30 in total was already a lot, but unfortunately 6 of them were classified as leaders, two were rare and accordingly larger than the other Retskuls.

  Ben wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad that all of the lizardkin were warriors. They were stronger, but no ranged fighters or shamans were to be seen.

  They looked at the challenge ahead of them from the last vestiges of the forest in silence. A thin, translucent barrier of Energy separated them from the plain that held the fort. It was the dungeon’s signal that they were transitioning into the second level. They could pass without issue but exiting the dungeon was not an option.

  Anne raised an eyebrow. “Interesting how the levels flow into each other.”

  Looking at the fort Alison said, “this feels a bit like the reverse of what they did to us…”

  “Yes, just that instead of having twice as many fighters than the defenders, we have a sixth of them.” Ben felt his exhaustion flare up, but he suppressed it and tried to think constructively on how to overcome the next level. “The obvious option would be to just attack straight up. It would be a tough fight and we would take wounds, but I give us a better-than-even chance of winning.”

  “Better-than-even doesn’t sound reassuring…” Allison chuckled. “Is there maybe a way to use the river? Swim under water to the bridge and then launch a surprise attack?”

  Jamal looked skeptical, “not sure, boss mom. I don’t think we could get out of the water quickly or quietly enough to really surprise them. In the worst case we would have to fight while still in the water up the river bank.”

  Allison nodded, “true. What other options do we have?”

  Anne scratched her head, “they have not impressed us with their intelligence, yet. Can we maybe just bait them?”

  Ben thought about it, “well, they have no ranged fighters, so if we only get close enough for mom to attack them with roots, what options do they have but to come out and attack us?”

  “True, boss. My [Beast Taunt] has upgraded to [Provoking Roar], which allows me to target sapient beings, that could help, albeit they would already have to be relatively close.”

  “With my Staff of Nature,” Allison pointed to the item she had received in their one and only full clear of the Mine Dungeon, “I should be able to reach them within the fort, while staying about 15 meters away from the wall.”

  Ben nodded and scratched a rough map of their surroundings into the forest floor. “If mom attacks from this side and Jamal is positioned here,” he pointed a dozen meters to the side, “he can taunt them once they have left the fort while mom has sufficient time to retreat. Michael, you could position yourself there, so that you have a chance to maybe backstab one of the leaders. Anne and I will back up Jamal. How does that sound?”

  Michael shrugged, Jamal gave a thumbs up, and the women nodded. The rough plan was accepted.

  The moment that Allison left the cover of the forest, the Retskuls on their side of the river went on high alert and ran towards their makeshift wall. She did not hesitate and cast [Growth Caller] as soon as she was in range.

  Dark, thick roots shot out of the ground near the wall, grabbing three Retskuls and slowly crushing them to death. Ben had hoped for more enemies to be affected, but as they were spread out along the wall, that didn’t happen.

  One of the leaders of the Retskuls screeched and pointed at Allison, within moments they all jumped over their wall and raced towards her.

  That was Jamal’s signal. A roar, louder than ever before, burst from the large man’s lungs. It did affect the Retskuls, unfortunately not all of them. Ben felt a stab of fear as he saw four of them, including two leaders, kept running toward his mother. “Anne, support Jamal!” he shouted as he started sprinting to intercept the monsters trying to get to Allison.

  He briefly saw that the lizardkin on the other side of the river were making their way towards them and it would likely just take a minute or two until they faced them as well.

  His body did not disappoint. The speed with which he raced towards his enemies was faster than he could have ever imagined before Arrival Day. He chose to barrel right into the middle of the creatures, toppling one and swinging at one of the leaders. However, the leader was fast and agile and evaded his axe and countering with their battle hammer.

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  Ben was hit, but the Retskul had not managed to get enough force behind the attack to significantly hurt him. The warrior behind him, however, had time to aim and pierced him in the shoulder with its spear. He turned away from the attack and used the momentum to cut deep into the side of the lizardkin that had attacked him. He continued the turn, to keep the dying creature between him and the leader that was getting ready to smash him into the ground with their hammer.

  His mother’s [Sprout Companion] crow harassed the one remaining Retskul, while the one that Ben had toppled at the beginning was getting up again. He had landed a few meters away from Ben and had free range towards his mother.

  Ben felt [Frenzy] activate. His muscles bulged, his thought processes became slightly hazy.

  He stepped towards the leader that stood between him and his mother. Feinted right. Took a step back when the opponent swung at him. Feinted right again, then took two quick steps, entering his opponent’s range and cleaved from bottom left to top right, slicing deep into the leader’s chest, taking them out of the battle.

  The remaining Retskul had reached his mother; however, Ben wasn’t the only one who had trained as a Protector. Allison used her staff and well-rehearsed footwork to keep the creature at bay and distracted. Ben crept up on the lizardkin and finished them quickly.

  He turned around and saw that Michael stood over the body of the remaining leader from this side of the river, Anne and Jamal fighting with three remaining Retskuls.

  Before Ben could make it there to help, his three teammates managed to end the fight.

  That was when Allison cast [Growth Caller] again, to attack and slow down the Retskuls from the other side of the river. Unfortunately, with limited success. Only two of the creatures got caught in the spell and the others raced on.

  Ben felt compelled to close the distance.

  He attacked.

  With his first swing he managed to take out one of the lizardkin. He bulldozed his way into the middle of the group, directly facing the leaders.

  He felt more than saw the rest of his teammates close in and engage the enemies as well.

  The large brute on the right managed to stab him with their spear in the chest, right in the middle of the Protectorate emblem, but fortunately his armor stopped most damage.

  He closed in further and hacked at the leader in the middle. They managed to block the first strike. And the second. But not the third.

  Ben pivoted to the next target.

  Jamal roared a challenge that pulled none of the remaining two leaders, but it distracted them long enough for Ben to kick the leg away from one of them, using the opening to cut them down.

  Ben felt his vision narrowing, his heartbeat quickening, his breath growing shallow.

  The last leader used the opportunity to pierce him again, this time he hit his leg and drew blood.

  With what felt like his last strength, Ben threw himself at the enemy, toppled him, dropped his axe, and punched again and again until they stopped moving.

  The sound of fighting around him diminished and he fell on his back.

  “This isn’t like you,” Allison said.

  Ben did not respond, breathing quickly.

  “Come on, Ben. Deep breath. Like you know how to. We have done this many times together. Deep breath…”

  Ben closed his eyes and tried to leverage [Calm]. He forced himself to hold his breath for a moment. Then a deep inhale through the nose. Hold. He exhaled slowly through the mouth.

  “Yes. Much better. Once more.”

  His heart slowed down, the haze fell away.

  Congratulations, long-term practice has culminated in the following perk:

  [Breathing] — Accelerates recovery from physical and mental exertion. Common

  Ben shook his head, trying to clear his mind fully. “My [Cleave] perk transformed into [Frenzy] during the attack on the settlement. It strengthens my Body but reduces my Mind… To be honest, I feel like it is more a reflection of my mindset than the cause of it… The last few weeks have been a lot… For all of us, of course… but…”

  “Boss, none of us has the same level of responsibility than you. We understand. I wouldn’t want to switch with you, but we are all supporting you a hundred percent.”

  “Well said.” Anne agreed.

  Ben nodded and got up. “I just need a moment to recover. Then we can hopefully bring this to an end.”

  In the end, they rested for an hour before crossing the bridge and following a path through a plains landscape that had quite a few rivulets and rivers crossing.

  It didn’t take long before they closed in on another bridge protected by two fortifications.

  Given that there was no forest to hide, they slightly changed the approach with Allison staying closer to Jamal. This time, things went well and Ben managed to get through the fight without [Frenzy] triggering and getting wounded.

  They continued the path and soon after, the landscape changed again, accompanied by another transparent barrier that separated them from level 3.

  The new landscape was a hilly, rocky place, the sun that had been their companion so far was hidden behind dark clouds.

  As they crested a hill, they saw the next, hopefully last challenge of the dungeon emerge on the other side. A small keep, made from dark grey stone, built into a hillside a few hundred meters away.

  It had high walls and a large gate that stood open, there was nobody to see.

  The team looked at each other, nobody looked enthused about the prospect of entering the keep.

  In the end Ben shrugged, “it’s not like we have many options… but after this we fly to a beach resort and have cool drinks all day long, ok?”

  “I’m in, boss!”

  “So am I, let’s solve this little hurdle and then we are off into the sun!” Allison laughed.

  “Wait.”

  Everybody stopped, looking at Michael with surprise.

  “I’ll go. Give me an hour.” Michael said, jaw set, eyes—as always—roaming the countryside.

  Ben thought about it for a moment, “I think that is a great idea. But please don’t take any risks.”

  Michael just shrugged, nodded, and lightly jogged towards the keep.