Alex went past the ready room to the bathroom, where she ducked inside. She had stashed a small bag there with her phone, which she used to send a brief message to her dad. A deal was a deal, after all.
Then she went back to the ready room and found her team already slumped over a table. Alessa was getting her scratches looked at by Clara, who briefly looked up to wave Alex over. The Acolyte was already talking as Alex sat down.
“Alex, I don’t know if we can hit the next Survey quite as hard. Not with our Skills low and already dragging.”
She glanced at Raul, who had his head pillowed on his forearms. The Squire was already fast asleep, something that Alex actually approved of. A Surveyor had to sleep when they could, after all. “We can slow it down a little if you want. I just felt like we needed a bit of a confidence boost.”
Alessa snorted. “Well, you managed that, at least.” She pushed Clara away a little, shaking her head. “Will you cut it out? I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding. That means you aren’t…” Clara paused. “You’re not bleeding anymore.”
The Porter grinned. “Nope. Though I am feeling a bit more tired.” She looked at Alex. “I Chained Recovery and Resist together. Got something called Regeneration now. Seemed like a good idea.”
Alex felt her eyes widen. It did sound perfect for the Porter’s fighting style, but it also sounded painful. “You picked up another Skill then?”
Alessa nodded. “Resist again. Figure I’ll be taking enough hits for it to help.” Then she winced. “Also reset Weapon Mastery, so I’m going to be a little useless at first.”
“I’m sure you’ll catch up quick.” Alex looked at Clara. “What about you?”
The Acolyte was still staring at Alessa, as if she were watching the woman’s wounds close. “I Chained Holy–Nature and Sense. Gave me something called Lifesight, which should be useful.” Then she grinned. “Don’t worry, though. I grabbed Holy–Nature again, just in case you need some more magic. I didn’t reset Snipe, though. Seemed too risky.”
Alex chuckled. “That makes sense. Anyone know about Raul?”
“He said something about having Evasion now, so probably Chained his Dodging. Maybe with Leap?” Alessa shook her head. “He took Melee–Sword again, though. I think he heard you did something similar near the end of E rank, just for a little extra attack power, right? Might have been copying you.”
Alex thought it over. If that was the case, she’d need to guard her team a little more in general, just to give them a chance to regain their Skills. Once they were back, though… “Okay, let’s get some rest. Wells might send us in early, but I’m betting he’ll be fine with a little delay. Get some food, take a nap, and stay alive through the next Survey.”
“As ordered, captain.” Alessa gave her a tired salute, echoing an old joke, and Alex rolled her eyes. Then she went in search of a ration bar and an unoccupied chair to curl up in. Just an hour, maybe less, and they’d be back in the other world again.
As soon as Alex entered the other world, she could sense the Shade’s eyes on her.
She grimaced, deliberately not looking around. Wells might not have actually cut their rest short, but he had been very deliberate about emphasizing the need for them to return on time. He was probably just trying to put pressure on her to rush and get her team in trouble, but having the Shade of Liliana mess with her at the same time was not going to help.
She looked at the others and nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
They found the first patrol in just minutes.
The Grue came spilling out of a side street, howling for their blood. Alex saw them coming and glanced at the others. They seemed paralyzed by the sight of their enemies, their hands loose on their weapons. She spoke loud enough to jolt them out of it. “Clara, hit the Archers for me. Raul, Alessa, hit the Soldiers first, then the Knights. Avoid the Brute until I can finish him. Move!”
She punctuated her own words by charging forward, her shield up and ready. Arrows snapped across the metal surface, but none of them were a real threat. Neither were the Soldiers that rushed towards her; she barely even bothered to hack at them, mostly just deflecting their spears and weaving her way through the forest of stabs. The Grue staggered and twisted in confusion in her wake, trying to turn and halt their charge to come after her; Raul and Alessa hit them before they recovered, sword and staff flickering.
Alex barely paid them any attention. Her attention was almost fully absorbed by the Brute and the Knights. The Soldiers dying behind her and the Archers falling in front of her were nonentities by comparison. A quartet of Soldiers formed a wall in front of her; she hacked through them in a heartbeat, just as the Brute raised its hammers to strike.
This time, the creature struck twice in quick succession. One hammer pounded down from overhead; she sidestepped it easily. When the second hammer came in from the side, Alex ducked below it and gave it a smack from her shield to speed it on its way. The Brute was thrown slightly off balance. She cut it in the side as she spun past it.
It howled in rage, but she was already moving away from it. One of the Knights saw her coming and slashed at her. She caught the blow on her shield easily and then trapped the sword in the hook of her axe. A vicious twist sent it flying across the battlefield, nearly hitting a second Knight. The Brute came roaring after her; she hopped over a broad swing and punished it with a chop to its wrist that wasn’t quite deep enough to do more than scratch it.
She landed and heard the disarmed Knight howl as it lunged. Once again she sidestepped it, letting it accidentally shield-check the Brute. As the two giants got snarled up, Alex lashed out at a pair of opportunistic Soldiers and cut them from existence. Then she had to jump to the side to avoid a vertical chop from another Knight, turned to block a third sword that cut in from the side with her shield. Her feet barely slid with the impact, and she snarled in triumph as she swatted aside another swipe from the side with her axe.
A howling Soldier jumped through with a desperate lunge; she kicked its legs out and crushed its skull with her shield. She saw a sword thrust coming and jumped over it, bringing her axe down on a Knight’s knee. As it stumbled to its knees, she shield-checked an unfortunate Soldier, dodged a pair of hammerblows from the Brute, and caught the third with the hook of her axe. The power of the hit nearly ripped the weapon from her hands, but she still pivoted to throw the Brute off balance; she caught a flash of surprise in its face just before she slammed the boss of her shield into its face.
With the Brute staggering back, she heard more than felt the pair of Knights coming at her back. She pivoted with lightning speed and caught their blades on her shield; the force nearly threw her back into the Brute’s embrace, but she kept her feet. A cut from her axe knocked the swords aside, and she charged into the gap between the Knights, dodging a furious hammer strike from behind. One of the Knights wasn’t as fortunate. The Brute shattered its shield in fury and stomped after her without looking at the fallen Grue.
Alex had a glimpse of the fallen Archers, the crossbow bolts standing out from their skulls, before she turned and ducked below a hammer swing. She caught another glimpse of the others; two of the Knights were down, and she saw Alessa smashing a third to the ground. The remaining three were following the Brute with rage in their eyes, then one of them abruptly straightened up as bolt after bolt hit it from behind.
She grinned as she turned to face them again, ready for their charge. The Brute was fastest, and it lashed out with both hammers. Alex deflected them with axe and shield, only for the thing to rear back and kick her in the chest.
Shock traveled through her as she went flying backwards. She hit the pavement and rolled, feeling the fragments of asphalt grind into her skin. Her breath came with difficulty, and she found herself hoping the creature hadn’t broken a rib. Alex came back to her feet, mostly thanks to countless practice sessions with the Crimson Blade herself, and looked up at the approaching Grue blearily.
The Brute was still charging after her, and Alex straightened up to face it with a grimace. It didn’t seem to realize that its companions were no longer following it. Both Knights had been hit from behind by Raul and Alessa. Alex smiled, tasting a bit of blood on her teeth, and then the creature was on her.
She dodged as it swung at her, but this time she had no reason to draw things out. There was no longer a need to provide a distraction, so this time, when it reared back to kick her, she caught it in the act. Alex lashed out with the back spike of her axe and jammed it into the Brute’s ankle. Then she twisted it to yank the thing’s foot even further forward, forcing it into an attempted split that tumbled it to the ground with an agonizing scream.
The noise lasted just long enough for her to dodge past its flailing hammers and start putting her axe in its skull. After her fourth swing, the thing finally went silent and began to burn.
[Recovery advances to 13!]
[Focus advances to 15!]
[Dodging advances to 22!]
[Blocking advances to 22!]
[Main Quest Progress: 1 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Progress: 1 of 4 targets destroyed]
Alex dismissed the text and spat blood on the ground. It ignited with an orange flame, something that made her grimace.
Clara was at her side a moment later. Alex waved her off. “I’m good. They just got a decent hit in.” She forced herself to grin. “Everyone got their Skills to advance a little?”
The others exchanged a look, and Alessa spoke first. “Yeah. Hey, you remembered I was the one with Regeneration, right?”
“I’m familiar.” Alex chuckled. It hurt far too much. “But this is too important. The next fight you’ll all do much better, but you need time. So I’ll try to give you as much as you need. Just… don’t take forever, okay?”
They nodded, Raul looking a little pale. She looked at him. “All right, then. We’re going to do that ambush at the row house again, okay? Raul, you’re on Archer duty. Don’t take forever with it, cause these things are really bad dancers.”
Despite themselves, they all laughed a little. Alex gave them a fierce grin and then forced herself up and forwards. She had plenty more to do for the day.
Her ribs had mostly stopped aching by the time the third patrol went down, though it was hard to tell if that was because it had actually healed, or if she had just hurt in so many places that she couldn’t tell it apart anymore. It was enough to make her envy Alessa’s Skills. Her helmet and armor turned more attacks away than she could count; she dodged and blocked with frantic speed, keeping the attention of the Grue on her while her companions cut them down.
It was paying off, despite the pain. Raul’s ambush for the Archers went flawlessly, his rapier cutting through them with a speed she hadn’t expected. His bladework had improved by leaps and bounds afterwards, and he carved his way through Grue with a familiar kind of ease. Alessa had taken her turn next. The Porter had simply accepted knife cuts and even an arrow shot to bring the Archers down, before turning and smashing her way into the rear of the pack. Alex had watched in amazement as the cuts and wounds had closed before her eyes.
Clara’s improvements were less dramatic, but they were just as impressive in their own ways. She started to lead them through the city, peering at things that nobody else could see. When the fourth patrol had been hiding in a nearby shop, she’d seen them through a wall, and motioned for the others to creep around to hit them from behind. Alex had taken the Archers that time, carving through them on her way to the Brute and the Soldiers beyond.
That fourth fight had sealed her approval of the new team. Raul moved like some kind of dancer, whipping his blade through throats and limb before abruptly stabbing through hearts and skulls. The Knights seemed to be unable to keep up with him, especially once he began to leap and dodge about like some sort of berserk acrobat.
Alessa had taken a different approach, simply barging into walls of spears and shattering them with the swings of her staff. Wounds only made the Porter snarl and swing harder; half the time, they had already healed by the time the fight was over, if the spears even left more than a scratch in the first place. Alex worried a little that the woman was letting herself get hit far too often, but Alessa had simply shrugged off the question and asked how Alex’s ribs were doing.
Snarky subordinates aside, things were mostly going well. Even the occasional hints of the Shade weren’t enough to put a dampener on things.
Of course, that was when everything started to go wrong.
“I’m telling you, they’re hurt.”
Clara’s voice was filled with worry, and Alex frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Alessa looked at her, uncertain. “She’s saying that she can see another team, and that she can tell one of them is wounded.”
Alex opened her mouth to call it crazy, but she paused. She hadn’t learned much about Lifesight before, and Clara hadn’t described it a lot since she’d gained it. “What do you see? Are you sure they aren’t Grue?”
“They’re not Grue.” Clara shook her head stubbornly. “Grue are purple. All kinds of purple, but always purple. These are other colors.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Zach, back in her time at the Portal Analysis Department. “What colors are they?”
“Two reds, one a lot… redder than the other? One blue, and one orange.” Clara paused. “The orange one is hurt. They’re… leaking somehow?” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t describe it well.”
Alex’s heart started pounding a bit harder. The area next to hers was supposed to have gone to the team with Joanna and Audrey on it. Blue and red were the colors of Adepts and Squires—and the team had been led by a Squire at D rank, and had been joined by a Porter. “How far away are they?”
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“Three blocks, right at the edge of my range.” Clara pointed. “Problem is, they’re headed straight back to the portal. If they go straight there, I can see a patrol of Grue waiting for them.”
Alex grimaced. If a team was already carrying wounded, and was ambushed… “How far?”
Less than a minute later, they were jogging towards an intersection. Alex felt pain with each step jolt through her legs, but the urgency of the situation pushed her to keep moving. “How long?”
Clara was gasping for breath beside her. “Almost… there.”
She nodded. “When we hit them… shoot the big one. Want it… to hit us.”
The Acolyte nodded, and Alex tightened her grip on her axe. She’d felt a hint of the Shade’s presence again, waiting inside one of the skyscrapers they were passing. Now would be a terrible time for it to make an appearance. Still, she couldn’t just leave Joanna and Audrey isolated.
They burst out into the intersection and turned east. The other team came to a stop, their eyes widening in surprise. All of them had seen better days; the Porter was leaning heavily on the D rank Squire, and both Audrey and Joanna were covered in scrapes. Clearly, they hadn’t expected to see another group so close.
Of course, they also hadn’t expected to see the Grue spilling out into the street in front of them. The monsters began a braying warcry, only to stop when they saw they were facing two teams. They paused, suddenly unsure of themselves, looking back and forth between the groups.
Alex didn’t give them a chance to choose the wrong way. She screamed her own warcry and charged. Clara’s crossbow snapped out a bolt, and the Brute howled as it punched into its forearm. Raul choked out a warcry along with her, though Alessa was just running in silence.
The Grue had barely started to form up when her team hit them. Raul carved through the Soldiers on the right, Alessa slammed into them on the left, and Alex dove straight into the middle.
Once again, she was hemmed in on all sides by spearpoints. She cut and hacked at them, using her shield to deflect arrows and snap spears. The Soldiers melted back as she forged her way through them, and the Brute started to step forward, its hammers ready to strike.
Then Clara shot it in the face again, and Alex let out a wild, triumphant laugh. She ducked beneath a clumsy strike and slammed her axe into one knee after another. The Brute gurgled a roar of rage, and she shield-checked it over onto its back. Then she ran past it to slam into the Soldiers barring her way to the Archers. They melted into broken corpses within moments, and the Archers were suddenly scrambling to drop their bows for knives.
It didn’t do them any good. Alex was among them, crushing with her shield and chopping to pieces with her axe. Four of them were down in moments, and the remainder were still trying to flank her when the Knights arrived.
There were two of them, futilely trying to rescue their friends. She swatted one sword swing away with her axe, deflected the other with her shield, and then dodged into point blank range with the closest one. Its eyes widened just before she delivered three quick strikes to the gut; as it folded over, she smashed it in the head with her shield and heard its neck snap. In the same motion, she pivoted and sidestepped around another swing of the other Knight’s sword, and slammed her axe into its elbow. It dropped the sword with a howl, and she stepped in past its shield and cut it apart.
She had just finished it when both Archers jumped her from behind, their knives flashing. Their movements seemed so ridiculously slow now; dodging between the blades was child’s play. A slash for each of them finished the fight. Alex turned back towards the Brute just in time to see Clara putting her foot on its chest and firing her crossbow right between its eyes.
Moment later the purple fires roared, and Alex looked back towards the second team, who had drawn back into a tight defensive formation. She smiled as the orange text appeared.
[Recovery advances to 16!]
[Focus advances to 18!]
[Dodging advances to 23!]
[Blocking advances to 23!]
[Main Quest Progress: 5 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Progress: 8 of 12 targets destroyed]
“They jumped us when we were still gathering the stuff from another patrol.” Patricia, the D rank Squire, shook her head. “Daryl here jumped in front of a spear to protect me while I was fighting the Brute. Moved just a little too slow to block it.”
Despite the flat tone of her words, Alex could hear the guilt and grief behind it. Daryl was barely conscious at this point, his eyes fluttering as Patricia tried to help him to stand. Joanna gave Alex a significant look, but Audrey was just looking defeated.
“All right.” Alex straightened up and looked back at her team. “We’ll get you back to the portal. Clara, are there any more Grue waiting along the way?”
The Acolyte stared in the direction for a moment. “I don’t think so. At least, not for the next few blocks, and it should be close enough to escape at that point.”
Patricia shifted slightly, taking a bit more weight onto her shoulder. “You don’t need to do this. We can—”
“Daryl’s counting on you to get him home.” Alex held her eyes until Patricia looked away. Then she nodded. “Let’s move, then. Don’t worry about defense, just carry him. The rest of us will escort you in.”
She looked to the others. “Alessa, Raul, you two hit the Brutes. Try to switch off who finishes them. I’m going to wipe the Archers. Joanna, Clara, Audrey, get the Knights and keep Alessa and Raul free.” They each nodded, concern breaking through their weariness. Alex looked towards the portal… and paused.
Liliana was standing in the street. Even at that distance, Alex could see a cruel grin twisting its way across the Shade’s smoke-shrouded face.
Then the thing was gone, and Alex snarled. “Let’s move!”
Six blocks and two patrols later, the portal building was in sight.
The combined teams were panting with exhaustion, but they’d almost made it there. With Clara’s Lifesight, the ambushes the Grue tried to set hadn’t caught them off guard, and neither patrol had much of a chance of doing anything to slow the group down. Patricia had slung Daryl over her shoulder like a sack of cement, and the D rank practically radiated relief as they made the last turn.
Then Clara shouted. “Another one, incoming!”
Alex grimaced. “Raul, Alessa, switch to the Knights! Joanna, Audrey, you’re on the Brutes now! Patricia, get through the portal.” She accelerated, forcing her legs into a faster pace. The other Surveyors shifted their formation, the members of her team looking a bit grateful to no longer have to face the massive enemies. Patricia seemed about to argue, but she shook her head and put on a burst of speed of her own, running for the exit.
As the Grue spilled out into the street, Alex joined the others in a warcry that nearly drowned out their howls. One of the Knights stepped out and turned, only to take a crossbow bolt in the eye before it could raise its shield. Clara put a second bolt into its throat as it staggered backward, and it fell.
Alex aimed for that same side, running hard. She hit the weakened flank like a bowling ball, smashing through the Soldiers as if they were nothing more than pins. When a Knight lunged after her in an attempt to slow her down, Alex dodged the blade, then brought her shield down on it with enough force to knock it out of the thing’s hand. It tried to shield-check her; she darted to the side and then slipped back in next to it, axe already hacking.
It went down moments later, and then she was chasing down the Archers as they tried to scatter. Even without her Running Skill, they were nowhere near fast enough, and soon enough, the Grue were just bodies burning on the asphalt.
[Battle Maneuvers advances to 27!]
[Recovery advances to 18!]
[Focus advances to 20!]
[Dodging advances to 25!]
[Blocking advances to 25!]
[Main Quest Completed!]
[Hidden Quest Progress: 11 of 12 targets destroyed]
Alex let out a shaky breath and looked at the others. Patricia had already disappeared through the portal inside, carrying the unconscious Surveyor. She took a cautious look at Raul, who was looking about to fall over, and decided it couldn’t be helped. “Audrey, Joanna, before you were ambushed, did you… feel anything?”
Joanna paused, looking over at her in surprise, but Audrey simply nodded. She had been studying Alessa with an expression that suggested a bit of competition, but now she shifted her attention to Alex. “Yeah. Really creepy, actually, like the Killer was on us again. Like something was—”
“Watching you. Hunting you.” Alex held her breath for a moment until Audrey nodded. She looked at Joanna, and the Adept gave a reluctant nod too. “Clara, what about you?”
The Acolyte blinked. Then she seemed to think it over. “Kind of? I thought it was just an effect of Lifesight, though.”
Alessa spoke up from where she was leaning against a window, leaking blood from scrapes that were already healing. “I might have been feeling that too, though. Thought I was just getting jumpy.”
Alex shook her head. She’d thought Liliana would only be after her, the person who had killed her. If she could hunt everyone involved—all of the Surveyors that had taken a piece out of her, instead of just the one that had delivered the finishing blow… “Clara, I’m sorry, but I need you to stay with me. We need to find Brian and Tim’s team. Maybe Sam’s team too.”
The others looked a bit confused until Raul’s eyes widened. “That Shade thing. I thought…” He looked around at them. “It’s after all of you?”
“Maybe.” Realization dawned on all their faces, and she shrugged. “If they got ambushed too, they might be in trouble. The rest of you can head in, but…”
“Oh, fat chance of that, Al.” Audrey shouldered her club and grinned. “Nobody gets left behind, right?” The others all nodded, even Raul, who seemed as determined as he was tired. Alex felt a small flicker of gratitude, buried deep under a wave of exhaustion. She turned north, to where Brian and Tim had been sent.
“All right, then, let’s find them.”
“I’ve got them.” Clara’s voice was shaking slightly, but the Acolyte continued with an intense look on her face. “A really strong green. A red and an orange. A yellow too. The green and the yellow are hurt.”
Alex grimaced. The red and orange were Brian and Tim, but the green and yellow were probably the E rank Page and D rank Acolyte that had gone with them. If two of them were wounded… “How far?”
“Two blocks.” Clara’s face grew grim. “Grue patrol waiting for them in a shop a block away, though.”
She nodded and then looked at the others. “Sounds like we have a great way to introduce ourselves. Come on!”
“Yeah, we felt it. I think I saw her too.” Brian shook his head. “I thought we were all done with that witch.”
“You and me both.” Alex shook her arm out a little. One of the Archers had managed to hit her with an arrow, and the scratch it had left after it punched through her armor was stinging. “Can you two make it to the portal with the others?”
Tim nodded. He was helping the wounded Page hobble along on a wounded ankle. The D rank was standing on his own two feet, but he was wavering, and Brian was standing close, like the Squire expected him to fall and wanted to be there to catch him. “We can make it, captain. As long as nothing else jumps us between here and there.”
Alex glanced at Clara, who shook her head. “It seems like it should be clear. I don’t know what else she might bring in, though.”
Brian snorted. “Well yeah. Knowing her, she’s probably trying to build an Anchor Point somewhere as we speak. She seemed to like the last one.”
Alessa shoved him, giving him a look mixed with fondness. “Stop making it worse, you grump.”
The Squire rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m just saying what you were all thinking.”
Raul scrubbed his hands over his eyes for a moment. “Who are you people? What did they have you doing at your last company?”
Tim laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in later.” Joanna glared at him, and he winced. “About our alleged experiences. Unofficially, of course.”
Looking around at her tired cluster of Surveyors, Alex hesitated. She wanted to make sure Sam and Ed were safe, but Brian and Tim clearly needed the escort. Did she go to the portal and then try to come back out to where the last patrol was moving? Or did she force the wounded Surveyors to hobble along with them while they looked for the last team?
She was still hesitating when Raul spoke up. “Alex? I finished my Hidden Quests.” When she looked at him, he raised an eyebrow. “I think Alessa and I could help this team return home. In case you needed to search further.”
Alex looked at him and felt the tension running through her ease a little. “You’re sure you can make it?”
Tim nudged Brian with an elbow. “Not all of us are wounded. We can still fight if we have to, and if Clara says the way is mostly clear…”
“Besides, Raul and I are almost tapped out, anyway.” Alessa gave her a tired smile. The Porter looked like a mass of bruises and scratches, to the point where her Regeneration wasn’t quite keeping up anymore. “Let us get these guys home and go take care of Sam. I miss the smarmy little sneak.”
Alex relaxed a little more. She felt a wave of dizziness sweep through her, and she steadied herself against a nearby lightpost. “All right. Get back to the portal. Let them know what we’re doing. We’ll be there soon.”
The others nodded. Tim gave her a salute. “As ordered, captain.”
She glared at him. “I’m not a captain.”
Alessa snorted. “So she says. As we mount multiple rescue missions.” She walked over to the Page and shoved an arm under the Surveyor’s other armpit. “All right, let’s get moving. You too Alex.”
They set off down the street, moving carefully. Alex watched them for a moment and then turned to the others. “All right. Just like old times, right?”
Joanna smirked. “Sure. Outnumbered, tired, and Liliana trying to kill us. Sounds about right.”
Audrey laughed, and they set out through the city, heading to where Ed’s team had been sent. Alex just hoped that they would get there in time.
They found the Surveyors northwest of the portal, heading home at a speed that said they were running. The reason way became obvious when Clara pointed out the Grue patrol chasing them. Clara didn’t report any major wounds on them, but Alex didn’t want to take the risk.
She and her friends hurled themselves on the Grue patrol, tearing through them with the desperation of people on their last legs. Alex had told the others to take care of the Knights; she’d completed her own Hidden Quest during the last fight. Now she just wanted to finish things with a statement for Liliana, wherever she was.
The Archers died first as Alex tore through them. Soldiers were scattered with every smash of her shield or swing of her axe. Then the Brute was there, roaring. She thought she saw a flicker of surprise in its eyes as she dodged it easily, avoiding the hammers as if they were simple swings. Its surprise turned to fear as she began to dart in and carve it apart, and as her fellow Surveyors ripped through its fellow Grue.
In the end, she brought it down and finished the job. Then she half collapsed onto the pavement, going down on one knee. It vaguely occurred to her she might have overdone things. If she rescued the others, but couldn’t get home herself…
Then she saw Ed’s team coming back to join them, their faces showing signs of shock and awe. Ed, in particular, looked like he was a little in awe. “Alex? What are you doing here? This isn’t your area. You were supposed to be back through the portal by now, weren’t you?”
“Thought you might have gotten into some trouble.” Alex forced herself to stand and nearly collapsed again. Ed caught her and gave her someone to lean against for a moment. Everything seemed like it hurt, but it felt nice to just lean for a bit. She looked at Sam. “Someone watching you?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah. She’s after all of us, isn’t she?”
Alex nodded. “As usual.” Then she looked around. The feeling of being watched had just vanished. Perhaps two teams together were simply too many for the Shade to think it could win? “Let’s get home. I’m ready for some rest.”
They made it back to the portal a short time later. No further Grue patrols tried to ambush them; even tired, the nine Surveyors could probably have minced any monsters that came after them. Alex didn’t feel Liliana chasing them, either. Instead, she had to deal with Joanna, Sam, and Clara muttering about something out of earshot, and Bob calling her ‘Valkyrie’ for some reason. She was too tired to parse any of it, and the sight of the portal waiting for them nearly made her weep from joy.
She practically fell through the vortex, and the light chased the misery of the other world away for at least a little while…
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quest Completed! +100 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! +80 Experience]
Another full clear, though this one had been a much more difficult amount of work. She grimaced and shook her head as the text changed.
[Battle Maneuvers increased from 25 to 28!]
[Recovery increased from 12 to 20!]
[Focus increased from 13 to 23!]
[Dodging increased from 21 to 25!]
[Blocking increased from 20 to 25!]
All that work and Battle Maneuvers still wasn’t at maximum. It was a painful reminder of how much harder a Permanent Skill was going to be to level up compared to a regular one. Still, it was going to be worth the work, if she could manage to get through one more Survey.
[Dodging has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Dodging to gain a Title?]
She refused, as she did for the Blocking option she was offered a moment later.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Focus and Recovery?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels]
She shook her head. The two Skills had just barely fallen short of maximum as well. A pity, but it was probably for the best considering the situation. She’d need Recovery if she was going to make it through the next set of fights.
Alex waded through the rest of the Chaining options until she finally reached the one she actually wanted.
[Skill Chain available. Do you wish to combine Blocking and Dodging?]
[Warning: Chained Skills lose all previous levels]
With a weary kind of resignation, she agreed.
A rush of power flowed through her, and Alex felt her eyes widen as the Skills combined. The notification that arrived a moment later was almost anticlimactic.
[Skill Chain unlocked! Skills Dodging and Blocking removed. Skill Deflect gained! Skill Chain bonus gained! Title Natural Defender gained (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, and Zeal by one.)]
[Skill Choice available. Please select an additional Skill.]
It was a difficult choice. Part of her wanted to pick Recovery, but she already had the Skill, and it wouldn’t be available again until she Chained the first copy. Some of the magic Skills taunted her as well; she’d seen how helpful Clara’s talents had been there, and the possibility of doing something similar was an incredible temptation. Even Resist seemed like a tempting option, given the number of hits she’d probably take during training and Surveys in the future.
Alex forced herself to set those things aside and consider her situation. The main problem she was going to have was the delay for Battle Maneuvers. If she wanted to continue resetting her Permanent Skill, she was going to face incredibly long delays when she needed to level it back up. It could leave her vulnerable to Grue, or to whatever Wells had planned. She needed to be able to fight, even while she was building up her Titles.
So, with a grimace, she chose Melee–Axe. It wasn’t the flashiest Skill, but it would level up quickly, and it could cover for those times when Battle Maneuvers was recovering. Perhaps after her next Skill Chain, she could take Melee–Shield and regain Combined Arms again. Time would tell.
Then she was moving forward through the light, and toward home…