Day: 12

Survivors: 381

The early afternoon sun felt great when I exited my castle base camp. The heavy fog that had covered the entire stage yesterday had been really oppressive. The town of Midmount Vale was bustling, filled with smiling people who strolled rather than hurried about their tasks. Many waved or called greetings, which I returned.

Ruby had been right. The town had a festive air to it. We'd defeated both of the stage bosses last night and many people had won a lot of levels. As far as I knew, every single person had reached at least level 25, so could join us as we pushed up to stage 3 and our next challenge.

We even had a couple days to spare. I paused long enough to check the counters, which I usually avoided. The survivor counter was still tragically low, but at least no one had died since I checked last night after the fight with Noctarus. That was the first time the counter had stayed unchanged that long. If only we could push through stage 3 without losing any more.

My reverie was cut short by the appearance of 3 of my least favorite people. The team I'd taken to thinking of as the Three Stooges marched out from between a couple of nearby shops. The burly warrior who led the group looked smugly pleased, as if he'd managed to get his boots on the correct feet on the firs try. The other two followed a step behind their leader, looking more nervous.

"Ernest Manning. Baby human level 25. Team Shackleton. Class: Pantry Box Raider. Earnest combines the cunning of a trapped rat with the bravery of a slug, but still somehow inspires the loyalty of his team. Humans are endlessly unique."

"Tim Jarvis. Baby human level 25. Team Shackleton. Class: Phantom Ridge Mercenary. Let's just say Tim hasn't found his groove yet."

"Electra Carlin. Baby human level 25. Team Shackleton. Class: Ivory Swamp Ranger. Using a combination of traps and distance attacks, Electra tries to avoid honest fights at all costs."

At least this time they didn't try ambushing me. I'd warned them the next time they did that, the survivor counter would drop by 3. Even they'd managed to reach level 25, despite getting captured and turned by Alpha. They'd probably been as useless as werewolves as they had been as humans. Ruby had still changed them back with her Gloves of the Healer's Touch. Too bad.

Earnest stopped a few steps away and thankfully spoke without preamble or grandstanding. "We've got information you'll want to hear."

"Really?" This had to be good.

"Bet your Abercrombie it is, and it'll cost you double to make up for all the trouble you've caused us."

I sighed. Still harping on that false sense of debt. "I'll tell you what. You tell me your message. If it's worth as much as you claim, I'll pay you for it. If you're wasting my time again, you owe me 5 hours of hard labor."

"Hey, we just came off morning patrol duty," Tim whined. Electra took half a step back, her nervousness growing. What game were these idiots playing?

"You'll pay, and you'll pay big. Your friends Martin and Trish Briggs said—"

His words cut off into a yelp of surprise as I crossed the distance in a blink. My annoyed amusement gone, I seized him by the collar and said in a cold tone, "You've piqued my interest, Earnest. When did you see the Briggs?"

"Outside in the forest," Tim said quickly.

Earnest hissed at him to shut up, and although I held him half off the ground with one hand, his smile widened. "Like I said, good information."

"Start talking. I don't need all three of you alive to hear the message."

That finally got through even his thick skull. He swallowed in sudden fear, which made him angry, but he wasn't stupid enough to try attacking me again. "Fine. We ran into them on the trail just a few hundred yards north of town. They said to find you and tell you they have a message. They'll be waiting there."

Huh. That was weird. No way the Three Stooges knew about the Briggs, but what were Martin and Trish playing at? The murderous fools had tried to kill me for my gear back on stage 1. Then I'd seen them and their party get overwhelmed by monsters during the apocalyptic collapse of the stage. Somehow they'd survived to annoy me.

Once they'd given me a cryptic message, then blown up an entire residential area settled by former teamsters. Then they'd somehow ended up in Velexis's lair in the Grindstone dungeon and watched my battle with Sixel as invisible but not silent observers. Clues suggested they were now working for some mysterious and powerful being who wanted to buy me from Sixel when she defeated me. I'd turned the tables on her and hit the Briggs with a couple exploding crystal daggers before they teleported away.

What the Handel did they want now? No doubt, their little offer to chat was another trap, but I'd take that risk to get some answers.

"See, that wasn't hard, was it?" I asked, dropping Earnest and tossing each of them a tier-6 mana crystal. Tim and Electra laughed with glee. Earnest just got a greedy gleam in his eye.

"That's 10 times what the information is worth. The bonus is to make sure you never bother me again. Now get. If you lied to me, I'll collect 10 times that for wasting my time."

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"Hey!" Tim shouted while Electra exclaimed, "It's true, but we can't know if they're still waiting or not."

"Better hope they linger."

Then I took off at a run. Ten steps toward the gate, Switchblade dropped out of thin air in front of me and I hopped on and gunned my hover bike. I shot away like a bullet and in moments, exited town and tore into the forest.

There I slowed and banished my bike. Rushing in blind wouldn't help. The Briggs had proven themselves tricky, quick to teleport away, and fond of bombs. So I used Tether Slide to shoot up into one of the tall trees, then raced through the high branches, leaping from one tree to the next. With my high Agility, I could traverse the trees better than Tarzan ever could.

It took only a moment to locate the Briggs. Earnest had spoken the truth. They waited in a small clearing barely a quarter mile into the forest and a couple hundred yards from the main trail, close but still invisible to anyone passing on the trail.

I paused to crouch on a high branch to survey the clearing. The Briggs stood in the center, covered by a ghostly dome of shimmering light. It would appear invisible to most people, but Wolf Sight had upgraded to allow me to see invisible things. Martin looked grumpy, while Trish looked more nervous. I'd figured they were both equally stupid, but maybe she edged out her partner in brains, after all.

If I dropped down to speak, they'd no doubt make vague threats again, then disappear. This time I wanted answers, so I decided on a more hands-on approach.

I leaped off the branch, falling straight down toward their little protected dome. Trish spotted me immediately and grabbed Martin's shoulder, pointing straight up.

Before they could escape or unleash any devilry they might have planned, I cast one of my class spells.

"Divergent Strike. Area of Effect. A high-impact attack that detonates across an area 5 feet in diameter per level with major kinetic damage. Blast wraps all enemies caught inside with convergence mana, weakening their spellcasting and preventing absorption of basic or attuned mana for 10 seconds. "

My spell exploded against their invisible barrier with a clap of thunder and blast of wind that shook the glade. The barrier winked out and the Briggs tumbled to the ground with shouts of fear. So I cast Mana Desert, the spell I'd captured from Alpha with Mimic.

"Mana Desert. Level 3. Create a wave of suppression out to 3 yards per level that snuffs out all active spells and mana-based abilities for 30 seconds."

That double whammie should lock them in place for a few seconds. I landed easily between the Briggs and yanked them together hard enough to crack their heads together loudly. They collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Nice and simple," I muttered and quickly shackled both of them with pairs of zombie shackles. No way either of them had the strength required to break the bonds, and with Mana Desert active, they couldn't use mana-based spells or abilities for a while.

I checked their pockets but found nothing. At least they were smart enough to keep everything in their inventory. The two were dressed in fancy suits of half-plate over leather armor and had somehow gained a couple more levels and reached level 30.

I propped them both up back to back, then dumped some water on their faces to wake them up. They sputtered and coughed. Martin glared and Trish's lip peeled back from her teeth like a snarling wolf. Made her look rabid.

Martin barked a rough laugh. "Right on time, hero boy. Exactly as we predicted."

That made me chuckle. "Oh, yeah? You predicted I'd arrive, smash your barrier, and tie you up while you napped? You're a lot smarter than you used to be."

"We knew you'd come," Trish snapped.

"So why weren't you already running?"

"I don't know how you beat the sword champion. If you hadn't cheated, we would own you right now."

"Except I did win and you ran away like cowards, as usual. Now here's the deal. I'm going to ask some questions. You're going to give me some answers. If I like the answers, you live another minute. Got it?"

"Our employer wants to meet," Trish said between gritted teeth. She really never forgave anyone who didn't let her murder them.

"Great place to start. Who is this employer? What do they want? And how did they rescue you from stage 1?"

"Somehow they think you're the person they need to negotiate with," Martin said in a disbelieving tone.

"We tried to explain how stupid that is, but she doesn't listen," Trish added.

"She?" Now that was interesting.

"Shut up," Martin hissed. "That's not part of the message."

"Good. Looks like Trish holds the little bit of brains of your duo and wants to live. So, Trish, who is she?"

Trish only glared. Guess she'd used up the last scrap of intelligence.

Martin said, "She wants to meet. Wants to negotiate."

"I don't negotiate with people until I know more."

"Then you'll die," Martin said, giving me a grim smile.

"You first."

"Wait!" Trish shouted. "As a token of good faith, she sent this."

A small, wooden plank, about 8 inches long and 3 inches wide plopped onto Trish's lap. On the front face was a photo-quality image of a glowing blue sword.

"Soulrend? How . . . ?" I exclaimed, snatching up the object to study the image of my beloved lost ethereal blade.

As soon as I did, the Briggs flashed and disappeared.

"You Mozart Beethoven Amadeus!" I shouted, spinning and scanning the clearing, but they were gone. They even took my zombie shackles with them.

I glanced down at the little wooden plaque. Identify didn't say anything, but that had to be what triggered the spell. Someone had imbued it with a teleport spell that somehow worked, despite the effects of Mana Desert still being active across the entire clearing.

That had to be a powerful spell, maybe even tier-1. The other clues were forming a picture of who might be the Brigg's mysterious employer, but why would she bother?

The ultimate boss, the beautiful and terrifying nymph queen, Queen Marisara, awaited us on stage 4. Cyrus had promised that she and the most powerful of her minions could not descend to lower stages. Fiery Lord Ashkaroth had bought a limited pass to try punishing me for unleashing my black fire tornado I used to kill the Death Stalker. At level 82, he was considered one of the weakest of the queen's court.

Had she turned to using other pawns instead? It made the most sense, but why choose the Briggs? Could her agents gain access to the stages once our time limit ran out and they collapsed? Maybe, and the Briggs could move among us with impunity.

Would they willingly work for the enemy we had to defeat in order to save Earth? Sure. If the alternative was death, and if she promised them levels and gear and power, the selfish Briggs would become her enthusiastic lackeys.

But that cycled back around to why? Why claim to want to talk? What would we have to talk about? Or did she have spies that saw I was one of the strongest humans? Maybe she wanted to take me out before we reached stage 4.

On the other hand, did she know about my Intergalactic Guardian title? Was that why she wanted to talk instead of sending the Briggs to try capturing me?

I needed more information. Since the Briggs had again used their employer's powerful spells to escape, I didn't doubt I'd run into them again. I had to come up with ideas to detain them longer-term.

I glanced down at the image of Soulrend. If Queen Marisara had found my blade, she was right to assume I'd risk a lot to get it back.

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