When Serenity’s black monster dashed towards Alan’s position with opened fangs, Amelia’s summon tackled it, sending it against a house that got leveled with ease. The doppelganger then released a black dense mist from its maw, which the original countered with a fire breath.

Did that thing try to eat me? Alan thought, watching the burning house collapse after a blazing pillar of fire rose from it, making him cover his gaze. Amelia’s Fire Clone stood a few feet away from him, gaze locked on the two feline monsters.

Did you create that thing just to help me? Alan gritted his teeth. You worry so much about me…

He looked back at Ashley, who had charged against the albino woman, dagger in hand. With quick calculated movements, Ashely stabbed the enemy in the stomach, chest, and neck, but Serenity’s body reformed like made of black sand.

“Alan Warden,” Serenity called from afar, ignoring Ashley’s physical attacks. “You asked if I was about to summon my Draquinox. Well, there’s no need for that for Unus Town will disappear from the map by the simple fact of us standing here.”

He looked down. A pitch-black shadow slowly crawled toward him, trying to swallow his feet.

This woman and whoever Administrator is behind this, gain nothing from destroying this place as they did in Londorus. No. This time they’re really after me. Since we’re in a world of ‘immortals’, the only way to guarantee my silence and prevent my interference is by kidnapping me… Damn… Something worse than what happened to me in the Shooting Stars headquarters awaits me...

 

He glanced at Ashley, who had stopped her attacks, and was instead glancing at the beast doppelganger in silence, before giving another quick glimpse at the black substance under his feet.

She tried to sink me into this thing before, and the fake cat tried to swallow me, so this black mass must be her ‘method of transportation’. With that in mind, I won’t let her get me that easily.

“Anastasia,” he called. “Distract Serenity.”

“Yes, Master.”

Anastasia dashed and bashed Serenity with her shield, who did not retaliate, giving Alan the opportunity to run toward Amelia’s clone.

“Amelia II!” he called.

Although the clone was made of fire, Amelia’s features were clearly distinguishable. It was floating, and its hair made of flames hovered behind the back of her neck. 

“Alan Warden,” she greeted in a monotone voice. “You can call me Belphy. I’m Amelia Laflamme’s personal AI Assistant with the mission to protect you.”

“You can talk! Neat! And… thanks! Where is--?” a sound interrupted him. Something had crashed against the neighbor’s house in the distance.

Was that the enemy or Amelia? Crap, I don’t think I could survive something like that!

“Alan,” Ashley rushed to his side and pointed towards the enemy. “I have figured out how her magic works. Although I can not touch her, Amelia’s giant cat is hurting its counterpart. Do you remember those spikes she threw at us? They must be made of the same substance as that monster. That means she can only attack once at a time.”

“Or there might be a limit on how much ‘shadow’ she can use, and the doppelganger is currently using all of it,” he whispered while processing the information. “What can you do for us, Belphy?”

“My priority is to protect you, Alan Warden. To accomplish it, I have access to 30% of my master’s mana pool and every single magic spell she knows. I have already used 10% and my Auto Combat configuration is set to Counter.”

Alan opened his mouth to speak, but a piercing sound made him flinch. He glanced at the monsters and observed that the shadowed one had sprouted spikes from all over its body. Although Amelia’s Summon was getting impaled, it released an incandescent breath of fire to break free.

“You’re controlling that Summon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you set it to auto and change its parameters to ‘fully aggressive’ or something like that?”

“Request Accepted.”

The monstrous cat roared as its body glowed incandescently, melting everything in a 150 feet radius.

“W-What is it doing now?!”

“It’s self-destructing. The heat will gradually expand for 300 feet radius, approximately. You cannot stay here.”

“Anastasia! Get the hell out of there!” Alan said through Party Chat and the NPC quickly turned around, but her ankle got caught by a shadow tentacle sprouting from the ground.

“Do not fear death, sister, for we are immortal after all,” Serenity said to her, giggling.

From a distance, Alan could do nothing but watch. 

“Belphy! Can you cast any buffs?”

“Request Accepted… Fire...”

“Wait! For all of us! Anastasia, Ashley, and me!”

The Fire Clone stretched out its arms, channeling: “Changing Spell... Major Fire Charm, Rally & Destroy.”

Alan felt it immediately, like liquid fire running through his veins.

 

** Thanks to your ally’s Charm, your Vitality has increased by 4 ranks! From Bronze C to Silver D! **

 

What?! That’s crazy! As expected from a Max-Leveler!

“Come on, Ashley!” Alan cried. His newfound strength let him run as if his body weighed nothing. “You too, Anastasia. Use your new buff to break free! Destroy the ground if necessary!”

“Understood.”

As Alan ran, he felt a quake.

I wonder how much strength she gained. Without opening his User Interface, he gave a voice command. “Quick Minion Stats.”

A window appeared in his field of vision.

 

* Minion: Anastasia -Blank- * Level - 25 * Vitality - Bronze A+ → Silver B  (Fire Charm Active) 29 minutes 35 seconds remaining. * Spirit - Bronze B * Potential - Bronze B

 

Only her Vitality increased.

“What’s going to happen to Amelia?” he asked the clone following him closely, leaving a trail of fire behind.

“Amelia Laflamme is 400 feet away from the source of heat, and she has the Heat Endurance Passive Skill. The heat will not affect her performance.”

Half a minute later, although the group had reunited 500 feet away from the melting, agonizing Summon, they could still feel its heat. 

“Oh, no…” Alan looked back at the result of his command. Five more buildings had collapsed. “Please, tell me that no one was around...”

“Two people died,” Ashley blurted out. “I have a Passive Skill that lets me detect nearby life forms in a 300 feet radius.”

Alan swallowed hard. “Even if we’re immortal, no one should experience being killed like that.” He then turned to Belphy, frowning. “Is the enemy dead?”

“Flaustos was successful in taking down its shadow copy. But I do not know what happened to the User called Serenity.”

She speaks more like early-Ashley than Anastasia…

“Alan Warden!” a festive voice called. A voice he recognized immediately and made him flinch.

“Oh, for the love of--What are you doing here?!”

He looked at a group of 20 people approaching, led by the pink-haired woman who adjusted her glasses. Her gorgeous-looking male NPC followed her closely. “Major Domínguez reporting on duty!”

“Y-Yes… I can see that,” Alan murmured as he got another Party Chat notification. 

 

** Bella -Blank- has entered Phantom Seeker’s Party Chat! **

 

“I’m so sorry, Master Alan. Master Amelia asked me to warn the Mayor about the danger, but…”

“Instead of evacuating the town, he came to ‘help’. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

Amelia, we need to talk… I know you’ve become friends with her, but this woman is not reliable at all! Although it might be a good plan, on paper…

He opened his Friend List tab, as Clara Domínguez approached the group.

“W-Who did this to my town?!”

“There’s nothing standing,” one of Clara’s followers pointed out, as the rest shared whispers.

“Thanks for coming, Mayor,” Ashley said, shaking hands with her. “Since you’re the second strongest User in this town, we’ll count on you to combat the menace. Our current priority is to capture the enemy.”

“S-Second? T-That hurts… But don’t be afraid, because I’M HERE!” The woman proclaimed while striking an exaggerated pose, stretching both legs to her side while back-bending, hands on hips. “We heard some bullies were bothering you, so we came as fast as we could. But we expected to find broken windows and burned corpses thanks to our local Pyromaniac, not this!”

“Our enemy is a Max-Level User, so this is expected,” Ashley said, making the whole group flinch.

“Why is a Max-Leveler here?!” Clara cried, before grabbing Ashley by the shoulder. “T-Tell me, Ashley, my dear. Is Miss Laflamme still kicking?”

Meanwhile, Alan was having a private voice chat.

“What a pleasant surprise, Alan Warden. I thought I’d never hear your voice again since you paid off your bet.”

“Glad hearing your voice too, Lady Monique. I hope you’re doing well. Was selling my information to Kathleen Maher fruitful to you?”

“So you knew.” Monique chuckled. “Well, yes. The rumors that she pays well were true. I should thank you for that. Come to the Dragon’s Belly later, I’ll treat you to a feast.”

“That’d be nice! If the restaurant is still standing by tomorrow, of course!”

Lady Monique paused. I bet she’s asking her trusty bodyguard what I’m talking about.

“Why did you call me, Alan? Does it have something to do with the current battle on the outskirts?”

“That’s right. First, be honest with me, ma’am. I’ve been asking around. You’re more Mayor than Clara Dominguez ever was, correct? Half of the town belongs to you.”

“I’m starting to think you’re going to ask me for a favor.”

“Well, you owe me one after destroying my ex-girlfriend’s guild for money.”

Lady Monique laughed out loud. A refined, captivating laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but amuse me. What do you need from me?”

“Help me evacuate everyone in town, please… Wait, give me a second...”

“Could you guys shut up!” Alan yelled to the bickering group gathered a few feet away from him. “I’m having an important call here!”

“Geez, what a killjoy,” Clara grimaced.

“Fine,” Lady Monique said through the private chat.

“Come again?” 

“I said fine. I already told Rissete what to do. Leave the evacuation to us.”

“...T-Thank you so much, Lady Monique!”

“You know, the people of this town lose little by dying here. And yet, you’re trying to protect their small wallets… Good luck, then.”

An explosion made the ground tremble. Alan looked into the distance, where a dome of fire expanded and created a shock wave that made the majority of the present fall on their backs. 

“Amelia!” he called through Party Chat but received no answer. His next option was to check on his Friend List tab: 

 

** ‘Amelia Laflamme  Online - Unus Town’. **

 

As the resulting blinding light elongated their shadows, Serenity crawled out of Anastasia’s shade.

Alan immediately received a notification.

 

** Minion’s HP has reached 0.  Anastasia -Blank- has fallen.  Respawning in: 7 hours and 50 minutes. **