Penelope provided crowd control on the next column.

The fight moved slower, but it was simple. They cleared 30F in the morning, and then the group went to the other side of the boss room and cleared 30D that afternoon.

The next two days were spent clearing out the last of the squares. Once all of the squares except for the boss square was finished, most people started to relax.

We've got two weeks left. Penelope walked along the walls in 26A. It was far enough away that very few people came over there anymore, but still close enough that she could get back to the main group quickly if there was a signal to gather. What am I supposed to do while everyone else waits around for the timer to expire?

"You could help with the defensive fortifications." Jeru offered. "We both know that Pat can find you something to do."

As much fun as that sounds… She didn't try to keep the sarcasm out of her inner voice. This is making me more nervous the more I think about it.

"You're one more fight away from getting into town and working on your jobs…" Jeru groaned. "Speaking of which, you either need to find a way to get out of Patrick's group or something to explain why you're going to have jobs that magically jump in level once you finish the boss fight."

I'm going to talk to Patrick about getting a team of just Casters. Penelope grumbled.

"I know that you've been thinking about that, but what I'm saying is that you need to hurry and pitch that." Jeru gestured at the area that Patrick had crews working. "He's designing the battlefield right now. If your plan doesn't fit into what he's designed, he's going to reject it even if it's a good plan if there isn't enough time to accommodate what you're suggesting."

"And I'm telling you that earlier is better." Jeru tried to shoo her. "Hurry up! Go!"

Penelope sighed, but she <Blinked> her way over to where the older man was working. He was barking orders while building a wall around rows of sharpened metal poles.

"Hold up!" He held up his fist. "Archer! Take over on this one." He turned to Penelope. "You need something?"

"I was thinking…" She swallowed. "How to handle things if the monsters from both 26 and 28 are in there." She waved her hand at the black barrier.

"That's what these are for." Patrick pointed at the four-foot-tall walls that they were making. "The spikes will slow them down and the towers…" He turned and pointed at the place where they'd cleared the ground, then he pointed at one of the ten-foot-tall, twenty-foot-square towers that they'd already made. "I figure the ranged people can be up there and they're thirty feet apart, so they can blink back to the one behind them the moment that a tower gets overrun without ever needing to be on the ground where they'll be exposed to the melee monsters."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She cleared her throat. "I was thinking the best way to take out the exploding monsters quickly would be for all the Casters to lock the monsters down and hit them from a distance first." She took a deep breath. "I'd like to be in charge of that party."

"Hmmm…" Patrick stroked his chin. "I could probably get the others to agree to that, but what is your plan?"

Penelope pointed at the towers. "We can stay at the forward towers so we know if the monsters are even here, then if they are, we need at least two teams of Casters…" She hesitated. "Stephan works better with me, so put Aly in charge of the other one. Then if both are here, she can move towards one and we can track the other."

"If you're near the front, you're going to have to be dumping magic." Patrick tilted his head. "You still against using potions?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'm…"

"This is the last fight for a while." Jeru stopped her from saying yes. "It's not ideal, but if you have to take a few to push the rest of the way through this floor…" He sighed. "You should be able to handle it."

"I'm planning on taking some time off from fighting on the next floor." Penelope looked away. His gaze felt like it was picking her apart and it made her feel very uncomfortable. "So if that's what I need to do to protect people, I will."

"Okay…" Patrick took a deep breath. "Any particular reason why you're wanting to take a break from fighting?" He motioned for her to follow him towards one of the towers. "You know you're our best killer out here."

"That's part of the problem." Penelope hurried to catch up to the older man. She was a lot faster than he was, but she hadn't been expecting him to start walking away.

There was an edge in his voice. "You don't like killing?"

"I think I might like it." Penelope failed to suppress a shiver. She swallowed. "That's why I think I need some time to get my head on straight."

"You've got two weeks." Patrick sat down with his back against the tower and patted the ground next to him.

Penelope sat down in front of him instead. She'd never cared for sitting next to people and this conversation felt like one that would be more comfortable being just out of arm's length.

The older man shrugged, then continued. "Two weeks is a lot of time to take a beat and remember why we do this."

"That's what I mean, though." Penelope closed her eyes. "The Buffers are able to see the monster's stats now, so you don't need me to evaluate the monsters for you. Stephan and Aly are killing more things than I am now and the Debuffers have become even more useful with our new strategies." She opened her eyes and looked at Patrick. "You don't need me out there anymore and if this floor is anything to go by, you're going to have plenty of time to finish the next floor, especially if you're down a Caster for a little bit."

"You're talking like we're not going to lose anyone." Patrick huffed. "We haven't gone through a single boss fight yet without losing people and even though we're going to have twice the manpower, I still don't see how someone doesn't die…" He knocked on the stone tower he was leaning on. "Which is why I'm doing all of this."

"Anything I can do to help?" Penelope knew that offering such an open-ended willingness was dangerous, but the more helpful she was able to be, the less resistance she would get to taking off into the city once they reached the next floor.

"You think you could turn those knives into caltrops?" Patrick pointed at the black barrier. "I was thinking about digging a trench around that thing. We make a low wall and seed a bunch of caltrops on the other side and we could really slow down an enemy charge."

"You're going to fill the trench with metal spikes, aren't you." Penelope shook her head.

"Of course!" Patrick chuckled. "I've got to make this place as deadly as I can for those monsters." He puffed out his chest. "Hope for the best and plan for the worst. And I hope that we don't lose a single person." He gestured out at the people working. "I get that a lot of people are using this time to unwind, but every one of us out there is doing everything we can to make sure that we all live to see the fourth floor."

Penelope nodded, then cast <Knives Out>. She held the spell in front of her, then elongated the metal. She was able to form a blade on either end the width of two fingers, but as soon as she tried twisting half the blade, the whole spell fell apart, leaving her with a gnarled twist of metal.

Patrick scooted over and picked up one of the ruined objects. "Not what I was thinking, but…" He tossed the scrap back on the ground. "Keep it up. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"No pressure…" Penelope sighed as she recast the spell.

"Well, I'll leave you to it." The older man stood up. "About the command thing. I think it's a good idea. Figure out how you think the Casters need to be split and get back with me and I'll run it by the girls."

"Will do." Penelope groaned as another round twisted into unusable scrap. She watched Patrick walk away, then went back to her task. Any pointers for how to make one of these?

"Only summon one, but Xs." Jeru made the letter with his hands. "You'll get a lot less with each cast, but it shouldn't fall apart from twisting the metal so much." He nodded. "Once you get a knack for the shape you want, it'll be a lot easier to twist the smaller ones into that shape."

Thanks. Penelope took a deep breath and tried the spell again. This time it looked better, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. At least I've got plenty of time to figure this out.

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