Most of Sasha’s Babysitting Service waited to join the staging area once the timer finally ticked down, and Nicholas could teleport them. Bo had disappeared for a few minutes, saying he needed to grab something from town. The timer had reached the nine minutes left mark before he had returned, but he didn’t tell them what he’d done.

  Back together, they prepared to teleport. They knew the Celestial players would either be present or would show up before the timer reached zero, and Elijah was ready to teleport at a moment’s notice if any of them began acting hostile towards him.

  He still feared Arturus would attempt to kill him and extract his ‘Reality Warp’ skill. If he did nothing else, preventing that was his top priority.

  As the clock ticked down, he heard Nicholas take a deep breath, and then the world was suddenly different around them. They were atop a large plateau, one that hadn’t been there just a few hours before when Elijah had first come to this area. He could already sense the pressure of the leyline welling up beneath the surface, and a constant low hum filled the air. Whir was coming, and until it surfaced, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

  All around them, people appeared in flashes of white light. Nobody Elijah knew so far, but that was to be expected. He hadn’t exactly been the most social player in the game. Which is why it startled him when he heard a feminine voice call out from behind him. “Elijah!”

  The tuft of short, bright-red hair on her head stood in stark contrast to her white robes. He would have spotted her anywhere, even if it hadn’t been for the nametag floating above her head.

  [Player]

  Rose

  Class: Cleric | Level: 75

  “Rose!” he shouted back, throwing his hands up in the air and returning her excitement right back. She’d been the first player he’d ever spoken to in this game. It was thanks to her he had found the Mage Association and, by extension, Sasha’s Babysitting Service. She’d also helped to warn him that the Reapers had moved on Nethy.

  “Look at you, already on the cusp of Journeyman-tier. Seems like just yesterday you were stumbling out of the temple at level one with no idea what you were doing.” She leaned in and gave him a hug, and Elijah couldn’t help but hug her back.

  “And what about you? Last time I saw you, you were struggling to make it to Legendary-tier; now you’re already working through it at a blinding pace.”

  “Not quite,” she laughed. “I still have a long way to go before I even reach the halfway point at level ninety-two.”

  He tried to keep the painful reminder of just how far he was from Celestial from affecting him. She didn’t need to know how painful it was for him to be reminded of that. Luckily, her eyes had shifted from him to behind him where his party stood. “Are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

  He followed her gaze and saw that she was focused on Nicholas. The mountain of a man wore his wooden armor, freshly dried from his dunk in the bath, and the bark from his class formed a half helmet that only exposed his face. He cut a truly impressive figure even compared to the tall Elijah and Sasha.

  He introduced Rose to the entire party, but it was obvious she was more interested in Nicholas than anyone else. Elijah finally had to step in front of her and break her gaze. Nicholas was too much of a gentleman to be rude—or perhaps he was smitten.

  “What about your party, Rose? Did they come as well?” Elijah asked her.

  She shook her head. “No, after Nethy, most of them are afraid to go out adventuring. I can’t say that I blame them; that was a horrible experience.”

  Elijah could see the haunted look in her eyes. He could only imagine what it must have been like to be in the city the day Arturus wiped it from the map. She shook her head and smiled. “No, instead I joined a party with—”

  “Hello, Elijah,” another female voice said. His blood ran cold as soon as he heard it. He and his party turned to face the newcomer.

  “Oh? You two know each other?” Rose asked as Mara made her presence known.

  Nicholas moved immediately to stand between Mara and Elijah, his protective instincts uncaring in the face of a woman who could one-shot him with a swipe from her spear.

  She wore what Elijah assumed was her best gear. Every piece glowed with a faint red glow of Celestial-tier enchantments. Her spear, which rested casually against her shoulder, crackled with a blue energy.

  “Yeah, we know each other. Met a few times.” Elijah’s words were emotionless and hollow. He still didn’t trust the Bulwark, not after she had tried to turn him over to Arturus once and then left him completely defenseless during the trial by activating her ‘Dispel’ ability.

  He wouldn’t shame her actions in front of others though; that wasn’t who he was, so instead he changed the subject. “This world boss is going to be difficult for caster classes or anyone with access to mana.”

  He told Mara and Rose everything he knew about the leyline and the Mana Overload debuff. The shock on both of their faces was immediate. “This changes things. Thank you for the information, Elijah. I must discuss this with the other Celestials.” She gave him a stern look as if wondering if she should ask him how he knew this information, but in the end chose not to push the issue.

  “Well,” Rose chuckled as Mara walked away. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that you’ve met Mara. I figured you would get wrapped up in things way over your head the minute I met you.”

  Elijah rolled his eyes. “The minute you met me? You thought I was an alt running some kind of scam.” There was no anger in his voice, and he smiled to let her know there were no hard feelings.

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  She shrugged. “I’m still not sure about that, especially considering I know you’re wrapped up in all this somehow.”

  “I’ll see you around, Elijah.” She turned her back on him and walked away before turning her head towards him. “If that is even your real name.” With a wink, she walked into the crowd and disappeared.

  “She seems fun,” Sasha laughed, seeing Elijah’s annoyed expression. He was about to make a snarky response when a loud banging sound caught everyone’s attention. Elijah summoned his blade, turning to face the sound, but it was in the wrong direction from where Whir would appear, and there were still several minutes left on the clock before he would appear.

  He saw Kole, the Dragontooth Guardian, hovering in the air with large bat wings made of inky blackness sprouting from his back. He was banging his sword, which was very similar to Elijah’s own, against a large shield.

  “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.” His voice carried across the crowd, silencing any still ongoing conversations. “The World Boss will appear soon, and while we don’t know exactly what it will entail, we have it on good authority that there will be an environmental effect that will be dangerous to all mana users.”

  A murmur of concern echoed across the crowd as he relayed the effects of the leyline rupture. “Normally, for raid bosses and the like, we’d separate people out by their utility on the battlefield. We can’t do that this time.”

  He explained how they’d break up each of the teams, each group led by one of the Celestials, but Elijah heard little of it. A pair of hands gripped his sides, and a body pressed against him, distracting him.

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Annika’s soft voice whispered to him. Her voice was quieter than Kole’s amplified shouts, but somehow he could hear her more clearly than he could the Guardian.

  ”I thought you were supposed to be ‘hands-off’ with me,” he muttered back. “What do you want, Annika?”

  She pouted and took a step away from him, her fingers ghosting over his ribs. “Spoil-sport. You’re coming with me once the boss breaches the surface. We aren’t sure what it will be, but previous world bosses have had outlying objectives that have to be taken out. You and I are one of the teams assigned to deal with them.”

  Elijah shook his head. “I don’t understand. I’m only an Apprentice-tier adventurer, so why do you want me on your team?”

  Kole’s voice had faded in the background as he finished with his instructions, and Sasha’s Babysitting Service became suddenly aware of Elijah speaking to someone behind them. Nicholas was about to react, to place himself between the two of them, but Elijah held his hand out to stop the large man.

  “You’re more than just an Apprentice-tier adventurer, Elijah,” she answered, rolling her eyes at Nicholas’ reaction to her. “We both know there is a lot more going on with you. That’s why you and I will work together.”

  Sasha stepped beside Elijah and took his hand in hers; her reaction was almost possessive. “Not without us he isn’t.”

  Annika looked Sasha up and down before focusing on their intertwined hands. “How adorable, but no. This is a coordinated strike team; we only need one healer, and I’ve already got that position.”

  Her eyes shifted to Nicholas. “And as hunky as you are, big boy, you are much too large to take along if we need to be stealthy.”

  “And you,” her eyes dipped to Benjamin’s relatively meek form. “Well, I saw how excited you were when Kole mentioned the mages would back up the few mana mages that answered the call.”

  Benjamin drooped his shoulders and blushed; obviously he hadn’t been aware of how obvious his excitement had been.

  ”So no, it will be just Elijah and me on this team. You all have your own places here.”

  “Plus,” she continued, looking out over the crowd. “Several of Arturus’ pets are here. They have a rather big bone to pick with Elijah here, so it would be best for him not to be on the battlefield.”

  Nicholas’ face looked out over the staging area, and Elijah could see his grip tighten on his shield. “Why are the Reapers being allowed to take part? They’re criminals.”

  “My husband and I said the same,” she answered. “But the fact remains that Bob is the highest-level mana mage we have available, as well as the most experienced in group combat. They’re going to be our greatest asset if what Elijah said is true about the mana overload.”

  “Elijah isn’t going anywhere without me,” Bo’s voice came from behind her as he faded into existence. There hadn’t even been any shadows behind her, but he’d somehow vanished entirely.

  She fell forward into Elijah, who instinctively let go of Sasha’s hand to steady the woman. “I told you,” she snarled at the rogue. “We need mobility. You might sneak around, but rogues don’t have a dedicated teleport power.”

  ”Don’t care. Elijah and I have teleported large distances together using his spells in the past. You’re taking me with you or he doesn’t go.” Bo looked up to confirm that he wasn’t overstepping and Elijah nodded. He wasn’t sure what game the Mage of Fate was playing with him, but he knew he wanted Bo with him in case things went south.

  “Elijah has proven himself to be capable of dealing with high-level threats—like Tom—I’m not babysitting you if we get into trouble.” She took a step away from Elijah and stared directly into Bo’s eyes. The giggling, pouting young woman was gone from her demeanor now, replaced by the serious professionalism that Elijah expected from the most famous Celestial in the game.

  ”Bo goes, or I don’t go,” Elijah confirmed from behind her.

  She turned quickly back towards him and pouted while stomping her foot. “Fine, but it isn’t my fault if he gets ground up into tiny rogue chunks.”

  With the timer almost finished with its countdown now, the sound of the drilling became louder by the second. One minute and thirty seconds remained on the clock, the entire plateau seemed to hold its collective breath.

  The ground shook like an earthquake, and six glowing lines of blue mana blasted out of the ground and into the sky. Where they had appeared, rivers of blue began flowing along the ground. The sky darkened as black clouds began to form and swirl around the pillars of light. As the clouds blotted out the sun, the pillars were the only light source, and the entire area was cast in hues of blue.

  Kole’s voice echoed above the sound of the World Miner, ordering all players to get to their designated groups centered on Celestial—or near-celestial—players.

  Elijah’s friends gave him another affirming look, making sure he was okay before they went off to find their groups. He gave them a smile that he didn’t feel; he was just glad that Bo would be coming with him.

  The final minute ticked down, and the ground in front of the plateau began to crumble. Six red-hot drill heads broke free of the ground, one beneath each of the pillars of mana, throwing dust and gravel into the air. The drills continued upwards until they were taller than the largest of towers that Elijah had ever seen. The visible portion of them had to be several hundred meters tall, not including whatever was still buried underground.

  At the center of it all, the top of Whir’s mechanical head pushed free. He’d grown massive since the last time Elijah had seen him. Before he was about the size of a large house, now he was a living city. His crown-shaped head reached into the clouds; domes the size of city blocks covered his chest and glowed with the dazzling blue of mana. Each arm ended with a drill the size of a skyscraper, and the tracks of his ‘feet’ were taller than any building Elijah had seen since joining the game.

  [World Boss]

  Whir the World Miner

  Threat Level: Celestial | Level: 1000

  HP: 250,000 / 250,000

  “Those are going to be our target,” Annika told Elijah and Bo, pointing up at the towers.