They met Frederica's group in the hallway.

"What did he do this time?" The blonde leader stormed over to Robert, who had the unconscious man in a fireman's carry.

"Tried to stand outside the barrier until you came around." Penelope shook her head. "If he was smart, he would have waited to protest until after the rest of us were through the barrier, not before."

"I warned him…" Frederica growled. "He's going in the pen when we get back."

He was just worried about our safety!" Robert protested. "It's bad enough that it's too dangerous for us to fight against these things, but now you want us to walk in with a Tank who just hit level eleven?" The muscular man shook his head. "You just can't see it because you're too busy hiding behind Oakley."

"Okay, I think we need to calm down for a moment." Marlow put himself in between the two parties. "Robert, you know exactly why Frederica and Oakley are a team."

There was a pause as everyone waited for Robert to respond.

"Seriously?" Robert pointed at Frederica. "You're not going to tell her how she's wrong in this situation?"

"How I'm wrong?" Frederica glared at the Caster. "I'm trying to get us all to the next floor alive. I don't see how I'm being unfair to you. " Her gaze hardened. "I haven't threatened you with a time-out in the pen yet."

"And three… two… one…"

"YET!?" Robert shifted Kent's weight so he could set the unconscious man down. "I'm concerned about you making us fight behind wet paper, and you're going to passive aggressively threaten me with a 'time out'?"

Penelope's skin buzzed as her anxiety built. Her heart thundered in her ears with each scream. Memories of fists flying at her surged out of dark places in her mind. The heat of the pain, accompanied by the chill of how vulnerable she'd felt after each beating, refused to back down.

"Um, Pea, are you—"

"STOP IT!!!" Penelope released a <Tornado Alley> in between the two, ripping it apart with her mind and pushing them both back.

Breathing felt like sucking in ice, but the numbness squeezing her body was even worse. Sweat poured out of every pore despite the chill gripping her, and her heart drowned out even Jeru's voice.

"They're scared." Penelope leaned against the wall with both hands. Her knees were so weak that it was taking all her strength not to collapse. It'd been years since she'd had a panic attack this bad, and they'd never been this intense this fast.

"We're all scared." She wheezed, each breath feeling like she was freezing more of her chest, despite the sweat. "We've been…" She shook her head in an attempt to force back the fog. The ringing in her ears made it even harder to focus on where the others were.

"Get her out—!" The rest of whatever Eldri shouted was lost in the buzz as a two-foot-tall blue-skinned demon clamped its palm over her mouth and pulled what little air was in her hyperventilating lungs out.

Air refused to fill her empty lungs as the naked monster hung onto her face.

A pair of blue horns jabbed at her eyeballs, then the Demon was falling around her in pieces, ripped apart by <Light Torrent>.

"I should have known they'd have a Whisper."

Her eyes stung and filled with water, not that she would have been able to see much since her vision had been mostly clouded over before she got poked in the eyes. <Clairvoyance took care of her vision problem while she closed her eyes to keep them protected. Her head swam as her heart thundered, but at least she could see what was happening now.

"Good thinking with the spell!" Jeru cheered. "Incoming on your left!"

Penelope ignored the voice in her head as she sucked in a mouthful of air, only for it to get caught in her throat as another of the little Demons ran sideways down the wall at her. She blasted that one apart before it reached her, allowing her a moment to breathe.

WHAT IS THAT!?

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"Asphyxiation. It's a status effect that only light or air Healers can cure." Jeru chuckled. "Though you can also cure it with simple mouth-to-mouth." The Elf groaned. "Oh, and they have a Debuffer with <Fear>."

Lead with THAT next time! Penelope stayed braced against the wall as she moved her vision up the hall the way they'd come. <Light Balls> popped up around her as she focused on the Demon in the black robe.

The Shadow sneered as it pointed at the unconscious man in between them. Robert lay on top of Kent, the muscular man missing his head as a three-headed wolf dragged the body off of what she hoped was a still-alive man. Instead of targeting the Shadow, she sent her projectiles at the Aerberus, as the nametab above it labeled it.

The Aerberus jumped back, landing on the air as if it had touched solid ground and launching itself at her. Her balls elongated, skewering the monster mid-air, though her heart drowned out the sound of the experience counter going up.

What is everyone else doing? Penelope summoned more <Light Balls> as she was thrown to the ground. She held onto her spell as Circe flattened on top of her, though most vanished as a roar of air tore over them.

"YOU OKAY?" Circe shouted as she rolled off of Penelope, drawing her bow as she lay on her back and firing down the hall towards Frederica's group.

Penelope collected what projectiles she had left and threw them at the Shadow in the direction she was facing. They'd been sandwiched, though in that situation, one of the Tanks would have sealed off the tunnel with an <Earth Wall> spell. And if they couldn't, then Eldri should have used <Barrier> to block the tunnel.

A three-foot-tall, long-bodied dog stepped in front of the Shadow, taking most of the hits. The eight-inch legs made it difficult to take seriously, despite its size. The Dascher looked like it was prancing on its tiptoes as it walked due to how disproportionate its legs were to the rest of its body.

Why didn't it—

Red eyes flashed in her direction, sending a chill to wash over her as she remembered the feel of being taunted. Except this time, her focus wasn't consumed by looking at the monster in the eyes as hers refused to open.

<Light Balls> spawned above her again, and this time, she spread them out, slamming three of them into the Dascher and sending the rest into the Shadow. The Demon howled as it collapsed, leaving behind its essence and the items it had been wearing.

The thundering in her chest began to wane as air flooded into her lungs. Penelope wanted nothing more than to spread her arms on the floor and wait until she could see with her eyes, but until this square was part of the safe zone, they were all in danger.

"Are you okay?" Circe patted Penelope's sides. "Oh my—!" She swallowed. "What happened to Robert's head?"

"Where're the others?" Penelope stayed lying down. Her eyelids were glued shut by something, so she shifted her field of vision to the tunnel in the direction her feet were pointing. Oakley pushed a large frog over, then pulled on the pair of legs sticking out of its mouth. Eldri slid out, covered in slime. The dark-skinned woman coughed as she wiped mucus off of her face.

That explains why she didn't create a barrier. Penelope zoomed out to get a top-down view of the tunnel. Frederica was at the east end of the tunnel, standing over a pile of metal armor. Riva was pouring a Healing Potion into Caleb's mouth while Rockwell lay unconscious beside the other man.

Cecil gagged a few feet up the tunnel to the west, while Marlow lay face-down in front of where the door to the room to the north should have been. A rock wall blocked it off and the monsters on the other side. A Shadow Warrior slammed its axe into the wall, splintering the stone as a pair of the Whispers danced around the Demon's feet, cheering it on. A pair of Aerberus paced behind them, with a lone Belcher, as the nameplate about the oversized frog monster read, burped in the back.

Penelope sat up, her stomach churning at the sudden movement.

"Pen! Your eyes!" Circe rooted around in her pockets for a Healing Potion.

"I'll be fine! Marlow can heal me once he wakes up." Penelope pointed at her Tank. "Fix Cecil!"

"What's wrong with him?" Circe yanked off his helmet, then poured part of the potion on the man's face.

"He needs mouth-to-mouth!" Penelope groaned as she scooted up against the wall so she would be facing the door when it broke open. She summoned two casts of <Light Torrent> and positioned the <Light Balls> around the door. Some were going to get destroyed when the wall broke, but she needed to kill those Whispers as fast as possible.

"You want me to kiss him?" Circe blanched and dropped the potion bottle on his face. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She snatched the spilling potion off the floor.

"And you called me a prude." Riva stomped over and grabbed Cecil by the scruff of the neck, blowing air into his lungs. She pulled back and looked him over as he took a deep breath on his own.

"Thanks." Cecil wheezed, then he coughed.

"Shame and privacy go out the window when it comes to saving a life." Riva looked over at Circe, then turned to Penelope. "How did you know that would work?"

"It's a status." Penelope tapped her temple. "We've got a section about them in our menu and I read about it there."

"Liar." Jeru grumbled.

You wrote the information in the menu, so you telling me isn't any different from me reading it there. Penelope argued with him. Her muscles tightened as feeling crept back into her limbs.

"We should probably all do that." The older woman looked at the wall. "You know what's on the other side?"

"Yeah…" Penelope took a deep breath. Neither one of their Healers were conscious, and Cecil didn't look like he could stand.

"And you're not going to like it."

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