.” Patrick knocked on his shield. “Didn’t even need any healing.”

  Frederica eyed Penelope, who couldn’t hold the gaze.

  “It was the easiest we’ve cleared a group.” Penelope admitted.

  “Fine, but we’re not going that way.” Frederica pointed to the right behind her. “Eldri had and the next group is that way.”

  Should I point out that the Demons lured us into a trap with that skill? Penelope dismissed the thought. Right now she wanted to show a united front under Frederica’s leadership.

  “Okay.” Patrick turned around and walked towards her. “Lead the way; we’ll bring up the rear.”

  They didn’t have to walk far. The junction where their two tunnels met was a T that led west, deeper into the square. Since they were in a group, Eldri kept the spell active, which allowed Penelope to have eight , with their copies, floating above her.

  100 feet down that tunnel, a tunnel twice as wide split off to their right. The moment Eldir walked into it, the slanting V-shaped wider tunnel lit up, revealing a group of three Choms and a pair of Wulfs led by a Shadow Swordsman.

  With a clear light source, the Tanks split into two groups: Oakley grabbed the attention of the lesser Demons, and Patrick taunted the Shadow Swordsman. Frederica activated her , but instead of going for the neck, she took off the Demon’s right hand. The longsword clattered on the ground, giving her a defenseless target to put down.

  Penelope let her arsenal loose, taking down two of the Choms and one of the Wulfs.

  Ding!

  Experience +2.5

  Experience +2.5

  Experience +2.5

  Experience +6

  You are now Level Twelve

  Stats increased: Speed +1, Magic +1

  You have learned: Silent Casting

  “And you have what you’ve been wanting since day one!” Jeru cheered in her head.

  The real question is: could I have unlocked that at level two? With a thought, Penelope cast , killing the remaining Chom.

  Ding!

  Experience +2

  Experience +2

  Circe finished off the last monster. She almost never missed, unless it was an evasive type like the bugs. Robert, on the other hand, was sticking to his spell, which took him a moment to channel. It could skewer the slower-moving Wulfs, but usually before he finished building the spell, Circe or Penelope would have the monster finished off.

  Frederica picked up a piece of paper and tore it, absorbing the skill information into her Mantle. She adjusted her leather hood, then threw the potion slig to Oakley.

  “What was that?” Kent demanded. “I thought we were supposed to share the loot.”

  “Tier Ones get the Tier One loot first.” Frederica looked over at Eldri. “Where are the next monsters?”

  “I want to know what that skill was!” Kent walked up to Frederica. “Taking the best gear is fine because eventually we’ll get it secondhand, but you can’t pass skills!”

  “Ice Slide.” Frederica glared at him. “Quickly slide up to thirty feet, leaving a trail of ice behind you.” She sheathed her blades. “It’s a movement skill, and aren’t you fire?” She didn’t blink as she glared at him. “Ice works better for me.”

  “Whatever.” Kent turned away, looking at the rest of the group for support. “I’m just saying that we should vote on the skills instead of a single person deciding who gets what!”

  “When you’re the leader, you can make the rules.” Frederica growled. “Until then, your job is to do what you’re told.” She looked at Eldri. “The next group?”

  The dark-skinned woman pointed to the southwest corner.

  Frederica shooed Oakley. “Let’s go! I want to get this side cleared before lunch!”

  The team moved out, with Penelope’s team bringing up the rear. Circe fell into step beside her friend, her focus on other things while Eldri pointed in a direction that wasn’t down the tunnel in front of them.

  “That was wild.” Circe’s attempt at whispering was easily heard by everyone. “I mean, I want new gear as much as anyone, but I’m not going to fight one of you for it.”

  “We’ve got a lot of Speed main people in our group. That’s a lot of gear that needs to be shared.” Penelope touched her necklace, the only thing that had dropped for her so far. “Maybe once we stop having so many Knights, we’ll start seeing better gear for people.”

  “As long as it’s not another Poisoner, I don’t care!” Circe laughed. “The way we’re going, I don’t need any new gear. This is easy!”

  Penelope groaned. Until it isn’t. She kept that thought to herself and just smiled. Before Circe had a chance to continue the conversation, Frederica silenced her.

  “Next group! Let’s do this!”

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild