Sally slid across the floor and flourished her staff, placing it down into the stone brickwork with a grin on her face. The armored Minotaur ahead of her slumped over, a large hole in their skull remaining where their brain had escaped from and journeyed into her stomach. Her tongue rolled around her lips as she raised an eyebrow at the two men.
“I’m sure you could have soloed that, Dent.” She winked and walked towards the next stairs.
The swordsman exchanged a glance with the Druid as a handful of zombies followed the energized woman. “You know I’m not squeamish, Chuck,” he began, “but after watching her eat the last five Monster's brains in a row, it’s getting unsettling.”
“You get used to it,” Chuck said with a shrug. “I think, anyway.”
Sally hopped up the stairs to the door marked with a number ten. “Is there anything…” she began, before pushing some of her zombie pals out of the way. “Anything interesting about this floor?”
“It’s the first reward area,” Dent said, trying to look through the corpses struggling to arrange themselves on the staircase. “Most Parties stop here, as it gets much more difficult after.”
She rolled her eyes. With the whole gang here, they’d be munching on the floor twenty boss already. If the System was so keen on beating them down, she would be a lot more thankful that they were all overpowered compared to most Players.
“It’s basically an ogre, strong physical beater,” Chuck offered, from slightly lower down.
Great, she grinned. That was her favorite type, as she could usually beat them in both brute strength and survivability.
The room opened up to reveal the Monster—a large humanoid of deep gray, two pits of golden eyes on their grumpy face. Muscled and clad in leather armor. A stone-headed axe in each hand.
Sally stopped and leaned to the side to see the second figure by the back staircase, leaning against the wall with their arms folded.
A plant person, if she had to describe them. Vaguely masculine form, most of their torso and lower made of dark brown roots and bark. Around their shoulders was a cape of bright greenery, like a canopy of a handful of large leaves. Their head was a sharp triangle shape, and a much lighter brown, the only features being long slits that were possibly their eyes.
“Hi!” Sally waved. “Are you a Unique?”
“I am a defender of this tower,” the voice hissed through the air from an unseen mouth. “Just seeing how much of a threat you are.”
She chewed at her thoughts in response. Her pleasant nature wanted to make friends with the Unique Monster, but her grip on what she truly cared for was slipping. “What level do you usually protect?”
“Eighteen.”
Chuck and Dent pushed through the shambling undead to stand beside her. The swordsman narrowed his eyes, but didn’t ready his weapon to attack.
“We are going straight to the top,” Chuck spoke out loud. “Relinquish your position and we will not have to kill you.”
A pulsing hiss wrapped around them—a laugh.
Sally tilted her head toward the pair. “I’ll give them a second chance once they’ve seen what we can do.”
“What you can do,” Chuck murmured, but nodded. “Call us if you need assistance.”
“Time me,” she grinned. “Less than five seconds.”
Dent smiled and raised his blade-arm like a flag. Sally tensed and her boots bit into the stone as she prepared to burst forward.
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Norah hummed to herself, running her fingertips along the polished stone of the throne's armrests. Her eyes moved around the chamber. Even though nothing had changed, she had to remain vigilant.
“Such a shame.” She sighed and looked toward the dead vampire. “My priests are long gone, if they even existed at all in this reality. If only I had learned the ritual.”
She was used to solitude. Her undead life had been full of it. Queen of a Wasteland that had forgotten her name. The spark of meeting the affable zombie was only beaten by the bright illumination of the Death Knight arriving in her life. She hadn’t even thought love was possible.
Nor acceptance.
But they had brought her in without question or hesitation. She had become one of them and it felt as natural as if she had always known them. Now they were scattered, and an odd weight had a grip on her dead heart. Something that shouldn’t be possible—yet she couldn’t deny it.
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Her yellow eyes sunk back to Theo once more and her jaw clenched. If he couldn’t be brought back, she would gladly join the zombie in tearing this world in half.
The torches in the tomb flickered wildly, as an ancient anger burned and swirled within her, waiting for an excuse to burst forth.
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“Four seconds,” Dent said, pulling a face that bordered between respect and disgust.
Sally dropped down from the empty head of the Monster and gave them a bow. She spun around to speak to the plant-person, but they had vanished. “Ah?” Instead, she pouted.
“Probably going to prepare,” Chuck said with a sigh, walking over and pushing some of the zombies out of the way.
“Or writing their will,” Dent added.
Sally wrinkled up her nose. Player combat was a lot more interesting, but only barely. The problem with System-created was they were too simple and predictable. She ran at the ogre, using [Escape Fate] up above their head as they swung at her. While one of the zombies was turned to paste, her broken dagger went straight into the back of the head of the Monster, and brains could be eaten.
If it wasn’t for the slightly awkward cooldown period on the evasive skill, she could have done the same thing to every enemy so far. Probably all the way to the top, odd plant-person excluded. Things would be interesting then.
“What weapon even is that?” Dent leaned over to inspect her staff.
“It’s two that I merged together. A dagger that ignores any defense, and a staff that makes my necromancy stuff better. As well as acting as a focal point for casting magic.”
The swordsman stood back up, a glum expression across his face. “And here I am with a fuckin’ shard of metal for an arm.”
“And you do wonders with it,” Chuck said idly as he walked over to the side of the room where a treasure chest had appeared. “All yours, Sally.”
“Neat, I love looting,” she grimaced as she walked over to it. “You know what would be neat?”
Chuck raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
“If I could also summon skeletons and ghosts. Then, when someone died, I’d split them into a ghost and a zombie, and then when the zombie dies, the skeleton could come out.” She paused as she placed a hand on the chest. “And then when the skeleton dies, I can take the skull for Mortis Bomb.”
“Right.” He nodded slowly.
“You’d better give me a skeleton skill if I let you become the Architect,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s a conditional now.”
“I’m…” he maintained a blank expression. “Sure, I guess.”
He might be lying, but she was willing to take that risk. After all, they might be dead soon, so thinking that he could actually become the Architect seemed like more of a pipe dream than a reality. Maybe if she buttered him up enough, he could make her the most powerful necromancer that ever lived.
“Thanks, Chucky!” She gave him a wide smile.
[Shield Repairing… 2.8%]
Annoying message popped up in the way of her loot—and had hardly budged despite the time and violence that had passed. She sighed and closed it down.
[3453 Gold]
[Greater Health Potion (5)]
[Sword of Fables]
[Jungle Token (5)]
[Vine Rope (3)]
[Flameblast Scroll]
[Nature’s Wrath Scroll]
She exhaled. “You guys want this? It’s not… I’m already stacked. Seems beneath me if it isn’t helping to save Theo or kill the Architect.”
Chuck crouched down to look at the contents. “I get what you mean. With our reality on the line, the gamification seems rather droll.”
“Exactly.” She narrowed her eyes at him and whispered. “Hey, Dent doesn’t remember the old world, right?”
The Druid shook his head slowly.
Sally pouted, before a memory jostled its way into her head. “Oh, guess which weirdo in my group has a skill that you’ll find super useful?”
“Which?” Chuck stood back up, and they started over toward the next stairs.
“Lucius can erase the part of your brain that finds your place in this world uncomfortable.” She grinned.
“That sounds… like brainwashing?”
Sally shrugged and pushed a zombie out of her way. “Well, when the alternative is the way I erase brains, Players should be jumping at the chance. We helped that gal we dropped off with you guys.”
Dent stepped forward to join them. “Charlotte? The turncoat?” He rubbed his chin as the zombie nodded. “I had a brief chat with her. She seemed earnestly happy, had nothing but good things to say about you.”
“She was this close to being eaten.” Sally put her fingers close together. “Seething full of anger towards us Uniques, and then after, she was our best bud.”
“We’d have to see it in action, before we agree on the… morality on it?” Chuck furrowed his brow. “Not that ‘morality’ holds much weight in this world.”
“I eat people.” She nodded as they reached the next door. “On the regular.”
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Edward staggered backward, demonic blood dripping across the damp ground. His sword arm hung limply by his side, grip loose on his rapier.
“Really?” he said, with a wide grin across his face. “I’m not a fan of the new management, if this is his best.”
The light blue flame of the skull-faced Observer illuminated the clearing, despite the canopy trying to shadow this area.
“Your approval is not required,” the figure spoke in return, their voice hollow and deep. Wide wings of radiant white buffeted the air, causing the demon to wince. “You must submit to being corrected or perish.”
Edward chuckled before coughing up a mouthful of blood. Couldn’t even teleport under the aura of the Observer, and even then, his respawn point was under guard. The light blue of his eyes dimmed as he stood up straight, twitching painfully. “Killed by an angel? So cliche that it almost seems inevit-”
The Observer lifted their large hammer up into the air, radiant light blazing from the weapon, intending to cut off the rest of the demon’s speech. Just before the attack swung down, the skeletal head twisted to the side.
From the treeline, a large figure of plated metal burst forth, slamming into the angel and knocking them to the floor. As they rolled around, shadowed arms held down the Observer, allowing the Death Knight to wrench the hammer into his own hands.
The radiant light of the wide hammer faded away, to be replaced by a blaze of crimson energy.
With a crunch, the blue light illuminating the area dissipated, to be enshrouded by shadows once more.
Humphrey looked over his shoulder at the demon, dark fire blooming in his eye sockets. “Need a ride?”