Okay, five levels. That’s not so bad. I glanced up at the ceiling. This building was clearly more than five levels, so what was the rest of it filled with? Maybe the rest was just empty space, or filled with those ‘maintenance entities’ the tutorial had mentioned.

Whatever. We had a goal, and now I knew the magnitude of that goal. Five levels. We could handle that. Probably.

Just then, a message flashed across my screen.

Tower quest available!

Rescue

Climb the Tower.

Defeat the Villain.

Rescue the Princess.

Task: Rescue the Princess

Time limit: None

Reward: 5,000 XP

Huh. It’d been a while since I’d received any quests, but this one... I glanced at Zapper. [You get that?]

[Sure did, Boss! Kinda weird, don’t you think?]

I nodded in agreement. The description of the quest was rather... lacking. Who was this princess? Who was the villain? Something told me it wouldn’t be as straightforward as simply reaching the top, but who knew. I’d been surprised by the simplicity of these quests before.

[Let’s not worry about it for now,] I advised the little dog. [When it’s relevant, then we’ll see if we can’t figure it out.]

[Okay, Boss!] Zapper glanced around. The hallway we stood in spread out ahead of us, stretching far into the distance. Doors lined either side. [So what do we do now?]

[Good question.] I moved over to the nearest door, seizing the handle between my teeth. However, despite my best efforts, it refused to open. [Huh. Either locked or not something a dog can access.]

I glanced back at the way we had come. If we ended up trapped in here, unable to leave... no. There was no sense panicking until we’d seen everything this dungeon contained.

We moved our way down the hallway, me trying doors on the right, Zapper checking the ones on the left. Ironically, the little dog was better suited to the task than I was. All he had to do was use those spider boots of his to clamber up the wall and gnaw on the door handle.

Not that it mattered. The doors remained locked to us.

After about the fifth or sixth one, I realized I was going about this all the wrong way. Activating Claw Slash, I cut through the metal of the handle like it wasn’t even there. As the handle fell away, the door slid silently open.

Behind was what appeared to be a conference room, with a dark wooden table and several plush chairs on rollers surrounding it. There were several floor-to-ceiling windows set against the far wall showing a view of the city outside.

[Ooh, windows! Maybe we can get out of here!] Zapper shot past me into the room. He only made it about halfway before slowing to a halt.

[Uh, boss? I can’t move.] He tugged at a paw for emphasis, but it remained firmly embedded to the floor.

Only then did I notice several lines of discoloration crisscrossing the carpet. They weren’t immediately obviously, having a slight sheen to them compared to everything else. One ran just in front of the door. Tentatively I prodded it with a paw.

My paw came back, but with resistance. Whatever the substance was, it was mildly sticky.

Still, it wasn’t clinging too badly, at least to me. With significantly less Power, it seemed Zapper was having more difficulty breaking free.

I padded into the room, each step accompanied by a squelching rip. Soon enough I reached Zapper.

[Don’t move.] My Claw Slash flicked the carpet, rending it to shreds. Zapper leapt free, several sections of fuzzy flooring coming with. He landed next to the nearest line and started frantically shaking his paws, trying to free himself.

[That was scary!] he said, when the last segment of carpet had been flung free.

[Well, maybe next time we don’t charge into a room without first scanning for threats,] I said, my tongue lolling. Zapper just tilted his head and gave me a confused look. [Never mind. Anyway, I don’t think we’re getting out through here. See?]

Now that we were closer, it was obvious the ‘outside’ just past the windows was nothing more than a printed background.

[Aww.] Zapper’s ears drooped. [That’s disappointing.]

[Don’t let it get to you too much. Besides, even if they were real, I doubt we’d be able to break them. If getting out of this place was that easy, my Claw Slash would have made short work of the front door.]

While Zapper appeared somewhat mollified by that, I set to studying the carpet in further detail. There was something about the glittering lines that was bugging me, but I couldn’t decide what it was.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

[Think they’re a trap?]

I shook my head. [If they are, they’re a pretty pathetic one. I barely stuck at all, and you would probably have broken free on your own eventually. Besides, they aren’t really placed like traps. They’re more like... trails.]

That’s exactly what they were, I realized. Each line led from the door to one of the chairs in the room. The seat of each chair was also coated in the same shiny substance. What was up with that?

Shaking my head, I turned back to the door. [We’re wasting time. Let’s keep searching.]

We continued down the hallway, checking each door, me occasionally breaking one open with a Claw Slash. All we found were more conference rooms, plus storage closets, rooms filled with filing cabinets, mail rooms, and even one that looked like a cafeteria. All empty.

We wasted a few minutes searching that last one for any food, but the only thing we turned up were these strange blue pellets that did not resemble anything edible I’d ever encountered. Even the system-enhanced portion of my brain came up with a complete blank.

The weirdest part was other than the furniture, the only thing we encountered in any of the rooms were those weird trails. They coated the benches in the cafeteria and left unreadable patterns on the floor. They smeared the copier machines, the tables, and the sides of the filing cabinets. While I could trace them all from the door and around the room, I couldn’t make heads or tails of their purpose or origin.

Finally, we came across a door that wasn’t locked. By this point, we were almost at the end of the hallway. As Zapper opened the door, he let out a bark of excitement. [I found one!]

The door started swinging slowly outward, until I slammed into it, closing it again. Zapper leapt back, which given he was currently sideways on the wall was a rather impressive feat. [What was that for, Boss???]

[Didn’t you see them?] The little dog tilted his head and looked at me curiously. I just shook my head and indicated the door. [I’m going to open it again. Take a good whiff this time.]

[Um, okay, Boss!] The little dog looked confused, but he nodded, nonetheless. Slowly, I eased the door open.

Zapper inhaled. His eyes went wide. [Oh!]

[That’s putting it mildly.] I said, slamming the door shut. The noise from inside cut off immediately, which is why I wasn’t worried about any of the monsters noticing us. It was a veritable cacophony in there.

And even now, I could still see them. Several hundred dots cluttered my vision whenever I looked in the direction of the door.

Almost all of them an angry yellow.

[Let’s check the other doors first,] I suggested. Zapper nodded in agreement, and we continued making our way down the hall. More empty meeting rooms, a bathroom, and another labeled as ‘nursing room’, but which only contained an uncomfortable-looking couch.

Finally, we arrived at the end of the hallway. Two fake plants stood sentry to either side of a pair of steel doors, with a small silver pad set into the wall beside them. I stared at them a moment before my system-brain offered some helpful commentary.

[Elevators. Looks like this is our way up to the next floor.] Still, I didn’t move. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? No, there had to be a trap to this. Or some other trick. All I needed to do was figure out what—

[Don’t worry, Boss, I’ll get it!] Zapper darted forward.

[Zapper, don’t!] Too late. By the time I lurched after him, he’d already pressed the button to summon the elevator. At his touch it turned an angry gray.

Warning: You may not proceed until floor quest is completed.

Floor quest? I wondered. We’d gotten a tower quest, but nothing called a floor quest.

Whatever. We probably needed to meet the right conditions for it, or something. And I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what those conditions were.

[Time to head back,] I said, turning and loping towards the door with all the dots behind it. While I didn’t think I had it in me to defeat several hundred enemies, maybe we’d see something to our advantage once we were inside. At worst, we’d just retreat.

Zapper dogged my heels until we reached the door again. Before reaching for the handle, I turned to him. [I don’t know what this fight will entail but remember that our first priority is seeing to our own safety. If it looks like things are going badly, cut and run. Riley can’t afford to lose us both. Understand?]

[Yep!] Zapper barked. I watched him for a moment to ensure he understood the gravity of the situation, then chomped onto the door handle. It swung silently outward, giving us a full view of the room for the first time.

The room was immense, or at least that was the impression I got standing there. I actually couldn’t see more than a couple dozen feet, because most of the room was segmented by these half-high walls covered in carpet (cubicles, my knowledge informed me. Well, they certainly were cube-shaped enough for the moniker).

And the noise... phones rang, papers shuffled, machines hummed or churned or chugged, and over it all was the murmur of several hundred voices talking at different volumes. It smelled like toner, and coffee, and leather, and a dozen different colognes. Utter chaos.

And the room was full of monsters.

Some hovered on chairs or slithered between desks. Some wore little headsets that they spoke into, the exact words lost to the cacophony, while others huddled in small groups around water coolers, talking amongst themselves. And they were all the same.

I picked one at random and focused on it until the system provided its usual window.

Office Slime (Basic)

Level 10

A hardworking and loyal corporate employee, despite missing arms, legs, or anything resembling a backbone. What they lack in courage, however, they make up for in gumption and pep. Just don’t get them talking about their favorite local sports team, or they’ll never shut up.

Slimes may not be able to kill you in one hit, but give it enough time and you’ll wish they had. Striking repeatedly with their whole bodies, they’ll coat you in their slime, slowing your movements and inhibiting your ability to fight back. Once you’re completely immobilized, they’ll begin to digest you—slowly. Either don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed, or keep a cyanide pill close at hand, just in case. Trust us, it’s the less painful way to go.

So that’s where the trails were coming from! Even now, a slime slithered past only a dozen feet away from us, leaving a shiny, glistening smear on the floor in its wake.

[Okay,] I said to Zapper. [First, I want you to lay down a line of fire to either side. We’ll try to channel the slimes as best we can, crowd them together so they can’t all come at us at the same time. I’ll use my stuns to plug them up and slow their movements.]

Now I was wishing I had my static fields back. A couple of them in a line would have made short work of this whole room. My baton might be more powerful, but it wasn’t meant for the kind of crowd control we’d need to deal with here. Maybe—

[Uh, Boss?] Zapper’s eyes were glued ahead of us. I followed his gaze, and saw that most of the slimes had turned to look in our direction. Conversations died around the room as more and noticed us.

And even worse, several dozen were already moving in our direction.