Light surrounded her. Today was the day.
[E Rank Surveyor Alex]
[Ascension Level: 3]
[Role: Page (Role Skills: None)]
[Role Level: 3]
[Experience: 520/1000]
[Attributes: Strength -> 3, Speed -> 6, Life -> 0, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]
[Current Skills: Battle Maneuvers(18), Marathoning(1), Melee–Axe(18), Melee–Shield(18)]
[Permanent Skills: None]
[Current Titles: Lady of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by one.),
Ferocity (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by one.),
Natural Combatant (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by one),
Persistent (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, and Marathoning by one.)]
She drew in a breath. The Screen looked very different from what Liliana and Team Alpha had been conditioned to expect. She’d spent half of Monday losing to the other members of Team Alpha in practice spars—exercises that she was half-sure came from a desire to make sure that she had reset her Skills to zero. Alex had deliberately taken a beating, making sure to move too slowly and too clumsily for them to miss. Each of her supposed teammates had taken turns knocking her around, and Liliana’s smile had been brighter than ever by the end.
Hopefully, that smile wouldn’t look very good when Alex survived their plan and came back anyway.
[Please select your intent]
[Exploration]
[Vengeance]
[Patrol]
[War]
[Salvage]
She hesitated over the choice. Her previous selections had both gone to Patrol, and she’d been able to fully clear them thanks to her teammates trying to sandbag her and dawdling too much in the area. This time, she didn’t know if she wanted to deal with as much combat as before. If something serious happened between her and Team Alpha, she might need to avoid combat rather than throwing herself at every obstacle. The same reasoning made her want to avoid War and Vengeance as well, since the same logic applied there.
Alex was left with either Salvage or Exploration, then, and she paused over that choice for a moment longer. Salvage seemed interesting, but she currently lacked an Inspect Skill, which might make things difficult. With that in mind, she picked Exploration, bracing herself for the unknown.
[Your intent is to Explore]
[Quest Issued! Explore one of the following Areas: Town Hall, Airport, Truck Stop, Courthouse.]
[Quest Issued! Explore one of the following Areas: Mansion, Pool, Power Plant.]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
She looked over the Quests and groaned a little. Well, she’d asked for the challenge; now she certainly had one.
Then she shook her head and tried to get focused. The trap from Team Alpha came first. Once that was over, she could worry about finding the rest of the places. Hopefully, she’d at least run across a map.
As she was thinking, the light came for her…
Stepping out into the other world felt very, very different this time.
For once, Team Alpha appeared to be laser focused on their objectives. They had politely asked her what her Quests were—she’d lied and said something about choosing War, which had made Paul almost smirk—and then had headed out immediately towards one of the known Camps. Alex had been told they would hit the Field first, followed by the Chapel again, and then home. A simple, straightforward way to complete the Quests for everyone.
She hadn’t believed a word, and her suspicions only grew worse as it appeared that Team Alpha’s stealth skills had miraculously improved. They managed to avoid and slip past every single patrol between the portal and the Field, making great time to the Camp. It just coincidentally would have given her no opportunity to level up her supposedly nonexistent Skills, which set her even more on edge.
They made it to the Field just as the horns sounded. Alex crouched with the others as she saw the Grue leaving for the portal. There were twenty of them, with two Knights and two Archers. If that many had left from each portal, there would be at least six times as much following the Killer around. She shivered slightly and then turned her attention to the Camp.
Almost immediately her Screen came to life.
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy four Grue Knights]
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy four Grue Archers]
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Clear two Grue Camps]
She grimaced. The Quests wouldn’t be easy, but maybe she’d at least run across enough patrols to get two of them done. Maybe she could hook up with one of the other teams to finish the one for the Camps too. It would just depend on when Team Alpha decided to spring their surprise.
Paul crouched down next to her, his voice quiet. “All right, Alex, I talked with the other teams, and it’s going to be our turn to play tag with the Killer today, okay? We’re going to need to hit that Camp before anyone else hits theirs. Then we need to head to the Chapel before it can get to us.”
Alex nodded, wondering where he was going to go with this plan. She didn’t believe for a moment that he had been coordinating the Killer’s attention with the other teams—somebody would have mentioned it to her, at least—but she didn’t understand why he was bothering with the additional risk here. Why would he risk getting chased by the Killer if his only real mission was to make sure she was out of the picture?
He pointed to the Camp. “Okay, we’re all going in together this time, all right? We all charge, but if it looks too risky for you, be sure to pull back. I know your Skills aren’t really up to snuff, and I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks. Understand?” She nodded, and he smiled. “All right, let’s go. Everybody get as close as you can, and when I give the signal, we go.”
The rest of the team nodded along, and they crept forward. Ahead of them, the Camp seemed relaxed and unaware of the threat. Many of the Grue hadn’t picked up their spears yet, and Alex wondered for a brief moment if they were actually going to manage to catch them by surprise. If so, it was possible that they could actually clear the Camp fairly easily. There weren’t that many Grue left, after all.
She snuck about as close as she could and waited for the signal. It occurred to her she didn’t know precisely what signal that Paul had chosen for the attack to begin. From previous attacks, she guessed he would just shout and they would all run in. Why was it taking so long?
Alex had just started to feel a creeping sense of dread when she heard Paul yell. She was up out of her hiding spot and sprinting towards the Camp, her axe and shield held ready.
Then she heard a Grue horn sound. It was right behind her, just a block or so back, and it made her immediately jump and spin, looking for whatever patrol had sounded it.
She saw nothing. There were no Grue, and she didn’t see the rest of Team Alpha either. Where were they? Had they just left?
The Grue in the Camp were howling and snarling now, and realized what kind of trap her teammates had planned. She hesitated, wondering if she should pull back, but an arrow hissing by over her head answered the question for her. Running wouldn’t do any good if an Archer put an arrow in her back, and if she tried to hide, the area would be crawling with Grue soon—especially if the Killer decided to show up.
Alex turned back to face the Camp. There were at least thirty Grue, two Knights, and two Archers. Alone, and with no Skills, she’d have lasted maybe two minutes against them. As it was, even with her Skills, the next few minutes weren’t promising.
Which made it that much more important to finish things quickly.
Without another thought, Alex turned and resumed her charge into the Camp. She didn’t have long before the group that had been heading to the portal turned back, and probably not long after that until the Killer showed up. If she was going to clear this Camp, it had to happen now, before any of those reinforcements showed up to bury her.
The Grue in front of her were howling and snarling in a way that seemed to sound like laughter to her; part of her thought she recognized Paul’s voice in the noises they made, and her anger grew hotter for it. She ran faster, knocking away a second arrow that sped towards her and ducking beneath a third. Both Knights were lazily taking up their swords and shields, even as the Grue turned their spears in her direction. They seemed to consider the single Surveyor charging them already dead.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
If they wanted to be as dumb as her supposed teammates, then she would be more than happy to show them exactly how wrong they were.
Alex reached the first Grue and smashed into them without slowing down. She didn’t bother holding back this time; there was no one left to deceive or mislead. Just enemies and a battle she needed to win. Spears shattered, and she hit one of the things hard enough that it left the ground, hurtling back into a pile of its shocked friends. Her axe reaped a toll from them in a single brutal swing.
More spears came in from the sides. She blocked left and sidestepped the ones on her right, before spinning around to cut down two from one side and smash aside the spears from the other. Completing the spin cut the legs out from three more on her right and got her facing the right way when another two jumped in at her from straight ahead. One she smashed aside; the other caught her axe in its chest and went down into the pile of dead with a crunch.
Instead of waiting for more to attack, she jumped forward over the dying Grue herself. She smashed aside another Grue with her shield as she landed and then started hacking at the rest as they swarmed in at her. The bodies at her back kept them from striking her from behind easily; it didn’t keep all of them from trying, but the one that made the attempt just got its spear snatched away and thrown into the ranks of the ones coming from ahead of her.
Alex held position there for a handful of moments, cutting down as many Grue as she could. They threw themselves at her from every direction, their spears glancing off her shield, snapping beneath her blows, or sliding past her as she dodged. Her heart beat like a war drum, her breath was fire in her throat, and pure, unadulterated exhilaration fought with dull, unyielding despair as she wrought death among the monsters.
It couldn’t last; she knew it wouldn’t. There were too many enemies crowding around, too many spears to dodge. Even if there hadn’t been so many Grue Soldiers, the Knights were striding towards her, with the Archers taking careful aim. No matter how many she cut down, standing still was not a true option.
So as she continued to dodge and hack, Alex caught sight of an opening to her left and charged into it. She ducked and dodged as an arrow slid past, as howling Grue lunged in to stab and claw, and repaid the enemies within her reach with axe strokes. Some of the Grue had chased after her, their spears reaching for her back, while others set themselves to block her path and hedge her in.
She scattered them, cutting down half a dozen of them between her and the edge of the Camp. The ones behind weren’t fast enough to catch her; though some of their spearpoints glanced off her armor and helmet, none of them left more than a scratch on her arms and legs. They howled and gave chase, trying to close the distance as she sprinted for the edge of the Field.
Alex ran for a long moment, allowing her pursuers to grow drawn out and overextended. Their wall of spears became a trail of howling hunters, trying their best to chase down the prey.
They were ill prepared when their quarry abruptly stopped and turned to face them.
The fastest of the Grue dashed in at her in triumph, and she cut them to pieces. Three of them fell before the others slowed their pace, realizing the trap. Arrows sped in, only for her to sidestep one and block the other with her shield. Five Grue, the next fastest, came at her at once, as if hoping the arrows had given them an opening. She grinned, circling to the right as they charged so that she met them in a slightly staggered order. Their spears reached for her, but she brushed them aside and hacked at the Grue, killing them in heartbeats.
Then the Knights were there, striding in alongside the remainder of their lesser friends. They roared in challenge, raising their swords.
They paused in surprise when she once again ran from them, this time leading them around the field on a merry chase. Arrows sped in at her, but she kept her shield ready and caught them as they came. It didn’t take long for the Grue to grow strung out again, and when she turned on them a second time, they tried to fall back in a panic. It was too late for some of them; by the time she ran again, there were another four Grue dead.
The Knights howled their hatred, and Alex felt the breath coming harsh and desperate in her lungs. This time, as she ran, she curved inwards around the Camp. It would give the Grue behind her the chance to cut inside her course, to shorten the distance to her, but her Speed allowed her to stay ahead of them. At least, until just before she took the chance to charge at her true objectives, the Archers that still shot at her.
Both Grue dropped their longbows as she approached, sprinting towards them with a scream of fury. They brought out their knives and axes, intending to stop her, delay her until their brethren could catch her. Their grey eyes were narrowed in determination; their feet shifted as they prepared to dance aside and strike at her, anything to keep her from darting away again.
She did not give them the opening they wanted. Alex lowered her shield, and for one last burst of speed, she charged faster than she had before, putting every ounce of her Speed into the effort. The first Archer had enough time to shift slightly, just beginning its attempt to jump aside. Then she hit it with all the force of a freight train, striking it with her shield in a crushing blow.
The Archer flew backwards, limp limbed. Its weapons flew from nerveless claws before it crashed back to earth in a tumble of black smoke. Alex used the impact to slow herself, changing course in an instant. For a moment she wondered if momentum would snap her ankle beneath her, but she managed to turn hard enough to charge the second Archer before it could escape.
It attacked her in desperation. The axe lashed out, smacking into her shield; the knife hooked around the edge of the shield to stab at her. She pushed forward enough to set the Archer on the back foot, and then slashed it across the middle with her axe, quicker than it could dodge. Alex felt the impact of the blade on its shadowed form and turned around as it fell to the ground behind her.
The pack of Grue was almost on her again, the Knights still roaring and the others braying in their wake. Her muscles ached and her heart hammered in her ears, but Alex set herself to meet their charge. She could have kept running, but something told her it would only delay the inevitable. There was only so much she could convince them to spread out. Those who still lived were sticking together now, and she would only have this one chance to hit the Knights before the rest caught up to them.
She spared a single moment to step to the side. The first Archer was struggling to rise; she put a stop to it with a single, backhanded axe stroke. Then she crouched as the gigantic Knights came at her, their swords raised and ready.
The first strike came fast, a thrust that should have been blindingly well timed. Alex sidestepped it easily, wondering for a moment at how much slower they seemed than they were now. She hooked the blade with her axe, yanking it down towards the ground, even as she moved straight towards the second Knight.
This one tried to shield-charge her, braced for the impact. Alex lunged out to the left, letting her own shield glance against the shield of her enemy. The impact spun her partway around, and she ducked beneath a slash that would have torn her head off.
Her opponents turned, trying to face her again. Their movements grew momentarily tangled as one’s sword bounced off the ground, and the other stepped in front of its friend. For just a single instant, they were attacking her one at a time, instead of together.
Alex struck in that moment. She drove towards the closest with her own shield-charge, smashing into it while its footing was still insecure. It was driven backwards, increasing the tangle, and she caught a sneaky, underhanded slash with her axe. Another shove nearly toppled the Knight, and then she darted inside its reach.
She spent a good portion of her strength in a single, brutal leap, one that put the whole weight of her body behind a rising cut of her axe. The blade tore through the armpit of the Knight, leaving a ruinous gash in its smokey flesh. As she started to drop, Alex reversed her cut and hacked into the thing, using her axe like an ice pick to lever her upwards in another jump.
The second leap pushed her up and over the other Knight, who was now shoving its dying companion out of the way. Alex deflected a desperate upward stab, knocking it aside with her shield. Then she hacked into its neck with her axe and used her own weight to pull it over flat onto its back. She ripped the axe free and struck it twice more before it could recover.
It went still, and Alex had barely a half second to enjoy her victory before the remaining Grue leapt on her. The remainder of the battle was a rush of stabs, dodges, attacks, and guards as she wove in and out of the spears she faced. At one point, to her shock, the first Knight tried to rise, as badly wounded as it had been. She was forced to take a wound in her leg so she could finish cutting it down, not wanting to face it after it regained its feet.
By the time she finished the last of them, she was wavering with exhaustion and blood loss. Pain flared from half a dozen deep wounds, and three times as many minor scrapes—she didn’t even truly remember where they had all come from. Yet she was still there, victorious.
Howling rose from one of the streets connecting to the stadium. She lifted her eyes to see the reinforcements coming, their Knights and Archers already striding towards her. Alex gritted her teeth and braced herself.
Then the crystal at the center of the Camp broke, and the Grue that had been spawned by it seemed to ripple. Even as they charged forwards, their weapons raised to strike, their forms grew…indistinct. The dark smoke faded to purple, then to grey. Their howls became reedy and thin, dwindling into nothing compared to the calm breeze of the world. None of them made it to the edge of the Field before they vanished.
Relief smashed through her like a blow, and yellow text appeared in her vision.
[Battle Maneuvers has advanced to 20!]
[Melee–Axe has advanced to 20!]
[Melee–Shield has advanced to 20!]
[Marathoning has advanced to 4!]
[Hidden Quest Progress 2 of 4 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Progress 2 of 4 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Progress 1 of 2 camps cleared]
Alex took a moment to appreciate those markers of victory, and then she dismissed the Screen. With a tired hand, she drew out the health potion Zach had given to her. She took a healthy swig of it, and then paused as fire wove itself through her wounds. Horns still sounded further into the town; the Killer was still coming for her.
So now what did she do?
Her Quests settled the matter for her. She could kill a few more patrols and finish the Hidden Quests easily enough, but if she wanted to complete everything, she’d need to go exploring. It was likely she needed to find a new Camp to destroy, too—the rest of Team Alpha was probably going to take at least one of them out before heading for home themselves.
She wondered if they had coordinated enough to take the Patrol intent this time. It would have given them a chance to only need to fight one Camp, if they didn’t care about a full clear. Then the rest of their time they could just pick off Grue patrols and eventually head back to the portal victorious. Either that, or they just considered it worth the effort to get rid of her, even if they fell short on their advancements for a day.
Either way, she had no intention of giving up on things herself. Which meant that she needed a map of some kind.
Unfortunately, the Field was almost as far from the Library as it could possibly be, and with the Killer running around, she would need to take the long way around. So she spent the first bit of her victorious survival running—more like a steady jog, her armor shaking and her weapons held tight in her hand—in a long loop around the rest of the town, trying to stay ahead of any pursuers that followed her.
Fortunately, it turned out that Marathoning was good for more than speed. To her surprise, she started actually feeling a bit refreshed every time she slowed to a stop; her arm muscles were less sore, at least, and she definitely felt better than she suspected she would have if she had just walked. Perhaps it had even helped her fatigue during the battle. Her memories of the fight were inexact, but it could have been the case. Not that she was excited to try it again.
There were horns again in the town, as the others attacked the Camps they had been assigned. She thought she heard the Killer’s horn answering, but she had long since given up on keeping track. If the others destroyed the Camps, it would just make the thing easier to deal with if it caught her. Not that she had any illusions about how easy that fight would be.
She was jogging along, somewhere far to the south of the portal, when she caught sight of a large, domed building. Smokestacks rose from it, though there was nothing coming out of them. It was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, and the drawing on the sign outside had a jagged lightning bolt. Alex paused, her breath rasping in her throat.
[Marathoning has advanced to 5!]
Alex dismissed the text and considered the sign for a moment longer. Then she started jogging in that direction. Maybe she had happened onto a bit of luck, after all.
The fence had been torn to pieces at some point in the past, ripping a gigantic hole in it. She examined it for a little while before passing through it. Even if it wasn’t the Power Plant, maybe it would still give her a place to rest for a while. It had to be better than a random house on the street.