Chapter 32: Raid Prep

  A large hole in the ground at the base of a tree. That was all it was.

  Alex was expecting something rather grand. A cave tucked into a hillside that cast an ominous shadow over the entry and signaling doom and despair. Something of that sort. But no, it was rather ordinary.

  Well, no it wasn't ordinary. The hole was actually rather giant. Five feet across by Alex's summation. Dug straight into the roots of a tree and going down into an inky darkness. Besides the size though, it was a badger hole, and nothing more.

  “Pretty damn plain looking, isn’t it?” Alex muttered as the team all looked on at the black spot in the forest floor.

  The system looked to disagree as a message popped into Alex's vision.

  Yeah, still an asshole. Alex thought.

  He swiped away the system message and signaled the team to fall back. Having everyone move a few hundred feet back into the forest so they could decide on a plan was the safest option.

  "Lure out the Den Mother and dwindle down her health with a combined offense?" Holly chimed in first during the brainstorm.

  "Unlikely," Eric said. "If they are waiting for our attack, as the quest update implies, this Den Mother will have her warriors and possibly all the other, smaller offspring to provide her back up. We won't be able to focus on the boss and leave the warriors unattented. We would be taken out one by one, in short order."

  "Well, someone will have to hold off or distract the boss, while the rest of the team kills the adds," Devon said. He looked at Garret and Henry. "Either of you think you can manage it?"

  Garret and Henry shared a look between themselves.

  "Not likely," Henry said.

  "We don't even know how big or powerful this den mother is. If she's actually stronger than the warriors, I really doubt it." Garret shook his head.

  "Okay, what if you both tank her at the same time?" Lance asked.

  "How? Like we megazord it? I can carry Henry on my shoulders." Garret flexed to emphasize his statement.

  "He means the two of you split its attention and attacks to buy the team time to kill the warriors," Alex said.

  "Oh yeah, we can maybe do that," Garret shrugged. "As long as the thing doesn’t just kill us in one hit outright, that is. That's where we aren't confident." Henry nodded at this. They didn't know if anyone could take a hit from the Den Mother, they hadn't even seen her yet.

  Attacking to get information worked in video games back home, because if you died you could just respawn. That wasn't the case here. They didn't have respawns. If this fight killed them, then that meant they were dead, permanently.

  "This is even assuming it will have warriors for backup. We don't know it will," Eric clasped Garret's shoulder. "With Allie's spell being as good as Alex says it is, we can clean up any that do appear and get to taking down the boss in no time."

  "If there are no other badgers then good. Then we stick to striking in the blind spots. Get in, get out, don't get greedy." Alex said.

  He began to draw in a cleared patch of ground with his spear. He made a rough diagram of the area around the den and marked various spots.

  "We will set up like this, in a circle around the den opening before luring it out. Garret and Henry, tank the den mother. Allie, we will use your spell to quickly start taking out any warriors that show up. If there are more than two, you'll run out of energy. If that happens, we split into threes. Holly, Lance, and myself; Allie, Devon, and the captain. Take out each warrior until they are all gone."

  "Sounds like a plan," Allie said. "Anyone who gets injured, fall back with me and I will try to patch you up."

  "If we start having too many injuries, we need to have an escape plan," Devon added.

  "We will have to leave Cole and Peter back here, sorry guys," Alex said. He gave each of the two men an apologetic look. They seemed okay with it; they just gave shrugs in reply. "If we need to retreat, we come back through here to grab Peter and Cole, and then high tail it back to camp."

  "Best we can do for now. I'd say we make some traps or something just in case, but we really don't have the tools or supplies for that." Devon said.

  "We also don't have the time," Lance pointed up towards the canopy. The light was still filtering through but it was at an angle which signaled that night would be approaching soon. "Setting up traps would mean either attacking at night or waiting another day with Kate and Zach at camp alone."

  "Neither of those options is one we want to take," Eric said. "So let's make sure we are all ready and attack in... five minutes?"

  Everyone voiced their agreement and got to their personal preparations. Alex walked over to the captain who had started to check on his spear and armor. Alex was certain the guy had already double and triple checked those things as they talked, just as Alex had. It was probably a nervous action.

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  "What do you think our chances are?" Alex kept his voice low so he wouldn't be overheard. Eric looked up at him, glanced around quickly and sighed.

  "If we all had spells like H- like Allie," he corrected himself. He was still having trouble breaking the habit of calling everyone by their last names. "Then I would say our chances are good. Realistically, I don't know. You have a better idea of how these video games go, what do you think?"

  "Maybe a fifty-fifty toss up on winning or having to retreat," Alex frowned. "Without someone getting hurt? I don't think that outcome is even possible."

  He gestured to his own arm, which still sat in a sling. Alex could move it if he really needed to, but it wouldn't have his full strength, and it would lengthen his recovery time even further.

  "Yeah," Eric leaned his spear against his shoulder and looked over at Garret and Henry who were talking by themselves. Well Garret was talking, Henry was mostly nodding or shaking his head.

  These were the two on the team that were probably in the most danger during the upcoming fight. As the distractions, or the tanks as they called themselves now, Garret and Henry were going to be taking the brunt of the boss’ attention, and its attacks. Alex hated the idea that this might be the last time he sees one of them alive. But it was possibility he had to face.

  “What if we just… wait?” Eric asked. “We can just kill more of the little ones over the next few days first. Gather more experience points and get stronger before we try this thing?”

  It was a reasonable question and a sensible idea. In a normal situation anyway. That’s not where Alex and everyone found themselves. They weren’t in a normal situation. No, they had the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads in the form of the ‘Heavenly System’ and its insane ass trial quests.

  “That would immediately show the System we are failing its trial.” Alex shook his head. “The quest says to prove ourselves with extraordinary deeds. Grinding on low-threat mobs for days is the safe route, not the extraordinary route. We can’t even really wait, at least I don’t think so. The faster we do this quest, the better it’ll look regarding this system trial. Like getting a better score on a video game back home for conmpleting something in a faster time.”

  “And if we just ignore that system trial thing and focus on another way out?” Eric still pressed the issue.

  “I honestly don’t know. But I’d hazard a wild guess. It’ll probably make life even worse for us. Entice monsters or others to fight us in subtle ways. It already is manipulating our emotions and trying to sway us with the system messages and the elemental attunements.” Alex bit his lip as he thought. Unsure how to word the next part.

  “Following the goal of the trial might actually even help us in circumventing it, at least in the long run. The more we push ourselves, the faster we progress, and the faster we get to finding a way out of here. It’s a win-win for us. But its risky… though again, going the safe route is also a risk.”

  “You say win-win but-”

  “It’s both,” Alex cut him off sharply. “Going slow has risks and advantages, and so does pushing forward. I hate the idea of putting anyone else at risk, but the weakest member in the mission…”

  “I get it,” Eric nodded and squeezed Alex’s shoulder.

  Alex could only nod and release a shuttering breath. He hated this feeling. The feeling of making choices about other people’s lives. Sure, everyone is choosing to fight with Alex, but he was also choosing not to voice the lingering quiet part out loud.

  That I might be pushing everyone right to the deaths.

  "How is everyone doing? You seem to have a finger on the pulse of everyone's moods." Eric’s voice pulled Alex back to reality.

  Alex thought back to his talk with Garret last night and his increased attempts at making everyone laugh. He thought of how Devon seemed to be sleeping more than usual. Allie's heightened stubbornness in making sure she did everything for the team that she could. Henry seemingly talking more, connecting more with everyone.

  All understandable. All covering up their real feelings with distractions. He didn't know Lance or Holly well enough, but he was sure they would have their own ways of coping too.

  "They're scared," Alex said. "We all are."

  "Yeah," Eric nodded and avoided looking Alex in the eye. Alex knew the captain was scared too, he just didn't allow himself to show it.

  "They're scared," Alex continued, "but they are ready. I'm not worried about them not being able to fight. I'm worried about them being able to handle what happens afterward, especially if we lose someone." Again, Alex didn't voice the last part he was thinking, the part about him being worried if he could handle it either.

  "Me too." Eric said.

  It was a surprise for Alex to hear the captain say it. The guy never admitted to being worried or stressed when they were back in their own world. Even when doing missions, he held a stoic facade.

  "Good," Alex said, "that means you haven't checked out yet."

  "Let's do this!" Garret said, his words breaking Alex and the captain's conversation. "Leeero-"

  "No," Allie cut him off sharply. "You will not Jenkins this up. Devon already almost did that."

  "Hey!" Devon protested, then looked down in shame.

  "Buzzkill," Garret muttered.

  "I'll remember that when you're injured later due to stupidity." Allie flipped hair over her shoulder and began to walk away. Garret chased after her.

  "Wait, I'm sorry okay? Don't let me bleed out from a rodent fight. That's some New Jersey type stuff and I couldn't rest in the afterlife if I died like a New Jerseyan"

  Allie kept walking.

  ***

  The eight of them got into their positions around the badger den without having to talk. They all tried to remain stealthy despite the system quest update message's implication it was a useless endeavor. Once they were all in place, Henry stepped forward with the lit torch -crafted from a tree branch, torn clothing and left over cigarette lighter fluid- held in his hand. He tossed it down directly into the hole of the den and ran back as quickly as he could

  Nothing happened, for a long tense minute.

  Alex began to think the torch had just gone out. Eventually, he saw the curls of smoke start to rise from the den opening. The plan was to smoke out the den mother rather than try venturing down into the den.

  He was sure they could have gone down there, it probably widened out and let them walk normally. There was probably even a large room at the end with the den mother.

  They had all decided on this instead. If they had to retreat, tunnels were not going to be in their favor. The thick trees outside the den might slow down any of them trying to run away, but it would slow down a potentially giant badger boss even more.

  Alex heard it before he saw it. A loud rumbling growl emanated from the darkness of the opening. It was like a chainsaw that was missing a few links and thus was off rhythm.

  Here we go. Alex tightened his grip on the shaft of his spear and settled into a ready stance. He saw everyone else do the same.

  Then the den exploded in dirt and tree root fragments.

  For a boss, the den mother was not as large as Alex had thought she would be. She wasn't any taller than the badger warriors, she was just wider. Not with muscle either, just fleshier and wider. She was definitely already pregnant. Or, still pregnant. Whichever one, Alex wasn't sure. Hive systems and animals were weird, what would he know.

  Garret and Henry began to take small hesitant steps toward the beast. Just because it looked weaker, didn't mean that was true. They played it carefully as they had planned. No other warriors appeared with the den mother. Despite widening out the entry to the den to twice its previously -already giant- size from her explosive arrival the creature looked to have come alone. Maybe it wants to protect its young? Alex thought.

  "See guys," Devon said, "I didn't jinx it by talking about royal bodyguards."

  And that, precisely, was when the bodyguards arrived.

  ?