Trapping the creature was an interesting experience for Zoe. It was brought back a few hours later and the rumbling returned as it smashed through the rocky cliffs, and the group walked over as they had a casual chat about their favourite restaurants.

They had a simple plan. Get the creature’s attention, lure it to the massive crater, and then shove it over the edge. Zoe’s part would be in helping the mages form platforms to help the creature get over the rocky cliffs on the way to the crater without too much issue.

When they found the creature, the group split up. A few stayed behind to keep the creature occupied while Zoe and the rest of the mages started paving a path to the crater. A couple hours later they had something resembling a path through and sent a message to the other group then stepped off to the side a ways.

Minutes later, the rumbling and deafening roars of the creature drew closer. Large shards of rock flew through the sky and slammed into the ground around them as it blasted through the rocky path they made. The creature was lured right up to the edge of the crater, and then Zoe and the mages formed a massive slab of rock behind it to push it over the edge.

It fell to the bottom and slammed into the ground, and began bounding around the crater in a fruitless attempt to find an exit.

“Good job y’all. Now ain’t nobody go around killin’ the damn thing again.” The man Zoe spoke with earlier said.

“That’s it then? It’s trapped? Seemed easier to kill it, honestly.” Zoe said.

One of the mages Zoe worked with answered. “Well, it is, sort of. But a couple hours to trap it is nicer than having to fight it again every single time we come up here.”

“Pain in the ass I say. And if ya let it run around, it ruins the damn path. Nice to have at least something consistent in this damned dungeon.” Another mage said.

“I see. How long is the wait for the boss?” Zoe asked.

“Well, there’s four groups ahead of you. Probably a day, two at most?” The red haired woman with her hair tied around her shoulders answered.

Some of the group split off and carried on up the mountain, but the red haired woman and one of the mages stayed behind with Zoe.

“Did you want me to save you a spot?" The mage asked.

“No, I think I’m gonna go get some errands done and I’ll be back later. I think I need some more levels before I try anyway. Thanks, though.” Zoe said.

The mage nodded. “Not a bad idea. Your magic’s quite powerful for your level already, I was surprised.” He said.

“Yeah I’m surprised you killed it at your level at all, even if it was trapped.” The red haired woman said.

“Right… Well, it was nice meeting you all I guess.” Zoe said.

“You too, best of fortunes and stay safe!" The two said and left up the mountain.

Zoe turned and started making her way back down the mountain. It was time to visit her friends again, and maybe have a chat with Eliza.

————————

Blake checked his stat sheet while the group recovered from the last fight.

Name: Blake Kendra

Race: Human

——

Stat Points: 15

Strength: 176

Dexterity: 72

Vitality: 100

Endurance: 75

Intelligence: 30

Wisdom: 30

Health: 2314/2500

Stamina: 1132/1500

Mana: 265/300

——

Class 1: Abyllian (41)

- Identify (41)

Class 2: Apprentice Warrior

- Physical Affinity (41)

- Regeneration (41)

- Slash (41)

- Brace (41)

- Cleanly Fighting (41)

Class 3: Swordsmaster

- Blade Affinity (41)

- Riposte (41)

- Combo (41)

- Stagger (41)

- Rage (41)

Class 4: Anti-magic Fighter

- Physical Affinity (41)

- Mana Affinity (41)

- Dispelling Slash (41)

- Magic Absorption (41)

- Magic Reflect (41)

——

General Skills:

- Brawling (32)

- First-aid (41)

- Tracking (21)

- Stealth (18)

- Repose (21)

Resistances:

- Fire (7)

- Pain (11)

His face lit up with a smile when he saw he levelled up again, and he pushed the remaining fifteen stat points into Dexterity. Until he got a nice baseline of Dexterity, he wanted to keep it at around half of his Strength. Power without the speed and accuracy to be effective was useless, he knew.

Balancing it with his Health and Stamina pools was increasingly difficult, and with his newest class also using Mana he felt like his stat points were being spread quite thin. It didn’t help that he had back to back low rolls on his classes, either. Sixteen for his third class and thirty three for his fourth.

If the opportunity ever presented itself, trying again for a better outcome on his third and fourth classes would be well worth his time. But with the rest of his team continuing to move on, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever have the time to fix it.

They needed him at his best, and spending another year or two slowing down so he could rack up a few more easy stat points would set them all back and just grow the gap that already existed between them. Blake shook his head.

“Everything good?” Jessica asked. Her metal bow held proudly in her hand, a gift from her grandfather when they decided to set out on their journey. Jessica’s sharp eyes scanned the forests around them for any more of the magic wielding husks of death that ravaged the party.

“Yeah. Got another level.” Blake answered.

“Nice!” Golur said. “Dexterity still?"

Blake nodded.

“Dexterity’s good. Should get more of it, really.” Jessica said.

“Of course you’d think that, bow brain.” Golur laughed.

“Shh. We’re still in mage territory.” Jessica spat.

“Ah we’re fine. Blake’s anti magic stuff is doing wonders here.” Golur said.

“One on one, yeah. But if we get surrounded then he won’t be able to protect us both. And we already know your healing won’t outdo their damage. Keep quiet.” Jessica scolded him.

“Fine, fine. You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just hard to believe it’s dangerous when we’ve been stomping them so hard, I guess.” Golur said.

“She’s right, though. I can stop one mage, but if two mages got on us I think we’d be in trouble. Let alone three. I’ve heard the next stage up is groups of the monsters too, we’ve got a long ways to go before we can do that.” Blake said.

“Yeah I know. Hopefully I get my fourth class soon, I bet I’ll have some really powerful options now that I have the Healer feat.” Golur said.

“Maybe. Can’t believe you were the first one to get a feat though.” Jessica smiled and shook her head.

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“That’s right. The great Golur, healer extraordinaire! At your service.” He whispered and bowed flamboyantly.

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You good Blake?"

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Blake stood up from the stump he was sitting on and stretched.

The group walked through the forest, Jessica at the front and Blake at the back. His metal armour clinked with each step while his empty sheath shook at his waist. In one hand was his short sword and in the other was a large curved kite shield that covered most of his body.

Galur walked in the middle with his dark brown robes covering his body. A constant pressure washed out from him over the group and enveloped them in a calming buff.

Jessica pointed off through the trees. “Water mage alone.”

Blake squinted in the direction she pointed but couldn’t see anything, let alone what kind of magic it was using. “Okay.”

Galur nodded his head.

The group approached the water mage Jessica spotted. Blake’s anxiety rose and was quickly pushed aside by Galur’s magic.

Blake took his position at the front once they were closer and the two others fell behind him. He slammed his sword on his shield and cried out. Power raced through his body from his Rage skill and the Zombie turned to rush towards them.

Bubbles of water appeared around the zombie and flew towards the group. Blake stepped forwards and smashed through them with his shield. The magic seeped into his shield and made it glow with a faint blue light.

A volley of arrows flew past his head and pierced into the zombie’s flesh, ripping bits of it off but the zombie kept on its charge towards them. Bursts of light followed shortly after and seared into its skin.

Blake slammed his shield into the ground and pressed up against it as the zombie slammed its full body weight into him. He pushed back and knocked the zombie away then made two quick stabs at it with Riposte and felt the rush of Combo coursing through his muscles.

He slammed his shield into it with Stagger and the zombie fell to the ground. More arrows flew past him and stabbed through the zombie’s body into the ground behind it. The zombie struggled to pull itself up with the arrows nailing it to the ground.

“SHIT!” Jessica called out from behind.

Blake spun around and saw two more zombies rushing through the forest towards them. One had a flaming stick and the other wielded a scraggly bone that extruded from its hand.

“Run?" Galur shouted.

“Run!” Jessica shouted.

The group ditched the dying zombie on the ground and fled into the forest.

“There’s another one ahead of us. Shit! Where do we go?" Jessica’s head swivelled around.

“Get up a tree?” Galur suggested.

“That won’t work on these, they have magic now. Shit. Shit shit shit.” Jessica panicked. “This way!” She pointed and ran off.

Galur and Blake followed behind as Jessica weaved through the forest. “Shit!” Jessica leapt to the side as she ran past a tree, narrowly dodging a flaming rock to her head and tumbling on the ground. A small ball of fire flew out from the tree and exploded on her side as she screamed out in pain.

Blake rushed in and slammed his shield against the zombie who ambushed them, Staggering it. “Are you okay?” He shouted back.

“No, she’s out.” Galur said, kneeling at her side with the golden glow of his healing spell.

“Dammit. What do we do?" Blake asked.

“I don’t know. We can’t carry her. Even if we could, neither of us can see well enough.” Galur said.

“Dammit. Mom was right. This was too risky. We should’ve just stuck to zombies lower than us instead of getting cocky.” Blake complained as the zombie in front of him slammed into his shield with its flaming rock. The fire magic coursed through his shield and he fired it back at the zombie.

A pulse of fire and water slammed into the zombie and pushed it back.

“Just do your best. We’ll be fine, we’ve made it out of every shitty situation we’ve been in so far.” Galur said as he focused on healing Jessica.

Blake looked around as the zombie recovered. There were three more rushing through the forest to them, and that’s only what he could see. There were probably more. Maybe even dozens, blocked by the the trees and hills. He could handle one on his own. Two if he didn’t have to worry about protecting people, maybe.

But more than that? While he had to keep them away from his vulnerable companions?

“Hey, y’all need some help?” A woman walked around a tree next to him. She was covered in ice apart from her head. Her skin as pale as a sheet of paper, with her long white hair tied in a ponytail behind her. She had deep red eyes with pitch black pupils and teeth that looked sharper than Blake’s blade. Blake’s Identify showed dark red marks.

“What? Who are you?" Blake shouted at the woman as he pulsed mana through his ring. It didn’t respond.

“I’m Zoe. You looked like you were in trouble but if you’re fine then sorry to bother you I guess?" The woman said quizzically.

“No we need, if you can help us please do. We need to get Jessica to a healer, please help us.” Blake begged.

Zoe walked over to Jessica and put her hand on Jessica’s shoulder. Power raced through the air and Jessica’s wound stitched itself back together.

The zombie that was fighting Blake fell to the ground in a clump with a hole pierced through its head. Its flesh ripped apart as the dungeon reclaimed its valuable bones.

“Okay, she’s fine and the zombies are dead. You good, or need an escort down?” Zoe asked.

“There were more…” Blake looked around but didn’t see any of the zombies that were rushing towards them before.

Zoe laughed. “Yeah, there were. You folk made a lot of noise fighting, they get attracted by that sometimes.”

Jessica woke up and stared at the woman. “Who are you?” She scowled.

“It’s fine,” Galur said. “She saved us.”

“Shit…” Jessica’s head fell back on the tree behind her. “We screwed up, didn’t we?”

“Mhm,” Zoe said. “But you made it out this time. That’s good, right?"

“If you can, an escort down would be nice. I want to sleep in a bed and forget about all this for a while.” Blake said.

Galur and Jessica both nodded their heads.

“Thank you. We would’ve died without you. If you’re ever in Korna, come visit the Kendra family.” Blake bowed to the woman.

“It’s fine, I just did what anybody would’ve done I think. I’ll come say hi if I’m ever in Korna. Sounds like a nice place.” She said.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” Jessica bowed her head.

“Yes, thank you.” Galur said.

The woman escorted them down to Gafoda, every zombie that approached them taken out with a small shard of ice that rocketed off towards them and exploded in a cloud of flame and ash.

When they got to the bottom and through Gafoda’s gate, the woman said goodbye and ran off.

“Who was she, do you think?” Jessica asked.

“I dunno. Some noble daughter, maybe?" Galur suggested.

“Must be. She was way too strong for a normal level eighty. Maybe a looper?” Blake suggested.

“But she was so young. Didn’t look older than us.” Galur said.

“She didn’t really look human either though.” Jessica said.

“I checked. She’s not a monster at least.” Blake said.

“Well whatever she is, she saved our asses.” Jessica said.

Galur and Blake nodded their heads.