NOVEL NEXT Book 3 - Chapter 18
Penelope was ready to fight something.
After five days of working with the lower-level Casters on target practice and accuracy, Penelope found herself hungering to fight something she could kill. She looked over at Patrick as they waited for the rest of the forward team to arrive so they could start 24E.
"This just feels weird." She gestured at the barrier in front of them. "We've been starting at the A's since the first floor."
"We didn't have two full teams back until now." He shifted the helmet in his arms. "It won't be long until we can field three full teams and we'll have to start on the D's."
Circe snorted from Penelope's left. "We had half the people come down here with us from the second floor. To field these 'two teams'." She made air quotes with her hands. "We had to promote three Buffers to Healers. You really think we're going to be able to convince…" She started counting on her fingers. "Two, four, four and four is fourteen times six is…" She looked at Penelope. "Pen?"
"Fourteen times six is eighty-four, but you counted one team twice." Penelope sighed. "It's two more teams for both of our current groups, then eight for us to have another team, which is only twelve teams."
"Right! But isn't that like how many people we have down here now?"
"We've got just shy of a hundred down here now." Patrick set down his helmet on his shield. "Only seventy-two people fighting at the moment, which means we just have to find about forty people to join the cause."
"Plus the extra to replace the ones who die or are part of the bad guys." Circe laughed. "Did you really gag one of the old ladies?"
Penelope felt her ears burning as she looked away. "I… diffused the situation."
"Oh, it's not diffused." Patrick grumbled. "Virginia found me the moment you let her go and demanded that I punish you…" He shook his head. "She was NOT happy when I told her what she could do with her complaint."
"The next time you don't want to deal with someone, tell me first." Raelyn walked over with most of her team. She looked at Penelope. "It would have been less of a headache if you'd just let her blow off the steam."
"You wanted me to let people fight each other?" Penelope looked over at Patrick and tried to read his expression, but it was neutral. She turned back to the other leader. "How many injuries do you have to heal from the people fighting with sticks?" She pointed her hand at the nearest pine tree. "How are you going to heal someone when they get hit with this?"
An overcharged <Light Bolt> shot off the tip of Penelope's finger and cut a gouge down the side of the tree.
Penelope turned back to the Healer. "And I know what I'm doing and how to hold back. These people don't." She shook her head. "Throwing magic at each other is a good way for someone to die."
"You underestimate what our healing can do." Raelyn frowned. "Plus, our spells are more effective on the people twenty and under and even more effective on those ten and under." She clicked her tongue. "You should have let them fight and blow off some steam. Nothing would have happened."
"I thought you'd back us up." Patrick growled. "What happened to solidarity?"
"It's hard to justify your idiotic decisions." Raelyn shook her head. "These people need a release to distract them from being in literal Hell, but every time they try to do something fun, you tell them no. You keep doing that and you're going to end up with another Derek taking half your people away."
"Your nephew was killed on the surface." Penelope didn't try to hide the confusion she was feeling. "Why would you condone something that could lead to that happening again?"
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"DON'T!" Raelyn sliced her finger in Penelope's direction. She closed her eyes and took a few breaths, then opened them once she was composed. "That's exactly why I think they need to do something. The two of you might be content to play house on this camping trip to Hell, but for most of us, this isn't a vacation. We have families and lives we want to get back to." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Do you have any idea what my husband and daughter are going to do without me?"
"Don't say it." Jeru appeared in front of Penelope. "You say anything about time travel and it'll get back to the ArchDemon." His black eyes threatened to swallow her as he stared her down. "One word and I'll reset it."
I wasn't… Penelope sighed. Fine. I was going to tell her that she was still on Earth and this is the past. But can I tell them—
"Nope. You tell them that they were about to die on Earth and they were transported here and it'll set off a chain reaction. People die every day, but given enough time with a curious enough Demon and someone will notice that you're still on Earth and then it's just a matter of time before they put it all together."
Has that happened?
"I don't know!" Jeru sliced his hands in front of him. "Better to reset it than run the risk of this being the final run." He eyed her. "So zip it with the privileged information."
Fine. Penelope let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Sorry." She shook her head. "But you aren't the only one who left people behind on Earth." Penelope motioned at the floor around her. "We're the last line of defense. If we fall, then these monsters are going to come for your friends, your families, and your children." She looked into Raelyn's green eyes. "I get that you want to go home, but if we mess this up, then I assure you what these monsters do to your loved ones is going to be worse than whatever it is that you're imagining."
"Which is why we're taking it slow and doing it safe!" Patrick raised himself into the air by summoning an <Earthen Wall> under his feet. "We can't afford to lose people. While you might not like that we aren't rushing things, the way we're doing things is ensuring that when we reach the boss room, we can bring the most people possible into it."
Penelope flinched, then turned to the man standing over everyone. "You're planning on letting the timer expire?"
Patrick motioned at the sparse woods. "We can wall off each zone around it to give us more room to fight, then we can bring in all twelve teams to fight something that is only ready to fight half that many."
"And if they break through the wall?" Penelope shook her head. "Then there will be no one—"
"We'll build a second wall to back up the first one." He shrugged. "We've got two people who can make stone ones and one person who can make metal. It might take us a while, but it's doable."
Silence fell over the crowd. While the plan sank in, Frederica pushed her way to the front.
"Did you know about this?" Penelope whispered.
"We came up with it last night." Frederica nodded at Riva. "It was Riva's idea."
Isn't it too risky?
"It can work, though the bosses will be able to smash through the walls with a couple hits, so it's not going to contain them like he thinks it will." Jeru shrugged. "But if you adapt, it's a solid strategy for overpowering the boss room."
I don't like it. Penelope looked around, but she could read people well enough to know that these people had hope and that wasn't something she was going to fight.
"Is there a way to trigger the boss room to open while we're outside it?" Raelyn looked up at Patrick.
"There was a timer in the boss room when only half of us went in." Circe spoke up. "The fight didn't start until Derek's team got there."
"Which means even if we send in a partial group, the fight won't start until the timer runs out." Patrick nodded. "We can try to pop it, but as far as we've seen from the last two, we either fight them in there or we let them come out here after the timer runs out."
"Okay…" Raelyn bit her lip. "So we're going to be taking our time to get to the boss room." She motioned at the people around her. "That means they're going to have even more time on their hands and no way to spend it!"
"Once we get floor cleared and the walls up, we'll let you party however much you want until the day before—." Frederica stopped as a cheer went up from the crowd.
"IF!" Patrick raised his voice. "There's no casualties." He glared at the group. "We're not running through this like a bunch of amateurs."
The rejoicing died down.
He motioned at the barrier. "Alright, if you're done with that, then we're going to do our rundown of what we're doing."