The world froze and disappeared, replaced by the scene of a grand old tall sailing ship sliding out of a bank of fog, heading right for us. The 6 of us appeared in the air in front of the ship, hovering over the ocean high enough to see down onto the prow.

"Where are we?" Burns shouted, spear held at the ready.

"Relax. I pulled us into a movie."

At the railing, young Elizabeth Swan started softly singing "A pirates life for me."

"Are you insane?" Sally shouted. "We don't have time to watch a movie."

Tomas laughed. "Actually, we do. Brilliant idea, Lucas!"

"Explain," Burns growled.

"Sorry for the lack of warning. Like you said, we don't have much time. I got special loot that allows me to bring up to 6 people into a movie."

Steve interjected, "It's super cool! Kind of a virtual reality experience. We can see the movie from every angle."

"More importantly, we get 3 hours in here while only 1 second passes back in the real world."

Sally whistled. "I've never heard of anything like this."

Burns also relaxed. "Great thinking. With 3 hours to plan how to proceed, this could give us a life-saving advantage."

"Exactly. Noctarus has played us way better than I ever imagined he could. Lake Town is exposed with few defenders and a horde swarming over dry ground. Tony and his team might be able to help, if they can get there fast enough and deal with the sleep spell."

"We're in the tightest spot," Tomas grimaced. "We're stuck in front of the lake with an army of zombies closing in and that giant monster to deal with."

"That's Noctarus," I clarified. Not surprising that not everyone had Identified him yet. "When I killed his body in the basement, he transferred to that evolved form. It'll be insanely tough, but limited in spells. Unfortunately, it'll no doubt be protected by his best runes ever."

I summarized my experience fighting Alpha, the incredible rune barrier he enjoyed, and how hard it was to finally break.

When I finished, Burns growled, "We don't have hundreds of other monsters to take the brunt of the damage weakening his rune defenses, but we can't kill ourselves hitting him and still deal with the zombie army about to overrun us."

"Can't we just run, regroup with Tony's team, maybe even retreat to Midmount Vale?" Sally asked.

"Maybe, but that would mean leaving everyone in Lake Town to die," Steve protested.

Sally sighed. "Right."

"No, we need a plan to take the fight to them," Burns said. "If we can push them back, we might be able to break through to join Tony, but we still need to protect Lake Town until we figure out how to turn off the sleep spell, or it runs out."

As the opening scenes of Pirates played out behind us, we soared higher and settled into the crow's nest up at the top of the central mast. The sight of the majestic old sailing ship beneath us would have been awesome if we weren't trying to figure out a plan to survive the desperate fight.

We weren't helpless, though. Not even against a horde of zombies. Honestly, if all we had to deal with was zombies, I felt pretty confident we'd win. Noctarus's presence in that giant monstrosity form changed everything, though.

Burns and his team were elite fighters, and they even had some zombie-specific items to help in the fight, including more of those white flash grenades.

"Divine grenades," Burns explained when I asked about them.

"Divine?" Steve asked. "As in, from some multiverse god?"

Burns shook his head. "No. Description says it unleashes some kind of life force shrapnel. Harmless to any living thing, but devastating to undead."

"Sounds perfect. How many have you got?" Ruby asked.

"A couple dozen."

Not nearly enough. They did have some other purifying enchantments they could apply to their weapons. Zombies apparently suffered 300% more damage from those weapons. Burns's focus on preparing for the eventual double-cross from the zombies was paying off. Unfortunately, most of their gear was in Lake Town where most of the defenders were sleeping.

I reviewed my long list of equipment, spells, and weapons, and ideas swarmed through my mind. I tapped deeply into my enhanced Intelligence and started putting pieces of a plan together.

"Do you have anything to help fashion a defensive barrier?" Burns asked after a few minutes. "Right now, all our plans fall apart because we'll get separated and lack a fall-back point."

Sally said, "We do have the array that'll repel zombies and even necromantic powers over a 20 foot area."

"Except they'll just stop outside of it and blast us to pieces with their guns," Burns responded.

"Actually, I can help with that," I said as some of my ideas gelled into the beginnings of a plan. I outlined it in broad strokes.

I would give a couple of them the remaining 11 energy shields I'd bought to trap the pack in the ravine while I lured Alpha into the Grindstone dungeon. We could use those to deploy in a semi-circle near the lake shore to provide a defensive barrier. Zombie laser weapons were exactly the wrong weapons to punch through those shields. Energy blasts would just get deflected.

If Burns set up his defensive array behind the shields, they'd keep the zombies from smashing through my shields. They could still go around and shoot us from the sides, but at least we'd have a secure base to launch our counter-attack from.

Ruby could station herself inside the protective barrier, firing out grenades and potions with her launchers, while using her chains to drag any of our wounded out of the fray for healing. Sally and Hector could take one flank to keep the zombies from surrounding us, while Nigel could help on the other, supported by Steve with his elemental arrows. Robin could assist both flanks with her air fire power.

That would give us a pretty solid base the rest of us could sally forth out of to take the fight to the zombies. Tomas and Jerry, with their teleport abilities, could wreak unrestrained havoc all through the enemy ranks. I gave Tomas my 10 Ages Past potions to split with Jerry.

"Ages Past. Rare. Will melt all undead flesh, returning it to the grave where it belongs."

"These might work as well as those Divine grenades," Tomas said.

"I hope so. I plan to give Jane Switchblade for the fight."

Tomas grinned. "She'll be a terror on that bike."

"Good. We'll need it, and she can provide quick backup if anyone gets into trouble."

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"I'll use the time we have in here to build some constructs to help too," Tomas said.

"What about me?" Burns asked. He had listened quietly while I outlined the broad strokes of my plan. I wasn't sure what he thought of it, but he hadn't shot it down yet.

"I'd like you in the defensive barrier with Ruby and Steve."

He started to protest, but I continued over him. "Your lightning gives you a long reach. You don't have to rush into melee range, at least not at first. No plan goes perfectly, and we'll be facing long odds. You'll be the reinforcements to help push the zombies back when one flank or the other gets into trouble."

While he thought about that, Ruby said, "You haven't said what you're going to do, or how we're going to deal with Noctarus."

She guessed it. I held her gaze. "I've got Noctarus."

"That's insane, Lucas," Tomas objected.

"No, it's the only possible way. Look, even with all of you focused entirely on the zombie horde, we're in deep trouble. Noctarus could stomp our defenses flat if he gets close. I'm best equipped to deal with him."

"I thought you said his rune array includes a rebound function," Burns said. "You hit hard, but that means you'll only be hitting yourself hard until you find a way to break through."

That was definitely the weakest part of my plan. Alpha's defenses had been insane, and no doubt Noctarus's would be even stronger.

"I have some ideas to help with that, including dropping a bunch of traps around him."

"Why do you always have to take the most dangerous part?" Ruby asked, not hiding her concern.

I shrugged. "I'm the one with the best chance, so it's my job."

Burns said, "The plan has merit, but we don't have to jump to any conclusions. We have a couple hours to see if we can poke holes in it."

"Better that than getting holes poked into ourselves," Steve said.

So we discussed it, exploring options and alternatives. We fine-tuned my original idea, but didn't fundamentally change it. We were trapped in a fight against an overwhelming enemy, so no option was great. We did agree that Tomas and Jerry would help initially target Noctarus with a bunch of Divine grenades and other bombs they could drop around the monster before teleporting away.

From what I'd seen in the goblin cavern, long-ranged attacks didn't rebound as well against the caster. At least physical things like arrows and grenades. I also hadn't gotten rebound damage from my traps.

Long-distance attacks also gave me another option for dealing damage without getting hurt as much until I managed to break through the rebound effect. I just didn't have enough good distance options, and time would be short. If that monster reached our defensive barrier, we'd get overrun.

I gave each of them two Road Runner potions to double everyone's speed, and gifted both Burns and Sally with a Death Catcher waffle air bag defense talisman. The rest of my team hadn't used theirs yet. Sally also got a scroll of Earth Armor.

I shared 10 lightning storage cubes with Steve to add lightning damage to his elemental arrows. I even loaned out the grooming brush I'd gotten days ago and had totally forgotten about. Ten minutes of hair brushing gave each of us a 10% defense boost.

I then moved 5 scrolls of firestorm to the last offensive slot on Switchblade, giving Jane another powerful spell to help wreak as much havoc as possible. Zombie weakness to fire was one thing we hoped to leverage to the max.

While we talked and planned, the movie played beneath us. For the most part, we ignored it until the scene where Barbossa's army of pirates sprang their surprise attack against the British forces on their ship.

"Zombie pirates," Tomas spat as we watched the zombies march across the sandy ocean floor. At least the lake blocking our escape would also kill them if they entered it.

"Perfectly appropriate, if you ask me," Steve said, slowly somersaulting in the air nearby. "Kind of motivating. Keeps us from getting distracted."

I'd been thinking about one other item and came to a decision. Jack Sparrow in the movie loved to talk about taking the opportune moment. We'd snatched it with our secret movie time, but there was another thing I could do.

"Ruby, I got a scroll in a loot box in that Grindstone dungeon. It allows me to share 10% of any single attribute of mine with one person. Constitution is my highest primary stat, so I'm going to use the scroll to give you more Constitution."

"Hey, that's a huge boost," Sally interjected before Ruby could respond. "Is that the best way to utilize it?"

"Would it be better to share Strength or something with one of the melee fighters?" Burns asked.

Valid point, and we discussed the pros and cons of various attributes and who might benefit most from them. Unfortunately, any one of the team could benefit a ton from the scroll and could make a solid case for why they should get the boon, but I only had one scroll. So in the end, I stuck with my original plan.

"I'm honored, but I worry someone else might need it more," Ruby said.

"Nonsense. You're our healer. If you get hurt, we're all screwed." That made enough sense that the others stopped arguing about it, although Sally looked unhappy.

She'd made a pretty strong case why she needed the boost to Intelligence. Her high Agility, combined with class abilities, actually allowed her to catch glimpses into the near future. That gave her a huge advantage, as her already super-fast reflexes could trigger even before an enemy started their attack. However, the mental strain was taking a toll. If she didn't get more Intelligence to bolster her mind, she could crack.

I nearly caved. She had a point, but I couldn't ignore the fact that we all faced an insane battle and could easily all die. As cold as the logic might be, I cared for Ruby more than Sally, so if giving Ruby more Constitution could save her life, I could not make any other choice.

I did tell Sally, "I think adding more points to Intelligence when you level up is wise, and if I get loot that helps with Intelligence, I'll share it with you."

I read the Share the Wealth scroll and just like that, Ruby got 9.9 points of Constitution. When it translated to tier-0 points, that made 99 points. She'd reached level 41 which meant she'd gained roughly 200 stat points just from her levels. She'd probably also gotten extra stat-boosting titles and loot. I'd gotten so many, it had to be a common reward. Even if all that pushed her to 300 total stats, and if she allocated the points roughly evenly, she'd probably have somewhere around 60 points in each base stat.

That was a lot compared to anyone back on Earth, but wow, when I thought about it that way, my own enormous stat jumps seemed impossibly huge. Hopefully she was doing better than I figured, but no matter how high her previous stats, she'd probably just more than doubled her Constitution in one shot.

Ruby's eyes rolled back and she swayed, one hand going to her head. I caught her and held her up while her body shook from the mighty influx of stat points. Her skin glowed with health and her hair blew out around her as if from a sudden breeze. After a few seconds, she blew out an explosive breath and laughed with delight. Her eyes opened and she flung her arms around me in an enthusiastic hug.

"This is amazing!" she exclaimed, letting go and flying around the group in fast circles, laughing and spinning. "I've never gotten so many stat points in one shot. It's even better than . . ."

"Better than donuts?" Steve interjected when she paused, her cheeks flushing.

"Yeah. Donuts," she said and quickly regained her composure. Steve gave her a knowing look, but said nothing. I was impressed. He'd skipped a huge teasing opportunity to actually help her out. Way to keep everyone on their toes, Steve.

Ruby flew back to me and pulled me into another hug. Her momentum sent us spinning together across the movie set. I grinned. Then she leaned in and kissed me. Just a quick but intense kiss before breaking away and soaring around the group again, laughing with delight.

Steve couldn't ignore that opportunity and asked, "So, are you two officially moving past 'Friends' to 'Friends with benefits'?" He made exaggerated air quotes, grinning widely.

Ruby stopped next to him and said, "Steve, if Lucas just gave you an insane amount of Constitution in one shot, you would have kissed him too."

That made everyone laugh. Steve glanced over at me and shrugged. "Yeah. That's fair."

Ruby spun back to me and exclaimed, "That was only a tenth of your Constitution? That means you've got—"

"A lot," I interrupted as her eyes widened when she finished doing the math. I didn't really want everyone knowing just how far my stat pools had grown. "Like I've been saying all along. Slower leveling, but big stat boosts."

"I know, it's just, I never really got it," she breathed.

I shrugged. "Glad I could help. In fact, here. Take these and activate them as soon as the barriers are up. They'll offer another layer of defense."

I handed her my Air Popping Popcorn and a lightning storage cube. Getting a cloud of chain lightning popcorn surrounding our defensive barrier might help save lives. I then equipped my orc general bone necklace for the boost to Constitution and Agility. As I hoped, the werewolf pack counted as followers, so I got a pretty decent extra boost to both stats.

Tomas returned to his work building an army of defensive constructs, and he roped Burns and Steve into the projects too. I joined in for a bit, getting advice and help from him to build a little surprise for Noctarus of my own. Then I floated a bit away from the rest of the group as the movie wound down, reviewing my inventory and contingency plans for the hundredth time.

Ruby floated up beside me after a few minutes. We didn't talk, but just floated next to each other. It felt right to sit together. Eventually, she drifted close enough to take my hand in hers.

Only then did she turn to me and say, "Be careful, Lucas. Noctarus might have other tricks up his sleeve."

"I'd be terribly disappointed in him if he didn't."

"Are you okay?" she pressed, her golden-specked brown eyes searching mine. "You've already fought Alpha and that crazy final boss in the dungeon. You must be exhausted."

"I'll manage, although I might sleep for a day or two once we get out of this mess."

"I appreciate your optimism," she said softly, looking away.

I cupped her face with my free hand and gently pulled her back to meet my gaze. "We will survive. Believe it. Know it. Don't ever doubt."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "We will survive, and we'll help as many others as we can." Then she flashed a warm smile. "Thanks, Lucas."

"We're a team."

That pretty much said it all.

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