Max swore and said, “Form up, backs to that column.”

They all hurried over to the wide column of flesh he pointed to. They trampled down some of the library plants, their colorful organs slowly squirming. James was hyperventilating and swinging his head around, trying to see where the monsters would be coming from. Gus looked a little more in control of himself, more angry than scared. Yang was limping, but she had retrieved her sword and looked ready to fight.

“Lily, can you summon your mushroom pal again?” Max asked while he looked to the left. It sounded like the closest monster was gonna come from that direction.

“No, not for another ten minutes or so.” She replied.

Max swore again. “Fine. Figure out that sprayer and spray the shit around us in a wide arc. The custodian gave it to us for a reason, it’s gotta work.” Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Gus and said, “Use the hammer as soon as you can. Wait till the monsters are distracted and then hit them with evil twin. Yang, I forget what you do, just do a lot of it. Don’t save your mana.”

Yang looked him in the eye and nodded seriously.

Max nodded back. He didn’t bother to give Ashley instructions, she was pretty much useless. Instead, he grabbed James by the shoulders and said, “James. Calm down. You got this. You got this. Hit them with Decay and then Glass Shards. Don’t hit us, and don’t let up. Ok?”

James didn’t get the chance to reply. Both monsters appeared, almost on top of them. The dozens of meat columns in the room obstructed their sight lines and allowed the parasites to sneak up. The one on the left was six feet tall and the one on the right was four feet tall. They looked identical to the first one, a round body with six tentacles for walking, and a mouth that split their whole body in half.

Blue words formed above the monsters as Max focused on them.

Blood Parasite Level 9

Blood Parasite Level 6

The monster on the left opened its mouth wide and let out a gurgling hiss. The smaller one on the right skipped the display and scrabbled forward, its mouth wide. A gaping maw, three feet wide, aimed at the closest human, Lily.

A glass shard flew right down its gullet, causing it to stop suddenly and try to hack the offending material out. Gus was ready for it and slammed his war hammer down on top of its head. The super strike activated and smacked the monster down. It was pulped inside and definitely rattled, but it wasn’t dead yet. Gus aimed to fix that. He brought the hammer down on its body again and again.

While he was going to town on the little one, the larger parasite stopped hissing and leapt forward. This time James wasn’t there to disrupt its charge, he was still watching Gus. Ashley shrieked and held out her hand. A bright flash of light speared out, hitting it in the roof of its mouth. It burnt a small hole, causing the monster to slam its mouth shut.

Unfortunately, it was airborne, so it kept flying forward with a closed mouth. It slammed into Ashley, bowling her over. It landed on top of her, squirming and thrashing with its barbed tentacles to stand back up.

Max slammed his hammer’s backside down on the monster. The spike pierced deep and stuck fast. He pulled hard. The monster slowly levered off of Ashley and she rolled out of the way. The parasite didn’t like him unbalancing it like that. It snaked a tentacle up to his arm and wrapped itself around. The barbs in the tentacle dug in as it squeezed hard.

His hand and forearm were protected, his gauntlets enough to stand up to the tentacle. But his biceps were only covered by a thin t-shirt. The barbs dug in and made him cry out in pain. He let go of the hammer and fell to his knees. The monster opened its mouth wide and started pulling him in.

Max yanked himself back, ignoring how much it hurt. He leaned back, just out of range of the monster’s snapping jaws. It snaked two more limbs around his boots, but his thick camping boots were strong enough to keep his feet unscathed. He reached for the hammer embedded in the monster with his free hand. It was too far away. A thought ran through his head, overwhelming him. He was going to get eaten.

He fought back, physically and metaphorically. He wasn’t going to get eaten, he was going to survive. He activated the glove’s magic power and an ethereal hand flew out and grabbed the hammer. The magic brought the hammer back to his free hand.

The war hammer’s magic had already been used, but the drill duct-taped to it hadn’t. Max stabbed it into where he thought it’s brain was and activated the magic pierce. An inch wide hole appeared in the monster’s body and started spouting blood. The parasite screeched and wrapped its tentacles around its head.

It didn’t let go of Max though. It was down, but not out. Max used his left hand to stab at the monster again and again, but most of the strikes were ineffective. He just didn’t have the leverage.

Lily saved the day by jumping in with her hammer. It was the copper one Max had made yesterday, only the size of a construction hammer. What it lacked in size, it made up for in magic. The super strike slammed into the monster’s top jaw and obliterated it. A blast of blood sprayed out, covering Ashley.

Minor amount of essence gathered

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Minor amount of essence gathered

The six of them looked around, but nothing jumped out of the bushes at them. Gus plopped on the ground, heaving big breaths with a smile on his face. James sat down where he was and hugged his knees. Ashley started wiping the blood off her face as she softly cried.

Max looked down. The tentacle was still tightly wrapped around his arm. He grimaced and started pulling it out, one barb at a time. Pulling the yellow tentacle off his arm felt like he was wrestling with snot. Every successful barb removed brought a new level of pain and another open wound.

“That sucked,” Lily said.

“That was awesome!” Gus said and threw up his arms.

“Maybe for you,” Ashley said, “I’m covered in blood over here, and a lot of it’s mine.”

“Bah, cost of doing business. You’re alive, ain't cha? Any fight you can walk away from is a good fight,” Gus said casually.

Max winced as he pulled another barb out of his arm. “We could have done better. Gus, you never activated your evil twin card. If we had another parasite fighting this one, then maybe Ashley and I wouldn’t have gotten injured.”

“Oh, right. Next time I’ll remember to use my Warped Mirror card,” Gus said sheepishly.

“Still, good job for killing your monster. Thanks,” Max said. He turned, “Ashley, you did great with your light attack. We gotta use that more often. James, you did great, no notes. Lily, thanks for saving me. That copper hammer really packs a punch. I think we’ll wait here until all of the hammers have recharged their super strike. Now that we have time, you think you can figure out that coagulant sprayer?”

“Yeah. It’s gross, but somebody’s got to do it,” Lily said.

Max nodded. He tried not to let it show but he was kinda pissed she hadn’t figured it out already. He didn’t know how effective it would have been, but it was one more tool in their arsenal that they hadn’t used in that last fight. He turned and said, “Yang, you doing ok over there?”

“Yes. I am bruised, but not broken. I can fight.”

Max smiled. “You did great too. How do you sneak up like that? Is it your paint card?”

“No, that card is worthless. I invested all of my orbs into Paranoia. It helps me know where monsters are looking so I can avoid their sight. I also have some training in stealth.”

“Yeah, you trained in stealth? You used to be a ninja?” Gus said.

Yang looked down to her dirtied white shirt and suit pants. “Are you an idiot? What makes you think I’m a dress-up weeaboo?”

Gus climbed to his feet. “Who you calling an idiot? Come here and say that to my face!”

“I don’t need to get up, I already said it to your face,” Yang said without moving.

Max held his hands out, “Whoa, whoa. We are here to fight the monsters, not each other. Yang, he asked an ignorant question, but he didn’t insult you. Apologize.”

Yang turned and fixed him with an icy gaze. Max calmly stared back. If she didn’t want to listen to him, she could lead this group of circus monkeys. The room stayed quiet for several long seconds.

“I apologize, Gus,” Yang said. “In my neighborhood in the Philippines, anything Japanese is an insult. I understand now that you did not intend it.”

Gus widened his eyes in surprise and lowered his fists. “Well, then. I guess that’s alright.” He sat back down and said, “The Philippines, huh? Why’d you fly all the way over to America to enter the portal?”

“It was not my intention. My employer sent me to Ohio on a mission and a colleague tricked me into entering the portal. It was probably retaliation for when I kicked him in the balls in front of our boss,” Yang said.

“Oof. That’s harsh.” Gus said.

Max agreed. Harsh on both counts. He said, “Yang, I was interested in the Paranoia stat, but I was worried that it might make me, you know, paranoid. How do you think it affected you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think it changed me. I’ve always been wary of others. This helps me recognize when someone is looking at me, or it helps me notice things I might have missed before. It doesn’t change the way I think.”

Max nodded. She didn’t think it changed her, but she admitted she was already paranoid. He decided to change the subject. “What about you, Gus? What brought you to Spinworld?”

Gus shrugged, “Magic? I mean who wouldn’t want magic? That and adventure. I guess I’ve always thought how cool it would be to discover a new world. There’s nothing unexplored back on Earth, you know? No new frontiers. Used to be that you could head out to the wild west, make your mark on the world. Now the only way to do that is to leave.

“I think what really changed my mind was the Dungeon Crawler Carl movie. Something just clicked in my head. I saw that on the big screen and said, ‘This. This is what I’m meant to be doing with my life.’ A few years later, I joined a group prepping for the portal and here I am.”

Ashley pointed and said, “Yes! That was a great movie. I can’t believe some people didn’t like it.”

“It was pretty great. Insanely violent and violently insane,” Max said, quoting a part in the movie.

Gus pointed to Ashley, “Ok, now that I know you have good taste in movies, I’m interested in you again. Why’d you jump through the portal?”

Ashley looked away and said, “It wasn’t really my idea. My friend, well she wasn’t really my friend but she pretended to be, kicked me out of my house. It was a stupid disagreement and I wish I apologized. Instead I went to live with my friend, Sara.

“Sara was great, had this really magnetic personality. Everyone got along with her, life of the party type gal. She was obsessed with this place, talked about jumping through the portal all the time. I guess I got swept up in her excitement and the adventure of it all. I never stopped to think if I actually wanted to do it. I knew I made a mistake as soon as that fat guy died. By then it was too late.

“When Sara died the first day, I broke. I didn’t know what to do anymore, why I should keep moving. I guess now I’m trying to live the life she always talked about. To do all the things she talked about, throwing magic around, seeing new places. I guess sometimes I come off as a bit of a jerk, but that’s just because I’m still struggling to cope with everything.”

Max slowly blinked. Ashley sounded like a real person there. Did he hate her a little bit less now? Before he could examine the thought, the conversation moved on.

“What about you, Max? Why are you here?” Gus said.