All eyes briefly went to Kim, who just smiled at the group. “Kim reminded me how vast the world is. The fastest way to level is hitting all the zones in your range and doing the quests, as I’m sure you’ve all worked out already. I’d like to remind you all that there are zones and dungeons for each level range in the Dwarven, Elven and Lunari lands as well. That gives you all eleven zones and dungeons to work through at each step, not just three.”
That caused lots of excited chatter as people realized how many more options they had. He let it go on for a minute, then held his hands up for attention again. “That’s what my team and I will be doing, working our way through the quests and dungeon for each zone. We’re actually going to backtrack for a bit, since we missed a chunk of them. So we’ll all be out and having a good time at once, but spread out enough so we can hit them all without crowding any one zone at a time. Any questions?”
“Can I join your team?” someone in the crowd asked.
“We’re full up, sorry,” Alburet replied. “If you’re not already part of a team, now is a good time to hook up with anyone else in the same boat. I’d like to see everyone part of a team. If we’re short on tanks or healers, grab people from outside the guild. If they’re good at what they do, then build a relationship with them and use them. Any other questions?”
“About the quests, are they solo or team driven?” Violet asked.
“Team driven, mostly. One is for dungeons the other is for loot from each zone, so a team will always be ahead. We are thinking up stuff for our solo players to do as well, but it might be a few days until we can finalize anything. While you’re all here, I also want to thank you all for adhering to Alpha Company’s guidelines. It makes me proud to know that you’re all as driven as we are, yet can still act civilly to the people who call this world home.”
“Can I get me a wife like yours?” another voice called out from the crowd.
“It’s possible,” Alburet replied. “But, just like in the other world it takes effort. Find someone and see if you click, just treat them like you would anyone else. Okay, that’s it. Quests launch in five minutes. Happy hunting, folks.”
As he clambered down from the desk he saw several groups headed out already. He chuckled, knowing they’d got the hint and were headed to the portal guild.
“Not bad,” Gerald told Alburet once he was back on the floor. “Not quite polished, but still it made them feel like we care.”
“Because we do,” Marysue reminded him.
“So how was your talk last night?” Alburet asked.
“I told him I am willing to see if we can expand our friendship,” Marysue replied, “he seems a little lost now.”
“I’m not lost,” Gerald retorted gently. “I just want it to be perfect.”
Karen shook her head, “Nothing ever is, Gerald. Just be you, but now you can do things like hold her hand.”
Marysue took his hand, “She gives you good advice. We can take it slow, we have time here away from dad. Slow and steady, okay?”
Gerald swallowed, nodding, his eyes focused on their joined hands. “I… yes.”
“Aye, she cares for ya just as much, Gerald,” Stacia added.
“They all left in a hurry,” Kim cut in, nodding at the now empty room.
Alburet grinned, “Good. Speaking of which, guys, let’s go hit up the Cursed Woods first.”
“Sounds good,” Karen said.
“Alburet?” Fluff said softly.
“Yeah, Fluff?”
“About the offer Stacia made the other day,” Fluffball swallowed and groomed an ear, “Lilith said Stacia is ready. Can I take you up on the offer?”
Gerald blinked, “What offer?”
Alburet ignored him and took Fluff’s hand gently, “Of course you can, Fluff. Tonight after hunting, okay? Yes, you too, Karen.”
Karen stopped bouncing in place and grinned, “I’ll help her get all her stuff together, and thanks.”
“Aye, ya both be welcome under our roof,” Stacia gave them both a hug.
“Wait you’re going to be living with them?” Gerald asked.
“We have a second room, and it will help Fluff to be close to Stacia,” Alburet told him. “Now get whatever thoughts you have in your head out.”
Karen cocked her hip to the side, “Send them to me, instead. Maybe it will give me more ideas on how to tempt him out of his idea of monogamy.”
Gerald blinked in surprise as Alburet face-palmed, “Oh, so it’s not like what I thought, then. Err, sorry about that. It’s just that they all like you, and, well, you’ve already been with two of them.”
Fluff was beet red, hand frozen in the air near her ear “No! No, it’s just so Stacia is closer, to make it easier for her to help me with my issues.”
Marysue raised a brow as she squeezed Gerald’s hand, “Leave them alone. Look at how uncomfortable Fluff is right now.”
Fluff turned even redder and began to groom both of her ears. Karen stepped over and started rubbing one of her ears, “Sorry, Fluff.”
“So am I,” Alburet added, rubbing her other ear.
Fluff froze but began to purr loudly. Her blush faded, her eyes closed to slits and she shifted her head slightly side to side, as if trying to find the optimal spot.
The others watched with grins at just how cat-like she seemed in that moment. After a minute, Karen and Alburet stopped rubbing her ears. “Okay, we ready to go hit the Cursed Woods?” Alburet asked.
Unanimous agreement met his question and the group filed out of the guild hall in pairs, looking like three couples out for a stroll. Vanessa turned to Kim, “Wow, that is an odd group.”
“Two-souled all seem odd to me. They are the best I’ve met so far. At least they care about us.”
Vanessa pursed her lips, “You might have a point.”
Chapter Twenty
They picked up the quests from the Sergeant at the fort and headed out. They were able to easily kill off the Cursed Imps, Cursed Destroyers and Cursed Succubi required for one set of quests before heading into the dungeon. The ‘dungeon’ for the Cursed Woods was a set of stones like Stonehenge, only larger, set in a clearing deep in the woods. Instead of a portal to walk through, this dungeon was handled in a different way.
Fluff walked over near the center of the Henge, “A pop-up appears once someone steps into this spot asking if you want to start the encounter. Accepting the encounter puts us into a phased private zone for the duration, until either all the demons are dead or we all are. There are twenty waves of Infernals. The next wave spawns as soon as all of the previous wave is dead, and there are more of them in every wave. No boss, just survive.”
“Same sorts that we’ve already fought?” Karen asked.
“Yes, and with the same abilities,” Fluff replied. “Is everyone ready?”
“Let Marysue start us off,” Alburet told Fluff. “We can circle her at the start of it. Put Tiny and Gerald on opposite sides of the circle, they can each taunt their side of the circle that way.”
“If the next wave doesn’t spawn until the last one is all dead, then using a Summoner here will help. We can use Stacia’s Daze on the final mob or two of a wave to take a break and let people regain mana if needed,” Gerald told them. There were nods all around.
Everyone got into position and let Marysue know when they were ready. “Okay, here we go,” she told them as she tapped the pop-up to start the encounter.
The first few waves were just Imps. They weren’t hard to deal with, but the DPS was forced to move out to them, as the Imps were happy to stand out of reach throwing Fire Blasts at the group. The fourth wave saw the first Destroyer appearing among the Imps. On the tenth wave, the first Succubus appeared and was able to Daze Marysue. By that time, there were also three Destroyers in each wave along with the Imps.