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Team Player B2Ch25: Bringing It All Down
🕑 Added 2024-12-19 15:00:01 +0000 UTCThe discussion continued for a while longer, but in the end the other Surveyors agreed. Alex wove her way back out of the compound, careful to stay hidden until she had made it out and into the night beyond. She was walking down the alley, aiming to join the crowd and meet up with her dad at the rendezvous further down the street, when she heard voices ahead.
Alex froze as she recognized the frustrated tones of Chief Wells. Looking in all directions, she backed down the alley and dove into the shadows below the fire escape. She crouched there, silent, as the voices grew closer.
“Look, I can handle it. She’s gone now. That leaves everything wide open for what we need.” She’d never heard Wells sound quite so desperate, or so conciliatory. His normal belligerence had drained away, and while he wasn’t exactly cowering, he wasn’t his usual blustering self, either. It was strange to hear him speak that way, after so many veiled threats and open contempt.
“Your assurances are… insufficient.” The voice was smooth, cultured. It didn’t have an accent, but she felt like she’d heard it somewhere before. “You’ve already lost several important assets and wasted a promising potential resource. This in addition to allowing this disruption in the first place.”
Wells growled something under his breath. “I’m sorry it hasn’t been smooth sailing for you. I haven’t exactly been enjoying this Charlie Foxtrot either.”
There was a pause. “Do I need to remind you what our corporation provides to you, Chief Wells?” The question was curious, as if the asker was genuinely baffled that Wells might have forgotten. “In exchange for your continued and discrete support, we’ve provided substantial recompense, both monetary and otherwise. If your situation becomes unstable enough to threaten our plans, we’ll be forced to terminate things… permanently.”
Anger was in Wells’ voice now, though it was laced through with fear. “Don’t think I haven’t prepared for your threats, pal. Anything happens to me, and I’ve got a whole file that’ll end up in hands you won’t like. Remind your friends of that the next time they think it’s a great idea to come down here and tell me how to run my business.”
“Oh heavens. A file.” A soft, mocking laugh filled the alley for a moment. “I even imagine you haven’t stashed it away with your grubby little gang friends, either. How wise of you.”
“I’m serious Ronald. Don’t push me. Not unless you want to find out how much trouble I can make for you.”
Alex went very, very still. There was only one Ronald that she’d ever heard of that Wells could be dealing with. He was an A rank with Greylight Industries—and he was on the list of Surveyors she suspected of being involved with the ambush that had nearly killed her mother.
“I assure you, we are very much aware of what you can do.” The tone of the stranger’s voice left a lot of things unsaid, but he continued before Wells could respond. “Rest assured, as long as you continue to hold to your part of the bargain, we will hold to ours. Fail to do so, and the consequences will be unfortunate. Am I understood?” There was a pause. “Good. Until next time, then.”
A set of footsteps retreated up the alley. Wells stood in the darkness, his back still turned to her. She watched him until he let out a string of expletives and started marching up the stairs towards the exit. After a few moments, the door slammed shut, and the alley was quiet again.
Alex waited a few moments longer and then reminded herself that she needed to breathe. Then she slunk forward, moving towards the crowds and safety. They had a long way to go that day still, and it would be better to get home sooner rather than later. Her questions could wait for another day.
After tomorrow, she’d be able to ask Wells everything she wanted to and more.
The next day, Alex followed her father as they backed the van into the garage at the Red Blade compound near their home.
It was place obviously wasn’t finished yet; the Surveyors assigned to it were still living at the old Golden Swallow facility a short drive away, and the E rank contractors that were meant to construct it hadn’t arrived for the day yet. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and the handful of E rank security guards had been easily distracted by a bundle of cash that Eric had waved under their noses.
Alex shook her head over how easy it was to get access to the portal. At the very least, it would make getting where she needed to go that much simpler, even if the next part was going to be rather unpleasant.
Her father stacked up a pair of dollies with half a dozen empty boxes, and she and her mother maneuvered them deeper into the building. They were wearing construction outfits; Alex would change once they got to the portal room.
Once they got there, Alex started to clamber back into her Red Blades uniform, while her mother wheeled first one and then the other dolly into the vortex. The portal’s destructive tendencies would remove all traces of them, leaving her mom free to walk back out empty-handed. Then all Alex would need to do was start out for the city again, this time well rested and without a full day of fighting behind her.
Alex glanced up as Muriel pushed one dolly through. It vanished in a slight flare of light. “Do you think Dad might want to become a Surveyor? We have the Talismans, after all.”
Muriel glanced at her with surprise. “I mean… maybe? We’ve never considered it, really. He’s always been happy doing what he loved. Why look for more?”
Alex finished pulling on her uniform and began to take up her weapons again. “So you think he wouldn’t want to?”
Her mother paused again. “I’ll ask him. I guess now would be the best time for it anyway, while the portal here is so easy to access.” Then she shrugged. “At the same time, I can’t exactly go through with him, so perhaps it would be better to have him stay home, where he can fight fires to his heart’s content.”
The internal conflict in Muriel’s voice was obvious, but Alex just chuckled about it. She’d worry about how to spend the Talismans later; technically, they should have belonged to Red Blade Securities, but she didn’t exactly trust them to spend the things wisely.
Besides, after today, she suspected that the company was going to terminate her contract. Time would tell.
[D Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper, Realmwalker]
[Ascension Level: 7]
[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None]
[Role Level: 2]
[Experience: 2460/3600]
[Attributes: Strength -> 7, Speed -> 10, Life -> 4, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]
[Current Skills: Combat Balance(25), Motion Trance(25), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(25),
Holy–Storm(25)]
[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers(25)]
[Current Titles: Empress of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by five.),
Aggression (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, Combined Arms, and Combat Balance Skills by five.),
Fated Hero (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by five),
Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by four.),
Tireless (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by three.),
True Sentinel (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, Zeal, and Combat Balance by five.),
Peaceful Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by three.),
Elite (Increases Skill grade Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),
Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.),
Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),
Combat Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by three.),
Combat Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by three.),
Offense Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by four)]
Alex drew in a deep breath as she looked over her Skills one last time. Her plan didn’t actually call for her to face down Wells alone, but she wanted the option to at least survive a short time if she needed to.
She paused as she looked over the words a second time. Something was off about the top line. Had those additions always been next to her name?
The text was replaced, and she blinked as she saw the options, shaking off the feeling of uncertainty.
[Please select your intent]
[Exploration]
[Vengeance]
[Patrol]
[War]
[Salvage]
This time, she wasn’t going on Patrol. Her mission wasn’t going to be one of grinding advancement, and her choice reflected that fact.
[Your intent is to War!]
[Quest Issued! Clear at least six Grue Camps.]
[Quest Issued! Destroy at least eight Grue Brutes.]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
[Hidden Quest Issued!]
She smiled and stepped into the light…
The familiar ruined houses and cracked pavement filled her with nostalgia for a moment. Alex checked her package of health potions and other world rations, making sure that the bag was strapped tightly to her back. Her armor fit her as well as ever, and her weapons felt light in her hands. She was ready.
Reassured, Alex turned towards the shining towers in the distance and started to run. Last time, she’d been so tired and worn from grief that she hadn’t truly felt what she was doing. Alex had been running more on muscle memory, anger, and stubbornness than anything else.
Now, as her legs propelled her to greater and greater speed, she felt her heart start to fill with exhilaration. When she’d been running along the walls of the compound, she hadn’t felt the power of her momentum in the same way, even though she’d been moving faster.
As the houses of the ruined town blurred by, however, she felt that strength stirring deep inside her. The fatigue of running was almost constantly washed away by her Skill, easing the effort of maintaining such a high pace. Grue patrols came howling at her from nearby buildings, but she simply weaved her way around them and kept her eyes on the distant, dead towers.
She reached the highway in mere minutes, covering a distance in minutes that once would have taken her the better part of an hour. Alex let out a shout of triumph as she sped along the cracked pavement, her legs eating up the miles between her and her goal. The world around her, already clouded and unreal from the sheer emptiness, seemed to fall away as she put all her energy into moving. Mile after mile, minute after minute, the distant towers grew closer. Her heart hammered out a rhythm of victory, and she shouted as the day of her triumph drew close.
Alex reached the city only a couple of hours after she entered the other world. Her legs were a little tired—even Motion Trance couldn’t keep her from feeling the drain, but that wouldn’t matter for long. She slowed down as she entered the tangle of buildings. A familiar presence was already lingering in the air, but Alex simply ignored it. If Liliana made trouble, she wouldn’t have the resources to do so for long. There would be no repeated Surveys to stir things up, either.
She paused at a street corner and consulted the map she’d taken from Ed. It took a moment to find the path through the city that would reach the portal building, but she did manage it. Alex took off running again, hoping that she would be able to keep ahead of any patrols still wandering the ruins. Her speed would probably be a major advantage when it came to that.
A little while later, Alex looked up and smiled as the first teams came through the portal.
The E rankers stiffened in shock as they saw her, but the D rank Vanguards just nodded. They were obviously a little confused as to how she had managed to get there, but at least they’d had some warning.
Sam was one of the first ones through as well, and he took a look at the wreckage in the street beyond and whistled slightly. “Been having fun while you were waiting, Valkyrie?”
He asked the question a little too loud and sent a fresh wave of whispers and mutters through the E ranks. Alex rolled her eyes. “Liliana’s still trying to play with me. It wasn’t too bad though.”
She was downplaying it a little, of course. As soon as she’d gotten deeper into the city, the patrols had started jumping her. Alex had killed at least five of them before she reached the portal building, and another two after that. It was starting to seem like Patrol might have been a better mission at this rate, but she kept that fact to herself.
Sam just grinned, as if he knew what she hadn’t said. Then he turned to the others. “All right, we’re going to stay here for a little while. Contrary to popular belief, we’re only going to be doing one Survey today, so don’t worry about the delay, okay?”
The others nodded, and the Vanguards started to reorganize the group. Wells had sent them in with three E ranks for each D rank, but Alex’s plan called for fewer, larger teams. They wouldn’t move until everyone was through, however, and Alex didn’t think that Liliana would waste Grue by attacking nearly thirty Surveyors with a single patrol.
They didn’t have long to wait before the next group came through. Once again, the E ranks looked around in confusion while the D ranks barked out orders. Clara, Audrey, and Brian all came with that wave, walking over to stand next to her and Sam.
Alex frowned as they came over. “Has it really been that long?”
Clara shook her head. “Wells was saying something about pushing things a little harder. He said that we should all be inspired by your example and aim for four Surveys today.” The Acolyte shook her head. “Honestly, if we weren’t planning it already, I’d still want to put him in the ground just for that.”
“I hear you.” Brian grimaced and looked back at the portal. “The next group should be coming through soon. You’re sure about this plan of yours?”
“Absolutely.” Alex nodded. “Calvin’s group should already be moving, so this will be the best shot we have. This way, even if we can’t take Wells down directly, we can still ruin everything he’s been working for here.”
“It’s a shame, honestly.” They all looked at Audrey, who was gazing around at the lobby wistfully. “This company wasn’t too bad. The training was good, and we got to fight a bunch.” Everyone stared at her, and she shrugged defensively. “Hey, at least none of us died this time.”
Brian tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. “And now she’s jinxed us. Great.”
“What? I mean it. If it wasn’t for the crazy crunch thing and all the murders, it really wouldn’t have been that bad!”
Clara started laughing. “Audrey, we really need to up your standards a little bit.”
The Acolyte was still chuckling as the third and final group came through. Confused E ranks merged into the growing crowd, staring in all directions as they were shuffled around and assigned new leaders. D ranks came over to Alex to confirm their directions; she spread out Ed’s map for them and pointed at the Camps they needed to hit.
Then, as the giant army of Surveyors stopped milling around the lobby, Sam nudged her. She looked at him, and he gestured. Alex felt a sudden bolt of terror, and he raised his eyebrows and gestured again.
So Alex cleared her throat and stood on a nearby piece of rubble. “Hey.” A ripple of quiet spread out across the Surveyors, and she forced herself to keep talking. “Thank you for helping us today. For a while now, Wells has been hurting people. He’s been forcing Surveyors to kill each other, to do things they wouldn’t do, all so he could make money and keep control of the people here.”
“Today that ends. We’re going to ruin his plans and make sure he can’t hurt anyone ever again. Not you, not the Surveyors after you, and not the people who should be looking to us for protection.” She paused, thinking back to the man in the alley. “The Crimson Blade had a motto. ‘Who watches the watchmen?’ My motto’s a little different, but it works out the same for what we’ll do today. ‘Who protects the protectors?’”
“Today, that’s us.” Alex paused again. “Stay together, work as a team, and we’ll get the job done. I’ll see you on the other side.”
The Surveyors all shifted in place, looking at one another. Then Raul raised his sword, as if he was saluting. “My team is ready, Valkyrie. Good hunting!”
Alex returned the gesture, and Raul led his Surveyors out. Laura followed suit, raising her own blades for a moment. One after another, the Vanguards led the E ranks out into the city, headed for the targets that Alex had given them. In less time than she would have expected, the lobby was virtually empty, all except for a small group. Her friends, the ones that had been together since Golden Swallow all stayed behind, watching the others go.
Tim was grinning from ear to ear in a way that made her want to smack him. “Good speech, captain. Now we just need to back it up.”
“Speak for yourself, doofus.” Brian shoved him a little. “Who wants to join the Shieldwall and I today?”
Alessa raised her hand. “I might as well. That way, somebody can take all the hits you two are hiding from behind those shields.” She glanced at Alex, her expression shifting. “We’ll be back here on time. Don’t worry.”
Alex nodded, and Joanna sighed. “Well, in that case, I think I’ll take Clara and Audrey. Might as well get the classic team back together.”
Sam perked up immediately. “Wait, what about me?”
Joanna raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re on Alex duty. Somebody has to tag along and make sure she doesn’t get herself killed at the important part, and everyone’s had to do it so far but you.”
Feeling a little offended, Alex spoke up. “Hey, I can take care of myself—”
“If we don’t send someone with you, are you still going to try taking on a bunch of Camps by yourself?” Joanna’s raised eyebrow seemed to stonewall every single excuse that Alex could think up. The Adept smiled. “Yeah, I thought so. Sam, make sure she doesn’t come back broken. We’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
With that, the others all headed out, splitting up to head for the Camps that Alex had assigned them. They weren’t as far away as the ones she’d given the E rank teams, but there were more of them, and they had one more task to do afterwards, anyway. Alex stared after them for a moment, and then looked back at Sam, who was scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
Then he sighed and nodded. “All right, we might as well get started.” She nodded, and they set out together through the city.
It took the first couple of blocks to realize that Sam was actually doing a decent job keeping up with her. He grinned at her as he ran, his breath still coming a little harsh. “They probably… sent me… cause I took… Marathoning. Seemed… useful.”
Alex nodded, feeling the benefits of Motion Trance race through her. “You could say that, yeah.” She could still outpace him easily, but that would defeat the point of working together. “It really does help out to travel that way.”
“Not as much as… whatever you Chained, though.” He grunted as they turned a corner. “Did you… learn that from… her?”
She grimaced. The conversation had to happen eventually, but did it have to be today? “Kind of. She always said how much Running helped, and I kind of stumbled into Marathoning and liked it. From there…”
“You’ve found… some kind of… nightmare Chain.” He laughed, or tried to, without interrupting his breathing. “Not surprised.”
Alex turned her head enough to glare in his direction. “If you say one word about ‘like mother, like daughter’…”
“Don’t…worry.” He grinned. “I knew… you were crazy… before.”
She grunted and turned back to the street ahead.
They made it another block before a patrol came howling out from a pile of rubble that had once been a home. Alex started to charge towards them and paused. She had opened her mouth to ask Sam what he wanted when he jogged right past her, his spear in his hands. “On the left. They’re slower.”
Alex blinked. She looked at the pack ahead of her, not seeing the difference in the Grue surging towards them. Still, he was angling off to the right, looking to set himself for their approach, and one Grue was as good as another. With a shrug, she charged towards them, the scenery blurring around her. If she could kill enough of the enemy before they overwhelmed him, she could…
She slammed into the Grue, cutting through them like they were nothing. As they fell apart in front of her, she risked a quick glance at Sam, hoping he hadn’t been pushed back too far.
Then she blinked in surprise as the nearest Grue to him just seemed to keel over and die. Some of them were being killed by his spear, which was striking and stabbing in a frenzy that she hadn’t expected from him. Others would charge up to him and stop, dropping their spears and clawing at their own heads before they fell to the pavement.
As she watched, the Brute strode up to him. Sam glanced up at it, sidestepped a hammer that should have smashed him to the street, and then put a spear thrust through the Brute’s armpit.
The massive creature stepped back, a baffled look on its face. It raised the hammer again, and then paused as the weapon tumbled from its grip. She saw Sam kill another pair of Soldiers, and then deliver a second stab to the Brute’s elbow, followed by a third through the thing’s neck. It dropped as he turned on a pair of Knights that now looked a little more unsure about facing him.
Alex turned her full attention back to the Grue in front of her, cutting her way through to the Archers. Maybe it wouldn’t be so tough to keep him alive after all.
“My Permanent Skill is called Foresight.” Sam took another drink of water as they rested outside their first target. “Chained Battlesight and Analyze to get it. Basically, whatever you’d learn by fighting someone a while, I get at a glance. Weak points, attacks, sometimes even hints at Skills.”
“That seems… useful.” Alex glanced at him as she paced. Motion Trance always helped her recover better as she moved.
“Just leaning into my talents, I guess.” He grinned. “My new high tier Skill is called Fencer. Chained Counterattack and Precision Strike for it. Basically makes me really, really good at hitting weak spots.”
“Which you can see cause of Foresight.” She nodded. “And the whole Darth Vader routine?”
Sam laughed. “Concentrate–Mind. I figured a bit of magic couldn’t hurt to round me out.” He tilted the water bottle to her for a moment before taking another drink. “Not as effective as you are, maybe, but I still have my uses.”
She sighed. “You’re saying that like I’m some kind of monster.”
“I would have said hero, but to each their own.” Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “I mean, it’s not like you have something to prove, right?”
Alex glared at him again, but her heart wasn’t in it. She gave up and leaned against a nearby pillar. “It’s… not all about that.”
“Not just about that, I’d imagine.” Sam leaned back against the stairs, his dark eyes studying her for a bit. “Having the Crimson Blade for a mom must have been… interesting.”
She snorted. “Yeah, you could say that. Between the training, the running, the name changes…” Alex shook her head, trying to clear away the remembered fear and panic. “It wasn’t how a childhood should go.”
He was still watching her. “And now you want to become an S rank.”
Alex met his eyes. “They almost killed her. A pack of griefers killed all of her friends, and they were coming for her too. Life shouldn’t be like that. People like that should be punished. They deserve it.” She thought of the blood draining from Ed’s face and flinched inwardly.
Sam nodded. “People like Wells.” When she nodded, he finished his water bottle and packed it away. He picked up his spear and stood, stretching a bit. “Well, I think I’m ready to get started on that project, then. Thanks for the break.”
She laughed a little, out of surprise more than anything else. “That’s it? I thought…”
“Oh, we’re not done yet. I’m sure I have a thousand questions about everything, but I know the important stuff already.” Sam shrugged. “Besides, the more I know, the more everyone else is going to try and drag out of me. Might as well give myself a bit of plausible deniability.”
Then he stopped for a moment, looking at her. “One last thing, though. People like the griefers that hurt your mom, like Wells, they do it because they like to. Because they think they deserve the power.” He looked away for a moment, as if searching the surrounding buildings for threats. “You only do it when you have to. That means you’re different. Okay?”
Alex stared at him for a long moment. She looked away, swiping at her eyes for a second. “If you say so.”
“Oh, I know so. Foresight, remember?” He chuckled and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Come on. The only punishment someone like you deserves is friends like our little pack of buffoons. Now get your game face on Valkyrie. We have work to do.”
She scrubbed at her face a moment longer, and then nodded. Then they took up their weapons and went into the department store, where the map had placed a Camp.
The Grue were waiting.
As the crystal shivered itself to pieces and the bodies burned, Alex grinned. She looked over at Sam, who was breathing hard and leaning on his spear. “Well, so far, so good.”
He gave her an exasperated look. “You know, not everyone has a magic Skill that makes them recover that quickly. Maybe we take the next one a little slower?”
Alex laughed. “You literally have psychic attack powers.”
“That doesn’t count for this, and you know it.”
She shook her head and turned around to look at the burning wreckage of the Grue Camp. It was the fourth one that they had destroyed, and already things were looking a lot better.
Liliana’s presence had started to fade dramatically over the past hour, as had the number of Grue in the streets. If the map was accurate, the city held well over two hundred Camps, scattered across the miles and miles of real estate. Of course, if the other Surveyors were doing just as well as she and Sam were, then that number had been substantially reduced, taking the Shade’s hold on power with it.
She’d avoided marking any of the Camps close to where the supposed Anchor Point was located. The last thing she wanted was for a team to stumble across some C rank monstrosity while they were hitting Camps. Better to leave a few of the things up if they weren’t going to try to bring the rank of the portal down entirely.
The Camps would eventually recover, true. Eventually, all two hundred or so would be back—but it would take weeks. Maybe even months. Anyone attempting to mine the portal for resources, especially via repeated Surveys, was going to be sorely disappointed by the output. For the next few days, Surveyors would have to be hunting patrols, rather than having the patrols hunt them.
All of which meant that whatever deadline that Wells was trying to keep was about to run up against some hard realities. Something made all the worse by the standing order she’d given everyone to just leave whatever materials they found behind, like so much litter amid the ruins.
Sam finally straightened up from his lean. He shot her another look. “All right, I think I’m good to go. How many more of these things are we hitting?”
“Just two more, and then back to the portal.”
He nodded, and they both started across the wreckage of an abandoned bank. Just two more Camps, and then they’d have one final job to take care of.
Just a short time later, Alex and Sam arrived back at the portal building.
To her surprise, they weren’t the first ones there. Alessa, Brian, and Tim were standing there already, looking triumphant. All three of them started to gloat at how tired Sam looked, pulling him over into a corner to mock him more efficiently.
Alex grinned at their antics for a moment, and then turned to the portal. Just beyond that vortex, the man who had taken Zach was waiting. She could picture him clearly, standing with his overly straight posture and a smug grin, waiting for the first weary Surveyors to report back, just so he could send them out again. A bolt of sheer hatred tore through her, and she nearly ran through it then, just to finally face the griefer. Only her promises to her parents and to Clara held her back. They had all come too far for her to ruin things just through impatience.
Just a little longer of a wait, and Joanna, Clara, and Audrey came in through the entrance. They looked almost as tired as Sam, but they were also glowing with victory. Clara tossed her a salute. “Six Camps, all destroyed.”
Joanna nodded. “We ran across a couple of other teams, too. They were doing well.”
Audrey grimaced. “There’s a lot less Grue, though. Seemed like the city was emptying out.”
“Good.” Alex nodded, trying to think over how much time had passed. The first teams had come through the portal well over two and a half hours ago. If Wells was holding to his usual expectations, he’d expect them home in three hours, give or take a half hour. Which meant…
She looked around at the others. They straightened up as they realized what was about to happen. “Are you ready?”
They all nodded, their humor forgotten. Each of them took up their weapons again, scattering out to different sides of the room. Clara took up a position where her crossbow had a clear field of fire, and both Joanna and Sam crouched where their magic could come into play. Audrey, Brian, Tim, and Alessa all hid a bit closer, since they’d need to close with Wells to help.
Despite everything, Alex hoped it wouldn’t come to that—but her mother had taught her not to rely on perfect situations.
She walked over to the vortex and took a deep breath. Her hands shook only slightly as she readied her weapons. Then she stepped forward and let the light take her.
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quest Completed! +140 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]
[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! +80 Experience]
Alex nodded at the report. If nothing else, she’d be that much closer to the next level of Porter when this was done.
Then the screen began offering her options to reset her abilities, and she nearly collapsed laughing. The last thing she needed was to walk out and face a hostile C rank with her Skills at zero!
She refused all of them, squared her shoulders, and waited for the light to take her to her enemy…
