Chapter 14: I Don’t Have the [MP] for this Crap

“What is that thing?” I asked. My hands were up, but I couldn’t do anything without dropping to [0 MP], and I really wanted to avoid that.

“Its name is literally floating above its head, Madi.” Peter had his sword out, but even he looked a little freaked out by this next monster.

At the surface, it wasn’t all that bad. It was just Grandma’s favorite recliner, complete with worn leather and stains, just like I always remembered it.

The part that wasn’t part of my memory was the mouth of giant fangs and red eyes which communicated very clearly “I wish to eat you.”

[Overused Recliner]

[Level 6]

“It’s a whole level above us, and we’re all low on [MP]. There’s no way we can take this thing on,” Bethany said.

“Leave it to me. You guys just stay out of my way. I can do this,” Peter said.

He took on a confident stance, but I still doubted his ability to handle this monster completely on his own. As wonderfully talented as my brother was, he wasn’t invincible and often took for granted how often other people helped him achieve the important things in his life.

“Peter!” Bethany had her hands out, but she didn’t cast anything as our brother dashed to meet the raging [Recliner] that was making its way down the hallway.

Sword met leather as Peter slid to the side at the last moment, dragging his blade along the monster as he went.

The [Overused Recliner] howled and spun with shocking agility to bite at him, but Peter was already on his feet and dodging the teeth with expertise I wouldn’t have expected from such a lanky teenager.

Peter stabbed his sword into the top of the chair-creature, spilling out stuffing but failing to kill it.

“Watch out!” I pointed at the picture frames which were shaking on the wall, just as the [Bitter Ancestors] had done earlier.

“I’ve got this! Stop distracting me!” Peter jumped back as the [Recliner] lunged at him with an open mouth of fangs.

“[Shield],” Bethany said.

A wall of yellow appeared at a slant, protecting Peter from the four incoming flying picture frame monsters that had their sights on him. The [Bitter Ancestors] slammed into the [Shield] and then froze.

I held my breath as they slowly turned to gaze at us, their newly formed fanged mouths wide open.

“Crap,” Bethany whispered.

Peter continued to battle with the [Recliner], but the [Ancestors] had a new target, and all four of them flew straight towards me and my sister.

“A [Shield], Beth?” I suggested.

“I don’t have enough [MP]. That one used the last of it,” she said.

If only the System could display the most important information as an overlay instead of only on a screen so I could easily see my [MP]. But that would make life too easy.

I called up the blue screen and then dismissed it immediately, glancing only at the most important stat.

[2/30 MP]

Putting both hands out, I focused on all four picture frames. “[Push All].”

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

The [Bitter Ancestors] were flung back down the hallway, spinning in different directions from my [skill]. Beth remained close to me, her hands held up despite her not being able to do anything.

“Peter, we could use your help,” I called out.

“I’m–a little–busy.” He jumped to the side as the [Recliner] made another attempt to bite him. Sweat coated his forehead, plastering his brown hair to his skin, and his arms looked shaky as they held the large sword.

“This isn’t working. We have to retreat,” I said.

“Yeah. Come on, Peter. Let’s regroup and recharge,” Bethany agreed.

“No!” Peter stabbed at the [Overused Recliner], but it nimbly lunged to the side, avoiding the strike entirely.

“Mads, the [Ancestors].” Bethany pointed at the flying pictures which had recovered themselves and were now coming back towards us.

“Any chance on that [Shield] being ready now?” I took a step back.

“Not even close.”

“Peter, come on.” I didn’t wait to see if my brother was going to follow as I turned and sprinted away from the monsters, Bethany on my heels.

We hadn’t gone very fair before I discovered the Dungeon’s next dirty trick–moving walls. The path we’d taken to get here was closed off. We had no way out of here except through the monsters.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” I put my hand against the blue wall which had been our escape route only a couple of minutes before.

“Madi!” Bethany pulled me to the ground with her.

Spit dripped on me from above as the [Bitter Ancestors] dove right into where our heads had previously been. I stood up, pulling Bethany with me, and then ran back down the hallway towards the raging battle between Peter and the [Recliner]. It was pretty clear that Peter was losing. His sword was drooping, and the [Overused Recliner] had managed to injure him at least a little since he had a trail of blood across his arm.

“You just had to try, didn’t you Peter? Couldn’t play it safe again. No, because dying is so much fun,” Bethany said to him as we ran.

“I’m going to get us out of this,” he said. His voice was a lot less confident than it’d been a minute ago, destroying whatever hope I still had of us getting out of this in one piece.

His eyes went wide. “Duck!”

Bethany and I dove to the ground, and I caught a glimpse of the [Bitter Ancestors] lunging above in what would have definitely been a killshot.

The frames didn’t stop as they crossed through the open air, and I followed their gaze to see that they’d selected a new target already. Peter was reenaged with the [Recliner], so the incoming threat went unnoticed.

“Peter, watch out!” I got to my knees, but I knew there was no way I’d reach him in time. All four frames and the chair were about to converge on him at the same moment, and my warning had done nothing more than distract him, creating a better opening for all of the monsters to strike.

Bethany was next to me with terrified eyes, but I knew that she couldn’t do anything to help. Nowhere near enough time had passed for her to have her [MP] recovered.

But, maybe, just maybe, enough time had passed that I recovered one of mine. If not, I guess I’d be learning what overdrawing [MP] would do, but hopefully this would still work.

I held my hand out and focused on a single target, Peter. “[Pull].”

My brother jerked away at the last second as the pictures of old ancestors swooped down at where he’d been. The [Recliner] tried to lunge at him, but my [skill] was too fast, [Pulling] Peter all the way down the hall to where Bethany and I were at.

He took shaky breaths. “Thank you, Madi. I was about to die.”

“Don’t thank me until we’re actually out of this mess.” I got to my feet, my hands up despite the fact I didn’t have enough [MP] to do anything useful.

“Guys, look,” Bethany said.

I glanced to the side to see what my sister was pointing at.

A door! I didn’t know if that had been there before or not, but I was grateful to the stupid Dungeon anyway. We might actually avoid horrific deaths this time around.

Bethany grabbed the handle and pulled it open, ducking inside before she could even take a proper look. I went after her, trusting that whatever lay on the other side was better than the fight out here. Peter came last, but as he went to close the door, the [Overused Recliner] caught up to us.

It wedged itself in the door, its long brown tongue lashing out at Peter’s legs as he tried to shove the thing away. The [Bitter Ancestors] appeared in the scene too, hovering just above the [Recliner].

“Peter, let go and step back,” I commanded.

My brother gave me a questioning look, but he did as I asked anyway. I put my hands out and made my peace with the fact that I was going to learn what overdrawing [MP] did after all.

“[Push All].”

The magic left my fingers, launching all of the creatures out of the doorway. The last thing I saw was Peter going to yank the door shut as I collapsed to the floor.