(Braden)

We reach home, where Kit is cooking food with Aurum helping, and Gold is present, looking a little uncomfortable. He's sitting at the table rather than helping Kit and Aurum.

"You aren't supposed to be supervising others?" I ask, and he starts to shake his head, then pauses.

"No," he answers. "I be off from that temporarily. Servants be assisting those who need it, but also spread out to ensure everyone wakes in time. Hero Zack already alerted us to how long we must wait. Max, Hero Zack say you need to not play with Kit and Aurum and just get some rest."

He looks even more uncomfortable as he says that, then sighs in relief.

"Okay!" Max responds, and I realize that Gold must have received the answer the way they talk before Max spoke.

"He also said he be coming by to speak with you before the next wave," Gold says. "But that it will be after you four sleep some. He be doing other stuff before then. Dinner be ready in around fifteen minutes, so you be have time to scrub off the goop and blood and stuff."

We nod, then make our way to the bathing room, where we scrub up. Luca, as usual, takes care of Max's tail, and I help Gavin with his back, since slime goop went down his armor and tunic earlier and he needs to make sure it doesn't stay there. It's already hardened, so I have to take a wire scrubber to his back along with some special soap to soften it a little.

After scrubbing ourselves clean, we rinse off, then dry off and dress. No time to soak and relax in the bath. Dressed in sleeping clothes, we make our way to the yard and eat, then head up to bed. It doesn't take me long to fall asleep at all.

When Kit wakes me up, I climb out of bed and change. To save Kit the trouble of bothering Max, I wake Max up myself as Kit wakes up Gavin and Luca. They all equip themselves, then we head out to the yard, where Zack is waiting for us, still in his Eidolon Form. His eyes are violet, as they were when we saw him last.

It's past nightfall, now, which means we'll have less light to see during the fighting. It also looks like a storm might be hitting us, and the air feels like it, too.

"Are you staying in that all the time?" Gavin asks.

"During the battle, yes," Zack nods. "Since it won't run out unless I actively turn it off or run out of Mana, I stay in it even while sleeping."

"Have you slept?" Gavin asks.

With the change his to his skin's appearance when he takes on Eidolon Form, it's impossible to see if he has dark spots under his eyes still. He probably does.

"A little," Zack answers. "I've napped during both breaks. You guys are doing good with doing your best to avoid anything stronger than you, but don't forget, that won't always be possible. If needed, work with other teams. They'll support you just as much as you'll support them."

"Okay," Gavin says. "Can we restock potions again? We used up most of what we were given before the last wave."

Everyone was given a stock of high-quality Mana and Health Potions of the highest tier before the last wave. To make sure everyone had it at the first wave, we were given them in advance for that.

"Yes," Zack answers. "Due to the bigger waves, we're increasing how much we're giving out as well. Rather than being given fifteen of each before each wave, we're giving everyone forty of each. That should fit in your Inventories as long as you haven't put too much else in."

"That's a lot," Gavin comments.

"It might not be enough for some," Zack shakes his head. "Good luck, you four."

"Thanks," we respond.

"How will things work with the night battles?" I ask. "No one really broached that subject beyond 'don't stray too far from the light', and the clouds are thick now, meaning it will be even darker out."

The clouds are quite thick. I hope it doesn't rain during the fighter, as a rain fight only makes things worse.

"Yeah," Zack smiles. "You'll see. I didn't know it was a feature until it happened when it got dark."

You did sleep, right?

"A little," Zack gives me an amused look, then addresses all of us. "Just follow the instructions: for the night battles, don't stray too far, the light covers around five hundred yards, with a little less than half of that being 'normal' visibility. Think of it like having a light on in the house, then opening the door and stepping outside at night."

"Got it," Gavin says, and I nod, even if I'm still not sure what they're doing for light, especially now that I know how far out it goes.

"Are you guys good, now?" Zack asks.

"Yeah," we respond.

"Are you?" I ask.

"I've never been good," Zack gives a mischievous smile. "I've always been me! You should get going, we have less than half an hour before the horde reaches us."

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Zack spreads his wings and takes off, disappearing from sight in moments, and the four of us bid farewell to Kit and Aurum. Gold seems to be gone, or we'd say goodbye to him as well. Then, we make our way to the West Gate.

There, beastborn servants of the Dark Order are passing crates off to or taking crates from Adventurers. When we approach, we're each handed a crate. I open mine and pull out the eighty vials, sending each one into my Inventory.

As I do, I think about something.

All four of us power-Leveled. Shouldn't we have qualified for Power Jump? Why didn't any of us become affected by it? Avoiding us doing that might be part of why Zack didn't push Luca or me to take on a third Class, but both Max and Gavin have them. We all gained several dozen Levels in a week.

Shouldn't we be affected by Power Jump?

Well, it seems we don't have to worry about that. If we did, then Zack or Nik or someone would have said something or stemmed our growth.

As soon as we have our potions, we give the crates back, then make our way out of the City. For some reason, everything is lit up, and it's once we pass through the gate that I realize why. Turning, I face the City Walls.

They. Are. Glowing.

"Neat, right?" Brandon asks from behind me, and I turn to face him. "They turn on every night during the battles for a City, giving us vision for at least five hundred yards from the City all the way around."

"Yeah," maybe I should ask. "Why weren't any of us affected by Power Jump?"

"You were," he answers. "Zack used his psychic powers to suppress the vision-dreams that come with them, and timed everything so that you wouldn't notice, thinking it was normal sleep."

"I see," I say.

"Max got the dreams," Max taps his chest. "Me always get the dreams. Me not able cast new Skills, though. They be too pricey for Max right now."

"I got them, too," Luca whispered. "But I can't use the Skill, either."

Zack only suppressed it in Gavin and me?

"No," Zack's voice enters my head. "They… had normal dreams. Max is always dreaming about using Skills he's heard of or decided exist, and if you actually ask for details regarding Luca's dream, you'd realize quickly it's just another of his fantasies."

Oh. Wait, you're listening to us?

"For a moment," he answers. "I was just checking the heads of everyone there for a moment. I've told Gavin the same thing, so don't worry. I've got to get back to what I was doing."

Okay.

I sense Zack leave my mind, then Luca, Max, Gavin, and I move to a spot to wait. The wall isn't bright enough we can't see if we look at it, yet its light somehow reaches so far. As I examine the setup, I notice a wall ahead, around two hundred yards from the City.

They pushed corpses aside and created a wall of stone five feet in height. Elementalists likely did that using Stone Wall. Normally, the walls are temporary, but there's apparently some Skill that allows them to become permanent, like the spikes and lances and such.

The wall stretches pretty far around, creating a sort of barrier. That should allow us ranged fighters some time to pick off some of the monsters. If I remember the strategy correctly,

When the third wave comes, it's almost a pure wave of monsters, very little space between them, if any. There are even some monsters flying high, soaring towards the wall. Don't focus on those, Braden, you need to focus on the monsters coming.

If I remember this part of the plans correctly, we'll use the wall to slow the monsters. It'll quickly be destroyed as some monsters scale over it or charge through it, but those few seconds to a minute it's up will give us a few seconds to a minute of ranged attacks.

At least, as long as none of the monsters destroy it before they even reach it. That's bound to happen in a few spots, too, since there are plenty of Bounty Beasts and Elites mixed in with the normal monsters. They might be at a ratio of one Bounty Beast for every twenty Elites and one Elite for every fifty regular monsters, but when there are hundreds of thousands of monsters, that's still thousands of Elites and hundreds of Bounty Beasts.

Well, maybe not hundreds of thousands now. There could be more than a million.

Either way, I ready my bow and draw it, waiting until it's time. A green arrow forms, sparking with green electricity. Magic Arrow, Power Shot, and Lightning Shot, mixed together, and a Multishot will activate as well. Ten of these per shot is a good deal.

"Max," I say. "No more than ten Flame Lances. Remember that."

He needs to conserve his Mana for when we start fighting in groups. We might have Mana Potions, but those are in limited supply, and there's no guarantee we'll be able to drink them when we need to.

"Got it," he nods.

As soon as the monsters near us reach the wall, I notice several of them… dying. It takes me a moment to realize they put spikes in the walls, sticking out towards the horde. Just because regular monsters are idiots a lot and have a tendency to just charge right into things. Literally. Spells begin raining down on the monsters from above, the signal to begin.

I release my arrows and begin firing over and over as Max releases his Flame Lances. He keeps it to ten, though I keep firing arrows. Because of Elementalist boosting my Mana and the low cost for this, I can do this decently for awhile. His Flame Lances, on the other hand, cost a great deal more Mana.

Other Adventurers have begun casting their Skills and releasing their arrows as well, creating a storm of magic coming from both here and atop the wall, raining down upon the monsters.

It only takes around twenty seconds for a Goblin Giant to break the wall in front of us, right before one of my arrows strikes it in the eye. I don't even have to aim right now, as long as the arrows reach the horde. There are so many monsters, it's almost impossible not to hit something.

The Goblin Giant falls forward, dead, and other monsters begin to climb over it as others break the wall in other places as well. I continue firing arrows.

"Max," Gavin says. "When the monsters are ten yards away, release Flame Lances to intercept. Ten more."

"Got it," Max says.

I continue releasing arrows, and when it's time, Max begins his assault. A few seconds later, the monsters are at us. Some Adventurers intercepted the Bounty Beast and three Elites heading for us, so the four of us begin taking out the weaker monsters, then fight our way through more until we reach the teams handling the Bounty Beast and trio of Elites. A kobold, a wolf, and two spiders. The spider keeps using its webbing to stick things, and the teams' magicians use fire to burn it away as quickly as possible.

For the most part, my team focuses on keeping other monsters from attacking the other three teams while they handle the stronger monsters. A few times, they have to step in, though. There are only four of us, after all.

As soon as the Bounty Beast and Elites fall, everyone splits up to cover a wider range, and Max releases four Flame Lances. Those are great for splash damage because they sort-of explode when they impact things.

My right arm grows tired of pulling the string, so I switch hands as we continue fighting, battling against the monsters. The wave takes us almost an hour to finally finish taking out, and by the time we do, I'm not sure I can stay standing much longer.

"We have five hours until the next wave reaches us!" Nik calls out as we gather near him with several other teams. "Unit One, you're on rest for it, so get some proper sleep! Units Two and Three, you're fighting, so be ready and here in four hours! If you're in prep, stay behind!"

We're in Unit One, so we return to our home for a bath, some food, and proper sleep. At least, as much sleep as we'll manage.