The next wave came and they were ready and in formation. Audrey's plan was working at first but, after the first ten minutes of fighting they were running out of room. Eli and Tara had to fight at least 15 or 20 feet apart to avoid hitting each other and monsters would get through between them. They got close to Audrey a few times and that made her move them faster than they needed to and the safe zone barrier was getting close. She moved them west and the monsters from that side started overwhelming the other three since they didn't have the destructive power to kill several at a time that the others did. They were starting to get injured and use more magic to keep up, they only had five minutes left or so of non-stop monsters to fight, but it wasn't looking good.
Bethany took a claw to the leg making it unusable and she fell to a knee, but before anyone could say anything, Eli crashed out his presence hard, smashing all of them to the ground, causing more injuries. However, it hurt the monsters more, some of the weaker ones were crushed into a pulp and most of the others were left broken. Tara walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"It's ok my love, we are ok," Tara said to him sweetly and calmly.
"I'm sorry," Eli said, and his presence vanished, like it had never been there in the first place.
Tara gave him a pat on the shoulder and grabbed Audrey, and they went into the injured monsters and killed them one-by-one letting the smaller girl use her dagger to get some kills. It didn't take long to get them cleared out and they all sat down to rest, Eli would be fine for the next round but almost everyone else was going to have trouble since their magic wouldn't be full by the time the next wave started. When Audrey and Tara came back, it was obvious that they both looked grim and Audrey was nursing an arm that had probably broken during Eli's outburst. Tara was the first to speak despite all of them looking like they had something they wanted to say, good or bad.
"Well, that could have gone better, but we all lived and we all learned," Tara said calmly with a hand on Audrey's shoulder. "I want to apologize on behalf of Lord Ash, his presence ability is tied to his emotions and he is trying to get those under control. Just know that he does feel bad for hurting you with it."
"No need to apologize," Bethany said with a smile, "I would be dead if he didnt do that, I mean, fucking hell, it feels good in a certain kind of way."
They all gave her a strange look.
"Ok then," Stevens said, "I don't think any of us blame you Audrey, so hold your head up."
"But, it's my fault, aren't you mad?" Audrey said almost in tears.
Eli had been perfectly still since his presence outburst, but when she said that, he moved to her side and knelt down to look her in the eye.
"You did good, we need you to keep it up, I trust you," He said to her in the most fatherly way he could manage. "Can you try again for the next wave?"
"Are you sure you want me to?" she asked.
"Yes," Eli, Tara and Stevens all said together. Then she looked at Bethany and Cory with hope in her eyes.
"We are all learning here kid, just don't make the same mistake, ok?" Bethany said with a smile.
"Ok, I'll do my best," she said. There was a change in her after she said that, a confidence she had not been acting with before, but most of all she had determination in her eyes that made them all smile.
"Ok, I just have to know, how are you not affected when Ash gets his emotions all over us?" Bethany asked, causing everyone to give her weird looks again.
"Well, I have a guess," Tara said, "But I wish you would choose different words. My guess is that it's because he loves me, and trusts me with his life. You didn't see it because you still got caught in it, but it didn't affect you as much as it did the monsters, some of them were killed outright the second it happened. It's a work in progress that he and I will keep working on. If you all wish to stay in a group with us, I encourage you to spend some time with Ash so he can get to know you and you know him."
They all nodded and Eli stood up and scratched his chin under his mask, there was something puzzling him. He was thinking about which one of the group would end up being another servant of his and there was an itch in the back of his mind. At first he thought it was because he would need Tara's approval before making one of them a servant, but it wasn't that, it was something bigger. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Hey," Eli said out of the blue ending some side discussions, "have any of you leveled since this started?"
They all shook their head no and he went back to pacing and scratching his chin.
"What is it?" Tara asked.
"I need to process my thoughts, but that can wait, everyone get ready for the next wave. I don't mean to repeat myself but they are going to keep getting harder. Using my presence takes a lot out of me, so we can't rely on it to save us," Eli said, then walked off to the side to think.
After he was well away and Tara went a different direction to collect her thoughts, the other four began talking. Stevens and Cory we're talking about the fight and how they can work better together. Bethany had a different topic in mind and began asking Audrey's opinion on Lord Ash and Tara.
"So, what's your story kid?" She asked Audrey, "How did you get mixed up with Ash and Tara?"
"He saved me when we first got here from the tutorial, I was hiding in the forest and a monster found me. Ash killed it and escorted me to the safe zone. There were some older girls who were being led to the safe zone by some pervert and Ash killed him. He hit him so hard he exploded into mist, I peed myself a bit it was so scary. Anyways, they tried to seduce him into being their new escort but I pissed him off on purpose and he left. I guess he figured it out and found me before I made it to the safe zone and to say thanks, he offered to train me in magic use. And you know the rest," Audrey finished with a sigh.
"Tara didn't try to scare you away?" Bethany asked, "Cute thing like you is going to be competition for her in a few years."
"She calls me 'little sis' when it's just us, I think she is grooming me to be her minion or something. To be honest I would rather be a servant like her, Ash is just…" She paused searching for the word. "He feels like someone special, and I feel like I want to be special with him."
"You're more mature than they think you are, aren't you," Bethany said with a smirk.
"I had to grow up fast, I was in college when the world ended. When you're in high school at twelve years old and surrounded by girls who constantly talk about sex and boys who constantly think about sex, it's hard to not mature quickly just so you can have a friend or two to talk to."
"Are you not a…." Bethany trailed off feeling awkward discussing this with a girl her age.
"I am, I just learned how to talk and think like the other girls. College was actually easier, the boys there saw me as a little sister and protected me, so did the girls but they would say weird things about feminism which always made me not want to talk to them."
"So," Bethany said while drawing it out, "I guess what I really wanted to ask you is, how does Ash look without the mask, is he handsome?" Bethany asked with anticipation
"Oh god yes, I may only be 14 but I know a good looking guy when I see one." Audrey replied in a more relaxed tone than she had spoken with anyone since the world ended. Something about Bethany relaxed her, it seemed.
"I knew it!" Bethany exclaimed loudly, "Do you think I could convince Tara to share him?"
"I may sound mature, but I know nothing about love triangles, you're on your own with that one." Audrey said with a disgusted look on her face.
"Fair enough." Bethany said, and then started daydreaming about Lord Ash.
"What do you think they are talking about?" Cory asked Stevens.
"Audrey and Bethany?" He asked with an eyebrow raised, "I would bet half my credits on it being about Ash."
"How am I supposed to compete with a guy like that?"
"Cory, there are three things that us men need to attract a woman: Confidence, Competence, and Talent." Stevens said while counting them off on his fingers. "Get as much of those as you can and the right woman will find you."
"That's easier said than done."
"Tell me about it, I was really hung up on Tara for a long time, but she was always looking for a guy like Ash. I missed out on some great relationship options because of that and my advice is to not make that mistake." Stevens said. "The next wave starts soon, let's get our heads on straight. You can't find a woman if you're dead."
They all met back up for the next wave and after a brief discussion, it started. The monsters of this wave were fewer, but stronger. Which for them didn't mean much, but it was weighing on Eli's mind that this would make it harder for the towns in the safe zone. The stronger the monsters, the fewer people who would be strong enough to fight them, leaving some of the weaker ones to retreat behind the strong or die. This felt like another piece of the puzzle he was working on in his head but he couldn't get it all together yet. These seemed like clues to what the system's goal was; he felt like he was still missing some of the information and it would take time for it to be revealed.
The fighting went better this time, with fewer monsters it was easier for Audrey to set things up so that they could keep control of them as they fought. She reacted faster and with more precision than she had before and everyone noticed it and some that hadn't before realized why Ash had so much confidence in her. Everything was going smoothly until Cory over extended himself and was about to be pincered by two rather large dinosaur looking monsters with mushrooms growing on their backs and what looked like spores coming out of their mouths.
Before anyone else could react, a wooden copy of Eli sprang up and blocked one with its shield, while Stevens helped him finish off the other one. His avatar stayed with them and helped push back some of the more troublesome monsters, since they were stronger, they were also smarter and used basic tactics to try and trip them up. Audrey responded quickly after the first few times it happened and had them using the avatar to switch out and adjust how they were fighting. Tara and Eli were fine as he could smash any tactic, and she moved in short quick bursts often not even attacking the monsters that were attacking her.
They had a nice rhythm going and finished this wave with fewer injuries and more magic to spare. Which everyone but Eli and Audrey thought meant that they were going to make it through the whole thing without much difficulty. Audrey looked at Eli with a raised eyebrow and he nodded to her, feeling happy that she wasn't the only one to notice and that she had his support, she smiled and spoke to the group.
"I would say that we have maybe 4 or 5 waves before some of us will have to retreat back to the safe zone," Audrey said.