Hey, guys, sorry for missing last Wed's posting. Caught a fever that made writing impossible. As an apology, I'll be posting another chapter tomorrow for you guys! So no waiting two days for another chap. Enjoy this one.

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WARNING! Your HP is now below half its total amount [HP: 312/640]. It is recommended that you switch off [Herculean (ζ)] while [Regeneration (ζ)] works to replenish your life-force.

Sam didn’t see the sucker punch before it was too late, and he was flying, no, more like crashing through the window that looked out onto the street and smacked hard against its asphalt.

“Really... have to... learn how... to crash better,” he breathed.

Sam raised his head in time to see the front bumper of a Mercedes Benz racing toward him. The driver had seen him too late to swerve away from the collision. Luckily, Sam managed to roll away before he was flattened by the car because he was pretty sure that would have been the kind of catastrophic damage Triple-A was always warning him against.

The driver looked out his window and yelled, “Get off the road, jackass!” before speeding off.

“Yeah, I’m at fault for you speeding down a residential street...” Sam jumped to his feet, but not because he wanted to chase after the driver. He was used to the no-nonsense-tude typical of his fellow New Yorkers. No, Sam had risen because he was worried for Thunder as the shimmering, golden fist that had struck him so hard had also knocked her out of his reach. “Gotta get back to—”

Maeve had just helped Thunder out of the Boar-shaped hole that had once been her front door.

“Thank the gods,” Sam said.

He let out a sigh of relief after he noticed that they didn’t look any worse than before. Well, Maeve was half-carrying Thunder down the steps so things were still pretty bad, but at least they were out in the street now which meant their chances of escape had just risen.

Sam waved them over to his side of the street when his hand suddenly stopped in the air because he suddenly noticed something that caused his brow to furrow.

It was the middle of the day. Too many civilians had come out of their brownstone houses just to peek at the commotion happening outside, and there were joggers and kids out and about too.

“Oh, no,” Sam whispered.

He realized that escaping with Maeve and Thunder would mean a lot more people would get hurt in their place, and what kind of hero would he be if he let that happen.

As Maeve and Thunder moved across the street toward him, Sam tapped on his status while knowing full well that he had mere seconds to review his condition.

NAME: Samuel Shepard HERO NAME: None LEVEL: 14 RANK: Delta (Δ) ROLE Support TITLE/S: [Promising Hero-in-Training] + [Phantom Slayer: [BOON: 25% increased damage against phantom-type enemies]] + [Fire Proof: [BOON: 10% increased resistance to fire damage]]

“I really have to figure out how to earn more titles,” he said. “Could really use a Boar Slayer one right about now...”

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 328/640 STAMINA POINTS (SP): 175/320 FATIGUE: 65%

“At least my health went up past the halfway mark,” Sam said, although he knew that an eight-point increase thanks to his self-healing power wouldn’t be enough for the task he had in mind.

STRENGTH: 49 DEXTERITY: 38 CONSTITUTION: 64 INTELLIGENCE: 24 WISDOM: 24 WILLPOWER: 24 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE 5

That’s what he was looking for, the five extra points he’d earned from the last mission’s completion reward. Although whether he really deserved it was still debatable in Sam’s mind, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Here we go,” he whispered.

Sam button mashed [+] and gave all five points to [CONSTITUTION], increasing it to [69], and upping his HP total up to [HP: 353/690].

That was about all the preparation he could manage before Thunder and Maeve arrived at his side, which, coincidentally, was also about the same time the Trickster finally stepped out of Maeve’s front door.

Despite the bruises on his face, the villain was all smiles now. Sam guessed it had something to do with the six shimmering, golden arms floating around his back making him look like he’d conjured up some psychotic version of a many-armed Asura over himself.

“At least there are two less than last night,” Sam noted.

Sam glanced to his right. Maeve seemed fine. A bruised cheek and a rip in her leggings were the only injuries she’d earned in the earlier scuffle. Thunder, however, was looking like she was desperately holding back another Blight episode. Sweat dripped down her brow in buckets as she willed herself to remain conscious and alert. To have that kind of willpower, Sam couldn’t help but be impressed by her yet again. But this also meant who couldn’t rely on her anymore. No, it was up to Sam to step up now.

“Not running away so soon, are you?” The Trickster called from the other side of the street. “And we were having so much fun.”

The Trickster’s gaze moved left and then right, toward the civilians who were too stunned or too clueless to run away from the scene before them. Sam could tell this was the villain’s way of deliberately pointing out what would happen if his playmates tried to escape.

“Maeve,” Sam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the only piece of his gear he’d brought with him, “You take Thunder and get out of here... the Trickster only needs one dance partner.”

Sam secured the Mask of the Argonaut to the top half of his face.

“Oo~~oh, the hero’s putting on his serious face,” the Trickster laughed.

“It’s not for you, psycho,” Sam fired back.

And it really wasn’t. The Trickster had already seen his civilian face. There was no taking that part back. No, this was more to psych himself up as he’d remembered something the master told him once before.

Looking the part is already one half of a hero’s job, kid, the master had said. When people see you, they need to feel inspired... they need to see hope.

I need some hope too, he thought.

Sam wasn’t sure how inspiring he looked with his torn-up jacket and jeans, but putting the mask on did feel right somehow, almost like he was switching mindsets from wanting to escape to holding the line.

“I guess I should get a little serious too!” The Trickster dropped his dagger on the ground and then pulled out another one from inside his coat. He brandished the blade that was twice the size of the one that clattered down Maeve’s front steps. “This one’s got a lot more punch to it.”

Sam recognized the heavy-duty knife the villain juggled between his hands by its forward-curving blade. It was an ancient Greek kopis, a weapon that had mainly been used for ritual slaughter. He’d also heard the threat in the Trickster’s words which Sam translated to mean that whatever poison coated this kopis was far deadlier than what the other knife carried.

“O~~okay, you really are one disturbing dude,” Sam said.

He stepped forward. He was determined to hold the line while Maeve escaped with Thunder, but then Sam felt himself get yanked back by the arm.

“What the—”

Sam glanced over his shoulder and saw a pale-faced Thunder glaring back at him.

“If you expect me to run away while you try to play martyr, then you’re about to get a hard kick in the butt for thinking I’d ever leave you behind, lame-brain,” she growled.

No, she’s too weak, he thought, causing his brow to furrow. “I can’t heal you... not with—”

“—I don’t need you to heal me, Sam,” Thunder fired back. Then she coughed and then coughed some more. But, when the fit had passed, Thunder simply wiped at her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket and added, “I’m ready to bring the thunder.”

“Seriously,” Sam’s eyebrow was in danger of disappearing beyond his hairline, “you can’t — Maeve, a little help here, please?”

But Maeve’s face mirrored Thunder’s defiant look.

“I’m sure you think you can handle this on your own, Sam, but how are you going to deal with both the Trickster and that?” she asked in that knowing tone of hers.

Maeve’s emphasis on the word ‘that’ made Sam switch his gaze back toward her front porch

“Styx,” he sighed. “How is that thing even bigger now?”

The answer was pretty obvious as there had been three Boars who’d trespassed into Maeve’s home, but only one had come out. This one standing behind the Trickster was even thicker now than it was after it had cannibalized one of its brothers.

Perhaps it was the mammoth-sized tusks protruding from its snout that caused the hairs on the back of Sam’s arms to stand on end, he wasn’t sure. There were way too many things about the cannibal Boar that frightened him.

It’s as big as the Hulk, but ten times as ugly, Sam thought, and as descriptors went, this was pretty accurate.

“You may be just a match for it strength-wise, Sam, but you don’t have the experience to take these odds alone,” Maeve lectured.

“Isn’t that the truth,” Thunder chimed in.

“And you,” Maeve smacked Thunder lightly on the shoulder with the tip of her staff, “may have the experience, Sarah, but, girl, you don’t have any strength to fight a long battle.”

“Who says I don’t—”

Maeve silenced Thunder with a look; the kind an older sister might give her rowdy little sister when she’d had enough of her nagging.

Sam felt several soft taps on his back, his arms, and his legs. He glanced behind him and found several of Maeve’s red threads had clung to him. He noticed that these threads had also attached themselves to Thunder in the same way.

“Lucky for you two, I’ve got both the experience and power to supplement yours,” Maeve stated.

“Didn’t you say something terrible would happen to you if you stayed here?” Sam reminded her.

Maeve moved to stand between Sam and Thunder, and he saw that the resolve was clear on her face.

“I’ve made peace with my fate, Sam,” Maeve said. “I’m not worried about what will happen to me, but what will happen to my neighbors if we let those two monsters run wild...”

“Lesson number ten, the will of self-sacrifice...” Thunder shifted her feet apart and raised her arms up in the standard fighter’s stance. “Use me all you want, Maeve.”

“You two focus on the attack... I’ll handle defense,” Maeve instructed.

Sam had obviously been overruled, and there was nothing left for him to do but suck it up and get with the program. He wasn’t going to fight alone, and this made him happy on the inside as he’d never really had people who’d step into the fire with him before.

“Alright... fine...” Sam switched over to a battle stance too. “It’s superhero team-up time.”