They climbed out of the hole, and Derek was glad Evelyn went first, since she found a ladder stuck into the wall that made things so much easier.

Rafael, Tyler, and Nick were waiting at the base of the bubble that was now transparent.

“Are they okay?” Evelyn asked.

Nick pointed at something not that far. Derek recognized that look. The black clothing, the black cloth covering his face as he hovered in the air. That was a black mage, one that already had his mage armor on. That higher level creature was ready for battle.

Evelyn dropped her voice. “What combat level is that thing?”

Tyler already had his phone out. “Black mage. Level six.”

Nick glanced between his character and the black mage. “That… could work. Akshi’s a level eight and they beat him.”

Tyler’s face screwed up, like Nick’s words brought him physical discomfort. “I don’t like it. Get them back into the bubble.”

“Hraktar’s trying.” Alejandra had her hands cupped over her eyes to see better. “Grizzizzik looks like he wants to fight the creature.”

Nick rolled his eyes before he placed his hands on his hips and sighed. Derek couldn’t help but notice. “Something going on with Grizzizzik?”

“He’s caught the leveling bug. Wants to kill so he can level up fast. He wants to get strong enough to kill his father.”

Derek winced. “That could be dangerous.”

Nick glanced at him, but said nothing.

Tyler cupped his hands around his mouth. “Get back here, you two! We don’t know what else is out there!”

Ezekiel ran by without another word. Milo and Clarissa glanced at each other before following the cleric. Tyler groaned as he dropped his hands. “This is hopeless.”

Grizzizzik slammed his rapier into the black mage, piercing through the armor and burying into his shoulder. The mage growled, but Hraktar followed up with a swipe of his great sword, burying it into the mage’s side. The mage’s eyes glowed green in anger. Milo, Ezekiel, and Clarissa were still running, though as Clarissa ran, she morphed into a war horse, her speed picking up.

“Ugh, get back in the bubble!” Tyler raced after them, passing the bubble base and searching the sky. Derek wasn’t about to remain behind. Technically, he wasn’t in nearly as much danger, but the moment he crossed the bubble, a weight pressed against the gray marks on his skin.

Time froze, and Derek realized Milo was within range with both his cannon and his crossbow. He seriously considered this and hoped Milo could hang back and let the tanks take the damage. The image of him getting flown back by the rock man’s push returned to his mind.

Derek went with his cannon and crossbow shot. The cannon failed, but the crossbow at least would hit.

Time resumed, and Milo slowed down to lift his cannon. The white mana went wide, and the ice bolt sailed by, nicking the mage’s shoulder. He barely even glanced in Milo’s direction.

Ezekiel caught up with Grizzizzik and Hraktar. “Come on, Grizzizzik! We’ve got to get back!”

Grizzizzik prepared for an attack. “We can take this one.”

Ezekiel tried to hit the mage with his book again, but it simply tumbled off his armor. Ezekiel needed to get closer.

The black mage turned to Grizzizzik, then lifted its hand. It began speaking a black language, a black ring of fire appearing in his hands.

Tyler was still running, gesturing with his hands. “Back away. Damn it, back away!”

The black mage threw the ring of fire at Grizzizzik. It grew to engulf him. Derek’s chest tightened and turned toward Nick. “Please tell me you rolled a save on that.”

Nick nodded, slight relief in his terrified eyes. “It was a save.”

Grizzizzik shouted in pain that no doubt hurt like hellfire itself, but at least it was this once. Derek had a sneaking suspicion the black mage tried to hit him with his strongest spell, one that could continually burn him on a failed save. Grizzizzik backed away as the flames died down, panting, his hit points stabilizing at thirteen.

Clarissa the war horse reached the mage, and even with him hovering in the air, she slammed into him. The mage was thrown from the air and hit the ground. Clarissa smacked him with her hoof, and he grunted in pain, blood pooling on his forehead from a deep gash.

Grizzizzik took the advantage of the mage already on the ground and struck with his rapier. Hraktar walked up, holding his great sword held high before slamming it into the black mage’s rib cage. The mage groaned before he fell limp. The battle was over.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Tyler caught up to them, pointing back at the pile of rocks as he panted. “Please. I am begging you. Get back in the bubble.”

Grizzizzik sheathed his rapier. “I don’t know what you’re so worried about. We got him easily.”

“Get in there before anything else thinks to attack.” Tyler kept his finger pointed at the bubble.

“Yes, actually, we need to go check the status of that bookshelf Milo hit,” Ezekiel said.

Milo stiffened. “It’s not my fault.”

The emotions left Ezekiel’s face as he stared at his best friend. “You literally hit a bookshelf with a cannon. How is that not your fault?”

Milo waved his hands around. “The rock man wasn’t there where I needed him.”

Tyler did not relax until everyone was within the bubble again. Once they were again in the secret lair of the black mage, it felt more relaxed. It was rather cool, and Derek rested on a chair as the characters went to work.

“How was this room even possible?” Alejandra asked, looking around.

Derek glanced at the room. “As far as I can tell, the mage created the constructs, and since they were of a lower level, they could enter the bubble. Which meant they were here, right at the border, creating this under the black mage’s instructions. They set up a trap with the jumping stones to get our lower-level characters out of the bubble. It was pretty smart.”

Milo and Ezekiel examined the bookshelf while Grizzizzik checked how much stuff he could put in his inventory. If Milo had been paying any attention, he probably would’ve helped with the void bag. Clarissa, who had changed back to her human form, was still pacing, her elf features revealing how nervous she was.

Nine hundred experience points bumped Milo’s bar up. Between the thousand last night and the nine hundred today, it was no wonder Grizzizzik was catching the leveling bug.

XP: 4,940/6,500

Milo was a mere 1,560 experience points away from level five. This was possibly the most successful weekend for their CCNC session. Derek started imagining the things he could do with level five. He wanted to get Milo some dark goggles. Those would be essential. He’d finally get some level two spells, and his arcane firearm. Level five wasn’t for a bit, though, but it seemed more achievable now.

Ezekiel was flipping through some books, figuring out the type of books Milo partially destroyed. Though, to be fair, that was a bit of an overstatement. Milo hit maybe four books. The mana burst was small, but it certainly packed a punch.

Clarissa walked up to the bookshelf, frowning. “What is that?”

Milo and Ezekiel both glanced at her. “A destroyed shelf. I know it’s hard to look at, but we’re trying to figure out what to do,” Ezekiel said.

“No, I mean…” Clarissa trailed off, carefully placing her fingers against the burnt part of the shelf to check for herself it had cooled. She placed a few fingers through the hole, then pulled. The entire bookshelf shivered. Clarissa pulled again, and the bookshelf swung on a hinge.

Grizzizzik glanced over when the bookshelf gave a squeak. “Typical. You were looking for the wrong thing, Ezekiel.”

Clarissa moved the bookshelf, and another tunnel revealed itself.

“Who wants to go down the second secret tunnel of an already secret base of a black mage?” Milo’s eyes were simply alight with excitement.

“Not without some healing. Who knows what’s down there?” The worry was still on Clarissa’s face.

Milo stopped Ezekiel from grabbing his medallion. “No. We need to save our mana slots, just in case.” He then reached behind him, pulling out five vials of gold mana. They all took it, their hit points returning in full. Mana healed bruises and stitched cuts together. Derek watched it happen, refusing to feel jealous. He broke his arm once when he was seven, right at the beginning of summer. He still felt deep pains from losing his summer. To heal a broken arm with a drink of gold mana? That would be amazing.

Tyler stood on tiptoe, a frown on his face. “This looks like it’s heading toward Elmwood.”

Hraktar’s face fell. “Yeah. It does.”

“We need to figure out where this goes. If it veers off in a direction that is outside the bubble, we need to stop. We can’t go outside again,” Tyler said.

“I’ll monitor our direction,” Clarissa said.

Milo grabbed a piece of metal, casting his cantrip to fill it with light. Derek didn’t mind saving the battery on his phone. Once the light was there, Milo took a step toward the tunnel before freezing. He then turned toward the fighter. “Uh, Hraktar? Do you…”

Hraktar had his arms folded, giving his resting face that was completely intimidating, and reminded everyone he was a half a foot taller than everyone. “Yes. I can go first.”

The fighter walked into the tunnel, which was a tight fit for him. It would make a tight pinch, and Derek had a bad feeling that if anyone actually tried to attack them, Hraktar might be on his own. Granted, Hraktar had the best chance of anyone, which is why Milo suggested him, but there was still some concern.

The tunnel itself wasn’t big, but with how slow they went, it felt a lot longer than it was. It was a straight tunnel, going toward Elmwood, so at least they weren’t in danger of crossing the bubble again.

The tunnel turned, and they didn’t get far when Hraktar pulled to a stop, almost causing Grizzizzik to run into his back. “Hraktar?” Grizzizzik asked.

The fighter froze, and Derek was afraid he got hit with a paralyze spell. But then Hraktar moved his head. “Princess? I…”

Clarissa stiffened. “What do you see?”

Hraktar moved out of the way. The tunnel had opened into another room, smaller than the main one, though Hraktar could stand more comfortably.

Once Milo walked in, the room was bathed with light. Hraktar walked, then stood at the edges of some sort of symbol painted on the floor around the table. Blood red symbols floated around the table, and Derek had a bad feeling they were actually created using blood. The stench smacked Derek’s nose before his sight registered there was a person on the table. Derek gagged, grabbing his shirt collar and covering his mouth.

“Is that…” Milo started to say.

Clarissa gasped. “Sylvar?”

Derek winced. Clarissa’s brother. The prince of the elf druids and an incredible adventurer. That five hundred miles of Milo’s explosion was an enormous area to cover. It looked like Sylvar traveled to earth as well. And got caught in the wrong hands.

Clarissa gathered the skirts of her dress before trying to run to the table. Hraktar grabbed her arm before she got far. “Let me go, Hraktar!”

“We don’t know what these runes mean.” Hraktar pointed to the floating runes and the ones on the ground. “It could trap you in an enchantment.”

“The black mage,” Derek whispered to Tyler. “Was he Prince Sylvar’s captor?”

Tyler shook his head, looking worried. “No. A minion at best.”

“You know who did this?” Derek asked. Tyler glanced at him, one of regret. Derek’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you are railroading us.”

“I had… no idea he would be here.” Tyler’s eyes returned to the druid prince on the table as sorrow flickered over his face. “I swear.”