The ground shook the moment she walked in.

  There were three Demonic Grasshoppers, which meant two moles were under her feet.

  The oversized bugs turned a shiny silver and fanned out their wings as Penelope started running to her right. She didn’t want to have the Demonic Moles behind her while she was fighting the other minions.

  “Light Torrent!”

  Four appeared behind her as she ran. Penelope would peek around the shield to see if the bugs had gotten in range, but so far they were just fanning out while the Shadow Buffer moved towards her.

  “NOW!”

  “LIGHT BURST!”

  Penelope fired off the area of effect spell like her Elf parasite had directed. Thinking about him as anything else at the moment would distract her with the weight of what waited for him at the end. Thankfully, Jeru didn’t comment on the turmoil in her mind.

  “Again!”

  “LIGHT BURST!”

  “The moles are dead. Focus on what’s in front of you, and you’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks.” Penelope didn’t bother looking behind her, trusting the Elf to watch her back.

  Now that the moles were taken care of, she could start advancing without having to worry about getting attacked from both sides. She flicked her wand, sending a pair of at the two closest grasshoppers, while the third one jumped high.

  “Light…”

  Plink

  Plink

  Plink

  Penelope pulled the shield close and hunched behind it. The last minion landed on the shield, knocking her down under the metal protection.

  “LIGHT BURST! LIGHT BURST!”

  The weight on top of her increased as the monster turned into dead weight.

  Plink

  Plink

  Penelope struggled to get her arm out from under the shield and pointed it at the approaching Demon.

  “LIGHT TORRENT!”

  The four shot out of the tip of her wand, followed by their clones. The Shadow Buffer backed out of their range, stopping a few feet away from them as the orbs of light hung in the air.

  Penelope pulled her knees into her chest to help slide the heavy monster off of her. The effort was compounded with her having to split her focus to keep the from winking out.

  The corpse had managed to grab onto the edge of her shield and wasn’t going to be moved off the metal protection without serious effort. Penelope angled the shield to the side and wiggling out from under it.

  The Shadow Buffer stood at the edge of her range and watched her as she scooted on her back out from underneath the shield. She inched her feet against the back of the shield until she reached the edge, then kicked off as hard as she could and rolled out from under the heavy corpse.

  ROAR!

  The Shadow Buffer was covered in the same silver substance that had been protecting the minions. It flicked one of the orbs away, then ran towards her. Metal shards appeared in front of its hand and shot through the distance between them.

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  “LIGHT BEAM!”

  Penelope threw out her left hand and fired the beam from her palm while she twisted the wand through the air like she was a conductor keeping time for the choir of Demons.

  Light splayed out in every direction as the beam split and reflected off the shiny surface. Metal shards hit the robe as Penelope stood, keeping her focus on the approaching Demon.

  The beam focused on the center of the Demon’s chest while the balls of light rammed into its back. A few shards managed to hit her in the face, and one buried itself in her cheek.

  The barrier to the north and east dropped, letting her know that the monster with a hole in its chest was dead.

  Penelope closed her eyes as she slowed her breathing. Her arms dropped to her side, and she sank to the ground after she slid the wand into her belt.

  “I need a better helmet.” She pinched the metal stuck in her cheek and wiggled it out. “Something with a visor to protect my face.”

  “It amazes me how you’re able to just block out pain like that.” Jeru shook his head. “The only Demons with helmets like that are the Tanks.” Sympathy covered his face as he motioned at the silver grasshopper on the shield. “You’re already having trouble carrying one piece of Tank gear; you think you’ll be able to handle a second?”

  Penelope pulled out a Healing Potion and downed the spicy liquid. “It’s better than losing an eye.”

  “The potion can repair that.” Jeru winced at her scowl. “But protection might be better to prioritize.” He looked around the floor. “There’s something in 6C, but it’s more of a circlet than a helmet.” The Elf snapped his fingers. “There’s a Shadow Caster in 9F that has an actual helmet made for Casters, but that’s at the end.” He shrugged. “Sorry, there’s not much selection on the first floor.”

  “You’ll be able to get craftsmen to make you gear once you start interacting with the locals, but you need to get strong enough for the Authority to see you as someone useful instead of someone that they need to detain or protect.” Jeru shook his head. “I don’t know how many times I sat in that detention cell because Karen spent the majority of her time arguing with Elves about why they needed to join her party and go into the Dungeon.”

  “Ouch.” Penelope started pushing on the dead grasshopper.

  “It’ll be easier if you wait until the spell wears off.” The blue Elf nodded to the west. “You won’t need the shield for the next square, and you’ll get another one there anyway.”

  Penelope nodded. She checked her mana as she walked over to 3B. She recovered all of her mana in just over 21 minutes. That rate was halved while she was in combat, but since it was taking her about 15 minutes per fight and 5 minutes to pick up loot, compose herself, and get to the next place, she was passively recovering 36 mana from the start of one fight until the start of another. She was almost full again by the time she reached the barrier.

  Penelope had only used 38 mana in the last fight. cost 8 mana to use and was worth four spells, making it by far the best weapon she had. would deal more damage per point of mana used, but it required a target that wasn’t moving around.

  “Let’s do this so we can deal with Dawson.” Penelope gripped her wand and walked through the barrier.

  3B had the same minion distribution that the previous room had, and her strategy was the same. Start running to stay ahead of the moles, kill the grasshoppers, then deal with the Demon.

  “Light Torrent!”

  Penelope sent a at each of the three grasshoppers while she charged the boss.

  “Light Torrent!”

  Five orbs of light hovered behind her while the three grasshoppers died. Penelope was waiting for Jeru’s warning to deal with the moles, so she kept her focus on the Shadow Knight.

  The Demon had a large shield, but this one’s weapon of choice was a one-handed hammer. It hid behind the shield as it rushed towards her faster than any of the other Knights had been able to move.

  A flick of her wand sent three of the projectiles behind the Demon. Another flick slammed them into its back.

  The armor and weapons fell in a pile as the Shadow Knight died. Her level was too high for her to even get any experience from a level three elite, but she wasn’t going to complain about easier fights.

  “Behind you.”

  Penelope spun around and swiped her wand at the remaining monsters, casting the area of effect spell. The moles died where they had exited the stone, and the barrier to the south and east came down.

  “Now…” Penelope walked over to the item pile and picked out the potions, harvested the , and scanned the belt.

  “We’re giving this to him?” Penelope looked over at the Elf. “This would make carrying around all of those potions and vials so much easier!”

  Jeru shrugged. “You wanted to know what you could trade to take possession of the ice or water rings.” He motioned at the belt. “This is it.”

  Penelope held onto the belt for a moment, then slid it up her right arm and synched it on her shoulder. “Well…” She turned to look at the other group. They had just finished 2F and were walking in her direction. “I guess it’s time to start cooking.”

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