The other world was curiously quiet as they moved. There were still patrols moving through the fields and along the roads, but Clara was able to spot them easily. They only had to pause a couple of times, hiding in the fields while the Grue passed by, totally ignorant to the Surveyors near them.

  It was almost suspicious, in fact. Alex kept feeling Liliana’s attention on her as they moved through the grain on the way north. She kept expecting the Shade to appear and for the assault to begin, but they nearly made it to the Camp before they finished explaining things to their newest superior.

  He reacted about as well as could be expected.

  “So. You’re telling me that a corporation was actively creating Anchor Points on Earth? And they managed to cover it up?”

  Abbott’s voice was neutral in a way that told Alex he was struggling not to question their sanity. Of course, if she hadn’t been there and seen it, she would have been just as credulous. After all, who would believe that a company would be that short-sighted? Even one as incompetent as Golden Swallow?

  Sam was the one who answered. They’d taken turns answering his questions or filling in part of the story as they walked. It had taken some time to get everything, even leaving out who her parents were. “Yeah. Believe me, it wasn’t a great situation.”

  Joanna snorted. “That’s a pretty good way to sum it up, isn’t it?”

  Clara nodded, her eyes searching the grain on either side of the road. Abbott was still frowning, his eyes distant. “So the Anchor Point was supercharging the portal, and Forsmith went in to stabilize it. While the rest of you went after the facility.”

  Alex nodded. Her mind had gone back to the moment he’d left her standing near the bus, running into the crackling vortex on his own. “He wished us luck. We kind of needed it.”

  “Killing an Anchor Point is complicated, though. C rank Surveyors have trouble making it work. There’s usually Ogres and worse around it.” Abbott shook his head. “I don’t understand how a bunch of E ranks could manage it.”

  Clara laughed softly. “Well, the Ogres were still coming through, actually. I shot one in the face, but it didn’t seem to slow it down very much.”

  The C rank gave her an incredulous look, and then laughed, a little louder than Alex was comfortable with. “If it was anyone but you four telling me this…”

  “If it makes you feel any better, you’re about to get some proof.” Alex caught yet another flicker out of the corner of her eye and glanced in that direction. Sam did the same thing, and they exchanged a knowing look.

  When she turned her attention back to him, Abbott was watching her with narrowed eyes. “You’ve been really jumpy this entire Survey, even though we’ve been evading the patrols successfully. What are you talking about?”

  Alex drew in a calm breath. “When we brought down the Anchor Point, the Ogres weren’t there yet. At the same time, there was a Shade.”

  Abbott nodded. “That’s normal. Most Points have one to act as the Keeper, at least on a C rank portal. That’s part of why—”

  “It was human.” He stopped, staring at her. “Our former supervisor, actually. She’d gone insane or something and had backstabbed Forsmith’s team. It took all of us to bring her down. Then, when we started working at Red Blade Securities, they kept sending us through the same portal repeatedly, and—”

  “Alexandretta.”

  The voice was filled with echoes and distortion, something that made it sound hollow and harsh. Alex felt her eyes go wide, and when she looked at the others, they seemed just as disturbed. Clara brought her crossbow up and fired in a single motion, even though her face had gone pale. Her shot tore through the grain, punching through the stalks as it went.

  Then it stopped, suspended in midair. Just beyond it, Alex could see Liliana, her figure much more distinct than it had ever been before. Her purple eyes narrowed, and the dark staff in her hand tilted like a flag to point in the direction of the Surveyors.

  A moment later, and she’d vanished, even though the feeling that they were being watched had not. All around them, howls rose into the air. The deeper throats of Shifters competed with the quieter but more numerous voices of Knights, Brutes, and Killers. Abbott turned in a quick circle, his head turning as he searched for incoming enemies.

  For her part, Alex simply sighed. “Abbott, you didn’t happen to take Patrol for your mission, did you?”

  The first patrol caught them a handful of minutes later.

  Clara shouted a warning, and then a pack of Grue tore through the grain on the left side of the road. There was no time to set an ambush or evade them; they had moved with berserk speed, as if their typical fury had been increased tenfold.

  Alex snarled as the Knights hurled themselves at her, their swords held high and their shields ready to smash her aside. Behind them, a Brute was running at her with hammers poised to crash down, and a little further still, she could see Killers and Mages preparing to strike.

  She countercharged, her legs sending her streaking across the field to crash into the ranks of the enemy. The first Knight tried to cut her in half, and her counterstrike cut its arm off. Its companion lunged in, but she ducked below the thrust and took its shield hand as she spun. Her shield lashed out and slammed into the stunned, rearing first Knight, sending it hurtling away into the wheat. Alex ducked a frantic slash from the second Grue, and reversed her spin. It was just starting to howl as her axe chopped down through its chest.

  As both Knights thrashed the last of their life away, a third one tried to jump over their soon-to-be corpses, its sword held high for an overhead strike. Alex darted in closer, her shield smashing into the Knight’s legs and driving the massive creature backwards. She stopped short, letting it flop down onto its dying companion; her axe took it in the skull before it could rise.

  She heard a warning shout from Clara, and dodged backwards. A pair of arrows whickered off into the grain, passing through the place where her head had been. Half a heartbeat later, there was a blast of oily black smoke, which proceeded to melt its way through the fallen Knights.

  Alex pivoted towards the Killers and the Mage, only for a Brute to charge in. She dodged right and forward, avoiding a hammer strike from above. The Grue tried to shoot out an elbow to catch her in the face, but she caught the blow on her shield, and then delivered two brutal strikes to its upper arm. As the Brute howled and swiped at her with a second hammer, Alex jumped up and caught in the face once, twice, three times. It fell back, trailing grey, smokey blood.

  As the giant Grue fell, Alex used it as a kind of ramp. She sprinted up its falling body and launched herself into the air towards the back line. The Killers were ready for her. All four of them had arrows ready to loose; the Mage started to bring up its hands to join them, but then it jerked and fell, one of Clara’s crossbow bolts driven through an eye socket.

  Just as the Killers loosed, Alex let her magic surround her. Wind howled as it sent the arrows shooting off into empty sky. The Killers jerked in alarm as she fell among them, dropping their bows and reaching for weapons.

  The closest ones weren’t quite fast enough. Alex hit one as she came down, a passing blow that took half of its face and sent it spinning to the earth. Another slashed at her, and she battered the blade aside so that she could bring her axe up and into its rib cage twice. It fell as she moved past it, her eyes intent on the remaining two.

  They came at her together, their weapons bare and ready to strike. The one on her right swung with the axe and stabbed with the sword, trying to tie up her axe and get to her with the other weapon. She surprised it by dodging left, turning it into a shield-check to the Killer on the left. It bounced off her shield, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to stun it. Alex swung at its face, only for it to lean back and avoid the blow.

  She moved around it, forcing it to pivot. As she did, she lined up the Killers nicely, putting them in each other’s way. The rearmost of them snarled impatiently, and the one closest to her started to step to the side to clear its companion’s view.

  Alex didn’t give it the chance. She darted off to the same side, and then charged in. The Killer managed to get its weapons up and brace itself, but Alex veered away at the last second. It yelped as her axe took a bite out of its thigh, but her real target was the second Killer. With its view obstructed by its friend, the Killer didn’t have nearly as much time to brace itself.

  Her shield-check caught it hard, sending it flying backwards. Alex ducked below a punitive side slash from the first Killer, and then brought her own axe up and around in an overhead cut. She caught the first Killer as it was still pivoting, its guard wide open. The axe struck down through its head, killing it in a single blow.

  Alex heard the creak of a bowstring and dodged to the side. An arrow passed through the space where her head had been, close enough that she could see the wisps of smoke coming from the shaft. The move nearly jerked her axe out of her hand, and she had to yank on it again to free it from the dead Killer’s skull.

  The last Killer was still scrabbling to its feet, having recovered a bow. It drew and shot again as it rose to a crouch, and Alex protected herself with her shield. She felt the impact of the projectile and then charged. Her opponent barely had enough time to rise to its feet before she crashed into it like a freight train, running it over in a tangle of limbs. As the Killer sprawled at her feet, Alex brought her axe down twice and ended it.

  When she looked up, the others were almost finished with the rest of the Grue. Joanna and Sam were fighting close together, flaming sword and darting spear supplemented by their invisible magics. As the Grue fell dead around them, Clara was sniping the most troublesome opponents, leaving them plenty of space to deal with the ones directly ahead of them.

  Abbott had been a bit more active as well. He had carved his way through the other wing of the patrol, cutting down Knights and Brutes alike. A moment later, as he killed the last Knight with a backhand cut that nearly bisected it, Alex stepped away from the corpses of the Grue as they lit on fire.

  [Battle Maneuvers advances to 27!]

  [Combat Balance advances to 22!]

  [Combined Arms—Axe/Shield advances to 23!]

  [Holy—Storm advances to 22!]

  [Hidden Quest Progress 4 of 16 targets destroyed]

  [Hidden Quest Progress 5 of 6 targets destroyed]

  The orange text was comforting, though the resigned looks on her friends’ faces were less than encouraging. Abbott mostly just looked a little curious as he watched the purple fire glow. There was a puzzled air to the way he tilted his head. “They aren’t normally quite that… excited.”

  “I’d get used to it.” Alex grimaced as more howls rose nearby. Another patrol, already on its way. “She’s got us locked in. We should move.”

  Abbott started to protest, only for Clara to interrupt him. “Next one’s going to catch us in a minute. Half that if we stay here.”

  He blinked, and his eyes darted to Alex. She nodded, and he grunted. “All right, let’s move.”

  The next forty minutes were an avalanche of attacks from all sides. Clara tried to lead the group through the gaps in the incoming Grue patrols, still hoping to guide them towards the ruined Silos in the distance.

  It was ultimately a losing proposition, though. Liliana’s influence sent patrol after patrol after them in quick succession. Abbott’s expression was incredulous at first, and then grim as more and more Grue came howling in at them. Alex and the others were too busy settling back into a familiar pattern of desperate ambushes and countercharges that they remembered all too well from their time with the Red Blades. There was no real time for further discussion, and even less for any rest.

  When they finally reached the Silos, it had been only after they’d torn their way through eight separate patrols. The endless Grue reinforcements paused for a moment, and Alex felt flickers of both gratitude and concern as they crouched in the fields outside the location.

  Abbott was looking in the direction of their last fight. He still wasn’t the slightest bit worn down, or even tired, something that Alex felt mildly unhappy about as she watched him. He looked at her and grinned. “It’s been a while since the Grue have acted like this. To be honest, it’s almost refreshing.”

  Joanna tilted her head to stare at him. “Do all Shades act this way?”

  “Not really. Most of them just have a habit of attacking directly, actually. None of them speak.” Abbott gave Alex a quizzical look. “She did say your name, right? I wasn’t hallucinating that?”

  “Nope, she totally hates Valkyrie.” Sam glanced at the patrolling Grue outside the Silos and sighed. “What do we want to bet that she’s getting ready to sic the entire Camp on us right now?”

  “No bet.” Alex shook her head. She somehow felt like trying her distraction run would be a very bad idea this time, even if a part of her wanted to get another look at the bunker. “Any ideas?”

  Joanna shook her head. “I know what we’re not going to do. You’re not going to take off on your own again this time.”

  Alex shrugged. “It worked, right? It’d probably work this time, too.”

  “Only until she got some Shifter or something worse to kill you.” Joanna shook her head a second time. “And that’s if she doesn’t come after you directly. No, we stay together.”

  Abbott nodded. “Good call, Professor.” He looked to the curiously empty parking lot. “I say we all go in together. If there’s an ambush, at least we’ll know it’s coming, and I think it would be better to face it here rather than at our next location.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Are we going to get another location?” Clara’s eyes were darting in all directions, likely seeing Grue mill around them. “We can’t exactly keep this pace up forever. We aren’t all like Valkyrie or you, Abbott.”

  Alex felt a little flattered at being included alongside the C rank, but before she could react, Sam spoke up first. “Even better that we trigger Liliana’s plans here, then.” When they looked at him, he shrugged. “She’s not going to be limited like she was before. She can come after us herself now. If she does that, maybe we can kill her again.”

  “Which would stop her little coordination plans. Good thinking, Sneak.” Abbott clapped Sam on the shoulder, nearly staggering the younger Surveyor. “Any objections?”

  Trying to work moisture back into her mouth, Alex shook her head. The others didn’t say anything either, and Abbott nodded. “All right. When she shows up—if she does—let me handle her. You just take care of any other Grue that show up. If we get into too much trouble, call for a retreat. We can probably fall back and still complete the Quest, okay?”

  Again, they all nodded, and Abbott settled into position alongside them. They moved through the grain, headed for the Silos. Alex felt her hands tighten on her weapons as they drew close. Where were the Killers? They had been patrolling the parking lot before, but now they were all gone. It was as if they were still out in the fields to the west, chasing after her near the bunker.

  Abbott nodded, and they all charged into the empty space. Her speed lent her a little additional distance as she moved forward. She made it nearly halfway across the parking lot before she saw the notification blaze to life.

  [Main Quest Completed!]

  She skidded to a halt, and the others reached her a few moments later. There was still no sign of the Grue, aside from a few indistinct shapes lurking in the Silos themselves. It was as if the Grues were hiding from them, forting up near the crystal that represented their Camp.

  The others all looked at each other, seemingly a little baffled. Clara was the first to speak. “Well, that was easy.”

  Abbott glanced at her. “Word of wisdom. If it ever seems too good to be true…”

  “Alexandretta.”

  The voice was not any more pleasant than it had been before. It scraped and ground against her mind, making her shudder. Her eyes went to the entrance to the closest Silo, where the doors had been smashed and half-repaired. She thought she could see a pair of glowing purple eyes getting closer.

  “Guys, she’s here.” Alex fell into a crouch. If a stream of Grue came out of the building, she wanted to be one of the first, cutting her way through them.

  Sam grabbed her shoulder and she looked over at him in surprise. He was looking calmly up into the sky. “Not just her.”

  She followed his gaze and felt her stomach drop. Gliding in the sky overhead was a Shifter, its massive form somehow silent in the still air of the other world. It circled overhead, still keeping its distance, and Alex felt a grim certainty form. “Clara, check the ground. Might be more tunnelling.”

  Clara nodded. A moment later, she groaned softly. “One more, still on the way. What are we going to do?”

  Abbott stepped forward, a confident expression clear despite the helmet he wore. “I’ll deal with the Shade. Hold off the Shifters until I can kill it. Then we head south.”

  He took another step forward and then paused. There was a larger form inside the Silo, its eyes much larger than Liliana’s. Alex watched as a massive, smokey paw pushed its way through the half-shattered doors, sending them tumbling back to the ground with a series of creaks. A third Shifter pushed its way through the doors, ignoring the way the concrete cracked and crumbled as it squeezed through.

  This one was different than the two that Alex had seen before. Instead of bat-like wings, or wide, shovel-shaped paws, its fur was half-hidden by a kind of armor shell. Plates of black shell were interspersed with light grey hair. Its tail was covered in them, and it curled up and over the rest of it, revealing a scorpion-like stinger that looked like a mix between a battering ram and a rapier. It stalked forward, and then stopped, growling at them. Four glowing purple eyes studied them.

  It seemed almost anticlimactic as Liliana herself stepped out from behind the creature’s shadow. Her smokey form still looked just like it had on Earth, the jet-black staff held lightly in one hand. The other she trailed along the Shifter’s flank, as if enjoying the feel of its shell armor and soft, smokey fur. Liliana paused at its shoulder and spoke again.

  “Friends. New friends.”

  Then she turned her violet gaze to Alex again, and the eyes narrowed. “Traitor. Traitors.”

  Abbott stepped forward, releasing a slow breath. “Well, this is new. They normally don’t look quite so… human.”

  Alex nodded slowly. “She had gravity control magic. Back before… this.”

  He nodded. “Thanks. Handle the Shifters, and I’ll take her.”

  She looked at the others. “Dryad, can you hit the flying one? Sneak, you can probably hit the digging one with your Mind attacks, so try to keep it busy and make it surface. Professor, do what you can to help both of them out.”

  Joanna looked back at her, her eyes wary. “And you?”

  “I’m taking on the last one. I’ve got to at least keep it busy.” She turned back to the front, watching as Abbott continued to step forward. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she tried to reassure herself. She might be a little tired, but she wasn’t wounded, and her Skills were all at maximum now. If she was ever going to be ready to fight a Shifter, it was going to be now.

  Abbott came to a stop, and for a moment, the scene went still. The Surveyors faced off against the Grue, staring at each other. Liliana continued to glare at Alex, though the Shade seemed to be switching her attention between her and Abbott.

  Then there was a crackling sound as the third Shifter arrived, and everything broke loose at once.

  Abbott moved. One moment, he was just braced and ready to charge. The next, he flew through the air like a wrecking ball. Alex jerked into motion as well; she burst into a sprint, aiming straight at the Shifter. It was only a coincidence that her course would take her near Liliana’s current position, of course.

  Behind her, she heard Clara’s crossbow fire, along with the sound of a Shifter tilting over and into a dive. A wash of heat flared on her back—probably Joanna unleashing her flames—and there was a sudden burst of sound as if the underground Shifter had surfaced early. She put all of it out of her head and tried to focus. The armored Shifter was ahead of her, and its eyes were already narrowing in preparation to strike.

  To the side, she saw Liliana make a gesture. Abbott’s leap abruptly came to a stop short of the Shade; he crashed down hard enough to crack the pavement. She heard him grunt, but he didn’t remain there. With a stubborn grunt, he pushed himself upright and advanced closer to her.

  The Shifter at Liliana’s side jerked and started to turn, ready to strike at Abbott. Alex sped up, aiming herself directly at its flank. If it ignored her, it might get a single strike off, but she wasn’t going to let it attack Abbott that easily.

  At the last moment, the creature twisted and struck at her, its tail flashing in a lethal blur. She barely got her shield up in time. The combined momentum of her charge and the speed of the stinger itself meant that the impact nearly knocked her from her feet. It did, at least, bring her to a sudden, abrupt stop. Pain jolted all the way up her arm, and she thought she felt her shield crack a little under the assault.

  As she skidded to a halt, the Shifter reared back and snapped at her with its jaws. Alex ducked low and threw herself to the side opposite from Liliana, trying to keep it from being able to turn back to attack Abbott. She caught a glimpse of the fight through its legs as it turned on her. Abbott was continuing forward, knocking aside arrows of smokey, purple fire as he advanced. Liliana was backpedaling, apparently unwilling to face the C rank directly.

  Behind her, there was a sudden roar of rage, followed by a crackling sound and a terrible crash that shook the ground beneath her. She ignored the urge to look backwards, and deflected the stinger as it came in at her again and again. Each clash sent a wave of agony up her arm, but she kept circling around the Shifter, making it turn and dance to try to keep track of her. As she fought, she gathered her magic around her, wanting to be ready for any opening that she could see.

  The Shifter abruptly shot low and close, bringing its massive jaws into position to snap shut on her from either side. It moved fast, too quickly for her to evade. Alex felt her heart seize in her chest for a moment as she stared into the grey and purple maw rimmed by sword-like fangs.

  Then she concentrated, and a spear of lightning exploded down the Shifter’s throat. It jerked in shock, and Alex darted back and out of the range of its jaws as they snapped shut. The fangs slammed closed just in front of her face, the wind from the motion blowing across her face and through her hair. She saw the wide, hateful eyes of the Shifter flare; its lips drew back from its teeth in a snarl.

  Before it could pull back, however, Alex landed. She planted her back foot as hard as she could. Her back ached as she twisted, trying to put her entire bodyweight behind a single swing of her axe. The weapon started well behind and above her, out as far as it could go without leaving her hand. Power built in that swing, a force that she could feel all the way in her core.

  There was a moment, just before the swing started, when everything seemed to be still.

  Then she swung with every ounce of strength she could find. The axe came up and over in a brutal, uncompromising blow. It smashed into the Shifter’s still-twisted head, the blade catching it just as it tried to pull back and right itself. She felt bones break and flesh tear, giving way beneath the strike.

  The Shifter yowled in pain, jerking backwards hard enough that Alex’s feet left the ground. She clung to her axe as the Grue danced back in pain, feeling each swing of the Shifter’s head in her shoulder and elbow as it tried to shake her off. Her axe remained buried partway up its muzzle, the blade firmly entrenched in its smokey flesh as it bled purple smoke.

  A shadow crossed her face, and she looked up to see the stinger bobbing and weaving above her. She brought her shield up in time to absorb another sharp blow from it. The Shifter tried again, stabbing down at her, but her shield took the hit again. When it tried snapping at her legs, she pulled them up and planted her knees on top of the thing’s snout.

  Alex caught flashes of the rest of the battle as the Shifter continued its whirling attempts to throw her. She saw the flying Shifter on the ground, its wings covered in shattered ice and its head now snared by more and more plants. Sam was locked in a whirling melee with the burrowing creature, which had eyes that were now smoking holes and was bleeding from several wounds around its mouth. It froze in place, its enraged roars suddenly silent.

  Then she saw Liliana and Abbott fighting. The Shade brought her staff down in a swing well short of the Surveyor, but it was as if she had swung a titanic hammer. She saw the ground beneath him crumple and shatter, and Abbott went to one knee in the middle of a newly formed crater. Then he leaped from it and smashed into Liliana, who barely managed to block the blow. Alex saw her former supervisor become a streak of black and purple fire that slammed into the nearest wall with stunning force.

  Before she could see any more, the Shifter slumped down. Alex had half a second to realize it was going to try to use its paws to scrape her off before the shadows of its claws descended on her. The moment the thing’s chin hit the ground, Alex lunged forward, ripping her axe free as she went. She saw the Shifter’s eyes start to open, and she put a brittle thread of lightning into the far one.

  The other eye was still only half open before she plunged her axe into it, flipping herself around to kneel on top of its skull.

  It reared back, howling at the sky as she held on for dear life. She half-turned to block another stab from the stinger, and then ripped the axe free to slam it down again and again. Each time, the Shifter thrashed beneath her, trying to shake her loose.

  She made it through four strikes at the now-ruined eye before the Shifter finally caught her off guard. A desperate paw battered her a little off balance, and a second later, her axe slipped free of the most recent wound. Alex had only a grim second of understanding before the next swing of the head sent her flying across the battlefield.

  With a twist of her torso, she put her shield between her body and the ground. She hit the pavement and skidded, sending a shower of sparks across the asphalt as she bounced along. Pain and numbness fought all the way up her arm, and a detached part of her recognized she would be needing another visit to the infirmary again soon.

  When she came to a stop, Alex rolled back to her feet and tried to set herself for the next attack. All too far away, she saw the Shifter still pawing at its face in agony, thick, syrupy clouds of purple leaking from its dead eye. Beyond that, she could see a hole in the wall of one of the Silos; echoes of Abbott’s fight filtered back out of it. A glance to her right showed that her friends were still alive and doing well. Clara and Joanna seemed to be encasing the flying Shifter in coats of ice and vines, while Sam continued to stab the other one, which was still blindly swiping at him.

  Alex looked back as the Shifter she was facing gave its head a final shake. Its remaining eye narrowed, and a grumbling snarl worked its way through the Grue’s throat. It seemed to swell slightly as it took a step forward, the smoke from its eye still spilling down over its jaws as it came.

  She braced herself, her own eyes narrowing as she considered her options. Trying to dodge around it wasn’t the best plan; if the thing decided to try its breath attack, it might end up catching one of the others in the blast, and that was assuming she wasn’t caught herself. Lightning had helped, but only when the thing had given her a weak spot. She doubted the armor plates would show much damage at all if she tried it there.

  With a snarl of her own, Alex crouched and prepared herself to charge again. Better to be at close range, where it couldn’t pounce at her and she could hit back. She gathered her magic again, hoping that it would give her a chance to strike before it managed to flatten or maul her. The Shifter saw her stance and paused for a moment, its remaining eye going a little wide.

  Then, before she could make a move, Liliana came hurtling through another concrete wall and into the space between them. The Shade hit the ground and tumbled, her dark staff held frantically between her and the newly made hole in the wall. She was obviously worse for wear; purple leaked from half a dozen wounds on her insubstantial body, and she seemed to be having a hard time focusing.

  Liliana was still coming out of her crouch when she saw Alex, just a short distance away. The Shade paused, and malice filled her expression. She extended one hand, and Alex instinctively braced herself for the crushing force she knew was about to come.

  Then Abbott shot out of the hole like a meteor. He struck Liliana with a blow that the Shade completely failed to block. The axe blade hacked through the smoke of Liliana’s body, and Abbott shouted in triumph as he nearly bisected her from shoulder to hip.

  As the fragments of Liliana’s body fell away, they sparked and began to burn immediately. Alex flinched in surprise as the Shade’s wail tore through the air. She wasn’t the only one; Abbott closed his eyes, and the Shifter beyond him cringed in place. Purple flame flared and roared, consuming what was left of Liliana in an instant. Distant howls told Alex that the Shifters weren’t the only ones who were shaken by it, either.

  All the same, the Shifter in front of her seemed to recover quickly. It stepped forward, its stinger held high. Abbott didn’t seem to notice the threat, still staring at the place where Liliana had been with a self-satisfied smile.

  Alex gathered her power and struck just as the stinger began to come down. A fist of wind smashed into the stinger just as darted forward. The course of the shining, slender blade was diverted to the side. Instead of whipping past the Shifter’s shoulder and hitting Abbott in the side of the head, it buried itself in the back of the Shifter’s neck.

  She saw the Shifter’s eyes go wide, and its mouth opened in a high-pitched whine. Abbott glanced in its direction and took a step back in surprise. Then he glanced back at Alex and laughed. “Well done, Valkyrie!”

  He turned back to the Shifter, which had managed to free its stinger. It seemed dazed by the strike, and before it could recover, Abbott brought his axe down on its head, smashing it into the ground in a single blow.

  As the creature crumpled, Abbott turned and extended a hand. Alex looked to the side and saw the flying Shifter suddenly sink into the ground. It arched, trying to keep itself above the liquified asphalt, only for Clara’s vines to drag it even further down. The blinded burrower lasted barely any longer before Abbott hit it from the side, his axe carving through it.

  Moments later, the fight was over, and the limp corpses of the Shifters burned as well. Orange text flared to life as Alex sighed in satisfaction.

  [Holy—Storm advances to 31!]

  The increase left the simple Skill higher than any other. Of course, the other Skills had plenty of grades to make them more effective, to say nothing of Attributes to back them up. All the same, she felt a flicker of pride at seeing how far she’d come.

  Abbott waved her over, and she managed a slow, limping jog to join the others. He smiled. “Well done, all of you. It isn’t easy to fight a Shifter, especially with a Shade empowering them. Is anyone hurt especially bad?”

  Sam shook his head, though Clara was already at work on his side. “Just a brush, but I’m still fighting.”

  The C rank nodded. “Nobody got any venom on them, right?” They all shook their heads, and he grimaced. “Be honest with me. Shifter venom works slow, but it does a lot of damage. Better to fess up now than to be down for more than a month.”

  When nobody spoke up, he relaxed. “Good. Now, we should head out from here. There are a few Grue inside, but they are probably still recovering from losing the Shade. We should try and make good time while the rest of them are distracted, too.”

  He started to walk, and they fell into formation around him. Behind them, Grue began to yelp and snarl. Abbott increased his pace, and the others followed suit. Alex caught up to him fairly easily, despite the way her side was bothering her. “Where are we headed?”

  With a grin his helmet didn’t quite hide, Abbott glanced at her. “We did have a little luck this time around. All of you had the Grain Silos as your first stop, so that means we should be able to make it to the Slaughterhouse before we head back to the portal. Unless you have any complaints, of course.”

  The sudden prospect of getting a full clear, on top of watching Liliana get cut in half, nearly made her jump for joy. “No, no complaints here.”

  He continued in silence for a moment, before speaking again in a low voice. “It won’t be permanent. She’ll be back, probably within a month or so. You’ll need to be ready. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be running around with you to counter her.”

  “I will be.” Determination filled her, and she nodded as she ran. “After all, a Shade isn’t that bad, right?”

  Abbott didn’t answer for a long moment. Then she heard him sigh. “Actually, she was a lot meaner than most Shades. Probably the hardest one I’ve ever fought, at least.”

  Alex looked at him, searching for any sign of humor. She saw nothing, and when she looked back at the others, they looked grim. “Oh. Great.”

  They ran on into the fields of the other world, as the Grue recovered from their leader’s death. Alex just hoped they wouldn’t recover entirely, until they had gotten to the Slaughterhouse, at least.