Samantha, I’d like your help. How can I fix this?

The second evacuation was much like the first. Hundreds of people franticly pressing towards the building that housed the Teleportation Circle. So far, I had seen dozens of people die in front of me as I fought off giant scorpions and vultures.

I had found my rhythm, standing on top of a building, killing monsters incredibly quickly, but it wasn’t enough. I could tell I was fighting a losing battle—not just at this town, but in general—the other towns weren’t strong enough to protect themselves, and I couldn’t be everywhere at once.

Samantha started. It was a strange thing to say, since I was sure she had spent much of her time planning this out in the first place. She always seemed to have a half dozen plans running at the same time.

Samantha said, after a brief pause.

That actually makes sense, I thought back.

I thought you wanted to keep the city secret?

Samantha said.

I didn’t want to waste any time. I had my Communication Amulet equipped, and so I immediately contacted Uman.

The Communication Amulet succeeded in making a live connection, and I immediately said out loud, “Uman, I want you to put me in touch with Dawnbreaker, ASAP.”

“Of course!” Uman’s voice was slightly distorted. “Is everything alright? I’m hearing some unnerving background noises.”

“We’re losing another town,” I said, tersely. “Get me Dawnbreaker.”

I heard Uman whisper something—“We’ll talk more later,” and then his voice came across clear to me. “I’m walking to the Boston Teleportation Circle now. Last I heard, Dawnbreaker was fighting a Region Lord in New York City, so I will go there first. Is there anything I need to know?”

“No,” I said. “How is the search for Petra going?”

“No leads yet,” Uman admitted. “We’ve ruled out Fayette City—the augur didn’t pick up any ‘scent’ of her there. We’re still working on it.”

“Call me back the moment she is on the line,” I said. “Tell her it’s urgent.”

I ended the call, and resumed killing monsters.

Samantha said.

This was where having a second pair of eyes and essentially a companion’s mind was extremely useful. In the middle of this bloodbath, I hadn’t been following the status of the Communication Tower at all.

The tower was the tallest building in the town.

It didn’t seem like any creatures were specifically targeting it—they much preferred killing people in the streets—but I kept a wary eye out and ready.

Ten minutes later, Uman’s Communication Amulet called me back, but it was Dawnbreaker’s voice that carried through.

“You have 10 seconds,” she said, speaking quickly with more than a hint of annoyance in her voice. “The Ontario Region Lord just showed up in Toronto.”

I paused, slightly flustered, then took a breath. “I will help you fight your Region Lords, if you provide manpower to defend my Region’s towns and city.”

“How much manpower?” Dawnbreaker asked. I could tell I had her interest.

“500 people, with E-rank classes,” I said. I honestly had no idea how big the Crucible was, but

“I can’t spare that many,” Dawnbreaker said. “That would be sacrificing my own towns and saving yours. I can send 100 people who have E-rank classes, level 15 or higher.”

“Deal,” I said. “One more thing. In about six hours, I’ll have a batch of Mana Shards to sell to you, with no-interest loans if needed.”

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“How many?” I could hear a slight tinge of hope in her voice.

“One hundred,” I said. “I’m working on gaining more. I would like the Soul Explosion and Spiritual Traveler spells in exchange though.” Requesting the Soul Explosion and Spiritual Traveler spells was Samantha’s idea, of course. The two spells were limited to people with Soul Magic Affinity, which was rare enough that Dawnbreaker probably hadn’t put them to use yet.

“Get me 500 Mana Shards and they are both yours. My people will be in Reed City in an hour. I’ll tell you where we need you then.”

Once the call with Dawnbreaker ended, I contacted Ryker next to inform him of the plan—and my need for miners in Nova City.

After talking to Ryker, I contacted Justin, letting him know that he would need to onboard a bunch of guards. I made a point to emphasize that he should be especially careful around Ethan.

It felt incredibly callous, talking to someone “on the phone” while killing monsters and watching people die in front of me.

It forced me to wonder, if I devoted all my concentration to fighting, instead of talking, if I would be able to save more people in this town.

But at this point, every decision was a trade-off, and I could only hope I was making the right call.

----------------------------------------

An hour later, I appeared in Toronto. It was something of a relief, appearing in a city with a spacious Teleportation Circle, and not having to worry about a stampede of terrified people.

Toronto was rather chilly, but with my Physical Defense, it didn’t bother me.

“This way, sir.” The guard at the Teleportation Circle immediately led me out of the building, through the crowded streets, and towards the City’s main gate.

It was a much friendlier welcome compared to when I had visited Montreal.

The guard led me to the battlements, where I could see monsters rushing up against the city’s walls. There were dozens of different kinds of creatures, from stone badgers to giant spiders.

Further in the distance, I could see a team of three people--Parker, Hank, and Amos— fighting what truly deserved to be called a monster.

The monster was Lovecraftian. It was larger than most houses, and it had a huge, gaping maw the size of a trampoline with jagged teeth lining the interior of the mouth and throat, reminding me of a Sarlacc.

The creature had over a hundred different appendages, a disconcerting amalgamation of humanoid legs, tentacles, monster legs, and arms. Every once in a while, a tentacle would lash out, wrapping around an unsuspecting nearby monster, and the creature would consume it in a single gulp.

The most concerning part of the monster, though, were the humanoid figures protruding from the creature’s body.

I could tell they used to be people, but it was unimaginable that they were still alive. Several of the bodies decorating the creature were missing the left or right half of their body, and for others, it was just the torso that was sticking out of the monster’s bubbling flesh.

To add to the eldritch abomination, those humanoid figures were casting spells against the ex-Crucible trio.

Samantha said.

I felt an uncomfortable glare coming from the guard who had led me to the top of the city’s wall. As if he were too nervous to say, Well, aren’t you going to join them?

With a single leap, I jumped off the defensive wall, into mass of monsters below me.

The nearest monsters—a group of stickles—tried to slice me with their saw-like arms and legs. I blazed through them, throwing my knives when necessary with my left hand, charging directly towards the Lamia Impression.

None of the monsters around me were able to slow me down. I killed a swath of monsters, until I reached the trio that were frantically fending off the Lamia Impression and the thousands of monsters that were attacking.

“Jarek! Nice to see you,” Amos shouted, as he stabbed his blade directly through a velociraptor. “Man do we need you,” he continued. “This monster wiped out the rest of our team.”

“I wasn’t fast enough to block the tentacles,” Hank added, sadly. I could see tears in his eyes, even as he wielded his shield and hammer to block Parker from being attacked by a dozen monsters.

Meanwhile, Parker was using my presence to drink a Mana Potion.

Between the four of us, it wasn’t hard to keep a circle of ground cleared from the monster hordes. The Lamia Impression seemed content to continue eating the horde of monsters around it, and it didn’t make much of an attempt to attack us.

“What’s the game-plan?” I asked.

“When the monster ate our magicians, we lost our firepower,” Amos replied. “We were just holding out for reinforcements, and making sure it doesn’t attack the city,” Amos said. Then, realizing he might not have been clear, he added, “You’re the reinforcements.”

“Ok, well, it looks like it’s biding its time for something, so I’m going to go kill it before it attacks us. You guys stay here.”

Ignoring their objections, I rushed towards the Lamia Impression. The closer I got to the Lamia Impression, the fewer monsters there were around me. It seemed none of the monsters were keen on becoming dinner.

I had already left the team when the full implications of what Amos had said hit me. They had lost their magicians. Had Petrov been with them? Was Petrov dead?

Petrov had always seemed calm, and collected. He could match me in a battle, back when we sparred at the Crucible.

But I remembered Hanks tears, and I saw the imposing form of the Lamia Impression ahead of me, and I knew, this was a world that wouldn’t pull its punches.

As I neared the Lamia Impression, its stench caught me the most off guard. It smelled of putrid flesh, vomit, blood, disease and death. The monster itself made no sense. It had hundreds of tentacles. It was hard to tell how long the tentacles were, because they seemed so raveled together. But on various parts of the tentacles, I could see human hands, or monstrous claws, or even small mouths filled with strange monstrous teeth.

It had been a frustrating last few days. From Petra’s disappearance, to watching towns getting raided by monsters, there had been an anger burning in my chest for a while.

When you’re capable of crushing the monsters around you like ants, there is no sense of satisfaction in victory, and it is even more humiliating when you lose.

I was excited for this battle. A battle without a moral grey area in my mind. I would save Toronto, and work towards building a brighter future. Sure, I was using Samantha’s combat shadow, but against a monster like the Lamia Impression, I didn’t want to pull any punches.

The monster had mostly ignored my approach, until I was about 10 yards away. Then, it reached out with dozens of tentacles simultaneously, ignoring the pain as I chopped through over half of them with my Vampiric Blade.

But there were so many tentacles, and I couldn’t slice them all. The remaining tentacles wrapped around me, and I felt the strange combination of textures of hands, teeth, and tentacles as the creature tossed me directly into its ever-open mouth.