We closed on the monsters fast, but a final wave of arrows and bolts and another fire beam tore into the front ranks of monsters, making enough holes so we wouldn’t get instantly swarmed.

  I plunged into the fray, drawing deep on my Agility as I spun and twisted among the monsters, dodging grasping, oversized hands and biting maws with 6-inch fangs that could probably shear through plate armor.

  My blades became a blur of slashing silver and black, every movement targeting a monster’s vulnerable spot. I aimed for necks and joints, and the monster hide proved insufficient to slow my deadly blades. Blood geysered from opened arteries and mandrills roared in pain as I sliced elbows, shoulders, and knees or severed giant hands at the wrist.

  The stench of blood mixing with the monsters’ dense musky stench clogged my nostrils, and my ears rang with shouts and howls. The apes swarmed in around us, a jumble of leaping monsters and grasping hands.

  I still couldn’t activate Phantom Step, but since I’d acted like the tip of the spear, I’d pushed in too far and 4 of the beasts converged on me at the same time. This was going to hurt.

  Then they all rebounded off of an invisible barrier. Thank you, Jane!

  I dove through a gap, slashing 2 of the monsters as I passed. The barrier broke as I passed through, but the leaping monsters missed by inches. I quickly dispatched them before they could surround me again. As I fought, I caught sight of my team.

  Tomas was blinking back and forth among the monsters even faster than he had against the bunnies, and all of a sudden, a clumsy looking contraption of wood and steel appeared behind him. It stood on 5 leg spikes that stuck deep into the soft ground, and had 4 multi-segmented arms capped with zombie shackles. The central trunk was made out of a literal tree trunk 3 feet thick that spun 360 degrees.

  The construct latched onto monsters lunging at Tomas, the shackles snapping around their wrists. Then each arm spun, trying to flip the monsters over.

  Earth apes were terrifyingly strong, and these monsters were way stronger than any silverback gorilla. They wrestled the construct, bending the limbs. One ripped totally free. That still wasted precious seconds and Tomas blinked in around the shackled apes and quickly finished off the distracted monsters with well-placed slashes.

  Farther back from the fight, Jane was gesturing with both hands. Each time she did, one of the monsters would stumble or recoil. A couple times she aimed at leaping monsters, hitting the mandrills in the air and tossing them into other monsters. One of the Graveclutch Mandrills leaped high into the air, aimed straight at her.

  It struck an invisible barrier and bounced off. Before it could even hit the ground, an unseen force struck it like a tornado of razor blades. Fur and muscle and blood fountained all around the monster. Whatever spell she’d used scoured it down to a chunk of bloody meat that rained down over the grass.

  Yikes. That sight distracted me so badly, I missed a dodge and one of the apes seized my bicep in one oversized hand. The giant paw sealed around my arm and squeezed with crushing force.

  I grunted but still slashed its other arm before it could grab me with that one too. Echo caught it just inside the elbow, mostly severing that limb. The mandrill roared in my face and tried to bite my head off.

  I stabbed Echo through its open mouth and out the back of its head. The monster froze, held in place by my blade. I growled when I realized even Soul Feed’s passive energy drain wasn’t working with my mana pool disabled. Instead, the monster started draining some of my health and its grip continued to tighten.

  Snarling, I heaved it around, using the leverage of my sword sticking through its face and its own grip on my arm to slam it into another Graveclutch Mandrill trying to hit me from the side. Then I yanked Echo free and used it to sever the giant hand still gripping me.

  The dying monster staggered back, its paw still wrapped around my bicep. Another monster charged in straight at me and leaped, both arms extending to seize me.

  I threw both blades back into my inventory and mentally slammed down on a mana potion in my hotlist. Then I lunged inside its grasping claws and triggered my new temporary spell.

  “Upper Cut. Spell. Double the physical damage of an uppercut punch and unleash 4 ethereal claws from the back of your hand.”

  I threw every bit of strength into the upper cut and caught the snarling Graveclutch Mandrill under its open jaw. A surge of power blasted out my hand as my spell doubled the power of an already-overpowered hit. The punch smashed its jaw and snapped its head back. The rest of its body followed, its forward momentum changing into a full-body backflip.

  Four ethereal blades extended from the back of my hand. I hadn’t understood the placement of the blades until that second. The blades extending from the back of my hand punched through the monster’s skull and neck, and as it backflipped, I dragged those blades down its entire torso.

  Awesome. So I triggered another mana potion and spun to meet yet another mandrill barreling in from the other side. I lashed out with a fist, triggering my other available temporary spell.

  “Sapper Charge. Spell. Deliver a concussive bare-handed strike that disrupts an enemy's spirit, dealing massive spiritual damage. Disrupt any of their active spells or spell casting, and negate most mental and magical defenses.”

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  The monster caught me around the waist with both of its oversized hands, fusing them together all the way around my torso. Half a heartbeat later, I punched it in the center of the chest with all my strength.

  The mandrill’s entire chest rippled like my fist was striking the surface of a pond. Its eyes flew wide and its limbs went limp. Even its hands fell away from my torso as it plopped to the ground, making a pathetic whimpering sound.

  I called forth my blades and slashed its neck before dropping and rolling under another mandrill diving at me. One of Steve’s ice arrows caught it mid-jump and froze its spine so that when it landed, its back shattered and it fell dead.

  I spun, swords up, just in time to see Tomas appear above the last mandrill and cleave his sword through its skull before landing on it and driving it to the ground.

  The area was a nasty scene of blood and gore and dead mandrills. Jane waved, looking untouched, while Andy limped over to pick up a fallen sword. One of his arms dangled useless by his side and his face was covered in blood.

  He raised his good hand in victory, then grimaced and fainted. Just as he hit the ground, a golden chain snicked across the field, wrapped around his head, then yanked the limp fighter back to the others.

  “Sorry! I was aiming for your chest,” Ruby exclaimed as her chain deposited Andy at her feet. She immediately poured a potion into the groggy man’s mouth.

  Tomas appeared next to me, sweaty and tired. He tried a couple times to sheath his sword, then gave up and banished it back into his inventory. I clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Good work. That teleport spell is awesome.”

  “Right? It’s called Flash Step. When I got it, I didn’t realize just how awesome it was. I can only teleport up to 50 yards per spell level.”

  “I helped him figure it out,” Jane said as she joined us and swept Tomas right off his feet in a bear hug before kissing him long and hard.

  We triggered Loot and I barely resisted the urge to trigger Soul Feed to top off my health. Luckily I’d dealt enough damage that my Tesla Coil bracelet kept up.

  I still had tons of health potions, but using Soul Feed had become such an integral part of my fighting style, it rankled deep that I couldn’t use it right now. Delving into a dungeon without it might not be the wisest choice I’d made, but I pushed that worry aside. We’d be fine.

  On top of Soul Feed not being available, I couldn’t try Harvest either. Still, I liked the 2 harvested spells I had. As I scanned my status, I noticed the tiny orange power bar below my health and mana. So I had captured magical energy, after all.

  Huh. I hadn’t even noticed when that happened. It must have come from the mandrills. Either when they grabbed me with their magical grips, or when they tried draining my health to fuel their crushing force. The charge was small, but should be enough to trigger Phantom Step at least once. Finally!

  We got a lot more mana crystals from the apes, along with fangs that could be crafted into daggers with life drain effects, and rolls of leather colored bright red and blue. No buffs, just cool color combos. We also each got half a dozen potions of Iron Grip that made our grips unbreakable for 30 seconds.

  Better, everyone got a level. Except for me, of course. That pushed Lana high enough to unlock her class. She was so excited, she jumped into Scott’s arms again in a full-body hug and plastered a kiss on his lips, just like she had after we escaped the Maze Fiend.

  This time he was ready and held her to him, kissing her back. After a moment, she tried to push back, but he said, “Nope. You can’t just randomly kiss me like that again without paying a price.”

  “Like what?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Dinner. Tonight when we get back. My tent.”

  She kissed the tip of his nose. “Bueno. Deal.”

  While Lana reviewed her class choices with her team, I scanned my achievements. Ignoring the kill notifications, I spotted a couple worth reading.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! For breaking the reproductive cycle of the Blinking Jackrabbits before it could accelerate exponentially and become an unstoppable tide that would have swept all life off of this stage, you receive a platinum Malthus loot box.”

  It contained a single item. A pole sword, similar to the one Bristleback had used like a driver to hit me across half the stage-1 central valley. This one had a haft that felt like polished stone, with a dully gleaming steel sword tip.

  “Naginata of the Trebuchet. Epic. Extremely durable, this naginata deals an additional 50% pure force damage. May imbue a single swing with Siege Strike.”

  “Siege Strike. Magnify your strike with the power of a siege weapon, adding 10 times the impact and penetration damage. Cooldown: 1 hour.”

  I whistled softly and shared the description with Tomas and Ruby.

  “How do you get an epic weapon from a platinum loot box?” Jane asked.

  I shrugged. “As if I’m going to complain.”

  A couple of my titles upgraded loot boxes. Trailblazer gave me a 30% chance to get a loot box upgrade. Maybe even though the grade of the loot box hadn’t upgraded, the loot inside had. Either way, it was a great weapon.

  I tossed it into my inventory. I definitely saw uses for that one. I welcomed any and all new weapons, although it wouldn’t be a main go-to. Naginatas weren’t my style.

  We gathered at the edge of the forest farthest from all the bunny and mandrill gore to rest. I shared some donuts, pastries, and buckets of fries. As everyone ate, I surveyed our group and smiled.

  “Well done, everyone. You all fought well and I think we’re jelling as a bigger team. I am confident you’re ready to tackle the dungeon.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Tomas said, saluting with a donut.

  “He is our default leader,” Jane said.

  “All hail our mighty chief,” Steve called around a huge mouthful of cake.

  I wanted to protest. I wasn’t trying to assume command over everyone. It’s just, I was stronger and had more experience than any of them so far. Did that make me a leader?

  Ruby nudged me with her shoulder. I’d been so stuck in my own thoughts, I hadn’t noticed her approach.

  “You are,” she said softly, as if reading my thoughts. “You’ve worked hard to help every one of us. You risk your life for ours and look out for us. Look at what you’re doing now. Leading us into a dungeon you found so that we can level with you. Those are the actions of a leader.”

  “No one voted for me,” I protested.

  She stepped closer, placing a hand on my arm, her smile soft and warm. “No one needed to. I’m glad you’re here to take on the role. We need you.”

  “Thanks.”

  She winked and added, “My fee for one custom pep talk is another chocolate-frosted.”

  “Deal.” I happily handed over the donut. She saluted, took a big bite, and walked off. Behind her, Steve gave me a big thumb’s up. How was he always right there at the perfect place and time to do that?

  Lana didn’t need much time to pick her class, and settled on High-Stakes Ventriloquist. It effectively combined and magnified her existing crossbow and self disguise abilities, magnifying them and opening up new options. She looked really excited about it.

  “Congratulations,” I told her. “Ready for the dungeon?”

  “Claro que si,” she grinned.

  Andy rubbed his hands eagerly. Ruby had patched him up in less than a minute. “One more level, and I get my class too.”

  I've gotten a couple of very low reviews recently. In and of itself, that's fine. I love all feedback. The problem is, with 2 low reviews as the most recent ones, I do see a noticeable decline in the rate of new readers picking up the story.

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