Benedict checked around a corner. A plant monster stood guard maybe ten yards away, facing away from him. Its huge head swung on its stalk, never turning back to him. While he kept his pipper square on its head, the others crossed the street, darting behind the next building. Benedict crossed last with Celica aiming her staff at the monster.

  Despite the monster infestation, Noctim’s buildings remained mostly intact, and the monsters around were mostly too large to inhabit them. Going through them proved slow, but necessary with the coffers weighing them down. Celica, especially, took it hard, being in no shape to do the kind of marching their mission required.

  Two more dashes across empty highways brought them to an open park. At the opposite end, a giant walked, hunched over with large round stones for fists. It faced away from them for the moment, but its path would bring it around soon enough. Ordra took the lead through the park, using old carts and statues to stay out of sight. Kirion had to unlock the door into the next building, and they dashed through.

  “Can we rest a moment?” Celica asked, panting and holding herself up with a hand on the wall.

  Benedict drew a stamina potion. “We should probably keep moving.”

  Ordra stopped him. “We’ll break for an hour. Those may be needed later.”

  “Fair enough.” Benedict put the potion back into the coffer on his hip and dropped the large one onto the ground. His shoulders instantly thanked him. “Where did you get these big ones?”

  “Artificers’ Guild experiment,” Ordra said.

  “The low density coffers most adventurers use are great for travel, but we became curious about bulk transport,” Celica explained. “They’re so heavy because of the high-density material used as the storage medium that can hold multiple times what a low-density coffer of similar size could.”

  “And how much is that?” Benedict asked.

  Celica started counting on her fingers. “One coffer could probably hold something on the order of a barn full of food.”

  “We scrounged what we could,” Amalyn said.

  “The people of Lorvath were very generous when presented with the Guild’s money.”

  “Such a short time and you got all of this?” Shiyo said.

  Ordra patted Benedict on the head. “If this one hadn’t read that letter aloud in front of a crowd, they may not have been so willing to donate.”

  “And to think the guards doubted its authenticity,” Benedict said with a mouthful of Phynel’s beef jerky.

  “All the food we have may not be enough, considering this city’s population,” Kirion said.

  “It’ll help.” Ordra looked out the window at the tree. “And maybe we can get a real supply going after we reveal what’s going on.”

  Benedict stared at the floor. It would be better to take care of the infestation at the source. A sound caught his ear: buildings breaking in the distance, and he couldn’t tell which direction.

  “Anyone else hear that?” Ordra asked.

  Amalyn walked back to where they entered. “I do.”

  Not five seconds after Amalyn left, her screams echoed through the building, soon joined by more wood shattering in the same building. Ordra darted to her slightly faster than Benedict and blocked a piece of falling debris from striking her.

  “Everyone, out!” Ordra shouted.

  “What about the food?” Celica shouted back.

  Benedict grabbed Celica by the hand and pulled her into the street. “We’ll dig it out. This thing needs to die first!”

  The giant stood outside the building, rearing its arm back. Its solid fist slammed into the ground where Amalyn had stood a moment before. She emerged from the smoke, twirling in the air with her glaive spinning. It tried to strike her again when she landed, only to meet Ordra’s shield.

  Benedict raised his rifle. Its muzzle glowed with the Viper’s Curse, and the next bullet carried it straight and true. The giant reared back and roared, and Benedict kept firing. His rounds weren’t making it deep into the thing’s body, but they were hurting it so much that it put its giant stone hands in front of its face. Then it charged.

  Shiyo came from the side, shadow covered sword breaking the air as it scythed and sliced deep into the giant’s leg. It fell and rolled. Benedict ran to the side, barely escaping the arm that slammed into the ground next to him. The giant screamed again as an arrow pierced its upper arm, but scrambled to its feet with enough energy to charge Ordra.

  The big man stopped the charge with a glowing shield. The ground behind him rippled and cracked as all the force of the attack warped around him. He jabbed the other shield forward as a conjured blade extended from it. The giant backed away with a new gash right in its stomach. Four slender rays of bright light slammed into its face, followed by Amalyn and Shiyo both landing on its shoulders and jabbing their weapons into its neck. With a final, guttural scream, it collapsed.

  Behind him, Benedict heard a chattering cry. In an alley stood a monster about the size of a goblin. It looks like a ball of fur with spindly legs and arms and rending claws on the ends of all its digits. Another appeared behind it, then another and another until they burst from the alley in a swarm.

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  Benedict aimed at the mass and fired. “I think something heard us!”

  One of the monsters fell to an arrow that burst its entire body into flame. The others didn’t care, simply bounding over the charred remains.

  “Everyone, stay back!” Celica ordered.

  Bright projectiles flew over Benedict’s head, slamming into the ground among the swarm and detonating. Monsters flew into the air, flailing lifelessly—not enough. All in all, there must have been more than two dozen beasts remaining after that, and they came too close too fast for Celica to use another big spell.

  As several dove in, Celica dashed past Benedict with her staff outstretched. Light flashed from it to form a wall the monsters rebounded off like rubber balls off a concrete floor. Ordra sailed over the wall, batting two aside, followed by Shiyo and Amalyn slicing into their small bodies.

  “I don’t think your rifle is going to help much now,” Kirion said, landing next to Benedict with his dagger.

  Benedict drew his sword. “I think you’re right.”

  A melee ensued. Monsters clawed at skin and enchanted clothing. Every thrust Benedict made to a little demonic face led to another little beast sailing in for an attempted kill. Amalyn screamed when one raked its claws across her abdomen. It dodged her glaive, but didn’t see Benedict’s sword as he sliced across its body. Kirion brought his dagger down into a monster next to Benedict, and slammed a shield edge into another. Behind him, Celica thrust the head of her staff into one, the following burst of energy sending it flying.

  The monsters stood no chance. One or two strong blows from each weapon was enough to kill one, yet they kept coming. Benedict couldn’t see where from. Why wasn’t the horde thinning out with each new kill? Somehow, they were even taking their dead away in the chaos. Despite all he had killed, Benedict saw only a few corpses on the ground.

  Warm, wet liquid oozed out of Benedict’s arms and shallow rips ran across his tunic. How long could he last until something truly hurt him?

  Then he spotted movement in the shadow between two building. A humanoid figure held a small bell in its hand. Under a wide-brimmed hat was a long, birdlike face. Its bell made no audible sound as it rang. One of the monsters Benedict had just killed rose to its feet again and lunged for his throat. He ran it through and slammed it into the ground.

  “Celica! I need you to his that alley,” Benedict said.

  “Why?” Celica asked while beating a monster with her staff.

  “Please hurry and use a big one.”

  “Keep the monsters away from me, then!”

  Shiyo somersaulted over Celica, slicing a monster clean in two with her momentum alone. “How long do you need?”

  “Just a moment to aim.”

  Benedict cut through a monster and kicked its body far away from him. It recovered as soon as the bell rang. Still, they pushed the line back, and that was all Celica needed.

  Magic flashed as she raised her staff above her head, with circular pulses of light appearing above her. She swung the staff down, and those pulses darted forward at near-bullet speeds. The alley detonated in a cloud of dust and debris as she destroyed the walls better than the giant had. No way could the bell ringer have survived such a strike.

  Benedict stabbed another, then stomped on it to finish it. After killing another, he checked back. Still dead. The revivals stopped, and the monsters retreated.

  Ordra fell to a knee and supported himself with one shield. “What was that?”

  “I swear we killed more than are still here,” Amalyn said, clutching her bleeding torso.

  “There was something in that alley,” Benedict said. “Each time it rang a bell, the monsters revived, even the ones we split in half.”

  “Did I kill it, then?” Celica asked.

  “You must have, since they aren’t reviving anymore.”

  “Let’s get the supplies,” Ordra said.

  Fortunately, only a small portion of the building the coffers were in had collapsed, and it wasn’t over them. All they had to do was climb over the rubble into the other rooms, and they were there, safe. Equipped again, they set off toward the tree.

  Benedict flipped through the bestiary as they walked. His rifle lay across his elbows, easily reached the moment someone called out suspicious movement. The small furry monsters were apparently imps, mostly thieving things away from unwary adventurers and not attacking in huge groups. The bell ringer, though, was absent entirely from the book.

  “Could the bell ringer have been a dreadlord?” he wondered aloud.

  “Given the fight against that one in Tilm, I don’t think so,” Kirion said.

  “Nothing about it in the book?” Ordra asked.

  “Not a word,” Benedict replied.

  “Maybe it was a Wraith,” Amalyn said, spitting the last word out like it was a curse.

  “Have you ever heard of a Wraith doing such a thing?” Shiyo asked.

  “I haven’t, but I wouldn’t put it past one of them.”

  Ordra called for a halt. “Movement. Road. Dead ahead.”

  Benedict put the bestiary away, darted to the front of the group, and aimed his rifle exactly where Ordra pointed. Ahead of him were four figures who darted behind cover too quickly for him to figure out what they were. The alley itself was narrow. They wouldn’t be able to escape or attack without him noticing.

  “Identify yourselves!” Ordra bellowed.

  “You first!” someone bellowed back.

  “At least they sound human. We are adventurers from Lorvath, come on an urgent errand.”

  “And what errand is that?”

  “All you need to know is that we need to reach the canopy posthaste. Will you help or hinder?”

  “We have all the cards here, my friend. Tell us why you’re here, and we’ll see what we can do.”

  Ordra tapped Benedict on the shoulder. “Can you shoot that building next to them? I don’t want to hurt anyone yet.”

  “Easy shot,” Benedict said with a smile.

  His bullet sailed over their heads, cracking against the bricks above and raining tiny shards upon them. He followed up with three more rounds into almost the same spot.

  “Okay, that’s not bad!” the voice said after a moment. “We’re adventurers from the canopy. Specifically, we’re among the few left from when the monsters appeared.”

  “Guards?”

  “There are no guards at the base anymore, just those who foisted this on the city to begin with.”

  Benedict looked at Ordra, then at the others. What was going on?

  “I’m risking it,” Ordra murmured. “We come with food for those in the canopy!”

  Another voice, feminine, joined the first. “What proof do you have of this?”

  “If one of you wishes to approach us, we will drop one of our coffers, and you can see for yourself.” Ordra looked at Benedict. “Keep your rifle trained on them, just in case.”

  “Gladly,” Benedict said.

  “Kirion, take your coffer off and drop it in about twenty paces ahead of me, then come back.”

  Kirion did exactly as told. After he made it back, one of the figures came out of the alley. His white and red tunic gleamed in the light, along with his similarly colored cloak. On his left arm, he wore a circular shield, and in his right hand he held a boradsword. The sword disappeared into his coffer as he approached Kirion’s. He drew a round fruit from it and smiled.

  “My name is Astei,” he said after putting the food back in. “I lead this ragtag group.”

  Ordra walked up to Astei and offered his hand. “Ordra. Can you tell us what’s going on here?”

  “We’ll discuss in the canopy. Follow me.”

  Astei’s party of three joined them: a young lady named Daena who was their mage, a man bigger than Ordra named Klugen, and a slender man around Benedict’s age dressed all in black by the name of Vex. They kept quiet as they walked toward the tree, passing through the corpses of multiple types of monsters, all destroyed by Astei and his group.