After an extremely quick explanation, Lika gave a single firm nod of her head, her lips trembling but her eyes dry.

Noah stood, his mind afire, trying to come up with the specific details. The continued yells and screams of the goblins reminded him that every minute meant more dead.

He had to escape from the current location, and get around the lake to his target. Everything else he could figure out on the way.

“Lika, Emily, Trevor, with me,” Noah said, trying to make a small strike team that would be as strong as possible. “Take one AR-15 each. Everyone else, hold here. Bleed the elves from inside the buildings as much as possible, and keep their focus.”

The remaining men—and the goblin Mok—nodded. Their eyes were wide, but Noah judged they would hold.

He grabbed an AR-15. One magazine left, that’s it.

Noah’s Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg mantle fell from him. He swiped his deck, not getting it yet. I need to survive this run, but I can’t wait. Shit.

“Everyone, put your mantles on, we’re going.”

“What about you?” Lika asked as she hit a card.

It made Noah laugh—she got a bone mask and feather headdress combination.

“Nothing else but to take the chance. I’ll be fine,” Noah said, more wish than affirmation.

Noah glanced at Emily and her brother. For a moment, Emily looked no different, but Noah saw that her feet swirled with obvious wind. Trevor had no mantle at all, however. Noah cocked his head at the Viking man mountain.

“I didn’t get a mantle from the rattletail deck we assembled,” Trevor said. “I’d put on one if I had it.”

“Right,” Noah said. “Want to stay under cover and fight from here?”

Trevor shook his head. “No. I want to win, where it matters most. For Matt.”

Noah grabbed the edge of the door frame. “Then let’s go—seconds count at this point.”

Noah leapt out, into the line of the arrows, and starting sprinting immediately. Given the distance from the elven archery line, he wasn’t too worried about being sniped by an arrow. But his nuts pulled up into his stomach with the thought he might get hit randomly by the falling rain of steel. He didn’t want to hang around, just to catch a random one amid the flights that fell.

Arrows were already everywhere across the deck. The elves have to be close to the end of arrows they could carry, unless they brought carts or something. They have to run out of ammo soon, even if they just need to go back to restock.

He ran as fast as he could around the side of the building, and his team followed—although Emily moved in front of him extremely quickly, propelled by her Swift Foot Mantle.

Somehow, no one was hit as they ran through the buildings away from the front and then leapt into the lake, splashing as they did. The bottom was rocky on the back side of the lake as well.

Each of them was wearing either light armor, or no armor at all, but running through a couple feet of water, even on a rocky bottom, made everything slow and exhausting.

It was only about five hundred feet to the side of the bog, but by the time they reached the end, Noah was sucking wind, and Lika and Emily were both breathing raggedly.

I can’t rest, Noah thought, turning to run into the forest, back toward the fighting. I have to flank them, and soon.

He gasped as he ran, his heart pounding in his chest. There was a huge difference between running at a jog, which Noah could do nearly forever, and sprinting through even five hundred feet of deep water, which drained him. But he didn’t let up. Every second he delayed would be counted with dead goblins. I can still win this and save most of them.

Emily was obviously in worse condition than Noah, but managed to catch up thanks to her Swift Foot Mantle, and Trevor managed to stay with them regardless, although his breathing was also ragged.

Noah did his best to guess directions as he ran in a circle around the enemy. About three minutes of the hardest run he’d ever done later, Noah heard the talking of elves and the twang of bows.

Noah didn’t wait as the other two ran up beside him. He raised his AR-15 and aimed through it, walking forward as he did.

His target, he knew, was in the tree line. Noah intended to come upon him already close enough to kill.

As Noah walked into a tiny open space in the forest, he was met with an unwelcome sight—he was on the edge of the command group, which was still surrounding the elf leader in the back. Noah was still a few hundred feet from said leader—the one with the cards.

And the leader was surrounded in a red glow, with horns coming from his head.

He took aim and fired, but he wasn’t a perfect shot—his bullet clipped the enemy leader in the shoulder, spinning him around with a slight splatter of blood, but not doing much damage.

Noah’s notification told him that the leader was considered to be card type Infernal, and only took half damage from Mortal sources—which apparently included AR-15 rounds.

The elves surrounding the enemy leader quickly turned, pulling bows and nocking them with preternatural speed and grace.

Noah dropped to the ground and quickly touched his chest. He tossed his Scrap Yard card into play—it would be the basis of any significant card strategy he used, since it was filled with Scrap Tokens from the gas station he had disassembled on the way over.

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To his delight, it wasn’t just a card that appeared—it was a huge structure, filled with shelves and piles of junk. The arrows from the elf leader’s guard slammed into shelves and piles of junk, not hitting Noah.

Emily and Trevor ran up next to Noah, dropping to the ground.

“What *cough* now?” Emily asked, barely able to breathe.

“Summon, then move up on them and service targets,” Noah responded, falling back into old military lingo. “Don’t target the leader, he’s highly resistant to ‘bullet type’”—Noah held one hand up doing half an air quote—"at the moment.”

Emily and Trevor nodded, both summoning decks. Noah dismissed the notification as he looked at his own cards. Nothing useful except RED Seven, and Noah summoned his companion card again, spending the Scrap Tokens to make both the summon and the Flechette Gun ‘free’ to his current power total.

RED appeared with his gun already in his hands. He glanced down at it, then up at the elves, and finally over to Noah. “This is how you make a Recovery and Enforcement Droid happy. Give it mortals to murder for cards.”

The elves were starting to come around the edges of the Scrap Yard persistent, and RED started firing off bursts from the Flechette gun. As he did so, Scrap Tokens disappeared from the shelves.

Noah shot one in the chest with his AR-15 and then rushed over to stand behind the shelves of the Scrap Yard.

An Elf Ranger Champion appeared, lunging at the elves coming around the side with a sword, it’s wolf close behind. So did the six-tailed, spiked tiger from Trevor’s deck. Then the sister and brother joined him at the edge of the shelves as arrows hit the ground around them.

Noah swiped his cards.

Goliath Scrap Bot and Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg in this pull. The gods don’t hate me after all.

Noah summoned the Goliath Scrap Bot, using up a couple Scrap Tokens so he had two power left. At the same time, every card, even the six-tailed tiger all died to waves of arrows. Enemies from the front lines were turning back, starting to shoot at them from behind.

But most of the elves, including those coming around the sides, starting firing at the Scrap Bot.

Noah looked around, but still didn’t see Lika. Shit, should have done this differently. I was pressed for time and made a mistake.

Speaking of time, no more of it now. Gotta take the chance. Noah took a deep breath.

“Cover me!” he screamed, going around the side. An arrow sliced him across the shoulder, a near mirror for his hit on the elf leader. He jinked the fifty-or-so feet through the Scrap Yard card, using shelves and piles as cover, getting closer to his target—who, shockingly, was moving up to meet him.

An arrogant bastard, since he can’t be as desperate as I am. Thank the gods of this kooky planet he’s acting dumb.

At the same time that Noah made his move, Emily and Trevor burst around the side of the Scrap Yard, firing rapidly at everyone they could. Only a few elves were hit and killed, but the siblings did suppress the elves, who took cover. It temporarily reduced the enemies standing and shooting at Noah.

Both of his allies also hit cards, calling forth weaker monsters to absorb arrow hits.

When the fifteen seconds hit, Noah touched the Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg card. The Golem settled around him, and he rushed out past the last shelves of the Scrap Yard. Two arrows struck him, but Noah now had an eleven defense, and he managed to weather the hits while only taking a net of six damage.

It was Noah’s first time being close to his target. His opponent was medium-tall, about five-foot-ten, lithe, and muscled like a runner as opposed to a bodybuilder. He had back-length, metallic-silver hair, and was dressed in a polished chain shirt with a cloak over it. He had two horns, and a faint red aura surrounded him. In his hands he clutched a sword that dripped black blood that fell to the grass-covered edge of the lake they fought on continuously.

Noah’s vision told him that the sword added damage and reduced power, and the mantle made it cheaper to cast cards and gave slight defense. But Noah noted the two cards already cost four power—he suspected his enemy would be hard pressed to use too many more cards.

“You can tell the gods you fell at the hands of Prince Kerwynd,” Kerwynd said as he moved forward in a crouch, sword in front of him.

Noah rushed forward as fast as possible—trying to stall, or remain outside of the sword’s range, would result in him being slain by the bodyguards. I just need the kill.

The prince stepped back and dropped into a classic stop-thrust, but Noah swept it partially aside with his arm, having expected it. He still grunted in agony as the blade swept along his side, doing another ten net damage and ‘sealing’ two power for five minutes. Two power that Noah didn’t have anyway.

Without the cyborg mantle, I’d have died from that, Noah realized.

But he didn’t stop to contemplate his brush with mortality. Noah moved inside the sword’s effective range and slammed his armored fist into Kerwynd’s cheekbone, feeling something break. Then, as the prince reeled away stunned, Noah leg kicked him so hard his opponent was flung into the air, crashing to the ground, groaning and clutching a shattered shin. The prince tried to roll, but was obviously stunned near unconscious still.

He heard Emily scream.

Noah glanced up at the yell of agony. He didn’t see Emily, but an elf, in steel armor with metallic gold hair flying out from beneath the helm, was rushing him sword drawn.

I need to finish the prince!

A glass bottle sailed lazily through the air and hit the charging elf in the chest. It exploded, staggering Noah.

But it blew a hole in the elf’s armor and chest, and cleared Noah’s path.

Lika ran across the clearing, an arrow sticking from her side, coughing blood spittle and she raggedly tried to suck in air. She had her head down and was charging, almost drunkenly, for Noah.

He stepped forward. Prince Kerwynd had managed to roll over, and was struggling to get to his hands and knees. Noah stomped on the back of the prince’s neck, right at the base of the skull, heel first, as hard as he could.

With Noah’s enhanced stats, and a very high ‘random’ roll, his attack for the last fifteen seconds, from cheek punch to stomp, was a nineteen. That turned into three hundred and sixty-one damage, Golem typed and so not resisted by Infernal. The prince had a defense of ten, which reduced the damage to thirty-six—still far more than the prince’s health.

The prince did what most people who were stomped by a metal boot on their head would do—he died.

Another arrow hit Noah, reducing him to a mere four health.

Noah dropped to the ground and grabbed the prince’s prize card with one hand and the prince’s deck with the other, as well as swiping a last card that had appeared. The prize card disappeared and starting circling Noah’s chest.

At the same time, Lika slid to his side on her knees as arrows whizzed around them, and elves charged.

Lika touched him on the shoulder gently, and her card shifted to him. Putting all three cards into the hands of humans, even if Noah only had two.

Words flashed across his vision.

Congratulations! The human Remnants of Emporia have won the Ashtae Forest Zone realm challenge, in the person of Noah Smith! The realm is now open to leave or enter.

Noah minimized it, and a few other notifications, desperately trying to get to the last part as fast as possible.

One thing wouldn’t minimize. A map of the Ashtae Forest zone with the words “Place Nexus City” on it was overlaid across Noah’s vision of the battlefield, obscuring the arrows and charging elves.

Another arrow hit Lika in the arm, and she screamed, “Now, Noah! Now or we all die!”

Noah saw a small peninsula on the overlay map, inside the Rattletail Forest and just past the Five Farms, near where the two rivers came together to form one larger one. It probably wasn’t the perfect location, but it was preferrable to dying while trying to find a better place. Noah touched it, willing Nexus City to be placed there and for every ally he had to be welcome.

He hunched down as blades rose above him.