We left for Whiting late the next morning, which was a miracle, because it gave me a few precious hours of sleep and let me apply the drive systems from the drones to the Ford Explorer. The engine turned over now, and I could drive it around the garage. If it left, it turned into so much dead weight; I had a solution for that as well, but it’d be messy, and it needed gear that Tori would almost certainly want, but it’d get the Explorer running faster.

  I was still a little hungover from the night’s long Voltsmithing session, but we got moving along I-90 heading south toward Gary. Jessica had insisted we put our best foot forward in terms of power, and we weren’t holding back. Tori and I were both Level Sixty-Three, while Zane and Carol were Fifty-Six and Fifty-Five, respectively. I wasn’t sure how Zane had pulled ahead, but it wasn’t significant enough to be more than an experience orb or two.

  Aside from the four of us, the only other members of our delegation were Jessica and Calvin.

  Calvin hadn’t liked the idea of all three of us—Jessica, him, and me—going, but I’d insisted, and Jessica had agreed. We were all the wronged parties, and since our leadership structure was council-based, it’d be better if we presented a united front, together. And when you had a problem with a neighbor, the best way to handle it was to hash it out, together, and come to an agreement.

  I didn’t know how amicable Liu or the rest of the Fireborn Crusade would be to one, but I was determined to give it my best farmer’s try.

  The trip south was going to be a long one. A month ago, the walk would have taken all day; the only saving grace to the long walk was that even though only Carol had focused on Body, even Calvin and Jessica’s stats were at the peak end of pre-Integration humanity. We set a brisk pace, almost a jog, and ate up the miles.

  But even so, it quickly became apparent that we had a problem.

  After the ninth monster attack in the first hour, we had to stop and let Jessica fix Calvin’s leg. While she worked, I pulled Tori and the twins aside. “Do you know what’s going on? We never see this many monsters when we’re patrolling.”

  “I’ve got a guess, but it’s based on video game logic,” Tori said.

  Zane nodded. “Aggro. We’re traveling through a medium-leveled environment, and we’ve got two very low-leveled people with us.”

  “Yep. They’re going to draw attention. If this place still operates under gaming rules.”

  I sighed. “So, we’re going to attract every monster between here and Whiting, then?”

  “Yes.” Tori paused, then continued. “There is a way to stop it, though. If we feed experience orbs to Calvin and Jessica, that’ll get them caught up a little bit. Every level they gain should reduce the range monsters find them at.”

  “Okay. Plan. Carol, can you go rogue?” When she’d ranked up, she’d gained the ability to swap between her Skirmisher class’s modes on an hourly basis instead of being restricted by leveling up. “You and I will play interceptor, try to block monsters from getting to Calvin and Jessica. We’ll put Tori and Zane near them; Tori will control anything we miss, and Zane can do the actual killing. We leave as much experience on the ground as we can, and Calvin and Jessica grab it when they can.”

  “That works. The sooner we get to Whiting, though, the better. I guarantee the Crusade’s got it cleared,” Tori said. “Let’s get moving.”

  Level Up! Sixty-Three to Sixty-Four.

  The tide of monsters had only gotten worse the further from Chicago we got. Jessica was Level Twenty-Seven now, while Calvin had reached Thirty, but the only thing that had changed was that the swarms of easy-to-kill low-level monsters had given way to Rank One monsters in the mid-Fifties. Not orcs, thank god, but we were starting to get pressed.

  And in getting pressed, we’d been forced to pick up more and more experience that could—and should—have gone to Calvin and Jessica.

  Technically, we could do this all day if Jessica didn’t run out of energy. Her healing let us operate without any worry about injuries; it was amazing how much more efficient we were at killing monsters with four high-leveled Delvers and a healer supporting them.

  But if this kept up, we’d make a mistake, and the monsters were dangerous enough that Jessica and Calvin were very, very exposed.

  On the other hand, Zane had leveled up once, and Carol had gained three levels. It was a lot harder for her to withdraw after a kill, and she was the main stealer of experience orbs. Not that I begrudged her that; she needed the levels too.

  “This isn’t working,” I growled through gritted teeth as I clobbered a hulking monster in the chest. Tori Crushed its skull, and brains and blood erupted from its ears as it shimmered and vanished. “Are we getting close?”

  “I hope so!” Jessica said. She finished putting Tori’s arm back into its socket. A moment later, my rail gun bot rolled past her, fired a single shot, and punched a hole in a gigantic lizard’s side. It reversed and scooted toward me, and I shoved it back into my backpack. I couldn’t store the bots in my inventory if I wanted them to recharge, so the backpack it was.

  Jessica grabbed the experience orb and leveled up again.

  “We should be getting close to Whiting,” Calvin shouted over the combat. “Almost there!”

  We crossed the patchwork off the interstate and back onto a dirt path through what felt like thick, steamy jungle for the dozenth time. The ground started rumbling. “Tori, Zane, help me out!” I shouted. “Carol, cover our backs!”

  The packed earth and loam erupted a moment later.

  Solemnus Wyrm: Level Sixty-Five Field Boss (Rank One)

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Current Difficulty: Challenging

  The apex predator of the Solemnus Six forests, the Solemnus Wyrm hunts alone, defends its territory jealously, and suffers no intruders. That means you.

  Field Boss: This boss has no dungeon. It stalks part of the overworld instead.

  All-Inclusive: Attacking this boss will alert anyone nearby.

  The Field Boss [Solemnus Wyrm] has been engaged!

  I’d seen this boss before. That was the first thing that ran through my head as I stared at the massive snake that had just bored its way through the ground and loomed over me. It looked a lot like the Redline Wyrm, but without its train-car armor or wheels. This one was also bigger—or at least wider. Its hide had thick brown scales, and when it opened its mouth and hissed, a dozen mole-nose-looking tendrils erupted from the stinking, fetid maw.

  I didn’t waste any time. We couldn’t flip this wyrm like we had the Redline. But we shouldn’t have to; this was a fair fight.

  Or it would be if it wasn’t for Calvin and Jessica.

  The boss’s face flipped from me to Tori, then settled on the group’s healer. I bit back a curse and fired my own rail gun into the monster’s flank as Tori slipped between the boss and her stepmom. The Wyrm hissed again and surged forward, maw clacking shut as it hit a doubled Push and bounced to the side—right into a stand of purple-barked trees. Wood chips exploded across the battlefield, raining down on us like missiles.

  I fired the second rail gun bolt and punched right through the scales, but the injury looked almost nonexistent compared to the boss’s bulk. It whirled, tail thrashing out and sending Jessica and Tori flying, and in the moment it was stopped, A burst of fire ripped across it as Zane started casting. His Rank One upgrade turned his fire blue and made it sticky like napalm, giving everything he did a stacking damage over time effect.

  Tori said that it reminded her of a powerful mage character from one of her games.

  The Trip-Hammer revved, and I slammed it into the snake’s side. Scales crumpled. Flesh tore and immediately cauterized. The boss screamed. Then it threw itself into the air, completely leaving the ground. I hit the dirt, leaping to the side—but even so, the monster’s bulk slammed into my leg. Something cracked, and the wyrm burrowed underground again.

  I tried to pick myself up. Jessica pushed my back down before my shattered shin could give way completely. “I’ve got you. Deep breath, bite something. This will hurt.”

  Pain ripped through my leg all the way from my toes to my hip. Tori cast a Levitate on Jessica and a second on me, and we took off as the ground started shaking again, jarring my half-healed leg. The Solemnus Wyrm surged out of the ground right where we’d been, and another fireball exploded across its back.

  Carol screamed from the side of the battlefield. She stood between Calvin and a pair of eight-legged ape creatures that kept picking up rocks and logs, then hurling them her way. But I couldn’t help her—not if I wanted to get this boss down. My leg finally finished knitting itself together under Jessica’s guidance, and I dropped the Taser rover to the ground. It chugged toward Carol, and I turned to face the boss.

  We had to kill it, and we had to kill it fast. Carol couldn’t hold forever, and even with the rover’s help, she’d get overwhelmed. I revved the Trip-Hammer and rushed back into battle, swinging again and again as scales shattered. The Wyrm thrashed. I went flying, and Tori caught me with another Levitate. Between Zane and me, we had enough damage that she could focus on supporting us, and that was really the way she’d been building.

  She hadn’t used either of her Queen’s Blessing charges to give someone the Elite buff yet, though. I knew she was saving them, just like I’d been trying to save the rovers and my rail gun shots. But now wasn’t the time. “Tori, Elite! Zane and Carol!”

  “Got it,” she called back. A moment later, the staff waved through the air, and Carol used her sudden surge of strength to charge down one of the apes and run her spear straight through it. That left her with only one major opponent, and when the taser bot finally arrived and opened fire, I felt comfortable shifting my attention to the boss.

  Zane was Elite. That meant he’d be doing massive damage for a few seconds. My job was to keep him free-casting, as Tori would say. So I needed to get the Wyrm’s attention.

  I slid between it and Jessica, using her low level as bait, then revved the hammer and crashed it into the monster’s jaw. The spinning spikes and blades shredded through flesh and mole-faced tendrils, and hot, burning blood erupted from the wound. Then the boss’s weight fell toward me. Tori Pushed it aside and Pulled me the other way; I skidded across the ground as a massive blue beam of fire sliced into the Solemnus Wyrm.

  It took almost a minute from there, but the outcome of the fight wasn’t in any doubt. The wyrm’s screams and roar of fire filled the jungle, then gradually went silent.

  Field Boss Defeated: Solemnus Wyrm

  Level Up! Sixty-Four to Sixty-Five.

  Area Message: The [Solemnus Wyrm] has been defeated. All hail [Tori Vanderbilt], [Calvin Rollins], [Jessica Silvers], [Zane Parker], [Carol Parker], and [Hal Riley].

  Unlike when Bobby Richards and I had killed the Cloud Sentinel, there was no safe zone message with the boss kills. There were four pieces of loot, though:

  Wyrmtongue (Epic, Charge 5)

  +8 Body, +6 Mana

  This bladed whip bores into its targets’ flesh, inflicting bleeding damage. In addition, when activated, it grows briefly to ten times its normal size, dealing massive crushing damage and shattering armor. Can be activated twice per day.

  Tome of Blazing Rush (Rare)

  User learns the spell Blazing Rush, which turns the user into a ball of fire that surges directly toward the closest enemy, dealing crushing and fire damage on impact.

  Thorned Hammer (Rare, Charge 15)

  +4 Body, +4 Mana

  The wielder of this hammer may cast Armistice of Thorns once per day.

  Armistice of Thorns: The caster summons walls of sharp, spiked thorns around all combatants in a thirty-foot radius. The thorns may be broken, but will deal damage when attacked. Lasts one minute.

  Pool of the Deep Earth (Epic, Charge 10)

  +14 Mana

  This pendant imbues the wearer’s Mana, strengthening it when in contact with earth, but weakening the caster’s spells when on non-natural surfaces. Additionally, the user gains a small amount of armor when outdoors.

  I wanted both of the epic items. The first, Wyrmtongue, was something I desperately wanted to take apart. There had to be a reason for its power, and if I could copy that, it alone might be enough to chance another shot at the Stronghold dungeon. A temporarily massive Trip-Hammer would act less like a weapon and more like a gigantic digging machine, simply ripping through armor, structures, and anything else that got in its way.

  But the Pool of the Deep Earth really caught my eye.

  The drawback made it terrible for dungeon-delving and decreased its usefulness in a city like Chicago. And I didn’t care that much about armor. But 14 additional Mana—which I could convert into Charge—might be enough to get the Explorer running. It’d definitely be enough for another combat rover.

  Carol took Wyrmtongue, while Calvin, to my surprise, grabbed the Thorned Hammer. He shrugged. “It ain’t for fighting. Buys us a second or sixty to talk things over, too.”

  That left the Tome of Blazing Rush, which Zane took and immediately used. I didn’t blame him one bit; as a fire mage, it’d be most effective on him.

  And then, to my disappointment, Jessica took the Pool of the Deep Earth.

  We’d just finished loot, and I’d just put my four points into Charge, when I heard something. My hand went to the Trip-Hammer at the clanking and jingling sound, only for a quartet of out-of-breath Delvers to run up. They wore armor, carried swords and spears, or had half-summoned fireballs. None of them wore helmets.

  And every one of them had burns on the sides of their heads.

  August 26, in preparation to try its luck on Kindle.

  2. You can write a bunch of stories, keep publishing, and eventually build enough backmatter to be financially viable while you wait for the grand slam. This is what I'm currently doing, and that means putting more stories on Royal Road and Patreon, then to Kindle and Audible. It's Voltsmith's time.