Kelly leaned against the building’s wall. Concrete up a couple of feet, brick for the rest of the first floor and windows for the two higher floors. Just another office building out of dozens that she’s spent time in since the Connection. Except this one was a little different.

It housed a Dungeon.

She looked down at the piece of armor she’d earned for killing the boss. Not that she could see much. The chestpiece, which could barely be called that, barely covered her upper body, leaving her stomach and sides free. How that was protective she had no idea. It had amazing stats, the extra Abilities fitting her fighting style and Class. It was like the armor had been made specifically for her.

Probably had been.

It just looked like a bikini top. Not that Kelly had issues with bikinis, at least not when it came to bathing suits. She’d owned some rather skimpy ones through the years, and still had one that she only wore on the rare times that she and Loch got to go to the beach without the girls.

But armor was meant to be defensive, to keep weapons from cutting or bashing. She didn’t know how this functioned that way but had been assured it would. She had still kept her shirt underneath.

Not that there was much left of the shirt, not after the fighting in the Dungeon.

It wasn’t her first Dungeon, but they rarely encountered them as the refugee column was constantly on the move and didn’t stop long enough to look for them. Kelly was unsure about that strategy. Dungeons were dangerous, this last one had been especially tough without a healer as Senora Barkfall hadn’t gone with them. But the rewards for doing the Dungeons were amazing, and extremely helpful.

The weapons, armor and other gear helped the Valkyries and other fighters get stronger and that in turn helped them protect the refugees, the great mass of unClassed people.

She knew they needed to run more Dungeons.

But they couldn’t stop long enough to do that. Or spare the guards long enough to run more than the occasional. There were too many people and not enough of the ones they needed. They couldn’t even stop and spend time getting more of the refugees Classed.

All they could do was just keep walking.

Pushing off the wall, Kelly grabbed her spear from where it had been leaning. She walked away from the Dungeon, the entrance where the door to a utility room had been. The reminder of her party were sitting on the grass, getting what rest they could.

“We need Healers,” Chrissy said, removing a bandage from her arm.

The wound had been a deep cut made by one of the Rampaging Kobolds that filled most of the Dungeon. A bad luck wound as Chrissy was skilled enough and high enough Leveled to have made short work of the Kobold. But even the most skilled ran out of luck. It hadn’t been bad, hadn’t hampered her ability to fight, but had been slower to heal. Now that they were completely out of combat, it had fully healed.

The bandage was stained red, dry and crusty. Chrissy just tossed it on the ground. No one said anything. Who cared if someone littered now? It would probably fade away soon enough as the Worldcore claimed it for fuel.

“Won’t happen,” Harry grumbled, the one male member of the group.

Most of the fighters were female, majority of those having the Rare Valkyrie Class. The rest of the fighters, male and female, were Uncommon Strikers or Common Archers and Warriors. Harry Faria was the highest Leveled of those, at Thirteen. With all the Valkyrie’s being so similar, it didn’t make sense to have a full Dungeon party of the same Class. There had been three of them, with Harry and Judith Conway, an Archer, rounding it out.

All DPS Classes.

Kelly didn’t play any games like Loch had, but she’d sat in the living room reading or doing other things when he had played that she’d learned some by just watching and listening. And in the few months of the Connection, she’d learned far more.

It had surprised everyone to learn that the reason the Connection felt so much like those games was because they had been created to help prep humanity for the coming of the Connected System someday.

She knew enough about DPS, ranged, casters and support Classes to get by. A Dungeon party of all the same Classes was just asking for a lot of trouble. One of all DPS was asking for a little less trouble, but still dangerous.

But they had no choice.

There were no Healers and no Casters yet.

“The Lady Senora won’t let us get more Healers,” Harry continued.

Kelly could hear the sarcasm oozing when he’d said Lady. There was no respect there. Day by day, they were all losing what little respect they’d ever had for the Lady Senora Barkfall, High Priestess of the Dawnmother.

Kelly was losing all respect for the Dawnmother, also known as Freyja, Kelly’s own Patron. She wasn’t foolish enough to say anything out loud, there were still those in the refugees that practically worshiped the ground Senora walked on. The elven woman didn’t deserve it as Kelly was sure their situation would improve without Senora’s leadership.

If it could be called that.

“Come on,” Kelly said, tapping Carla’s boot with the end of her spear. The woman looked like she had started to fall asleep. “We need to get going and rejoin the rest. Heading out in the morning.”

There were a lot of groans, not really exaggerated, as the small group forced themselves to stand up. Kelly wished she could give them more time, but there just wasn’t. Even with the time dilation of the Dungeon, they had still spent a lot of time away from the refugees and it was just about a mile of walking through the remains of a city with monsters roaming through the ruined buildings.

***

Kelly stood in the doorway looking into the room claimed by Senora.

For once they’d chosen an old hotel to stay in. Right off the highway, a Courtyard by Mariott. Nothing fancy, vines had already started growing up the side of the stucco finish. It had been large and offered beds.

Moldy and smelling, but still beds.

There hadn't been enough rooms, of course, as the column had grown to almost three hundred people. They were forced to overload the rooms, even pulling out the cots and extra mattresses from storage. More people than beds. So they slept in shifts, everyone getting at least a couple hours of comfort on a mattress.

Everyone but Senora, who got far more than a couple of hours.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Somehow she had managed to get an entire room to herself. It wasn’t one of the biggest and only had a single queen sized bed, but that bed could have slept three people easily. The couch could have gotten another person and there was room for a cot to be pulled in that could sleep one more.

A room that could easily sleep five, not even counting floor space, had just one person.

Kelly thought about saying something but decided not to. It just wasn’t worth it. Her complaining would be ignored and nothing would change. The relationship between the two was already strained and growing worse daily.

Senora sat at the desk reading a book. It was small, only a couple inches high and wide, almost square. The cover was leather, covered in a fine script and drawings that Kelly couldn’t make out. She assumed it was the elf woman’s prayer book. Senora set the book down, rotating the chair to look at Kelly. She looked annoyed but it was hard to tell about what. To Kelly, Senora always looked annoyed.

“Yes?”

“One of the forward scouts came across Hob tracks about three miles north along our route. He said there were quite a lot of them. Easily a couple dozen sets.”

“There is a Mound in the area,” Senora said, tapping her long fingers on the desk.

Kelly nodded. Finding Hob Mounds wasn’t anything new. They’d run across them before. Most they could avoid, but they had to stop and deal with one. It had cost them three days of marching and five lives. Senora had been more upset about the delay in their progress.

“The tracks cut across the road,” Kelly continued.

“So if we continue on our course, we will most likely avoid the Mound,” Senora said, rotating in her chair. “Nothing to concern ourselves with.”

Kelly had to fight the growing anger. Hobs were weak, the strongest they had encountered no higher than Level Ten. Individually a Hob was not a threat, but it was their numbers that made the creatures dangerous. Hobs were never alone, always traveling in packs. They could overwhelm high Level Adapted just with their numbers.

They were weak but still dangerous.

“We should scout out the mound’s location,” Kelly said, taking a step into the room. “We can’t have a Mound’s worth of Hobs sneaking up behind us.”

“That would delay us too much,” Senora said, picking up the book, not bothering to turn and look at Kelly. “Just increase the guards along the sides and the rear.”

Kelly took a deep breath, wanting to yell. Part of Kelly’s anger was that Senora was mostly right. Most likely, they’d avoid the Mound and their numbers would discourage any Hob scouting parties from attacking. Increasing the guards on the sides and rear would most likely keep the Hobs away.

Most likely.

Not certain.

And the lives at risk were Kelly’s people.

Senora was considered the leader of the refugees. As a High Priestess of Freyja, she wasn't just the highest ranked but also the highest Level and the strongest. Kelly knew she couldn’t defeat Senora in battle, even if her own Class was melee DPS focused and Senora’s was healing. The elf was just that much higher Leveled and had centuries of experience.

The elf priestess, Kelly didn’t even know if that was Senora’s Class or just a job description, might have been in charge but it was Kelly that the people followed. Even the ones that had Freyja as a Patron, they still followed Kelly. The whole group was Kelly’s responsibility. They were her people.

Getting home to Loch and the girls was her priority. The most important goal, the one that no matter what she would accomplish. The whole reason she had taken Freyja as a Patron and was working to get stronger.

But the group of refugees was a close second. In some ways, it was more important.

Loch had somehow created a Clan and now Kelly was doing similar.

She had accepted responsibility and would get as many of them as she could to wherever they were going and for whatever purpose. If that purpose was something that would cause them harm, Kelly would go to war with Freyja if it came to it.

Kelly wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she abandoned all the people. Even if it was to get home to her family. She had a responsibility to them. One she had voluntarily taken on.

She wondered if that was how Loch had come to be a Clanlord. An overjarl as Senora had said. Kelly hated that term and hoped Loch had changed it to something better.

She could see him doing that. Taking responsibility for survivors. He was the strongest person on Earth. He wouldn’t use that strength to control or force others to do what he wanted. That wasn’t who Loch was. He’d use that strength to protect the girls and any survivors.

That was who he was.

That was who she had fallen in love with.

That was who she was going to be as well.

Senora didn’t care if a few died. Kelly did.

“It should only take a day to find the Mound. If it’s close, we’ll know how to avoid it,” she said.

“No,” Senora replied.

“It’s just another day,” Kelly argued. “The people could use the rest. We can send out hunters to gather more food and..”

“No.”

Kelly took another breath, working to push her anger down. It was getting harder and harder to do so. Each day was a struggle. Soon enough she would explode. Sometimes she wondered if the elf was waiting for that.

An excuse for Senora to kill her? She could replace Kelly with someone more controllable. No, it didn’t make sense. There had been plenty of opportunities for Senora to kill Kelly and she hadn’t. For whatever reason, Senora, or most likely Freyja, wanted Kelly around.

She had a feeling it had to do with Loch.

“One day. If the scouts can’t find the Mound in a day, then it’s too far away to trouble us,” Kelly said, trying to reason with the stubborn and arrogant elf.

“I said no.”

Kelly took another step into the room, causing Senora to turn and glare at her. Kelly didn’t back down. It was time to start asserting some control. Senora was the High Priestess but Kelly was responsible for the people.

“We will take at least a day,” Kelly said. “The scouts will locate the Mound and assess the threat level to the caravan.”

She held Senora’s gaze, neither backing down. Finally with a haughty sniff, Senora turned away, opening the book. Kelly waited a second before turning and walking out into the hallway.

“I would not have thought you would choose those people over your family,” Senora said, throwing it out casually, just loud enough.

Kelly stopped, turning to face the elven woman. She hadn’t looked up from her book, eyes moving as she scanned the pages.

“What did you say?”

“The Dawnmother has promised to reunite you with your family,” Senora said, still not looking up. “The time is coming but even with the Dawnmother’s power it will be difficult to accomplish. As such, she needs help from a Natural Resource of this world. That Resource is to the north, along the path we are following. Every day we are delayed means another day we are not closer and another day that someone else could claim the Resource.” Senora placed a finger on the book, holding it open as she turned and looked at Kelly. The elf was smiling. Wicked and cruel. She was enjoying this. “With how much you say you want to see your husband and your daughters, I would not expect you to delay that reunion.”

Kelly wanted to leap into the room and attack the elf. She wanted to Activate all her Abilities, to hack and slash and kill Senora. She had never felt so angry. Not just at Senora, but at everything. The Connected System. Freyja. Fate. Her own helplessness. But mostly Senora Barkfall.

It took everything Kelly had to back out of the room. To turn and start to walk away.

She knew what she had to do. It was a hard but easy choice. The same one she knew Loch had most likely made already. Maybe even a couple times. They were similar like that. Responsibility was a heavy weight to carry.

“That was cruel,” Kelly said, her voice calm but underneath a tone that promised Senora that this was not over. “Even for you.”