“You’re alive?”
“Yeah.” Penelope put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She held up a finger. “One sec.”
The brown-haired twenty-seven-year-old man smiled at her while the group waited for her. He pointed at himself. “I’m Oakley, and this is Frederica and Judah.
“Any time now.” The older blonde woman bounced the tennis racket in her hand. “We are on a clock.”
The black-haired man folded his arms across his chest while he waited.
“Sorry. Penelope.” Penelope’s heart pounded against her ribs. She pointed at 2E. “Don’t do that one first. The Demon doesn’t have a weapon, which means it’s a Healer. You can’t win a fight against something like that.” She straightened up and pointed at 2D. “That one will be easier; then you’ll have weapons.”
Frederica Riddle eyed her. “How do you know?”
Penelope tried to smile at the other woman. “The monsters are based off of stats just like our classes are.” She pointed at the Demon in 2D. “Tank.” She pointed at 2E. “Healer.” She pointed at 2C. “Assassin.” She turned back to the blonde. “Your Caster should be able to kill the little ones with three spells while your Tank holds aggro.”
Penelope turned to Judah Argento. “Try not to miss, but those bats are going to come after you to try to throw your aim off.” Penelope pulled the Healing Potion out of her pocket and offered it to Oakley. “Use this when you start getting hurt, but don’t wait too long. If you go down, your party dies.”
The Tank blinked. “Do you want to join us? You sound like you know what you’re doing here.” Oakley scrunched his brow. “You didn’t stay for the introduction. How do you know all of this?”
“There’s a reference guide in my menu.” Penelope waved a hand in front of her.
“Where?” Judah moved closer to her and tried to look over her shoulder like he could view her menu.
“Under skills.” Penelope covered her mouth with her hand. “You don’t have it?”
“I think you’re just messing with us.” Frederica glared at her.
“It makes sense.” Oakley rubbed his beard. He nodded at the dead monsters. “It looks like she’s been doing fine on her own.” He looked at the other two members of his party. “It can’t hurt to take her advice.” The young man held up the potion. “Are you sure you don’t need this?”
“I’m fine.” She pointed at the Shadow Knight. “It will have a potion sling on it. Don’t let it take a potion, and you’ll have some for your next fight.”
Penelope started backing up.
“What if we came with you?” Oakley offered. “With your experience, I’m sure we’ll be knocking these things out in no time.”
“That’s…” Penelope struggled to think of the right word.
“So kind of you.” Jeru offered.
“So kind of you, but..." She glanced at the portal. There was just under twenty minutes between when Oakley’s group came in and Ula’s. She needed to get rid of the first group so she could give the gear to the next one and point them in the right direction.
“You’re losing time arguing.” Jeru appeared in front of her. “A few more minutes, and you’ll have to wait for Ula’s group to come in instead of clearing another room.”
Penelope sighed. “Fine. Reset it.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“What—?”
The blinding light cut off Oakley’s question.
This run, Penelope was able to get to the Shadow Caster and grab its staff, necklace, and potion sling by the time Oakley’s group walked in. She was still out of breath when she reached them, but she managed to stop them just before they walked into 2E.
“Here.” Penelope tossed the staff at Judah. She pointed at 2D. “This one is..." She wheezed and took a deep breath. “This one is easier.”
“How do you—?”
Penelope ignored Frederica and started walking towards 2D.
“Hey! Wait up!” Oakley ran over to her. “I’m Oakley.” He stuck out his hand.
“Penelope.” She put a Healing Potion in his open hand. “Take that if you get hurt too bad.”
“Okay…” Oakley looked at the vial. “Where did you—?”
Penelope walked into 2D. She didn’t have her best spell, but she was going to have to use what she had. The three beetles charged at her.
“ARRRGG!!!”
The monsters turned from her and charged the man with stone skin.
“Light Arc! Light Arc! Light Arc!”
DING!
Experience +12
The lead Demonic Beetle fell, forcing the one closest to her to make an even wider arc, putting her in its path.
Penelope pulled the second Mana Potion out of her pocket and popped off the lid.
“Light Arc!”
She downed the potion.
“Light Arc!”
DING!
Experience +6
Penelope had to move to get out of the way of the dying monster, but it was a move that she had done plenty of times.
“FIREBALL!!!”
Judah shot fire at the last remaining beetle. He hit it twice before he was out of mana. Frederica needed a better weapon than her tennis racket to do anything, which left the beetle free to ram into Oakley.
“Light Arc! Light Arc!”
DING!
Experience +6
Experience +6
The two bats swooped at Judah, but Penelope took care of them. She turned her focus to the last minion and shot it with a single spell.
DING!
Experience +6
Cracks spiderwebed across the exposed stone covering Oakley’s chest. His shirt was destroyed, but he was able to wrestle the dead beetle off of him.
Penelope pointed at the Shadow Knight. “Get its attention and I’ll kill it.”
Oakley nodded. “ARRRGG!!!!”
The Demon glared at him and started advancing.
Penelope ran in an arc around the Shadow Knight. It was strange to move around and not have everything focused on her. Once she was behind it, the exposed back was too easy of a target. It took four casts of
DING!
Experience +12
Penelope walked over to the pile of items and picked up the potion sling and the short sword. She pocketed the potions as she walked over to the group.
Penelope flipped the sword around and offered the handle to the blonde. “You’ll be able to fight better with this.”
Frederica put down her racket and took the sword. The older woman slashed the air a few times as she experimented with the weapon.
“Rude. Didn’t even say thank you.” Jeru clicked his tongue.
“Judah.” Penelope pointed at the young man. “You missed almost every one of your spells out there.” She pointed at the dead beetles. “Practice hitting those things. When you are hitting more than you’re missing, you can start helping.” She turned to the other man. “You need to get into that metal gear. If you’re going to be the Tank, then you need to be able to take the hits.”
“How are you so good?” Judah stared at her with admiration in his eyes.
“Practice.” Penelope turned towards the entrance. “I’m going to go help them for a bit so they don’t get killed.” She eyed Frederica. “You should get used to your attacks as well. Try hitting the other beetles. When I get back, we’ll see about clearing more rooms.”
“Who made you the boss?” The blonde woman demanded.
Penelope paused but didn’t turn around. “I’m not the boss, but if you don’t want to die, then you need to practice.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to stop you if you want to fight in another room, but please at least practice a little before you jump into another fight.”
Her nerves were rattled as she walked away and waved at the other group. But she’d started the runoff in a good way. Now she just had to finish it.
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