> Of course not! One of our clients is a linked user. We can’t litigate her death. Well, we could. I am quite certain the Maffiyir Corporation would be very pleased to have her die. But we’re not going to!

>

> – Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens

I hadn’t even been released from my casing before an Announcement rang through my head.

Transfers complete. Ascend to the top to complete the Challenge. The slowest contestants will be penalized.

The voice sounded just the same as it always had. I shot off a quick query to Ariel even as I scanned my surroundings. That wasn’t you, was it?

The range of my Life Sense had expanded significantly with my recent powerups: I felt two people to each side of me, all of us spaced about thirty feet apart. I couldn’t see them through the dense underbrush, a series of thorn-covered vines that wound up and down, curling and twining into a springy mat that would be hard to bypass. A mountain loomed overhead, the sole peak on a flat skyline.

At least it’s clear what we need to ascend.

I could also feel plenty of other life.

Monsters.

One was very close.

I raised my shield in the air and spun, activating Parry just in time to intercept a large monster bursting out of the bush behind me.

The monster wasn’t anything we’d seen before in the contest. For a moment, I thought it was pretty standard: just another large predator, this one vaguely canine in build, but with curling tusks on either side of its jaw. Then, it opened its mouth and snarled. I was thrown off my feet, even though it hadn’t touched me. I was caught by the vines. The thorns weren’t strong enough to pierce my skin, but the vines tangled my arms as I rolled to the side, dodging as the monster lunged, tusks aimed at my midsection, crashing into the underbrush beside me as it missed.

What…?

I hadn’t consciously directed the thought to Ariel, but she responded anyway.

Oh, right.

I was still getting used to the fact that the enemies could have superpowers, too. Most of the ones we’d seen so far were more integrated into the monster itself, with some semi-plausible biological basis. If there’d been any sign that this thing could use the Knockback ability, I’d missed it.

I wrestled my way out of the vines’ grip and onto my feet as the monster tried to untangle itself. As I did so, I pulled a paper pouch of powder from my pack and smashed it against the monster’s snout, sending a burst of talcum into the air. It got free of the vines but hesitated, seeming uncertain where I was. I took advantage of its blindness to sweep my sword into its side.

I felt resistance as I struck a bone, but I was strong and my sword was the best humanity could acquire. I pushed through, my slice not stopping until I hit another bone on the far side of the monster’s torso.

Whatever it was, it didn’t die immediately, stumbling another step with a whining sound as it shook its head in a fruitless effort to clear the white powder from its eyes. It looked like it was on its last legs, but I wasn’t taking chances. I pulled out my sword and activated Analyze and Assisted Strike, separating its head from its body.

“And my kids? My husband? The Turners?”

“Right… Thanks.”

I could feel more monsters moving toward me, but I had a few seconds before they reached me. I tossed a Basic Hologram into the sky above, a simple “M” with an arrow pointing downward and made a simple Announcement.

It’s all Fort Autumn in this arena! This is Meghan, and I’ve marked my position.

Another of the tuskwolves readied itself to spring from the underbrush, but I was ready this time: another packet of powder blinded it before it could strike, making its pounce easy to dodge. One Assisted Strike later and it was down.

No other monsters in twenty feet. Let’s see what we have here.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I had time to pay a little more attention to the people around me. There were six people in range of Life Sense now, obviously moving toward me. Now that I had a second to pay more attention, I realized that two of them were short: children. I knew the feel of my own children well enough by now to realize that they weren’t my kids, but they were still kids, and in need of protection.

One of the adults had already reached the child to my right, but I could feel that the one to my left was all alone, with another of the tuskwolves close at hand. Hopefully, the poor kid had a defensive ability. Even if they did, they couldn’t keep it up forever.

I started moving. Even though my skin was strong enough to be proof against the vines, the springy coils slowed my movement to an irritating degree. They were stretchy enough not to snap easily under my enhanced strength, forcing me to snip and slash my way through.

Followers: be careful using Flight! Every time I go more than fifteen feet off the ground, I get hit by some kind of laser. You can fly, but keep it low.

That had been Flip, using her mass Ruler message for the day to warn us.

If you want me to stay mentally stable, don’t recommend I just sit and watch kids die!

There was a pause from Ariel. Then:

I felt a wave of fury. Immediate ambushes surrounded by poison thorns? The goal here was to climb the mountain. We hadn’t even made it to the mountain yet!

I passed Ariel’s warning on, although I figured most people who could be hurt by the thorns had likely already gotten scratched. An Announcement from Marie, my communications specialist, confirmed just that:

The resin on the thorns seems like an extreme irritant. Where I’ve been scratched is horribly red and itchy, and it’s only been two minutes.

I made it to the kid I’d detected, who thankfully was immured in a Summoned Shell… Not the first Summoned Shell they’d made either, by the looks of the ground in the area. The dirt was churned up, pressed into a series of trails, craters, and pawprints, telling a story of the tuskwolf’s determined effort to break through to the child beneath.

It changed targets when it saw me. My arms were tangled in the vines, making it hard to block, attack, or dodge. My floating knives and iron plates swung in front of it, but the monster was strong enough to push through. At least I kept one of the iron plates in front of it, spreading the impact of its tusks into a bruising burst against my shin instead of a calf-puncturing blow.

I got my sword free and I fell atop the monster. The ensuing grapple was graceless, but I was on its back. I pulled my legs up, out of reach of its claws, tusks, or teeth, and from there it was only a matter of time before my higher strength and more flexible weaponry let me bring its life to an end.

The moment the monster stilled, Ariel spoke up:

“Recommend putting more resources into useful observations, Ariel! Or figuring out ways to simply cheat! I wouldn’t be in danger if you found a way to just give me a few billion Points, you know.”

I sighed in frustration and glanced at the kid. I thought about suggesting they come out, but I didn’t have a healing ability. They’d be safer in there. Instead, I lofted their Summoned Shell into the sky. With my increased synergy, I could now manage seven objects, each just under 70 pounds. I couldn’t move the kid directly, but his or her shell was another matter. Judging by their size, they were probably around four or five, and the weight of them plus their shell was easy for me to manage.

I should try to link up with more people. Who’s in my range? I can sense an adult further in this direction, and then… is that another kid? Damn.

I frowned. Kids did tend to have lower Points than the adults around them. It wasn’t a hard and fast rule, but parents did their best to, at minimum, keep pace with their kids in Points, and they’d been largely kept off the walls. I knew the waitlist of people who swarmed into the tower whenever my family and I weren’t using it was mostly made up of families, but almost half of Fort Autumn’s residents were children. The math just didn’t work out. Fort Autumn’s children probably weren’t being powerleveled at the same rate as its adults.

That’s not acceptable. I’ve been distracted, but how did Alexandra miss this? Or… could she really not find a better solution?

I resolved to ask when we got back, but put the question from my mind. It was too late now to focus on anything but my immediate survival. Hamlet might have surrounded me with the weakest of my allies, but they were still my allies. Ariel assured me that everyone had come from Fort Autumn, which meant everyone here could be trusted.

I headed toward the nearest person, the child I’d rescued bobbing behind me like an ugly brown balloon.

It only took a second of confusion for me to understand Ariel’s suggestion. With my increased synergy, I’d been able to increase the size of the iron plates I carried. I had some reserve plates that were smaller and thicker that fit in my backpack, but I had four that I kept out at all times, and each was a 30” square that was about a quarter inch thick. I couldn’t squash the springy vines completely flat, but I could easily create a moving sidewalk for myself, Telekinesis serving to stabilize the shifting squares as they wobbled a few feet off the ground. The extra height let me see much farther around the arena. The mountain dominated the landscape, pushing its way out of a field of vines that extended as far as I could see.

Wait… what’s that?

As I squinted at a distant orange glow, another Announcement from Marie rang out:

Hold still! Don’t try to dodge the flames! They won’t hurt you!