The blue barrier slammed into existence around Zoe as soon as she stepped past the threshold. The ground below her rumbled, and a humanoid figure rose over a hundred feet away, on the other side of the rocky plateau.

Mana raced around it as it stretched out its dark, skeletal arms and formed a thick black robe that covered its body. It let out a chilling laugh that echoed through the plateau.

“Who dares disturb my rest?” Zoe heard in a whisper that raced around her head.

“Me?” Zoe smiled at it in the distance.

“I am the great Arthanhorgul. Leave or face my wrath.” The being’s voice pressed into Zoe’s head but fell far short of what she was used to with John.

Zoe turned to the barrier and stuck her hand up against it, but felt nothing. She pressed farther and her hand went through. She pulled it back in and turned to the being at the other side of the plateau.

“I don’t think I will.” Zoe said and summoned a full suit of armour with her Frozen Arsenal.

A roar raced across the plateau and sent loose gravel flying as the being pushed mana towards the ground. An army of black skeletons and rotting corpses rose from the ground. Dozens of undead covered in armour and weapons stared her down. At the front was a row of black skeletons. Just behind them were four defined groups of undead. Each with three zombies clad in shining metal armour wielding a sword and shield that protected a mage in bright yellow robes and holding a twisted wooden staff.

“Slay the pest,” the being said.

In an instant, the horde of undead sprung to action. The skeletons rushed across the plateau in a desperate sprint while the more organized groups followed close behind. Mana was drawn in to the mages and then washed out over the armoured zombies around them as they approached.

Zoe summoned a barrage of Frost projectiles then flashed an enchantment of Archery, Shield-fighting and an explosive Torrential Arsenal and bemoaned Enchanted Mirror’s inability to enchant multiple things at once.

As each projectile was prepared, she fired it off at the closest skeleton. In moments, the horde of skeletons at the front were taken out and their bones reclaimed by the dungeon.

She turned her attention to the groups of armoured zombies rushing her down, but her projectiles were useless against them. Each projectile was blocked effortlessly by one of the shield wielding zombies, and the explosion of water was pushed aside. Sometimes the Torrential Echo seemed like it would sneak past the zombie’s defenses as the first hit pushed their shield back just enough. But then another zombie rushed in to support, and the echo splashed against their shield as their charge continued.

Zoe took a moment to switch her Enchanted Mirror as they were still approaching to a heavier enchantment. Archery, Shield-fighting and a Torrential Arsenal focused on blunt force. The effect was far more pronounced than when she was forced to use cooking for additional crushing power against the Frozen Shards.

She spent more mana on each chunk of ice she summoned to make them as large as a basketball instead of the normal pebble sized projectiles she used, and fired them off. Each one smashed into a zombie’s shield and sent it staggering back which forced another zombie to rush in and block the Torrential Echo that followed.

The first few projectiles caught the zombies off guard and her echo managed to sneak through their defenses and slam into the mages behind. Their robes dripped with water as the projectiles splashed through them. The water seeped into their bones and Zoe saw the mages slow ever so slightly as they struggled against the water coursing through them.

All four of the groups joined together as three of the warriors stood behind to protect the mages while the remaining shield bearing zombies continued rushing towards Zoe. Mana rushed into the skeletons’ staves as they cast their spells, and Zoe continued firing her larger blunt projectiles off at the armoured zombies rushing towards her.

They smashed through the zombies and sent them reeling back from the impact, but another zombie stepped in to block the secondary impact from Torrential Echo each time which kept the damage they took to a minimum.

Zoe took off running in an arc along the translucent blue barrier as she continued firing projectiles off and thinking about what to do. The armoured zombies were gaining on her, and the amount of mana the mages were gathering for whatever spell they were about to cast was terrifying.

Should she build up a defensive position to take out the armoured zombies one by one? Should she rush down the mages and take them out before they could get their spell off? She turned towards the black robed being that summoned the horde.

Mana was surging from the being and into the ground as the summoner worked to create something new.

Zoe cursed. There was only one thing she could think of that would be summoned, and she did not want to fight it in this arena. She flooded mana into the ground behind her with Earth and created pitfalls and rocks to trip the armoured zombies behind her and then rushed towards the summoner. Balls of Frost appeared next to her and she flashed enchantments onto them as she ran. Some, she fired off at the zombies as they approached. But the rest she kept with her as she ran across the plateau.

The mages spell ripped itself into existence with a massive echoing crack. A ball of purple lightning floated above the mages, bolts of lightning reached out and slammed into the ground sending burnt rocks and dirt into a cloud around them.

They waved their staves, and the ball of lightning flew through the sky towards Zoe. She rose a slab of earth out of the ground in its path, then jumped back to dodge a quick slash from the first armoured zombie that reached her.

The zombie slammed its shield into the ground and sent gravel flying towards her. The rocks and dirt bounced harmlessly off her icy armour. The rest of the zombies were still far behind, so Zoe summoned another slab of earth in front of the zombie and then took off again towards the summoner.

An echoing crack blasted through the plateau as the ball of lightning smashed into the wall she created. Zoe took a moment to look behind and saw her earthen wall crumbling from the impact as the purple lightning dissipated from the air.

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Below the crumbling wall were the armoured zombies that were chasing her. Their shining armour coursed with purple energy that raced across the surface. Lightning arced from their swords and shields as it reached for the ground. They screamed and chased after her again.

When Zoe made it to the halfway point across the plateau, mana rushed from the summoner and into the ground and a dozen more skeletons rose. Zoe fired off her basketball sized projectiles at the skeletons and they fell in quick succession.

Zoe summoned a sword and shield with Torrential Arsenal, which was a strange experience. They were solid water, but not ice. She could feel the water flowing through the hilt in her hand, or through the rope that she gripped on the shield. But it felt so solid, so sturdy. And after all of her time practicing with it, they weren’t much weaker than her Frozen Arsenal weapons either. Which was more than made up for by the Adaptive Torrents infecting everything they hit with a drowning effect.

She rushed towards the summoner as the purple glowing armoured zombies got even closer. A crack echoed through the plateau as the mages summoned more magic and Zoe turned to look at what they made.

An enormous flaming ball was rocketing through the sky towards her. Zoe grimaced as she felt the icy armour covering her and pushed as much mana as she could into her Torrents skill. A massive wave appeared, towering over her and she sent it crashing through the armoured zombies behind her. The fireball smashed into the wave and exploded in a cloud of steam.

Zoe created a thick wall of ice between her and the expanding cloud of steam and checked on her mana.

Mana: 39253/52240

She grimaced. With all her buffs, it would only take a few seconds to get all of that mana back. But the undead horde wasn’t going to give her a few seconds to recover, as the armoured zombies rushed at her through the cloud of steam and slammed into her slab of frost.

Zoe turned and continued running towards the summoner as she ripped apart the ground behind her with Earth and continued forming more projectiles. Right as she approached the accumulating mana, flesh began to writhe and stretch across the ground. Arms and limbs, hair and bones smashed into each other and formed the Abomination.

A fleshy limb stretched out of the Abomination and flew towards her far faster than she was used to in her fights with it before. Zoe leapt to the side, assisted with a pillar of Earth that rose from the ground below her and powerful Gales that slammed into her side. The Abominations limb smashed through the ground and cut a deep groove where she was standing a moment prior.

Rocks and dirt slammed into her icy armour and she felt her mana drain from the impact. Zoe caught herself and fired off dozens of the projectiles that floated around her. Each one slammed into the Abomination and staggered it back ever so slight, with the Torrential Echo that followed close behind coating it in water. Zoe noticed the flesh begin to drip and sag as it was weighed down with water.

She ducked under a slash from one of the armoured zombies that had caught up to her and lightning arced from its blade and through her icy armour. Zoe shuddered from the current and then fired another of her prepared projectiles at the zombie.

The rest were close behind, and she summoned another towering wave with Torrents and splashed it down onto them, knocking them off their feet. Some of the zombies stopped moving after the impact she noticed. Their flesh ripped apart and bones reclaimed by the dungeon. She turned back to the Abomination just in time to see another fleshy limb flailing through the air towards her.

Zoe tried to shove herself back with her magic but failed to do so in time. The limb smashed into her armour and she gasped as her armour shattered and mana was ripped from her soul. She bounced along the ground like a pebble on water and landed next to the summoner, gasping for breath.

Health: 9483/15000

Restoration flooded her with a pleasant warmth and began filling her health back up. Zoe grimaced through the pain and stood up as she summoned another suit of icy armour and a massive mace of flowing water. Now that she was close enough, Zoe saw the summoner was a level one hundred fifty three blue marked Lich.

She ran after the Lich and smashed her mace into its back. It tumbled on the ground, and Zoe gripped its limbs with Earth and slammed her mace into it again. Mana rushed from the Lich and began to flood the ground.

The Abomination tried to roll towards Zoe but was too bogged down with water to make much headway. Its fleshy limbs stretched out around it and smashed through the ground, sending rocks and dirt flying towards Zoe.

She created a pillar of Earth in front of her and the Lich that the rocks bounced off of. The armoured zombies she had drowned were stumbling towards her, dripping with water. And the mages were running across the plateau to catch up.

Zoe smiled at the scene and slammed her mace into the Lich one last time. Its bones shattered, and the dungeon reclaimed its mana. She laughed as she took a much needed break to build up her mana again, and then summoned wave after wave that crashed down on the Abomination and accompanying armoured zombies.

By the time the mages were close enough to start channelling their mana again, the rest of the undead horde was nothing more than a pile of shining armour. She fired off the remaining dozen projectiles she had at the small group of mages, and the three armoured zombies were unable to block every one. Each projectile knocked the shields aside and she quickly broke through to smash into the mages behind.

Their magic was interrupted, and Zoe made quick work of the remaining group with more towering waves from her Torrents skill.

When the last zombie was reclaimed by the dungeon, a notification appeared in Zoe’s vision.

*Ding* You have cleared the Moaning Point dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

Zoe pushed her confirmation towards the system.

*Ding* You have accepted the Moaning Point dungeon reward. Barrier will be removed after 60 seconds or when you leave… 59… 58… 57…

Mana swirled in front of Zoe and formed into physical objects. A pile of golden coins floated in front of her — at least one hundred, maybe even two hundred. Along with the coins came two mana orbs, a ring and a sword.

Identify showed the mana orbs to have a capacity of two hundred fifty thousand each, while the ring and sword showed as nothing. But loot was never the point of climbing Moaning Point Zoe thought as she walked up to the edge of the plateau near where the Lich spawned.

Just beyond the blue barrier was a cliff hundreds of feet tall that reached down to the lower sections of the mountain. She looked out over the surroundings. In the distance near the bottom she could see the bustling town of Gafoda. Even farther in the distance she could even see Flester from so far up. Like a gray splotch that broke up the endless forest of green. She could see hills and clearings in every direction she looked and smiled.

This was what she climbed Moaning Point for. To be able to say she did it, that she had her life ripped apart and thrown into an unfamiliar world and overcame everything despite herself. To see the world for what it was, and it was beautiful.

Zoe grinned and leapt through the blue barrier off the cliff behind just before the timer ran down. It shattered like a pane of glass as the mana that made it up flowed back into the atmosphere and Zoe fell down the cliff. She summoned a suit of Earth around herself and flew off back home. It was time for a change of pace.