It would be fair to say that the instant transformation of everyone in the immediate area to Level 40 caused somewhat of a stir.

In many ways, it was fortunate that the avalanche of notifications about new skills, talents, and abilities that each of them now had caused as much confusion for the Graffiti Imps as it did for Lorelei's group. There was, therefore, a blissful moment of silent ceasefire while everyone took stock of this brave new world.

Such peace was not, however, destined to last.

Pete was the quickest to react, bellowing out a taunt that was some levels of magnitude more potent than he had previously used. It had the desired effect of dragging the attention of the ten or so remaining Imps towards him, allowing his companions to undo some of the chaos of the last few minutes. Unfortunately, whereas Level 3 Graffiti Imps had relatively few offensive abilities, it seemed the Level 40 versions had far more game; especially as the monsters found their feet with their advanced capabilities much quicker than the tank they were attacking.

In a blur of motion, they were behind Pete's shield and began tearing the Adamantine Sentinel to pieces with talons now coated with some very nasty substances. Only his massively increased stats protected him from being utterly overwhelmed, but - even if he was not going down - he was too disorientated by what was going on to do much more than stand there and be pummelled.

"Fucking hell!" Hild yelled, swinging her axe and wading into the maelstrom around Pete. As she did so, she activated a bunch of her new skills in a blind panic, hoping one of them would help. This turned out to be a reasonably successful method of engagement as one of those new powers, , pretty much emptied her mana pool, but completely flash-fried an Imp seconds away from tearing Pete's throat out.

Her own much-improved taunt then pulled half of the mobs her way and bought her fellow tank enough space to begin to explore his own new abilities. This was important because, although both tanks had benefitted from significantly overpowered gear at their relatively low Level, the weapons they were bearing were now utterly outmatched against Level 40s. In no time at all, Pete's shield had shattered, Hild's axe snapped, and they were forced to descend into hand-to-hand combat against the Imps. Considering that, they did remarkably well.

Nevertheless, the sudden increase in Level wasn't all to Lorelei's team's detriment. For example, the injuries that Kris, Michael, and Michelle had taken from friendly fire were now wholly insignificant in the context of the number of Level 40 health points they had available, and all three of them were quickly back in the land of the living and trying to work out how best to help.

Kris - head still reeling from being smacked around by Steffan's Zombies and having Zorrobar's fireball dropped on him - still had the presence of mind to recognise that Pete, and to a lesser extent Hild, were in danger of being wiped. Pressing forward, he flung some of the shiny new healing skills he'd acquired their away. As now seemed to restore mana at the same time as health, Hild was soon able to direct another a at an Imp that was concentrating on ripping out her hamstring with its teeth and reducing it to ash.

Sensing their moment of glory had come, Red Shirt #1 and Red Shirt #2 were about to add some of their own fiery death from above to proceedings when Zorrobar stomped over to them, face dark and wagging his finger warningly at them. "Don't you two even think about it. None of us is to do anything unless Steffan tells us he wants us to. At this Level, we've probably got enough power to wipe out most of this city now, and I don't trust myself - much less you two - not to make things infinitely worse."

If either of them thought that was unreasonable, they didn't press the issue. Probably because the big man was literally glowing with power - they could see ropes of flame wrapping around his body in a rather intimidating way. With that, they all turned to watch the tanks duke it out with the Imps, ably supported by heals from Kris.

Steffan, for his part, was discovering that controlling Level 40 Zombie Cheerleaders was a little more complicated than bossing around their low-level versions. It was, quite literally, taking everything he had to keep them from resuming their assault on Kris. As he could tell that the healer was the only thing keeping Pete and Hild in the fight, he was sure this would have some pretty bad implications for unit cohesion . . .

However, the Zombies were behaving quite differently in this more advanced form than the mono-mind he was used to giving orders to. It was like each of them now had its own individual needs and wants rather than just being a background hum of hunger. Of course, he had the mental power to subdue these desires - my word, he thought, I'm going to be a monster at Level 40! - but it was a complex endeavour, and he hadn't had enough practice at the Level he was actually at to do it properly.

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So, the best he could do right now was to act as a tight leash on a rambunctious Zombie Cheerleader horde and hope for the best. If anyone was looking to him for any actual leadership in the fight, they were going to be disappointed.

However, even without orders coming from Steffan - or, perhaps, more likely because of it - the tide of the battle was gradually turning. The Graffiti Imps, even at Level 40, were limited in the range of attacks they were capable of flinging at the tanks. Even unarmed - and now, due to the punishment they were receiving, largely unarmoured - Pete and Hild were gradually whittling down their numbers through sheer dogged determination.

Once Michelle and Michael dove into the fight with some especially nasty piercing skills - at Level 40, it did not seem like Veiled Stalkers even needed blades anymore - the fat lady was singing most enthusiastically.

Which was absolutely the perfect time for the forgotten Urban Shadow to introduce itself to proceedings.

*

Lorelei was the first of them to see a massive cloud of darkness shimmer behind their three mages. She had, quite literally, just been thinking what a good job Zorrobar had done in keeping the Red Shirts from ratcheting up the levels of destruction when the first of them was grabbed by whatever dwelt within the shadow and exploded into a mist of blood.

Lorelei's scream almost saved Red Shirt #2, who spun to face his attacker, but all this really changed was that his decapitated head went shooting into the air rather than falling to the floor. Zorrobar was only saved from a similar fate at the hands (claws?) of whatever was in that patch of darkness by unleashing a massive pillar of flame and turning himself into the Human Torch. The ropes of fire he had wrapped around himself earlier exploded into life, and the smoke they emanated shot him up and away from danger.

Lorelei stood blinking for a moment, wondering if he was okay, before realising that - with all three mages out of the picture - it was just her and a Level 40 Urban Shadow occupying this particular part of the street.

*** Hail Mary Message ***

Look, babes, you know I don't like to get involved in these things, but I have some suspicions about the catastrophically ridiculous clusterfuck that is taking place here. I'm not wholly sure someone isn't playing silly buggers to try to kill you again. So, as you are about two seconds away from death, I have a bit of advice. In my ever so humble opinion, you might want to look at casting . You know, before it's very much too late.

As a face from the worst of her adolescent nightmares emerged from the shadow before her, Lorelei did not need telling twice. Quickly scrolling through a massive list of available abilities, she found the one the Guide had mentioned. She activated it just as the fist of the Urban Shadow entered her chest.

Moment of Destiny Activated: You gain a dramatic surge of luck for 30 seconds. Note: this ability is now in cooldown for 48 hours. All Fortuna's Herald's attacks have a drastically increased critical hit rate, all dodges automatically succeed, and any damage received is reduced by 50%.

As the Urban Shadow had already struck Lorelei, there was no chance of her dodging that particular attack. However, in the spirit of things, its attack missed every single major organ and came out the other side of her chest without severing any arteries. Lorelei just had a second to recognise the surprise in the cold, metallic eyes of the being that lived within the shadow before Monica arrived at her side, swinging something metal in a wide arc to behead the monster.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the last of the Graffiti Imps being pounded into hamburger meat by Pete's massive hands.

"Was that a stripper pole?" Lorelei said, pressing a hand to the spurting wound in her chest. As she did so, the corpse of the Urban Shadow slipped free from her body and lay - decapitated - on the ground.

Monica shrugged, and Lorelei did her best to ignore how the movement affected her Level 40 assets. "I don't know where it came from! I got a notification saying I had access to the skill. And then I saw it attack you. I wasn't going to let it hurt you, and the pole just appeared in my hand!"

"One hundred per cent perfect. No issues whatsoever. I have no notes." Hild was stalking towards them, face like thunder. Lorelei imagined the fact she was essentially naked - save for a few fragments of twisted armour - probably wasn't improving her mood.

"Oh, do fuck off, you snarky bitch." Lorelei had far too many things going on in her head right now to come up with something more diplomatic. She didn't think the deaths of Red Shirts #1 and #2 were her fault - but it didn't help she hadn't bothered even to learn their names. With the System's emotional dampening running, she knew she wasn't going to feel the full impact of what had happened just yet. Something to look forward to, she thought.

"That was all down to you, wasn't it? You and your luck-based bollocks!"

Lorelei, her skin itching with moist boils from casting on her wound - she was absolutely not going to risk casting anything she wasn't sure what it did. Better the devil you know, and all that - was about to give her a considerable mouthful when two exciting things happened.

Firstly, ran out, and they all dropped back to their normal levels.

Secondly, just afterwards their party received a notification of their shared XP gains for killing a bunch of Level 40 Graffiti Imps and one Level 40 Urban Shadow.

That shut Hild up pretty effectively.