Ugh. You idiot. Why does everyone in an escort quest have to act suicidal? Lucas griped. “Linnaeus, don’t worry about this fight. I know that you’re with us, but you need to get out of here. I’ll consider the contract fulfilled, so just take to the skies and head toward the manor southwest of here.”

“You, a Human, would”—the ape threw all four hands over his heart—“put my safety above your own? How then do you expect me to leave?!”

Really? Lucas’s frustration ballooned as he realized his words had ensured the monster would stay and fight. Freaking Charisma score! Why must you make me so charming to NPCs that they risk their life for me? As he was complaining to himself, he felt Linnaeus grab his shoulders and spin him around. “What the—”

“PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE FIGHT!” Linnaeus roared, his remaining two hands fastening onto Lucas’s waist. Half a second later, Lucas felt nothing but air beneath his feet as the primate, clutching him tightly with his four hands, hoisted him into the sky. “Now, use your fancy tools and gadgets to rain hell down on our foes!” Linnaeus said, before releasing a loud ca-caw into the sky.

Lucas was annoyed that the monster was essentially using him as a weapon, but he had to admit that Linnaeus wasn’t a fool. Looking down from above, he could tell at a glance that, if Linnaeus had just charged right at the enemy, the attack would have ended in grim failure.

Some forty feet from the tree Lucas had been hiding behind, there was a tanky character holding a massive, glowing blue shield positioned in front of two Mages and an Archer, and then there was another tank, one without a glowing shield, fifteen feet to the first’s left. Behind the second tank were two more Archers and a Mage. Behind those two were two players with scepters casting heals on the tanks and creating Force Shields where the Earthen Walls didn’t offer enough protection. The Mages had narrower attack channels because of all the barriers, but it also meant that they were effectively protected from almost every angle—except from above.

When the Archers saw Lucas and Linnaeus flying together above them, they started training their arrows at the pair instead of his untargetable group. Given Linnaeus’s massive fourteen-foot wingspan, it was impossible to dodge more than one incoming projectile at a time, and Lucas could hear the creature let out a small grunt with each arrow that struck him.

As Lucas listened to his new partner accumulate damage, he looked down and checked on the rest of his people. For the most part, they were cowering behind trees that were currently being blasted to shreds by giant scorching rays of fire. Bonnie and Katie were together on the left while Nick and Viola were together on the enemy’s right. Each pair had been cordoned off from the other by the Mages’ walls.