by Atlas Kane
Sholl put a hand on her shoulder to soothe her, but she shrugged it off. It wasn’t an unkindly gesture, but Cade could understand. Some people didn’t want to be comforted in times of duress. They wanted to improve their understanding.
“Well, that’s a good point. On the first floor, we walked through a series of tunnels. It was dark, dank, and filled with dryads. At the end though, we were presented with a series of obstacles, three bosses lined up one after another. It felt an awful lot like a trap back then, but the dungeon was honest.
Each boss could be defeated, we just needed to figure out how. And when they all died, it let us go,” he finished, glancing to all of them so he knew they felt the impact of his speech. “Though it doesn’t feel like it, Pablo did say the dungeon was placed here to aid the citizens of Antinium, not harm them.”
The bird woman nodded, a humming in her throat emanating softly that somehow seemed to indicate she’d been pacified. Then they set out to do as Cade had ordered.
They searched the walls first, and the floor after. Ronden and Dan conducted a final sweep of the walls, checking higher than anyone else could reach. But after a quarter of an hour, nothing was found.
Cade offered to take the first watch.
That only meant that he remained standing, his blast axe held in his hand like an M-4, the head of the axe tucked into the pocket of his arm and shoulder. If anything popped out and went boo, he’d slap it in the face with a Slug Shot. The rest sat down and either ate a little more of their provisions, or in Ronden’s case, snored like a cabin full of lumberjacks.
The waiting reminded Cade of a theory he’d had. Pulling up his UVS, he saw he’d been right. A quest had been made as soon as they entered the second floor of the dungeon. He read the description now, hoping to learn as much as he could. He might even be able to discover some clue as to how they were supposed to progress.
Quest: Two, a Task Divided
Difficulty: Moderate
Reward: Unknown Items, XP to all members of Camp Casmeer
Description: By unlocking the second floor of the dungeon, your township has been offered a priceless opportunity. In clearing the second floor of all minions, bosses, and obstacles, the entire population of Camp Casmeer will be rewarded. The difficulty of the second floor lies not in the potency of the enemies you will face, but rather in how you choose to defeat them. Likewise, without relying on the exponential benefits of teamwork, none will survive the attempt.
Well, if that doesn’t make me feel all kinds of Christmas in my heart, Cade thought sourly. He puzzled over the wording though, paying close attention to the heavy emphasis on teamwork. The name too, seemed like a nudge in the right direction. Two, a Task Divided. How are we supposed to work as a team if we’ve been divided?
The answer to that question would get them the hell out of here.
He walked over to tell the others about the quest. He doubted any of them had thought to check. They were still very new to the idea of the system populating official quests, and though he’d accidentally handed a few out since becoming Archon, it just hadn’t caught on yet. But before he uttered a word, the lights in the room flared brilliantly.
“On your feet!” Cade belted out, but his command proved unnecessary. In seconds, his team was standing, their weapons ready.
A series of whirs and clangs came from the walls and the ceiling above, them, yet other than the lights doubling their output, nothing changed. Unsure of where to face, Cade ordered them in a ring facing the walls around them. In moments, however, they discovered exactly where the danger would be coming from.
In the center of the flat wall, a crack formed. Two massive slabs of metal began to retract, revealing a writhing terror.
A ball of twitching steel flashed before them. Long tentacles shot out as soon as the wall was clear, forcing Cade and his group back.
The boss monster, and oh hells yes, this was a boss monster, consisted of dozens of long, mechanical tentacles, all attached to a spherical base. The tentacles were tipped with blades. Within the mess of moving parts, thin barrels protruded, and before anyone had time to wonder what the structures were for, laser fire erupted towards them.
At this distance, it was not exactly easy, but possible to dodge all of the incoming attacks.
Cade waved everyone back until they stood close to the half-moon-shaped rear wall. From there, he surveyed the scene more clearly.
Behind the octobot, Cade noticed a second wall retracting in pace with the first. It was as if two screens were being opened to expose an inner chamber that contained the boss. Not wanting to keep calling it an octobot, Cade examined the creature.
Reticulating Gorgon
Level 14
Dungeon Mechanical Boss
More interesting than the beast’s name was the appearance of Havasham and his party standing fifty feet away, pinned against their own wall.
They’d found their missing party members at last, and though the situation looked hopeless, Cade was certain the way forward was through this many-limbed monster. If any of them wanted to get out of the dungeon alive, escape to feel sunshine, taste jungle wine, or breathe sweet Antinium air once more, they’d have to team up.
The only question remaining was how to do so.
7
Between the Chicken and the Pita Bread
“What a delightful shitstorm!” Cade shouted over the buzz of machine gears and flailing, metallic tentacles. The lasers had ceased firing, perhaps programmed only to target anything within a certain range. He was certain they’d start up again as soon as they approached the gorgon though.
Ronden stood beside him and pointed his hammer at the creature. “Let’s kill this thing and be done with it. What are we waiting for?”
Cade laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t think we’re gonna be able to take that thing down. Its core is double your height, Ronden, and it has two of its bladed tentacles for each of us.”
The central chamber containing the Reticulating Gorgon was heaped with rubble. Components to machines, levers, gears, and scrap metal piled atop itself, and morbidly, pale bones were scattered in between it all. There was no order to the mess, not that Cade could see at first glance.
“Ah! Come on, let’s just go for it!” the big man pleaded, spinning his hammer in his hand.
Glancing to the rest of the group, Cade shrugged. “Okay, but we’re only going to probe this thing, okay?”
Cade barked out an Alpha’s Call, and they fanned out and walked forward. Havasham’s group was doing the same, and in moments, both groups clashed with the gorgon. Sparks filled the air and the massive blades were blocked or dodged. The machine moved with incredible speed, and Cade could barely manage to avoid being skewered. The blade was leaf-shaped and only a foot long, but it moved with such force, that he nearly dropped his axe after blocking it.
Grunts of surprise and pain erupted from all over the room. “Hold here! See if you can at least damage one of the tentacles!” Cade shouted, deciding to fire an explosive round into the machine’s core. The blast erupted amid the gorgon’s center of mass, but did little other than discolor the bright steel with black smudges.
In answer, the lasers focused on Cade, and he was forced to backpedal rapidly, dodging one and then blocking another of the tentacles. It didn’t like that one bit, he mused, wondering how they might use the machine’s shifting attention.
As he was retreating, something caught Cade’s eye amid the rubble. Perfectly round, roughly an inch high and a foot across, Cade noted what looked like a prototypical button resting in the floor not two dozen feet away. Hoping to figure out exactly what the button triggered, Cade called out a few more orders. “Ronden, Dan, move to one side and draw its attention! Polde, on me!”
When the tanks of their group had moved sufficiently far away, Cade showed the bird woman what he’d seen. Her eyes grew wide in recognition, and she nodded. “As soon as it’s distracted, do your thing.”
Then he ra
n over and told Sholl what they were about. By that time, Ronden had already charged, his hammer ringing off the incoming tentacles with a psychotic bell. Sholl and Cade moved in after and pulled a few more of the tentacles away. But when Dan sent an arcing flash of lightning out toward the machine, all of the attention fell on him.
He used another skill, swiping his soul weapon claws out before him in quick arcs. When he finished, the area between the claw marks began to glow, forming into a solid shield. The tentacles crashed off its electric surface for several seconds while the lycan retreated.
Polde needed no bigger opening.
She sprinted forward, vaulting on her hands over the single unoccupied tentacle that remained, and landed on the button with both feet.
The gorgon blared in distress, its screech coming out like an air raid siren.
Lasers aimed at the retreating bird woman and every tentacle veered toward her. Whatever the button did, the machine didn’t want. That was all the assurance Cade had wanted.
He ran to her aid with Sholl at his side. They swatted away a few of the blades that came close, and Ronden and Dan did the same from the other side. Polde finally fell back far enough to be safe though her feathered skin was smoking from dozens of laser strikes.
Then she yelped in surprise. Cade turned to focus on what new threat might have attacked her, but saw instead she’d simply run into a thin cable draping down from the ceiling. Hanging on the end and wobbling from having been disturbed, was a sphere the size of a tennis ball.
“Everyone pull back!” Cade bellowed, and moved to inspect the results of their initial efforts.
After confirming the cable hadn’t been electrified, Cade picked up the sphere in his hand. He moved it closer to his face and saw it had a myriad of tiny pores along its surface. He sighed in frustration and then everyone in the entire chamber knew what the thing was. The sound of his own breath whooshing across the sphere blasted from hidden speakers in the walls.
It was a microphone.
And then he knew why it was here.
“Havasham!” Cade called through the device. The opposing leader moved to see what Cade was up to. He motioned with his hands to indicate he was listening. “Can you find a button on your side. Foot across, one inch high, and way too close to the gorgon?”
After a few moments passed, Havasham looked back up and nodded. “Okay, well, set up a distraction, we will do the same from this side, and then send your fastest fighter in to trigger it. You’ll get a nice microphone too. Okay?”
The councilman nodded once more, and Cade saw his mouth moving as he ordered his men about.
Dropping the mic, Cade told his people to do the same. He wanted to get the thing’s attention quick, so he produced a Blast Stick, the smaller of the two explosives he’d made. The blast didn’t truly harm the machine, but a few of the laser barrels were skewed to one side, and more importantly, nearly every tentacle on the thing whipped around and shot out toward Cade.
He triggered Wyrm’s Wrath and ran as quickly as he could. With increased speed, he managed to avoid all of the incoming attacks… but one.
The blade that sunk into his back pierced him effortlessly. It slid between two of his ribs and out the front of his chest, not even slowing as it tore through his leather armor. The machine retracted and sent another of the weapons at Cade. Ronden’s huge hands were wrapping around him, hauling him to his feet and away from the barrage.
Cade felt his left lung fill with blood, and he coughed up a mouthful.
His soldiers, his friends he realized, surrounded him, all looking concerned. He held up a hand. “I’m not dead yet. Just need—” he tried, but coughed and vomited more blood on the ground. Ronden held a Healing Tincture to his lips, and after he’d drank it down, shoved a handful of herbs in his mouth.
The damage was internal, so the Scorching Poultice would do nothing. Even so, the minor effects of the tincture and herbs served to stabilize his condition somewhat. Despite that, he knew he’d be done with the real fighting for the day. Pointing, he asked wordlessly to be set down near the microphone.
He might not be able to fight, but he could still command.
As soon as he gripped it, he heard Havasham’s voice echoing around him. “We’ve done it. Are you okay? I saw you get run through.”
Cade grinned, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. “Can’t get rid of me that easy, Havasham.” He paused to catch his breath, grateful only that his lung seemed to be bleeding less profusely. “I’ll still be there to argue with you and Cha, if we can finish this thing at least.”
“I would have it no other way,” Havasham replied after a brief pause. His words were filled with emotion, and Cade was happy to see another depth of the man he’d been so opposed to in the past weeks.
Holding the microphone to his mouth again, Cade asked, “Any ideas what to do next? Need to work together. Read the quest information. Our only ticket to freedom is teamwork.”
Havasham replied, “I did already. Yes, I agree. All we’ve noticed is that there seem to be matching components littered among the materials near the gorgon. They all have a similar bluish cast to them. If you keep that in mind, they become more obvious. Vrin thinks he saw a barrel. Might be a weapon.”
“Only one way to find out. We’ll distract again, and be more careful this time,” Cade finished, and called Ronden closer. The big man leaned down and Cade told him his plan.
In a handful of moments, Ronden was grinning like a… well, like a murderous giant holding fistfuls of explosives and Acid Bombs. After giving him a nod, Cade spoke through the microphone. “Remember, store the materials in your Inventory. You can sort them later. It’s go time.”
Ronden, in traditional berserker form, screamed at the top of his lungs before he engaged.
Then he threw three full-sized Boom Sticks at the gorgon. Each rattled the room, making everyone clutch their ears. Half the tentacles swiveled his way and tried to reach him. In response, he tossed as many Acid Bombs into their midst and chaos reigned.
Only one of the bombs made it to the core, and it splashed across most of the remaining laser barrels. They warped and ceased to fire. The other two were dashed by the incoming tentacles, sending the acidic goo flying across the room in all directions. Most fell smoking to the rubble beneath, but some did damage the tentacles themselves. The lanky appendages seemed to lose flexibility at some of their joints.
Cade figured there must be a way to bring down the huge machine, but it would require a large amount of materials to do so. Besides, they didn’t even know if its current form was its final manifestation.
That thought made him want to lose his breakfast, so he pushed it aside.
Instead, he watched his plan progress.
Ronden had stepped just within range, so after the second barrage, nearly all of the tentacles focused on him. Dan stepped forward and formed another electrical shield before the giant, and Sholl darted in with Polde at his side.
Their mission was to see if they could find any items that matched, as Havasham had mentioned. A half dozen more tentacles followed them, leaving Havasham’s side temporarily open. Through the clear wall that separated the two sides, Cade caught glimpses of Vrin, Havasham, and the others sprinting through the piles of materials.
Perhaps twenty seconds passed by the time Dan’s shield fell. They’d fallen back by then and Sholl stood near Polde, panting.
Cade waited to hear from Havasham.
“I think we’ve got it. Damn, the parts are even labeled. It’s… it’s a cannon, Cade. Give us some time to assemble it. Did yours find anything useful?”
Polde ran up, her feathered cheeks pulled back in a grin. “We have the controller!” she yelled into the microphone, then summoned the parts they’d found on their search.
One was the size of a lunchbox, with a wide gap at the bottom and a hole at the top. The next was an antenna, its cork-screw shape and threaded base giving it away easily. The final piece was a
block, one end protruding slightly.
Cade threaded the antenna in, and pressed the block into the gap in the first piece. It clicked into place and the remote lit up with ether-blue lights. The lid opened, and a single button protruded. “Damn this dungeon. It has a fetish with buttons! Well, I think our side is good,” Cade said. “Let us know when yours is assembled, Havasham.”
His body was still in ruins, and as the adrenaline of his ordeal began to wear off, pain hammered through him. He slumped to the ground, suddenly overcome by a wave of dizziness. When he did so, his lung burbled within him and he turned and coughed out more blood.
Seeing he was struggling, Sholl brought out the last of his own Health Tinctures, and gave him another. The effect was diminished after the first had been applied so recently, but it helped a little. The second mouthful of herbs he began to chew did more. Still, he didn’t feel like getting back up, so Cade lay there on the ground, staring up at one of the lights above them.
Strangely, his thought went back to Earth, to his previous life.
Once, when he was a child, he’d torn a hunk of muscle and skin from his leg while playing. After the shock of what had happened, he’d managed to find his dad, show him the mess he’d made of himself.
His dad had lost his shit.
So, rather than calm little Cade, he’d scared him half to death, confirming every fear he’d thought up.
Afterward, at the local hospital, a young doctor had flushed the wound with iodine, the yellowish brown liquid looking like rotten blood. Then, unceremoniously, the man had dug around in the wound with the tip of his index finger. Cade had screamed, his head falling back as he nearly swooned, and above him, a bright ER light shone down in his eyes.
So much had happened since then.
Polde shook Cade as she saw he was closing his eyes. Slapping his face, she called to him. “Stay with me, Archon! Do not close those pretty eyes, okay?”