The forest air grew thick with tension as the Redcaps emerged from the underbrush, their blood-red heads bobbing menacingly as they approached Team 0. The creatures' eyes glinted with murderous intent, and the stench of blood and decay that emanated from them was almost overwhelming.
James, focusing his psychic senses, took the lead, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the threat. The Redcaps, small but powerfully built, wielded crude clubs that seemed almost comically oversized for their stature. Yet, the way they gripped their weapons suggested a brutal, unrelenting strength.
Standing to James's right, Maria ignited her hands with dancing flames, ready to unleash her fiery wrath. To his left, Lauren gripped her knives, her stance predatory and alert. Daniel and Ezekiel flanked them. Daniel's barriers shimmered into existence around them, creating a defensive perimeter, while Ezekiel's eyes glowed with the anticipation of combat as he prepared to debuff the monsters into oblivion.
The Redcaps didn't waste time and charged with a guttural roar, their clubs swinging wildly. The first one lunged at James, who met its aggressiveness with his own, exiting the barrier with the full intention of eliminating as many of the unnatural creatures as possible.
Its club descending in a vicious arc. Moving with practiced precision, James sidestepped the blow while extending his psychic energy to shove the creature off balance. The Redcap stumbled, and Lauren seized the opportunity, her blade slicing through its neck with a swift, clean motion. The creature's head toppled to the ground, its body following a moment later.
Another Redcap, seeing an opening, darted toward Maria, its teeth bared in a grotesque snarl. Maria didn't flinch; she waited until the last moment, gathering mana between her hands as it struck at the barrier like a gong, its monstrous strength making cracks develop.
They were quickly repaired, and she was free to unleash a torrent of fire upon the creature. The flames enveloped the Redcap, but it continued its charge, the fire seemingly doing little to deter its assault as it struck repeatedly. Only when Maria intensified the heat, turning the flames into a white-hot inferno, the creature finally succumbed, collapsing into a smoldering heap.
Daniel, meanwhile, engaged two Redcaps simultaneously. He erected a second barrier around them just as one of the creatures' clubs came crashing down. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, but the construct held firm. With a forceful gesture, Daniel compressed the barrier, trapping the Redcaps within a confined space. He then tightened it further, the invisible walls closing in until the creatures were squished against one another.
He could have gone further, killing them like that, but with his attention split keeping the main barrier active, it would have cost him too much. Instead, the Tank moved the glowing prison over to James, who smiled predatorily.
He charged a punch with mana, augmenting his power significantly. The moment the barrier was dropped, he struck without mercy, turning the two battered Redcaps into mush.
Ezekiel, not one to be left out, faced off against another Redcap. The creature swung its club with a ferocity that would have felled a lesser opponent, but Ezekiel, imbued with his own buffs, danced around the strikes with agility. He waited for the right moment and struck decisively, delivering a powerful kick that sent the Redcap flying through a tree trunk.
The monster picked itself up after a couple of seconds, its battered form animated by an unnatural rage, but before it could do more than growl its anger, Ezekiel was upon it, his blade burying itself in its skull.
The fight was brutal and intense, with each member of Team 0 displaying their skills and teamwork honed over countless battles. The Redcaps, for all their tenacity and unnatural resilience, were ultimately no match for the team's combined might.
As the last of the Redcaps fell, the team regrouped, scanning the surroundings for more threats. The monsters' relentless assault and their ability to withstand significant damage had been a reminder not to underestimate them.
James, wiping sweat from his brow, couldn't shake off the unease the Redcaps had instilled in him. Their unyielding rage and pain, the artificial feeling he had sensed in them, spoke of something darker at play within the dungeon's depths.
Continuing deeper into the dense forest of the Minnewaska Preserve, Team 0 encountered more of the humanoid monsters. Each skirmish was brutal, given the creatures' tenacity and unnatural nature. Despite their small stature, the Redcaps displayed a level of ferocity and resilience that was unnerving, their attacks relentless until they were finally subdued.
Still, they each achieved one more level, which was something.
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After a series of these encounters, the team stumbled upon a peculiar sight. Nestled deep within the forest's heart, almost swallowed by the surrounding vegetation, was a structure that seemed out of place amid the natural landscape. The building, covered in moss and vines, appeared to be an abandoned facility of some kind. Its walls, once probably pristine white, were now stained with the passage of time, and its windows were broken, the glass long since claimed by the forest floor.
As they approached, James felt a surge in the concentration of mana, a clear indication that they had found the dungeon's epicenter. However, despite the high mana readings, his psychic senses failed to detect any presence inside. The facility was devoid of life, yet his instincts told him something sinister was happening.
"We should wait for Rei's team. I can't sense any monster, but this is where the Boss should be." James suggested, observing the building with a mixture of curiosity and caution. He released a flare into the sky, signaling their location.
While waiting, James focused his psychic abilities, scouring the interior of the building. His senses delved into every nook and cranny, feeling out the structure's history and purpose. As he probed and found journals, filled beakers and more, he realized that the facility had been in use until just a few weeks prior. The residual energies and the traces of recent human activity were too clear to ignore.
"It was a lab." James concluded, his voice laced with certainty. "Recently abandoned, I think. Possibly when the preserve became a dungeon. There's no telling what they were doing here, but it might be connected to the Redcaps and their altered state."
The others exchanged concerned glances, the implications of James's discovery weighing heavily on them. The idea of someone experimenting in such a way, creating or altering monsters, was both frightening and reprehensible. The government had mostly given up - at least publicly - on their tests, as they usually led to furious creatures escaping and rampaging, causing even more death and destruction than they would have in their normal state.
Before they could delve deeper into speculation, Rei's team arrived, making their way through the thick foliage. The woman, upon seeing the building, raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"This is unexpected." She commented, joining James and the others. "A facility like this, hidden out here... it reeks of secret experiments."
James nodded in agreement. "I think this place is the key to understanding what's happening with the Redcaps. We need to go in, but the mana concentration is high enough for this to be the Boss' lair, even if it doesn't seem to be here."
With both teams gathered, they approached the facility with caution. The entrance, a metal door, hung ajar, an invitation to the secrets hidden within. As they stepped inside, the darkness of the abandoned corridors enveloped them, the only light coming from their flashlights piercing the oppressive gloom.
Team 0 and Rei's group began a careful exploration inside the lab. The dimly lit corridors were lined with dust and debris, a testament to the hasty abandonment of the facility. Once sterile and clean, the walls were now tainted with mold and the creeping fingers of nature reclaiming its space.
As they ventured deeper, they came across a room that appeared to be a central hub of sorts. Numerous journals and documents were scattered across the floor and tables, left in disarray as if their owners had fled in a hurry. Daniel picked up one of the journals, flipping through its pages with a growing sense of unease.
"Listen to this.” Daniel said, his voice tinged with disbelief. He began to read aloud an excerpt from the journal. "The experiments are progressing beyond our wildest expectations. The subjects are showing remarkable adaptability to the procedures. We are on the brink of a breakthrough – a way to imbue humans with monster-like traits without the grotesque mutations that have plagued previous attempts. Soon, we will redefine the limits of human potential."
A chill ran down James's spine as he listened. The implications of such experiments were horrifying - the tampering of the very essence of life, blurring the lines between human and monster, was something that went beyond a mere taboo.
Maria looked visibly shaken. "That's... that's monstrous. Playing with life like it's some kind of toy."
With a grim expression, Rei added. "And to think they were doing this right under everyone's noses. What else don't we know about?"
Ezekiel, who had been quiet, spoke up, "We need to find out who's behind this. They can't be allowed to continue."
"There is more." Daniel interrupted, flipping the journal's pages. "Here. Our fight against time has started, as our readers have indicated the forest's mana levels are rising swiftly. We think a new dungeon might be forming and that our experiments might be the cause of it, given the wards that kept all emissions inside to prevent us from being found out. I'd be curious to see what kind of monster is spawned by the residual mana coming from our experiments, but we need to be far away before anyone comes snooping. Mike has decided to stay behind for a bit longer to make sure everything compromising is dealt with, but I'll be leaving soon. He's always been very enthusiastic about these tests, a bit too much even, but you can't be too picky when you run these kinds of experiments."
Silence rang heavily through the room as they all looked at each other, trying to digest what they had just heard.
"Fuck this place. I think we should call it. Get someone stronger than us to snoop through this shit. It gives me the creeps." One of Rei's teammates exclaimed, giving the facility a disgusted look.
"It definitely needs to be looked at by professionals." Lauren muttered, poking a beaker holding a jello-like substance with the knife. It jiggled and kept doing so for much longer than it should have.
"There is a basement." James interrupted, looking at a nondescript tile. Beneath it, his senses told him there was a deep, dark tunnel with iron bars placed to serve as a ladder.
He crooked a finger, telekinesis grabbing hold of the tile and lifting it up with ease, showing that it wasn't connected to the nearby ones.
"Should we?" He said, gesturing down to the dark hole.
Rei massaged her eyes, sighing. "I think we have to. We've come too far not to, and the readings still don't show anything beyond F-rank. We should be able to handle what’s down there as well."
Her companion, who had spoken up before, shook his head, annoyed, but said nothing.
"Alright, but let's be careful. We don't want any stupid accident happening, so let's assess the situation, and if it's beyond us, we'll retreat without hesitation." James replied, earning nods from all around.
With that decision made, he turned his flashlight downwards, trying to pierce the darkness. As he did so, he noticed a switch next to the first iron bar and flicked it. Previously hidden LEDs came to life, illuminating the descent and showing it to be just a bit dank.
With a sigh, James lowered himself into the unknown.