Its eyes widened, and a strange sound emanating from its throat as it tried to hold on. Chloe’s hand hurt as it began to pull away. She sped up, feeling herself get dizzy, but the prowler’s grip loosened until it was finally flung away from her, whacking into a tree and falling with a thud.

  It was up in seconds, coming back for her. Chloe cast Healing Hands and the skin knit back together smoothly. Her heart raced, and she tried to work quickly before they reached her again.

  The prowler lowered itself to its haunches, barely visible now in the dark, and roared as it leaped toward her. Chloe crossed her bracers in front of her face, ready to guard against the blow.

  And then there was an ear-splitting sound as a bright light appeared around them. Chloe shielded her eyes, seeing Jessie holding something in her hands that emitted a light so bright that even Chloe couldn’t stand it.

  Ben laughed as the prowlers around him yowled and started to drop to the forest floor, dark paws shielding their eyes as their fur began to crackle and sizzle.

  “Chloe, now!” Jessie said.

  Chloe didn’t need to be asked twice. She calmed her mind, focused her power, and from her hands came an additional beam of light. She trained it on each of the prowlers in turn, their bodies immobilized from the sudden appearance of the beam. As she sent the blast of light at each in turn, Ben contributed arrows of his own, and together they worked to pick off the pack.

  When they were certain they’d finished off the last of the prowlers, Ben and Chloe moved over to where Jessie had busied herself with putting her ingredients away.

  “What was that?” Chloe asked. “What did you do?”

  “Just a little potion,” Jessie said. “A simple concoction I picked up a few years ago before heading out on an expedition to the Caves of Luminescence.”

  “Caves of Luminescence?” Ben scoffed. “Sounds like you wouldn’t need a potion to make light in there?”

  Jessie nodded, not looking up. “Yeah, you’d think so. Ironic name, really.”

  Chloe chuckled, watching the woman in fascination.

  “How much stuff do you have in that bag?”

  “Enough,” Jessie said coyly. “I preserve as much as I can, when I can. I have a limited stock of certain items, so I only want to use them when it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “Well, thank you for helping,” Chloe said, her eyes flicking past Jessie as she saw a slight movement in the woods ahead. For a second, it looked as if a boulder had just moved, a glint of light catching her eye. The next second, it was gone.

  Chloe thought of mentioning it to the others, then thought better of it, believing that maybe her tiredness was tricking her brain. She checked her stamina and health, cast Healing Hands on herself and Ben, then checked her notifications.

  Monster defeated: Prowler (Lv 13)

  +345 exp

  Monster defeated: Prowler (Lv 14)

  +375 exp

  Monster defeated: Prowler (Lv 13)

  +345 exp

  Monster defeated: Prowler (Lv 12)

  +320 exp

  Monster defeated: Prowler (Lv 13)

  +345 exp

  Skill increased: Armed combat (Lv 4)

  You’re continually finding new uses for your sword. Whether it’s to slice open the belly of your enemy, or to use as a mouth prop, keep experimenting with the capabilities of your swordcraft to continue your progress.

  Bonuses: +4 strength

  Chloe nodded in approval, looking at her experience bar and seeing that she had added a nice chunk to her progress. There was still over halfway to go until the next level, but she didn’t mind. With her additional bonuses from the armor, she was happy.

  What she did like was the increase in the Armed Combat skill. She wondered what other skills would be beneficial and how best to acquire them.

  Some of her skills were still particularly low, her journey having propelled her from one obstacle to the next. She hoped that once she had acquired all the pieces of the armor, she’d be able to work on acquiring the skills necessary to thrive in Obsidian.

  Ben looked for the horses briefly, then just came back and shook his head. She sighed. It had sure been nice to have them, but they had walked before. They could do it again.

  They took their seats around the others once more and compared notes. The rest of the group was oblivious to what had happened that night. Soon, and after a little convincing, Ben lay his head down and Chloe and Jessie watched them sleep on, their ears peeled to the darkness.

  The strange sense of being watched never quite left them.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Prowlers, eh?” Tag said, raising his feet high to clamber over a log that had fallen and created a makeshift bridge that would lead them over the river if they were heading in that direction. “Too bad I missed them.”

  “It really isn’t,” Ben said.

  “Sure, it is! C’mon, I mean, I log off for barely any time at all, and you three start experience-farming without us? Hardly seems a coincidence.”

  Chloe rolled her eyes and resumed her place at the front with Gideon. Beside them, Decaru floated lazily. Having made himself visible once more, he lit the way.

  Decaru’s constant disappearances, while not too much of a problem to Chloe, having zero expectations for the floating wisp, bothered the hell out of KieraFreya. When the group had awoken and were discussing how they were supposed to find their way out, Decaru had appeared again, and the group had beamed.

  Son of a bitch only appears when he has a chance to take all the glory, she scowled. “Ooo, I’m a shiny shaman, and I can do magic tricks. Watch me as I pull you out of danger and then fuck off without a word to anyone as to where I’ve been.”

  Chloe laughed at the goddess’s impersonation of the shaman. While it sounded nothing like the ethereal mage, it did provide a level of entertainment that forced Chloe to hide a laugh behind her hand.

  Now, led by the wisp, they were back on track. The forest seemed endless, but they managed to keep themselves in high spirits, the rest and the time out of the game (for the non-NPCs) enough to energize the pack.

  Tag thumped his hammer into his open palm. His eyes kept darting to the darkness, daring something to come and attack them. He did a poor job of hiding his jealousy that Chloe, Ben, and Jessie had had a chance to gain experience while he was inactive.

  “Don’t tempt the darkness,” Ben said, watching Tag closely. “I’m sure there are worse things than prowlers in the trees beyond the reaches of the light.”

  “Good,” Tag said. “Let them meet my hammer, and I can finally reap the rewards.” He cupped a hand to his mouth. “You hear that, forest? Hit me with your best shot. Ain’t nothing out in your thickets that the great Tag Murphy, Dwarven Tank, can’t destroy.”

  As if in answer, there came a rush of wings as several dozen birds flitted out of the canopy and into the sky. They couldn’t see them, but they could hear them well, the adventurers pausing for a moment to work out where the sound was coming from.

  Chloe squinted into the dark, sure she could see a tree moving farther back in the direction they had come from. She sidled closer to Gideon.

  “I think we’re being followed,” she whispered, though not quietly enough. As Gideon gulped, Ben replied.

  “I thought so too. Something has been trailing our path ever since we left the prowlers behind.”

  “What is it?” Gideon asked, his voice shaking. He looked nervously behind them.

  “I don’t know,” Ben replied.

  “Whatever it is, we can take it,” Chloe said, assuming her place as leader, instilling confidence in her team. “And as long as we keep moving, we’ll be putting distance between ourselves and it. C’mon, let’s pick up the pace.”

  Along the overgrown path beside the river they went, the journey varying in difficulty. Several times they had to pause and cut down a bush or some vines that blocked the way, wary of straying too far from the track. On a few occasions, the packed dirt bank melted into soft dirt and sand, taking the adventurers by surprise as first Gideon’s, then Talbot’s foot slipped, and they were dragged toward the river.

  By this point, the river had picked up speed and was growing wider. Ben commented once about the fact that he hoped that they were on the right side of the water, because if not, it was a hell of a long way back to cross the log and get to the other side.

  Chloe assured them they were on track, not knowing if there was any truth in that statement.

  By the time their stomachs were rumbling, they had begun to hear a low growl in the distance. At first, Ben’s ears had pricked up, thinking that it might simply be the wind coming through the trees, but when he sucked his finger and held it in the air, he could feel nothing.

  Still, the sound was like a steady whisper. With every step onward it grew, until even at a low volume, it was enough to drive Tag crazy.

  “Argh! What is that, a giant snoring?”

  “Keep it down,” Gideon scolded. “Haven’t we learned our lesson?”

  Tag looked like he was going to open his mouth again, but Jessie elbowed him in the stomach. Well, actually, given his height, the elbow hit him in the shoulder.

  “Uncalled for,” he growled.

  She gave him a look that shut him up instantly.

  “Can anyone else hear someone calling, though?” Ben asked, cocking his ear. “Seriously, is it just me?”

  The group stopped walking, listening intently. Chloe could make it out, too. The sound of voices somewhere up ahead. It was almost impossible to make out what they were saying, thanks to that annoying drone.

  “Do you think it’s the dragon?” Gideon asked. “Do you think the dragon is chasing them?”

  “Don’t be silly,” Chloe reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder as she stared ahead. “There’s no such thing as dragons...right?”

  They all turned to Jessie.

  “I’ve never seen one, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Dragons were once common around Obsidian, but the last I heard, they were all extinct, chased and hunted down by our ancestors as the world grew and people climbed to the top of the food chain.”

  “Still, best to be careful,” Ben said. “It might be a trap.”

  Chloe nodded. Knowing their luck, that was exactly what it would be.

  Chloe waved them all forward as they continued onward. They didn’t call back, and soon the voices faded as the low whisper turned into a never-ending roar.

  Chloe was glad to see that the trees were finally beginning to thin, enough that they could see the purples of dawn. Up ahead, it looked as though they would reach the end of the trees. The vast sky was visible through some of the boughs.

  The group came to a stop when they saw the pair of dwarves up ahead.

  Even from afar, Chloe could tell they were in trouble. On the ground, clutching a foot that had somehow wedged itself beneath a rock, was a dwarf with a bright red beard and a great mop of hair. Chloe had to stifle her laugh, having rarely seen dwarves not wearing their helmets.

  Beside him another, stockier dwarf paced, hands on his head, hammer beside him, looking in every direction with panic in his eyes.

  “You there!” he shouted, seeing them coming. “Help! Please, we need help!”

  Chloe turned to the others, shrugged, and wandered over. They kept their hands on their weapons just in case.

  “What seems to be the matter?” Chloe said, noticing the stocky dwarf’s eyes on her sword and his fear at the sight of her armor.

  “Eurgh. It’s stupid. My buddy Rex here has been in the game for less than a day, and he’s already managed to get his damn foot stuck under this rock. Not even sure how he did it. We were just wandering along and BAM!” He clapped loudly, making them all jump. “There it goes. Stuck. Down and out. I’ve been trying to help free him for an hour or so, but it’s no good.”

  “I’ve said, just go on without me,” Rex said, embarrassed and in pain as he tugged his leg again. “Seriously, I’ll be fine. Eventually, something will eat me.”

  “Hold on,” Gideon said. “You’re blessed?”

  Rex and the stocky dwarf gave each other funny looks.

  “No. We’re just players, man,” the stocky dwarf said. “Y’know, we ain’t from around these parts.”

  Ben leaned over to Chloe. “They’re new to the game. They don’t know what the blessed are.”

  “New players, huh?” Chloe asked, remembering her first experiences in the game and how useless she felt as she continually found herself in pain and/or dying. “Well, welcome to Obsidian. We’re all players too, although around here the NPCs just call us ‘the blessed.’ If you guys hold still, we’ll be happy to help you.”

  They thanked Chloe, the stocky dwarf taking a step back as Tag, Chloe, and Ben each took a side of the rock and lifted it with ease. They chucked the rock into the river and it sank to the bottom, the water bubbling after it.

  “Thanks so much,” Rex said, standing up and shaking his foot. “Y’know, I seriously thought I was just going to have to log off and wait for something to kill me. It’s not like there’s a hard respawn option in here, is there?”

  “He could’ve killed you,” Tag said, stepping forward with a smile, voice loud enough that they could hear it over the loud noise of whatever lay beyond the forest. Chloe saw a happy look in his eye and wondered if it was because he was around other people like him—those who had chosen to be dwarves as their first option in the game.

  “Bit brutal, don’t you think?” Rex replied, looking uncertainly at his friend. “You wouldn’t do that, would you, Tommo?”

  “Where are you two headed?” Talbot asked, taking a step forward. “You from around here?”

  “Kinda,” Tommo answered. “We’re from just over yonder.” He pointed in the direction the party was heading. “Killink View, just over the falls. Beautiful city. Never seen anything like it.”

  “Then why are you out here?” Jessie said.

  “Questing, right?” Rex replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “As great as city life is, that’s not what we want. We love the adventure. The forests, the caves, the seas. Not some humble abode where we’re sheltered from the rain and the worst thing to attack us is boredom. Give us monsters and danger—”

  Ben interrupted, suddenly focusing on something the pair had said. “Did you say the city is on the other side of the falls? As in ‘waterfall?’”

  “That’s right.” Tommo raised an eyebrow. “You mean, you don’t know about it?”

  They looked at him blankly. “Dude! It’s the coolest waterfall I’ve ever seen in-game. Like, two hundred feet high, in a horseshoe shape. Imagine rafting over that bad boy and diving to the bottom. Bet there’s treasure down there.”

  Ben turned to the others. “It’s a waterfall. A waterfall.”

  “What?” Tag asked.

  “It’s not a dragon like the Heartmother said. It’s just a good old natural waterfall. I knew there were no great monsters on the other side of the woods.”

  Ben’s voice trailed away as they suddenly saw at least two dozen dwarves appear out of the bushes and trees around them. Some had bows drawn and trained on the adventurers, some hammers and knives.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say there were no monsters,” Rex told them, standing up on his bad leg as if nothing had happened. “Now, give us all you have, and we’ll let you go on your way.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “And if we refuse?” Chloe said, hands now in the air.

  Tommo looked at Rex, then back at the others. “If you refuse, you’ll discover what it’s like to take a tumble over the falls. I’m sure those razor-sharp rocks at the bottom will give you something to think about as your bones shatter like a dropped vase.”

  “Big words for such a small guy,” Ben side-mouthed.

  Rex stood to attention, nostrils flaring. “A short joke? You think you’re funny, do you?”

  “I’ll answer for him,” Chloe said. “Yes, he does. Now, look. How about you guys just lower all of your weapons and let us go, and maybe we’ll let you live.”

  Tommo stared at Chloe for a moment, not quite taking in her words. A small smile decorated his mouth as he began to chuckle, slowly at first, then a belly laugh. Around him, the other dwarves began to laugh, too. Before long, the laughter was louder than the roaring of the falls.

  “You really think you’ve got the upper hand, here?” Tommo approached Chloe, eyes locked onto hers. “You’re surrounded. There’s two dozen of us out in the open, and at least another dozen where you can’t see. You think you’ve got enough to take us down? We’ve been in this damn game since the very beginning. Me and Rex alone are level 20s. What’re you going to do against that?”

  Chloe looked incredulously down her nose at Tommo when an idea struck. She cast Creature Identification, happily seeing a small notice appear above Tommo’s head.

  Name: Unavailable (Level up this skill to unlock names).

  Status: Blessed

  Creature: Dwarf (Lv 3)

  HP: 296

  Resistances: None

  Weaknesses: Fire, Light, Dark, Water, Ice, Electric, Close-range attacks, Ranged attacks

  “I call your bluff.” Chloe grinned.

  Tommo took a step back. “What are you talking about?”

  Chloe addressed her party, half-turning her head. “If this chump is the leader of the pack, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” She returned her attention to Tommo. “Level 20, are you? I’d say you’re more of a level 3. And with that list of weaknesses against you, you’re really in no position to be giving orders.”

  “What? She’s scanning us!” Tommo shouted, panic suddenly overcoming him. He raised an arm and pointed it at Chloe. “Get them! Take them down now. Take them for all they have!”

  The projectiles came from every direction; knives, hammers, arrows, rocks, you name it. The KieraSlayers were suddenly under a barrage of ammunition that took them off-guard and drained large chunks of their health.