“It’s me!” Emma shouted.

Wyatt hurried after her to find Carlos pointing a crossbow at her.

Where’d he get that?

She was on the ground, a bolt sticking out of her shoulder, her face a rictus of pain.

There was already another bolt loaded into the crossbow somehow, despite Carlos being so shaky that he looked like he was about to drop the weapon.

The area was indeed a clearing; circular, maybe a hundred paces across. Several monster corpses dotted the area, but Wyatt didn’t recognize any of their types. He did notice that they’d all been cut open for their orbs.

So they’ve gotten more orbs. I wonder what kind.

To the right toward the edge of the clearing, standing in front of what looked like a stone shrine were Camila and Patrick—the ones who’d been arguing. Patrick was wearing spiked leather armor, while Camila was dressed in what looked like normal clothes, but Wyatt couldn’t be sure they were the same ones she’d been wearing.

Near them was Kevin, looking like he was waiting in line. His foot was bandaged and looked swollen.

The others were sitting or standing around, watching Carlos pointing a crossbow at Emma.

Except for Bailey, who was staring at Wyatt with wide eyes.

Nearby was a pile of items that Wyatt was pretty sure they hadn’t been transported here with. There were swords, floating metal balls, a slingshot, what looked like a giant scroll, and various other things he couldn’t discern from this distance.

“Prove it!” Carlos cried. “You died! You’re a monster. A zombie!”

“I’m not a zombie,” Emma said. She grimaced and yanked the bolt from her shoulder. She held it up, showing the blood. “Zombies don’t bleed.”

Wyatt was pretty sure that wasn’t true, but this seemed like one of those times where you shouldn’t correct someone. Nor was he going to point out that her blood didn’t quite look normal. First Akira, now her.

Did all of them have blood like that?

“And if I died,” she went on, tossing the bolt to the ground, the hole in her armor having already sealed up, “where’s my body?”

That seemed to stump him.

For a moment. “The aliens ate it and made a zombie!”

That actually was close to the truth, Wyatt thought. They had died, then come back to life. Just not as zombies.

Wyatt wondered what was making the man refer to whatever was responsible for this as aliens. Maybe that’s just what everyone would assume by default. Alien abduction. Unless you watched a certain type of anime or read a certain type of comic, that would likely be the first thing that came to most people’s minds.

His wife Maria came over, pushing the crossbow down. “If she was here to kill us, she would have.”

“Unless she’s waiting till we go to sleep.”

Kevin snorted. “And you called me paranoid.” He pointed at Wyatt. “It’s him I’m worried about.”

“Me?” Wyatt asked. “You mean my skill? You’re still mad about that?”

“My throat’s still sore!” he croaked.

“He has a shield, a cape, and a pleasingly tight outfit,” Jasmine pointed out. “He looks like a superhero to me.”

Kevin scoffed.

“Don’t worry babe,” she told Kevin, “I’ll make sure from now on the only one’s throat he’s tickling is mine.”

Then she went to Wyatt and hugged him. “We were so worried about you guys. Wow, you’re really solid.” She ran her hands over his back.

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Wyatt wondered why she’d want her throat tickled. That seemed like it would be extremely annoying.

Maybe it’s like a sneezing thing?

Or maybe euphemism for something.

Before he could ponder this more, Bailey took a few steps toward the pair. “I’m glad you’re alive,” she said quietly.

“So am I,” Wyatt agreed.

She laughed briefly, a sudden expelling of air, and shook her head. “Yeah.”

Something over Bailey’s shoulder caught his attention. A monster, standing off to the side among the trees, watching them.

He pulled away from Jasmine and quickly focused on the monster. When he did, he could smell it.

It smelled kind of like a dog, or a puppy.

The message appeared a moment later.

No level, even though I can see it. And the order of smelling it and seeing it was reversed.

He tried using Analyzer on it, but it didn’t work.

It looked like the same type he’d seen right before the cipactli had appeared. Maybe even the same monster. Its hat and outfit certainly looked the same.

“It’s fine,” Jasmine assured him. “Little guy’s on our side.”

It waved at Wyatt.

Wyatt just frowned. “Because it tried to warn us about the cipactli?”

“Not only that. So, he doesn’t exactly talk, but he guided us here. From what we can gather, we’re supposed to get stronger and clear out all the monsters. There’s a hundred-something left. We’ve killed about twenty so far.”

“Twenty-six,” Regan put in.

“Is that what the trial-one time-remaining is? Two days to kill all of them?”

Jasmine shrugged. “Checky seems to say no, but that it’s related. Somehow.”

“Checky? You mean Chekotae?” He looked at the monster, who was now only a few feet away. “Is that its name or the type of monster it is?”

“It’s his name,” she said in a baby-voice, looking at it fondly.

“It told you all that without talking? Did it write in the dirt?”

“The number of monsters is from my skill,” Regan said.

Wyatt thought back, recalling the skills everyone had. “Navigator?”

She nodded. “I have a display now that shows a count. Also a map. Kind of. It just shows dots where monsters or their bodies are, not like the whole area, and only if they’re nearby.”

“You used orbs? Do you all have Energy now?”

“No,” Camila spat, glaring at Patrick, who Wyatt noticed was staring at the orbs on his belt. “He used up all the ones from the cipactli attack.”

Patrick waved this off. “I only used one.” He pointed at the monster. “Blame him for taking the other one.”

The little creature burbled something, and Jasmine patted its shoulder consolingly.

Camila just grunted, approaching Emma with a bandage.

Emma shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“You were shot with a magical crossbow bolt.”

Emma motioned at her shoulder. “Armor took most of it. It’s just a scrape. Plus, the armor healed already and the only way to take it off is to take it all the way off. And I don’t feel like getting naked again.”

Camila frowned, but nodded.

“Bro, you took the leveling orbs too,” Tyler pointed out.

Patrick shrugged.

Wyatt still couldn’t get levels for people through scent, but he could through Analyzer, which he used now on Patrick.

Subject

Estimated Level: 2

Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information

Level 2 already? How’d he level up? And subject again, not his name.

Unless he’s lying about his name as well, it seems that’s just what it shows.

Patrick frowned and Wyatt wondered if he could detect the skill being used on him. The flash of light from using the skill was dim and seemed too quick to notice, especially with how bright the sun was out here in the clearing. He also wasn’t looking at Wyatt anymore, having turned his attention to Camila.

So maybe he felt or saw something, but couldn’t tell where it came from?

The only indication on Wyatt himself was the brief flash of light that he was now pretty sure was only around his eyes.

Him being level 2 made Wyatt uncomfortable for some reason. He couldn’t pin down why, exactly. Patrick was boastful and overconfident, but then again, he was rich, even if it had been through sheer luck.

Still, Wyatt didn’t get along with personalities like his, justified or not.

Maybe that was it.

He tried Analyzer on Camila.

Subject

Estimated Level: 0

Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information

She didn’t seem to notice. Maybe because she’s only level 0?

“Who was injured?” Emma asked. “Besides me, I mean. We saw blood on the way here.”

Camila pointed at Kevin’s foot. “He keeps reinjuring the thing.”

“I was running for my life!” he countered.

“How much blood have you lost?” Emma asked.

He waved this off. “I’m fine.”

“A lot,” Camila put in. “That’s the third bandage I’ve put on it, and it’s still bleeding.”

“Feet are like scalp wounds, they bleed a lot,” Kevin said dismissively.

Emma frowned. “There was way too much blood to come from one person.”

“Some of it was probably from the monsters,” Professor Dave said, gesturing around at all the corpses.

“You dragged them here?”

“Some of them. Some came on their own.”

“We got attacked on the way here,” David added. “Then ambushed.”

Brandon pointed at the shrine Kevin stood near. “The sacellum keeps them away, but its range is small.”

“That’s a sacellum?” Wyatt asked, already moving toward it, not hearing the response.

Kevin barked something as Wyatt pushed past him, but Wyatt was already reaching out for the shrine.

You have activated a sacellum