Bob and Monroe both awoke to the tolling of the bell that heralded the oncoming wave.

Monroe transitioned into Bob's inventory, seeking to escape the noise while Bob sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed.

With a groan, Bob stood up and stretched, doing his best to ignore the bell that, even from two miles away, was quite loud.

He equipped his armor from his inventory, cast a sixty-second effect overtime flight spell, and then dropped a portal under his feet.

He appeared over the plaza and slowly descended until his boots touched the cobblestones.

Much like last time, the plaza was dimly lit, with a stone podium in front of the walled mausoleum that served as the entrance to the Dungeon.

He was almost the first person there.

People started streaming in from the Adventurers Guild, with more coming from the boulevards that led to the center of Holmstead.

"Standing room only," Bob muttered as the plaza swelled to capacity.

Two hundred people had stood for the last wave.

The plaza now held well over three hundred.

Thidwell walked out of the Adventurers Guild and hurried over to stand on the elevated podium.

The bell stopped ringing.

"It is once again time," Thidwell's voice boomed out into the plaza, the low buzz of conversation ceasing immediately, "for the Adventurers of Holmstead to stand before the wave."

"As I speak, a horde of monsters, millions strong, is rushing towards us."

"They desire only one thing - to kill you, your friends, your family, and your neighbors."

"And if left unchecked, they will do exactly that!" Thidwell bellowed.

"But they won't be unchecked," Thidwell roared, "they will be destroyed!"

"Because we are Adventurers, and by the stars above and stones below, we are the levee upon which the wave breaks!"

"Not all you have an Adventurers badge, but I tell you that by standing tall against this wave, at this moment, tonight, everyone here has earned that title."

"For those of you who haven't ever stood against a wave, we welcome you. For those who have, thank you for standing tall."

"House Meer, House Crenshaw, thank you for your dedication to Holmstead," Thidwell said with a nod.

Bob watched as the Nobles, who had been standing in two groups to the side, walked into the Dungeon.

He thought he caught a flash of Bailli's hair, but he wasn't sure.

"Reef's freshers, you know your assignments," Thidwell bellowed, "make us proud."

"As one Adventurer said," Thidwell grinned, "It's time to be big damn heroes."

Bob groaned quietly.

"If you're over level ten, head into the Dungeon and prepare, in less than ten minutes, you can expect the wave."

Bob was carried along towards the Dungeon with a crowd of other Adventurers.

He saw Elli and Harv pass through the Gateway, but there were a dozen people between them, so he didn't have a chance to say anything before they were gone.

And then he was at the Gateway himself.

Pressing his token against it, he selected the twenty-seventh floor and then stepped through the event horizon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eddi grinned wildly as he took his place on the northeast wall.

He'd managed to have his level sixteen armor partially enhanced with Wisdom, Intelligence, Endurance, and Mana.

As a result, he had one hundred and eleven mana, which mean five endless swarms, which at six monsters per swarm, was thirty level thirteen Tyrannosaurs.

And, of course, he had Rexxy out, and she was level thirty.

There was an Eldritch Guard next to him, who seemed a bit more reserved than he was.

Of course, she was just going to pulse out Abjuration shields, so it made sense that she might not be as excited as he was.

Eddi shifted his weight from foot to foot as he stared out into the night, trying to sweep the treeline, but feeling his gaze drawn time and again back to the tower where Bob had stood against the wave.

There were eighteen other people gathered at the northeast point, but they were either regular paths or non-combat paths.

'It didn't matter,' Eddi thought to himself, 'I'll prove that Bob is right.'

He laid a hand on Rexxy's shoulder.

Well, more, her thigh.

Pushing her past the level twenty-five bump had drastically increased her size, and she now stood almost fifteen feet at the shoulder.

Eddi blinked, then squinted.

Yes!

"I see 'em!" Eddi yelled.

"We all see them," the Eldritch Guard muttered.

Eddi's grin widened, and he gestured towards a spot perhaps a hundred feet from the wall.

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Rexxy leaped from the wall and rushed to where Eddi had commanded her to stand her ground.

His swarm of persistent effect Tyrannosaurs followed along.

He ignored the murmurs of the groups to his right.

"Are you sure your monsters can handle this?" The Eldritch Guard - Sally, he remembered, asked.

"If you can't have faith in me," Eddi smirked, "then have faith in The Reef. He wouldn't steer us wrong."

The wave was rolling closer now, almost past the tower.

Eddi could make out the monsters more clearly, and as he'd been told to expect, they were an assortment of rats, spiders, and insects.

Seconds later, the wave engulfed Rexxy and the Rexettes, as Eddi had suddenly decided to call them.

Then the wave exploded as his monsters demonstrated the difference between level thirteen and level three.

Rexxy was especially terrible as she ripped and tore through the low-level monsters.

The wave folded around them and then seemed to stagger as most of the monsters focused on the Tyrannasours in their path, leaving only a few dregs to rush towards the wall.

An Elemental Conjurer lanced out with firebolts from the far side of the group, sending out twelve bolts every second, each bolt incinerating a monster.

Eddi laughed maniacally as he watched the wave crash on the breakwater that was a level thirty T-Rex.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bailli stood stiffly amongst the members of House Crenshaw.

Three men, alike enough to make her suspect they were brothers, stood just in front of her. They all shared the same coarse black hair, shot through with grey streaks.

Beside her was a stern-looking woman, whose hair was pulled back in a severe bun and might have been blonde before she went grey.

They'd introduced themselves as Allen, Albert, Aaron, and Daphne before they'd stepped through the Gateway to the twentieth floor of the Dungeon.

She shivered slightly as the icy wind whipped through the trees.

The twentieth floor of the Dungeon reminded her of the eastern forest in midwinter.

Evergreens stood slouched, their limbs weighed down with snow.

The same snow carpeted the ground, a beautiful trap for the unwary, hiding the dips and folds of the ground, as well as a plethora of fallen branches.

It was perpetually twilight, and the wind never ceased to cut through the forest, bringing with it a light flurry of snowflakes.

"Relax," Daphne said quietly, "we handle this floor every wave, you'll be safe."

Bailli tried to smile as she replied, "I'm fine; it's just my first time in the Dungeon during a wave."

"Here they come," Allen said as he tapped his spear across his shield, causing it to ring like a bell.

The three men adjusted their footing, and their shields came up, ready to block.

Bailli squinted into the darkened woods, looking for the monsters.

Then she saw them.

Ice spiders.

They were four feet tall and six feet long, and they appeared to be made of translucent ice.

In the dim light, against the fallen snow and obscured slightly by the wind-driven flurries, it wasn't easy to see them.

But as they scuttled closer, they became easier to spot.

Bailli swallowed.

There were so many of them.

She started as the three brothers ignited their shields in flicker flame and moved them to intercept a barrage of icy webs.

Bailli raised her staff, and lightning blasts arced through the woods, eighteen bolts that left sharp afterimages in the failing light.

Each blast found its target, and the spiders shattered, chunks of icy flesh flying.

"Stars above," Daphne exclaimed.

"How long can you keep... whatever that was going?" Allen asked over his shoulder.

"As long as you can keep them off me," Bailli replied as her smile brightened and unleashed another barrage.

"Aren't you under level twenty?" Aaron asked of his shoulder as he parried another web, his flaming shield melting it harmlessly.

"Level 19," Bailli said proudly as she continued to lash out with lightning blasts.

"How?" Daphne asked as the monsters drew nearer despite Bailli's rapid eradication of them.

"I'll give you the booklet on it once we're done here," Bailli replied.

Then the Ice Spiders were on them.

The three brothers worked in perfect harmony, their shields trailing flame as they swept them back and forth, unerringly intercepting strikes.

Their spears darted out, each attack striking two or even three spiders, the tips bursting into flame as they struck the spiders.

Daphne raised a glowing half-dome of energy, covering the group from behind while allowing the men to fight in the front.

Bailli kept blasting the spiders, noting that the wave was actually becoming denser as more and more bodies packed together as the monsters strained to reach them.

She blinked. They were actually piling up in front of them, climbing on top of each other.

"Moving up," Bailli said, trying to hide a tremor in her voice as she stepped up just behind Aaron, who was in the center.

She planted her staff, and a sphere of lightning burst out from her, expanding in a perfect fifteen-foot bubble before disappearing.

She'd sculpted the area of effect around her group and Daphne's shield.

She'd cleared the first two ranks of the wave that had been pressing against the brothers' defenses, the Ice Spiders exploding as her lightning washed over them.

More Ice Spiders filled the void she'd created as the wave continued to crest.

"Little warning next time," Albert shouted as he parried and thrust.

Bailli unleashed another barrage of lightning blasts, waiting for the monsters to pack themselves together again.

She didn't have to wait long.

Five seconds later, Bailli yelled, "Pulse!" and unleashed another sphere of lightning.

Once again, Ice Spiders exploded.

Bailli's smile grew brilliant as she settled into a pattern of five barrages, then a sculpted area of effect.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Amber hurried to the southernmost point of the wall. She'd offered to help as a messenger between the main medic station in the plaza and the groups that would be fighting on the wall.

While Bob hadn't turned anyone against her, it was clear that Bob was well-liked and respected in the Adventurers Guild, and she was an unknown.

She'd been bashing beetles for months and had officially joined the Adventurers Guild a few weeks after she'd arrived.

Because she still hadn't taken level one, she paid level one dues of one crystal a month.

She was still unsure of what she wanted to do here, but her daily excursions into the Dungeon had helped her build up quite a nest egg.

Amber shook her head.

She'd been sent to see why no wounded had been sent to the medics yet. Each point on the wall had an aid station that was expected to send anything serious back, but with no patients, Austan had become concerned and sent messengers to reconnoiter.

The aid station was just ahead, the volunteers sitting on chairs, leaning forward as they kept their eyes on the men and women standing on the wall.

They didn't have any patients.

Amber walked up to the only person standing and said, "Austan sent me to make sure everything was alright."

The young man in the white robes trimmed in sunshine yellow turned to her and smiled.

"Vi'Radia be praised, we've not had to heal a single wound," he replied.

One of the seated aides muttered, "Yeah, Vi'Radia be praised and all, but I'm buying The Reef as many drinks as he wants tonight."

The priest chuckled, his voice light and wholesome, as he said, "Bob's not a drinking man, but if you want to buy his cat a treat, I'm sure he won't say no."

"I thought he was in the Dungeon?" Amber said hesitantly.

She'd thought she'd seen him head into the mausoleum.

"Oh, he is," the priest agreed, "and if I heard correctly, he's standing tall, alone, on the twenty-seventh floor."

"It's his disciples that are doing his work and spreading his gospel on the wall," he explained, gesturing towards the people clustered above.

"Go take a look," he offered, "it's a blessing that I'm able to say that there is no danger."

Amber nodded and carefully climbed the stairs that led to the top of the battlements.

Reaching the top, she looked out over the wall and gasped.

There had to a hundred thousand monsters surging towards Holmstead in a never-ending river.

But just out in front of the walls stood a twelve-foot tall, twenty-foot long spider, surrounded by more than twenty slightly smaller spiders, all of which were enormous in comparison to the monsters they were slaughtering wholesale.

A young woman, a teenager, really, was directing them with her staff.

Two young men stood beside her and streamed bolts of acid and ice, respectively, into the monsters that tried to get past the spiders, bringing to mind memories of tracer rounds fired from machine guns in the movies she'd watched.

No monster made it within twenty feet of the wall.

Amber watched, mouth agape for several seconds as those three, and two others, one at each end of the group, held off the unending wave of monsters with ease.

She shook her head and hurried down the steps.

She needed to return to Austan and assuage his fears.

Amber nodded to the priest as she quickly walked down the boulevard towards the plaza, her thoughts turning to the power those kids had demonstrated.

Kelli had shown her two paths that Bob had provided. She was now certain that she would hold out for an Affinity Crystal.