Sally slid down the sand dune and stumbled, almost falling on her face. She sighed and stretched out, glaring at their surroundings.

“I bet the others had a nice stone path to their Monsters,” she grumbled.

Humphrey slowly stomped down beside her, his plated boots sinking into the sand and keeping him stable. “You don’t think Theo would give you the easier task?”

“Theo knows I’m competent. He would have given himself the one that gives experience more efficiently, though.” She rolled her eyes. “So we have to deal with these.” She gestured with her hand out at the elemental creatures roving around.

Seemingly made from random chunks of amber or gray stone and held together with nothing but magic and ill intent, the elementals moved back and forth in set patterns. They were perhaps the most dull and uninspired enemies Sally had faced so far. And to make matters worse, they probably didn’t have brains that she could eat.

“It’s like I’m being punished for something,” she groaned.

“The next area is partially jungle,” Humphrey grinned. “So it will be humid, but a welcome change of scenery.”

Hopefully, it had dinosaurs. She had hoped the Wasteland did, but she hadn’t seen any yet. She even pestered Archie before he had to leave, but the ginger cat was pretty tight-lipped. During the week she had wondered how the other two Archies were doing. The one in the fifth area must be pretty lonely given how unlikely it was that there were many Parties there, if any at all. Humphrey only had knowledge from when the Architect had died.

“Let’s get this started, I suppose.” She unhooked a skull from her belt and withdrew her [Skeleton Key]. Theo had been a dweeb and farmed up a couple hundred normal daggers. Apparently it tickled him that her bugged weapon ignored more defense with the more of the basic items she had. She knew he was envious, but he was already overpowered enough without allowing him to use it.

The Death Knight ran out towards the first elemental. The Monster turned as he approached and lashed out with a rock-fist. Humphrey blocked and deflected it to the side with a metallic clang, as he spun with his greatsword to strike into the opponent's body, chipping the stone.

“Boring,” Sally said with a sigh, and glared over at a second enemy. The skull burst into green flame as she lobbed it as [Mortis Bomb]. Where it struck the elemental, a dark green patch of energy burst around it and four zombies began to crawl from the ground surrounding it.

If only her dagger was ranged. She drummed her fingers on the next skull on her belt. Maybe she could fashion a crossbow to fire it, and have it attached to a string to draw it back. No, that was pretty slow - and if she missed, she’d be out of luck.

She watched the head of one of her zombies burst like a watermelon as the elemental crushed it between floating chunks of rock. With a sigh, she tried to imagine which direction Theo would be adventuring, and she flipped off the dune-blocked horizon, before running over to her undead.

A second one was almost torn in half by the time she got there, and she ducked the swing of stone. Their center had some kind of sphere of energy, perhaps the magical weak spot? She lunged with her dagger out and struck it, and with a cracking pop, it vanished. The suspended stone pieces dropped to the floor immediately, almost taking her arm with them.

“Neat.” She dusted herself down and turned to the Death Knight.

He was still in the throes of combat. Although he was strong, his sword was doing little but crack off parts of the creature to little effect. Likewise, despite taking a few hits himself, he showed no real damage, as his defenses and regeneration were simply too high.

“Hit them in the tummy!” She called out. It might be that Theo sent them here because she was able to kill them in one strike. A browbeating for later, perhaps. With a smile, she watched the Death Knight turn into a jab, striking the center magic of the elemental and destroying it.

“Kill count challenge?” He grinned back at her.

“You’re on!” Tripping over the feet of one of her zombies, she ran off to the next Monster.

Although they were sparsely spread out, the number of elementals was dense enough and their respawn short enough that the pair of them could effectively almost constantly be fighting.

“Seventy-three,” Humphrey grinned and placed the end of his sword into the sand.

Sally leaned over with hands on her knees, panting. Although she didn’t need to breathe, something about running about in the sun for ages tired her out still. “Ah. We were meant to be counting?” She raised an eyebrow at the Death Knight.

“Yes. That’s what… never mind.” He deflated.

“Sorry, Humps. I got distracted.” Sally stood up straight and stretched her back out. With Mortis Bomb not doing much damage, she hadn’t bothered summoning more zombies, and after a brief accident, there was only one left. Said zombie was slowly working his way over to them from where she had left it behind.

“By what?” Humphrey narrowed his eye sockets out at the near empty expanse around them.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Well, I thought I saw a lizard, but it turned out to be a dried bit of wood. That made me sad about the Forest and how we haven’t seen the goblins or Jackie for a whole year now. Then that made me think about babies - all the Players are adults, right? Even the most of the System-created are. Are there pregnant Players in the world?” She tapped a finger on her mouth in thought. “Not that I’m judging, but the healthcare here is dire, and it’s a dangerous place. Then I started wondering if the elementals had babies, and-“

“Alright, I understand. Now that I have part of the Architect’s memories, I am able to answer some of those questions.” He grinned and the flames at the back of his helm flickered.

“Yeah?” Her eyes widened.

“Yes.”

They stood in silence for a moment, as Sally’s eyes slowly narrowed into a glare. Just as Humphrey opened his skeletal mouth, a noise came from up atop the nearest dune.

“See, told you they were split up.”

Five figures loomed up over the sands. Five male Players, in a mixture of different gear to match whatever classes they had.

Sally folded her arms and scowled at them for interrupting her conversation. “What do you want?”

A dark-skinned man with bright eyes and brighter plate armor stepped forward and grinned at the pair. “Why? Is it not obvious?” His Party all had their weapons brandished or hands ready to cast a spell or ability.

“I’m not doing autographs right now.” Sally rolled her eyes. “I’m working.”

“There are some who abide your existence, but we believe you to be a Monsters, and like all-“

“Blah blah.” She interrupted. “Heard this so many times. How do you want to do this? Humphrey likes to duel one on one, but I’m good for either two-on-five or we can take turns or something?” A yawn escaped her mouth, but her stomach was starting to get excited.

A portly spellcaster with messy brown hair leaned in toward their spokesman. “They don’t seem worried, Jake - is this a good idea?”

“It’s just bravado,” he glared briefly at his comrade. “You’ll both die either way.” He shrugged.

Sally turned to the Death Knight. “Ah, Humps! This would be a neat time to show you my Ultimate, right? You didn’t see it last time. Too busy gawking at Norah, weren’t you?”

“What? No, I-“ he deflated. “Go ahead, I’ll sit this one out.”

She allowed herself a little fist-pump. “Alright, we decided that I’ll kill you all this time. One question first - did Theo send you?”

“Who?” The plated figure furrowed his brow. “We just received an anonymous message that…”

Sally punched Humphrey on his metal arm with a wide grin. “He’s such a romantic. I really need to up my game.” She furrowed her brow. “But what do you get a man who just grinds out whatever he wants himself?”

“Focus on the fight, Sally.” Humphrey managed to look even more morose about having to sit out.

She clicked her fingers and looked up at them. They were standing atop the dune still, and she didn’t feel much like running up it to stab them. Not being able to see Levels or Classes these days was also tiresome, but you could usually make a rough guess on what armor they wore or weapon they held. A knight, a ranger, a mage, a cleric, and some other kind of fighter. Maybe even a thief?

“I feel bad,” she pouted at them. “You seem like a decent group to have gotten this far. I’ll give you one chance to turn tail and let the System kill you some other time.” She licked her lips. Sometimes, she was too selfless.

Their confidence seemed to wane slightly. Of course, their reputation proceeded them. Under the glares of their leader, they seemed to resolve that it was reasonable the five of them could take on one scrawny zombie.

The bow was raised and the start of spells started to bloom in the hands of the two spellcasters. She reasoned that the melee Players would try to maintain the high ground to allow their allies to pick her off. Their first mistake was putting the ranger next to the cleric.

Arrows were usually quickest, but this one wouldn’t hit her.

[Escape Fate]

Her Level Seventeen skill had her vanish from the attack in a puff of dark smoke, four zombies taking her place instead. The System allowed her to jump twenty feet, assuming that in most cases, that backward would be the sensible option. But she could go in any direction. So she went forward.

Appearing in front of the ranger, she lashed up at the shocked cleric and rammed her dagger into the underside of his jaw. It was enough damage to meet the conditionals, so she used [Eat Brain]. A near instant skill when an enemy was on low health, it turned the process into something like taking a quick bite of an apple. Except a lot messier and more traumatic for those around her.

Temporarily empowered by the stats of the fallen, she leaped backward to avoid the swinging attack of the knight - a blaze of blue cutting through the air as she stumbled into the ranger. As he attempted to draw a shortsword against her, she held a skull against his torso. [Mortis Bomb] engulfed him briefly in the green light, knocking him backward as more zombies crawled from the ground.

A shard of ice shot out from the wizard, coring a hole through one of the fresh zombies as Sally weaved around them. The knight slashed out, anger in his eyes now. She kept backtracking along the ridge of the dune as he was solely focused on her. The thief had vanished, presumably going invisible for a surprise attack. Both of them should be watching out for their wizard more.

She grinned as she used her zombies as a shield wall, watching as the dead cleric rose from the ground and started off towards the messy haired man, who was now panicked and in shock at seeing their friend coming for them.

A rush of air and a burst of power came from behind her.

[Share Burden]

The thief’s weapon stopped against her skin and two of her zombies exploded with blood, collapsing to the floor. She spun and grabbed his wrist, turning his arm away and then stabbing him in the gut with [Skeleton Key]. As he buckled, she kicked him down the dune, leaving a trail of blood against the hot sand as he rolled away.

“Looks like you’re the only one left,” she cooed toward the knight.

He paused and looked around. The wizard had fallen to the undead cleric, and the ranger and thief were too wounded to contribute. When he turned back, his eyes were pure blazing fury. “You bitch!”

“I gave you a chance,” she shrugged and pouted. “No need to be rude. You watching, Humps?”

The Death Knight nodded.

As the Player stalked toward her, his sword crackled with amber energy. A cooling wind whipped through the area.

“Oh, are we having an Ultimate-off?” She winked. “Mine isn’t ready yet. Could you wait?”

He drew back his sword, intending to let loose his power.

[Endless Dead]

“Phase one - a gal has to have some pals.” Sally grinned as fifty-one zombies crawled up from the surrounding sand. She lowered herself into a crouch to hide amongst them.

The knight had no choice but to use his skill, and a giant arrow of burning energy shot out, immolating dozens of zombies as it flashed to where he had last seen her. He began backing away from the horde as they tried to enclose on him, and a shield of blue enveloped him in a bubble with a radiant light that pooled around his feet.

“And then Phase two - the actual skill.” Her voice came out from somewhere amongst them.

[Quick Death]