29. Under Fire

It took less than ten minutes for our group to make it back to base. The others were pushed along by an almost primal need to test their skills. I, on the other hand, just wanted to get as far away from the goblins as possible. Everything about Floor 2 creeped me out. The saliva dripping from goblin mouths, the needle-like teeth, the fact that they were armed and how attentively they tracked our movements. It was too much. Even the environment sucked. Floor 1’s grassy meadow was replaced by a dark, dying forest. It was the kind of forest where you hid a body. The kind of forest where kids went in and never came out. It wasn’t anywhere I wanted to return, though I knew I’d have to. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life on Floor 1, after all. Could I? No, I really couldn't. Floor 2 was bound to have better loot and the stronger monsters would help increase our abilities faster. There was no escaping the goblins, but that didn't mean we couldn't plan first.

I saw Thwain’s trademark wings in the sky as we approached the base. I waved him down while the others yelled for Pyro to open up an entrance. He must be so annoyed at the constant interruptions. We would have to find a better way, soon, before he refused to let people in. It was alright when it was just the three of us, but now that there were around twenty people (with more to come), it was no wonder why Pyro worked through the night. He was busy all day being the doorman for everyone every time they needed somehing.

Thwain landed on one of the towers, waiting for me as I entered the base and found the stairs that led upwards. As I reached the top of the stairs, Thwain was waiting for me, leaning against a railing like the sexy villain in an enemies-to-lovers bard’s tale. He flexed his wings, their dark leathery membrane contrasting with his pale skin. His chest was bare, again, his wings having ripped through his last few shirts. Was his hair always so dark?

“What’s up, Théo?” He asked in his dark, rich, emotionless voice.

“One more trip to the Slums. I’m bringing the kids back, figured we could do one last rescue mission for the day.”

Thwain nodded. “Let’s go, then.” He took off into the air with a few powerful beats of his wings, darting off to the southeast.

I wrangled the two students and brought them outside again. Sasha played around with her shadow manipulation, stabbing slimes with Slimey’s shadow as we walked. Marc busied himself with teleporting rocks from his pocket as far away as he could, causing slimes to come rushing towards us. For once, I wasn’t concerned. I was finally past worrying about slimes when I had Slimey with his guard up, especially with only two people to escort. Fewer people meant a smaller diameter, meaning Slimey could stretch taller than ever before. He was eating slimes at such a rate that I could barely keep track of all the pairs of eyes winking out within his bulk. I wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, if it was because of the overabundance of slimes digesting within his body, or if he was really changing, but Slimey seemed to be growing a darker shade of green by the day.

When we arrived at the portal to Floor 0, I unsummoned Slimey. Thwain was waiting for us, leaning against the portal archway. He waved lazily as we approached. Sasha blushed furiously, obviously stricken. Poor girl, Thwain barely even acknowledged her.

“Rough walk?”

I looked around. Marc’s face was flushed. I guess he wasn’t used to the pace we had set.

“It was fine. Ready?” I asked.

Thwain shook his head slightly. “We probably need to…” He nodded over at the portal and raised an eyebrow.

“You think they’re waiting?”

“Absolutely.” He said it with such certainty that I wondered if… Well, he had mentioned getting into a sort of snag last time. Maybe he was worried that there would be too many punks waiting for us...

“We can slip by,” Sasha blurted.

We both turned to look at her. She shrank under our combined gazes, hiding behind her long black hair, but elaborated nonetheless.

“I can use my, uh… My darkness. My shadows. I can conceal us in the Slums.” Her confidence grew as she talked, straightening up to her full height again, making me look up at her. Thwain held her gaze, unblinkingly.

“If you think you can sneak by, I trust you. No sense in causing a ruckus,” Thwain said evenly. “Just be careful.”

She nodded vehemently, tugging on Marc's wrist. “We will. Thank you for everything.” She ran over and gave me a hug, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Be careful. We’ll try and help from our end.” Then, she dragged Marc through the portal without another word.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

We stood awkwardly for a few minutes, neither of us willing to break the silence.

“So…” I finally started. “Are we…?” I looked at Thwain for direction, raising a questioning eyebrow.

He nodded gravely. “We’re going in. The kids might have been able to slip through, but they shouldn’t have to sneak. We should all be free to farm the floors. Scum like that… Those vultures don’t deserve to live.” He squeezed his guns tightly, anger obviously overtaking him. I don’t think I'd ever seen him so angry. Ruthless. Guilty? He had a point, though. The people sharking around the portals were just another reason why people didn’t climb. I brought up my Bestiary.

“Slime or Sunder?” I asked, pausing. I had mana for both, but it would probably stop me from bringing anyone else to Floor 2 for the day.

“Sunder.”

I shrugged. May as well. I concentrated on my Bestiary, reaching in and summoning my demon. A black and red summoning circle appeared next to me, quickly phasing my demon into existence. I slumped a little at the effort, but quickly withdrew one of the slime pots. I easily unscrewed the blue and white checkered cover, revealing a square blue jelly inside. It wriggled as if it were alive. Then, it opened its tiny eyes and looked right at me. I almost dropped the jar.

Forcing down my shock, I slowly opened my mouth and brought the jar to my lips, as Pyro had done. Was it really going to... With a barely audible squeak, the miniature blue slime hopped into my mouth, instantly liquifying. I hurriedly swallowed before I grossed myself out by thinking about it too much. Did I just eat (well, drink) a baby slime? Then, it hit me. It was like a jolt of electricity filling my body with energy. I felt more awake than I had been in weeks. Having gotten my second wind, I stormed through the portal, Sunder and Thwain right behind.

We appeared in front of the same portal, in the same square as always. Two tall walls of stone formed an upside down V in front of us, extending to our left and to our right, leaving just enough space to pass between each raised wall and the nearby buildings. Pyro really had outdone himself.

A gruff voice rang out from behind the walls. “Halt! We saw the flash. Just drop your loot and come out with your hands up. No sudden movements and nobody gets hurt.”

Thwain gestured for me to move, spreading his wings wide. I nodded, holding firmly onto my shield and throwing a handful of coppers on the ground before slowly walking around the right side of the two rough stone walls. I heard footsteps circling around the left side as I rounded the corner.

“I said drop your loot!” A man in dark leathers yelled from behind a scraggly beard, pointing what looked like the seventeenth gun in my direction.

“It isn’t loot,” I said, raising my shield a bit in what I hoped looked like a shrug. “It’s my equipment. I dropped my loot back there, like you asked. Do I have to strip naked, too?” I made sure to raise my voice, trying to cover the sound of the scuffle behind me, where Sunder was draining a man of his life essence, lowering his body to the ground. One of the goons got curious and headed around the left side of the walls as well.

“Gary, you better not be picking through the loot again,” the leader hollered. “Scoop it up and come back. That’s the rule.”

A few tense seconds passed before there was a shout behind me.

“Hey! What--” The sound of the man’s neck breaking broke the silence as well. Gunshots rang out as bullets slammed into my shield and the wall next to me. I hurriedly backed up, ducking for cover. Thwain returned fire from above, surprising a few of the attackers, dropping them before they noticed him.

When Sunder had dealt with her two meat sacks, I pretended to rush out of the right side of the walls, crouching behind my raised shield, drawing fire from half a dozen goons that weren’t aiming at the sky. While their attention was mostly on me, Sunder darted in from the left, clotheslining the first unfortunate soul in her path and spearing into the second, ripping out his throat with her pointed teeth as they fell to the ground. My demon rolled swiftly as people turned to shoot at her. Bullets sparked off stone as they missed her by inches. A single shot caught her in the shoulder, partially deflected by her thick scales.

Thwain took advantage of the distraction, swooping in close and gunning down four more enemies before darting into a nearby building. Bullets ricocheted everywhere as the few remaining thugs panicked. I rushed forwards, smashing a woman in the face with my shield as my trusty buckler started glowing green. Thwain stepped out of the building like a supervillain, one step at a time, an unfamiliar necklace around his neck and two glowing pistols raised. I took a bullet to my ankle, dropping to one knee, turtling behind my shield yet again. A scream escaped my mouth involuntarily as the pain consumed me. It felt as if my foot had been torn off. Thwain tanked a few bullets, a golden shield appearing around his body, deflecting lead to the side with ease before shattering under the constant barrage. He soaked up a few bullets, ignoring the chest wounds as he returned fire, healing back up within seconds. Sunder snapped the necks of the two remaining thugs as they turned to face Thwain.

I groaned as the pain in my ankle redoubled, the adrenaline of the fight wearing off. I pointed my shield along my leg, angling it so that any residual energy hit into Sunder and Thwain. I willed the shield to activate, sending a pulse of healing energy coursing through my ankle. I sighed in relief as the pain dulled and then vanished completely. I stood, testing out my newly healed joints. Thankfully, they seemed to be as good as new.

“New bling?” I asked, pointing to the necklace around Thwain’s neck.

“Yeah. A gift from the Church. Got a few more things that we still need to figure out, too. Anyway, stay here and keep the area clear. I’ll go get a few people. I’ll be back in less than half an hour. Be careful.” My friend, one of the few people I trusted with my life, disappeared in a flurry of wings.

I frowned. He hadn’t mentioned anything about magical loot the last few times we talked. Had he?