Alex awoke from a dead sleep with a grunt and a twinge of pain.

For once, it seemed like she’d slept through her alarm. The shattered remnants of a Red Blade standard clock told her how that had happened; Audrey’s hand was still resting without a care in the wreckage. Alex snorted at the sight and then forced herself upright.

She found Clara and Joanna already awake. The Adept and Acolyte were speaking in low voices; she cleared her throat, and they looked over in surprise. Clara motioned her over and glanced at Audrey and Alessa; clearly, they wanted to give the Squire and Porter a chance to rest a little more.

Alex joined them on Clara’s bed. “Hey. I missed talking with you guys yesterday.”

“Part of the problem with being the last to come home, Alex.” Joanna gave her a half-hearted smirk. Then she shook her head. “Sorry. We meant to stay awake until you came back, but after yesterday…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alex shook her head. The barracks had been full of exhausted Surveyors when she’d arrived. None of them had been remotely conscious. “I pretty much just went straight to sleep, anyway. We were all so tired we almost had to come back early.”

The others exchanged a look. Clara spoke in a low voice. “Most of the teams actually did that, you know. Wells was very unhappy with them, but he just marked it down and told us to do better today.”

Alex stared at her. Then she shook her head. “Maybe I should have let us come back early then. It was starting to get really bad out there near the end. Today might be a little crazy.”

Joanna nodded slowly. “You aren’t the only one who thought so. More people resigned yesterday. They’re going to have to reorganize the teams just to keep things going.”

She frowned at Joanna. “Wait. How many quit?”

Clara was the one who answered. “The last I heard, there were almost ten people who resigned. Almost a quarter of the E rankers here.”

Alex stared at her in dumb shock. It was an appalling loss ratio, though she supposed it wouldn’t be recorded like that. After all, they weren’t crippled or dead. They’d just been worked so hard that they had decided that leaving the company’s Survey teams was a better option.

Something whispered to her it wasn’t unintentional, either. An idea occurred to her—an ugly, repulsive idea. “The people who resigned. Were they the ones who had been passed over for Surveys a lot?”

Joanna’s eyes grew sharp. The Adept nodded. “Yeah. In fact, almost all of them seemed to have been denied Survey duty at least once or twice.”

Clara glanced at the other sleeping Surveyors and lowered her voice a little. “Alessa almost did it. Her team didn’t manage to complete any of her Main Quests on the last run, and two of her teammates left. Sam had to talk her out of it.”

Alex’s fists clenched as sudden fury rushed through her. The crunch was about more than just gathering materials under the radar. Wells was also using it to get rid of Surveyors that he didn’t trust. He crippled their progress by keeping them off of the regular Surveys, and then threw them into the insanity of the crunch, hoping that they wouldn’t be able to keep up. It was two birds with one stone; he got his extra supply of materials and got rid of his most troublesome Surveyors at the same time.

She looked up and saw Joanna staring at her. “Speaking of Sam, it seemed like he had a bit of extra information about what was going on here. Care to share?”

Alex nodded, taking an extra breath to steady herself. “Keep this close. We can’t let them figure out that we know, or else things might get a lot worse. I thought something was off about Wells, so I asked Zach to…”

An all too short a time later, Alex stood in front of the portal with her team.

They all looked a lot better than they had been yesterday, but they were a far cry from where they had been on the morning of the day before. Mary had dark circles under her eyes, and was shifting uneasily on her feet. Ed looked well rested, but he kept glancing at Alex with worry plain on his face. Bob was muttering to himself, glancing at the portal with a dark expression.

Laura was the best recovered of them, having gone from a gaunt and weary woman to one that once again had a bounce in her step. She grinned at them. “All right, apparently we did some of the best work out there yesterday. That means all we need to do is keep it up again today, and we’ll probably get a special commendation of some kind! Let’s just keep working hard.”

She avoided looking at Alex, which made a certain amount of sense. Given that she’d started the crunch lecturing Alex, and now had her to thank for their success, Laura probably had mixed feelings about her for the moment.

It was fine by Alex, however. Instead of focusing on Laura, she was looking around the room at the rest of the teams. There were a lot fewer of them now, and many of the Surveyors that were left were watching the portal with undisguised misery. Her friends from Golden Swallow were all still there, though. Even Alessa, who was clutching her staff with a white-knuckled grip, met Alex’s gaze and nodded.

Joanna and Clara had reacted with impressive amounts of calm when she had told them what she knew and suspected. When Audrey and Alessa had finally gotten up, they’d told them too. The number of people who knew about the problem was growing. Alex only hoped that it would mean they would all be able to find a solution together.

She glanced at Ed, who was once again looking at her with worried eyes. He might be a good person to trust; he’d been at Red Blade for longer, and would probably know more things that could help them. Maybe once the crunch was over, she could pull him aside and tell him.

He gave her a puzzled smile, and Alex turned away suddenly, her cheeks warm. She’d definitely been staring a bit too long. With a shake of her head, she tried to focus on the Survey ahead of her. Only moments later, she marched alongside Laura to enter the portal and begin the day’s work…

The next couple of hours turned into a blur of combat.

During the first three battles, she ‘gave’ the others the chance to take out the Archers, as she rebuilt the levels for Battle Maneuvers. Recovery slowly built back up as well, easing some of the aches and pains that ran through her body with each patrol they encountered.

By the fourth patrol, she was strong enough to break through and destroy the Archers on her own, and even as fatigue slowed her, she repeated the act with every patrol after that. They made their way back to the portal after the eighth patrol fell, their bodies pleasantly worn out from the effort, and their Skills bolstered by combat.

Her good mood vanished moments later, as she found Clara in the ready room. Another seven Surveyors had resigned after that first Survey, leaving more than a third of the E rankers in the compound as glorified janitors. She couldn’t help but notice the satisfied look in Wells’ eyes, and the expectant way that he looked at her. Alex simply returned the stare and then went back into the portal again.

[E Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper]

[Ascension Level: 4]

[Role: Page (Role Skills: None]

[Role Level: 4]

[Experience: 1120/1500]

[Attributes: Strength -> 4, Speed -> 8, Life -> 0, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Battle Maneuvers(20), Marathoning(20), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(20), Recovery(17)]

[Permanent Skills: None]

[Current Titles: Heir of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by three.),

Brutality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by three.),

Inborn Warrior (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by three),

Dogged (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, and Marathoning by two.)]

Tenacious (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by two.)

Alex glared at the yellow text in front of her, clenching and unclenching her hands in an attempt to relieve her frustration. Intellectually, she knew that there was nothing she could do for the Surveyors who were giving up. There wasn’t even anything that she could do for the people she cared about the most at the moment. Until the crunch was over, or something else changed, she had no options.

Then her gaze fell on the amount of experience she gained, and she paused. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, doing a small amount of mental math. Another two Surveys would almost get her enough experience to advance to level five. That change wouldn’t just be another amount of attributes, either. She’d reach her first Role Switch, and advance to D rank as well.

As an E rank, she could only do what she was told. She’d have to stick to the teams she was assigned, and follow the lead of whatever D rank she was assigned as a Vanguard. Once she was D rank, however, she would be the Vanguard. More than that, if she’d read Wells correctly, the man would absolutely assign her to what he considered the weakest team. The ones he wanted to fail the most.

The ones that would most need her protection.

Determination filled her, and she ran her eyes over her Skills one more time. They were about as good as they could be; only Recovery wasn’t at maximum now. If she could push hard enough, it might me up the difference. She wouldn’t reach the next level on this Survey, but between this one and the next…

She chose Patrol again and stepped forward, once again leaving behind the light…

The other world was once again a place of battle. Sounds of combat echoed off the artificial canyon walls of the city, filling her ears with the clash of weapons, the roar of magic, and the howls of the Grue. Her heart was beating harder now, and her fingers tightened around her weapons. She already felt the urge to simply throw herself into the next combat, but she forced herself to wait until Laura led them forward.

They veered south, heading for an area littered with old brick rowhouses. On Earth, she could have imagined them being owned by the rich and well-to-do, who wanted a quaint little place to stay when they visited the place.

Now, however, the buildings were foul with Grue scrawlings and broken facades. Alex kept watching for signs of an ambush, knowing that one of the houses had to have a patrol hiding within it.

She wasn’t disappointed. A mere handful of blocks from the portal, a pack of howling Grue tore their way out of a house on the right, their hulking forms spilling out into the street ahead of the team. Laura lined up to face the Brute, holding her swords with a weary look on her face.

[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy six Grue Archers]

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy one Grue Brute]

Alex nodded to herself. She needed to complete both of those Hidden Quests, along with the one for killing the extra Knights. With her Skills all at or near maximum, she wasn’t going to get a better shot. The only question would be if the others gave her a good enough opening.

Of course, the best way to start would be to knock at least one of those Quests out of the way early.

Legs pumping, Alex threw herself forward in a dead sprint. Her muscles pulsed with agony, making her grit her teeth as she charged the Grue. She heard the others shouting at her, but she ignored them and slammed directly into the pack. Their spearpoints reached for her, but she simply danced aside and cut her way through them. Grue Soldiers went flying back with every swing of her axe as she carved her way through. A Knight charged her, and she matched its shield-check with one of her own. It staggered slightly, and she hooked its leg out from under it. It died beneath her axe before it could regain its feet, even as she blocked another Knight’s overhand blow with her shield.

The second Knight raised its sword again, obviously intending to swing at her again. Alex dashed past it, pivoting to avoid its shield. As soon as she was inside its reach, her axe went to work again, and the thing fell in heartbeats.

As the Knights died, more Soldiers rushed in. She smashed them aside as if they were mere flies, and charged across the cracked pavement towards the Archers. They had been focused on the others of the team, aiming for unguarded chests or limbs; the Surveyor that had a shield seemed to be unappealing to them. It was their final mistake as she leapt in among them, her axe striking in all directions.

With the Archers down, she spun and started running for the rear of the Grue pack. They were already falling back as the rest of the team pressed in on them, but Alex hit them from behind, anyway. She was aiming for the back of the Brute; the hulking brute was still visible over the heads of the lesser Grue, its hammers rising and falling.

Unfortunately, Laura slipped inside its reach and carved it to pieces before it could react. Alex grimaced as the thing fell, and satisfied herself with wiping out the rest of the Soldiers, even as the Knights fell to her teammates. Purple flame sprang to life around them moments later.

[Main Quest Progress: 2 of 8 targets destroyed]

[Main Quest Progress: 1 of 8 targets destroyed]

[Hidden Quest Completed!]

Bob started laughing, a sign of exhaustion and exhilaration. “Wow. Starting off pretty intense there, Alex, aren’t you?”

“Figured I’d knock at least one part of it out of the way early, Bob.” She gave him a grin and tried to ignore the aches she was feeling. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll all still have a chance for later.”

Mary snorted. “Sure. As long as you feel like leaving us your scraps.” The fatigue in the Squire’s voice undercut her sarcasm, however, and she was rubbing a spot where a Grue spear had failed to punch through her armor.

As they gathered the materials left behind by their enemies, Ed stepped over close to her. “You’re sure you’re okay? You don’t need to take on everything by yourself.”

She gave him a smaller smile and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m still good. Just trying to make sure that we don’t get too worn out.”

“Well, take care of yourself, too.” He put a hand over hers for a moment, just a brief touch that made her turn away and blush. She tried to put aside the feeling, along with the creeping sensation that something was watching her. If she was going to accomplish her goals, she couldn’t afford to be distracted.

Alex scaled back her efforts during the next two fights, settling for handling a couple of Knights and the Soldiers instead of rushing through to the Archers. Her teammates gave her appreciative looks after each fight, and Ed seemed to be far less worried. None of them seemed to notice that Alex was sticking close to the center where Laura was fighting.

The effects of their fatigue were still dragging at all of them, however. Some of the fights lasted far longer than they had before, and Laura, in particular, seemed to be getting more and more tired. Her duels with the Brutes began to look more and more even, and the number of Soldiers that were escaping the fights with the others was starting to give her trouble.

Alex’s opening came in the fourth duel, when Mary had broken through the line of Grue and had sprinted towards the scattering Archers. The Vanguard had engaged the Brute, as usual, her swords flashing and striking against the monster’s hammers. As the others fought with the mass of Grue, Alex caught sight of the Vanguard faltering. Laura’s foot slipped, and the Brute howled in victory, raising both hammers over its head.

She knew Laura wasn’t really at risk. The Vanguard was fast enough to dodge to one side. Laura would need to back off for a bit to gain space, but she’d be able to deal with the Grue, eventually.

Alex didn’t give her the chance. She smashed the pair of Grue Soldiers who were harassing her out of the way. Then she lunged in at the Brute from the side. Her shield hit the thing with a brutal crunching sound; it staggered, and before it could recover, Alex brought her axe down on its torso.

She hit the monster once, twice, three times before it even stopped staggering. Its grey eyes were wide and furious, and it started to gather itself for a jump backwards that would give it space to strike at her. Behind her, Alex heard Laura give a half-furious squawk of outrage, before a Knight darted in to occupy the Vanguard.

Alex shut out those distractions and charged in after the Brute. It swung a hammer, and Alex ducked in under the massive blow. She felt the wind from it ruffle her hair, and then she pivoted to smash the edge of her shield into the Brute’s wrist. Something snapped, and the Grue dropped its other hammer. Before it could swing at her again, she completed her spin and put the back spike of her axe through its knee.

The Brute’s leg collapsed from beneath it, sending the monster sprawling onto its back. Alex swatted the remaining hammer aside with her shield and chopped her axe up and into its armpit. Purple smoke sprayed out like blood, and she switched to a pair of vertical chops that dug deep into its ribcage. It tried to fold up around the wounds, and she ducked beneath a flailing arm to come around at its head.

She saw its eyes go wide just before she hacked into its neck. Moments later, the thing went still.

Exhaustion washed over her, but Alex shook it off and turned to dive further into the Grue horde. Mary was still finishing the remaining Archers, but there were still Soldiers trying to ward her teammates from attacking the Knights.

They didn’t last long, however, especially when Laura joined her in tearing them apart. As the last of the Grue crumpled to the ground and the ever-familiar fire began to rise, she caught sight of Laura stalking towards her. She tried to look repentant, though it was hard when she saw the yellow text glowing in the edges of her vision.

[Main Quest Progress: 7 of 8 targets destroyed]

[Main Quest Progress: 4 of 8 targets destroyed]

[Hidden Quest Completed!]

Laura marched up to her and glared for a moment. Alex looked back at her and grimaced. “Sorry. I saw you about to get smashed, and…”

She shrugged, and the Vanguard’s face grew a bit less angry. The woman shook herself like a dog ridding itself of water and sighed. “Yeah, okay. I get it. We’re all tired.” Then Laura surprised her by giving her a grin. “Still, that was a solid kill, and I guess I could have been in trouble if it had actually gotten me. Next time, why don’t you just go wild on the Archers, though? I think the others are done with them now.”

Alex nodded, looking appropriately chastened. She was worried there was a hint of the triumph that she felt flooding through her when she turned away, though, because Ed gave her a reproachful look.

It didn’t matter, though. Her plan was officially in motion, and her excitement was almost enough to overwhelm her fatigue. Maybe something good would come out of the crunch after all.

Four more patrols, and one brief trip through the raging portal later, Alex stood staring at the familiar yellow text with a grin on her face.

[Mission Report]

[Successful Return! +20 Experience]

[Main Quests Completed! +80 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]

[Secondary Adversary Quest Completed! +40 Experience]

[Hidden Quest Undiscovered.]

Unless she had done the math completely wrong, all she needed to do was complete a normal Survey, and she’d reach the next level. She’d finally be D rank, and all the pain and suffering would be worth it.

[Recovery increased from 17 to 20!]

That part of the report mattered almost as much. She could feel the difference in her fatigue, in the way the repeated combat weighed on her. Even her aches and pains were fading just a little faster than they had before. Maybe the third Survey of the day wouldn’t be entirely miserable.

Then a terrible siren call of an awful idea rose up in front of her.

[Battle Maneuvers has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Reset Battle Maneuvers to gain a Title?]

Alex looked at the text, trying to convince herself that it was a truly bad idea to do what she was thinking of doing. Resetting her Skill to zero would leave her vulnerable again; she’d have to rebuild it over the course of the last Survey, the same way she had during the first Survey that day. Her teammates weren’t going to be fresh and full of energy; if it was anything like the day before, only Ed was going to have anything approaching the level of stamina they’d need to complete the entire Survey. If anything, it would be worse, with the weight of the previous day’s efforts bearing down on them.

At the same time, she was going to be approaching the next Survey with every other Skill nearly at full power. She wasn’t going to be rebuilding Recovery, and within the first few battles, she’d already have Battle Maneuvers back at full. Besides, her teammates would be expecting her to take those first few fights easy, anyway. Why not take one more chance?

She ran the same argument back and forth in her mind as she stayed in that world of light and quiet. Then she made her choice, feeling energy rush through her.

[Title Inborn Warrior upgraded to Title Destined Champion (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by four)]

The rest of the options to reset her Skills, or to Chain Marathoning to Combined Arms, she denied. For a moment as the text glowed before her, she simply floated and enjoyed the peace.

Then she stepped forward, and light consumed her…

“Four more left this time.” Sam shook his head. The cluster of former Golden Swallow Surveyors were huddled around a single table. Half of them were near collapse, slumped against the tabletop, or leaning heavily against the nearby wall. None of them looked like they’d had a great time during the day.

Alex shook her head and hissed. Eighteen E rankers, choosing chores instead of combat. It seemed like such a waste. She’d condemned people to the same choice, but they’d been griefers. The only crime these people had committed was being a bit too moral or unreliable for Wells to trust.

At the very least, her friends were all still here. Alessa looked fresher than Brian did, actually, and there was a light hostility in her eyes that gave Alex hope that she’d make it through to the end. Audrey and Joanna both looked like they were on the border of exhaustion too, though, and even Sam was looking like he was about to put his head down.

She tried to sound encouraging. “He’s doing it on purpose. You can’t give up. Not before we stop him.”

The others perked up a little. They exchanged looks and nodded; stubbornness settled over them like a blanket. Joanna looked back at Alex, her eyes half-open. “You have a plan?”

“I’ve been doing all right.” She hesitated, looking around carefully. “This next Survey, I think I’ll make D rank. That means I’ll be a Vanguard, not just an E rank goon.”

Tim snorted. “Not like the rest of us, you mean.”

“Quiet, you.” Clara poked the Porter, and he grunted. She looked back at Alex. “You’re thinking he’ll put you in charge of us?”

“Either that, or he’ll stick me with all the worst E rankers, the ones he really wants to get rid of.” Alex shifted slightly in her seat. “That means those Surveyors won’t be on your teams. He’ll almost have to start grouping you up together if he’s still trying to grind you down.”

Audrey shifted long enough to glare slightly at her through the curtain of her dark hair. “So you think that’ll make it easier for us?”

“I think we’ve all learned how to work together.” Alex looked around again, trying to keep her voice down. “That means you’ll be able to look out for each other and keep yourselves safe. You’ll have that much better a chance of making it home.”

Clara frowned. “And what about you? If the team he gives you is really that bad…”

“I can handle it.” Alex forced a grin. “Even better, I’ll be in charge of the team, instead of listening to someone else. That means I can make sure that you all get back through the portal before I do. Anyone gets in trouble, I’ll try to help them out.”

Brian folded his arms and frowned. “That sounds a little optimistic. How are you going to know we’re in trouble?”

She gave him a frustrated look. “I’ll figure it out, okay? Just get through the next Survey, and it’ll get better.”

“I hope so, Al.” Surprised, Alex looked at where Audrey was still muttering into the tabletop. “The other Surveyors were saying the third day is the worst part of crunch. That anyone who wasn’t ready for it tended to get crippled on that day, cause of how tired they were the rest of the time. I’m not worried about you, but some of us are exhausted.”

Alex reached across the table and grabbed Audrey’s arm. She’d never seen the Squire so beaten down, but Audrey had always been about combat and challenges. This kind of grinding attrition was not what she’d signed up for. “Just survive. I know you can do it. Even if you don’t complete the Quests, get home. Okay?”

The others all nodded slowly, and Alex sighed. Just one more Survey.

Bodies burned around her, and Alex let out a shuddering breath.

[Battle Maneuvers advances to 15!]

[Main Quest Progress: 6 of 8 targets destroyed]

[Main Quest Progress: 3 of 8 targets destroyed]

She shook her head, dismissing the yellow text. It was only the third patrol, but she was already feeling the power of her Skill return to her. Unfortunately, she was also starting to feel the drag of fatigue weighting her down as well.

Her teammates weren’t doing much better. Ed had done fairly well, charging in to destroy the Archers in the first patrol, and Bob had managed to pick off the ones in the second. Mary had taken forever to reach the back line during the third patrol, however, and the battle had lasted long enough that both Ed and Bob had taken wounds. Not severe ones, but bad enough to convince them to pull back slightly.

Alex grimaced. If they decided to abandon the Survey early…

She shook her head. “Should we start doing ambushes again? I can still act as bait.”

Laura gave her a sidelong look. The Vanguard seemed a little more wary of Alex, now that she’d poached one of the woman’s targets. “We can, if you want.” Then she looked at the others. “Ed? Bob? Are you still ready to go?”

Both of them finished wrapping their scratches in bandages, something they’d carried into the portal instead of health potions. Bob smirked. “Wouldn’t want to ruin our perfect record, right? Besides, Alex still needs to finish her Hidden Quests.”

Ed simply nodded and picked up his sword again. His expression was grave, but determined. Mary sighed and shouldered her axe. It was clear the Squire had no intention of reaching the backline again today. The dark circles under her eyes and the bruise one Grue had left on her cheek only emphasized her reasons.

Alex nodded, looking around for another hiding spot. “How about that parking garage?”

The others nodded wearily and set off for the structure without further protest. Alex took a moment to steady herself and then began to jog. She did her best to ignore the way her legs had started to shake.