“Ah, hell nah! This is some bullshit right here. A damned water level! ”

Nick’s party arrived on the floor through the portal on a small ship, the sky covered in clouds from a storm.

Rebecca and Irene both latched onto Nick with their arms, the winds influencing their light bodies much more than the rest of the party. They had to ramp up their mana aura to protect themselves or get blown away, but Rebecca narrowed her eyes on her mother.

Irene shrunk away a little bit from her daughter’s gaze as she let go of Nick. “Ah, haha… sorry, I just did what was instinctual! I knew Hero was sturdy, and wouldn’t let me fly away.”

Luna chuckled as Rebecca looked conflicted. What Irene said was true.

Kaya snickered at Nick, the small boat bobbing in the water as the turbulent winds and waves tossed their boat. “It’s not that bad. It sounds like there’s going to be a fun fight this time at least.”

Luna marveled at the small ship they were given. It was a single-masted ship that barely housed the ten people and two soul servants of Boss’s party. Somehow, they were supposed to face an entire fleet, only having a single harpoon gun on the small deck. Birdy riding Jasper took up much of the space, and Fang now happily scrubbed the deck flooring with the mop, proud to take on this task for now.

Jasmine was looking up at the sky, which was full of clouds. “This blows. If there was a bit more sun, I’d be able to recharge a little more.”

The party spent a few minutes attempting to find their bearings quickly, the prompt providing little detail as there was nothing in view but the turbulent water around them. No land or vessels nearby.

[Test of Tactics – Those that walk the Path of Kings must be prepared to face a variety of challenges, on all types of battlefields. With your elite party, help the Mistwalkers defeat the Windswept Wraiths. Defeat the enemy flagship before the Mistwalker’s flagship is destroyed.]

Eirwen then checked with the spirits, finding their heading was already the correct one. With Luna sending wind into the sails with her elemental totem, they were moving rather quickly… for a small boat, that Nick called a sloop, anyway.

Irene and Rebecca did separate from Nick, Jasmine creating little webbing tethers for them around their waists that could prevent their light bodies from being blown away.

“I can see them in the distance now.” Sable called out from above in the crow’s nest. “There’s uh…mist partially covering six ships which should be our allies, and they’re facing nine of the enemy’s. We’re coming up from behind the enemy’s larger flagship, but one of them is breaking formation to deal with us.”

Sable added, “I do see the Mistwalkers creating more mists, but the Wraiths are blowing much of it away with fierce wind magic. A bad matchup for them.”

Nick snorted. “With them peeling off to deal with us, we’re forced to face them, right? I suppose it would be too easy if we could just…beat the leader in one go.” He turned to Jasmine, and noticed she was weaving something, and it was much larger than clothing. She was currently in her four-armed form. “What are you making now, Jas?”

Jasmine smiled, her four hands weaving at a rapid pace, the cloth growing fast as it pooled onto the deck in front of her. She even pulled a few bolts of cloth out of her spatial sack, and was combining them. “A surprise! Just wanted to try something, Master. If it works, I think you’ll like it.”

Eirwen took a deep breath through her nose. “Mmm… the smell reminds me of our beach date! You have to admit, this still beats the desert, hubby.”

Nick side-eyed his sheep wife. “You say that now, but what lies in wait, just underneath the surface? Let’s see if you still say that when a giant kraken starts eating our pathetic ship the keeper gave us, and you get your beautiful, wooly mane doused in salt-water. On top of that, this doesn’t seem like fair odds at all.”

Irene hummed. “A kraken? Hm, I suppose since we’re Angels of light, they would very much like to eat Becca and me.”

Rebecca’s eyes went wide as she perhaps imagined such a thing happening, and suddenly looked a little worried.

Irene matched her daughter’s expression, though Luna could tell it was a little fake as she entreated to Nick, “You’ll protect us, won’t you, Hero? Krakens are scary and dangerous. A horrible way to die, drowned and with our limbs and bones crushed and broken, just before being eaten by its dreadful beak.”

Nick grinned at Rebecca and Irene. “ Any krakens that try to touch any of my girls or my mother-in-law are going to be turned into frozen calamari, and that’s a promise.”

“W-Wait, mother. We can just fly away if the kraken attacks.” Rebecca narrowed her eyes on Irene. “I’m new to the flying thing, but you shouldn’t forget that so easily.”

“Ah, haha…you’re right. How…” Irene hesitated, then spoke rapidly, “silly it would be to forget that. But you know, we can’t really fly for long at this stage. Glide with the wind for a hundred miles? Sure. Fly against it for more than a quarter hour? Hardly. We’ll be stronger once we get our halos.”

Nick’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh, so you do get those later, huh? I was wondering about that…”

Irene nodded. “In the third stratum. It grants us further control over the essence that makes up ourselves.”

Luna’s air totem continued pulsing, sending wind into their sails and pushing them in the right direction. As they moved closer, Luna saw that there were quite a few archers on crenelations, set up around the higher deck of what should be a galleon-sized ship. The ships oddly looked a lot like castles floating on the water.

Nick was squinting his eyes, trying to get a better look. “They kinda look like ghost pirates, really.”

Sable added, “Some are wearing armor more like typical soldiers, and there’s robed casters too.”

Arrows started arching toward them, falling like a rain. Nick pushed out his Frost Aura, which slowed and weighed down the arrows with cold, making them fall short.

Nick gave a satisfied expression at how his special aura protected the little ship, but his face quickly morphed into a scowl. “This is bullshit. They didn’t even give us any defenses.”

Kaya laughed. “You get annoyed so easily with this keeper, maybe they’re not really out to get you, but just want to challenge you? We’re over-leveled for this challenge. Isn’t this just fair? Let’s just take their ship. It’s bigger and better, right? Then we’ll just crash it into the flagship.”

Nick looked at the harpoon gun, before sighing. “I suppose that’s the path we’ve been… poorly prepared for. I just wish I had a little more…control. They like pitting us against things we have nearly zero control over.”

Luna hated to see her Alpha worried this way, stressed and frustrated for some reason. In any battle they’d faced, he was always so confident. He mentioned control… “Even if this keeper seems to give you a hard time, they have been giving us all appropriate challenges that help us grow. It is not just a death trap. What makes you so frustrated about the Ordeals, Boss?”

Nick frowned. “I think… I really just don’t like the idea that someone is looking down on us, like some kind of god. That we can live and die at their whims. It kinda… pisses me off, you know?”

Some arrows started raining much closer, despite the Frost Aura protecting them. They were nearing the ship, which had dozens of archers and what was probably near a hundred of these… Windswept Wraiths on it.

They looked like humans for the most part, but it was almost like they were ghosts or spirits, a little like the specters on the second floor they faced. Their bodies were nearly transparent where their clothes didn’t cover, a greenish hue that their form drifted into a haze rather than looking solid and substantial. But their clothing looked solid, and they still held physical weapons and wore armor.

Kaya brandished her axe. “We should be in range of that spear-gun thing soon, no? Who’s going to shoot it?”

Eirwen added, “It looks like they are turning to run parallel with us. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to close on them unless we move faster. Luna’s doing a good job, but their people are using the wind too. But maybe that thing can help?”

Luna did her best to pick up her pace with her totem, sending more mana into it. The odd statue she carved with numerous levels of faces and winged figures shimmered, sending more wind into their sail.

Sable went down from the crow’s nest, and bounded over to the spear gun at the front of the ship. There was a coil of rope next to it, but Luna thought the whole premise was dubious. Climbing or crawling across a rope while being shot at by dozens of archers seemed a poor choice.

Irene frowned at Nick. “I’m surprised you hate the Keepers so. They merely carry out Orion’s Will, choosing the best way to Test you and help you grow. To nurture you. They are meant to create risk and challenge you, and people do die as a result when they fail. But they are not to create death traps, like Luna said. Where did you even hear of them?”

Kaya chuckled. “Nick had a special moment back on the second floor with a do or die sort of Optional Test that appeared. The Keeper had a strange, angry message for him that berated him for all his flaws, then his dad confirmed their existence in the Heritage. I’m sure if the first thing never happened, the Keepers wouldn’t even be in his thoughts.”

Irene tilted her head. “Really, a special test appeared, along with a message to him? I’ve never heard of anything like that happening!”

Sable said, “Firing! Get ready!”

She shot the harpoon, and it stuck into the side of the ship. They were now a little over a hundred feet away, but they were closing fast thanks to Luna’s efforts. There was a crank on the harpoon to reel in the rope, and Sable began turning it as they closed.

Fang kicked the harpoon gun at its base. “That was lame. Why’d they even give this thing to us?”

The party gathered at the rope, and Luna and Sable gathered under Fang’s shield held above them, while the rest gathered behind Jasmine’s larger body. Nick’s chains swirled around them and deflected some arrows, and even Birdy’s swirling feathers was helping.

But then Jeffrey, the odd beetlefolk supporter, started vibrating its wings next to them, the odd effect helping deflect the arrows. The creature had mostly been quiet aside from carrying out his role, but it seems it had an interesting ability.

Nick looked the creature over. “Huh, good job Jeffrey. You’re welcome to stay back here if you like, or stay near Fang or Jasmine. They’ll watch over you.”

The creature buzzed and nodded, and pulled out two shields from its pack.

Jasmine had given the harpoon a quizzical look as she put away…whatever it was she was making and pulled out her shield, allowing her to shield the party. “Jeffrey is sturdy even though he’s smaller now, and he’ll fight with me. As for the harpoon, I think it’s meant to just help keep the boat near while we raid this other one.”

Sable and Eirwen started returning fire with their bows, but it was difficult to hit the archers. The windswept wraiths used magical wind to their advantage, deflecting their attacks along with the castle crenelations. Luna would cast spells to help, but her focus was on maintaining the speed of their vessel.

Dozens of these wraiths stood protectively next to the archers looking over the crenelations, watching their boat near. A whirlwind of feathers started swirling around Jasper and Birdy, deflecting blows meant for the larger wolf.

Nick whistled as he looked at the enemies arrayed in front of them, his chains starting to bat arrows aside. “Man, there sure are a lot of those guys up there. Nine big ships like this? That’d be way too much work for us.”

Fang’s tail was wagging, and Luna could see she was eager for the fight as she held her spear and shield at the ready. “It doesn’t matter how many there are if they aren’t strong like us. Let’s do this!”

Jasmine fired a spray of webbing from two of her hands, creating what looked like a net. The net-like strands then latched onto the enemy ship. They shimmered as she connected them to the deck of their smaller ship, and it was a lot like their clothing, having a stone-colored gray hue to them.

Luna could tell they were sturdy, and was proven right as several arrows bounced off of the glowing fabric as the archers tried to cut down the webbing. It went up over three stories, taking them to the main deck of the massive ship.

Nick snorted at their attempts. “Good job, Jas. Much better than that crummy harpoon. Let’s go.”

Jasper howled and Birdy squawked, the wolf larger than a wagon leaping up the webbing toward the top. Shards of ice started cutting into the enemies, the rest climbing up the web as easily as stairs. Some soldiers were ready for them at the edge, but the larger wolf had easily given them a foothold onto the decking thanks to its larger size crashing into them and sending them flying.

Nick and the rest arrived next to them, giving his martial arts shout and empowering the party as his Soul Blade flashed, killing one of the soldiers as his Frost Aura spread and slowed those near.

As her pack began facing off against these Windswept Wraiths, Luna let herself be swept away into the flow of the battle. Her totems pulsed as she entered the fray, her spear stabbing into openings created by Fang’s shield work, or simply defending her flanks.

For Luna, fighting as a pack meant fighting for each other to defeat the enemy. There was no room for selfishness in battle, there was only a drive for victory. Fighting together for the good of the pack instead required selflessness. If the battle was difficult enough, it meant that one must bear their throat to the enemy to give their kin an opening.

Eirwen had shot her bow, taking one of the low-armored enemies in the shoulder. Her arrow had passed right through, the wraith’s body surrounded in a windy haze. Sable’s arrow then struck another enemy, the arrow covered in shadows, piercing into their body with the wraith moaning in pain.

Sable shouted, “They are resistant to physical attacks, use magic or target Boss’s ice!”

Luna remembered how the ice which climbed over enemies created weak points in her enemies, but she quickly cast Elemental Weapons: Ice on Kaya, herself, and Rebecca’s weapons, coating them with a layer of frost. Everyone else prepared their own elemental attacks, their weapons making contact and widening their opening on the deck.

As the party continued fighting the enemy, Luna tried to work on becoming one with the essence and establish her Concept fragment. Luna had received a minor enlightenment after facing the lava elemental, their last trip to the Path of Kings.

In it, she had a short vision of a strange pack of creatures. With the large, branching horns on their heads, they resembled white stags in the cold of winter, with blue gems lining their white fur.

They had six legs with clawed paws, making it a mixture of a horned deer and a cat. The vision was focused on what she knew was the majestic pack mother at the rear, her coat of fur a beautiful silver and its gems more magnificent than the rest.

The pack of the horned deer-cats faced off against a massive bear creature, but the pack fought together fiercely. The pack mother watched with tranquility, an energy pulsing from her like a heartbeat as she watched over her children. The other pack creatures began to resonate with the mother, their monstrous cores pulsing to the same tune.

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An energy of frost wrapped around the other deer cats, the mother somehow coordinating their efforts. The deer were empowered to move faster or strike fiercer, spreading the cold around the massive bear, the mother watching over her pack warmly as they fought with both determination and coordination.

As the bear was brought down and the vision came to an end, she had originally felt little, aside from being impressed that the immense bear could be taken down, and with so few losses of the pack.

But she kept thinking about it. Between the pack mother and her pack was a connection. A bond. The vision somewhat resonated with Luna, and she understood that it was to help her form what was her Concept Fragment. But she had difficulty making this her own, something not quite relatable to her. Something was missing, a piece that didn’t quite match.

She knew Sable and Fang were having similar difficulties with creating their fragments. Their visions were also not straightforward, much like Eirwen’s vision. With some time spent, Eirwen had ultimately gained control of the odd stardust, but no such luck for Luna and her other pack mates as of yet.

Rebecca had said that Enlightenment was often like that, that there would rarely be visions that were entirely perfect for them. It was up to them to find what matched them and their desires and actions, and make it a part of them. As the fight continued, Luna watched over her pack mates, sending out spells or supporting them with her pulsing totem.

Fang howled proudly as she smashed these wraiths aside with her ice-covered shield, or stabbed her spear, sending frost into their odd bodies.

In a surprise move, Jasmine fired a beam of light–at Jeffrey. His odd, mirror-like body reflected a beam of light, and it blasted into a soldier, burning its face.

Nick had dashed deeper into the enemy formation, so Luna only occasionally saw a flash of his blade of light or waves of frost being sent out. The ship was large, and their number of enemies was significant.

Luna smiled as she sent her frost totem ahead of her, blasting a cone of frost over a grouping of soldier enemies. Combined with her Alpha’s Frost Aura, the enemies slowed to a near crawl as they groaned in pain. She then exploited an opening caused by their slow movements with her spear piercing through a man’s chest, and then deflected an oncoming arrow with a pulse from her air totem, creating a small wall of air.

Jasmine appeared to be shooting her beams of light and targeting the archers, dashing toward the crenelations as she stabbed or slashed with her large spear, and batted enemies away with her shield. Two of her hands held a single large turtle shield that resembled Nick’s on Jasmine’s left, allowing her to bash and barrel through enemies, and two hands held the spear on her right, stabbing rapidly from different angles.

Her large body was both sturdy and nimble somehow, and Jeffrey followed alongside her like an odd duckling, strangely anxious about Jasmine rather than the enemies, it appeared. His two shields easily deflected any attack, and his wings buzzed, enhancing his movement on foot.

Rebecca and Irene supported the party with their spiritual shouts and swinging their staves, disrupting the enemy’s flows and preventing them from surrounding the party so easily. Birdy squawked from on top of Jasper as it directed its magical frost, the two sending shards of ice as they waded through the enemy ranks. The large wolf’s claws tore through the much smaller enemies, the Soul Servant showing its prowess.

Meanwhile, Kaya and Eirwen tore through enemies quickly. Kaya was like a whirlwind of axes and claws with her three tails grasping axes, while Eirwen rapidly fired her bow, stardust glittering off of her arrows.

Luna watched over her pack as they fought with a smile, pride filling her. Her pack was strong, and what Fang had said earlier was right. It didn’t matter how many enemies there were, if they weren’t strong like them.

As her totems pulsed, she couldn’t help but feel like she wanted to make her pack even stronger. Thinking about the vision, what the matriarch deer-cat accomplished definitely resonated with her in some way.

She wanted to empower them, to protect and watch over her pack. She tried to hold on to this as she fell into a steady rhythm of battle, her totems pulsing to boost her allies or protect them, and her spear striking out and cutting down enemies. A few of them sent blades of wind out with their attacks, but her pack’s auras were simply too strong.

Throughout the original Trial where they met their Alpha, the Optional Test on the first floor, and the lava elemental, she had earned three Traits from Orion. Two of them were what enabled her to become Noblefrost Wolfen, the same Icy Tranquility trait that Eirwen received along with a Frost-tempered Body.

But the trait she received upon defeating the Lava Elemental was Packbound Resonance. In moments of stillness, she could feel her pack mates’ presence as if they were part of her own being. A soft pulse would echo through her, giving her insights into their needs and actions, their emotions and their flow of essence within them.

She loved how it made her closer to her pack sisters–how she could feel their happiness and their desires, and most of all, her Alpha’s. When they were relaxing, sensing his joy and calmness as he lavished her pack with attention made her feel truly satisfied.

It wasn’t lost on her that there was some connection to the vision she felt–minus the leadership aspect of the matriarch.

However, the resonance was a bit too difficult to use in combat. Finding this stillness was far too challenging while running around the battlefield casting spells and protecting her ally’s flank. Still, she continued to try, as her pack fought through the ranks of soldiers on the ship.

The lower deck was eventually cleared of the large number of foes, and then they pushed to clear the remainder of the ship, Nick and Jasper’s efforts having already cut a large swath into them.

Only light wounds from bruises and small cuts were inflicted on her pack, their strength and skill far superior to their enemy. Rather than heal them, she used her water healing totem, which pulsed healing energy into her nearby allies. The heals were weak, but in just a few pulses had the scratches closed and bruises down to nothing less than small angry red spots on their skin.

For a moment near the end, Luna thought she almost made the connection with her Packbound Resonance, but the fight quickly came to its conclusion shortly after.

Still, with everyone safe, she reveled for a moment as she found her stillness. Connecting with her pack, she could feel their thrill of battle, which was especially high with Fang and Kaya, and her Alpha.

She looked over to Nick’s new wife, who she now shared this connection with. Even Rebecca, despite her worry, Luna could feel some pride at how far she’d come in combat. Rebecca didn’t like fighting all these people, but she fought with purpose, knowing that she must overcome Orion’s Tests.

Nick looked over his pack with a smile, proud of how the battle had gone. “Good work, everyone–the ship is ours now. That was not bad, really. I guess we can start our counterattack from here. Sable, try to get a look from above, and Winny, can you try to find their leader? We’ll head toward the bulk of the enemy ships for now.”

Sable rushed to the crow’s nest, and Eirwen and Kaya moved toward the helm–the large steering wheel on the upper decking.

Jasmine stowed away her weaponry in her pouch, and brought out the cloth once more. She began weaving once again, the boat altering its course over the next several minutes. It had gone away from the fleet battle as they had fought, so it took some time to steer the ship in the right direction and return to the battle. The other ships were still in view, the fight having only taken under ten minutes.

Thankfully, it seemed the Mistwalkers had fought defensively. While the wraiths seemed to have a ranged advantage thanks to their control of the winds and superior numbers, the mist walkers had snuck through the mists with smaller ships, reinforcing their ships and allowing more to reinforce their decks and flank their enemies.

Eirwen had been casting her spirit magic, using the elements as her own eyes. “I think I’ve found their flagship, it’ll be a few minutes to head there. It’d be nice if we could use the mists too, but the wraiths are still keeping the mists away from them.”

Nick asked, “What about them krakens? Anything dangerous underwater?”

Eirwen giggled, and then her eyes lit up a few times. “No, I don’t think so. Perhaps the Keeper had mercy on Nick, but it seems this odd fleet battle hasn’t attracted anything underwater. They fight like moving castle battles, really, and few go overboard to draw in any large sea monsters.”

The party rested, recovering their essence as they changed their course to approach the enemy ships. Only Jasmine continued her work after handing Nick his food and drink. Jeffrey the beetlefolk handed out the rest from its spatial pouch. After a while, it appeared that another enemy ship was approaching them, barring their path.

Nick groaned. “I suppose we’re just going to have to fight through all of these damn ships. I wish there was a way to take on their Boss and just end this.”

“Hehe, your wish is my command, Master!” Jasmine smiled as she unfurled the large cloth she had been working on. It was like a giant sheet that caught the wind, like the sails above them.

Jasmine started dragging across the ship’s deck as the large sail pulled her, until she anchored herself down with webbing. She waved one hand, the other three holding the four threads. “Ta-da! Parasail!”

Nick looked over the parasail, and whistled. “Damn, that’s a good job, Jas. We can just fly over to the ship? That might work, but we’d probably have to split the party, right? How many can we take?”

“Hmm…” Jasmine looked over everyone. “I don’t think I can take everyone, nor should I. I think we need Luna for the wind to help control or speed up our flight a bit, and since Sable and Fang are so small and portable…and Rebecca or Irene are so light… and Jeffrey can fly on his own, besides… I think that’s about the maximum I could take along with Master.”

Nick looked more than a little surprised. “You’re sure? In that case…” He turned to the party, “Alright, then we’ll do it like this. You hold down the fort here for now, Jasper, Birdy, Eirwen, Irene, Sable, and Kaya. The enemy ship will be here shortly, so just take them out. The rest will take on their flagship, and we’ll retreat if it’s too difficult, but I have confidence.”

Jasmine nodded. “With a bit of essence, I can even make us a boat with just a few bolts of cloth, which I have. We can escape to the water if we need to.”

Luna and Fang climbed onto Jasmine’s large back, and Nick was held in an odd two-handed side-hug, easily being held aloft.

Once again, Luna prepared her totem. Webbing attached to Rebecca and Jeffrey, and Luna had her totem send the wind into the giant parasail.

Jasmine smiled and nodded at the parasail, as it began lifting her off the ground, despite her anchors. “Alright, looks ready. Everyone hold on, and awayyy we go!”

The anchors disconnected at Jasmine’s action, and the party lifted off the ground, flying toward the large flagship in the distance at a jolting start. The speed was significant and Luna felt her stomach lurch at the sudden acceleration, and before long they were moving far faster than the ship had been going, the wind whipping through Luna’s hair.

“Woohoo! This is fun! We gotta do this again sometime.” Fang’s tail was wagging, and her smile was wide as they flew through the air, her tongue lulling out as the powerful winds hit her face.

It only took a few minutes before the flagship was in view. As they neared, Luna was once again surprised at the number of enemies. This ship was even larger, and the number of troops on it was significant.

They were coming up on the ship from behind, its focus on the other ships facing them. They had gained a decent altitude, and they were looking down on the ship as their parasail flew in front of them.

Sable said, “The leader seems to have spotted us. Oh, the archers now too.”

The leader stood a whole head taller than the rest, his green robes intricately detailed with gold filagrees. He held a large saber in his hands, the man shouting out orders to his allies as he pointed with it. He was near the back of the ship on a higher deck, surrounded by what seemed to be caster wraiths.

Jasmine asked, “Where do you want to land, Master?”

Nick pointed, “Let’s go straight for the Boss. Not many will be able to surround us on the upper deck anyway. Let’s push through.”

Arrows began to be shot and hit the parasail, but the odd stone property of Jasmine’s petrasilk deflected them without an issue. Jeffrey was flying alongside them, surprisingly able to mostly keep up, the tether mainly meant as a backup, it appeared. He dodged the arrows heading for him or blocked with his shield, moving out of the way with unexpected maneuverability.

The leader started building some kind of wind-based attack along with the other casters with their staves. Several wind blades were shot toward their flying pack in quick succession, looking like green wedges of swirling magic–they actually looked a lot like Nick’s Blade Waves. While the parasails were sturdy, Luna wasn’t so sure they’d take that level of magical attack.

“I’ll take care of it!” Jasmine’s Nexus Core necklace lit up, a yellow light gathering in a small orb in front of her. The amount of light it produced was blinding, like a second sun had appeared in the sky, and several of the wraiths actually turned their heads to look away, blinded by the orb.

Beams of light quickly shot out from Jasmine’s orb, piercing through the blades and into the powerful wraith and the other casters. The captain wraith was sent flying through the air toward the middle deck of the ship, and the wind blades stopped being shot toward the party.

They were now over the boat, so Jasmine did something to the parasail and it became more rock-like, and they began to lose altitude as it rose above them and slowed their descent.

When close enough to the deck, Luna and her pack mates leaped off first from Jasmine’s back, and Nick dropped down next to Jasmine. Luna landed on the deck beside Fang, her totems coming to life and beginning to pulse.

The strength of the earth was weaker at sea, but still filled her pack’s bodies with strength. The wind totem created a small wall which deflected the many arrows being shot toward them. Her water totem filled their bodies with soothing waters, enhancing their vigor, and soon she’d switch it to pulse out healing energy. Her fire totem was almost completely useless, the spirit unable to draw any essence from the surrounding area to fuel her spells. She could still use it for more mana and essence of her own, but it would be a poor choice.

Nick’s Frost Aura and chains spread from the ground, immediately attacking the wraiths and freezing them, and Jasmine shot laser beams in one direction as she stabbed her spear in another. Fang charged and pierced through the enemy in front of her with her spear, her frozen weapon covering her target in ice.

Luna dashed out with her spear, staying near Fang, and Rebecca joined them with her staff. Her blows knocked enemies off-balance, allowing Luna or Fang to capitalize on the opportunities.

The captain recovered and rushed up to face Nick, his face a mask of fury. Wind was billowing around him, allowing him to fly through the air rapidly. His saber was pointing forward, the captain targeting Nick.

Nick gave his shout as he met his blade, deflecting the large saber. Chains rushed to meet the new foe, but the winds surrounding the captain batted them back. More soldiers rushed to reinforce the Captain on the deck, and Nick looked at them with excitement. Two of them were larger and stronger, nearly at the captain’s level.

“Finally, looks like a good fight.”

He waved his offhand toward his back as essence gathered, and a billowing cloak of light and darkness unfurled behind him. His body showed a dim glow of light, enhancing his heroic presence.

Nick shouted, “I’ll take on the Captain. Do your best to thin their numbers.”

Jasmine surrounded one of the large sub-captain level enemies with webs of light, and more beams of light shot out to pierce into the soldiers. Fang howled, and Rebecca’s own orb of light rose above them. Luna sent out her cone of cold from her totem, blasting the large group of soldiers that had reached the top of the stairs. Combined with Nick’s Frost Aura, the enemies had difficulty surrounding them, allowing their pack to easily pick the enemies off.

Luna tried once again to slip into her resonance, filled with pride at fighting alongside her mighty pack. As Luna watched Nick fighting and thought about how he led their party, she felt she understood what in specific didn’t match up with the Enlightenment vision she had received. The deer cat packmother was a leader who guided all of her pack’s actions, but Luna was not–her Alpha was.

She only wished to watch over her pack mates, and to aid and empower them along with her Alpha. She wanted to be closer to him. To sooth him when he hurts. To bear the child of her mate, or to show her throat to make an opening for him to achieve victory. Luna would gladly give her everything to her pack, and her Alpha.

Something within her stirred, and she realized that it was the devotion core next to her heart. The mysterious prismatic energy flowed within her, and a small fragment formed within her Soul Core. Her Packbound Resonance seemed to increase, and she could feel her connection to her pack was stronger than ever. She could even feel Eirwen, Sable, and Kaya slightly, despite them being so far away.

They were doing well, she realized. Their fight had actually started earlier than theirs, and they had already cleared out much of the enemies on their ship. She could feel how Kaya roared with success, the challenge of facing so many enemies filling her with enough excitement that Luna could feel it.

Aside from the connection becoming stronger and seemingly not requiring stillness anymore, she didn’t feel anything else different, which felt like a little bit of a letdown. Luna then realized she had to actually do something, which made sense.

She willed her pack to become stronger–a desire, a fervent wish resonating with the world. The essence within her party began to blaze, the energy from the surrounding area being drawn into them. Nick’s Monstrous Blow triggered, his arm bulging and cutting right through the Captain’s arm.

The Captain launched himself back and tried to flee, but Nick’s Cloak of Twilight switched to darkness as he chased after him, leaping into the air.

Fang howled, causing the ice around her to shatter, and sent shards of ice into all the nearby enemies. Jasmine shot several webs filled with light into her enemies like a net, her spear flashing at the now disabled enemies as she stabbed them with impunity.

Luna could feel it well up in her chest as well, making her simply…better. An odd haze filled and surrounded her, reminiscent of Winny’s Omni-Barrier, and it felt like her traits like her Icy Tranquility and Frost-tempered body, and those associated with her class were improved. On top of that, her essence and mana flowed more smoothly as she sent it to her ice totem, sending spears of ice at her foes instead of a mere blast of cold.

Her pride soared as her pack was empowered, and that her Concept Fragment had been formed. It was only a fledgling Concept, but it was already useful. She would need to direct it further to accomplish what she wanted, now that it resonated with her. The improvements to each of these traits and the essence flow was small on an individual level, but since it influenced her whole pack, it was significant.

Nick caught up to the Captain despite his wind magic taking him into the air, as he was able to pursuit using several jumps. Having lost an arm, the Captain could scarcely defend against Nick’s attack in the sky, his white blade of light cleaving him in two.

Once the Captain was killed, cleaning up the remaining enemies went smoothly, and the twelfth floor was almost completed.

A stone arch eventually rose up from the deck, and essence was awarded as the rest of the party was teleported to them. The prompt stated they only had a few minutes of recovery before they were forced to move on to the next stage.

Nick smiled over at Luna, and she could still sense his attention on her. It was like her Packbound Resonance was permanently improved, which filled her with joy, as she’d be able to feel her pack more often now.

“What was that, Luna? You made your fragment?”

Luna smiled, and she knew her tail was wagging. “Yes, I finally did. I’m glad. Now I’ll be able to try out that Concept Chamber!”

Fang’s tail was wagging with her smile wide, like always. “I liked it! I even think I touched on mine a little there!”

Eirwen smiled at Luna. “I felt it too. It really felt like you were watching over us, like you always do.”

Kaya pumped her fist, and her tail swished behind her. “Way to go, Luna! That’s another floor down, and in less than a day, this time. Let’s head off to the next!”