We were exhausted, and still a couple of miles from the objective, when the system sent us all a message.

[Night will fall in one hour. If you wish to continue your journey at night, that is your prerogative. But the dangers of the jungle increase greatly at night. The graveyards will only respawn once every three hours. Locations of neutral campsites have been marked on your map.

If you are close enough, the cities of Scylla and Charybdis are open to you. You may purchase food and lodging there. There will be a 20 minute no ceasefire at dawn tomorrow to allow you to resume your crossings. At dawn, you will have 6 hours to make it to the objective before the deadline]

I checked my map. There was a campsite about a quarter mile from us. On the other hand, Charybdis was only a little farther away than that, closer to our goal. And we'd be able to touch base with our friends there.

"Let's get to the city," I said. "I could use some shut eye tonight."

Grandpa grunted. "Six hours to go two miles. It’ll be tight, especially if those fuckers from earlier decide to try a blockade. But it sounded to me like the system is warning us we’d better get inside before dark. All right, let’s go."

I kept a close eye on my map. I did see a couple of red dots at one point, but they veered off quickly to my north.

It had been a long day. I suspected a lot of us were ready to rest. The big river battle had knocked another three teams out of contention. The fights were getting nastier, but less decisive, as everyone firmed up their strategies and learned what chances to take and which to avoid.

At this point, anyone who sucked was out of the game for good. We were getting down to the professionals. I expected most of us would reach the next level tomorrow.

The gates of Scylla were a sight to behold. Blue silk flags fluttered from medievalish towers atop a gate with a drawbridge down and the portcullis up. We crossed a circle marked out thirty yards from the drawbridge and received a System message. [You are now in a no miner versus miner violence zone].

I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I sighed. "I need a beer, a burger, and a bed."

"I want all of those, except make mine a root beer," Sage declared. "Can we get Mama Grace to come cook dinner for us?"

"I don't think she's allowed, since she wasn’t with us at the party," I said, but I sent a quick message ahead to Juana to let her know we were on the way.

She replied back quickly. There's a fountain square in the center of the city. Meet me there and you can tell me about your day. I liked the sound of that.

"What's with the goofy grin?" Grandpa asked me.

"Uh, Juana's gonna meet up with us for dinner."

Sage giggled. "I figured. Shad always looks goofy when he's talking to Juana in chat. You should take her on a date. This is the first proper city we've been to. I'm sure you can find somewhere nice to go."

I ignored Sage and we crossed the bridge into the city of Scylla. Despite what Ames had said about my education, I have read a book or two in my life. I recognized the allusion here, the two great monsters Odysseus had to sail his ship between in the Odyssey. I didn’t remember which one was the whirlpool and which one was the serpent that ate sailors off the deck. I knew Odysseus had chosen the serpent, reasoning it could only eat so many of his men at a time, but the whirlpool would take his whole ship down. That wasn't the kind of calculus I liked to make, and I was glad that since entering Phase Two, all of my decisions had become a little less fraught with peril.

We passed some of the orcs as we entered the city. Mak'gar raised his hand. His brother was there with him. I nodded politely to him, and he nodded back. I wasn't sure we were quite as friendly as Mak'gar and I were. After all, I had beaten him in a duel in a way that might be considered a little sneaky. But it had saved his life, so we ought to be square about that.

Mak'gar shouted an invitation to come and eat meat and drink ale with him, but I had to turn it down. "Already got plans," I said.

"Is she pretty?" Mak'gar called back and laughed uproariously.

Team Mongoose asked permission to de-camp, and Grandpa granted it. Bill and Bob, to my surprise, went off with Team Mongoose. As far as I know, the brothers had never served in the army, but they got along well with the snake eaters.

The Ragtag crew stayed with us, following in our wake like a gaggle of lost ducks, Ice Spice filling the girls and Mitch in on just what he had been up to all day. So it was a smaller party that joined Juana, Frank, and a couple of the other crafters in the fountain square.

"I've got a couple of tables for us in the restaurant over there," Juana said. “Yani is learning some cooking skills from the NPC chef and will be bringing us dinner shortly."

"Sounds good," I said.

"I hope so. It smells delightful. I've been learning construct engineering all day. It's fascinating. I'm going back tomorrow. I'm afraid we might have to take a second loan," she admitted, rubbing her hands together and then stretching. "There's generally six or seven related skills involved in a crafting profession, and it's such a good opportunity to learn them."

"Oh?" Grandpa asked as we made our way over to the restaurant. Delicious smells wafted into the square. My mouth watered.

Juana continued. “If you want someone to make potions, you need an alchemy skill. There's a NPC trainer for that in the other town. You need a refining skill, too. If you really want to get the most out of your alchemy, you've got to learn a couple of things. I’ve already talked to Dwight and we’re arranging to have a couple of our people pick those up and start playing with potions. Some of Mama’s alien customers at the diner let slip that potions play a big role in Phase Three.”

As we sat down to eat, Juana explained more about what the crafters were learning. I relaxed and let her words wash over me. It felt good to have a few minutes of downtime.

The food was magnificent, and afterward we found an inn with beds available. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

As we left the city at dawn the next morning, the System greeted us with a cheerful notification. [Despite being warned, 12 teams ventured through the jungle last night after dark fell. Nine of them have been eliminated from the competition. There are 57 teams remaining. You have six hours to reach the objective. Good luck out there!]

"Think we’ve got enough time?" Bill asked as we loped into the jungle. I kept my eye on my mini-map, watching for dots of any color. At this point I had to assume anyone who wasn't temporarily allied with us would be hostile whether their dots were red or not.

"I think we're keeping our heads on a swivel and watching for trouble," Grandpa snapped. "Let's make time."

"It feels a little unfair to change the rule set like that," Lakshmi remarked. "What if those teams were far enough back that they needed the time to get to the objective? If we'd made different decisions yesterday, like looked for a way around the river instead of fighting across it, we might have ended up miles behind with no choice but to move after dark."

"Nothing about this whole setup is fair," Tall Smith said. "Anyone who's not prepared for that isn't prepared to win."

There was only two graveyards between us and our objective. One was directly between the two cities, which we were leaving behind as fast as we could, and one was two miles from our objective. Once we passed that, any death would lose us ground. We couldn't afford that.

I checked my warrior chat. All of our loosely allied friends were on the move. The majority of them had spent the night in Scylla like us, since it was closer to where we had crossed the river.

A pack of Arthonians were way out in front, scouting. They were a wolf-like race that went about on two legs, apparently gifted with incredibly keen senses, and could cover a lot of ground, because they were already to the final graveyard, checking it out.

It stinks of traps, their leader reported in the warrior chat. We don't dare spring them, but they're everywhere. I think there are enemy teams combining to see any who enter the graveyard don't leave.

Spawn camping, I replied. It's a good way to keep your numerical superiority. How'd they get out ahead of us?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

There were a couple of teams who made it through the night, Makgar pointed out. Maybe they are responsible, or it's those assholes from the river with their flight powers. Most of the flight methods I'm familiar with have hours-long cool-downs, but they would all be back up by now.

Agreed, another warrior said. Leave the camp just before dawn, jump to the graveyard, set up traps, fade away. They almost certainly have sent one member each to the objective already and secured their place.

Now they can spoil it for the rest of us, I replied grimly. I wondered if Proxima Corporation was backing some of these overly-geared teams. We had barely caught a glimpse of any of them, and I wouldn't know Proxima's backers from anyone.

I sent Veda a list of all of the affiliations I had noticed during the river fight yesterday to ask her. I didn't think Proxima was our biggest fan, especially not after the way we had gotten them pulled into arbitration over something we had done. I also suspected that the lizardfolk lawyer lady was right and Proxima had ill intentions toward us earth humans.

Jones, Black, and Short Smith were scouting ahead. Jones sent back a message, Hold up. Something funny here. We were less than a quarter of a mile from the graveyard. Grandpa had planned to skirt it to the south, but the island narrowed here, so we couldn't get further from it without getting down onto the beach. That would be far too exposed.

Yeah, definitely some sort of automated defenses, Smith said. We're not going to trigger them.

We'll be right there, Grandpa replied. He glanced around. "I want Sage and Annie to hang back. You two have the best chance of being overlooked if this turns into a brawl that goes south. Annie, keep your illusion spells on cool down. Sage, I want you to drop one of your barrels here, then you can come forward with us and drop another whenever you need to. What's the range on them?"

"Pretty good at this point," Sage said. "I'm up to a thousand yards."

Grandpa whistled. "That ain't a barrel race. That's a freaking endurance race. All right. Drop one here and then see if you can spot somewhere hidden along the way to drop another. I don't want you getting in too close. Remember, our win condition isn't to make them all die. It's to make sure we don't all die."

"Understood," Sage replied. Annie dipped her head in agreement.

"There's six more of our somewhat allied groups coming up on our heels," I told Grandpa. "I'm coordinating with them so we don't get in each other's way. But if they do have another gauntlet for us to cross, it makes sense for us to try to do it together."

"Once we're past the graveyard, the goal is get to the objective no matter what," Grandpa reminded us. "If there's a fight and you're clear of it, keep running. Keep an eye out for trouble, but just run."

My concern was that there would be a second gauntlet after this one to catch any stragglers who made it through and past the graveyard. But that couldn't be helped. We had 25 allied teams on our side, having lost a couple yesterday. That meant we should outnumber whoever was arrayed against us, but they might outgear us by a lot.

Mak'gar's group stopped a little way north of us. I had my other allies on the map now, too, spread out. We need to send someone in to spring the trap, Mak'gar said. We don't know yet how many we're against or what they can see, so it would be wise to limit it to only a small handful to keep them equally in the dark. I will send two of mine with good scouting skills and escape. Dramon, how about you?

I hadn't met Dramon, but he replied affirmatively in chat. We tried to get word from the Arthonian leader, but he wasn't answering. I didn't know if that meant they were busy or had been wiped out, or maybe just he was dead. Try to let chat know if you get into a fight, I said. It'll help the rest of us. Let's do this.

I asked Jones to send in his drone to keep an eye on things. He shared his vision, and I watched the scene of a quiet graveyard.

It was still ten minutes until the next rez timer, and everything was still and peaceful. The land around the small graveyard was cleared for about 20 yards in all directions. I watched as the two orcs and a pair of lizard folk approached through the open space, two coming from the south, two from the west. They moved cautiously, holding their weapons ready. The orcs both had pulsed laser rifles, and the lizard folk were carrying pole arms with shining energy blades like I'd seen yesterday.

One of the orcs motioned the others to stay back as he approached the gates to the graveyard. As soon as he laid a hand on it, he exploded. I let out a startled yelp.

"What is it?" Sage asked. Jones was only sharing vision with Grandpa and me.

"They're definitely laying traps," I said. And as Makgar reported the same in our chat, a squad of goblins popped out from behind tombstones and hosed them down with rapid-firing guns that shot big green blobs of fire. Even having expected something of the sort, the three scouts weren't prepared.

One of the lizard kin raised his weapon and sent the energy blade forward like a throwing knife. As it reached the goblins, it exploded, knocking two of them back. Their bodies despawned quickly. I made a note of how deadly that weapon could be, but the goblins just kept firing, and a minute later, all of our scouts were dead.

I checked the respawn timer. Five minutes. I tried frantically to think of how I would take advantage of the situation if I were the opponents. We'd only seen a squad of goblins, but there had to be more. I had to assume we could be facing over a hundred armed enemies.

"Jones, send that drone on a loop around. They've got to have camouflage, but camouflage enough to hide more than a handful is rare, or so Veda tells me. See if we can get an idea where they are."

"Roger, boss," Jones replied. The point of view swooped and dove as Jones's bird drone circled the area. My chat was a fast-moving uproar as team leaders called out ideas. "There," Jones said. The raptor straightened out and swooped forward toward the east.

There was a small hill about a quarter mile past the graveyard. Atop the hill stood four tall tents, not like triangular Boy Scout tents you just crawl into sleep. These were more like portable buildings, like those awnings you see at parties but with side walls. A couple dozen different enemies waited for us. I got one targeted, just in case I thought a Trick Shot would come in handy.

The drone swooped in. I could see a glowing circle in front of the tents and then a bunch of portable turrets. One of the turrets raised its gun. "Evade!" I shouted, but no use. The feed cut out.

Jones swore. "Damn, I was trying to end my spell but they got me. It's going to be a while before I can use that again. Twenty minutes or so."

"What was that portal thing?" Grandpa asked.

"Hell if I know, boss."

I reported what we'd seen to Mak'gar. The orc asked our chat to be silent for a moment, then said, I have seen that before. It is a quick transport spell. They will have the other end presumably closer to the graveyard. They can go through either direction but only their allies can use it so we cannot follow them.

What's with the tents?

Perhaps protecting more gear or that may be how they survived the night. The system did not say only those in system provided shelters would be fine.

Then they would have had to know what was going to happen.

The system reuses scenarios, Mak'gar said. Or perhaps their sponsors threw some money into a bribe to get the outcome they wanted.

There was a lot there to unpack, namely: were artificial intelligences bribeable or did the sponsors have to bribe the exploit committee and get them to act?

A thought struck me. We're going to have respawn at the graveyard in two minutes. Anyone who has died between here and the objective will be there. Not many of ours but presumably some others. We should use the chaos.

Agreed, now that we know where they are, Mak'gar said. We must hurry. Send in your people!

I turned to my team, relaying the decision. "No time to plan. Rush forward and attack, remembering they may appear from behind us."

"Or they could have that whole hill rigged to blow," Mitch grumbled.

"Sage, Annie, you're staying out of this fight," Grandpa said. "You understand why."

Sage nodded, though she looked unhappy.

We raced past the graveyard, joining a horde of other miners on their way to the hill. The system announced the respawn and a plume of light filled the graveyard. Several dozen miners appeared, grabbing for their weapons. The goblins popped back up from behind tombstones and started hosing them down.

"Lob some bombs into that," I yelled. "Let's sow confusion." Lara threw her oranges. A couple of the orcs must have heard me because they lobbed projectiles of their own.

Lakshmi said, "I can see their portal on this end. I can use crystal vibrations to shut it down."

"Do it!" I raced past the graveyard. Someone was shooting at us from inside the cloud of smoke, whether on purpose or just out of the sheer chaos, I didn't know. I just activated Fastest Gun in the West and moved out.

There were about a dozen miners: orcs, lizard folk, and Silver Fox, all streaming alongside me, all with their movement boosted in one manner or another.

The hill lay before us. I could see 40 or so red and blue dots mingling on top. I reported that back. "We need an RPG," I shouted. "Get Black up here."

Black, one of the Mongeese, had a slightly friendlier version of the skill the Tank Driver Jack had used during Phase One to blow up a pterodactyl and almost me. His RPG rounds could target anyone that another member of his party had targeted, as long as they were within half a mile.

I had targeted one of the enemies back when Jones was using his scouting drone. The targeting remained, as long as I didn't kill or switch. I squeezed off a Trick Shot, trying to get my target to take cover and perhaps lead us to a higher density. "Now, Black!" I yelled.

There was a roar of thunder behind me, and then the hill in front of me blossomed with fire. Black followed it up with a second and then a third shot. "I'm out!" he yelled. "Takes five minutes for me to reload."

He wasn't the only one to have thrown a massive attack. Smoke wreathed the whole top of the hill. I could still see over a dozen dots, but we had made a big impact in their number. A lot of us had died too, and it struck me that as soon as we hit the respawn timer, the graveyard behind us was just going to be a complete free-for-all.

I checked my map, saw no other dots ahead of these. We were still a mile or more from the objective, and my mapping ability didn't go quite that far. "I think we should get some people ahead," I told Grandpa.

"Agreed. Lakshmi, Mitch, Bill, Bob, stay together, get away from this fracas, and get to the objective," Grandpa barked. "Once you're there, under no circumstances leave it."

"Yes, sir," Bill replied. The brothers and the Ragtag pair split off from us and loped southward, putting space between them and the hill.

The objective had just become distraction. I grinned, put my head down, and charged up that hill. As soon as I was close enough, I cast Call 'Em Out, getting the attention of at least half of the enemies still atop the hill. I emptied a barrage into the closest one, coughing and watching my eyes fill with tears from all of the smoke. I heard Mak’gar roaring somewhere near me. I hoped he wouldn't hit me in this confusion. Grandpa gave a wild "whoop" as he shadow stepped in and hit someone. A moment later, he vanished from my mini-map. The chaos was just great, until a bunch more red dots appeared suddenly in the middle of the hill.

"Oh shit! The portal’s back up!" Lakshmi’s Crystal Vibrations must have worn off. I Reloaded and shot a Barrage at the first enemy I got a good look at. It kept coming, materializing out of the fog as a wolf-man a foot taller than me with flaming red eyes. I shot again, as the wolf-man lunged for me, knocking me to the ground.

His slavering teeth ripped my throat out.