“Ah!”

  Sarah crashed to the ground as a hell hound pounced atop her. It was riddled with arrows, but the shallow wounds barely slowed it down.

  Sarah used her bow to block its bite. It clamped its teeth around the wood and snapped it in half. Sarah turned around and tried to scramble away, but it bit into her thigh and dragged her toward it. Notably, its bite barely drew blood, despite clearly having the ability to snap her leg in half. It wanted her alive.

  It didn’t get very far before a knife landed in its skull. The dog slumped over dead. Sarah scrambled to her feet and looked toward Tim.

  “Gah!”

  During his throwing motion, Tim took a slash to the back from a bone demon. He recovered quickly enough to parry a second blow with his katana. He was facing two bone demons at once.

  Sarah took out her rapier with the intention to help Tim, but something large and fast collided with her and knocked her to the ground. She managed to hold onto her rapier. She got up on shaky legs and looked at the monstrosity that landed a few feet away.

  Sarah faced a human-sized creature with dark red skin. It had the face of a goblin and the wings of a bat on its back. It stared at her with black eyes and grinned to reveal razor-sharp teeth.

  A hell imp. Sarah pointed her rapier toward it with a look of deep focus.

  “I can do this,” she thought.

  It charged. She struck. Her strike struck true.

  Sarah stabbed the imp right where its heart should have been. The edge of her rapier barely pierced its flesh. Sarah’s arms trembled from the impact.

  “So tough,” she thought.

  Before she could pull her rapier back for another attempted blow, the imp grabbed the blade and yanked it. Sarah yelped in pain as she was disarmed. She felt like her wrist would snap if she didn’t let go.

  It took a step closer. Sarah manifested a dagger from her inventory. She launched herself toward it faster than should have been possible. She had already leveled up a few times. Her body was enhanced by the system. It didn’t matter.

  The hell imp grabbed her wrist and squeezed. Sarah whimpered and dropped the dagger. It let her wrist go only to grab her by the throat. Sarah gasped and desperately tried to pry its hands away from her. It didn’t budge. It watched with that same devilish grin plastered on its face.

  It was toying with her.

  The hell imp lifted her off her feet with one arm. Sarah panicked as the air left her body. She couldn’t even scream for help. Tim was too occupied with the bone demons to intervene. Then it did something that sent a shiver up her spine.

  It sniffed her. It clearly liked what it smelled. Sarah quivered helplessly and continued to struggle, even as the air left her body.

  Then suddenly she could breathe. At least for a moment. It threw her over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The shoulder to her gut knocked the wind out of her. It flapped its demonic wings. A moment later, she saw the ground getting further and further away. She panicked.

  “Tim!”

  Tim looked over and went wide-eyed as he saw Sarah being carried away. A flashback of Victoria shot through his mind.

  It was happening again. First Victoria, now his sister.

  “No!”

  Tim hurled his katana into the air. The sword flew faster than any weapon had the right to, especially one that wasn’t designed for throwing. His sword struck true and pierced the back of the imp that was carrying Sarah away. Sarah and the imp fell in the distance. He heard Sarah’s pain-filled scream.

  [Congratulations on reaching level 10]

  Tim didn’t have time to analyze his new upgrade, and he didn’t need to. He had already followed the leveling path of the Samurai in the game. He allocated his stat points and perk points instantly.

  Before the bone demons could capitalize on his unarmed state, Tim raised his hand and pointed toward his katana. The katana flew toward him as if possessed. It pierced the back of a bone demon and killed it. The hilt flipped around and landed perfectly in his hand.

  The last bone demon was mid-charge. Tim felt his body empowered as soon as the katana touched his hands. He was notably faster. He parried the shabby, jagged sword the bone devil wielded and countered decisively, separating the creature's head from its shoulders.

  As soon as it died, Tim sprinted past it toward his sister. He dropped to his knees to inspect her.

  She clutched her ankle with a horrified expression. Tim could see bone sticking out.

  “I leveled up,” Sarah said.

  Tim noticed how distressed her voice was. She looked and sounded shell-shocked. He manifested a potion from his inventory. Sarah took it with a shaky hand.

  “That is the last one?” she asked.

  Tim nodded.

  “Yes, I’m sure I’ll find more,” he said.

  Sarah drank the potion while Tim spoke. She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “You mean we,” she said.

  This time, Tim didn’t back down.

  “No, I meant what I said. I’m taking you back to the church. The protective ward should still be intact,” he said.

  “No! I can fight. That was a fluke. I just need to level up a little more, then—”

  “Sarah, you’re too weak for this,” Tim said.

  Sarah was stunned.

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

  “W-What?” she asked.

  Tim gritted his teeth and ruffled his hair in frustration.

  “You’re level 5 and barely stronger than a civilian. You’re far weaker than I was at your level. Not to mention, for some reason, you draw additional aggro. I couldn’t help but notice it. Those things go crazy when they see you. It makes fighting twice as difficult. You aren’t strong enough to offset how much harder things get when they focus on you. You’re getting in the way. I can’t fight like this,” Tim said.

  Sarah was speechless. She reflected on the battles she and Tim had fought. She noticed how the monsters ran past Tim to get to her. She was so easily overwhelmed. The enemies were strong. They manhandled her like she was a child. She could hardly damage them with her arrows or rapier. Her strikes glanced off.

  She couldn’t defend herself. Tim had to constantly rescue her. It was maddening.

  “Maybe after I choose my class things will get better. I just unlocked the ability to select a class. Maybe I can choose something like an archer or a mage. Maybe a cleric,” Sarah said.

  Tim shook his head, narrowing his eyes.

  “No. No matter what you pick, we’ll run into the same issue. I can’t protect you. Gaining a class doesn’t make you that much stronger. It gives you more options, but you still have to protect yourself. You can’t. I can’t. We’ve had too many close calls. Even just now, if I were a second too late, you’d have been dragged off to God knows where,” Tim said.

  Sarah was on the verge of tears. Her ankle was still healing. She felt helpless and defeated.

  “I don’t understand. I should be able to help. I watched you fight when you were my level. You were way stronger. Why am I so much weaker than you were?”

  Tim paused, looking down at Sarah.

  Sarah was 4’8” and barely 100 pounds soaking wet. Tim experienced the effect of leveling up. It made him incrementally stronger, but it wasn’t drastic enough to feel like a superhero. The enhancements modified his base capability.

  As for Sarah, he figured it did the same, but in her case she had much less base to modify. To him, the answer was obvious.

  “Because you’re a tiny, 95-pound woman,” he thought.

  He didn’t say it, fearing her reaction. He changed the subject.

  “What class choices do you have? Any rarities besides common?” Tim asked.

  Sarah pulled up her system interface.

  “They’re all common, except this one,” she said.

  Tim looked at her with renewed hope.

  “Which one?” he asked.

  Sarah read through the description, her voice tinged with disappointment.

  “Alchemist. It’s rare. But it says it’s a non-combat support class,” she said.

  Tim’s brow scrunched in thought.

  “That sounds like the best one. Rare classes are usually more powerful,” he said.

  Sarah frowned.

  “Maybe I can choose a cleric. I’ve played enough RPGs with you and Ben to know how useful they are. If I can heal with magic, that will be extremely useful,” she suggested.

  Tim narrowed his eyes.

  “Do you think healing will stop those things from dragging you away if they grab you?”

  His voice was harsher than he intended. Sarah bit her bottom lip and avoided his gaze.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  Tim shook his head.

  “Just choose the alchemist. It will allow you to craft different potions that’ll be extremely useful. We’ll finally have something to do with all these monster parts we keep picking up,” he said.

  Sarah hesitated.

  “I can’t craft potions and help you fight at the same time,” she said.

  Tim nodded.

  “Exactly.”

  Sarah went wide-eyed.

  “You aren’t leaving me behind!”

  “Victoria is gone!” Tim shouted.

  Sarah was thrown off by his fervor; he never screamed at her.

  “You’re slowing me down. You’re absorbing half the experience and drawing extra aggro, making it impossible to manage how many enemies we fight. I don’t have time to babysit you. I need to level up fast to fight my way toward the city and help Ben.

  If you really want to help, stay out of the way. Make potions for me so I can survive better. This is life and death, Sarah. I can’t afford mistakes. Victoria’s life depends on it. Or is proving something more important?”

  Sarah opened her mouth to argue.

  The words were already there. She had used them her entire life whenever someone told her she couldn’t do something, whenever someone underestimated her.

  She just needed time. The right role. The right opportunity.

  But the memory betrayed her.

  The bow snapping in her hands like it was made of twigs. The rapier wrenched from her grip as if it weighed nothing. The way the creature had lifted her with one arm, not even bothering to kill her.

  Her throat tightened.

  It wasn’t Tim’s words that stopped her. It was reality.

  She looked down at her hands. They were still trembling.

  Tim was right. Not because he wanted to be. Not because he enjoyed saying it. But every fight had proven it over and over.

  For the first time in her life, she felt small.

  Her pride burned. Her eyes stung.

  But Victoria’s face rose in her mind.

  Sarah exhaled shakily.

  “Fine,” she said.

  The word tasted bitter in her mouth.

  She pulled up her system interface with hands that still wouldn’t steady. Her eyes lingered on the other classes a second too long: Archer. Cleric. Mage.

  Then she forced herself to look at the last option.

  Alchemist.

  Sarah closed her eyes and made her choice.

  Immediately, several items appeared in her inventory: an alchemist book, crafting materials, and several potions. Her eyes widened in surprise.

  “What is it?” Tim asked.

  Sarah manifested the potions from her inventory; they fell in front of her like rain. Tim was equally surprised.

  “I guess this was the right choice,” she said.

  She tried to hide how defeated she sounded. Tim picked up a few potions to inspect them.

  “This will do. Let’s get you back to the church. You’ll need a safe spot to work. When I played the game, we had guild alchemists, so I know how powerful you can be as a support class. You’ll make it much easier for me to level up. This is a good thing, Sarah,” Tim said.

  Sarah gritted her teeth.

  “Just help me up,” she said.

  Tim nodded and helped her to her feet. Her ankle was still heavily swollen, but the bone was no longer sticking out. He grabbed a potion and presented it to her. Sarah shook her head.

  “No, that would be a waste. You need every potion to level efficiently. Just take me back to the church. I’ll recover naturally there, and I can still work on potion-making while I heal,” Sarah said.

  Tim hesitated.

  “Are you sure?”

  Sarah huffed and wrapped her arms around Tim’s neck. He picked her up bridal style.

  “Victoria needs us,” Sarah said.

  Tim gave an approving nod and smiled. He knew her well enough to understand how hard it was for her to put pride aside for the greater good.

  “Thank you, Sarah. I’m proud of you,” Tim said.

  Sarah looked away in frustration.

  “Just hurry up.”

  Tim nodded and sprinted away from the city with Sarah cradled in his arms.