"Elma!" Svilran screamed, almost bursting my eardrums. "No, wait, Fainn! Look! She has one of her hands flying around!"

"What? Where? I can't see."

Svilran reached across me and touched a dial on the monitor, thus changing the point-of-view. "There, see it?"

"Thanks... Yeah... Is she chasing something... Oh, there's a bat with a different glow to it. And her hand's flying after it!"

On screen, Elma and the party were in a tough spot. The boys of the party were batting bats away while the spellcaster lobbed bolts of lightning that would then arc through a few bats upon making contact. Some dainty girl next to Elma was applying magic to the boys too. She must have been a healer.

The party was shouting. Elma herself looked fiercely determined. We looked on as magic energy surged out from her arms and out into the swarm.

"Hey, Elma can't pump out that much magic, can she?" I asked.

"Maybe she gained something over there?" Svilran followed.

The bats that were hit by her magic fell, and the rest that flew into the surge seemed to slow down and falter.

"That mana's poisonous to everything that lives... Hope that party will be okay," I whispered.

"There, Fainn! She's so close!"

Her hand was flying so close to the rune bat. Just a few centimeters.

"Go, Elma! Overcome your limits!" Svilran cheered. Beside her, Dorthaunzee jumped and mimed her cheers too. 

In the next moment, Elma's hand flew a bit faster, and she caught the bat. The moment she did, the party rushed through and out of the swarm. They reached a door on the other side of the swarm, and Elma pushed the bat into the door. 

Magic flowed from the bat as grooves in the door were filled, and it opened. One of the boys started hollering, and every other member ran through as this bigger one kept batting bats away. As soon as the last member was through, he crossed and shut the door behind them. Good man. Was he the Hero? He was certainly deserving of the title.

As the party fell on their rumps, relieved, we chattered and cheered.

"Did you see that, Fainn? Our Elma was the MVP!"

Dorthaunzee clapped wildly, and I laughed.

"Yeah, she was pretty slick! Oh, those guys are so lucky to have her! Almost as lucky as we are!"

The three of us watched with enthusiasm as the party crossed one final hallway and entered some kind of treasure room. There were five stone statues, each of them slightly different than the other, and each also holding some colorful piece of gear or weapon.

"Svilran, what are the chances that one of the Mission treasures is in that chamber?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's there. I miss Elma."

The party celebrated, but Elma cut it short. Instead of letting them walk to the statues, Elma sent her hands out and took the treasures from the statues one by one. Her caution was rewarded. One of the statues swung at the air after the shield it was holding was taken, and another just came to life and attacked the party once the final treasure was removed.

"Heh, they owe her," I smugly said. "Yup. Elma's on a whole other level."

Svilran nodded beside me, also smugly holding her chin. "Yup. She's a godsent miracle, truly."

Dorthaunzee swayed from side to side as she cheerfully nodded too.

The resulting battle wasn't too nail-biting. Elma's caution gave the boys and the caster the time they needed to prepare. 

The group coordinated their attacks without a problem, and they took down the last enemy. It looked like Elma's magic wasn't super useful against an automaton, but she had been slashing at it with some dagger she had, so she still contributed. The mage of the group also enchanted the dagger with fire, ensuring Elma could still be helpful.

By the end of it—

"Fainn, we got the alert!"

"Nice! One of the treasures was valid!"

—Elma had completed the Mission. One of the treasures was the critical treasures that would help the Hero.

"Come on, Fainn!" Svilran said as she pulled Dorth along with her.

"Coming!" I happily called, following Svilran out the door.

***

One Hour Later... Portal Site...

"So... Where's Elma?" I asked as I stared at the Portal.

"I don't know... The Mission has been marked as completed."

"Did we have to press a button to recall her or something?"

"Not that I can see..."

As Svilran and I inspected the Mission Menu once more, the Portal shimmered and swirled.

"I'm back~" Elma said, proudly strutting out with a cloak draped on her shoulders and a staff strapped to her back.

Svilran and I looked at her in unison. "ELMA!"

She grinned at us. "It's good to see you again, Madam Goddess. Fainn." Elma looked past us and smirked at the third member of our group. "And who is this?"

"Oh!" Svilran said, jumping with joy. "Elma, this is our new Hero! Dorthaunzee!"

Dorthaunzee politely bowed, and Elma greeted her.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Elma." She shifted her gaze toward me. "I thought we couldn't summon more Heroes right now."

Before I could say anything, Svilran excitedly jerked me back so hard I almost fell. Thank god Dorth was there to catch me with her soft hands and chest... I wasn't going to say anything about the chest, but I got the sense that Dorthaunzee's heart was racing... It must have been my overactive imagination though.

"You won't believe what happened, Elma!" Svilran took Elma by the hand and pulled her along. "Come on, come on! I'll tell you all about it!"

Sebas_Guzman

Okay, a new episode is starting this coming week. Also, I wanted to get this chapter out earlier, but real life commitments kept me away from the computer. Anyway, there we are. Elma has returned... How about some behind the scene stuff?

So, the majority of the first volume had been written before I started posting, and now I'm on the rough draft of the second. This particular segment was actually the final segment that I wrote out. For my stories, I usually start in the middle or in the end and write around it. That particular habit is what made writing web serials harder. Chapter 2 might be the second chapter, but it might be the last one I write and so on...

The only reason this one is happening is because of preparing the whole thing beforehand and then sticking to the schedule to ensure volume 2's material isn't compromised. One of the advantages of this approach though is that the earlier segments get filled with elements that NEED to be in place for the scenes I wrote first to work. So, when I sat down to do this episode, the outline was largely dictated by Elma's were already cemented in Elma's future and by what elements I thought the story was still lacking. One of the elements that needed more was the World's Heroes.

What's funny is that it was actually one of Dorthaunzee's future segments that led to Elma's party getting fleshed out. Dorthaunzee tends to be easier to write than Elma when there's no drama involved, so she ends up setting the precedent for how some things go... Anyway, Elma's party really owes a lot to Dorthaunzee... Actually, the whole story might owe a lot to Dorthaunzee XD

Anyway, next chapter comes out on either Monday or Tuesday. See you then and start praying for Elma.