There was little doubt in my mind what was happening. The wolves were coming.


    Why the Pack would do something so foolish, I had no idea, but it was the only thing that made sense. And unfortunately, there was no time to stop them. The gateway was already spilling out its first passenger.


    A familiar shape stepped out. It was not a wolf, though.


    “Damn,” I muttered.


    “Who is it?” Anriq demanded. “It’s Duggar, isn’t it? You’ve got to stop him. Doesn’t he know—”


    “It’s a naga,” I interjected.


    Startled silence.


    I sympathized with his reaction. I’d been struck speechless for a bit myself.


    The void could not use nether portals.


    This was an intractable truth of the Game. The Adjudicator himself protected the gateways.


    So, what was a stygian doing stepping through one?


    “Did you say a naga?” Safyre asked after a protracted silence.


    “Yes,” I replied, my gaze fixed on the giant serpent as it began to scan the mists—in search of me, I suspected.


    The gate flickered again.


    My expression tightened. “Make that two nagas. Another is coming through.”


    Stygians emerging through the gateway was almost as bad as the idea of the Pack doing so. It could destroy all my carefully laid plans. What if an entire nest worth of nether creatures came through? What then?


    My face hardened. You’ll deal with it. Just like always.


    Eyes peeled on the gateway, I watched and waited.


    But as the seconds ticked by and no more stygians emerged, my tension eased a little. “It looks like it’s just the two for now,” I reported back. “Do you know how they are doing this, Saf?”


    “Hang on,” she replied, sounding harried. “Adriel and I are discussing the situation.”


    But I couldn’t afford to delay any further.


    It couldn’t be happenstance that it was nagas that had emerged from the gate. Suspecting what the two elites were about, I began my retreat, backstepping through the plume while my gaze remained firmly fixed on the pair.


    A level 235 stygian naga has cast cloying nether.


    You have passed a magical resistance check! Your void armor has repelled your foe’s attack.


    I grimaced. The Game message confirmed my suspicions. The elites were trying to reveal me. I’d evaded their first attempt, but I suspected many more were on the way.


    It was only a matter of time before I was discovered.


    “I’m moving on to phase three,” I informed the others.


    “But we don’t know what’s going on with the portal,” Safyre protested. “It might be better to—”


    “We don’t know, but we can both guess,” I said, cutting her off as I exited the plume.


    The nether toxicity at your current location has decreased to 4.


    “It has to be the ‘unidentified stygian infestation’ that’s responsible,” I went on. “By my estimate, it’ll take the Game another hour to clear out the infection. And who knows how many more stygians will have come through by then? If we’re going to do this, it’s better if we move now.”


    “Alright,” Safyre conceded reluctantly. “Go ahead, do what you have to. We’ll be ready.”


    “Here goes nothing,” I replied. Inhaling deeply, I let the shadows around me dissipate and dispelled vanish.


    Multiple hostile entities have detected you. You are no longer hidden.


    The reaction was immediate.


    The entire flock of flying serpents launched themselves from the overlord and set off in pursuit. The two nagas spun to face me as well—but neither they nor the overlord stirred from the portal.


    That’s alright, I thought, setting off in a sprint. We’ll take care of them later.


    ? ? ?


    I didn’t flee directly toward the party.


    Instead, I raced south, away from the river and any potential reinforcements coming from the stygian nest in the far north. And I wasn’t exactly fleeing either.


    Two magic missiles sailed in from behind.


    Cutting left, I dodged the first, then threw myself forward and out of the way of the second.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    You have evaded a voidball.


    You have evaded a voidball.


    Rolling back to my feet, I glanced over my shoulder. The hundred-odd flying serpents that had set off in pursuit were closing fast, but more importantly, the distance between me and the overlord had opened up appreciably.


    It was time to get started.


    Releasing the weave of psi I held ready, I flung it upward.


    You have cast mass puppet.


    The strands of my will crashed into the flock of serpents, and delving into the minds of the twenty targets I’d chosen at random, swiftly overrode their defenses.


    You have charmed 19 of 20 targets for 30 seconds.


    I smiled toothily at the spell’s near-perfect success.


    Behind me, I sensed my new minions falter, their wingbeats slowing. “Attack!” I shouted, my mental command echoing loudly in their minds.


    As one, the eighteen flying serpents so-ordered dove at their former companions. Serpent attacked serpent, raking each other with tooth and claw. Not all the stygians became embroiled in the impromptu airborne battle, though. Fully a third continued their attacking dives, barreling straight toward me.


    But I paid them no heed.


    Drawing stamina, I cloaked myself anew.


    You have cast vanish. You are invisible. Duration: 5 minutes.


    You are hidden.


    In a flurry of angry hisses and furiously flapping wings, the freefalling serpents pulled out of their dives while they tried in vain to relocate me. Behind them, chaos reigned.


    And all but unnoticed in the confusion, a lone form flapped west.


    The nineteenth serpent.


    The one I had given an altogether different order.


    I watched it go, a small smile on my face. Then, I stole away myself and headed back to the party.


    ? ? ?


    Your minion has died.


    Your minion has died.


    …


    …


    Hopelessly outmatched, the bespelled serpents died one by one, until only the lucky nineteenth remained.


    Then it, too, slipped the leash.


    You have lost control over a level 151 flying serpent.


    The stygian’s escape didn’t bother me, though. Its fate was already sealed. Behind me, the other flying serpents had given up their chase and had returned to the overlord. And from what I could tell, the nagas had also called off their search.


    Excellent, I thought.


    All in all, things had gone even better than I had any right to hope for, especially given the nagas’ unexpected arrival.


    Approaching the spot where I knew the party was encamped, I slowed my steps. The cloak Adriel had woven around the group was near-prefect, and it was only when I was almost on top of the spell’s outer edge that I perceived it.


    You have passed a Perception check!


    You have pierced a veil of darkness. An illusion has been lifted.


    Paying the Game message no heed, I continued my advance.


    You have entered a tier 6 concealment field. All entities within this field are hidden from outside detection.


    Slipping into Adriel’s veil, I sensed five mindglows—not four.


    Adriel. Safyre. Anriq. Shael.


    And the flying serpent I’d sent the party’s way.


    “Any problems?” I asked lightly.


    Adriel glanced over her shoulder and away from the stygian she and Safyre were keeping contained with powerful spells. “Nothing worth mentioning,” she replied. “What about you?”


    “None if you discount the nagas’ appearance.” Looking behind me at the creatures in question, I saw that they remained at the portal. Nor had any further stygians emerged from the gateway to join them.


    That’s puzzling, I thought, my brows furrowing in consternation.


    “What’s wrong?” Shael asked.


    “The void hasn’t sent anything else through the portal,” I replied.


    He pursed his lips. “Maybe they can’t?” he suggested.


    I shrugged. “Hells, if I know.”


    Dismissing the matter, I strode forward and joined the circle the others had formed around the immobilized serpent. Its eyes were glazed over, and its wings hung listlessly. “You’ve stunned it?” I guessed.


    Safyre nodded. “Stunned. Frozen. Petrified. You name it, we did it. You will have plenty of time.”


    I nodded in silent appreciation.


    “You think your ruse worked?” Anriq asked.


    “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But none of the other stygians reacted when it fled, so maybe.”


    Objective three had been to capture one of the flying snakes alive, of course.


    But not just that.


    I’d deemed it equally important that we do it unnoticed. The ploy we’d devised might have been overly complicated, but neither Safyre nor Adriel had been able to hazard a guess as to the overlord’s level of intelligence.


    If the creature was like the harbinger, then it might be as smart as a player. That being the case, the overlord would likely have noticed something amiss if I simply charmed a flying snake and sent it to a remote location.


    And given the overlord’s behavior to date, I was certain that at the very least it had a rudimentary level of cunning.


    Which was why I’d decided to err on the side of caution.


    “Well, go on,” Adriel said, waving me forward. “Enslave it already.”


    Rolling my eyes at her impatience, I stepped past the others and toward my prize.


    ? ? ?


    You have cast enslave.


    You have successfully dominated a level 151 flying serpent. Duration: permanent until death.


    Blood-binding the stygian was child’s play.


    “It’s done,” I gasped, staggering away from the creature. “You can dispel your spells now. It’s not going anywhere.”


    “You sure about that?” Safyre asked, her gaze darting between me and the stygian.


    I nodded wearily, and a moment later, a litany of Game messages scrolled through my vision.


    Your blood-bound slave is no longer stunned.


    Your blood-bound slave is no longer petrified.


    Your …


    …


    The flying serpent stiffened the second the last of the debuffs fell away. Furling its wings, it arched its neck and reared up ominously.


    “Stop!” I barked.


    The creature froze.


    “Impressive,” Adriel murmured.


    “Down,” I commanded, staying focused on the stygian.


    Its eyes swimming with some unidentifiable emotion—hate, most likely—the flying serpent prostrated itself on the ground.


    “This might just work, after all,” Safyre whispered in an aside to Adriel.


    “It’s a crazy plan nonetheless,” Adriel replied grumpily.


    Ignoring the pair, I advanced on the flying serpent and laid my hand on its snout. Remaining stock still, the stygian didn’t so much as flinch.


    “Up,” I ordered, projecting the command mentally.


    No reaction.


    “UP,” I demanded, louder and more insistently.


    Still no response.


    “Damn,” I muttered. “It won’t respond to telepathic commands.”


    “Inconvenient,” Adriel said, “but not an insurmountable problem.”


    I nodded in agreement.


    “We’re going ahead, then?” Anriq asked.


    Turning about, I surveyed the group. “We are,” I confirmed. My gaze darted to the luminous doorway in the distance. “But only after the Game clears out the infestation on the portal. I don’t want the stygians to spring any more surprises upon us. In the meantime, let’s return to the cave.”


    The werewolf’s eyes slid to the flying serpent. “What about that?”


    “It comes with us, of course.” I smiled. “Consider it part of the team from here on.”