"Okay, this is it," said Ethan. He signaled, and their small convoy of cars came to a stop. Almost immediately, the reporters that had been brave enough to actually show up hastened over with their guards. Several of them, with cameras, had strategic vantage points to capture what was about to take place, the show they'd been promised. Chad had shared what Max was intending as a way to entice them to come in the first place.

Max eyed the approaching reporters and grimaced. "You guys got this, right?"

"Yeah, I'll go talk to them," said Ethan. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always," said Max. He retrieved his sword and other weapons from the back of the car and moved towards the distant portal. What had once been an athletic park at the edge of town was now deserted. When the monsters had first attacked, an entire Little League team had been massacred at this location, but Max couldn't see any evidence of it. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

These monsters had a taste for human flesh.

The athletic park had five baseball diamonds and two concession stands. To one side, there was a small forest, screening a trailer park community. The entire area had been evacuated. Hopefully.

Behind Max, there were businesses across the street that ran parallel to the park area, two of which were tall enough for the cameramen of the news crew to get a decent angle. They all knew what Max was here for. Max was going to challenge the champion monster outside the gate. After the champion monster was down, his team, the newly minted Trifecta Guild, could enter the portal together and conquer it.

The enemy sentries sent out an alarm when they noticed Max's presence. He thought it was somewhat ironic how these kobolds had been a problem for the human survivors for the same reason the fauns back in the dungeon were a pain in the ass for Max.

He spotted the issue almost immediately. "Damn shamans," he muttered. Monsters with tribal buffs were tricky, especially for lower powered warriors. With sustained fire, even vanilla humans with guns should have been able to handle kobolds. But their shamans had an aura that conferred extra toughness and resilience. Then on top of that, the champion had an even stronger aura that protected them all as an additional layer.

They were the same type of kobolds that he’d killed back at the apartment complex.

Max was slowly being surrounded by the enemy. They were definitely confident in their magical superiority. He rotated one shoulder, loosening it up. Tension grew, practically making the air crackle. Max stared down the kobold champion, an especially ugly, slightly larger kobold. It was both a shaman, wearing bone fetishes and a headdress, but also a warrior with armor and a large spear. The creature seemed to be smarter than its brethren and showed noticeable wariness.

No wonder they've been massacring everybody, Max thought.

The key to this fight would be to remove the head of the snake, to take out the champion first, then the shamans, and the rest of the kobolds last. But there were probably very few fighters yet on the continent that could kill this champion on its own, much less buffed by the shamans. And on top of that, the kobold warriors were not going to just sit still if somebody tried to do so. Even if there was more of a military presence in this area, Max doubted that any infantry weapon systems would have been able to penetrate the layers of magical protection.

Vanilla troops would need heavier firepower. Luckily, Max had mana. Magical defenses were usually much stronger against mundane weapons than against other magic. And Max specialized in destroying magical armor.

Hey, Lavinia, he absently thought.. Are you ready? Is everything okay?

The ghost girl's voice came back immediately in his head, her tone a bit subdued. I've been with you the entire time you’ve been on your world, just watching.

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Max frowned. He realized that walking into combat was probably not the best time for a heart-to-heart, but the spirit's tone had caught his attention. Is something wrong? he asked.

"Nothing we can't talk about later. Honestly, I've been really happy watching you spend time with your friends and plan for the future. I guess it's just sort of a melancholy thing."

Max nodded, knowing that Lavinia could see the gesture. "So, what do you think of Earth?" He asked.

The ghost laughed. Are you really asking me this question right before you're about to be fighting for your life?

Max shrugged. Well, I guess I just did.

Lavinia appeared to one side, standing with him. Now that his summoner senses were getting stronger, he could immediately tell that she was only appearing for him. She rolled her eyes and mentally said, It's lovely, but I think we can talk more about that later. To answer the question that I know you actually want to ask me, yes, I'm ready and so are my spirits.

Sounds good, thought Max. Then do me a favor and send a few out to make sure there aren't any straggler monsters or escapees after this. I want to make sure we clear them all up.

Good. I hate these things. Kill them all. Lavinia nodded and disappeared.

Max's ectoplasm armor sprang into existence, startling most of the approaching kobolds. Their leader, the champion, narrowed its eyes and snarled something guttural. A second later, all the monsters were about to rush him. When he judged the time was right, right before the kobolds actually engaged, Max moved.

He sprang forward, moving directly at the champion monster. As he moved, he threw three of his explosive beads. They exploded outward away from him, exactly as they were designed to do. The kobolds were protected, but they still got rocked by a bit of the force, bowled over as dirt and other detritus obscured their vision.

The kobold champion reacted quickly, throwing a magic construct net out, but Max borrowed Slick’s power and jumped straight over it. His mana-enhanced sword darted out for the leader’s neck. Max hoped that the creature would be confident enough in its protection to take the hit, but the kobold must have sensed the danger at the last second. Its spear came up, deflecting the blow as it darted back, but the tip of Max’s sword still took out a chunk of its shoulder.

Snarling, the monster darted back and the other kobolds that were still on their feet rushed at Max. The champion raised its spear and a green glow spread, covering the other kobolds.

The most efficient way to kill this group of monsters with this composition was to kill the leader. However, this could be tricky because if all the shamans buffed their fellows, and the boss buffed them, in turn making every buff even stronger, even most strong fighters would likely need to retreat, survive, wait for the magic to wear off, and find an opening.

But Max was a Blade Sorcerer.

Two of the kobold warriors rushed him from the right side, but Max wove between them, deflecting their weapons and threading through the threat. With two more enemies on on his heels, the rest protecting the shamans, Max closed with the champion kobold again.

This time the creature was more confident in its protection, stabbing at Max with its evil spear. After deftly deflecting the weapon, Max slid forward impossibly quickly, using such unorthodox movements the monster didn’t even register the attack until it was over. There was a squelching sound and a wail as the other kobolds realized what had happened.

Max turned to see the top half of the champion toppling over, a mess of entrails splashing onto the ground. The creature’s spear dropped from numb hands at the same time as the green shield dropped from the remaining monsters.

With a grim visage, Max darted forward, avoiding the kobold warriors to kill the shamans. Although these creatures had a good system of overlapping protection, they were nowhere near as strong as the fauns. He systematically slaughtered each of the shamans. The last tried to run away but didn’t get very far.

After the last of the dangerous magic-slingers were down, Max gave the signal for the rest of the Trifecta to join him and begin mopping up the other kobolds. Almost all of the creatures fought to the bitter end, guarding their portal until the light in their eyes faded.

Even though this mission was strategic, utilizing his time to help his new guild, it felt good to rid the world of vermin like the kobolds.

Max cleaned his sword on some grass before sheathing it, watching with a critical eye as his friends kill the last couple monsters.

They lacked experience, but they definitely had the raw power to be his backup in the portal and come back alive. There were always surprises in combat, and nothing was ever sure, but Max had been willing to call off the entire operation at the last minute if he’d weighed the odds and had felt his friends were in an unacceptable amount of danger.

But at this point, they needed the experience and they needed the power or they might die as the world grew more and more dangerous.

It looked like all the kobolds were killed. If there were any stragglers, the reporters’ guards should be able to handle them with their guns.

Max gave Ethan the signal to round everyone up for one last meeting.