Bree leaped from stone to stone across the uneven terrain before impaling a large spider golem with her horn. Her weight and speed allowed the auril-enhanced spike to pierce deeply, and with a blast of auril-infused flame, she destroyed the core. The earthen construct crumbled into nothing, the infuriating enemy giving nothing of value in its destruction.

  Shifting her weight, she sent her blunt tail whipping and smashed into the next golem, this one a large humanoid, nearly knocking it onto its butt, and resumed her charge by leaping onto it and dragging it down. Her claws and jaws scratched into the core, eventually killing the golem.

  They fought in a large battlefield, a large valley of earth and stone in front of an immense mountain. In the distance, several miles out, another mountain sat, and further than that was the castle meant for the Fortress Assault. Monsters were sent periodically, all with a singular goal.

  Bree luxuriated in the feeling of fighting with the rest of her pack as she sent whipping vines cutting into numerous smaller constructs as they defended the guardian of the earth–a giant turtle. There were only four Clan Hart fighting here, but they were turning the tide of battle with just them, protecting it along with the trolls of the mountain.

  Ava was going to town smashing other earthen constructs with her club, the titan-sized woman wailing on them with her empowered strength. The Highlands jungle slowed them down and protected the trolls from the other monster attacks, their ranged attacks ineffective.

  Fhesiah slashed through the monster’s cores with her claws or sent explosions of golden flame that shredded them away. She also gathered up a giant orb of flames with Hestia’s Torch and fan before sending it into the distance to crash into the oncoming swarm of enemies. Their party had barely arrived in the nick of time to protect the earth guardian, two gigantic Aspects moving to kill and consume it. At their arrival, the two monsters backed off with one entering hiding, and one infuriatingly sending tons of enemies their way.

  The disciples of the Earth Grand Temple worshiped the guardian of the earth and were struggling to defend it and were stubborn about it too. Not that Bree didn’t understand it, since she was worshiped by many, but the creature was far too dumb to even understand the danger it was in.

  The creature refused to leave its home, even if they would have an easier time protecting it elsewhere–such as near the Earth Grand Temple.

  Thankfully, there was someone skilled in leading it around by the nose and make it a little more useful.

  From the gigantic creature’s side, Berri clapped her hands and pointed with her large axe. “Go get ‘em! Er, wait, not that way–this way! There, that’s it, Turtley. Step on that guy! Then that one!” The giant creature ponderously followed her wishes, its long limbs carrying it dozens of feet in a single, huge step.

  The step crushed one golem, and its leg moved to crush yet another large monster. The earthen turtle monster was huge, well over ten times Bree and Ava’s size. The earth temple clergy had considered it a child of the world, a divine descendant of sorts that must be protected.

  And it really pissed them off that it listened to Berri. Still, they couldn’t deny that it liked her, as it continued to follow her commands as she had it crush the largest enemies one after the other. Bree, Fhesiah, and Ava worked hard to clear out the enemies, and in time, they eventually defeated the wave of earthen golems and monsters.

  The giant turtle marched back to the base of the mountain, arriving at its little alcove of a home that it refused to leave. It was like a large shrine crafted for it to live in, with various earthen gems and various things that resembled greens that its worshipers brought it. It even had some of the very limited water of this world brought to it, and it even got to enjoy a bath in a pond that barely fit it when it wanted.

  Really, it was one pampered turtle.

  Berri clapped at the giant turtle. “Good job, Turtley! Here, you can have some more gem lettuce!”

  It made a pleased, low-pitched humming sound, its head on its long neck slowly turning to meet her eyes, and a grin appeared on its reptilian face. Berri picked up a giant gem that was shaped like a head of lettuce, and she placed it in its giant mouth. The creature chewed happily, and the trolls looked on in displeasure–mostly, wishing that it could be them that fed and pampered the creature.

  Bree and her pack arrived back at the turtle, and Berri smiled at them as she dusted her hands off.

  “It’s too bad Jakey isn’t here. He would love Turtley. I bet he’d want to collect its template!”

  Fhesiah chuckled, snapping her fan closed before putting it away in her Storage Ring. “You might be right. But this is a bit of a pain, isn’t it? It was a good thing we arrived when we did, and we’ve gotten many Rifts closed, but now it feels like they are just trying to tire us out.”

  The four of them all turned to watch the enemies in the distance. More golems of various beast shapes continued their invasion toward the mountain from the Fortress, along with tons of monsters from the various Rifts in the area. The army of trolls lobbed rocks and launched spikes of earth, but they were not all that effective against the golems.

  The spawned golems were coming from a giant monster that they could even see in the distance: the Aspect of Dreadbeast. The monster was immense, a giant centipede or earthworm…thing, which spawned numerous eggs nestled against the mountain. It consumed the earth mana within the area, and it also caused earthquakes when it wanted to, it appeared.

  When their pack had arrived, the Aspect had stopped its advance and fled to the opposing mountain, and now it was like a game of tug-of-war. They had no choice but to defend against them, but thankfully they closed Rifts from each Boss-monster slain.

  As much as they wanted to rush forward and kill the giant monster, an Aspect of Dreadbeast, they knew a snake was lying in wait as well, thanks to Fhesiah’s underground detection. The Aspect of Apophis was waiting for an opening, ready to attack at any weakness shown.

  Bree noted, “Is there really no other option besides waiting for reinforcements? Can’t we just go for the kill? It’s infuriating to see the enemy making all that work for us.”

  Fhesiah replied, “I’m tempted. Bloodberri calling upon Echidna might allow us to push through. But that’s dangerous; there are two Aspects that we know of, and there are a lot of monsters gathering there. It seems waiting serves us better, as our Alliance members should arrive shortly. Then, the Ravenwolf keep adding more array flags, which empowers our defense. We’ll have our own fortress at this rate.”

  It was true. Thanks to Jake’s mana font, which was linked to the array flags, the trolls sat inside the special field and were granted nearly limitless mana. The troll disciples were building up earthen barriers and establishing what looked a lot like a fortress built into the mountain to protect their odd guardian of the earth.

  And through their earthen mana investment into the ground beneath them, it was harder to shake the entire thing with another earthquake from the enemy. If they gathered enough mana, maybe they could be the ones to overcome them.

  Blood replied, “But with the Fortress Assault empowering them and the betrayers… I’m not so sure. They have enough forces over there protecting the Aspect that it makes you wonder why they aren’t being more aggressive. With Cassius and Avaron joining the field soon, we won’t know just what they are going to do when they arrive.”

  Fhesiah sighed. “You’re right, that is concerning. Surely, they would fight if they thought it was favorable to them. I think they’re hesitant because of our timely arrival, but I’m fairly confident they have nothing else world-ending at the very least. Even if this earth guardian dies, it won’t win them the war. The Conquest Meter is actually moving in The Alliance’s favor thanks to our actions.”

  Berri scoffed. “Of course, Turtley will just crush them all if they try it. She can make a powerful earthquake and kill one of them all on her own! That’s why they backed off when we arrived.”

  Bree arched her reptilian brow. “That right, Faye?”

  Fhesiah looked at the giant turtle dubiously, but a small smile spread on her face. “Berri might be right. There is, in fact, a lot of earth mana in it and in its little…home of sorts, and its spirit is strong. With a unique talent and powerful earth affinity…that turtle might be formidable.”

  Ava giggled. “I think Turtley is pretty strong too! And Jake and Sati will be back eventually. When that happens, this deadlock will resolve quickly with his Templates and his Aura.”

  Blood shook her head. “The wind continent’s storm does seem concerning too. A lot of the uninitiated might die all at once if it is not stopped. In addition to being a tragedy that must be prevented, that could swing things toward a loss rapidly. We can’t rely on Jake coming to our aid first and should do our best to find a path to victory ourselves.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Fhesiah nodded. “That’s why the best thing we can do is hold down the fort and push to take out the Aspects if we do get the chance. We need to get better at killing these enemies and push to conquer their fort. Or perhaps…help these trolls get better at it.”

  Berri nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! We should teach the trolls and Turtley baseball. Wait no–bowling. It’s perfect!”

  Blood groaned, rolling her eyes at her sister. “I admit that the trolls, while building up a useful defense, aren’t doing a great job of offense. Perhaps there is a better way to put them to use… And please stop calling her that. Her name is The Shellmother, Berri. You’re making the natives angry with us.”

  Berri folded her arms. “So what! She likes me, not them. I don’t think she likes their name–it’s lame. She likes Turtley better.”

  Fhesiah arched her brow at that, choosing to ignore the argument. “We’ll have some reinforcements arriving from Warrior Brotherhood, Sons of Rome, and Love and Justice soon enough. That might allow us to tip things in our favor and go for the kill.”

  Blood replied, “I hope you’re right, and the enemy doesn’t instead get reinforcements of their own. Let’s get ready then. Because the next wave of golems is already almost on its way.”

  Bree definitely preferred the frontal assault, but she was willing to be the patient huntress with her pack. Clan Hart was not willing to show their enemies weakness, and that meant not falling for their enemy’s traps and preparing their own. One way or another, these enemies in front of her would be defeated.

  ***

  Valora dashed through the sky, Ophelia’s Vajrafire Blitz sending flaming lightning through her, empowering her to move even faster. Four girls rode on her broad back, the dragon horse carrying them through the threats of the wind continent.

  The winds whipped around, forming cyclonic bursts filled with stone and debris. Even thunder and fire were contained in some of the many storms, and navigating them was challenging as things shifted suddenly and dangerously. Visibility was relatively low in the storm, requiring Valora to sense the shifts in the storm and dodge the dangers.

  Nessa watched as a rock the size of her airship smashed into a nearby smaller island, causing it to crumble and sending it tumbling to the earth below.

  She frowned. “The storms are getting pretty ridiculous around here. If not for Valora, this would be rather challenging.”

  Nessa turned to watch the device in her hands–a board that sent magical pulses of some kind, meant for tracking the storm, the storm tracker. They had previously taken it from one of the nomadic clergy after they realized they were instead being tricked into feeding the storm.

  The disciples were told to go to areas shown by the tracker and perform their cyclic breathing to disperse the storm. But in actuality, they were feeding special crystals nearby meant to accelerate the winds.

  Their team was working toward reaching the edge of the continent, Cloudhaven, and destroying these crystals and closing Rifts on the way.

  A pulse went out, and a small blip appeared on the board. “Over there!” Nessa pointed to a floating island. It was surrounded by what appeared to be some monstrous birds and a giant, flying serpent.

  Tanda knocked her arrow, preparing to fire. “The enemy is wizening up–protecting them now.”

  Valora wasn’t exactly stealthy, so these flying creatures spotted them and began flying toward them. Tanda began firing her arrows, piercing through several of the creatures as she dismounted from Valora, taking to the sky on her own by flapping her wings full of auril.

  Ruby leaped off and drew blood from the enemies Tanda was killing. The blood became bladed weapons in the sky, launching into the other birds from all directions and tearing them apart.

  It took a little more Qi, but Nessa spread out her lake across the sky, forming a large orb and sending it floating toward the middle of the battlefield as she flew off Valora. Of course, the birds had no issues dodging the sphere, but it wasn’t an attack in itself. She flew inside, and her allies fought near, knowing she could aid them from within.

  Ophelia rushed around the area, cutting down the magic-covered birds before she clashed with the big, cloud-covered serpent. Her Vajrafire Guardian blocked the creature while she stabbed into it, sending a powerful jolt of lightning into the monster.

  Nessa sent blades of ice like fangs of a snake piercing into several of the birds without leaving her lake, and Ruby continued shredding the birds, a storm of blood blades multiplying with every kill. The girl was rather effective when facing these kinds of weak enemies, their resilience unable to stop the blades, and each wave of blades only grew in size and danger.

  The birds largely handled, Nessa joined Ophelia on the attack against the larger serpent by leaping out of her lake covered in frozen water. Her katana cut deeply into its giant tail while Ophelia kept the more dangerous head busy. Tanda’s deathly, flaming arrows eventually joined, sending explosions rippling into the monster.

  The Boss-level monster was eventually defeated, and they received a prompt.

  [Rift Closed. 11,325 CP Earned.]

  Valora then dashed over to the black gem, which was embedded underneath the small, floating island. Sending a bolt of lightning into the gem, it shattered. As much as they wanted to collect these, it seemed they would disintegrate in time, even within their Storage Ring.

  Nessa sighed after she rejoined Valora on the back behind Ophelia, with Ruby and Tanda holding onto her from behind as they resumed their travel. “That’s the sixth one. How many do we think there were?”

  Ophelia frowned. “Across the continent? Probably dozens. The Ravenwolf Tribe has already cleared nearly a dozen now on their own. But the fact that the boss and Rift monsters are guarding them shows there’s a Champion-level enemy nearby leading them. We need to be careful.”

  Nessa nodded, resuming her lookout, sweeping the area with Divine Sense diligently, and watching with her eyes of truth.

  As they ran through the sky, Aisling’s voice suddenly rang out in their headsets. “Ophelia, Tanda, do you read?”

  Tanda replied, “Clan-mother! Go ahead.”

  Aisling replied, “Just wanted you to know, I had a prophetic dream. As always…it wasn’t exactly…all usable, the images and moments clear as mud. But there were two things I witnessed that we should be able to act on. Probably.”

  Ophelia asked, “What are they?”

  “During the vision, I saw the giant tower leading into the sky, with the gross tendril and all that–the dungeon. Monsters rushed out from it in a vast horde–a Monster Tide. If I had to guess, on the fire continent.”

  Tanda let out a breath. “That’s not good. And the other?”

  “That newer girl–the blood badger, Ruby? Something…happens to her. The enemy ambushes, and there is a lot of fighting in the storm, I think, and…well, it’s not clear. There’s a lot of…rage, pain, and blackened blood.”

  Nessa asked, “Who ambushes?”

  “It’s a guy with a bow in a dress? And he has those wings on his ankles? No idea when, of course.”

  Nessa laughed at Aisling’s jab at the Grecian toga, and Ophelia chuckled. “Calix. Thanks for the warning, Aisling. Our alliance forces are on their way. We can certainly allocate more people toward dungeon exploration containment than we originally planned. Unless Timone planned on going himself?”

  Nessa knew they had already sent some warriors inside, but it was only a token effort to check on things and scout the situation inside–not to change anything that came up.

  Aisling said, “What does the chief think? My powers are wonky in there, but we could head inside. We’re certainly the fastest outside of your party. From what we’ve seen, we can’t account for all the Obsidian Blades on the field even with us winning the PvP Battlegrounds. They could have been in the dungeon this whole time, hiding.”

  Jake was paying attention to these revelations and replied through their mental communication. He agreed on sending Timone and a fair amount of forces into the dungeon. Most of the alliance forces would be headed to aid the war on the earth continent, but now sending some of them into the dungeon on the fire continent made sense.

  Love and Justice, the cultivators mixed with the various Norse pantheon allies, could also help out in the wind continent, since all cultivators were capable of flight on their own. Their allies would have their blimps and more, but those simply didn’t cut it in these storms.

  They ended their communication with Aisling, allowing Valtor to divide the forces appropriately and give individuals their orders. They had hundreds ready to scour the dungeon for threats, and this might be the key to catching their Guild War enemies breaking the rules and aiding Tartarus.

  Ophelia said, “We continue to Cloudhaven then. It’s on the edge of the continent, but it looks like we’ll have to stop even more betrayers.”

  Tanda was upset about this, her ears flat on her head. “It’s infuriating. How could they betray their own people like this?”

  Nessa replied, “Many are promised greatness and granted special treasures. Others are appealed to. For example, these elves feel superior to the rest. They may be promised a world where the trolls and goblins are gone. Then at the same time, the goblins might be promised one without the elves.”

  Ruby’s hands clenched repeatedly, her badger ears flat on her head and a frown on her face. She didn’t seem to be following their discussion. “Why me? Is it because… I’m weak?”

  Nessa replied, “You’re not weak, Ruby. Among us four, perhaps it might appear so. But it’s because when you face your friends and family in a duel, you can’t show your full strength. Against the right kinds of enemies, you are truly powerful. Do not doubt yourself.”

  Tanda added, “Yeah, you’re not weak–you even killed the most birds back there! Besides, Aisling’s vision wasn’t clear. You might not have been targeted at all–you might have gone after the ambusher. Blackened blood, rage, and pain definitely don't sound good though.”

  Ophelia turned to look at Ruby. “You’ve worked hard to control your berserker rage, and you’ve become more skilled as a result of this. Keep a cool head, and few can be your match.”

  Ruby let out a breath. “Thanks, everyone. I’ll…think on this.”

  Nessa continued watching the storm tracker device as they sped across the sky. The storms in the distance looked even more dangerous, so she was curious just how bad the island-destroying tempest could be. They would arrive at Cloudhaven in just a few more hours, where the vast majority of the wind disciples and more would be.

  And where any betrayers might be. One way or another, the plots were going to come to a head soon.