Chapter 19: A [Quest] For All

“You really need to learn a little patience,” Bethany said to our younger brother.

“Yeah, Peter. Have more faith in me. They don’t let just anyone into Stanford.” I grinned at my brother before ducking as the picture frames I disturbed came to life and dove at me with open mouths full of sharp fangs.

My brother took several steps back down the hallway, giving him plenty of room to aim as he called up his bow and quiver.

I rolled to the side, dodging another pitiful attempt from a [Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor] to bite me and then stood up and put my hands out. “[Push All].”

All six frames launched backwards. Bethany stood up next to me and cast her [Shield] to block them off completely.

“What are you doing, Beth? I can’t kill them if there’s a [Shield] up,” Peter complained.

She glared at him. “We’re supposed to all be contributing equally. I’m only trying to do my part.”

“Did you upgrade [Calm]? Maybe it’ll be effective against them now,” I said.

Bethany shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it. I put my [Skill Point] into [Nourishment] instead because I thought that would be more useful.”

“And how is a handful of trail mix going to assist us in killing monsters?” Peter asked.

“Last I checked, not starving to death was a requirement to getting to fight more,” Bethany reminded him.

I shot my brother a dirty look. “Knock it off, Peter. Beth is a big part of this team. We just need to think about how best to utilize her [Shields] in this fight while you and I share in taking these six down."

“I know! She can drop the stupid [Shield], and then we’ll kill them like we always do,” Peter suggested in a sarcastic tone.

My brother really could be the worst. He’d always been overly obsessed with himself.

“The [quest], Peter. Remember?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Fine. Let’s try to finish that lame [quest]. I could use a level up too. What’s the plan?”

Both he and Bethany looked at me, but I could only bite my bottom lip as I tried to think of something to satisfy them. I would never say it aloud, but Peter was a little bit right that Bethany’s [skills] weren’t all that useful in a fight at the moment since [Calm] was so underpowered. Maybe it was dumb to try and complete this [quest] against small enemies like the [Bitter Ancestors]. She was really effective with her [Shields] against the [Recliners] so it might be smarter to seek one of those out instead.

But then that posed the problem of dividing up the [Last Traces of Bitter Ancestors] which accompanied the [Overused Relincers], and that was our problem here anyway.

“Wow? The most brilliant Madison Howard didn’t have an instant solution? Someone pinch me, this must be a dream,” Peter said, slapping one hand against his face as though he were in shock.

“Stop it. She has a plan.” Bethany glanced at me with pleading eyes. “You do have a plan, right Madi?”

I paused for an awkwardly long moment and then nodded. “Yes. I do. I just wanted to think through it several times to make sure I wasn’t forgetting any variables.”

“This isn’t your stupid math class,” Peter muttered.

Bethany punched his shoulder. “Enough complaining. My gosh, Peter. Grow up. You’re a legal adult now so act like it.”

He stuck his tongue out as she turned away, but I wasn’t a snitch, so Bethany never learned of his disrespect.

“Beth, can you move a [Shield] once you’ve placed it?” I asked.

“I’ve never tried,” she admitted.

I gestured to the active [Shield] with the flying picture frames on the other side. “Try now.”

She nodded and put her hands out. Her brow knitted in concentration, and a smile crossed my face as the glowing golden wall slid back in the hallway, shoving the [Ancestors] with it.

Bethany gave me a glowing grin, her hands still outstretched. “I think I see where this is going.”

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“Good,” I put my hands up. “Then we can handle this pretty easily. We each eliminate two of the picture frames. No more than that.” I directed the last bit to my brother who nodded with an annoyed look.

Originally I’d just wanted Beth to section off the enemies for me and Peter to fight separately, but I also thought it was worth it for her to try using her [Shield] to kill some of them entirely on her own. If we each killed two, that would be the most obvious route to sharing the burden equally in the fight.

“Dropping the [Shield] now,” Bethany said.

The magical wall separating us from our enemies disappeared, and the enraged [Bitter Ancestors] flew towards us. A new [Shield] appeared, cutting two of them off from the rest. Peter shot an arrow that drove straight through another, and I used two [Pulls] to rip one of my two apart.

I got double notifications from mine and Peter’s kills.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[10 XP Gained]

Peter fired off another arrow, and I used my [skills] to take out my second one, repeating the notifications.

I dropped my hands and looked over to where Bethany had separated herself and her two [Bitter Ancestors]. Both of them were still alive, but one was stuck up against the wall with a smaller [Shield]. The other was constantly diving towards her, forcing Bethany to duck and dodge while still maintaining concentration on the [Shields].

“Come on, Beth. You’ve got this. You can drop the first [Shield] if you want. Peter and I are finished out here,” I told her. “We’ll distract the second one. You worry about that one you already caught.”

Peter kept his bow in his hands, but I grabbed a hold of the sleek wood, ensuring it remained down as the big yellow [Shield] disappeared.

“Distraction only,” I whispered to him, making sure my face was as serious as I could make it.

“I understand,” he said.

“Don’t screw this up for us.” I released the bow and focused on the [Ancestor] that was bothering my sister. “Hey, [Ancestor]. Come here and let me show you how little I appreciate you and your sacrifices.”

The thing screeched and flew towards me and Peter. We both darted out of the way as it swooped towards our heads, and I noticed in relief that my brother finally relinquished his bow. It was up to our sister to kill these last two frames.

“It’s not working!” Bethany shouted.

It was Peter who encouraged her this time, beating me to the words. “You’ve got this, Beth. Don’t give up yet.”

I yanked him down with me as the [Bitter Ancestor] made another attack ploy. My body was getting sore from all the dodging around these thing, but I promised myself to give Beth at least five more minutes of trying before we scraped the plan and Peter and I finished off the flying photo frames

“Come on, Bethany. Kill it already,” I murmured under my breath.

“Dibs on taking both out if she can’t,” Peter added in his own quiet voice.

I shoved him, mostly disappointed that I let my own doubts show for a moment. However, a miracle occurred, disproving those same doubts.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[10 XP Gained]

I looked up to see Bethany drop the [Shield] as the frame she’d pinned against the wall crumbled into dust. She actually did it!

My sister held her hands as the final [Bitter Ancestor] came towards her, and with a word, another [Shield] appeared which she used to force it against the wall. It still took several seconds of intense concentration–at least it looked intense based on the face she made–but eventually she did succeed in smashing it to bits, officially ending the fight.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[10 XP Gained]

[Quest Complete:]

[Team Spirit]

[Level up!]

We all cheered and embraced in a group hug. (Okay, fine, that part was forced on Peter) The [quest] was complete, and we had another level up already. That put us in a good place to continue through this floor without worrying quite so much about the monsters waiting down the hallways.

“Let’s use our points now,” Peter suggested. “I’m ready to get back into our journey and track down that boss entrance.”

Bethany and I both agreed, and I called up my screen.

[Temporary Class:]

[Kinetic Mage, Level 7]

[MP: 40/40]

[XP: 160/750]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 1] [+]

[Agility: 5] [+]

[Speed: 3] [+]

[Intelligence: 6] [+]

[Charisma: 2] [+]

[Luck: 1] [+]

[Attribute Points Available: 1]

[Temporary Effect: MP Overdraw]

“I’m going to up my [Agility] again. After this I’ll split my points between that and [Intelligence],” I informed my siblings, hitting the [+] next to it. “It’s pretty nice that the bonus level up didn’t increase the [XP] we need for our next one.”

“No kidding. That’s a huge win,” Bethany said. “Putting my point in [Intelligence].”

“Mine’s going to [Speed]. On our next level up I should get my passive,” Peter said. “I’m going to put my [Skill Point] into [Swordsmanship] since those [Recliners] are so tough to kill.”

“I’ll up my [Shield].”

“And I increase my [Pull] level since I use that the most against the [Bitter Ancestors].” I flipped to my [skills] tab and did as I planned.

[Skills:]

[Push: Level 3]

[Pull: Level 4]

[Push All: Level 2]

[Pull All: Level 2]

[Skill Points Available: 0]

[Passive Skills:]

[MP Conservation]

I closed the screen and nodded to my brother. With that [quest] out of the way, all we had to do now was find the entrance to the second floor boss, wherever that might be.