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“Skree!”

Louise ducked around the tree and spines thudded against the trunk, but it was far from the only one of the Spine Strikers. Another leaped for her throat, jaws open and dripping saliva, but she batted it away with a branch. It splashed into the creek below, and when it got to its feet to try again, it ate the follow-up arcane blast and dissolved into red. She wanted to cheer, but settled for whipping out her crossbow and catching another striker in its rounded belly.

It hissed and fired a ‘Spine Spray’, but she took cover behind another tree. Keep focus, don’t lose track of the battle, Karah’s instructions whispered in her memory. The sound of battle was to her right, and a wham showed that the other girl was busy at work. They were in the Overgrown Complex again, although in a different part than last time. Across a street-turned-creek laid a car dealership, complete with row after row of rusted vehicles, all while kudzu-coated trees poked through the broken pavement in a miniature jungle.

She waited for the Spine Striker to come for her again and nailed it with another Arcane Blast.

With its loot plopped onto the ground at her feet, it was time to rejoin the main battle. On the other side of the trees, a dozen more of the stupid lizards swarmed Karah and Cray. Louise lined up her hand at the one in front, a smidge to the left to make sure she didn’t clip Karah, and… ‘Arcane Blast!’

This time, the creature ducked to take a bite out of Cray’s shin, but took a bullet for its troubles. Louise gritted her teeth and reloaded her crossbow. Would be nice to hit these little things.

“Growwwar!”

Another of the Spine Strikers, but much bigger, with wings like shards of crystal. Kind of like a gargoyle in build, it hovered in the air and hurtled summoned spears of crystal toward Karah and Cray. Karah ducked the first one just in time, but the second sank into Cray’s leg.

Louise hesitated, but Cray's instructions were clear. ‘Stay out of the melee. The enemies will take you apart if they get close, so don't let them. Hit from a distance. Go for the weak ones if you can, but if you can’t, hit whatever you can.’ Well, those small ones were too fast to hit easily from that far, but the big one… She took a deep breath. Aim… and fire!

Crack! This time, the bolt crashed into its left wing and it spun into a tree, while the spears it’d been halfway through summoning shattered.

YES!

“GROWWWAAR!” It turned toward her with hate in its beady little eyes, then pointed. Another spear, alone but twice the size of the others, and aimed straight for her.

Move! She threw herself to the left, and the spear slammed into the tree behind her with a mighty crack, so deeply embedded that it stuck out the other side. If that hit her... how many would she survive? Two? One? None?

A flash of light, but she ducked behind a brick wall half-overgrown by vines and trees. The spear crashed into the masonry, but didn’t penetrate this time, and the creature growled with strangely human frustration. A flap of its wings and it shot up. Higher and higher, until it was just a speck in the bright blue sky. Then it dove, accelerating faster and faster, a rocket with wings headed straight for her!

Louise froze.

‘If they come for you,’ Cray's voice before the Find. ‘Get to us. We'll protect you.’

Could they handle it? Could she!? No time to think. She raced toward Karah and Cray. The Spine Strikers surrounded Cray, even more of them than before, and he didn’t notice her situation.

She'd just have to show him then... Louise pounded the ground with every step and weaved through the trees. The greenery played through her eyes in a disorienting medley, but no matter how fast she ran, the creature was faster. Closer. Closer. The taste of iron in her mouth. Gotta get away… A stumble over an exposed tree root sent her to her knees, and behind her, the triumphant howl -

Wham!

The creature crashed to the ground with a boom, then Karah landed on top of it feet-first and whaled on it with several further blows. With each, lightning crackled, and the creature roared.

But it wasn’t done yet. Over its head, the words ‘Stun Pulse’, then a flash of light and Karah staggered, before the creature laid into her with its sharp claws.

I have to do something! It ignored her Arcane Blast, but that wasn’t her only way to bring it down. Chromatic Volley exploded forth, a full dozen blasts of varied elements, and the creature was too focused upon Karah to dodge before they slammed into him. With each one, a coruscating aura surrounded her target, and it was driven back, more and more, until it had the look of a firework show right in her face, behind which she could see nothing.

Louise held her breath. Hopefully, it would be enough.

A roar of fury. It reared up, body covered by burns, frostbite and more, but it hurtled toward her, a monstrous comet of teeth and claws.

Thwip!

It stumbled, its dive interrupted for the last time, then dissolved into the telltale mass of red.

Smoke trailed from Cray’s rifle; he gave her a quick wink, then turned back to the remaining Spine Strikers.

Without the aid of their ‘leader’, the rest of them went down in short order, with naught but a few blows on the trio for their efforts. Victory. Guardian Scales aplenty upon the floor. Karah stepped forward, but Louise already had the stopwatch in hand. ‘0:49’, plenty of time.

They turned toward the car dealership, which loomed over the jungle like an overlord’s castle. Wide and tall, with enough room for even the bigger vehicles, and over the garage-style doors, the faded sign read ‘Service and Repairs’. Around the side was ‘Sales’ over a heavily windowed entryway, the ‘S’ seemingly about to fall at any moment.

Karah pointed toward the garage doors.

Cray whispered to Louise, "Might find gizmos and materials, maybe in repair places."

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"Cars?"

A shake of the head. "Winches, cranes, chains-"

Karah held a warning finger to her lips, and they fell silent.

There was another pack of Spine Strikers, but by themselves, they weren’t much of a threat. Soon enough, they stood outside one of the side doors. But Karah stopped and turned to Louise. “This time, you lead.”

Louise swallowed. They’d told her she’d be doing something like this, to help her understand the role Karah performed, but it did nothing to quell the shivers racing down her spine. Now, every single corner seemed to hold a monster behind it, ready to eat them all if she screwed up. ‘Listen first.’ Karah’s advice from before. ‘If you can see them, they can see you…’ None were in sight, and she couldn’t hear anything save for the thud of her heartbeat, so she turned the knob and peeked inside.

The service area was massive, with two enormous doors on each end for the cars, plus smaller ones like the ones like she used now. A glass door led into the lobby of the main building, probably for the customers.

If there had ever been customers, she reminded herself. It probably didn’t exist yesterday… She shook her head and focused on what she could see. Without light, the overgrowth within was mostly moss and mold rather than larger plants. Stains covered the walls and floor, and the scent of rot mixed with gasoline, grease and other odors she’d rather not think about. Motivational posters in frames lined the walls, each with half-broken sayings like 'An obstacle is another-' and such. Four cars sat in the lanes, some hoisted up to work on, all rusted wrecks, while to the side were little offices where representatives must have met their clients, and-

She paused. A faint thumping sound, low but steady. It came from… there.

The creature had the look of a drunken man, and staggered slowly about, bumping into one car, then another, but its body was about as far from human as was possible to be. An eyeless face, putrid green tentacles slipping down a pus-yellow torso, and three massive gray-furred legs. Oh, and a mouth over its right breast, lined with two rows of blunt, crunching teeth. It stood well over the overgrown vehicles, half-concealed by a support pillar.

Okay, now what? Her mind was blank, but when she turned to Cray, he smiled and raised five fingers, before ticking down one, then another. A countdown.

She continued it herself. Three, two, one… On zero, Louise unleashed her Arcane Blast at the same time Cray fired his pistol.

Both slammed into the creature and tore putrid streaks in his flesh to the sound of a rumbling roar. The tentacles recoiled and reared up like a dozen snakes. No, they were snakes, and in their mouths, yellow light sparked. Over its head, the words 'Laser Volley' appeared.

To say Louise couldn’t dodge was an understatement. One moment, the monster built energy, the next, everything vanished into light.

Pain exploded like she’d dove headfirst into boiling water. She gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t cry out and leveled her crossbow at the foe. Fwip. The bolt buried itself into the creature’s flesh and it reeled back to the tune of another roar. A Bombarder, a mini-boss akin to a Trampler, that’s what they’d run into. Okay, it’s big and slow, but tough, and it hits hard. This… This would be a challenge.

The snake heads reared up again. 'Laser-'

Wham! Before it could fire, Karah buried her fist into its gut. The thing smashed into a workbench and sent wrenches and gizmos everywhere while the yellow light vanished. Its snake heads made to bite at Karah, but only one connected before she ducked behind a rusted car.

It reared up again, yellow light building. ‘Laser Voll-’ A hammer fist caught it in the back and sent it to its knees. Once again, the ability was stopped before it could finish charging.

Louise’s heart leaped into her throat. If Karah could stop that volley, they could win.

The monster staggered to its feet. Already, blood leaked from a dozen small wounds. But it clutched a workbench and roared, and the sound echoed through the abandoned garage… to be answered by almost a dozen feral growls.

Out of the offices the offices poured Gibberers, each screeching and babbling a stream of noise, none of which made the slightest bit of sense. Louise hesitated. Aim for the monster, its tentacles or these things? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cray turn toward them and swap out his pistol for the rifle Ektorn made. It glowed pale blue.

Thwip, thwip, thwip. The bullets hit the Gibberers, and they stumbled, slowing down their charge from a run to more of a jog.

Easier targets, too! Arcane blast!

The bolt slammed into one blue-furred menace, which spun to the ground and dissolved into red. Cray rained bullets down upon the remaining ones, and two more fell. The creatures ignored her in favor of Cray, and stumbled through broken tools to get at him, but he laid down a curtain of fire and, when they were about to reach him, leaped over and behind a rusted car.

And the gunfire stopped.

The remaining Gibberers charged, and the meaty thunk of fists on flesh filled the air.

"Cray?" Louise called out, trying to keep her voice low. Nothing. "Cray!?" Still no response. She darted forward and around.

Cray stood there, still and unmoving. One of the Gibberers snuck up behind him, she realized. Now, the rest piled onto him, fists, feet, hitting him over and over while he stood there in a daze.

No choice. "Karah!" She shouted.

The other girl turned back with a glare, but the fury in her eyes vanished at Cray being pummeled, replaced by terror. “Go loud!” She shouted. “Bring them down!” As if to punctuate her words, she shouted, "Thunder... Smash!" And the Bombarder hurtled into the side of a rusted car with a deafening boom.

"C-Cold Snap!" Louise cried out. The world around them went white. All the Gibberers froze, and silence, blessed silence, filled the garage for a few quick seconds.

And in those moments, Cray stirred, awoken from his stupor. Quick as a flash, he replaced his rifle for a shotgun and bombarded the creatures at point-blank range while she chucked another arcane blast, which burrowed into the face of one of them, a moment before it, too, dissolved. Most of them were down now, and Cray put space between him and those left, this time careful not to get ambushed.

But there was still more gibbering... right behind her.

Louise dashed forward, only to stumble upon a loose wrench, but she kept her balance for a couple seconds more before she fell, chest skidding along the mold-covered tiles. It hurt, but while the world reeled briefly, she’d gotten out fast enough that the effect didn’t take hold.

Still, two Gibberers chased her down, their stubby teeth yellow spikes in the darkness.

‘Chromatic… Volley!’

That did the trick. Against the lizard-gargoyle thing, it’d hurt. But against Gibberers, it was more than lethal. In moments, two dissolving masses of red laid before her.

Kaboom, kaboom! Cray finished off the rest of the Gibberers, but Karah wasn’t so lucky. Multiple tentacle snakes bit at her to drive the brawler back. ‘Laser Volley’.

This time, Karah couldn’t disrupt it—ability on cooldown, maybe—but either way, a small sun erupted before them and pain exploded throughout Louise’s body. She staggered to her feet, body throbbing, but grit her teeth and unleashed her spell. The purple bolt buried into its stomach and drove it back, albeit briefly.

Louise took the moment to check if any other enemies had showed up yet; once assured the answer was ‘not yet’, she attacked, Cray following suit with his shotgun.

No more Gibberers showed, so, although it got another laser volley off, between her, Cray and Karah, they whittled down the thing until bullet holes and craters riddled its body and it finally dissolved into a mass of red.

Victory.

And the next step… she pulled out the stopwatch. It read 0:49. Plenty of time.

She was about to grab the loot when Cray gripped her shoulder. In a whisper, he said, “After a fight like this, check health.”

Oh, right.

A quick double check showed she was at 54%. Karah sounded off with 63%, but Cray came back with a dismal “42%.”

The look Karah gave him promised a discussion afterward, but she turned to Louise. "What do you want to do?"

She blinked. “I'm still in charge? After that?”

“Yes. We always face trouble. We’ve got to handle it and decide what to do next. Now, how will you handle the situation?”

Louise bit her lip. “You take point. Cray stays behind.”

Karah nodded and did as told.

Plenty of loot between the enemies and the surrounding offices. Crafting materials mostly—ones that they didn’t need—but a ring laid on the desk of the corner office that looked like it might be an upgrade. Not bad, but maybe it would be best to find somewhere else to loot inste -

Louise blinked. There, across the parking lot, half hidden by the clouds.

A pillar of light.

The sky burned red.