Walking through the broken down fence we stepped onto South Yard where staff that had been holding that line were finally allowed to rest. I hadn’t been paying attention before and didn’t notice that they all had bags under their eyes and nearly to the man and woman had slumped against the wall or sat down on the concrete in the shade of the overhang. I saw Steve talking to them and he excused himself when he saw us come around the building. I leaned over to Junipher before he got to me “These people look demolished, think you can sing that song you sang when we left the Kobold Dungeon, the one that invigorated us?”

“Of course, Karl.” And she walked around the group while singing her song. They looked upon her in a slight daze as the strength slowly began surging through their bodies. Steve almost ran into me and muttered an embarrassed apology when I stopped him with the palm of my hand.

“I’ll get everyone gathered and see who’s willing to face this dungeon of yours.” Steve said as he passed me and started hollering for everyone to gather around. Sumpter walked off the field with a grin on his face, bastard sword and tower shield in hand. A couple more officers I had worked closely with followed him with shotguns in their hands and I greeted them all. In the distance I saw Dick going about the process of incinerating the bodies on the field, he had gained some new spells because every 30 seconds he would walk into the middle of a large group of bodies and a second later a circle of fire would explode out from him. That’s fucking efficient I suppose.

“Doooooooood! These weapons are GREAT! I can finally use my skills! It’s AWWWESOME!” Sumpter began before he even reached me. The group of officers that was gathering around chuckled to varying degrees.

I smiled “I’m glad you approve. Gallardo, where you been hiding?”

The man in question walked up to me with a large grin, offered his right hand which I took then pulled me in and threw his left hand around my shoulder as best he could. “Oh, you know, here and there. I was in the briefing room when you walked in earlier, you looked like you were on a mission so I didn’t want to bother you.”

I disengaged from the man and saw that Dick was about finished so I went about greeting some of the other officers assembled and thought about what I was going to say. They need to know what they’re getting into. Especially the ones that go into that dungeon with me.

“Alright, Karl, this is everybody. Give us the pitch.” Robyn notified me and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

I looked around at the assembled group of about 2 dozen officers and finished gathering my thoughts. I decided to give them a rundown of the last fucked up dungeon I had been in.

“So, here’s the deal. There’s a rank three level 20-ish nightmare type dungeon formed underneath 4AC. My assistant, Veep, tells me that there are half a dozen inmates trying to clear the dungeon as we speak. What level are they now Veep?”

Veep made herself appear for everyone and responded “The highest is level 18. There are only four left, two at 16 and one other at 17. They are about halfway through the dungeon based on the limited scans I can get. I will know more when we get into the dungeon itself.”

As I looked about the group I saw that the highest was level 14 like me, and that was surprisingly Dick. Good on him. Looks of doubt fell across most of the assembled officers as the majority were barely level 10. A little over half a dozen were even close to having the levels needed to tackle this dungeon with a normal sized party. Good thing I intend to max out the party limit.

“Before you decide to go with me into the dungeon, I feel it’s only fair to tell you about my first dungeon.” I continued with the story of the dungeon, how at first it seemed to be rather mundane. Then explained that the wing I tackled contained a mini boss that was cooking humans. Humans that the little bastard kobolds had captured from the creek. I gave the second hand tale of the breeding den that Alyssa had tackled by herself. And then how I found Junipher, as a slave to the main boss. Throughout the story telling Junipher provided an escalating soundtrack that enraptured the people assembled before me.

“That was what was classified as a ‘Horror’ dungeon. And it was only level 5. The thing that’s been festering below your feet is what the system calls a ‘Nightmare’ dungeon. It’s been feeding on the blood of the inmates that have been dying here over the last two days, corrupting it. In the last three days I’ve seen shit that will haunt me the rest of my days. And the majority of it was due to that fucked up first dungeon dive.”

“With that being said, Sumpter, Bradley, if you guys wanna back out now is the time to do it.” I looked hard at them to impress the seriousness of what I was telling them.

“Fuck no beesh! I’m in! I ain’t backin down!” Sumpter declared in only the way that Sumpter could. Good, we really need a tank.

Bradley scratched the back of his neck sheepishly then straightened “I’m in, just got a small problem. No more ammo.”

I smiled and produced my custom AR from my spatial inventory that had the 1-6X optic on it. “This work?”

“HELL YEAH! I can work with that, I assume you got ammo.” He looked at me skeptically. I produced the 10 magazines for the AR and handed them to him one by one. When he took the first one he looked at it skeptically, no bullet was visible in the magazine, only a black block of metal that glowed with a faint blue light.

“Just chamber a round” I said and gave him a playful wink. He did so, then checked the chamber and cursed “Holy shit, what are these!?!?” A shiny brass cartridge was exposed in the open breach so I explained how the magazines worked, advised that I expected everything back when we were done, then went back to seeing who else was interested. Of course Gallardo stepped up to the plate. Anthony Gallardo, Lvl 12 Rifleman. Hmmm, starting to be a little heavy, maybe, on the boom boom. He had one of the complex AR Carbines with an EOTech optic and a vertical foregrip on it and several magazines and wore a desert tan tactical vest like many of the assembled officers.

“Alright, that makes five, we need seven. I’d like to max it out at ten. If you’re done killing shit today, step inside, everyone else interested, hang out.” I got worried when it felt like almost all of the staff left. What remained was half a dozen officers as well as Robyn and Steve, though I felt they were sticking it out to set an example, I didn’t imagine both would enter the dungeon with me.

I looked at the remaining officers carefully and examined their classes and levels. To my surprise I saw Dick in the group and nodded at him to join the others behind me. As he walked past me I grabbed his shoulder “I’m glad you’re stepping up man.” He smiled awkwardly and I released him. Also in the group I saw CHEEZEY! I examined her and saw she had taken my advice and picked a magic class. Brianna “CHEEZEY!” Che’, Lvl 9 Storm Adept. I smiled at her and went along examining the other five that presented themselves. I’d like everyone that goes to be over level 10.

The auburn haired girl I saw on the north field punching inmates to death was here so I examined her. Michelle Scheel, Lvl 12 Warrior of the Seven Ways. That’s a sick sounding class, what the fuck VEEP!?!? The little AI responded curtly. You had some pretty interesting options available too you know. The woman looked to be in her mid 20’s with a fairly pretty face and a tight petite body that stood just over 5 feet tall. I absolutely towered over her but she never shied away from my scrutiny. I noticed for the first time that she didn’t wear any boots. Her hands and feet were wrapped in bloody wrappings that allowed the fingers and toes to be exposed. I noticed that both sets of nails were done up and thought wryly to myself whether or not she’d like to meet a certain spider lady.

“Interesting class.” I stated simply, then asked, “Front line or stealth?”

“She smirked and considered her answer, “I did Kung-fu when I was a teenager, was pretty good at it. My AI found this class from ‘a long dead alien civilization’. I’m no sneaky bitch.”

“Good, you’re in.” She rolled her eyes and looked at me like it was even a question. Got the right attitude, hope she has the maturity to not let it get her eaten.

Next up was a man in his 30’s I hadn’t had a chance to meet but had seen around. He stood about 5’ 8” tall with dark skin and eyes. He smiled when I stepped in front of him and held his casual stance, cradling a Remington 870 in the crook of his arm with the muzzle pointed at the ground. Artur Hernandez, Lvl 13 Shotgun Berserker. Berserker, WITH a shotgun. Nice.

I only had to nod and he was smiling and walking past me to join the group. Someone’s eager.

The last three ‘candidates’ stood in their own little group off to the side. They were all young and I could tell they lacked confidence. They were all also all level 12.

First up was a young blonde woman in her early 20’s with hazel eyes and a shape that couldn’t be hidden by her uniform. But that wasn’t what really piqued my interest. She had a class that we needed. Courtney Valley, Lvl 12 Battlefield Medic. Just what the doctor ordered. If you are getting your bits blown off anyway.

Next up was a young native man also in his early 20’s with a round face that indicated he was probably quite portly before the system struck. Though now he was forming thickly muscled arms well seeming somewhat wiry in the torso. Henry Whitefeather, Lvl 12 Shock Trooper. I think that was one of my options. I asked him about his class and he explained he gained broad weapon proficiencies with both melee and ranged weapons. He had chosen One-Handed Melee (Bladed) as his primary weapon skill and Rifle Marksmanship as his secondary weapon skill. The class also gave him a sort of tertiary weapon proficiency called General Weapon Expertise which was a jack of all trades skill that let him have basic proficiency and knowledge of any weapon he picked up. Useful, but a little too Jack of All trades to me.

The next man was a skinny white kid that was probably barely allowed to join the department. He looked like he belonged in middle school. I resisted the urge to ask him if his mom had to write him a note to come to work. Then I realized how insensitive that comment would have been considering the whole apocalypse and all. Random thoughts aside, his class is what really stood out, and his name. Stephen Hawkings, Lvl 12 Physics Mage. That name and class… what the literal fuck!?

“Physics Mage?” I asked bluntly.

He looked up at me awkwardly and looked away then quickly snapped his attention back to me “Uh, yeah, I can manipulate the laws of physics, gravity, mass, that kinda shit.”

“Show me.”

He looked around, picked up a small rock, concentrated on it for a second and handed it to me. I took the rock and immediately felt like I was trying to curl 100 pound dumbbells pre-system. I let the tiny rock drop and it shattered the concrete beneath our feet. I stumbled, he stumbled, and everyone looked around for an attack that didn’t come. He laughed and shrugged “I can also use that as a projectile, it’s quite devastating, though it consumes a lot of mana.”

I nodded at that thought, I dabbled a little in physics before the system so I had a basic understanding of what a high velocity super massive object could do if it hit something.

“Alright, join the rest.”

I turned to Cheezey, but she already had her hands up waving away the coming apology for not including her. “I know, my level is too low, I’m glad you didn’t pick me though.” She shrugged and smiled.

“You going to hang out here to find out how it goes, or you going to try to head back home?”

“Home, of course, my husband and kids are there, hopefully.” she added the last with a sense of apprehension.

“You live on the Rez, right? Head to my settlement first. Talk to a young girl named Alyssa, she’s the Captain of the Guard. Tell her I sent you, she should be able to scrounge up a small escort to get you further into the Rez. We don’t know what the situation is up there and need to send a scouting group anyway.”

She smiled in relief, “Thanks, I’ll do that, where’s the settlement?”

“Just head straight for the Flying J, walls should be up around it now, you can’t miss it.”

She turned and went inside where the ones who didn’t want to risk their lives went.

When I turned back to my assembled team I realized I made a mistake and picked one too many. I scanned the party and counted them off by name, Myself, Junipher, Bradley, Phil, Anthony, Dick,Artur, Michelle, Courtney, Henry and Stephen. Shit. Who do I kick to the curb?

I went through the group again in my head. The first 5 were locked in. Period. Dick, Artur and Michelle were also needed as they had the levels and our only true healer. That left the decision between Henry and Stephen. I felt like Henry was less usefal than Stephen but in the end it had to be their choice.

"Look, I kill shit, I don't do simple math, we are one member over." I looked between Stephen and Henry and held up a hand for them to wait. "Veep, what happens if we bring a party too large for the dungeon in."

The AI bounced into view for everyone and began a short lecture. "Several things happen actually, firstly, for each member over the maximum allowed in a dungeon the difficulty of the monsters, traps, and puzzles increases by 20%. So for this dungeon you could bring 15 members in, but would be faced with a 200% difficulty modifier. Additionally all rewards from the dungeon would be halved and you would not be allowed to claim the core. In this example if you take 16 or more into the dungeon, then the dungeon gets a mana infusion and is allowed to continuously spawn mosters of increasing difficulty, and also reset traps and rooms and add other obstacles. This essentially makes it impossible to defeat the dungeon."

She paused as everyone digested what she said, then she dropped the other bomb on us. "Also, since there is already another group attempting the dungeon a modifier will be added when your group enters. The dungeon will shift to a Conflict dungeon. This happens anytime two parties try to enter the same dungeon at the same time. When you enter the dungeon all of the spawns that the previous group cleared will be reconstituted and all traps and puzzles will be reset. Also the difficulty of the respawns will be increased by 50%. You will not be able to claim the core or the rewards until the other party is defeated or leaves."

"Your Assistant is correct." Junipher added, "On my planet it was a courtesy to leave a signal at the mouth of a dungeon to indicate it was occupied, if you entered one that was occupied you were considered hostile."

"Well, that doesn't change too much, we were going to eliminate those assholes anyway. Now on to our current issue then. Henry, Stephen, which one is it gonna be? Courtney is guaranteed a slot for being the only dedicated healer, so that leaves you two. I'll let you decide amongst yourselves."

They looked at each other then Henry asked the all important question. "Which would you prefer?"

"Good question, and honestly, I'd prefer Stephen, no slight to you but we already got enough boys with guns standing around here." Everyone laughed at that and he nodded.

"Yeah, I was noticing that too, if Stephen wants the slot, I can make myself useful protecting the others as we make our way back to town." He chuckled good naturedly and looked at Stephen for his answer.

"Ok, I ain't got no one here in town anyway, so you go with the others and I'll raid a dungeon!" Stephen slapped the bigger man on the shoulder and beamed an almost impossibly large smile at the group.