Ka stopped as we reached the further flight of stairs where the opening to arge staging area. There were women of all races there, but I focused as Ka turned around to re at Penny.


    "Is this true?! How have I never heard about this?!" Ka demanded, but Penny only shrugged.


    "There is only one person that knows about it, and she promised me to be silent about it," I said, suddenly feeling better.


    Knowing that I had at least one thing up my sleeve that could surprise this woman gave me a small victory that I kept to myself. Still, it gave me a warm feeling about Listenia.


    That was not part of the deal, and it had nothing to do with teaching her magic. There was nothing stopping Listenia from saying that, and that meant a lot in this world.


    "Really? Who did you tell? Listenia? She is your apprentice, right?" Penny asked, and I nodded.


    "I would like to see how this works. Penny, the girls are waiting to drop out, so go grab a spot and get ready," Ka said.


    "Wait, I need some of Galio''s blood first!" Penny said, turning to me expectantly.


    p I chomped down on my bottom lip, making Ka wince and look away. I pulled Penny into a kiss, and I could feel her tail wagging as her body started to heat up.</anda>


    I broke the kiss and stepped back as Penny started to transform into her Weredog form.


    "That was aggressive, but I liked it! I will see you after, Galio," Penny growled as she towered over me, even taller than before.


    "I prefer to do it to myself, and then kiss makes it better," I grinned, and Penny returned it with a vicious tooth-filled smile.


    "Come, Galio. Penny, on your spot!" Ka ordered, and Penny turned and ran into the room to stand on what looked like a trap door.


    "Hey! Can we watch them? I want to know what happens here if that is alright? I promise just to watch. When you saidunch, I became curious," I requested, and Ka nodded.


    "This is fine. Since you always are able to do as you say, I will trust you canplete the first task with extra time. Follow me, and stay close," Ka said and walked briskly into the room where the women were waiting in ce.


    "Penny, is this your mate?" A girl asked loudly, and Penny nodded, staring forward and not looking at me.


    All the other women were in armor, and they were so covered I couldn''t tell their races.


    "Tina, keep your mind on the task before you! Galio is observing you all, so be on your best behavior!" Ka snapped, and the girl straightened as we walked over to the slitted wall that all the noise wasing from.


    I peered out, and there were knights in the same armor fighting arge number of skeleton warriors. I tried to look farther down the wall, but the slit was restricting my view.


    "The walls are like that to keep everyone focused on their zones. In thirty seconds, arrows with rope and hooks will be shot down behind the group. They will hook up, and get pulled up the wall, then the horde will rush. This is when the girls areunched. That means dropping down a tube that is ringed with enchantments that activate as they fall, buffing them. The slide shoots them far out to where the break in the rush is. Then the top level casts a spell to destroy the ones that rush up," Ka exined, and I nodded.


    "The undead is like clockwork for you then," I said as I watched the arrows start toe down with ropes on them.


    Ka didn''t answer as she came up beside me, but I could see why. The Undead were pushing harder now, and the girls were having trouble breaking away.


    "What do you do in a situation like this?" I asked, remaining calm.


    "Everything is timed here, so they need to get hooked up soon, or it will put more in danger. They will just have to grab the ropes and hope to hold on. This job is extremely dangerous, but they shouldn''t be attacking this hard right now," Ka said, sounding concerned.


    "Can I help if I stay right here? I can give them some breathing room," I said, but then added, "Since this is out of the ordinary, right?"


    "What are you going to do from this distance?" Ka asked.


    "Sharpshooter Light Magic, okay?" I asked, starting to itch as I had already been drawing magic when Ka said this was unusual.


    "Fine, but I think you are just going to hurt one of them, and it will be on you!" Ka growled, but I was already zooming in and not listening as the world closed off for me.


    Both hands pointed out of the slits on either side of the one I was looking out. I started to fire barely visible needles of light as my eyes darted from each target that was getting close to the girls.


    Each Undead hit by the needles burst with light, stunning others around them. This made it even easier to track them, and lights burst all around the girls.


    All of them looked confused, but Ka jolted them.


    "ROPES! NOW!" She screamed of a slit close to me, and they turned as one and hooked up.


    All of them were ripped from the ground, and I stopped firing to let the hordee, as Ka said.


    "Prepare forunch! Three! Two! One!!" A voice called over what I assumed to be a speaker of some sort, and I turned just to see them drop.


    I quickly turned back to the slits, and after a short pause, the eleven girls and Penny allunched into the air, soaring over the hoards.


    "Move back!" Ka ordered, pulling me back just as the girls mmed into the thinnest part of the rush.


    Before I couldin, all the slits zed down as fire sted from them.