“When we win,” Ben said.

  Chloe chuckled. “Not you, too.”

  “I’ve got Talbot syndrome,” Ben replied. “I see a quest, I have to accept it.”

  “I’ve got a quest for you,” Talbot teased. “I’d like you to swim out into the lake and run up Angel Falls naked. How about that?”

  Ben laughed but cut it short a moment later and said, “Wow. That actually came up as a quest.”

  “Really?”

  “No, you idiot.”

  Chloe ignored the two, turning her attention to Tag and Gideon, both still obscured by the message in her vision. “What about Jessie? Surely she should have a say in this as well.”

  “Ah, probably,” Tag said, realizing he should have maybe thought about his girlfriend.

  Chloe re-read the message, feeling a flutter of excitement at the possibility of gaining a crapload of experience. She cocked her head in a gesture of consideration. “I suppose there would be no harm in it, would there? I mean, we are the strongest party I’ve seen so far in Obsidian.”

  “Agreed,” Tag said. “There are a few parties among the dwarves, but parties made entirely of one race and class are at a severe disadvantage outside their comfort zones.”

  Chloe nodded, remembering the advice the game had given when forming the KieraSlayers.

  “And no other party is going to have a kickass god on their side, are they?”

  “I highly doubt it.” Chloe grinned, that flutter of excitement growing into an almighty swarm. “In that case, if we’re all decided, let’s wake Jessie up and give her the good news.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The town was buzzing that night, filled with small groups of blessed players running around frantically. Every group had excited looks on their faces, smiles, and wide eyes, and they were chattering with a kind of buzz that carried through the city.

  They wouldn’t be so excited if they realized what monsters they were about to face, Chloe thought, passing a party of elves, dwarves, and what appeared to be an ogre, all of them with frail armor that looked as though a single scratch might cut through it. Their weapons were no more than rusty toothpicks.

  “Yes! Time to boost the—” bleep “—up!” one warrior cried as they passed Chloe’s party.

  “Can’t you at least try not to swear? That beep is getting super annoying,” his comrade, a female dwarf, muttered.

  Beep “—you!”

  She sighed.

  Not only did the parties that were residing in Killink View come out of the woodwork that night, but a few parties joined forces to create huge hunting gangs that strode around the edges of the village, desperate to be among the first to take down the ten dreyda.

  Some parties grew as large as fifteen to twenty players, their torches shining brightly as they trundled toward caves, looked in the copses of trees, and even looked around the edges of the pools. Small demons occasionally popped out, but the leak was yet to become a gushing flood.

  The KieraSlayers passed just such a team now, the group of them laughing and clashing their swords loudly. Chloe and her team ignored the general competitive jeers and shouts that came their way, with Chloe identifying them all as only in the sixes and sevens.

  “Watch out, guys!”

  “Make way, your champions are coming through!”

  “Are you ready to bow down before us?”

  By the time they had made it to the outer perimeter of the city, enough hours had passed that they now saw the counter on the lower left of their vision jump from dreyda: 10/10 to dreyda 11/11.

  Somewhere far off, they heard the cries of battle.

  “Over there,” Ben said, loosing an arrow that streamed through the dark and extinguished two small lights for eyes.

  Several more demons were wandering around the area. Chloe and her team leapt into action.

  The demons were the easy part, and the guys (Tag, specifically), were more than grateful for the opportunity to grind experience. The demons gave a decent amount of exp with every kill, and the KieraSlayers relished the opportunity to hunt and destroy the bad guys.

  “They’re coming from that direction.” Jessie pointed toward a thick copse of trees not too far from the water’s edge. Several demons danced out, heading straight toward them. Decaru hovered a short distance back, Chloe having given him instructions to be prepared to jump forward and light the way should they get into any trouble and need the safety of light.

  Chloe smiled, feeling elated as she slashed her sword across a demon, taking a huge hit of its health before summoning a blast of Deic Light and finishing it off.

  She had learned from her previous experience with the demons that she couldn’t afford to simply expend all of her mana on them. She had to save some energy for the dreyda. Before, she had thought that the demons were the end goal. Now she knew better.

  Gideon approached three demons, the creatures dancing and cackling, their bodies as black as the night. Their eyes shone like torches as they sprinted for him, long, curved, sharp fingers waving in the air.

  “Take that!” Gideon shouted, and Chloe saw a familiar phenomenon. His splayed fingers exploded into several shafts of bright light that burned into the demon’s skin.

  He had picked up the spell from the library, Chloe taunting Gideon as she looked for books on shadow and he looked for books on light. It seemed that meeting Veronica had inspired him to learn her spell, and now he utilized it well, taking down the three demons with a splurge of mana.

  Light definitely had the best effect on the demons, but Tag, Talbot, and Blueballs were proving that there was virtue to using brute strength, too.

  Tag’s hammer slammed into many enemies. Ben held back, going for long range hits and reducing their HP before they had a chance to get into striking range, Talbot slashed, and Jessie threw small bombs that exploded into tiny clouds of gas which caused the demons to slow slightly as they ran through.

  “What is that stuff?” Talbot asked. He grunted as he stabbed his sword into the head of an enemy. A moment later he was hovering in the air, another level gained.

  “Mama’s recipe.” Jessie winked, launching another bomb from her bag of tricks.

  But still, the demons poured out from the woods. No matter how many they took down, more took their places. Chloe continued to fight alongside the others, wondering how they were going to make it into the copse without her expelling all of her mana on a path when she heard several cries from behind them.

  Sparing a brief glance over her shoulder, Chloe couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

  Several parties were running across the grass toward them, torches and weapons held high as they charged to join the fray.

  Chloe felt a mixture of relief and annoyance, the relief at the fact that reinforcements had come, the annoyance because now she would have to fight even harder to ensure that her team was the one to take down the dreyda and win the quest.

  Arrows flew through the air. War cries came. Swords attacked. Mages cast their spells.

  Tag was joined by several dwarves who took the job of taunting and distracting the demons, using their shields and large health bases to absorb the incoming tide of demons. Tag and a few others even used their Cries of the Valiant to paint the group in glowing colors of power as a timer counted down the strength buffs applied to most teams.

  Talbot and Chloe helped them by slashing and parrying tendrils with their swords.

  Several mages now cast magic in blasts, manipulating the elements too slowly to kill the demons. Gideon looked beside him as several beams of light appeared and saw Veronica’s grinning face.

  “Good to see you again,” she said.

  Gideon blushed. “Yeah.”

  Veronica laughed. She aimed at the demons, blasting her light, and the parties began to push forward, soon making their way into the trees, following the path of the demons.

  At some point along the way, the demons stopped coming. The shadows and darkness beneath the canopy of trees were deadly silent. Only the light from Decaru and the mages showed them the way as they crept along, all players now looking in every direction for the dreyda.

  “What does it look like?” Chloe heard someone say. A female elf, muscular and defined.

  An older mage replied. He had a beard halfway down to his chest. “I’ve read that they’re beings made entirely of shadow, dark dragons which stalk in the night. Only, instead of breathing fire, they cough up demons and spew out despair.”

  “Woah,” someone cooed.

  “I’ve heard they’re giant bats which can split into clouds of bats and swallow armies whole.”

  There was an audible gulp.

  Chloe chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” The elf glared.

  “You guys have no idea what you’re in for.”

  “Oh, and I suppose you do?”

  Tag jumped in. “Of course we do. We defeated one ourselves a little more than a day ago.”

  Several parties stopped, staring at the KieraSlayers in disbelief. Chloe noticed Veronica standing next to three other players—a goblin, a woman, and a female dwarf—and gave a swift nod.

  I thought this was a party mission? KieraFreya thought.

  Chloe considered. She was right; the quest had been specifically set for party members, and the last Chloe had heard, Veronica hadn’t yet made a party, considering there were only four of her and her friends in the game.

  Maybe she’s found someone else to add to them? Chloe mused.

  Poor bastards. With a prickly personality like that, I guess we should’ve known it wouldn’t take that long before someone stuck to her barbs.

  “You defeated a dreyda? But…they’ve only just spawned into the game, right?”

  Several of those gathered checked their displays, looking specifically at the dreyda counter, which was just half an hour away from spawning its second and raising the count to 12/12.

  “We found one in the Shrine of the Damned nearby,” Chloe said. “Defeated it last night.”

  “Solo?” a voice asked.

  “Not exactly solo, but close enough.” She winked at Veronica.

  Veronica didn’t wink back.

  “So, you know how to defeat it?” a dwarf asked from the back of the group.

  “Kind of,” Ben answered. He leaned back and fired into the trees. “I suggest you all start attacking now. That might help somewhat.”

  Above them the shadows pooled, stretching from branch to branch like melted taffy. The pool grew larger and larger, remaining just on the edge of the light. A small void appeared in the middle of one of its long stretches of body and several demons popped out, these ones larger than those that had come before.

  Chloe scanned them.

  Creature: Shadow Orga (Lv 15)

  HP: 743

  Resistances: Dark, Electric, Ranged attacks

  Weaknesses: Light, Close-range attacks

  “Orga? What the hell are those?” Ben asked.

  “An orga?” the little goblin scowled. “Twisted mutant variants of orcs. Taken in by shadow and spewed back out even tougher than before.”

  “How do you know that?” Veronica sneered.

  “I read.”

  “Whatever they are, let’s quit dawdling and get them,” Chloe commanded. “Anyone with light abilities or powers and the ability to shoot long-range, go for the dreyda and keep it busy and distracted. Tanks and warriors, up front with me. Let’s take these crap stains to the cleaners.”

  The orgas roared, flexing their biceps and opening a mouth that looked like they were chewing melted rubber. Their eyes flashed, as did their clubs, and they charged forward, batting back and forward and making several of the dwarven tanks fly backward.

  “They’re strong.” Tag smirked. “But not strong enough.”

  He planted his feet, lowering his center of gravity, and held his shield tightly to his body. With grim determination on his face, he held steady as an orga whacked into his shield, the collision causing a wave of shock to go up its arm and jar its shoulder.

  “Raise the shield!” Chloe shouted.

  Tag obliged and Chloe ran at Tag, planting her foot on the flat top. She sprang into the air, sword raised high in one hand, magic flowing in the other. She managed to grab ahold of the orga and swing behind until she was riding its shoulders. The orga bucked, but Chloe planted the sword into the crook of its neck, focusing her Deic Light in her other hand so it powered down the orga’s throat.

  A horrendous scream came forth, and the orga bucked even more wildly. Chloe lost her grip and fell to the forest floor with a grunt, but was pleased to see that a handful of other warriors were now hacking at the orga’s body, struggling to avoid the club as it swung around in pain.

  Chloe reared up to go for the attack again but saw that the orga was now on its way back down. The creature toppled, crashing to the ground and trapping several players under its weight. A few seconds later, the organism dissolved into shadow and flew into the air to return to the dreyda.

  Meanwhile, Ben and a number of archers and mages with long-range spells were busy firing volley after volley of projectiles at the colossal creature. The night sky was no longer visible thanks to its enormous bulk, but many of the mages tried various glowing missiles, which stuck into the dreyda's body and made a canvas all of their own.

  “Can anyone see the heart?” Ben called, straining his eyes. When he had arrived on the battle scene in the shrine, it hadn’t been long until the heart had shown, and that had been the dreyda’s weak spot. He was just now beginning to think that the dreyda would only reveal its organs when its health had dropped below a certain threshold.

  “Decaru! Up!” Ben instructed. The wisp flew high and shone as bright as it could. Any part of flesh (if you could call it that) that was near the light retracted and sizzled, which was great. The only downside being that any part still in the darkness now began to enclose them, as though the whole makeshift mini-army was being trapped under a giant parachute of ink.

  “The walls are closing,” a goblin shouted at the top of his lungs.

  Chloe heard the cry but didn’t take in the words. She was already working on orga number two. There were ten of them now, surrounding the remaining three orga, sweat on their brows as they attacked.

  “Come on, Tag,” Chloe called. Tag had just been knocked over by an orga’s club and had whacked into several dwarves. He helped them up and ran back into the action as the orga made another swing with his club and deflected the blow with his shield. Then he sprinted, skidding through the orga’s legs and came out the other side.

  As the orga began to turn, Chloe whistled to get its attention. Well, maybe it wasn’t just the whistle, as a streak of blue fur sped past her and slammed into the orga.

  The orga was knocked backward at the same time Tag swung his hammer. The resulting force was catastrophic, bone breaking audibly as the orga fell to its knees.

  It tried to get back up, wobbling on one foot, as every free warrior took the chance to take it down. Talbot and Veronica appeared near Chloe, and they all started attacking, Veronica shining her beams of light at the orga until its final screams were heard.

  “Keep up the attack!” Chloe said. What else was there to do?

  The rest of the KieraSlayers (minus Ben) now turned their attention to the other two, swarming over them with their melee attacks. Chloe took the opportunity to evaluate the dreyda’s health, her heart lifting when she saw that it was nearly halfway down—

  But it was birthing the next shadow guardian. From the belly of the beast came several large legs. Four of them so far, but no head of the creature yet.

  An idea came to Chloe. A strange one, but what would this game be if not for the strangeness of the world of Obsidian?

  Chloe focused on the being, sheathing her sword as she used both hands to cast Shadow Tweak. Darkness surrounded her hands and she thought that maybe she was being possessed, then realized it was just part of the necessary steps to conjure the darkness.

  The being’s legs began to wriggle. Chloe felt the connection with it, her powers suddenly pulling against its bulk. She turned all of her attention to pushing the creature back into the void from which it had come, but progress was painfully slow.

  You’re only a level-one proficiency in that spell, Chloe, KieraFreya said. No matter how much etheric potential you have, you won’t make it. You need to gain extra levels to get the effect you want.

  “I’m not done yet.” Chloe grimaced, holding the shadow as best she could, then channeled her Deic Light, closing her eyes. She could almost see inside the beast. She felt the light encircling her body, generating from her soul. She began to glow bright white inside her mind’s eye, the creature squealing.

  Several heads turned to see the source of the noise. To their eyes, the dreyda had birthed an imperfection, the bulk of the shadow plummeting to the ground with a loud thud, crushing several trees with its weight. To Chloe, the Deic Light had given her access to the dreyda.

  Woah, KieraFreya said.

  Though their physical body was stood on the ground, their minds were within the dreyda, swimming around in the gooey parts that made up its body. Below they could see the ensuing battle through its eyes—its many eyes—and feel the pain of the projectiles as they hit.

  What is happening? Chloe asked, unsure of how she had gotten here. Had the creature that was being birthed acted as a conduit to the main vessel?

  What does it matter? KieraFreya asked. Use your power before you run out of MP, fool.

  Right!

  Chloe put her effort into Deic Light, harnessing whatever energy she had remaining. Her consciousness began to glow once more, but not before she saw the strange creature appear before her—a tiny imp with a brittle smile, the same face she’d seen in several shrines along her journey.

  Fukmos? Chloe thought.

  Fukmos grinned wickedly. “At last, we meet. KieraFreya, a pleasure as always.”

  “You? You’re behind all this?”

  “He’s behind all this and more,” KieraFreya said. “I wondered when I’d be seeing your face.”