My next portal was another E-Rank, this time close to home.

A training portal. Nothing special. Just a chance to level up my skills and get ready for the D-Rank portal I'd need to clear for my next core. And, surprisingly, it had slipped through the cracks; when I got there, there were no Governing Council or guild reps there, and no one had set up any barricades around it. It was up for grabs, with no five percent fees out of the profits.

The fact that it was in an alley directly behind my apartment might've had something to do with that, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wanted every bit of the loot—and the skill levels—that I could get my hands on.

But I couldn't solo a portal. Not even an E-Rank.

Soon. As my merged skills came online and whatever Stormsteel Core did to change them worked, I'd gain enough power to—with care—solo an E-Rank portal. Maybe by the high D-Ranks, I could do it. But not yet.

I pulled out my phone, tapped a few times, and made a new group text.

Kade: I've got an unclaimed E-Rank portal next to my place. If you two get here in the next thirty minutes, we can take a shot at it.

Jeff: I've got nothing better to do tonight. I'm on my way.

Kade: Great. Sophia, you in?

Sophia: No. I told you I can't. I'm sorry.

I hadn't expected her to say yes, but I'd been hoping. With a D-Rank tank and a healer, we could easily stomp through an E-Rank portal.

Jeff: How about Erik?

Kade: I'm not sure. Let me think for a bit.

Jeff: Your portal, your rules.

Even with Sophia out, a three-delver clear was still very possible. But we'd have to move fast, and I needed the right third person. Someone I could trust, and who needed the portal. Erik was an obvious choice for power. With two D-Ranks, we'd probably have no problems unless we got a rare E-Ranked trap portal, and he'd probably gotten out of the Es by now. But…Erik had gone for the core when we were fighting the double boss. Something about that rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't know if I could rely on him.

There was someone, though. Someone I could count on. Or at least, who I thought I could, and who already knew a secret that'd get us both in huge trouble.

Kade: Ellen, I added you to this chat. Unclaimed E-Rank portal. Got a D-Rank tank, me, and you. If we're in it before the GC sets up, it'll be ours.

Ellen: You want to team up? Sure. Be there in 45.

Kade: Can you go faster? Every minute counts.

Ellen: Fine. But if I get pulled over, you're paying the ticket.

Kade: Deal.

Ellen: Kidding. I can cover my own screw-ups.

The team was on its way. I sat back against a dumpster, in the portal's blue light and the shade from my apartment complex, and waited for them to assemble.

"So who's the mage?" Jeff asked the moment he walked into the alley. He'd replaced his tower shield with a kite shield—one with a vicious-looking, foot-long spike at the bottom point. It was only D-Rank, though. That was a significant blow to his power levels; his previous one had been C.

I shrugged. "Ellen Something-or-other. We met in an E-Rank portal last week, and we're workout buddies now. She's a shadow mage. E-Rank, but pretty strong, and she's going for a slower merged skill build like me. She seems pretty serious, and respects that I am, too. Very professional. I trust her," I said, and left it at that.

"Oh, do you?" Jeff raised his eyebrow at me. I ignored him, even when he elbowed me in the side. After a minute, he stopped. "So, all business today. Right. With only three, we're going to need to adjust our tactics. Let's talk battle plans."

We were still talking battle plans five minutes later when a car pulled up and four delvers got out.

"This your portal?" The leader—an archer—asked. He spat on the broken asphalt and stared at the blue gate hanging mid-air.

"Yep. Waiting on the rest of our team," Jeff responded. He didn't stand up, but his full set of D-Rank gear outmatched the partial team that had just arrived. I let Jeff act the role of leader; his rank carried more weight than mine.

"Well, we're going to claim it for the Roadrunners if you're not ready. Guild privilege, right?" the archer said. I noticed the patches on their armor's shoulder; they matched the ones the two A-Rankers had worn when they'd dueled. He started walking for the portal, a shocking amount of swagger in his step for an obvious E-Ranker.

"That doesn't sound right," Jeff said. He finally stood up; at his full height, he towered over the Roadrunner team. Only their fighter could look him in the eye, and Jeff's bulky build dwarfed his thinner, more spring-loaded one.

"Well, it is. According to the Governing Council—"

"According to the Governing Council, a guild team is allowed to contest a team's claimed portal if the claimant's team isn't ready to go within five minutes of the guild's arrival. I'm here and ready to go, so no one needs to worry about that timer," Ellen said breathlessly. "Sorry, parking was terrible, and your elevator's out. I had to jog down a dozen flights of stairs."

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The archer glared. His bow was in his hand; if we fought, I'd give his team of four even odds with ours of three. If I was five years younger, I'd already have punched him and gotten the fight started. But I didn't want that. I was smarter than that, and more in control. So, instead, I put him on ignore.

"Great. Ellen, meet Jeff. Jeff, Ellen. We ready? Great. Let's get in there. Jeff and I will explain our strategy once we're inside." I headed for the portal, but a hand closed on my shoulder. My fist clenched, and I started to swing, then stopped myself.

"You three wait. Outside. The four of us need this boss," the archer said. He held me in place as the other members of his team filed through the portal. "Why don't you go look for something else? This one's ours."

Then he nodded, bowed theatrically, and stepped through as well.

"Are you going to…are we going to just let them steal the portal?" Ellen asked. Her fists were balled, too, and her face was flushed from the jog over and anger.

Jeff looked pissed, too, but he also looked like he was ready to intervene if I did something dumb. He'd done it before, in middle and high school.

"No," I said, breathing slowly and deliberately. "They've got a higher-sustain team. Fighter, archer, tank, tank. But we can outrace them to the boss if we push hard and the portal's layout's in our favor. It'll take some doing, though. The strategy we talked about isn't going to cut it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get in there before they get too far ahead," Jeff said. He walked into the portal, shield at the ready, and I followed him.

The layout was perfect.

The portal world—another cavern—had two possible paths; judging by the monster corpses, the Roadrunners had already taken the left-hand one. If we followed them, we'd catch up easily, but that wouldn't help us.

Our best bet was to clear the other tunnel and hope it led us to the boss. I pointed with the Stormsteel rapier at the right-hand path. "That way."

"If we're going to make this work, we'll need to be aggressive." Jeff opened the pouch that hung next to his water bottle on his belt and handed out two tiny flasks, one to Ellen and one to me. "Mana and Stamina potion. They're from high D-Rank dungeons, and they're worth an E-Rank core each, or more. Only use them in an emergency. I want them back when we're done—or the E-Rank core at the end of this if we use them—but I'd rather you two stay functional so we can all stay alive. Use them if you need them. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Ellen pocketed the Mana potion in her hip pouch. I put my Stamina one in my pack and applied my two Scripts.

"Okay. I'll do most of the fighting. Kade, find the biggest target in each group and make it go away. Ellen, wait until I say to cast, then use whatever area effect you have—but only one time per fight. After that, you regen your mana—" Jeff looked Ellen's way briefly, then turned to me—"And you focus on impactful assists against the swarms. And let me know if either of you sees anything weird."

Jeff hefted his shield and sword, I readied my blade, and we headed down our path.

My battle trance started almost the second I saw the first stone golem.

Golemite Swordsman: E-Rank Monster

They were perfect.

Tall, thin, basalt-column structures, with blades of obsidian held in one 'hand,' they came in groups of two or three. Jeff picked up a couple, trading blows with them and crashing his shield into their bodies until flakes of black volcanic rock littered the floor below our feet. Ellen held her spells for now; there weren't enough targets to take advantage of them yet.

And that left one for me. Its blade flashed out in a wide stance, leaving its body open. That'd be a mistake from a living opponent. From a rock? It looked like bait. I held back. Waited one second. Two. Jeff was mid-battle against the other two. His smashing attacks hadn't accomplished much. There had to be a trick.

Then the golem leaped into the air. Its blade ripped the air. Mine came up and caught the slamming blow. I slid out to the right; the parry threw the golem's weapon wide and to the left. My riposte cut across the monster's back. Electricity splashed across it, leaving almost microscopic, red-hot fracture lines as the Golemite spun. I ducked. Stepped back. Avoided the barrage of attacks as best I could. A single cut, on my free arm, marred my perfect defense.

A heartbeat passed. Two. I could do better.

Close the gap. Parry the swing. Step inside the monster's reach. Thrust, not lunge; don't commit to a full attack yet. Probe, block, harass. We traded blows for a few seconds, then stepped back. Was the Golemite out of breath? No. It leaped again.

There it was—a place where the semi-molten fractures met. I stepped again, but not backward. My sword didn't come up to block. Instead, I threw myself into a Vital Lunge. My Stamina piled up in the attack, and when the Stormsteel rapier hit the golem, it didn't glance off the stone or leave thin scratches.

It sank in, and I pushed it further. Electricity crackled inside the monster's column body. It wanted a way out, but there wasn't one.

So it made one instead.

Chunks of stone erupted from the back of the monster. They spewed across the tunnel and shattered against the black stone walls. I stepped back, pulling the rapier free as a second eruption vomited toward me. Shrapnel bounced through the whole room; I ignored it. The dual explosions echoed up and down the cavern, filling my ears until they threatened to burst.

The Golemite wasn't dead. Not yet. But it was hurting. Its sword sported dozens of fracture lines, and its perfect gray-black column was broken and shattered. The battle trance lifted just the tiniest bit. I glanced toward Jeff; he'd clobbered one of his Golemites until it was nothing but rubble, and was starting on the second.

I hurried to finish mine off so I could help with his second. From here, the fight would be easy. But there were more fights on the way—including, I hoped, the boss.

Carter was mid-shot when a massive explosion rocked the cavern.

It knocked him off-balance, and his Charged Shot went wide, punching into the stone wall instead of the stone body he'd been aiming for. He cursed under his breath, pulled another arrow from his quiver, and nocked it. "How are we doing?" he shouted.

He could hardly hear his own voice over the fighting and the echoing reverberations, and it wasn't a surprise that no one answered. But it was frustrating. They were supposed to be a unit. His unit. But they hadn't gotten non-verbal comms down yet.

"How are we doing?!" he shouted again, this time louder.

A massive hammer crushed the rock monster he'd been trying to kill, and Ethan said something. Carter didn't catch it, but he got the gist of it from the fighter's expression and body language.

Those randoms were in the other tunnel. They were racing for the boss—gambling that the right-hand path would lead them to it instead of Carter's chosen left. And that wasn't acceptable. He was a Roadrunner. He'd gotten recruited three months ago, just after the GC registered his Unique skill.

Deborah had deployed him here for a reason, and that reason was that this E-Rank portal was perfect for leveling his skills for his next merge.

But not if some group of nobodies with a D-Rank mage and tank rolled in and blew up his portal. The thought almost made him sick. Carter had worked too hard for everything he wanted, and he was so close to getting it, but Deborah would have his ass if he didn't push himself even harder.

He switched targets, loosed his next Charged Shot, and knocked a chunk out of one of the hexagonal rock golems. Then another. Then another.

They needed to go faster. These nobodies weren't going to beat him.

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