Team Player

"I'm just saying, maybe you shouldn't be accepting the offer to strangle your friends so easily, Thud." The Goldiron Surveyor's voice was equal parts baffled and amused, even as he channeled a burst of lightning to strike a nearby Soldier. Light from the blast illuminated the alleyway where they were fighting; the group of Surveyors had pushed through the industrial park that took up most of this part of the other world, and now they were weaving their way through closely packed warehouses full of old construction equipment and piles of stone. They'd been passing by one such warehouse when the Grue had piled out of it, howling with rage.

Audrey laughed, her kanabo lashing out to smash a Knight out of existence. "You're just jealous it isn't you, Roberts. Don't worry, I can do you next."

The man snorted as he fried an Archer. "No, thank you."

Alex tried to put the banter out of her mind as she fought. She chopped into a Soldier's leg, hamstringing them. A shield-check turned the hapless Grue into a projectile, slamming its body through the next three Soldiers. All of them stayed down, and she darted forward, catching a pair of Archers by surprise. Two quick hacks killed them.

The rest of the patrol wasn't doing well, either. Between Alex's team and the Goldiron Surveyors, the creatures simply couldn't hold up against them. Even the occasional glimpse of Liliana out of the corner of her eye couldn't undermine her confidence in their progress.

A burst of ice tore through a batch of Soldiers, and Sam slipped past a pair of Knights, killing them both with a pair of stabs. Clara shot down another Soldier, even as her eyes glowed, searching for more threats. To her side, a Brute roared and brought down a hammer; Alessa took the hit on her shoulder with a cracking sound. She went to one knee, only for a moment.

Then the Porter rose and slammed the end of her staff straight into the Brute's throat. The Grue backed away, choking, and she smashed the thing's knee, before pummeling it as it fell. Three quick strikes, and it lay still.

It was the last of the resistance. A moment later, the bodies of the Grue lit with flame, and Alex stepped aside to watch them burn. Orange text flared to life.

[Battle Maneuvers*** increases to 17!]

[Objective Progress: 4 of 32 patrols destroyed.]

It was not the most encouraging report. Even with Liliana driving them, the Grue appeared to be reluctant to throw themselves in the Surveyors' direction. An understandable reaction, given what they were finding when they did attack.

The Surveyors spread out to gather the Grue's leavings. Alex started to do the same, only to pause as Audrey spoke. "We should split up."

Alex paused. She exchanged a look with Clara, who looked just as suspicious as she felt. "Are you sure?"

Alessa spoke up next, her voice just as suspiciously casual. "I think it's a good idea. After all, the point of this is to show you the way to the Quarry. It might be a good idea to give you a few different routes."

Roberts gave his coworker a skeptical look. "Are you sure? Wouldn't that attract attention from that ghost friend of yours?"

"It might be worth it." Audrey shrugged. "We could cover more ground this way, anyway. You all have Scouting Quests, right? I imagine you might need to visit a lot of different spots."

Sam looked at Alex; his expression was a lot less jovial now. "That's true…"

Alessa nodded. "Then let's get going. Roberts, Wassleman, you go with Sneak over there. Reagan, Dobbs, you take Clara and Joanna to where they need to go." The Porter turned to Alex. "Meanwhile, we'll be escorting Valkyrie. Any questions?"

Alex tried to say something, but before she could, Audrey had her by the arm and was practically dragging her away. She gave a desperate look to her teammates, but they gave her a shrug and turned to follow their own escorts. By the time she thought of something to say, Audrey had already pulled her around the corner.

When she turned to look at her newfound captors, she saw Alessa grin to herself. "Now, Valkyrie, let's see if we can get the real information on what went down at Royal Purple—because I'm pretty sure we have a lot to catch up on."

"Nope, not buying it." Alessa shook her head and pointed at Alex with one accusing finger.

Alex winced. Apparently, the cover story that she'd given to the Regulation agents needed some work. "What do you mean?"

The Porter grunted sourly. They had left the tight cluster of industrial buildings behind, and now they were walking along an unassuming road that wove between hills. Abandoned cars were scattered along the length of it, with the occasional business or house breaking up the trees on either side. Some of them had housed Camps or Outposts; she'd already completed four of the locations she needed to scout. Of course, the four patrols they had run across in the meantime hadn't hurt either, though the Grue had failed to divert her old friends' attention for long.

"I mean, for better or worse, we know you, Alex." Alessa gave her an incredulous glance and shook her head again. "Even if we didn't know how often you get people into trouble—"

Audrey chimed in, her voice bright. "Which we do!"

Alessa gave her a disgruntled nod. "Which we do—you're asking us to accept an awful lot of coincidences happening all around the same time. I mean, one truck getting accidentally revealed as a sabotage machine, sure. Two trucks, not so likely. Three?"

The Porter gave Alex a blunt look, and Alex grimaced. "That obvious, huh?"

Audrey shrugged. "I mean, it's no different than what you were up to during the Revolution. You arranged for all those gangs to get taken out just before you dealt with Wells."

Alessa nodded. "That's right. And putting that together with you 'just happening' to find a fourth truck, and then take out the griefers who were trying to use it…"

Alex tried not to wince a second time. "Hey, we had help dealing with the griefers. Like a lot of help."

"Yeah, the helpful coworkers who stumbled across you fighting Rabbit and her team." The sarcastic twist to the words made Alex grimace, and Alessa continued in an increasingly exasperated tone. "Even if that happened—which I doubt, since you don't seem all that broken up about them dying in the attempt—that's still way too much of a coincidence."

Audrey snorted. "Besides, we'd have to accept that you didn't just try and solve things by yourself. Again. Like with Wells."

The words reminded her way too much of Sam's arguments to be entirely comfortable. "Okay, yeah, but we did still have help."

Alessa raised an eyebrow. "That's probably why you're still alive, I guess. You were facing what, two B ranks and probably ten or so C ranks? Even you aren't that good."

Alex scowled. "No, I'm not. Though I will say we didn't fight all of those at once. We did manage to sneak up on some of them."

"Just like you managed to get help on dealing with those trucks, then?" Alessa grinned as Alex avoided her eyes. "Yeah, I thought so. You found which ones they were using and made some kind of a deal to have them sabotaged. Then you went after the ringleaders again. Just like last time."

Audrey kicked a rock down the street, sending it skittering across the fractured pavement. "You could have called us, you know. We weren't doing anything all that important."

She gave the Squire a long sigh. "We were trying to keep things quiet. To be honest, we didn't even know about the fourth truck. All of that happened kind of on the fly."

The Porter studied her for a moment. Then she nodded. "That I can believe. At least it ended well." Her eyes sharpened. "Though it doesn't answer the question of who helped you, in the end. If it wasn't a coworker—and it wasn't, because otherwise you would've woken up the whole campus—then it would've been someone else."

Alex remained quiet. She quietly started to hope for Liliana to make an appearance with a pack of Grue. The Shade remained infuriatingly absent, however.

Alessa continued musing to herself. "It'd have to be someone pretty strong to help you deal with that many griefers. I thought it might have been your old boss, the one Clara liked, but it seems like he was out of town. You wouldn't have needed to scramble the PAD for him and pretend that the griefers did it, too."

She looked at Alex, weighing her with those brown eyes. "So. Care to elaborate?"

Alex shook her head. "That's a bit more than you want to know, Alessa. Trust me."

The Porter's eyes flashed with anger. "I do. Do you trust me, though? When have I not helped you out? Do you really think I would backstab you now, after everything?"

Rather than answer, Alex looked away. Alessa leaned in, her mouth open to argue further, when Audrey kicked another rock. It clattered away like a minor avalanche. "Oh, give it a break, Alessa. You know who it was. It was probably her mom."

Alex's head jerked around so she could stare at the Squire, and Alessa blinked in surprise. The Porter looked from Alex to Audrey and back. "What?"

Audrey continued in a far too casual tone. "You know, her mom. You don't remember? She was talking about taking out a whole team of Surveyors like it was no trouble at all. If she was some kind of bigshot Surveyor herself, that would make sense, wouldn't it?" As both Alex and Alessa stared at her, Audrey continued, as if she was talking things out for herself. "Yeah, that makes the most sense to me. I mean, if she was at B rank herself, that probably went a long way to evening the odds at Royal Purple. It'd explain why she scrambled the tapes and how she got there so quickly to provide backup, too."

A frown worked its way across Audrey's face as she paused. "I've never heard of a B rank who's retired, though. Most of them end up dead in one way or another, so she'd have to be someone in hiding, maybe? A griefer or criminal doesn't make much sense, though, not if she raised Alex." She paused again, an expression of amusement flickering across her face, and Alex felt a sudden stab of horror. "You know what would be really, really funny? If she was—"

The Squire came to a sudden stop, and Alex stopped breathing. For a long moment, she tried to lie to herself, but as Audrey slowly turned to look at her, all doubts vanished. She knew. Audrey knew.

She saw the realization dawning in her friend's eyes and spoke with a tone of desperation. "Audrey—"

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." The Squire's excitement was almost frightening. Audrey dropped her kanabo and snagged Alex's hand. She was practically dancing from foot to foot. "Can I meet her? Is she here? You have to tell me—"

"Audrey, what are you talking about?" Alessa kept looking back and forth between them, her expression frustrated. "Who is it?"

"It just makes so much sense, you act just like her, and now that I know I can't unsee it, it's so obvious—"

Alex broke in, her heart hammering in her throat. "Audrey, you can't tell anyone. Not anyone, okay? If you do—"

The Squire didn't seem to hear her. "Do the others know yet? I bet Sam knows. He always figures everything out. What about Clara and Joanna? They'd probably freak. Oh my gosh. This is so incredible."

Alessa grabbed Audrey by the shoulder, her voice equal parts annoyed and impatient. "Audrey, get ahold of yourself."

The Squire looked at her with an incredulous expression, but Alessa was already glaring back at Alex. "And if everyone else does know, I think we should too. What is she talking about?"

She looked back at Alessa, helpless. Then she sighed. "My mom is the Crimson Blade."

The Porter stared at her. Then she rolled her eyes. "You know what, fine. If you're not going to tell me—"

"I'm serious." Alex looked from Alessa to Audrey, who was staring at her with the world's biggest grin. "She's the Crimson Blade. I'm her daughter. And you can't tell anyone."

Alessa gave her a skeptical look. Alex just looked back at her, watching as the incredulity slowly drained away and was replaced by shock. Behind the Porter, Audrey suddenly pumped her arms and jumped into the air, easily getting to more than head height. "Yes!"

Alex looked from her to Alessa, who was still staring at her. The Porter opened her mouth, closed it, and tilted her head in obvious bafflement. Before she could find the words, a Grue howled a short way down the street, and all three of them turned to find a pack of the creatures loping down the street towards them.

Audrey groaned and picked up her weapon, and Alessa shook her head as if she was trying to clear it. The Porter glanced at her. "We still need to talk."

Alex snorted. "I know. Once it's done."

They nodded, and together they charged into the waiting creatures, meeting their howls with warcries of their own. When they met, Alex felt something very close to relief.

Grue came howling from all sides, and Alex tore through them as if they were standing still.

It was the sixth ambush since Audrey had discovered the truth, but the number of Grue had definitely increased. Liliana was appearing in the corners of Alex's vision, her indistinct shape urging the Grue forward from all directions, and the creatures had already responded by coming at them with more than one patrol at a time. This pair of patrols had waited in the woods between a car repair place and an art store, charging at the three humans from both sides of the road at once.

Their little trap hadn't done them much good, however. Alex had taken the left side, while Audrey had leapt headfirst into the right. Alessa had hesitated just long enough to give the Squire a head start before she'd charged after her partner, her quarterstaff quickly going to work among the howling creatures.

Alex hadn't resented being abandoned, of course. There weren't enough Grue in each of these patrols to really challenge her, and the fighting gave her a brief break in the continual questioning that she'd been getting since the two Goldiron Surveyors had stumbled their way onto one of her greatest secrets.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Despite herself, the words kept echoing through her mind as she fought. How long did she train with you? She smashed a Knight aside with her shield and chopped a pair of Soldiers apart. Why didn't she help at Golden Swallow? An Archer took a shot at her, and she ducked, sending a bolt of lightning back at it in revenge. Do you think she could give us some tips?

A Brute roared at her, lumbering with its hammers raised, and she snarled. Before it could bring the hammers around, she darted in under its reach and smashed a knee to splinters with her shield. It dropped, only for her to meet its neck with a rising slash from her axe. The pained bellow cut off, and its head flopped loosely on the pavement when it hit the ground.

Arrows slipped past her, but she dodged them easily. One bounced off her armor, and another snapped against her helmet, and she turned her axe on the few remaining Soldiers between her and the backline. Spears snapped, bones cracked, and Grue fell like leaves. The Archers had just enough time to backpedal before she was on them, her axe rising and falling in brutal strikes that sent them all scattering away.

In just moments, the battlefield had gone quiet. She turned to see that Audrey had smashed her way through most of the Grue, even while Alessa seemed to treat every stab wound and hammerblow like a minor inconvenience. As the last of the creatures fell, orange text burned to life, right before purple flame consumed the bodies.

[Battle Maneuvers*** increases to 19!]

[Objective Progress: 17 of 32 patrols destroyed.]

Alex stepped away from the nearest impromptu bonfire and sighed. The interrogation would start again now.

Yet as the others made their way back to her, Alessa just looked up the road and nodded. "We're almost to the Quarry, now. You'll want to move carefully from here on in."

Audrey nodded. "It can get pretty rough, even for the daughter of the Crimson Blade, I'd guess."

Alex gave her a glare that she didn't really feel. "Will you get over it, Audrey? I'm the same person you've always known."

The Squire grinned. She'd been doing a lot of that. "Maybe when you promise that you'll invite me over to meet my literal hero."

Alessa sighed; she seemed to be getting past the shock of the whole thing at last. "We could follow the road a little more, but the quickest way would be to go over that hill, there."

She pointed, and Alex nodded. "Let's go, then. We probably need to get things done before Liliana decides to start throwing worse things at us."

The others nodded, and they left the road, setting off up the slope. Audrey chuckled to herself as they climbed. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to miss throttling Sam, after all. That should be fun."

Alex rolled her eyes and focused on the climb. The hill wasn't the steepest she'd ever seen, but it was still easy enough to pick her way through the undergrowth. Enough of the bushes had been trampled by roving packs of Grue that she didn't have to fight her way through every bit of scrub on her way to the top, and Alessa didn't seem to mind occasionally acting as a trailblazer and wading through the unpleasant bits.

When they finally made it to the crest of the hill, Alex sighed in relief. At least, she did until she looked on the other side and her breath caught, even as Alessa gestured to the scene in front of them. "Valkyrie, welcome to the Quarry."

The slope of the hill dove back towards a small valley, but there, the terrain abruptly shifted. Instead of flowing up and into the next hill, it dipped again where the natural terrain had been carved away. What had once been a hillside was now a hole, one that had sharp edges and a terraced slope downwards. Abandoned machinery and heavy trucks were scattered around the bottom or along the narrow road that led down into the pit.

They weren't the only things there, however.

Massive numbers of Grue swarmed around the pit, filling each terrace and covering the lowest levels. Camps ringed the place, and there were spots where she could pick out small gardens of flowers or clusters of shining crystals that looked like Outposts. It was like they were everywhere, all gathered into one spot. In most circumstances, she would have questioned why they were so close together, and why Goldiron hadn't hit the place before now.

The reason, however, was clear enough. In the middle of the pit, a ring of glowing crystal rotated in the air above the ground. A pillar of purple light stretched up through it, stabbing towards the sky, though it faded long before it reached the height of the surrounding hills. Massive, hulking forms slowly prowled around the area, their lumbering steps audible even from the hilltop. Alex thought she could see other forms lurking around the column of light, though they were too indistinct to be clear.

She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "That is an Anchor Point."

Audrey nodded. "Yep."

"An active, real Anchor Point."

"Sure is."

"The Gold Rush is about attacking an Anchor Point."

Alessa coughed. "Not necessarily, actually." Alex gave her an incredulous look, and the Porter smiled. "The goal is to raid the Outposts for salvage and get out before the Ogres come for you. Hitting the Anchor Point itself would be… counterproductive."

Alex snorted. She looked back down at the pit. "So we come all the way out here, and then try to collect from that? Who came up with this idea?"

"A panel of experienced executives." Alessa gave Audrey a flat look when she laughed. Alex just shook her head as her friend continued. "The Quarry is normally too dangerous to salvage from, so they turned it into an event. A way to gather talent here to help."

She nodded. "And a way to show off. If a team can hit the Quarry and survive, they probably would be pretty good." Alex looked back at Alessa. "How do they know the stuff gets taken from the Quarry, and not other spots?"

The Porter sighed. "They send along an observer. Just an E rank who doesn't fight, but does watch the team. You have to protect them as well as salvage from the Quarry. The team that harvests the most and returns the fastest wins."

Her thoughts spinning, Alex nodded again. "All right." She looked back at the pit, unnerved by the number of Ogres present. The idea of accidentally getting involved in a fight with one now, while she was still at D rank… "How many teams are going in?"

"Ten, all at D rank." Audrey grinned. "Six of them are from Goldiron. They are coming in from all over the company. I guess they only do this once a year, so the better you do, the better your performance bonuses tend to be."

Alex looked at her, wondering how the Squire could still be so excited about throwing herself down into the mess below. "Who else is visiting aside from us?"

"The Red Blades sent a team. Nobody we know, of course." Audrey shrugged. "The other two are more contracting companies, like corporate versions of what you do. One of them is called Salmon Run, never really heard of them. The other one's a new corp, something called Blackmist Enterprises."

She suddenly felt herself go stiff. Alex looked at Audrey, who was now frowning at her. "Blackmist? They're going to be here?"

Alessa's eyebrows had gone up. "Yeah. We haven't heard anything about them—I think this might be the first time one of their teams comes out in public, actually—but they work for the same corp you used to, right? Greylight Industries?"

"Yeah. They do." Alex delivered the words in a flat tone, her mind going back to the note that Warner had sent. Then she shook her head. "I'll tell you about it on the way back. We should probably move fast, though. It looks like there are already some patrols on the way here."

The others looked down, and sure enough, some of the Grue were already breaking off to climb the hill towards them. There were at least three patrols this time, and Alex didn't think that was going to get better any time soon.

They turned and started back down the hill. Behind them, the Grue in the pit began to howl.

Four ambushes later, they were closing on the portal. The buildings of the industrial park rose around them; Alex had persuaded Alessa and Audrey to visit a handful of spots that she remembered from her first visit to complete her scouting objective.

At the same time, however, she was a bit distracted by a more important concern. "Remember, you can't tell anyone. If Greylight, or anyone connected to it, gets the hint that Mom's still alive…"

Audrey nodded, her face screwed up with discomfort. "Yeah, yeah, we know. Don't blab about your mom, or like everybody dies." She huffed a disgruntled breath. "Why can't you find us a problem we can solve by just smashing it?"

Alex snorted. "I'll try, Thud." The Squire gave her a discontented glare, but Alessa spoke up before Audrey could respond.

"Better than that, the next time you get stuck with something like Royal Purple, you give us a call, okay?" Alex gave the Porter a surprised look, and Alessa shrugged. "I used to be upset about getting dragged into things, but I think getting left out is… even worse, actually. At least when I'm in the thick of it, I can help. Otherwise, I'm just dealing with the damage."

She hesitated. Then she shook her head. "I can't guarantee anything, but if I get the chance…"

Alessa nodded, and so did Audrey. Alex let herself relax a little more as she caught sight of the broad factory doors. They were almost home. She tried not to notice the Shade watching them from the top of a nearby tower.

As they entered the Factory, Alex heard a lot of shouting. She glanced at the others, and they sped up, heading for the source of the disturbance.

They found it as they reached the portal. Sam was there, as were Joanna and Clara. Their Goldiron escorts were there as well, all yelling at one another in an apparent argument. Nobody had quite drawn weapons yet, but it wasn't clear if it was heading in that direction or not.

Before things could get any worse, Alex raised her voice over the shouting. "Hey! What is going on here?"

"You brought a pack of madmen into our portal, Valkyrie!" Roberts, the Surveyor who had been so amused earlier, now looked more than a little upset. He gestured at the portal, which seemed a bit brighter than usual. "They're trying to get us all killed!"

Alex sighed as Sam gave her a significant look, and Alessa spoke up. "What are you talking about, Roberts? What happened?"

Sam cleared his throat, but Roberts spoke right over him. "We were waiting here for you to get back, like you said, and the Grue decided to attack. Like they have been all day, by the way. It looks like your ghost friend likes these guys as much as they like you two."

Audrey snorted. "You could say that, Robby."

He glared at her. "But when the Grue came, they asked us to let them through the doors so that they could fight them near the portal. I thought it was just some rookie move, especially since there shouldn't be that much risk given what we've already been fighting today, but we shrug it off and go with it. Might as well humor the guests, right?"

Then he turned and pointed an accusing finger at Joanna. "Then, while they're fighting, they started shoving the Grue in the portal. The whole thing starts lighting up like a firework show, covered in fire, spinning faster, the works. Here they are, laughing it up while they just keep chucking them in, one after another."

Sam coughed lightly. "I want to point out that I didn't shove any in."

Clara glared at him. "This time."

Audrey stared at him. "This time?" She looked at Alex. "Does this have anything to do with—"

"No." Alex silenced her with a look and then glanced back at Joanna. "You didn't think this would be a bad time to try that trick, Thinker?"

The Adept raised her chin defiantly. "If Sam gets to be a bit reckless, then I do, too."

"Oh, that's going to end well." Alessa shook her head. "Something tells me you're up to something new again, Alex."

Roberts stepped forward, his eyes glittering with anger. "I don't care what you're up to. I want to know that when I go back through that portal, nothing weird is going to happen. The last thing I want is to—"

Sam rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's going to be fine. Nothing happened last time we did this. At all." Audrey's eyes narrowed as she watched him, and Alex winced.

Roberts clearly missed the byplay, though. He shook his head like a bull. "So you've done this before? Why does that not reassure me?"

She tried to gather everyone's attention again. "Nobody needs to worry about the portal. It's stable, and we'll get home just fine." Alex pointed at the vortex. "Look, it's already starting to fade again. It'll be normal in no time. There's no need to…"

Alex paused. The Surveyors were all looking behind her; the ones who had been with her at Golden Swallow looked resigned rather than horrified.

She turned to look back at the front of the Factory and saw Liliana standing there in all her shadowy glory. Her staff was lowered to point at Alex like a spear, and Alex thought she could feel the brush of some unheard whisper pass her by.

Then the Shade vanished, gone between blinks, as if she had never existed. Alex breathed out a quiet sigh.

Behind her, Joanna grunted. "Well, at least this time she didn't talk."

Alessa blinked and put a hand to her forehead. A brief moment of silence followed, before Roberts burst out with a half-desperate demand. "What?"

Alex shook her head. "Grue are going to be here soon. Either get back through the portal, or get ready. Seer, how many?"

Clara responded immediately. "Looks like four, maybe five patrols. Coming from all around us. We have two minutes, tops."

She grimaced. "All right, let's meet them at the front. Unless anyone else wants to play games with the portal?" Alex looked around and saw both Clara and Joanna shaking their heads. Sam just grinned at her, and she gave him a flat look. He answered with a salute, and she rolled her eyes and moved on.

"Get into position. Let's move!" Alex jogged towards the front of the Factory. She heard an aborted argument between Roberts and Alessa about who was in charge, but she just ignored it. There were still three patrols left on her list of objectives, along with all nine Surveyors that needed to reach safety. It had been a long day, but she was not going to lose the full clear just because of some sloppy work near the end.

When she reached the doors, she could already hear the Grue howling in the buildings around them. She looked around, measuring the space between her and the sides of the doors. The things were wide, easily enough space across to need at least a half-dozen people to hold them. Sam and the others joined her a moment later, their faces showing a mixture of expressions ranging from wariness to fatigue.

She glanced at Sam before she continued her search of the area ahead. "Really, Sam? Doing your experiments in front of the others?"

"Seemed as good a time as any." He grinned at her. "Besides, we got bored waiting for you. What took you so long?"

Alessa snorted. "She was just telling us about her family. All about her family."

Sam suddenly looked alarmed, and Alex sighed. All she needed now was for someone to start asking questions about Pioneer…

The Grue rushed out into the parking lot in front of the factory. They swarmed across the cracked pavement in a wave of smokey flesh and glowing eyes, their weapons held high and their throats filled with roaring. Alex's grip tightened on her weapons for a moment; it almost looked like the first wave of a horde, though there were far fewer enemies here, and far more allies. Beyond the Grue, she thought she could see a flicker of Liliana's form, still too indistinct to interfere.

Then Alex charged, screaming a warcry as she closed with the creatures of the other world. Sam and the others went with her, though they quickly fell behind. She split the wind, spending a bit of her dwindling magic to increase her speed, and was rewarded when arrows were shoved out of her way. The nearest Soldiers tried to brace for her advance.

They failed. She shield-checked the front rank and smashed through like a wrecking ball. Howling Grue choked into silence as she sent them rocketing backwards; the ones unlucky enough to charge in to fill the hole met the sharp end of her axe. As the corpses went tumbling back, magic tore the air all around her as the Surveyors unleashed their powers. Lightning flashed and icicles exploded into being. Fire seared through Grue bodies, and some of the enemy simply keeled over dead as Sam's magic reached them.

The Grue advance came to a sudden, shuddering halt as the Surveyors met them head on. Their numbers simply weren't enough to stop the crushing countercharge; Alex quickly found herself buried deep within their ranks, smashing and hacking in all directions as the others continued to exploit the ruin she left in her wake.

As the momentum continued to shift, still more Grue tried to filter in, late arrivals to the massacre, but their help proved useless. Before long, the Grue lines collapsed as Alex cut her way through to the backline. She fell on the Archers and Killers, slaughtering them as the rest of the Surveyors tore their way through the others.

In moments, the last of the Grue fell, and orange text burned in her vision.

[Battle Maneuvers*** increases to 21!]

[Motion Trance increases to 12!]

[Additional Objective Completed]

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Shade again. Liliana's eyes glowed with hatred and power—and then she was gone. Alex snorted and turned to the others. "Time to go."

The majority of the Goldiron Surveyors vanished through the portal without any further hesitation. Alex watched them go with a sigh. They'd probably already be telling stories as soon as they got to the other side.

Alessa and Audrey stayed, however, and the Squire turned to Sam immediately. She flexed an arm and gave him an eager smile. "Somebody wanted a choking?"

He seemed a little uncertain, but Joanna clapped him on the shoulder. "Might as well get it over with, Sneak."

Clara gave him a shrug. "It isn't that bad, really."

Alessa gave the Acolyte a confused look, but Sam brightened and turned to Alex. "Really?"

She winced. "No. It's really bad, but you'll get through it. Hopefully."

He stared at her and snorted. "Thanks for the encouragement."

Alessa looked back and forth between them. "Why do I feel like you haven't told us everything yet, Alex?"

"One world-shattering secret at a time, Lessa." Audrey stepped forward and grabbed Sam. His eyes bulged as her arm wrapped around his throat in an expertly practiced movement. Alex blinked as he clawed at her arm for a moment and then went limp.

Audrey let him slump forward, and Alex caught him. The Squire smirked at her handiwork. "There you go. Anybody else?"

Alex and Clara both immediately shook their heads, but Joanna stepped forward reluctantly. The Adept squared her shoulders. "Might as well get it over with. Me too, Audrey."

"Really, Jo?" Audrey frowned. She cracked her neck. "All right, as long as you're sure."

Alessa shook her head. "You guys have gotten way too crazy for me. Between Alex's mom and Liliana…"

"Oh, that's barely even half of—erk" Joanna's eyes bulged as Audrey grabbed her, and Alex sighed as she dragged Sam towards the portal. It was time to be done with this Survey.

[Mission Report]

[Completed an Objective. +20 Experience]

[Priority Objective Completed. +300 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +160 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +40 Experience]

[All Objectives Complete +80 Experience]

Alex shook her head at the words. They should have been important, but given everything she'd been forced to reveal, it seemed like an afterthought.

[Current Portal Status: Stable, Magic Level Stagnant]

[Exit Portal Boosted]

[Current Portal Level: D3]

[Anomalous Readings Registered!]

[Local Area Population: None]

She grimaced at the reminder that Liliana was still very much going to be waiting for them the next time they went into the portal. Alessa and Audrey had seemed confident, but she wondered if they had realized what it would mean to face the Quarry with the Shade on their necks. Time would tell.

[Battle Maneuvers*** increased from 16 to 21!]

[Motion Trance increased from 8 to 12!]

The limited increases in her Skills weren't exactly encouraging anyway, but she supposed she couldn't complain that much. She'd have plenty of opportunities to work on them the next day. Unless things went completely wrong, of course.

Reminding herself that she'd only be facing other D ranks at most, she pushed forward as the light parted for her…