A new squad of goblins demanded their attention. Once again, they swarmed Inara. Sticks broke against her armor until the leather itself began to crack.

  The goblins went after Inara with such force and single-minded determination that James wondered why, in fact, they were so intent on her.

  He thought back to their previous fights. In the orchard, he was certain the trees only went after whoever last hit them. The demons in town had been similar, but then the demons in the dungeon hadn’t stuck to that pattern. They had been more interested in attacking whoever was physically nearest.

  The goblins had a different pattern entirely. What made Inara so different?

  Oh. Her level. She was level 77 while the rest of them were barely in their teens. The goblins, low level creatures that they were, must go after the biggest threat first.

  James watched, helpless, as another goblin drove its stick through a gap in her armor. When he tried to pull it free, it broke off, splintering against her skin.

  She cried out. His heart lurched. What was even the point of such armor if it was so easily bypassed?

  She would survive the attack. No matter how brutal it looked, the goblins were still level 6. No matter how painful their attacks, her health bar barely moved.

  Small mercy that was.

  And this squad was larger than the last. There were eight — no, ten — they kept coming, emerging from the tall grass and disappearing back into it.

  Was this how they were going to die? Up until this point James hadn’t thought too hard about the turn-based system of Grimora. It was awkward to be frozen during the enemy turn, but it was more than worth it on his own turn. He hadn’t exactly been a fighter back home, and to be honest a moving target would have been too much for him. Turn based combat was all that gave him a fighting chance in this world.

  But when the enemy so outnumbered them, what was there to do? Inara’s health was dropping toward the halfway point and the damned goblins were still coming. If she didn’t have such a monstrous health pool, the whole party would be in danger.

  Your turn!

  James was so surprised that he wasted precious seconds getting his bearings. But he knew exactly what he had to do.

  “Fireball! Fireball! Fire—” He only had time for two, but that would have to do. His most treasured magic attack shot out into the grasses in the general direction he’d seen the goblins disappear.

  His aim didn’t need to be exact. The grasses themselves were flammable, and they went up like a Christmas tree.

  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

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  Defeated level 6 Goblin! +100 EXP

  The fire snuffed out as the last goblin died. There was a ring of ten feet on every side, now, of scorched earth where the flames had burnt everything to a crisp.

  Stolen story; please report.

  James rocked back on his heels and let out a heavy breath. For a moment he’d though the fire might continue to spread; that one Fireball would be enough to set the whole hill on fire and he would kill every goblin on the cliff.

  Perhaps that would be too easy. If there were any gods on this world, they couldn’t allow such a cheat code. After all, games were only fun when they were balanced.

  “Mom? Are you okay?” Desiree rushed to her mother’s side. James and Virgil followed more slowly, not wanting to overwhelm her.

  Inara rose to her feet and shook off the ghost of pain. She knew from experience that if she focused on it, it would linger; it was better to let it go.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “But I need to heal before we continue on. Another onslaught like that will put me in real danger.”

  James remembered her skill list. Everything was locked except Blood Price, which would have the opposite effect of what they wanted. He reviewed his own skills and pulled up the description for Vital Pulse.

  Vital Pulse

  You have listened to your heartbeat; you cling to life.

  Restore 20HP over 30 seconds.

  The text implied that it would heal him, but it didn’t specify that it could only be cast on himself.

  “Vital Pulse.” James held out a hand the way he did with his Fireball spell, to direct the magic.

  Nothing happened.

  Virgil gave him a bemused look. “Vital Pulse is a personal spell,” he said. “It won’t work on anyone else.”

  “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t,” James insisted. “The text doesn’t specify that it can only be used on me. It does say something about hearing my heartbeat, though. May I… May I touch you?” This last part was directed toward Inara.

  Desiree giggled, then stifled it when Inara shot her a look.

  Inara shrugged. “You may.”

  James took her hand and rested two fingers on her wrist. The skin there was soft and pale enough that he could see her veins just under the surface. Her heartbeat pulsed against his fingertips.

  “Vital Pulse.”

  His mana drained again, and Inara’s health began to tick back up.

  You have learned how to cast spells on other people! INT +1

  Virgil gaped. “That shouldn’t be possible.” He thought back to the magical theory he had studied. There were spells which could be cast on other people, of course, particularly healing spells. Those had been studied in depth. But the easy ones, the ones which were more accessible to people outside of specific classes, those were always personal healing spells. Without access to one of those, a person was dependent on their own regeneration.

  James shrugged, but he was clearly pleased with himself. “Maybe the System breaks the rules a little bit.”

  That struck a nerve. Deep within Virgil’s memories, something started to shake loose. Maybe the System did break the rules, and maybe that had something to do with however he’d gotten into this dungeon.

  For the first time, he wanted his memories back. Not to satisfy anyone else’s curiosity, but to satisfy his own. No matter how painful they might turn out to be — there were things he needed to know.

  “Your spell is still limited,” Inara said. “It only works through direct contact, and it is a slow heal.”

  “Well, sure, but—”

  “Desiree, do you have access to Ethereal Mend?”

  Desiree grumbled and opened her skills list. “No,” she said, but there was a shift in her eyes that made Inara tighten her lips.

  “Keep an eye out for it. Next time you level up, you should take the skill,” Inara instructed. “We need someone who can heal from a distance.”

  “Sure,” Desiree said, pasting a smile on her face. “I’ll keep an eye out for it.”

  “Vital Pulse.” James cast the skill again. Inara had a large health pool, and 20HP every 30 seconds really wasn’t much. Still, it was the best he could do. It was the only thing he could do. “We do need better healing,” he agreed.

  James kept refreshing the spell every 30 seconds, doing his best to Meditate in between so he wouldn’t run too low on mana. It wouldn’t do them any good for him to be useless in the next fight, especially now that he knew how useful Fireball could be on this level.

  He noticed, though, that Virgil was silent, staring off into the distance.

  “Virgil,” he called out. “What’s on your mind?”

  The scholar looked startled, like he had been so deep in his own thoughts that he’d forgotten the rest of the group was with him.

  He gathered himself. “I think I know this place,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you when I was last here, but that building—” He gestured to the top of the cliff. “It’s a library. I’m sure— I’m almost sure of it.”

  James didn’t press him for more. The scholar was a shell of a man, embrittled by whatever horrors had so clearly scarred his mind. Even now, Inara didn’t fully trust the man, but James didn’t care about that. As far as he was concerned, Virgil was a part of his team, and that was all that mattered. They would take care of each other.

  He rested a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “That’s where we’ll go, then. It looks important to me, too.”

  The scholar shot the hero a grateful look. He wouldn’t have said anything on his own; he couldn’t presume to tell this group what to do. But he was glad to have done so, grateful that James had pulled the answer out of him.

  The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that there was something in that library that could help him.

  “Goblins!” Desiree shouted.

  Everyone looked. Green faces and red eyes glared at them through the grasses.

  James didn’t hesitate. This fight was going to be different. “Fireball!”

  Your party has entered combat!