Derek's group had shown up.

Frederica clenched her sword and took a step towards the other group, only to have Oakley grab her shoulder.

"Ignore Dawson." Derek smiled as he spread his hands in front of him. He had to yell for them to hear him on the other end of the square. "Apologies, there was a slight delay in our tracking system." He turned his gaze to Penelope. "I'm sure Red has told you about the limitations to her spell?"

"We don't have time to argue about this!" Patrick glared at the other group. "You better do your part!" He hefted his shield and pointed his sword at the Deathfly. "The Healer dies first!"

Penelope ran behind the pair of Tanks as the numbers reached the single digits. They'd stayed over six hundred feet away from the barrier, and the Demons were all behind that. There was no way that they were going to get in range in the few remaining seconds before the barrier came down.

"We go all out!" Frederica stayed near the front with Circe and Penelope, while the others lagged behind. "And stay on our side; we don't want any friendly fire!" The leader vanished into the shadows.

The Lesser Demons clawed at the barrier, then spilled forward as soon as it came down. The six main Demons moved slower, watching the battle with their minions unfold against the humans. The ranged attackers on either side slowed down as they got close enough to throw spells and arrows at the other side.

Penelope <Blinked> to her left, then cast <Light Torrent> three times in rapid succession. The spined Chillon sped towards her, then wiped out as her spell ripped into it.

Ding!

Experience +1.25

We're getting experience again. Penelope <Blinked> again, moving away from the range to the Breeze Ant spitting <Air Blasts> in her direction.

The melee units made it to the Tanks, both of which had raised <Earthen Walls> to slow the charge and provide cover for Circe.

Ding!

Experience +1.25

Experience +1.25

Experience +1.25

The others culled monsters from the group. Nina and Fae-Anna stayed back to protect the others and Frederica was still in stealth as she waited for the bosses to enter the fight.

A scream pulled at her ears, forcing Penelope to look at the other group. The <Toxic Cloud> in between Dawson's group slowed the monster charge, allowing them to whittle down the wave of monsters, but the Tank in front of Dawson wasn't ready for the dogpile that hit him. The armored man folded as the Spaeria slammed into his shield. The spotted feline bowled him over, allowing the monsters behind it to run by.

A woman screamed as Dawson pushed the Archer next to him into the Last Breath coming for him. The living armor snapped shut around her, pulling her down to her knees as her bow fell to the ground. The woman in their group with a great axe took her head off with a single swing.

Ding!

Experience +1.3

Time slowed as the brutality of how they'd handled the Last Breath hit Penelope.

"WHISPER ON YOUR LEFT!"

Penelope snapped her wand at the monster jumping over the four-foot-tall wall and blew it apart before it could get any closer. She ignored the experience notification, pushing the distraction away as she focused on the fight.

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Patrick and Oakley had created a "kill zone" in between themselves, with a wall in between the two Tanks, then a wall angled diagonally towards the monsters on each of the outer sides. With their area taunts, this forced the monsters to gather in a bottleneck, which gave Circe plenty of targets for her arrows.

Eldri had a barrier up on their right, creating an extra divider between their group and Derek's. Oakley was on the arm of their barricade closest to the other group, with most of the rest of their group as close to the 20D side of the barrier as they could stay.

The next round of spells went at the stubby-legged Dascher, which dropped under the barrage. Between Eldri's buffs and the Healers, both Tanks were standing strong.

The other group wasn't doing as well. The Spaeria was dead, but so were two more of Derek's team. Brielle May, the woman with the great axe, was moving forward on her own, cutting into the stream of monsters while letting the rest of her group fight the chaos behind her. The number beside her name caught Penelope's eye.

Level 29

How did she… Penelope's thoughts drifted off as she realized what had happened. Is that why she killed her own teammate to take care of the Last Breath?

"PvP gets a lot more prominent once people realize how easy it is to level up, especially after level 40 where you'll jump straight to the end if you take out a dying ally during the final boss fight."

Penelope watched as Brielle stumbled. Without a shield, she was exposed to the barrage of magic attacks and it only took a few seconds before her nameplate grayed out.

"The system is also fairly linear, so large jumps in level don't mean much." Jeru sighed. "And without extra gear, you're not gaining that much, maybe a 20% bump right now overall, which isn't going to compensate for their numbers."

"HELP!" Rockwell tripped on her left. The younger man had moved to the end of the wall and was using <Vine Snare> to lock down the remaining melee enemies. The Aelf had broken free and ignored the taunts of the Tanks, heading for the last enemy that had hurt it.

The large canine <Dashed>, ignoring the vines' attempts to slow it as it <Pounced> on the prone man who was crawling away on all fours.

<Light Torrent> blasted the rideable monster away from her ally. The monster snarled as its claws scratched the stone floor as it lowered itself and prepared to <Pounce> again.

"Get out of the way!" Penelope launched another barrage at the snarling monster. She had to arc the projectiles when Rockwell stood up and ran towards her, putting himself in between Penelope and the monster she was aiming at. Her <Light Balls> still landed, plucking the airborne Aelf out of the air, but not stopping the forward momentum of the monster. The corpse hit the fleeing man in the back, sending him into Penelope.

Penelope rolled the shaking man off of her, cupping the back of his neck to pull his head down as she kept him under the four-foot wall between them and the approaching ranged monsters. Clumps of gravel rained down on them as the monsters unleashed their barrage.

"If you're done cuddling, we need some help out here!" Patrick growled as his shield became the focus of the attack.

Penelope peeked over the top of the wall and hit the Breeze Ant with <Counterspell>. Now that the melee monsters were all dead, the ranged ones weren't being picky about how they unleashed their spells.

What remained of Derek's teams gathered behind Isaiah Ainsworth. The light-affinity Tank was using <Barrier> to shield his allies, though out of the initial twelve, only eight were still standing. The monsters were shifting their focus to the smaller group, their projectiles cracking the barrier like glass.

"If we're lucky, the monsters will take care of them." Riva muttered as she crouched behind the wall next to Penelope.

"They're still people." Penelope insisted. "We can't just abandon them."

"They'd abandon us." Riva shrugged and patted Penelope's shoulder. "You've got a lot to learn, girl."

The Debuffer cast her <Fear> on the few ranged monsters that were still in front of them, stopping the attacks. Penelope, Circe, and Fae-Anna stood up, unleashing their spells at the exposed monsters, clearing their side.

"We need to help them!" Penelope pointed at the other side.

"They're fine!" Patrick moved out of his slot and stomped forward. "If they can't clean up before we beat the bosses…" He raised his voice. "THEY AIN'T GETTING ANY LOOT!"

The threat rallied the other group to work harder as they pushed forward in a tight cluster. Derek and Dawson were the only two ranged attackers left in the group, so all of the responsibility of trading spells fell on them.

"Don't look at them." Circe huffed beside Penelope with her hands on her knees. "Focus on what we came here to do."

"Okay." Penelope kept as much distaste as she could out of her voice. I can't just be callous like that when other people are dying.

"You're not even saving this run." Jeru reminded her. "Clear the bosses, get a better save point, and then we can work on reaching the fourth floor and getting you into town."

Fine. Penelope turned her focus to the bosses. It was time to get to the next floor.

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