Marcus placed a finger to his temple. “Elias, Savannah. Get back here now. We have a momma lure on the beach, with another unidentified boss coming toward us from the ocean.”

  Marcus held out a hand, and a crossbow materialized in his palm. Across the side of the weapon were glowing runes, and Richard found himself distracted as a bolt magically loaded itself into the barrel.

  “Level twenty-five boss,” Marcus said to everyone. “Elias, Savannah, and I can take her. Shrub, the newbies are your responsibility; do what you feel is right.”

  Shrub lifted his axe. “Elias and Savannah aren’t here yet. I’m not leaving you alone with her.” The wooden armor on his body shifted and moved, growing bigger and denser.

  The woman lifted her hand and swiped toward the group. Richard scrambled back, feeling the rush of air as the sharp claws barely missed him. For good measure, he took a few more steps back. The woman was resting on her hips, her barnacle legs fused together like some strange mermaid, but without the fins. She couldn’t move well on dry land, so he planned to stay out of the water.

  “Shrub, you and I will fight this thing until Elias and Savannah reach us. We have to kill her fast, because I am not waiting for that island creature to find us.”

  “Newbies, wait for us to distract the main boss.” Shrub pointed toward the sand a distance from the barnacle woman. “Those who feel strong enough, start killing all the lures you can, as that will weaken her. But you must wait until we have her attention, because if she attacks you at all, you will die.”

  Richard unsheathed his dagger, and Fang stared at it with wide eyes.

  “Pick up a rock and get creative. Lures are pretty low-level.” Shrub then pointed at Marcus, whose entire body glowed as if he’d received armor. Marcus patted himself.

  “Thanks.”

  Amber and Fang exchanged terrified glances as Shrub let out a shout and sprinted toward the barnacle woman. Marcus ran forward, holding out his crossbow and shooting bolt after bolt as soon as they magically loaded, all hitting the woman in the face. He started running, and glass plates appeared under his feet as he ran into the air. The woman shrieked, and it was safe to say her attention was now on Marcus and Shrub.

  Richard held up the dagger. “Anyone want it?”

  Leylah wiggled her fingers. “Ooh, gimme.” Once Richard surrendered the dagger over, she ran for the lures in the sand. The woman could still use a fist and pound them into oblivion, but she was too concerned about Marcus and Shrub right now.

  “Come on, you two. You’ve got to get stronger.” Richard knelt in the sand and searched for a rock.

  “Stronger by killing?” A deeply uneasy look settled on Fang’s face.

  “Yes.” His clipped tone was no doubt because of what he and Amber had fought about. Richard found a rock and sensed his newly picked ability approve of its jagged edges. He tossed it to Amber, who caught it. “Take your time. Shrub said they’re low level, and you’re both strong enough to fight against the lure, but we’ve got to move.”

  Richard didn’t bother checking if they followed. He simply picked up another jagged rock and followed Leylah. He felt scattered with everything. Shrub made it seem like they didn’t need to kill the lures, but it was a great opportunity to level up. Considering Amber and Fang were both behind in leveling, he wanted to help them out.

  Richard caught up with Leylah. She was dodging in and out of a patch of flesh. Richard cleared his throat as he remembered how hesitant he had been at killing the splicers. Grabbing a rock and slamming it into a mound of flesh that sounded like a crying baby could be uncomfortable. Though as Richard got closer, he noticed the obvious tentacles coming out of the large flesh head. Leylah made quick work of them, so he had to move further, using his rock to slam it into the lure’s head. The lure had a tiny mouth stuffed with jagged teeth. Richard slammed his rock down again and again before the lure let out a cry and died.

  “You’re looting these, right?” Richard asked as the loot option filled his vision.

  “Of course I am.”

  “Tell me when you’re running out of room. I have extra slots in my inventory.”

  “Scavengers,” Leylah mumbled.

  “Not a scavenger yet.” Richard moved on to the next one. He kept an eye on the ocean, making sure he never touched the water.

  “Right. Of course you’re not. Just like I’m not a guard yet.” Leylah slammed the dagger down into another one.

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  Richard clenched his jaw, telling himself that he had no reason to get angry over this. He still had a choice of which class he wanted.

  Elias and Savannah appeared, sprinting toward the barnacle woman. Richard glanced, curious, as Savannah’s frame shifted. The ghostly form of Savannah started running next to the actual one. When Elias got closer, he tossed something that at first must have been invisible, but when Richard looked again he saw a white, ghostly chain, grabbing the woman and pinning her to one spot. Richard kept his focus divided between killing the lures and watching the fight. Shrub kept hacking away at the woman’s skin with the axe. Marcus was running around on the glass panes that simply appeared under his feet as he moved, trying to shoot her in the eye. Every stab the original Savannah did was doubled by her ghostly image. Elias kept the woman pinned.

  “She’s in the red! Keep going!” Marcus shouted.

  Richard kept killing the lures, understanding the addictiveness of leveling. He watched his experience bar rise closer and closer to halfway. Killing really was the best way to get experience, and he was annoyed Fang and Amber still lingered behind. Despite the perfectly good rock Amber had in her hands, she remained next to Fang, refusing to kill. Richard searched for another lure to get as much experience as he could. If it were he and Leylah, they’d be ready to choose their classes in the next few days.

  The woman gave a shriek as Richard killed another lure.

  “Move! Newbies, move!” Elias shouted.

  Richard and Leylah both looked up. The barnacle woman was dead, and as she fell, she would land on top of them. Richard and Leylah sprinted, and he didn’t feel winded as they moved away from the woman. Elias held her body with his magical chain until Richard and Leylah were safe. The woman fell back, shaking the ground as she hit. Richard kept studying his skill tree. He should have kicked one of the lures. The more he used the ability, the more likely it would level up.

  Richard took a deep breath in, then let it out. He needed to stop being so obsessed with this. Yes, it felt amazing to get stronger, but he didn’t want to put himself at risk because of it.

  Marcus scanned the group. “Alright, if everyone’s accounted for, let’s run.”

  Savannah nodded as her copy shivered back into her. Richard thought it was kind of cool, but knew their safety was important. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the island was nowhere in sight.

  “Uh… Marcus?” Richard asked.

  “Exactly. Run.” Marcus was already turning around.

  Richard didn’t bother questioning it. The tiny group moved fast, and Richard was happy with the experience points he got. He didn’t need any more. He was not that desperate.

  The ground vibrated under his feet, and his stomach lurched.

  Don’t look back. Don’t do it. Just keep running.

  Richard checked over his shoulder again, mentally scolding himself for not listening to his inner thoughts. Sand fell off the island as it rose from the ground. How was it under the earth when he saw it on the water? The implications made Richard deeply uncomfortable. So many creatures were coming out of the ground. Richard recognized it as an enormous crab. Perhaps crab wasn’t the right word, as part of it was already decomposing. Was this some sort of enormous undead crab?

  Wind rushed past Richard’s ears. Before he could comprehend what was happening, saltwater engulfed him and he was thrown off his feet. He wanted to scream, but had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. His body spun in ways he couldn’t control. He threw his arms out, trying to swim as his lungs begged for air.

  All at once, he heard a sucking noise. The saltwater he was still spinning in moved toward the creature. The creature was sucking in the water it had created. And if the creature was doing this while Richard was still in the water…

  He did his best to swim away, but he wasn’t strong enough. Despite the system and all its miracles, his muscles burned with pain as he fought the impossibly strong current.

  Richard kept his eyes closed, but he felt himself approaching the creature. He wasn’t sure how he could tell. Perhaps it was his stronger navigation ability. Or the ability that knew the best escape that was screaming at him that he was headed straight for the creature’s mouth. Either way, he was essentially falling off a cliff, and his brain ordered him to flap his arms.

  Someone grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and shoved him to the side. Richard scraped against the cracked shell. His shoulders and arms were cut open, blood filling the salt water. In return, salt water entered his wounds and stung.

  Richard’s back hit the ground still underwater, but his legs were in the fresh air. He scrambled to his feet, breaking the surface and coughing up salt water. He thought he had kept his mouth firmly shut, but some had gotten in. Richard was on his knees, filling his lungs with briny air. Something slammed into him, knocking him down again. When he felt human legs, he grabbed the torso and made sure the person was in the air.

  It was Amber, gasping for air, flailing around and trying to hit him.

  “It’s me. You’re alright,” Richard said. It was only after he promised she was alright that he realized how close they still were to the enormous undead crab. His shoulder burned with pain, and he instinctively hit his healing ability, feeling the worst of the wounds close up, pushing the salt out as they did so.

  Amber coughed and wheezed, choking on water as she tried to speak. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.

  “You’re alright.” Richard pulled back some of her hair so she could breathe.

  “My leg. It’s broken. I swear it’s broken.”

  The seawater was down enough that he noticed her left leg was at an odd angle.

  “Do you have the ability to heal a wound?” Richard asked.

  Amber didn’t answer. Instead, she let out a cry of pain as her leg snapped back into place. She panted, then cried.

  “Newbies!” It was Marcus’s voice. He couldn’t tell where Marcus was, but he couldn’t deny that he had heard him. “Get back to base camp now! Everyone else, we cannot let this creature live.”

  Richard helped Amber to her feet, and she wobbled on her recently healed leg. He understood the feeling of uncertainty. Richard glanced around, seeing the enormous, jagged legs of the crab way too close for comfort. He had a hold of Amber, afraid of what might happen if he let her go. He was barely standing himself.

  Marcus’s instructions were clear. They needed to get back to base camp. The only problem was there was an enormous, undead crab in the way. And on the other side was a twisted forest. Richard took a steadying breath.

  “Alright. Around the crab we go,” Richard said.