Stolen by the System

Cara’s trusty arrow lodged in the gorilla’s neck. The damage was minimal, but it stunned the beast, sending it stumbling straight into the path of Gramok’s huge sword.

He sliced through its scalp and stepped to the side, just barely evading being crushed as the charging creature fell.

The gorilla thudded against the ground and slid to a halt. Blood gushed out of the gaping head wound, yet it continued to groan.

In the corner of Cara’s vision, Kegan dodged one of the wolves chasing him and launched an arrow at the gorilla. Cara’s chest tightened as he narrowly evaded huge canine teeth claiming his leg.

“I’ve got this!” Cara shouted, dashing forward and activating Rapid Shot.

They had to finish the gorilla before it got over its skull being slashed open, but not at the cost of Kegan’s life. Three shots point-blank into its head—that had to get the job done.

Critical hit! 33 piercing damage dealt! Bleeding Lightly injury inflicted!

5 force damage dealt!

Critical hit! 39 piercing damage dealt! Bleeding Heavily injury inflicted!

13 force damage dealt!

Glancing blow! 13 piercing damage dealt!

6 force damage dealt!

Rapid Shot running out, she pulled another arrow from her quiver. It had to be dead, right?

Huge, blank eyes stared right at her. It lifted its head, and its putrid breath clogged in her throat.

No. Way. Two arrows buried into its skull, its brain showing, and it was still going.

The beast’s jaws opened, and it roared.

The blast wave hurled her back. Dirt smashed against her back, darkness consumed her vision, her ears rang, her thoughts scattered.

A sickening crunch filled the air, followed by a loud thud.

She blinked her eyes open to a groggy haze. Gramok’s sword lay discarded in the dirt.

Ice filled her chest. Gramok?

No!

A wolf snarled, closing fast. Shit! Where was her bow?

The wolf leaped. Her hand clasped her knife—too late.

An arrow struck the wolf’s neck, dropping it a mere moment before its jaws closed around her throat.

Cara shuddered with relief. Another arrow flew over her head, then another.

Pushing through the mental fog, Cara grabbed her bow and scrambled to her feet, searching for Gramok.

There! Gramok swung his mace down on a snake’s head, ending it with a brutal squelch. Beside him lay the corpse of the gorilla, its skull completely caved in.

Cara trembled with laughter. Should have known it would take more than that to stop Gramok. She nocked another arrow and head-shotted one of the few remaining wolves.

It yelped and dropped to the floor. Its legs twitched twice, and then it was done.

All around, wood elven arrows finished off the last few wolves and snakes. Further up the line, rangers converged on a gorilla. They made quick work of it, but the trail of destruction it had left wretched at Cara’s heart.

One of the archery nests was completely obliterated, its prior occupants strewed across the ground. Wood elves rushed towards them, frantically healing and triaging those still moving.

921 XP received!

Was it over? Had they won?

Her fingers tightened around her bow. No. They’d “won” this round, but it this was far from over. She slung the bow over her back and got to work healing Gramok and Kegan.

“Trees!” Nola shouted. “Corrupted trees, gathering in the forest—plus a bunch of other creatures.”

Prepare yourselves, Elivala Messaged. Use fire against the trees.

Cara switched her bow to Fire and shouted back to the civilians, “Light the braziers!” She looked up at Nola and Messaged her, How many trees?

Nola stared at the tree line. After a few agonizingly long seconds, she held up both her hands with all her fingers extended.

Over 144 trees? Plus whatever other dungeon spawn were with them.

Cara stared out across the clearing and gulped. Forest preserve us. Even with fire arrows and every caster having fire magic, that was too many.

“I believe this is yours,” Gramok said, holding up her myrellium arrow.

“Thanks.” She slid it back into her quiver and tried to keep her chin from trembling. “Nice work with the gorilla.”

He grinned and clapped her on the back. “Couldn’t have done it without your Stunning Shot. We’re going to get through this.”

“Are we?”

“Damned right we are! The conclusion to my adventures isn’t dying to a tree.”

Cara gave him a look and shook her head. “What if we do?”

“We won’t, but…” He shrugged. “If we do, then we’ve lived a lifetime.”

Cara sighed but said nothing. Barely over a hundred years wasn’t a lifetime, and many of those about to die hadn’t even lived that. She stared out at the Forest—the Forest now full of forces gathering to destroy her home.

This wasn’t right. The Forest was home! It looked after them and they looked after it. Why was it trying to kill them now?

Everything had turned upside down, even the tree-song. Especially the tree-song. The warm, comforting blanket that had always been there for her was gone, replaced by a twisted carcass only growing more bitter by the hour.

Except…

Warmth flickered at the edge of the tree-song. Was that her imagination? Her heart fluttered. “Do you feel that?”

Gramok frowned. “Feel what?”

Another flicker, then another. A small bastion of hope in a maelstrom of fear and sorrow.

Cara turned and stared at Kegan, a smile daring to creep across her lips. “You feel that, right?”

He stared at her, his eyes wide, and nodded slowly.

Help was on the way. Ted? Her heart quivered. It had to be Ted, it had to be! With wood elven rangers, dwarves, maybe even the Imperial Army. And they couldn’t be far.

Not long now. All they had to do was hold out a little longer.

Elivala’s voice boomed, magically amplified. “Aid will arrive soon. Let them find a village of brave souls, every last one a ranger. For the Forest, for our ancestors, for the lives of us all—we shall fight, and we shall be victorious!”

A cheer ran through the civilians, followed a moment later by rather less enthusiastic rangers.

Despite the aching doubt in her heart, Cara joined them. Gramok was right. They had to believe they could win.

They had to.

“Dungeon spawn on the move!” Nola shouted.

The tree line rustled and dungeon spawn poured forth. Cara nocked an arrow and lifted her bow.

Please, Ted. Be quick.

***

Between firebolts and fire-runed axes, the three corrupted trees barring the way to Tolabar went down easily.

572 XP received!

“They never stood a chance,” Ted said, casting a Freeze spell to put out one corpse while Luther and Zelig handled the other two.

Prowler Edana smirked and ran her hand through her fiery red hair. “I told you! Who doesn’t love fire?”

Ted looked at her, wondering how she could be cheery at a time like this. “And to think Jeremy threatened to kill me if I ever used fire magic in the Forest.”

“That old spoilsport?” Edana laughed and retook the lead, hurrying past the stretch of rotting wood that encircled Tolabar. “Come, we’re close.”

She bounded toward the closest living tree and pressed her hand to it.

Her whole body tensed up. She turned around, her face a pale expression of terror.

A lump formed in Ted’s throat. “What is it?”

Edana gasped for air and trembled. “They need us, right now! They’re at the Redoubt. Rangers, on me, full speed.”

With that, the other Erinbar rangers fell in behind her and they sprinted away. Luther barked out orders, assigning pace setters with varying levels of Dexterity.

The Redoubt. Ted’s stomach turned to stone. They’d never leave the civilians undefended, which meant everyone was there. A last stand.

And the speed those rangers were sprinting? Ted gulped. Never get caught in the Forest without stamina. They’d run out of stamina long before they made it to Tolabar—it had to be desperate.

How long would it take even the fastest of them to get there? Ten, twenty minutes?

What if that was too long? What if Cara—

Think, Ted! Too far to Teleport. Could they Levitate there faster? No, that was a stupid idea. It’d be far too dangerous to fly through the forest alone at speed, let alone with others.

Unless they went over. But even with a continuous spell, he’d run out of mana long before they got there.

His jaw clenched together, and a terrible, terrifying plan formed in his mind.

The Redoubt had a huge, open clearing.

A perfect target to aim for.

Crazy or not, it would be the fastest way. Ted gritted his teeth, wishing there was another way.

If there was, his mind wasn’t offering it up. “Ardic, give me your six best combatants. I can get us there fast.”

Ardic paused and nodded to Luther. Luther barked out more orders to his lieutenant and rounded up Zelig, Alba, Grimhilt, and a couple of armored soldiers wielding fire-runed axes.

Five mages and two fighters. It would have to be enough. Every extra person increased the odds of it going wrong, and if it did…

Ted swallowed and tried not to think about just how messy that would be.

Forcing himself to breathe slowly, he stared up at the sky beyond the towering trees. They really were big, bigger than any tree had the right to be.

No. Now wasn’t the time for gawking. He stood beneath a relatively clear section of the canopy and dropped his continuous Force/Absorb. “Gather around, hold tight, and drop any Absorb spells you’re running.”

The six dwarves formed a ring around him. Each held on to Ted and the one on their right.

“Absorb won’t block Levitate,” Zelig said, his Absorb spell still running.

Ted pushed down the quivers in his chest and gathered his mana. “I know. Trust me.”

Zelig frowned and stopped his Absorb spell. “You better know what you’re doing.”

“I do.” Ted forced out a smile. In theory, this would work just fine.

In theory.

He cast a Force/Area/Levitate spell and pulled them upward, making a mental note of how fast they accelerated.

Air rushed across his skin as they flew straight upward, toward the distant sky. Peering up, Ted threaded them through the gaps as best he could, counting the seconds and estimating their altitude.

A few branches whipped against their faces, but nothing major. They broke through the canopy into blinding sunlight and kept going higher.

Ted squinted, his eyes slowly adjusting to the light. Where was the target?

There! The Redoubt—a wide clearing in the ocean of trees, but for the few central trees.

He ran the parabolic calculations in his head, estimating and rounding heavily. It didn’t need to be perfect on the first impulse, just close enough.

Ted’s heart raced as he triple-checked the Force/Area/Telekinesis spell and gathered his mana. A miscast here would be catastrophic.

“Hold tight!” With a lump in his throat, Ted cast the spell. “Raka-pa ki!”

It hurled the group up and toward the Redoubt. Hot, humid wind buffeted them and trees hurtled by below as they entered freefall.

“Twist!” Ted shouted, praying the other heard him over the wind. “I need to be able to see where we’re going.”

Luther chuckled and shook his head. “Lad, you’re crazier than I thought.”

The group twisted and spun in the air, bringing the Redoubt back into view. They were off course—too far left, and falling too fast.

Ted cast a weaker Force/Area/Telekinesis spell, adjusting their heading and boosting their speed.

Much better.

They stylishly fell toward the Redoubt and figures came into view. Tiny figures, fighting even tinier figures.

Tiny figures growing larger and larger by the moment.

How fast were they going? Ted’s breath caught in his throat. Fast enough that if he messed this up, if he miscalculated even slightly—

No. He’d get it right. He had to. Cara was depending on him.

Those bigger blobs—were they corrupted trees?

Shit. There had to be at least a hundred of them! And that was even before accounting for the smaller, brown dungeon spawn. Wolves?

Against those kinds of numbers, seven more combatants wouldn’t do shit, even if one of them was Luther. Not unless they could multiply their power a hundred-fold.

His gaze settled on the blocks of archers at the back, nearly a hundred a piece. Ted reboosted their speed and smiled. “Luther, reckon you can learn a spell in one go?”

“If need be.”

Good. That left the choice of where to land. The dungeon spawn were thinner in the middle and heavier on the flanks. It’d be best to drop in there, where they’d be most needed.

The only orc on the field was on the right flank, knee-deep in enemies, crushing them with a mace, his armor positively gleaming. Behind him, two wood elves dodged and weaved between wolves and corrupted trees in a frantic battle to survive.

Ted’s heart skipped a beat. One of them had to be cara.

He fired off another Telekinesis spell, fine-tuning the approach vector to land by the block of archers behind Gramok.

The moment of truth approached. “Hold on!” Ted shouted.

He cast Force/Area/Levitate. The spell pulled upward and spun the party feet first again.

The ground continued to hurtle toward them, growing ever larger at a terrifying rate.

Zelig gripped him tighter. “Ted!”

Ignoring the wild panic rising in his chest, Ted pulled on his mana for one last spell.

Forest preserve us.