James stepped up to the portal with his hand on his axe. The heavy weapon was beginning to feel familiar. With every swing he understood it a little more — and felt understood in return. On Earth, that would have been unsettling. Building a relationship with a weapon would have sent hi to the psych ward. But here in Grimora, where demons could portal into the town square and dungeons could populate anything at all and make it look realistic? That weapon quickly became a comfortable weight.

  One by one, his party members stepped through the shimmering doorway. Too late, James wondered if they would be separated again or if that trick was limited to the first floor.

  There was only one way to find out.

  James stepped into the portal. Magic washed over him like carbonated water, and then he was through.

  He blinked and shook his head. The view that greeted him made him blink again.

  Back home, James had occasionally dreamed of international travel. As an American, that was far easier said than done. He only had two weeks vacation every year, and a roundtrip flight to Europe would cost an entire paycheck. Too often, instead of saving those days for one long trip, he used them up one by one on long weekends, much needed rest before diving back into work.

  One day, he’d promised himself, he’d go to Scotland or Ireland. He’d seen pictures of those massive cliffs that dropped sheer into the ocean. It got to the point where he wasn’t sure anymore if what he envisioned was even a real place anymore or just an amalgamation of half-remembered travel vlogs.

  Somehow, the dungeon had plucked that place from James’s mind and turned it into a reality. He, Desiree, Inara, and Virgil stood at the base of a steep, grassy hill. The top of the hill jutted out into the horizon so sharply that James knew, without a doubt, it dropped straight into the ocean on the other side.

  It was everything he’d imagined — exactly as he’d imagined — with two key differences: the yellow-green grass was easily four feet high, almost tall enough to obscure Desiree completely, and at the top of the cliff was a large stone building that looked like it had been hit by a catapult or two. Walls crumbled into rubble, and rooms lay open to the sky.

  Desiree took a bold step forward, only to be yanked back by the collar.

  She glared at her mother.

  Inara raised an eyebrow. “Just because we can’t see our enemies doesn’t mean they’re not nearby. Stay close.”

  Desiree straightened her tunic and grumbled but otherwise did as she was bid.

  James stiffened. “You think they’re hiding in the tall grass?”

  A dart whistled past his face and embedded itself in Desiree’s shield. Three more quickly followed. The young girl yelped and jumped back into the safety of the group.

  A pair of blood red eyes became visible in the grass. The creature’s skin was deep green and its ears were long and pointed. It’s clothes — which barely deserved the word, large patches of skin lay bare to the world — were made up of woven grasses.

  “Goblins,” Inara snarled.

  Three more stepped forward. One in the back lifted a blowgun to its lips and shot. This time, his aim was true. The dart landed on Desiree’s arm.

  Inara yanked it out, but the damage was done.

  Your party has entered combat!

  The goblins moved first. They were small and wiry, lightly armored, and they’d had the element of surprise.

  The goblin leader bared sharp teeth at Inara, who looked back with pure disdain. He hefted his weapon. It was little more than a sharpened stick, but he wielded it like a spear. He lunged forward, jabbing straight at her middle.

  The weapon thudded against her with enough force to knock her back. The sharp end of the stick, though, skidded harmlessly off the hardened leather armor which protected her chest.

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  She met his wild eyes with a savage smirk. Goblins were so fucking stupid.

  But then it was the next goblin’s turn, and the little bastard got lucky. His stick slid inside the gap at the back of her knee. The pathetic weapon tore through her flesh and left splinters behind.

  The next two goblins learned from their leader’s mistake and their fellow’s success. They aimed for the small gaps in her armor and dug the points of their sticks in between.

  They rushed at her one after the other, until at last the enemy turn was over.

  Your turn!

  James leapt forward like a horse at the start of a race. His axe rose and fell. He tore through the goblins like paper.

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 10 Goblin Squad Leader! +200 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  The haze of combat lifted, and James stumbled forward with the suddenness of it.

  “Inara, are you okay?” He rushed to her side.

  She waved him off. “I’m fine. Check Desiree. Is she poisoned?”

  James gave her a suspicious squint, but to his surprise, her health bar was still high enough that he didn’t have to worry. He did a double take. An onslaught like she’d just endured would have put him in real danger. The goblins were low level, but four attacks back to back was nothing to sneeze at.

  But she was right — Desiree needed him. The girl sat cross-legged on the ground with her head in her hands. Her health was dropping, not quickly, but steadily. Without knowing how long the poison would last, that could be deadly.

  Inara was already searching the bodies of the dead.

  “Here!” She tossed a leather flask to James, which he immediately passed to Desiree.

  Desiree took a sip, grimaced at the taste, then downed the rest. Her health stabilized, and James relaxed.

  Inara joined them and passed around the rest of the flasks. “The darts are poisoned,” she explained. “But goblins are as likely to hit each other as anyone else, so they always carry the antidote.”

  James chuckled, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was still replaying the fight.

  “Those goblins,” he said. “They swarmed you.”

  Inara shrugged. “I’m fine.”

  “That’s what confuses me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re ok. But any one of us would have been near death from an onslaught like that. Why aren’t you?” He did his best to keep the suspicion from his voice. He was glad she was ok, but there were just too many things that weren’t adding up. She was the only person who seemed to know about dungeons, so it wasn’t common knowledge in this world, and she didn’t just know about them. She knew a lot. And from what he’d just seen, she was a lot stronger than she was letting on.

  None of that necessarily meant anything bad, but he didn’t like not knowing. They were trusting each other with their lives; how could he do that if she was keeping a secret?

  For a moment that felt like a lifetime, she looked like she was going to deny it, gaslight him somehow into thinking the goblins hadn’t been hitting her, really, they’d been deflected by her armor. But then her posture softened, and she relented.

  “The truth is,” she said, “I’m level 77.”

  Desiree gasped.

  Inara looked away. “My class is broken. All my stats are artificially locked at 10 each, and I don’t have access to my skills. Here. See for yourself. I still have my health and my mana, but beyond that I may as well not have a class at all.” With a wave of her hand, she shared her status sheet with the party.

  Name: Inara

  Race: Human

  Class: Broken Reaper (EXP Gain: Disabled)

  Level: 77

  HP: 245/395

  MP: 690/690

  EXP: 0/2,500,000

  Stat Points Available: 0

  STR: 10 (150-140)

  AGI: 10 (144-134)

  INT: 10 (69-59)

  WIS: 10 (69-59)

  CON: 10 (69-59)

  Skill Points Available: 0

  Skills (Locked): Meditation, Mana Bolt, Vital Pulse, Tactical Dodge, Focused Strike, Identify, Endure, Second Wind, Reaper’s Reach, Harvest Step, Last Breath, Chilling Touch, Wax and Wane, Petal Storm, Sunder Veil, Reaper’s Grasp, Blood Rhythm, Lingering Echo, Scythe Memory, Crescent Rend, Gravewind Cloak, Black Petals/Red Snow, Reaper’s Tithe, Vow of Silence, Edge of Dusk, Unburdened Soul, Final Witness, Reaper’s Descent

  Skills (Unlocked): Blood Price

  The party was silent as they read through her status sheet, the locked skills and the limited stats. Only Desiree kept letting out surprised noises. She’d always thought her mom was powerful, but only in the way that every child imagines their parents to be knowledgeable and capable. She’d never imagined that Inara had grown to such a high level, the kind that only adventurers could even dream of!

  “I’ve never even heard of a broken class,” Desiree said, as awed by her mother’s weakness as she was by her strength. “What does that mean? How did it happen?”

  Virgil and James wore matching expressions of interest. Desiree was asking what everyone wanted to know.

  Inara’s shoulders tensed, like she was preparing for an oncoming storm. “The only way for a class to break — or, the only way I know of, anyway — is if someone betrays the Hero.”

  James’s eyes widened. His mind whirled with a hundred questions.

  But before he could ask any of them, a dart landed on his neck.

  You have been poisoned!

  Your party has entered combat!