Theo pushed his back up against the wall, and his shoulder popped back into place. “Ah, that’s better.”

  After grumbling to herself, Dee wagged a finger at the vampire. “Either avoid the traps or let the thief scout for them before you run in.”

  It wasn’t entirely his fault. He had found a warhammer that produced a small blast every fifth hit. The feedback felt amazing. With a room full of targets to practice on, who could really blame him for running in without checking for traps?

  Well, the rest of the party weren’t too pleased. Even with his displayed competency, his adventuring companion didn’t want to enter the dungeon with fewer than the suggested number of participants. Which was five, of course.

  They had recruited a scrawny thief who had run her mouth off constantly, up until the first fight. Once Theo had physically torn the head and most of the spine out of the first Fel Dwarf they had come up against, any bravado in the woman had turned and left through the exit. Now she just quietly followed orders given to her.

  The burly warrior had also taken a dim view of their party composition, although his silence was more of boredom than anything. Despite insisting he should be at the forefront of any battle, the vampire was just too eager to flex his abilities.

  Theo wasn’t even sure what Class the last member of the group was. They had just spent the entire venture following behind Dee, hoping to use the shorter woman as a shield.

  “Now we’ll know for next time.” He grinned widely, exposing his fangs. Appetite for farming the place was near nonexistent.

  “The last Boss is in the next room.” Dee rolled out a paper map and ran a stubby finger across the lines. “Apparently a difficulty spike compared to the rest of the dungeon.”

  The vampire was already up by the chamber doorway, practically hopping in place for the go-ahead to open it up.

  “Theo. Just let Yorick get the attention of whatever is inside first, and then you can go wild.”

  He nodded to himself. Something, something, go wild.

  The warrior shuffled him out of the way, as respectfully as his patience allowed, before opening the door. The group followed him in and glanced around at the dark mine pit within.

  Theo crossed his arms and watched the warrior step out to the center of the room. It was remarkably quiet and… empty in here. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought someone had killed the Boss already. That couldn’t be the case.

  His red eyes went up to the vaulted ceiling, and his mouth opened up to warn Yorick.

  Slightly too late, as a massive winged figure dropped from the darkness above, crushing the warrior beneath large claws.

  Sally wiped the blood from her hand as she led the Outsiders through the woods. The Phase Shift potions had gotten them out of the town with little issue, but retreating away from the Radochs rubbed her the wrong way.

  “I know patience isn’t your strong suit,” Archie began, “but it’s better than getting crushed by a monster you’ve never seen before.”

  Edward grinned to himself. “Alas, he knows you too well.”

  The zombie responded to neither of them, but rolled her eyes. Jackie would have been the answer to the radioactive snail-monsters. Now their ranged options were just a couple of minor spells and some miscellaneous throwables Bully could create.

  And speaking of the frogman, he looked ready to go back to the Omen to join the mobster. Constantly sweating since the cockroaches had landed, it was clear the stakes were slightly higher than he had expected. While Sanctuary was growing full of strong and capable adventurers day by day, few were ready to accept the kind of stakes her old group had worked through.

  Mostly because her group were undead, although Edward had earned his share of her respect. Even currently blind, he had remained in good spirits despite the odds.

  “ETA on those peepers?” she asked.

  “Another ten minutes and I’ll have short-sighted vision. Twice that and I’ll be good enough to fight.”

  Humphrey grunted. “Soon enough, it won’t be an option.”

  The numbers coming in from the Omen were… not great. Each of the spacecraft had dropped not only several regiments of bugs, but small collections of powerful and unique monsters. Jackie didn’t know what most of them were, aside from ugly and potentially deadly.

  Even the armies following the dragon hadn’t been so numerous, and there had been a lot of other people helping back then. All she needed was a foothold. A slight gap to slide the figurative crowbar in, and then pry apart the defenses of the Radochs.

  “Any clue where your Chaos Emerald is, Arch?” Sally called for them to pause for a minute and listen out for monsters nearby.

  “Logic would dictate either the center of the world, or held within some magical artifact held in high regard in this world.” The cat hopped up onto a fallen log and sat.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She rolled her eyes again. “Sure. Let’s just quickly absorb the world or ask one of the locals what objects are important here. Or if you can find us a pickaxe.”

  “Scathing and understandable sarcasm.” Archie tilted his head. “I’m sure it will turn up during our adventures.”

  Sally bit back a retort and her tongue. While the cat had been a little too casual about springing this spanner in the works on them, her actual ire over it had waned. She had murdered a handful of the space cockroaches. They couldn’t respawn, so they were dead for good.

  An actual advantage against the fleet coming for Sanctuary.

  If Archie had a secret power-up stored here, then that made the fighting all the more mouthwatering. The more Radochs that died here, the better. A little forewarning would have been nice, but that was something they could hash out post-massacre.

  Plan number two. Get the Outsiders out of immediate danger, and somewhere they could regroup before planning their next assault.

  Map images coming in from the Omen made that seem easier than it really was. The bugs were spreading out. Regiments split into smaller groups. They weren’t all soft newbies, either. As far as Jackie could make out, it looked as though the bugs wanted to cover the entire world.

  That meant several groups were already scouring through these woods.

  “What if they find it before we do?” Bully asked.

  Archie shrugged. “A key is much less valuable if you don’t have the lock. Whatever powers lie in the fragment can only be accessed in earnest by yours truly. That doesn’t mean they won’t still want it, however.”

  The Radochs were collectors. Even if they didn’t have an alternate use for the fragment, it was something rare. Important enough to invade an entire world to the degree they currently were? Who could say?

  Sally sighed. “Alright. Let’s move north. We’re getting cut off, and I’d rather minimize combat until we have more solid foundations.”

  There was a mountain fortress higher up, past the woodlands. Outside the current cockroach sphere of influence. Based on the last satellite report, there might be a few small groups on the way, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

  The Outsiders moved from their position, following her. Sally glanced at the cat as he dropped from his perch.

  “Omen recon is real neat, we should have brought someone solely for that purpose.”

  “Originally, I was going to provide that role once you were all settled.” Archie looked out at the quiet woods. “Now I can’t.”

  “You can’t?”

  “Not to keep dropping surprises on you all,” the cat apologized, “but I am unable to leave this world.”

  “Unless we grab your magical blah blah.” Sally resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. Stakes upon stakes.

  //Jackie: Flying bugs en route.

  //Jackie: Scouts on foot likely to meet you while you’re in combat.

  “Rats.” She clicked her fingers. “Hurry up and eyeball, Eddy. We need your rapier wit and actual rapier soon.”

  The demon shrugged, hands in his pockets as he followed them. “It’s a little early in the day, but I will use my Domain to give us an edge and clear out our pursuers quicker.”

  Bully had turned to a nearby tree and was chipping away at the bark with a metal chisel, a half-filled potion flask in his other hand. “Substandard materials,” he complained. “But a weak Glue potion is better than none. Enough to disable wings.” He corked the flask and shook it several times before throwing it toward the zombie.

  “Alright, pals. We’re going to make our stand here.” Sally gestured to the ground with her dagger, and several zombies pushed their hands through the dirt. “Keep it neat and professional, okay? This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

  Humphrey withdrew his sword and made a couple of test swings. Edward leaned up against another tree, a sharp grin on his face. Bully continued making a few more Glue flasks.

  Sally closed her eyes and relaxed. The forest around her felt alive, brimming with the energy of creation. No small creatures or birds. Anything as small as an insect didn’t really register unless she really spent time meditating on her Life powers. There wasn’t enough time for that, as she heard the approaching Radochs before she could sense them.

  “Here we go, boys.” She spun Skeleton Key between her fingers. “Flytrap, Pops?”

  With a sharp buzz, the flying cockroaches burst through the canopy of the surrounding trees. These six were more armored than the ones fought in the city. Tower shields in their left hands, while their right hands held a spear and dagger each.

  Humphrey put weight down on Sally’s shoulder, holding her against the ground as she fired out Meat Hook. The ability struggled to pull her into the air, just as the struck Radoch panicked and tried to fly back away.

  The Death Knight let go, and she snapped up into the air. Glue flask in each hand, she burst against the shield of her target, spreading the temporary glue across three of the flying bugs.

  One of them dropped like a sack of bricks, landing on the ground in the middle of the grouped zombies with a heavy crunch. The second swerved off to the side, striking the tree that the demon had been leaning against. With a flash of his blade, he pierced through the carapace of the floundering monster as it dropped.

  [Domain: The Inevitable]

  The shaded greens and muted browns of the deep forest increased in contrast, becoming garish and blurred. Sally steered her prey down into the ground. As the Radoch lashed out at her with its dagger as they hit the forest floor, she vanished and the roach struck a zombie instead. Skeleton Key tore through the back of the brown carapace, and Sally pulled the Radoch heart straight from the body with a sickening slurp.

  Over on the side, one of the airborne Radochs swooped down to spear Bully. The frogman dropped a potion onto the floor, which burst, shining a crackling light throughout the area. The roach drew their weapon through the mud as they landed, briefly blinded. By the time it turned around, Bully was holding a thick metal tube. He slipped a slim vial through the front of the object and angled it toward his attacker.

  The snap of an explosive echoed through the woods as a pink beam of energy cored the Radoch. Only an inch wide, but it pierced the bug and several trees off into the distance. Bully dropped the smoking tube and hopped out of the way not to draw attention to himself.

  Humphrey had challenged one of the other fliers to a duel, and the unfortunate monster was currently buckling beneath its shield as the Death Knight repeatedly wailed on it. The spear the roach had been holding broke against the plated figure as he beat them into the ground.

  Sally thrashed through the neck of the last Radoch and spat on the limp body as it fell over. “No way I’m ever eating their brains. I have standards.”

  With a grunt, Humphrey withdrew his sword from the remains of his crushed opponent. “An empty win. They never intended to kill us.”

  “Really?” Bully poked his head back around from behind Edward’s tree. He pulled a face as he watched the zombies pull apart one of the monsters. “They seemed pretty motivated.”

  “Big brother is right.” Archie stood and shook himself out. “They just wanted to get their scent on you.”

  Sally turned her crimson eyes to the woods, where the sounds of broken branches could be heard. “Looks like me is back on the menu, boys.”