Light surrounded her yet again, and Alex found herself facing a difficult choice.
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quests Completed! +60 Experience]
[Secondary Patrol Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary War Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Challenge Quest Completed! + 40 Experience]
[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! + 40 Experience]
A full clear was more than she had expected out of her new team. Of course, they hadn’t realized that she had accomplished one. Now that they were going to reach level three, she’d need to be more careful about her lies, since they’d have a better idea of what Quests she could have chosen.
Still, the real difficulty was from the next section that appeared in her vision.
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield increased from 15 to 20!]
[Anticipate increased from 15 to 20!]
[Recovery increased from 11 to 15!]
[Running increased from 13 to 15!]
Her Skills had improved dramatically, due to the amount of fighting that she’d faced. The rush back to the portal had even gotten her a bit of an increase in Running, which she hadn’t expected. Now, though, the Screen was going to be giving her some hard choices.
She could cash in on Titles, either by Chaining Skills or by resetting them—but that would leave her vulnerable to whatever Liliana and Team Alpha were planning. Paul had probably thought he was being sly, asking questions about how she wanted to develop her abilities, but it was clear there was something planned for the next time she made herself vulnerable. Even if she hadn’t had that suspicion, Liliana had already tried to kill her that way once, and now she had a team in place that might help her do it.
At the same time, the Knights had proved one thing beyond doubt; the Surveys were going to be increasingly difficult from here on out. If she just maintained her power, she’d be fighting an uphill battle against ever-increasing forces of Grue or whatever Liliana had planned. She’d need to advance, eventually.
So really, the question was, did she do it now, or in the future?
As she pondered, the Screen shifted again.
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Combined Arms–Axe/Shield to gain a Title?]
Alex stared at the words, glowing yellow in the void before her. Then she made a decision.
She denied the option and watched as it changed.
[Anticipate has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Anticipate to gain a Title?]
Again, she denied it. The next option she’d been expecting appeared.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Running and Recovery?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels.]
She hesitated. Then she made her choice. Recovery had been helpful, but she needed the Skill slot. She Chained them.
[Skill Chain unlocked! Skills Running and Recovery removed. Skill Marathoning gained! Skill Chain bonus gained! Title Persistent gained (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, and Marathoning by one.)]
Alex grinned. Now that she’d made the choice, she felt lighter somehow. Maybe that was just an effect of the new Skill, though. The next choice loomed, and she hesitated only because of how much more it meant.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Combined Arms–Axe/Shield and Anticipate?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels.]
There was hesitation, but the decision was already made.
She Chained them.
There was a sudden, almost brutal rush of power as the two max level Skills merged. Her eyes went wide as something shifted in her, and when her vision cleared, the words that hung in the air before her made her breath catch.
[Skill Chain unlocked! Skills Combined Arms–Axe/Shield and Anticipate removed. Skill Battle Maneuvers gained! Skill Chain bonuses gained! Title War Maiden upgraded to Title Lady of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by one.) Title Quick Reflexes upgraded to Title Natural Combatant (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by one)]
It was just about everything she could have hoped for. True, she was going to be vulnerable, but once she got going again… she’d have more than enough power to take on whatever the portal was going to throw at her. All she had to do was keep it to herself for a day or so.
[Two Skill Choices available. Please select two additional Skills.]
Her choices here were as obvious as they were necessary. She selected Melee–Axe and Melee–Shield. They wouldn’t lead to anything particularly useful in the long term, but she’d gain additional power from them in the short term that might make it easier to be effective again. At least, that was what she hoped.
Her choices finished, Alex closed her eyes and tried to prepare herself. She needed to be convincing, and needed to stay composed, at least until the next Survey was done. Just two days. It seemed like forever and no time at all. The thought made her laugh as the light came over her again…
Alex returned to Earth, still chuckling to herself. She tried to wipe any humor from her face. The last thing she needed was to give Joanna, or the rest of Team Alpha, a reason to doubt her sincerity.
She walked off the platform, following the rest of her team. Paul had already started giving his own report. Given the way he kept darting harsh looks in her direction, she doubted it was painting a flattering picture, but that was kind of a lost cause, anyway. Liliana’s view of her was already set in stone; one report full of petty complaints wasn’t going to change a thing.
When it was her turn, Liliana’s eyes were sharp and knowing. “Alexandretta, how do you feel the Survey with Team Alpha went? I admit that I have been hearing some concerning details about your performance.”
Despite bracing herself for it, Alex felt a burst of frustration and defensiveness. Instead of responding with anger, however, she clamped down on her emotions and gave Liliana a tight smile. “I’m sorry to hear that, team captain. I felt our Survey went fairly well, even if I wasn’t able to complete all of the Quests I had assigned to me.”
Liliana didn’t quite restrain the smirk that flickered across her expression. She made a note on her tablet with an air of satisfaction. “I see. I assume that you also persisted in your ridiculous habit of Chaining Skills?”
Alex tilted her head to study Liliana. She allowed a bit of frustration to color her words, hoping that the team captain would misidentify it. “Actually, I held off on it for now. The portal was dangerous enough that I was hoping things would go better if I just kept them steady for the time being.”
This time, Alex caught a hint of surprise and frustration on Liliana’s face. Had she thrown some plan off schedule? If she had, it only told her she was on the right track. “I…see. I’m glad you’ve seen the light at last, at least for the sake of your teammates. Perhaps you can recover their trust by making up for your poor performance next time.”
She gritted her teeth a little at the comment, but forced herself not to snap back. The last thing she needed was to provoke a reaction now, when she was vulnerable. Liliana gave her an open smirk this time, continuing to make a few more notes on the tablet. “Oh! By the way. I’m happy to inform you that your services are no longer needed in the PAD. You may feel free to spend your time either sparring with the others in the gymnasium, or reading approved materials on Surveyor progression. I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that.”
Then she gestured for her to get on the bus with the others, and Alex stalked away. Two more days. That’s all she needed.
“Wow.” Audrey put a lot more feeling into the word than Alex had expected. The Squire looked a little amazed, even impressed, perhaps. “She’s kind of vile, isn’t she?”
Clara reached out and put a hand on Alex’s knee. “Don’t worry. I think she just heard that you were actually enjoying things down there and wanted another way to punish you. The last I heard, Zach was fine.”
“I know.” Alex reminded herself not to explain entirely. She’d sent a text to Zach the moment she boarded the bus, and got a reassuring message a moment later. The company still didn’t know about where her team had gotten the materials for their Raid, and he was still able to monitor the portal. There was some kind of investigation under way, but he still thought he was safe. At least, for now.
Joanna snorted. “Whatever the reason, she’s doing it. We don’t really need any more ‘hunches’ from that direction. We know that the portal’s going to be heavily oversaturated with threats every time we go in, now. At least we’ll be able to keep up with it today.”
Alex looked over at her. “Today, maybe. Friday, it’ll be about the same. Tuesday…”
The Adept stared at her for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “Oh, the weekend. The portal will get less regulated over the weekend, and then they’ll make it that much worse on Monday. It’s going to be a nightmare.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Make sure you warn Team Gamma. I don’t want them taking any stupid risks with their Skills on Friday and getting into a bad situation next week.”
“Consider us warned.” Sam poked his head in and smiled. “Though I appreciate the concern.”
Alex jumped halfway off her bunk, smacking her head into the upper bunk. She grimaced and rubbed at the spot. “How did you get so frigging quiet, Sam?”
“Oh, just a misspent youth.” Sam grinned at her and then waved at the others. His eyes lingered on Audrey for a moment, and then continued. “I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing after your first Survey with Alpha.”
Alex stared at him with a blank expression, and he grimaced. “Yeah, I figured it was like that.”
Clara gave him a curious look. “Oh really? Why?”
“Rudy. The poor guy had a lot of stories to tell.” Sam looked back at Alex, his expression sympathetic. “Honestly, I’m impressed the poor guy is even still a Surveyor. You should have seen his expression when we told him—well, I’ll tell you about that another time. Are you going to be okay?”
His concern was touching, in a way. After so long being worried about them, it felt…refreshing. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I just need to be careful.”
Sam nodded. “So that’s why… anyway, I just wanted to check with you. That, and I wanted to tell you that if you need to stay a bit longer for any reason, we’ll be there for you, okay?”
The offer was incredibly generous, and incredibly likely to end in disaster. She pictured Team Gamma stuck at the portal waiting to see if she was done with her Quests, and getting hit by the Killer or some other threat. “Thanks, Sam, but it’ll be okay. Tell the rest of Gamma that it means a lot. You guys all made level three?”
He grinned and nodded. “Yep. Maybe at this rate we’ll be at four in no time. D rank, here we come!”
With that, he headed off down the hallway. Alex snorted and then turned back to the others. Joanna was looking at her with a fierce expression. “You know, we’d be willing to help too. If your team is that bad, I don’t want you to get stuck falling behind. Not after you’ve been practically keeping them alive.”
Alex glared at her. “You’re going to finish your Quests and get back through the portal. No waiting around to get ambushed. I can handle it, okay? I promise.”
The Adept glared back, and Clara laughed. “Another promise? At this rate, you’re going to be full up.”
She laughed a little, and then shook her head. Two more days, and she’d be safe. All she had to do was make it work for two more days.
“I’m really sorry, Alex, but I guess next time we’ll have to coordinate a little better.” Paul gave her a regretful smile. “Maybe we’ll have enough time to get to your exploration Quests after we finish with the Camps. Once we can.”
The leader of Team Alpha didn’t seem any more sincere than Liliana, but Alex just nodded back at him. After all, she hadn’t actually taken the Explore option for her Quests; instead, she’d taken Patrol again. Not that she had any intention of letting her supposed teammate know that. It was just as clear to her now, as it had been then, that there was a plan in place to frustrate and stonewall her. Better that they didn’t realize that their strategy to stall her wasn’t working—at least until she rebuilt her Skills again.
She’d already set that in motion the day before, begging off from attending the ‘team-building’ exercise the day before by claiming to have a stomach bug. Hopefully, the team would think her problems fighting today were from the same problem. Alex had already mentioned the occasional twinge in her stomach, mostly to keep it fresh in their minds.
Luckily, the rest of the team seemed completely ready to accept that excuse. In fact, some of them seemed amused at the idea of making someone on the edge of vomiting fight; Cash and Emmett had already made a few comments about it. Christopher had been a bit more reserved than the others; he never seemed to laugh or joke as much as the others. Maybe there was a difference that she could exploit there.
For now, she just needed to stay alert enough to get her Skills back.
A few minutes later, they ran into the first patrol. It happened as Cash and Paul were singing—singing, in an obvious war zone—their way across the parking lot of an office building. The Team joked among themselves as Grue piled out into the lot, lining up to fight. Alex didn’t laugh with the others. Instead, her eyes narrowed as her Screen activated. There were more than normal Grue over there, this time.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy four Grue Knights.]
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy four Grue Archers.]
Her breath caught as she recognized the distinctive shapes of a pair of Grue with longbows, along with a single, overlarge Grue with a sword and shield. Why did they have to show up now, with her Skills low? The Archers didn’t have a bandolier of Talismans on their chest, like the Killer did, but their arrows would probably hurt just as much.
The rest of the team saw the advanced Grue in the patrol, and their jokes faded away. Twenty Grue had already been a problem. Twenty plus three advanced types was going to be worse. Paul glanced in her direction, and she saw him already considering whether to run.
Then the Grue charged, and it was too late to do anything but fight.
Alex charged out to meet them, hoping that being in the middle of the fight would keep the Archers from shooting at her. She saw at least one of them shift to fire her way, but she clumsily managed to catch the attack on her shield. It bounced off with a thump, making her waver a little as she rushed in, desperate to start regaining her Skills before the Knight reached her.
The first Grue she faced was howling in rage, its spear extended. She tried to sidestep the stab, feeling horrifyingly slow compared to her former speed. Alex was still faster than she had been, thanks to her Attributes, but not having Combined Arms and Anticipate was going to hurt.
As it did now. The Grue struck out at her and scratched her right arm with its claws. It was a shallow cut, but she grunted in pain before hitting back. She caught it in the arm, and then kept hitting it three more times until it went down, still howling.
Another two Grue struck at her, driving her back as their spears clashed with her shield. She swiped at one of them with her axe, hitting it in the arm. As it pulled back, she mounted a desperate charge with her shield, driving the other Grue back so she could follow up her first target, hacking at its legs. The Grue fell, and she finished it off with a third blow to the head.
Her other opponent snarled and lunged at her, a fact that she used to bat its spear aside. She saw its eyes widen before she put a single desperate swing into its forehead. Alex put all of her force into it, and the Grue dropped immediately, almost pulling her off balance.
Alex crouched and spun back towards the rest of the battle, her breathing harsh in her own ears. A moment after her turn, an arrow bounced off of her shield, and she congratulated herself for knowing it had been coming. Another Grue struck at her as well, landing another blow that twisted her shield aside; she responded by lunging forward and striking at the Grue’s head. It gave out a startled yip as she made contact, and before it could recover, she smashed it to the ground with her shield and crouched to finish the job with her axe.
For half a heartbeat, she considered her options. The battlefield was relatively clear around her; the Knight and the rest of the regular Grue were focused on pressing in around the rest of Team Alpha, who were doing a remarkable job of holding their own. She was momentarily impressed; their Skills were obviously at a higher level than she’d thought, or else they might have already been overwhelmed. Their resistance meant that she could easily cut along the back of the Grue and start taking them down.
Unfortunately, that plan would also give the Archers a clear shot at her back, and she didn’t feel all that urgent about helping her supposed teammates now. So instead of rushing in to flank the rest of the Grue, she brought up her shield and charged the nearest Archer, gritting her teeth as both of the advanced Grue immediately focused their attention on her.
One arrow thudded into her shield again; the other shot past her face, close enough to glance off her helmet. She tried to ignore the ringing sound left by the impact and charged into contact with the closest Archer. It snarled and dropped its longbow, drawing out a knife and a hatchet instead. Alex grinned as she recognized a similarity in its stance, with the knife held backhanded along its forearm and the hatchet ready to strike.
It slashed at her with the knife, the blade glancing off her shield. She pushed in closer and tried to hack at its head. The Archer jumped back, reaching up to block the strike with its knife. Just as quickly, it hooked the blade of the axe around the shaft of her own weapon, preparing to yank it out of her grip. Alex could almost see the grin forming on its bestial lips.
Then she slammed into it with her shield, smashing aside the Archer’s weapons. Her axe was freed, and the Archer staggered backward. Before it could recover, she darted in again, slamming it backward off its feet. She raised her axe overhead, ready to bring it down on the Archer.
She caught sight of the second Archer, its longbow pointed in her direction and ready to loose. Growling with frustration, she pivoted to put her shield in the way, just in time to intercept the arrow. She heard the first Archer scrambling backward over the pavement, and knew if she let it get back up, the fight would turn into a stalemate where the Archers would work together to keep her from getting an advantage on either of them.
Alex decided to end things a bit faster. As the second Archer reached for another arrow, she sprinted after the other one on the ground. The downed Archer lashed out at her, trying to make her draw back. She took the hit across her lower leg, grunting as the knife drew a line of pain across her left shin, and retaliated with a low swing of her axe.
It took a second hit to finish it off, but the Archer went limp. She gritted her teeth against the pain, and turned to face the other Archer, which sent another arrow into her shield. Alex charged at it in response, forcing it to backpedal as it drew out its own knife and axe. Just as she reached it, the Archer lashed out with its axe, knocking her shield aside and opening her for a stab with its knife.
The thrust hit her in her brigandine, where the armored plates stopped it dead. She grunted, the impact still causing a brief flare of pain. Then Alex brought her axe up and around, hitting the Grue right in the collarbone. It snarled and dropped its axe, then drew back the knife for another stab. Before it could complete it, she smashed the edge of the shield into its face, and followed it up with two more axe strikes.
As it dropped, Alex turned back to face the rest of the battle. The rest of Team Alpha was finishing off the last of the Grue; to her surprise, the Knight had actually fallen to Paul, who was still yanking his sword from its chest. Only a few more Grue were left, and the others finished them off as she watched. She tried to trot back to them to help anyway, though she still doubted that they would share any of their health potion. Her breathing was still harsh; she was already missing the benefit of Recovery. She’d definitely have to get it back at some point.
Paul looked like he was on the edge of lashing out at her when she approached. The last Grue had just gone down to Cash, and most of the rest of Team Alpha had taken scratches and some wounds. “What was that? You are supposed to be doing more for our team, Alex. We are depending on you doing your job, not just leaving it to others.”
Alex glanced back at the Archers, and then nodded. “Sorry. I’ll be quicker next time.”
“See that you are.” Paul shook his head at her. “At this rate, I don’t know that we’re going to have the time to do your part of the mission, Alex. Maybe if you were performing better…” He sighed. “Look, you just need to improve. We don’t want to waste time and resources on someone that isn’t pulling their own weight.”
She relaxed slowly, hoping her neutral expression showed some kind of regret. Inside, she struggled not to unleash her own rage on him. If he had a Skill high enough to take on a Knight, he might have equaled her when she still had Combined Arms all the way to max. Things would not go well for her now.
The bodies around them began to burn, and yellow text appeared in her peripheral vision.
[Battle Maneuvers has advanced to level 6!]
[Melee–Axe has advanced to level 6!]
[Melee–Shield has advanced to level 6!]
[Main Quest Progress 4 of 16 targets destroyed]
[Main Quest Progress 1 of 6 patrols cleared]
[Hidden Quest Progress 2 of 4 targets destroyed]
Alex relaxed a little. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure on the math, but unless she was really far off, those levels meant she was over halfway to where she had been before. Of course, she’d hoped the levels would come easier, but anything was progress, and a good sign. One or two more fights like that one, and she’d already be surpassing her previous Skills.
Paul seemed to take her silence as acceptance, and he looked around. “Christopher thinks he has enough potion to help you, this time, but you need to be more careful in the future. Otherwise, we might just have to send you back to the portal early on your own.” He said it like that wouldn’t be a death sentence with the Killer still guarding the place, but she willed herself not to react. “Now come on. We’re losing daylight.”
After Christopher reluctantly shared his potion, Alex helped gather the crystals and other materials left behind, and then followed after the others. Just another few fights, and she’d be ready for anything.
The Knight went down hard under her next attack, and Alex smiled. It was her first kill on one of those that day, and it had felt far easier than she had expected.
Around her were the remnants of the third patrol that they had ‘stumbled’ into. The rest of Team Alpha were taking it far easier this time than they had the other two fights; nobody had even gotten scratched this time, even with the Archers involved. True, Paul had still complained and stomped his foot after every fight, but she’d already passed the point of caring about it. After all, she was already past the danger point as far as they were concerned.
Yellow text flared to life, and her smile grew.
[Battle Maneuvers has advanced to level 12!]
[Melee–Axe has advanced to level 12!]
[Melee–Shield has advanced to level 12!]
[Main Quest Completed!]
[Main Quest Progress 3 of 6 patrols cleared]
[Hidden Quest Progress 1 of 4 targets destroyed]
She’d been careful to kill just enough normal Grue to fulfil her Main Quest; she didn’t want to be locked into the second, larger requirements of the Hidden Quest if the Soldiers were already getting replaced by the specialists. At least she didn’t really have to kill more Archers anymore; she’d gotten both of the ones from the past patrol, and one from this one, but the Screen hadn’t assigned her another Quest to go after them.
Paul scowled at her again, but he seemed a little less certain of himself. She didn’t mind that fact at all. “Okay, let’s get to the Library. I want us to clear that Camp soon.”
The others on the Team nodded; they’d heard the Killer’s horn blasts a few minutes ago, which meant it was already after another of the teams. It still aggravated her she was stuck letting her former teammates bear the risk there, but she had no choice. If she had been able to convince the rest of Team Alpha to move faster, she would have.
They approached the Library, tense and ready for new surprises. If Knights and Archers were going to start appearing in the patrols, then the Camps were only going to get that much worse.
Unlike her team with Sam, Alpha didn’t have anyone able to break in through the side door, so they were stuck heading in through the front. She winced as she heard warning growls up ahead as the sentries saw them, and then charged forward with the others.
Her Screen unhelpfully flared to life as she turned the corner.
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Clear two Grue Camps.]
It was the final Quest that she’d wanted, but at the moment it was looking easier said than done. There were at least thirty Grue waiting for them, with two Knights and two Archers. They were all armed, and the snarls of their challenges rose over the shouts of Team Alpha.
Alex sprinted forward at full speed, letting her legs eat up the distance between her and the nearest Grue. Their grey eyes widened as she closed with them, and they raised their spears in an attempt to ward her off.
It didn’t work. She just lowered her shield and slammed into them, snapping spear hafts and knocking the rest of them aside. An enterprising pair of Grue darted in to impale her from the side. Alex dodged them—mentally rejoicing in the return of the sensations she had grown used to with Anticipate—and twisted to slam the edge of her shield into both of their snarling faces. They went over backwards, and she pivoted back to smash aside a few more spears coming at her from the other direction.
Then she raised her axe, and began to hack her way through them, killing the Grue one and two at a time. Each hit felt like it could send the enemy flying; in one case, she did actually hit one hard enough with a rising strike that lifted it off its feet and sent the body flying back into the others.
The Grue Soldiers abruptly melted away in front of her, choosing to face the rest of Team Alpha instead of continuing to feed themselves to the edge of her axe. She grinned, ducked an arrow from an Archer, and ran straight at the closest Knight. It met her with a howl, already sending a blisteringly fast sword thrust in her direction.
Alex darted aside and then slapped at the blade with her axe. The Knight’s startled yip made her smile as the sword jerked upwards, and she turned her shield to use the edge as a weapon. It barely got its own shield in the way, and the hit still forced it to take a step back.
It brought the sword up for an overhand strike, but before it could bring the blade down, she darted in under its guard to hook its ankle with her axe. The Grue yipped again as its stance slipped away from it, and the downward stroke bounced off her shield with far less force than it should have. Alex shoved the blade up and away again, pivoted to let the Grue punch its shield past her, and then delivered a brutal axe strike horizontally across its torso.
The Knight staggered, grey eyes wide as the axe tore through it. Alex punched with her own shield, landing a solid hit on its right wrist. It dropped the sword, still off balance, and she hacked into its right shoulder for good measure. As it fell, she hit it twice more to make sure it was down.
As the Knight collapsed, she was already watching for the next threat. One of the Archers was down; Christopher had started sniping them from the back line, which was honestly a bit of a relief. The other looked like it was firing at Paul and Cash, both of whom were dodging and trying to stay close to Emmet’s shield.
She found the last Knight starting in their direction and grunted. Her Quest needed two more of those dead by her hand, and she wanted it done sooner rather than later. With a wild yell, she threw herself into the fight, pausing just long enough to hack a pair of Grue Soldiers to pieces when they got in her way.
The Knight saw her coming and turned to face her. This one brought its shield up to cover itself, its grey eyes narrowing in hate. She clashed her axe on her shield in challenge, and it roared in response, charging at her.
It meant to smash into and through her; she could see it easily, in the way it held the shield and the momentum it was building. She debated meeting it shield to shield, and decided it would be too risky. The Knight had a lot of mass on her, and would have the momentum behind its run too.
So she waited until the thing had committed to the charge and then darted away to the side. It hacked at her with its sword, and she took the hit on her shield, sliding back a little with the force of it. Before it could pull the sword back, though, she trapped it with her axe and pivoted. The move used the force of the Grue’s charge against it, and the blade went spinning away into a bookcase.
Alex laughed and then grimaced as it tried to swat her with its shield. The impact stung her arms again, and to her surprise, the Grue grabbed the shield in both its hands and raised it like a block of stone it wanted to use to crush her. She charged before it could, smashing her own shield into its torso to force it back, and then caught it in the leg with a deep cut that dropped it to one knee.
The Knight had enough time to grab her shield, wrenching at it like it was trying to tear it from her grip. Then she brought down the axe three more times, and it went limp, still, and silent.
When she turned back, the remainder of the Grue had nearly all fallen. One of them froze; it had been in the process of creeping up on her. She threw herself on it before it could retreat. Sure, she could have left it for the others, but why would she? Her Skills were advancing, but she needed them to come back, now more than ever.
[Battle Maneuvers advanced to level 14!]
[Melee–Axe advanced to level 14!]
[Melee–Shield advanced to level 14!]
[Hidden Quest Progress 1 of 2 camps cleared]
[Hidden Quest Progress 3 of 4 targets destroyed]
Alex studied the words with satisfaction as the rest of Team Alpha gathered up the remains of the Grue. The next Camp they hit would finish two of her Quests, and she was almost certain that they’d ‘just happen’ to run into a few more patrols before they made it there. If her supposed teammates didn’t arrange for it, then she would.
Paul yelled at her across the Library. “I’m glad you’re feeling so much better, princess, but maybe help the rest of us?”
She snorted and got to work. Her hands moved quickly to recover the crystals and the rest from the wreckage. Sooner or later, it would be time to make sure that whatever plan Liliana had for her was set off a little too early. Maybe if she tore through enough Grue, she could give them a little push towards it. Time would tell.
Sure enough, they ran into two more patrols on the way to the Camp at the Market, and Alex managed to get one of the Knights before the others, leaving her with just one more patrol and one more Camp to deal with.
She was feeling fairly good about the situation when Paul abruptly pulled her aside. “Look, you’re doing much better, but now you need to be a bit more committed to the team as a whole. Try to clear out the normal Grue, so that the rest of us can take care of the big ones. Okay? Maybe you could even start wounding them so that someone else could finish them off. Do that, and we’ll think harder about getting to your Explore thing. Understand?”
Alex stared at him, realizing that they must have gotten similar Hidden Quests. He wanted her to help them finish their Quests. She forced herself to nod, and then grimaced when he turned away. She didn’t really need to hit the big ones anymore, but allowing the others to get any stronger just seemed foolish to her.
All the same, when they hit the Market, she contented herself by reaping a harvest of regular Grue. It felt so easy now, like she was tearing through enemies that were practically standing still. The Archers shot at her, and the Knights tried to close with her as she hacked their lesser friends to bits, but she just moved away through the fight, giving Team Alpha a shot at them when the lesser Grue broke. Even then, her hands itched as they moved against the big ones, wanting to just finish it for them.
Which only made it that much more galling when they ‘conveniently’ ran across another three patrols on the way out, where she was forced to watch them dance around while she occupied the easier enemies. By the time they reached the portal, she was practically gnawing at her own shield over the number of kills she’d let them have. She spent a full minute glaring at the vortex after her party had stepped through, debating whether it would break her promise to Clara if she went hunting for patrols on her own.
Finally, she sighed and stepped through, letting the light swallow her…
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quests Completed! +60 Experience]
[Secondary Challenge Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary War Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Challenge Quest Completed! + 40 Experience]
[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! + 40 Experience]
Another full clear, despite everything that Team Alpha had thrown at her. They were hopefully still mostly unaware of what they were dealing with, but she was definitely not going to let them keep undercutting her efforts. She’d try to have them spring whatever trap they had planned by Tuesday at the latest. Waiting for the other shoe to drop was going to drive her insane.
All the same, it was hard not to feel a glimmer of pride as she read the next words.
[Battle Maneuvers increased from 0 to 18!]
[Melee–Axe increased from 0 to 18!]
[Melee–Shield increased from 0 to 18!]
[Marathoning increased from 0 to 1!]
The Skill increases meant she was nearly twice as strong as she’d been on the last mission. If there was any time she’d be ready for Liliana’s plots, it would be now.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Melee–Axe and Melee–Shield?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels.]
She denied it, and was relieved when that was the only option the Screen presented to her. A moment later she was falling through the light again…