Part Ten

“It’s been a half-hour. Where is he?”

“Patience. He’ll come. It’s not like he went to the grocery store.”

“So what? Are we supposed to just wait all day?”

“……No. Let’s give him another half-hour, then we’ll leave.”

The four of them had already secured a car and about twenty gallons of extra gas, so all they needed to do was wait for Michael to return. Gwyn and Gwen were simply sitting and waiting, but Alicia was visibly agitated. She kept scanning in the direction Michael had gone, most likely using Accuracy in hopes of spotting him.

But while they were simply waiting, Kalia was on the verge of a panic attack. While she hadn’t seen the shadow, she’d felt its presence when it spoke to Michael, and it reminded her of the giant she’d seen in London, the one that had nearly enslaved her mind. If the two beings were connected, then…

All Kalia could really do right now was simply pray that Michael would return as soon as possible.

***

I’d watched the Zombie Cannibal Carnival for a while longer before slipping back down the ladder. Whatever was going on here was beyond my understanding, but it probably had something to do with the shadow creature and the war it mentioned. Whether or not that would affect our plans was yet to be seen.

While I’m curious about what’s going on here, I know not to stick my head into a lion's mouth. This is definitely out of our pay grade. Something odd is happening here, and it scares me.

The walk back to the others was quiet, especially given the scene I was just leaving. That was going to leave me with a nightmare or two for the future. Not that that was anything new at this point.

“Ah! There he is!”

Alicia was the first to spot me, and the look of relief on her face made me feel a little guilty. It definitely hadn’t been necessary, but I had felt like I couldn’t just ignore it either. Though I wasn’t sure if I even understood what I’d seen.

“Took him long enough. Come on, let’s get out of this creepy ass place.”

“Gwen, calm down. We’re in no hurry right now. Ensuring that we know what dangers lay behind us is critical to preventing any unseen disasters in the future.”

“Yeah, yeah. Haaah, get it over with.”

Their dynamic is weird. I can’t tell if they get along or not, and every other sentence out of her mouth seems to be a complaint. Alicia can be a bit annoying at times, but she usually means that stuff as semi-playful banter. Gwen just seems to be bitching. Then again, I have an attitude problem as well, so….yeah. So long as it doesn’t become a problem, I’ll keep my nose out of it.

“So what happened? Where were the Undead heading?”

“To something unbelievable. All the Undead were gathering at the same place, where they then proceeded to tear into each other.”

“Wait, were they….eating each other?”

“Yup. It was probably the most disturbing thing I’ve had the misfortune to see. I checked around a bit too, but I didn’t see any monsters left over. So whatever happened probably got the majority of them.”

“Huh. Any sign of the shadow creature?”

“Not a one, and I’m glad for that. Just seeing it once unnerved me enough. A second encounter with it in as many days would probably push me over the edge.”

“Hm, perplexing. Are those Undead actually related to the creature? Or is it merely coincidence?”

“I’m not a big believer in coincidences. If something feels off, it usually is. I can’t imagine that they’re not at least somewhat connected.”

“Yes, that’s true. But the only way to truly know would be to investigate further. However, with the fact that there’s only five of us dealing with an unknown entity, there’s a good chance that would end in tragedy. Which means…...”

“It’ll have to go unsolved for now. What we should be worrying about is what to do next. Do we keep going or do we leave early?”

“Hrm, I advocate for continuing. We should at least continue on to our next destination. I’d like to know if this is a common occurrence, or an isolated event. We can decide what to do from there.”

“Sounds good to me. What do you two think?”

“I’m fine so long as we get away from here. Something about the atmosphere seems to have changed since we woke up. It’s like it’s charged now. Like just before a storm. I don’t like it.”

“I feel it too. It reminds me of just before the Archmage cast his Meteor spell back in the Dungeon. Something bad's going to happen here.”

“Okay then. Everyone in the car. It’ll take about an hour to get to Southampton. Sooner we get going, the quicker we get there.”

***

An indeterminate amount of time later…….

“KRYYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!”

An inhuman, utterly horrific scream echoed out through the now-deserted streets. Most of the Undead, and all of the Miasma, were gone, replaced by a creature straight out of someone's worst nightmare.

Its skin, once a dark green, was now coated in a bubbling tar-like substance. Its eyes had been carved out and replaced with small, glowing red dots burning deep within them. Short black claws had sprouted from its fingers. It had undergone a complete transformation.

“KAAAAAAAAAA…… RAAAAAAH!”

Despite the fact that it just ripped every other thing near it into pieces, an immense, uncontrollable rage seemed to possess it. It kept twitching and glancing around. Then, from nowhere, the creature stilled.

“Hm, it seems the Lord was correct. These interior creatures are incapable of producing adequate Thralls. I even ignored my previous methods in hopes of squeezing something of worth out of them.”

It had appeared. The same shadowy creature Michael had seen the night before. Even in the light of day, the creature was no easier to understand. It appeared as if someone had compressed darkness into a rough human silhouette. It was near impossible to determine where the creature was even looking.

“I suppose I shall have to wait until the other pots fill to capacity. A shame. Still, even an inferior product such as this has its uses. This is as good as any opportunity to test the pretender's Puppets.”

The shadow reached out, grasped the Undead creature, and disappeared. And the town was quiet once again.

***

“This is….weird. Not as weird as the last town, but still pretty weird.”

“Agreed. I never thought I’d ever see the day where an abandoned town was still nearly abandoned.”

After a short trip with a few detours due to congested roads, we’d arrived in Southampton to find the town partially deserted. Unlike our previous town, which had been home to numerous Goblin tribes, the number of monsters here was almost pitiful by comparison, but far more varied.

“Well, it’s better than it being full of Undead, right? And heck, we could probably clear this town on our own, so long as nothing ridiculous is hiding here.”

“Considering that I’d originally planned to come here tomorrow, we could spend more time here. Hm, what do you say, Kalia?”

“Huh? Oh, uhhhh, I guess? I mean, I’m not against that. Just…shouldn’t we be more worried about what happened? I can’t help but feel like we’ve made a mistake somewhere.” Uh-oh.

“If that’s how you feel, then I’m certain we could find a functional boat to take us across the channel. But doing so feels like wasting an opportunity.”

“……Maybe we take a closer look around? We might find signs of whatever's been happening here if we do. And it couldn’t hurt just to make sure it’s actually safe.”

Something weird is clearly going on here, but sticking our noses too far into it could backfire. But at the same time, ignoring the problem could also backfire. Running away is an option, but we’ll be losing out on time and opportunity if we do so. Whatever that thing was up to won’t stop just because we leave, so maybe we should just go for it. Plus there’s the added benefit of getting stronger, which is always a plus. If it does end up becoming a problem, someone will need the strength required to deal with it.

“I think whatever the hell you’re doing, you need to decide quickly. Those lizard things are gettin' closer.”

Lizard things? Oh, it’s just some Kovis. A small group of the lizard men had been stalking closer, but Gwen pointing them out quickly alerted the rest of us to their presence. And as could be expected, the poor monsters didn’t last long after that.

“Ahem, now that that’s dealt with, we really should decide on what to do. Considering the stakes involved here, we should decide this as a group. If even one of us wants to leave, then we should all leave. We’ve already had one unusual encounter. Odds are more will follow if we stay. Think long and hard about it.”

“…I’m staying. Something about giving up so easily just riles me up the wrong way. Besides, I already knew shit like this could happen when I agreed to come here in the first place. Doesn’t make sense to give up now.”

“If Michael's staying then so am I. Someone needs to rein him in.” What the heck?

“……I’ll stay. I can’t say I’m not afraid, but I’ll stay.”

“Gwen? What about you?”

“Hmph, do ya need to ask, dumbass?”

“No, I suppose not. I forgot momentarily that you’re too stubborn to change your mind for something like this.”

“Well if that’s decided then, I’d like to point out that I’m pretty sure there’s a Dungeon somewhere behind us, and I’d very much like to clear it. Seriously. Right now. Please.”

I wanted a little mindless violence to help take my mind off of lurking shadows and hidden dangers. And as far as I knew, monsters couldn’t enter Dungeons, so that was a plus.

“I…guess I could go for a Dungeon run. So long as its not a C-Rank one. I don’t want to repeat that nightmare anytime soon.”

“Was that Dungeon really so bad?”

“””Yes. Yes it was.”””

This was the first, and probably only, time that Alicia, Kalia and I were all on the exact same page.

***

::Death of Dungeon Boss confirmed. Individual has completed E-Rank Dungeon.

Individual’s contribution: 21%. Generating rewards……Complete.

Dungeon Completion Time

42 Minutes::

“Is it just me, or was this fight bugged? Like, who balances this stuff?”

“Are you really complaining about an easy fight, or is this just you trying to be funny?”

“It’s more me being utterly baffled by what just happened. Seriously, who puts guards in a Boss fight that aren’t immune to the Boss’s power in the room? I mean, why!?”

The whole Dungeon had been underwhelming. It might be because we were somewhat over-leveled for an E-Rank Dungeon, but I was at least expecting the Boss to be a bit of a fight. Not for it to die in a single hit.

“Well, that’s done. Uh, now what?”

“We, go outside? I mean, there’s nothing we really can do here. I didn’t even get a reward, which I didn’t know was possible.”

“Wait, really? What was your contribution, Kalia?”

“Six percent. Apparently that’s not enough for a reward here.”

“Uh, that might be my fault? I had fifty-four percent, so I think I may have hogged the rewards.”

“Nah, you’re good. You did one-shot the Boss after all. And everyone else but Kalia at least got an item, so things worked out. And we now know Slimes are a thing, sooooo…..yeah.”

That’s right, Slimes. The Dungeon had been crawling with them, rolling all over the place and bouncing off the walls. The little goo balls were kind of adorable, until you realized they were filled with deadly, deadly acid. Though said acid was rather weak, and would only cause some mild damage if it got on your skin. And since Kalia was here, she was able to heal any acid damage right away, so it had been even easier.

The only thing that may have been dangerous was the Boss, which was a Big Slime. Tragically, a single Grenade Arrow from Alicia had blown the thing apart, and the resulting wave of acid killed the other slimes in the Boss room. Which was of course why the whole thing had been so anticlimactic.

Seriously, shouldn’t the smaller slimes have been at least somewhat resistant to the big one's acid? I could see a superior specimen being more acidic, but for it to completely obliterate the others? I just don’t know who's balancing all of this. Also, Alicia really likes her Grenade Arrows. Almost too much. I’m afraid she’s becoming a pyromaniac.

“Well, I can always use more arrows, and Michael got more bombs, so I guess everything worked out. Though uh, next time we should probably try to more evenly distribute contribution. I don’t think it’s fair that Kalia got nothing.”

“Why thank you Alicia. I was beginning to think everyone else just didn’t care.”

“Hm, I seem to recall hearing a rumor that the clear rewards from E-Rank Dungeons go down drastically when you have more than three people. That might have something to do with it as well.”

Given that the two of them had only gotten Fragrant Meat, I’d have to say I agreed.

“In the future, it may be wise for only two or three of us to clear E-Rank Dungeons. It’s inefficient for all five of us to come along for such poor reward.”

“Considering that half of us probably could’ve cleared this Dungeon on our own, I’ll have to agree to that. I kind of feel that E-Rank Dungeons may be meant to be cleared by one person anyw-.”

“Hey, can we get out of here already? This place fuckin' stinks.”

“My sister's bluntness aside, she’s right. We probably shouldn’t stand around here all day discussing this. There’ll be plenty of time to debate these things later. For now, let’s find somewhere to discuss our next moves.”