The next two weeks flew by.

  Penelope spent the first few days creating caltrops. Spirits were high in the beginning, with many people eager to pitch in to help with the fortifications. As time went on, fewer and fewer people showed up in the morning for work. Tensions ran high as nerves ate away at everyone the closer they got to the deadline.

  After a week, most people had decided the fortifications were good enough, leaving Patrick, Penelope, and Kingsley to manage what they could. Patrick never stopped thinking about new ways that he could trap the battlefield, intent on defeating as many of the Demons as he could before they had to fight.

  Which meant wrapping the black barrier with vines, creating a buffer of dried vegetation between the first ditch and the barrier, and even setting up some logs to let loose on the monsters once they got around that.

  The others thought it was overkill, but Patrick never stopped adding things to the battlefield.

  Penelope’s nerves buzzed as she watched the clock count down. The two teams of Casters were on the closest towers to the barrier and her array was deployed and ready to unleash all the spells she could dump in a short period.

  Stephen looked over at her. “You nervous?”

  “Yes.” She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. I wish I felt more in control right now.

  “If it helps you feel any better, everyone but King is old enough to be your parent and they’re all scared.” Jeru gave her a big smile, which didn’t help her feel any better.

  Penelope looked at her team. Kingsley was nineteen, by far one of the youngest people out there. Stephen was in his mid-fifties, while the other three were all in their mid-to-late forties. This was the team of Casters that worked to clear their side of the Dungeon, while the ones who worked with Raelyn were stationed on the other corner of the square under Allis.

  “It’s going to be okay.” Kingsley gave her a big smile. “Mister Pat’s traps are going to do all the work for us.”

  “I hope so.” Penelope swallowed as she looked at the timer on her menu.

  5

  4

  3

  2

  1

  The black barrier dropped, revealing the monsters on the other side. Penelope’s heart sank as she took in the monsters.

  “We’ve got twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five…” Kingsley’s voice hitched.

  “Go tell Patrick that twenty-six and twenty-eight are here.” She clenched her jaw as two groups of the little monsters from those columns charged across the boss square towards them.

  “But—” Kingsley protested.

  “BUT NOTHING!” Penelope jabbed her hand towards the main tower. “Patrick needs to know what we’re up against and we need to thin them out as much as we can, so GO!”

  The young man nodded, then vanished as he away.

  “You heard her!” Stephen pointed his staff at the charging monsters.

  “Lois, I need you to put those near the mulch. We need to bog down as many of these things as we can. Tristan, if you can hit the Cornmen or Pine Soldiers with a , do it. Otherwise, pick off whatever you can. Macy…” Penelope looked at the 47-year-old black-haired woman. “Watch our backs.”

  All of Macy’s spells were melee range, so even though ice was very effective against the nature-based monsters, it required her to fight up close, which wasn’t ideal for a Caster.

  “Do you see that!” Stephen pointed at the chimera from the twenty-second column.

  The monster ran on four legs but also had a torso like a Centaur. Three heads sat on top of the upper body with another two heads that came off the rear like tails. The three upper heads looked like a bear on the left, a reptile in the center, and a bull on the right. The tails looked like a slug and a snake, with the entire body covered in bark-like skin. The monster stood twenty feet tall and each one of the heads roared as it galloped towards them.

  “We’re going to die.” Tristan managed to chatter, then he was gone, away.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  “We hold our ground!” Penelope took a deep breath, but it was hard not to be intimidated by the monsters. The Chimera was the largest monster, which helped everything else not feel quite as intimidating, but only just a little.

  Four of the boss monsters could fly and they each took to the sky, which left only the boss from the twenty-sixth column on the ground with the other boss.

  The Ballisto walked on eight legs; four were spider legs, while the other four were bird legs. It was ten feet tall at the shoulder and its head was like a four-eyed hippo but with razor-sharp teeth. All along its back were ears of corn, which stood on end as it lumbered closer to them.

  The remaining boss monsters were all eight feet tall and stood on two feet and had a tail. The boss from twenty-one looked like some form of a demon monkey covered in moss. The horns coming out of the top of its head resembled rose vines and curled around its large, pointed ears. Insect wings buzzed on its back, carrying it towards them.

  The boss from twenty-four had a reptilian body. A dorsal fin was situated between the pair of bird wings on its back. Its feet ended in hooves, while its scaly arms sported long, sharp claws on the tip of each finger. The reptilian head reminded her of a dragon more than a lizard.

  The last two were insectoid in appearance. The boss from twenty-five had a fluffy tail like a dog, but its head, body, and arms were all insect in appearance. Its wings were feathered like a bird, but the green exoskeleton encasing most of it gave it the most bug-like appearance of them all.

  The last one had butterfly wings coming out of its back. Between the wings, pine cones sprouted out of the scales and then sloughed off. They exploded when they hit the ground, leaving foot-deep craters in the dirt. Its underbelly was covered in red scales, while its back and tail were covered in green ones. A set of curved horns sprouted out of the top of the Bombfly’s head.

  “This is bad.” Stephen looked down at the mulch. All of their traps had assumed the bosses would mostly be on the ground. They hadn’t made many at all that could deal with aerial ones.

  “Burn the tinder when they get close…” Penelope clenched her jaw. “I’ll nuke the Bombfly.”

  “What are you—”

  The rest of his question fell on empty space as Penelope away.

  “This isn’t a good idea.” Jeru floated in front of her. “You can’t—”

  You know I can. Penelope waved him out of her way as she into the boss square.

  “Okay, I know that you’re willing to die trying.” He pointed at the vines behind them. “You should wait for the little ones to get caught—”

  His comment was drowned in the explosion that erupted off the Ballisto’s back. The ears of corn fired like missiles, ripping apart the vine traps and clearing the way for the monsters to enter the battlefield.

  I can’t let that thing get in range of the towers. Penelope again, taking her within range of the huge monster.

  Two reptilian Aspitiles charged at her, but they fell to her burst. A yellow Rapten leapt at her, only to get knocked away by a stream of fire.

  Ding!

  Experience +1

  Experience +1

  Experience +1

  “What are you doing?” Penelope whirled around to face Stephen and Macy.

  “Someone has to take out those bombers and the little ones aren’t crossing the line.” Stephen launched another stream of fire at Oakorn that was in range. The elemental deer went up in flames.

  Ding!

  Experience +1

  Macy over to the gigantic monster as the ears of corn rapidly grew back. She touched the Ballisto’s back right leg, coating the ankle with ice, then away.

  ROAR!

  The towering monster reared up on its back legs, cracking the ice as it flexed the appendage.

  Penelope drained all of her mana, sending as many as she could at the large monster.

  The monster slammed its front legs back on the ground, sending a shockwave in their direction. A second barrage of corn missiles fired from the monster’s back, striking the mulched area and destroying the tower where they’d started.

  Stephen blasted another little monster, earning them another notification. “We can’t stay out here too much longer!”

  “Then GO!” Penelope dug a mana potion out of her pocket. She hesitated as she pulled off the lid, but the shaking ground ended her conflict. She downed the whole thing, then charged up her a second time.

  “I’m not leaving you!” Stephen moved back to back.

  A scream to her right grabbed her attention. Macy had been around, trying to harass the Chimera a few hundred feet away by freezing its feet. The snake tail-head manage to bite her before she could away. The stunned woman was flung into the air, then she vanished into the center head’s mouth.

  “NO!” Penelope fought the urge to charge the monster. She knew the other woman was dead and deviating from her current target was only going to get more people killed. She narrowed her glare at the monster before turning back to the Ballisto.

  “It’s about to shoot again!” Stephen tagged her shoulder. “I’m going to try something.”

  The older man above the monster and released a stream of fire directly down on the monster’s back. The fire had been too far away and too spread out when Stephen had been attacking it from the ground. Directly on top of it caused the ears to detonate while they were still attached to the Ballisto, which triggered a chain reaction.

  Penelope was thrown back as the entire boss exploded.

  She managed to , but that only served to lessen the blow. Her whole body hurt as she fished a healing potion out of her pocket and downed the spicy liquid. A tear filled her eye as she looked at the crater where the large monster had stood. There was nothing there anymore. She didn’t have to ask Jeru to know that there was no way that Stephen had survived that.

  Emotions bombarded her, but to accept those in that moment would mean starting the floor over form the beginning. Penelope pushed everything she was feeling towards the red door in her mind. She would deal with the pain and loss later. Right now she had more monsters to kill.

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild