Bob carefully pulled Monroe out of his inventory, sliding the big cat onto the Makres.

He was going to need Monroe's help for this.

Bob mentally projected the pattern for a persistent effect flight spell before directing both his and Monroe's mana into it.

He then cast an effect over time mana sight spell, pumping a hundred and fifty mana into the spell to give him two and a half minutes.

Glancing around, Bob could clearly see the mana flowing through the channels in the ground, leading to several pools.

He could also see several Komoscorps.

Bob watched and waited for several minutes, careful not to draw the attention of the monsters.

He recast his mana-sight spell.

Then he saw a veritable wave of silvery, ethereal mana rush in from all sides, blanketing the ground and overflowing the pools.

The four pools he could see immediately spawned four more Komoscorps. A second later, another four.

Bob took a deep breath and formed the familiar pattern for his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell before guiding Monroe's mana to cast it along with him.

Layering the effect over time modifier, he pushed all of his mana into the pattern, resulting in a UtahRaptor that would last two and a half minutes.

Not a second too soon, as the Komoscorps, now numbering in the dozens, rushed towards them.

Bob saw his mana tick up from regeneration and cast an effect over time Eldritch Shield on Jake, hurriedly guiding Monroe in the process of aiding him.

The Komoscorps swarmed over Jake, barbed tails whistling as they sought to pierce the UtahRaptor. Jake twisted and dodged as he lashed out.

Bob guided Monroe again, this time more quickly, and placed an effect over time Eldritch Shield on himself.

The Komoscorp pile that was engulfing Jake continued to grow, and one of the monsters slid off the pile and landed closer to Bob.

Bob dodged to the side as an enormous stinger crashed through his Eldritch Shield and skidded off his left thigh.

He brought another effect over time UtahRaptor, and let it start tearing the Komoscorp apart.

The first UtahRaptor he'd brought out was still fighting and had only lost a few percentage points of health.

Not that he could see more than a flash of its feathered hide as the Komoscorps swarmed higher and higher.

Bob pushed mana into an effect over time Fire Aura, and cast the spell on his engulfed summons.

He paused for a second to regenerate mana before projecting another UtahRaptor pattern and, with Monroe's aid, summoning another one, this time concentrating on it.

With a pair of effect over time raptors to protect him, Bob commanded his level forty-nine UtahRaptor to attack.

With a warbling battle cry, Jake lept to the attack, tearing into the pile of Komoscorps.

Bob watched grimly as his mind raced.

Even his fully powered UtahRaptor wasn't doing damage quickly enough. It took two bites to kill a monster, and a dozen more arrived in that time.

Bob dropped his spell and started pushing out effect over time UtahRaptors, each requiring twenty-eight mana, which was just under his mana regeneration.

He quickly found himself surrounded by his monsters as they delivered punishing bites, slashed brutal wounds with their claws, and eventually fell to the vast number of foes.

He was able to keep twenty-five of them up at any given time.

Bob estimated that they were killing five Komoscorps per second.

He was losing the fight.

The wave of monsters was slowly growing, outpacing the rate at which he could kill them.

He planted his staff and kept casting.

~ ~ ~ ~

Harv watched as Elli and Kelli dealt with a scorpion.

Once the final blow was dealt, he dropped the wall that kept another scorpion from joining in.

Elli moved forward smoothly and pierced the monster's thorax between two armored plates.

Kelli took advantage of the scorpion's fixation with Elli to deliver a punishing blow to its back, swinging his two-handed war hammer down and cracking the chitin.

Harv saw another tell-tale ripple in the sand headed their way and took the opportunity to toss a firebolt at the scorpion's face before dropping a wall around the new one that had risen from the sand and was about to try and skewer Kelli.

Elli dodged the venomous tail that lashed out towards him, combining that motion with a lunge that ran through the monster's eye and into its brain.

At the same time, Kelli delivered yet another crushing blow to the scorpions back, killing it.

"Switch out," Elli said as he moved towards the imprisoned scorpion.

Kelli stumbled backward, allowing Harv to drop the wall and Elli to engage the monster.

Harv glanced around for more ripples, and not seeing one yet, looked at the other groups that were battling on the scorching sands.

It appeared that everyone was doing well, he thought, as he glanced back towards the aid pavilion.

He turned back and spotted another ripple.

With a sigh, he prepared to lock it behind his wall again.

He was looking forward to using an Affinity Crystal and taking a newer, better path.

~ ~ ~ ~

Bob winced as a Komoscorp narrowly missed him with a vicious bite.

He was down to ten raptors now, and they'd been overwhelmed to the point where another one had slipped past them and gotten to Bob.

Bob flew up into the canopy with a huff, summoning another UtahRaptor beneath him as he went.

To his surprise and frustration, the Komoscorp raced up the nearest tree as well, rushing out on a limb before leaping towards him.

"Damnit," Bob muttered as he moved out of the way, summoning another Jake down below.

The only advantage of being airborne was that the monster had to scramble up the tree to attack him again, not that this was difficult, nor did it consume more than a second.

He was twenty minutes into the wave, and the situation wasn't favorable.

He grimaced as he continued to cast effect over time UtahRaptors down below.

Over the next two minutes, Bob was able to slightly replenish his raptors by drawing a few of the freshly arrived Komoscorps off the pile, instigating them to chase after him.

He was now up to fourteen raptors. However, he had five Komoscorps chasing him through the canopy, and he wasn't sure he could handle a sixth without getting clipped.

With Monroe's help, Bob pushed twenty-eight mana into a barrage, effect over time Summon Mana-Infused Monster.

Twenty-eight level twelve UtahRaptors ran screaming into battle.

They were only able to take one hit, the next one killing them, but they bought Bob precious seconds as he recast the same spell two more times and then resumed summoning effect over time UtahRaptors at level twenty-four.

Bob breathed a sigh of relief as he fell into a pattern of summoning a barrage of smaller raptors every three seconds, allowing him to keep twenty effect over time Jakes out.

The smaller raptor swarms took out two Komoscorps before being wiped out in turn, and they served to absorb enough attacks that his other UtahRaptors were able to deal damage for enough time that they almost reached the end of their timer.

He was still losing ground but much more slowly.

Depending on the duration of the wave, he might just be able to outlast it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Thidwell stood in the plaza looking out over the Adventurers and the townspeople who had joined them to fight the monster wave.

"I'm pleased to tell all of you that not a single person was killed during this wave," Thidwell bellowed.

"We stood tall, together, and protected our families, our friends, and our homes."

"Thank you, all of you, for your dedication and hard work," Thidwell concluded, "if any of you have questions about the new paths demonstrated on the walls tonight, please come to the guild and speak to Kelli."

He stepped off the podium and allowed his persistent effect to lapse, causing it to meld back into the cobblestones.

The crowd parted in front of him as he made his way across the plaza and into the Adventurers Guild.

Thidwell crossed the empty tavern and walked up the stairs to his office, where he sat down behind his desk with a grunt.

The wave had lasted ninety-one minutes, but the stress was worse than a week on the bottom floor.

He hadn't lost anyone though, and the increased numbers of Adventurers in the Dungeon had made a difference, if slight, in how bad it had been at the bottom.

He grinned as he recalled Austan reporting that no one had been brought back to the central aid station for healing.

Bob's paths had really shown through.

"Not a single death," he muttered to himself as he pulled a large book from his desk, it's binding and covers made of bronze, delicate patterns etched across it.

Opening the ledger, he turned the pages, which were incredibly thin sheets of bronze, each one with twenty lines, all full.

Reaching the end of the full pages, he traced his finger down to the open line, and then removed a metal nibbed pen from his pouch and carefully etched the time and duration of the wave, as well as the number of casualties.

Finishing, he closed the book and tucked it back into the depths of his desk.

The ritual that linked all of the books and copied the information into the master ledger in Harbordeep would be performed the next day by the Guild Leader, or more likely one of his subordinates in Harbordeep.

This wasn't the first time he'd reported zero losses, although it had been a few years.

A town's ability to withstand a wave, based on casualties, was one of the primary metrics used by people interested in moving to determine their best options.

Holmstead had a longstanding record of lower than average casualties.

If only he could attract more active or even retired adventurers...

Thidwell shook his head.

After demonstrating what an Affinity Crystal and the right path could accomplish, he had high hopes that he'd pick up a dozen more Adventurers.

He pulled out one of Bob's pamphlets and tapped it against the desk.

In combination with six Affinity Crystals, the Path of the Patient Warden would allow him to plunge his Dungeon even deeper.

Reincarnating, however...

He'd checked with Austan and confirmed that you could use mana crystals you'd already gathered before reincarnation to increase your level afterward.

He'd been preparing for two months.

He had the mana crystals he needed to raise himself back up to level thirty, and he'd commissioned several sets of gear to ensure he was able to level smoothly.

He planned to level to six, take his path, and then stay at six while he fought on level ten, leveling his skills to their cap.

He would then advance to level ten and fight on the sixteenth floor until his skills had capped again. He would then advance to level sixteen and fight on the twenty-third floor. Once his skills were capped there, he would advance to level twenty-four and fight on the thirtieth floor until his skills were capped. Then he would advance to level thirty and work to raise his skills again.

All told, he'd purchased five suits of armor and sets of weapons.

The entire plan hinged on Bob gathering the Elemental Affinity Crystals from Harbordeeps Dungeon and then keeping the bottom floor cleared.

Thidwell shook his head and stood up to stretch.

He'd placed a great deal of responsibility on the man's shoulders already, and so far, he'd come through.

He reached his hands over his head and stretched upwards, rolling his head in a circle, his neck cracking and his joints popping before he settled back down into his chair.

He shuffled a stack of paper out of his desk and grumbled as he started reading the divination reports.

~ ~ ~ ~

Bob groaned as he sank into his bathtub.

Monroe was passed out in the sink next to him, both filling it and overflowing, giving further evidence that cats were, in fact, a liquid.

"That was both too dangerous and too hard," Bob muttered.

"Trebor," he said, "it feels like my UtahRaptor should be more powerful than it is."

'Define 'Powerful,'' was Trebor's reply.

"He should deal more damage," Bob grumbled, "I've done the math, and with the spell at level forty-nine, my Eldritch Blast would be dealing over eight-thousand points of damage."

'You may recall,' Trebor said, 'that a Mana-Infused Creature or Being may only use the skills you possess.'

Bob nodded as he let the hot water soak into his body.

'You have chosen to summon a creature for the purposes of melee combat while not having any melee combat skills yourself,' Trebor finished.

"He has a natural attack bonus, though?" Bob asked.

'Yes, that is a bonus, not a skill,' Trebor stated.

"So I would need..."

System Help, Melee Skill. This skill grants the user the ability to make melee attacks. If the user already has this ability, it serves to enhance it further. This skill serves as the base for all melee weapon related skills. The Melee skill provides a ten percent bonus per level to the user's melee damage.

'This is what you are looking for,' Trebor said helpfully.

"So I need this skill for my UtahRaptor to have it?" Bob asked incredulously.

'Yes,' Trebor replied, 'you'll note that at the moment, it has only gained arcane skills.'

Bob groaned.

"I take it that means I need to level that skill as well?"

'Yes,' Trebor replied.

"Great," Bob grumbled.

"More skills to take, and more skills to level," Bob said with a sigh.

"Is there anything else I should know about how my Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell works?" Bob asked.

He knew that he really should have spent more time during his enforced vacation going over the list of things he'd meant to ask Trebor. The list was just so long.

'Once you've taken the melee skill, you can choose to take a weapon skill as well, which will act, mathematically, very much like a spell in terms of how it increases the damage dealt,' Trebor replied.

'You may also wish to consider selecting the Dodge or Parry skill, either of which would allow both you and any summoned creatures to defend yourselves more effectively,' Trebor continued, 'and of course, you may select a further skill beneath that base skill, such as shield parry, weapon parry, unarmed parry, etc.'

Bob leaned his head back against the rim of the tub. He'd planned to take the Magical Schools of Transmutation and Chronomancy at levels twenty-four and twenty-five and then use his bonus arcane skills to take the Weight Manipulation and Stasis skills.

If he replaced those two schools with Melee Strike and either Dodge or Parry...

He shook his head. Jake was an Absolute Unit. The problem wasn't how well he soaked damage; it was how much he could dish out.

So, take Transmutation at level twenty-four, and take the bonus skill as Weight Manipulation.

Then at twenty-five, take the Melee skill and switch his bonus arcane skill to the Transmute skill.

He'd planned on taking that eventually.

Bob sat up and grabbed his bar of soap.

The water was cooling off, and he wanted to scrub off the dirt and sweat before he went back to bed.

"Do these waves always come in the middle of the night?" he grumbled.