“Fire!” Tony and Burns bellowed in unison and nearly 200 humans unleashed every ranged attack in our arsenal.

  Arrows, spears, spells, and more blasted across the space. The barrier kept monsters out, but did not prevent anyone or anything from exiting the town, so it did not protect the werewolves from our barrage. All down the line, werewolves yipped and howled as the wave of death swept over them.

  Few of them fell, though. Most ignored the wounds we inflicted, even the ones that would have killed other beings, and kept charging. The entire pack slammed against the barrier in almost perfect unison. The shimmering wall of pure magic shook violently.

  And cracked.

  A spiderweb of incandescent white lines shot across the barrier. Tony shouted, “Hit them harder or the barrier will fall!”

  A second wave of attacks blasted out from our lines. I didn’t have good ranged spells that wouldn’t also hurt my allies, but I had a ton of potions and scrolls. A quick scan down the list gave me a good option.

  I rushed forward, hoping no one shot me in the back, only slowing when I approached the barrier. Then I triggered a scroll of Firestorm.

  “Scroll of Firestorm. Spell. Unleash a blizzard of intense flames 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.”

  Intense heat and a wave of red-hot fire erupted from my hands, boiled through the defensive barrier, and rolled over 20 of the attacking werewolves. They howled and rolled in the flames, trying to extinguish their burning fur.

  “Yes!” I shouted, expecting to see the attack break, but even before the flames faded, the werewolves attacked again with renewed fury.

  That was when I noticed a strange thing. The Alpha had paused in his fast dashing back and forth between his pack. My fire storm had missed him, but his fur blackened and smoked for a few seconds as flames danced all around him. At the same time, I realized that although nearly every werewolf was hit by tons of attacks, many of those hits blinked out of existence just before connecting.

  The air around the Alpha shimmered and a torrent of arrows and spells struck it from every side. The Alpha resumed his fast run, charging back and forth behind the line of werewolves, so some of the swarming attacks missed. Many more struck home. Arrows and spears tore into flesh while spells sizzled and exploded and froze against his fur. The wounds healed so fast, if not for my improved Perception, I never would have even seen him get hurt.

  Huh. Another really cool ability. Stinking werewolf Alpha. Redirecting so many of the attacks to himself was brilliant. He ignored them all, his regeneration so advanced, it looked like he could probably wade through the full force of everything we could throw at him without lasting harm, at least for a while. That was a level of power not even Bristleback had shown.

  “We need to try something else,” I shouted to Tony above the din of explosions, battle cries, and wolf howls as I raced back to the attack line.

  The pack was still ignoring the barrage of ranged attacks raining down on them as they tore at the barrier with berserker frenzy. The cracks were spreading, and at this rate, they’d break through before we killed more than a few. Then they’d tear into our forces. Despite our numerical superiority, the battle would get ugly. We couldn’t afford to lose up to a couple hundred people in our first night on stage 2.

  “I’m trying to reinforce the barrier,” Burns shouted back. He and Tony stood together in the center of the lines, with their elites flanking them. “If we can keep it up, we can winnow down the pack. We might not get another chance like this.”

  “It’s not going to hold,” Tony said, more calm than I would have expected. “I can add my barrier spell to it, but that will block outgoing attacks too.”

  “The Alpha is redirecting hits from the pack to himself. With his boss regeneration, he’s ignoring pretty much everything we can throw at him. We’re not doing enough damage.”

  Even Tony’s cool barrier wouldn’t help for long. I pulled a zombie laser rifle from my inventory and sighted on the Alpha, firing off a few shots, but he dodged around so fast, hitting him was more an accidental stroke of good fortune than anything.

  Burns growled, focusing on the Alpha. “If I can get him to stand still for a second, I have a master lightning bolt I can trigger. It should be strong enough to slow him down for a bit, but the cooldown is pretty long.”

  That was a good idea. Every few seconds, Burns unleashed smaller lightning blasts from his fingers to rip across the horde of werewolves. They did little lasting harm, but disrupted the wolves’ momentum as their muscles momentarily seized up.

  “Maybe we should just toss Lucas through,” Sally Rogers said from her place on Tony’s right. “I bet you’d get a target while he’s eating Lucas’s heart.”

  “That’s cold,” I told her. She only shrugged. She’d taken a disliking to me the first time we met. I had forgotten about that until now.

  She seemed proud of that special shield of hers. If I threw her through the barrier, she’d get a perfect chance to test it against the werewolves.

  “I’m open to suggestions,” Burns said, his brows furrowing in concentration. “I’m pouring in all the power I can from the town reserves, but the shield is failing.”

  I hadn’t even known the town had power reserves. I guess the town leaders had access to resources the rest of us didn’t.

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  “Maybe Sally’s not entirely wrong,” I said, getting an insane idea. I’d hoped the need for relying on insane ideas had ended when I escaped stage 1, but I’d rather try one of my ideas rather than Sally’s.

  She looked at me in shock. “I didn’t actually mean it.”

  “I do. Listen, the Alpha wants me. If I can give him a target, that should give you a clear shot, right?”

  “What do you have in mind?” Burns asked. Tony was frowning, as if fighting the urge to tell me to shut up and get back in line.

  “I have a movement spell I can use to soar over the pack. The Alpha will have to jump to try to catch me. While he’s up in the air, he can’t change directions. Can you hit a moving target?”

  Burns flashed a grim smile. “That kind of moving target, I can.”

  “What do you need?” Tony asked, apparently deciding to go along with the plan. Maybe he figured if I got myself killed, he wouldn’t have to deal with me any more.

  “Just a few seconds. I’ll be right back.”

  Turning, I sprinted over to where my team was shooting volleys of spells and arrows at the wolves. I skidded to a halt, shouting Jane’s name, but also pulled the epic bow I’d gotten from Bristleback’s loot from my inventory.

  “Epic Bow of Punishment. This mighty bow, wielded by a herd master, carries his authority and reinforces the wielder’s will. Improves accuracy by 25%. Grants a level-3 Moving Target ability. Grants a level-3 Elemental Touch ability.”

  “Moving Target. Ability. Rare. Adjusts the flight path of your magically-imbued arrow up to 10 degrees per level of ability to home in on your designated target.”

  “Elemental Touch. Ability. Uncommon. Summon magical arrows imbued with your chosen element for 25% additional elemental damage per ability level. Additional effects may unlock depend on chosen element.”

  “Steve, I think you can do more damage with this.” I tossed it over.

  He caught it and whistled when he read the description. Then he laughed and pumped the bow in the air while his old bow disappeared into his inventory. “This is perfect!”

  “Use it well.” I spun to Jane. “The barrier won’t hold. I’m going to distract the Alpha for Burns to hit it with something stronger. I need to borrow your illusion spell.”

  Both Tomas and Ruby started to protest I was an idiot, but I didn’t have time to argue.

  “Borrow my spell?” Jane asked with a frown.

  “I have a temporary ability to Mimic a spell I’m hit with.” I couldn’t explain about my new class spells, and lacked time for a better lie. “So will you hit me with your illusion?”

  “Lucas, we need to talk about this,” Tomas objected, but just then the barrier shook, the cracks spreading with loud snapping sounds. We were out of time. Jane slapped me lightly across the cheek and the world lurched.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! Mimic has captured Mind Bender. Generate realistic illusions to confuse all but the most powerful minds. Time remaining to re-cast the spell: 15 seconds.”

  “Lucas,” Tomas tried again.

  I gripped his shoulder. “I’ve only got seconds. We’ll talk later. Keep everyone safe.”

  “Be careful,” Ruby added, and I couldn’t help glancing over. Her big brown eyes were huge with worry, the worry of a friend for a teammate in danger. That was all.

  I flashed a smile that I hoped looked a lot more confident than I felt. This was a crazy idea, but if I didn’t do it, werewolves would swarm over my team. I’d much rather risk my life than theirs. “See you later.”

  Then I sprinted back to where the town leaders and their retinues were waiting. Burns was sweating from the strain of trying to keep the failing barrier in place while Tony ordered combat teams to prepare for close-quarters fighting.

  Scanning the area, I tried to see everything. The buildings and tents of town marched away behind us in regular rows. They wouldn’t offer any help. Our forces held a solid line along the inside of the perimeter, about 10 yards from the fading barrier. At least 40 werewolves were ripping and tearing at the barrier in a full-on berserker rage, ignoring wounds piling up on them. Only a small number had fallen and looked like they might not get up again.

  Behind them, rushing back and forth in constant motion was the Alpha, his powerful aura a constant pressure. Farther still, the tall trees of the forest rose into the night sky. I picked a couple, planning my route.

  “You have selected your tether points.”

  I moved a lightning resist potion to my hotlist and triggered it. If I was going to play ground wire for Burns, I needed every bit of protection I could get. A warm glow washed through my body and spread out, as if wool was getting packed under my skin. Weird, but hopefully insulating too.

  “Whatever you’re going to do, it needs to be now,” Burns gasped.

  “Ready with your master bolt?”

  “Ready and primed.”

  “Don’t miss.”

  Then I turned to Scott Mortensen, the super-buff, shirtless black guy with the Hulk body-enhancing powers. “I need altitude. How far can you throw me straight up?”

  “Let’s find out,” he laughed and clapped his hands together with a thunderous report. Then he seized me by the shoulders and spun like a discus thrower. His body swelled and he whipped me around even faster. Three quick spins, then he launched me like a rocket straight up.

  I whooped as the ground fell away beneath me. When I reached about 40 feet, I triggered Tether Slide. A golden beam of light, capped with an awesome claw, shot out to my two tether points. I’d hoped they’d be invisible to the werewolves, but the Alpha instantly turned and looked up.

  Crap. Maybe I should have thought that through better. Too late to back out now, though. The spell activated and my trajectory changed as I shot toward a wide branch of one of the thicker trees facing the clearing. I’d picked a branch about even with my current height above the ground. That should be low enough to tempt the Alpha to try grabbing for me, but hopefully high enough that I could slip past.

  As I flew above the barrier, I pulled out a laser rifle and started pumping energy bolts down at the Alpha. I shot fast for effect more than accuracy, and I wished Ruby had a video camera. I would have loved to see the recording of me flying over the pack of insane werewolves, my cloak billowing as I fired bursts of blaster fire from the hip.

  I definitely caught the Alpha’s attention and he charged back across the ranks of his forces to intercept. I kept firing, trying to gauge the spot he’d leap at me and the likely point where Burns would strike.

  With a roar that shook the clearing, the Alpha sprang off the ground.

  “Shostakovich,” I cursed. I was totally screwed.

  The boss jumped like his legs were filled with coiled steel springs. He shot toward me, long, clawed arms wide, deadly fanged maw gaping, as if he planned to bite off my head, then rip off my limbs for good measure.

  “Burns!” I shouted, flinging my rifle back into my inventory and yanking out a zombie stun gun. I blasted the Alpha right in the face as he closed the distance.

  At the same time, the night sky opened up and a lightning bolt worthy of Zeus himself blasted down from above. It ripped through the Alpha with an explosion of light and sound that blinded and deafened me.

  I’d forgotten to equip my goggles after I escaped that last werewolf. Idiot! Never again would I walk outside without my goggles on.

  The air sizzled with electricity, and despite my lightning resist potion, my entire body shuddered as every muscle involuntarily convulsed. Without the potion, that bolt probably would have fried me.

  Then something very hard crashed into me like a cannonball. For a second, I couldn’t see, couldn’t move, and it seemed neither could the Alpha. Tether Slide kept pulling me toward my tether point anyway, so we ended up tumbling through the air, limbs tangled together.

  Not good. I was stuck mid-air with the Alpha boss.