Chapter 82: Delve 4

Sunday, April 30th, 2:27 PM

Yellowstone Dungeon

The bad human smell picked up by the dogs was human waste collected from above. All but two of the doors surrounding the dome-shaped chamber led to holding tanks for sewage.

“Fuck this shit,” said Joe as he stepped through the door leading deeper into the Dungeon.

“No thanks.” Siobhán squinted up at him with a grimace and one eye twitching.

Joe snorted. “Okay, let’s stay focused—we’re still inside a hostile Dungeon.”

The next floor down was like an exclamation point to Joe’s words.

Dark, rough-hewn stone bricks lined the walls and ceiling. Torches that lit the upper levels were replaced by thin, branching veins of dimly glowing redness that filled every crack.

Three hallways branched away from the entrance at 90-degree angles, and Joe turned right.

Something shimmered up ahead, running in a slight arc from the top left to the bottom right of the passage.

“Hold,” Joe whispered. He held a hand back to signal for the others to stop.

“Is that spider silk?” Siobhán pushed past him and trotted toward the odd sight.

“Siobhán, wait. We haven’t—” Joe began.

Joe’s words caught as a click sounded.

There was a sound like an oil barrel half-full of water being struck with a sledgehammer, and Siobhán was run through from above. She toppled forward as she was crushed by a forest of slender spikes so numerous that they almost obscured her from view.

A flash of fear from Siobhán and the agony of her small body being impaled struck Joe like a thunderbolt an instant before their bond was severed.

Joe doubled over in pain as his fists tightened and he hissed, “Fuck!”

The others stood speechless, except for Sunny and Sandy, who cried [Soybean!]

All four dogs whined as Joe recovered, then leaped forward to tear handfuls of thin iron spikes away, snapping them off until he was able to reach Siobhán’s blood-soaked foot where her armor had been torn through. He laid a finger against the skin of her ankle, but his healing didn’t take.

Two of Nita’s black and yellow legs twitched piteously through the spikes, then lay still.

Joe clenched his jaw as he fell to his knees before the gruesome sight of her small mangled body. The scent of fresh urine mixed with the coppery tang of blood as Joe shut his eyes.

“Siobhán…” Joy keened, seating herself beside the Labs to hug them.

Joe patted Joy’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Peterson. Keep it together, yeah?”

Joy pressed her lips, then grimaced as she nodded.

Well… it’s not really okay—for any of us. But at least Siobhán will revive.

Night terrors related to the bomb, losing her family, and her impromptu death by firing squad—those were common occurrences for Siobhán. A problem that meant Joe sometimes awoke to a small foot or fist crashing into him. Physical pain wasn’t enough to bother him, but the deep, primal terror in Siobhán’s heart that assaulted Joe amid her nightmares was troubling.

Shit’s going south. Joe sighed.

“How?” Owen locked eyes with Joe in the deep red light, half-scowling as he shook his head. “Your girlfriend just died, and you’re telling her,” he indicated Joy, “to keep it together? Didn’t your girl matter to you? What the fuck, man?”

[Joe loves Soybean,] Sunny and Sandy growled in unison.

[Is sad,] said Sandy.

[Smells like upset,] Bella added.

Owen scrunched his face up. “Huh?”

“It’s complicated,” said Joe.

“Siobhán,” Joy began, then sniffled a bit before continuing, “isn’t really—”

“Peterson,” Joe shot a glance at Joy as he cut her off, shaking his head. “Yeah, she’ll be back, but we can discuss that later. For now, we need to deal with this Dungeon. The ones in charge of it are going to break free eventually, and they’ll kill more innocent people if we don’t act.”

“Shit. You’re all residents… from another Dungeon?” A haunted look of realization shone in Owen’s eyes.

Joe sighed. “Yeah.”

The spikes made a groaning sound as they retracted.

Despite knowing that Siobhán was no longer present in the dead body before him, Joe couldn’t help but pull her body off the smooth spikes while they returned to the ceiling.

For a long moment, Joe cradled Siobhán’s still-warm corpse in silence, gritting his teeth as her blood soaked into his clothing.

Joe turned and laid the body gently on the stone floor as his mind raced. Memories of mutilated and dying comrades, Anna’s charred skeleton, and Siobhán’s first death by rifle fire—all joined the scene he’d just witnessed. Joe’s chest tightened and his breath caught, but he forced himself to focus.

Finish the mission. Make sure her death isn’t wasted.

Joy’s hands made a tightening sound.

Joe locked eyes with her. “We have to reach the bottom of this place. You ready to move?”

She nodded.

“Owen, you good?” asked Joe as he collected a two-meter iron spike.

“Heh. I think so.” Owen rubbed his left cheek as he stared at the trap. “It hasn’t reset, so we can pass.”

With Owen and Joe taking point, they moved on.

Two traps identical to the one that had killed Siobhán were triggered by Joe’s pilfered spike. Several spikes broke free from each as the mechanisms slammed into place, and Joe collected a couple more, putting them into his storage.

The path led down again, the temperature increased, and bricks gave way to damp black stone in unlit passages and empty caves.

Joe rifled through his storage for a moment to retrieve headlamps set with lightstones for the three humans, while the dogs remained close as usual. There were no traps on the dark, expansive, maze-like floor, where the air carried a humid tang of fungal spores and feces.

They pushed on until the next floor down, but Joe stopped when the passage became flooded ahead.

“Let’s take a breather. The air’s clean enough, and we should keep an eye on the water before we go swimming.” Joe retrieved a bigger lightstone and set it aside

[Swimming!] Sunny and Sandy exclaimed in unison as they dove into the water, followed by Duke and Bella.

“Wait, girls. We should—” Joe stopped speaking and sighed. The dogs had all disappeared into the water.

Joy chuckled. “You should’ve seen that coming.”

“I hope they come back safely. We’ll need their help if this place has all its minions in one spot.”

“We’ll be fine—we have Jesus the Hulk.” Joy offered Joe a half-smile while clutching a pendant at her neck.

“Keepsake?” Joe asked, indicating her necklace.

“It’s…” Joy opened her locket. Inside was a tiny photo of Joy between two short brunettes with Rihelah kneeling in front. Siobhán’s radiant expression stunned Joe, and his face tightened.

“I’ve never seen her smile like that,” Joe whispered.

Joy stammered, “Y-yeah. This was taken about a year before the war.”

Little Rihelah had called him Uncle Joe since she was in her mid-teens. While Siobhán’s visage hurt to see after she’d died a second time, she would be back. Rihelah’s smile, on the other hand… that felt like a chunk of shrapnel lodged in Joe’s heart. She and Michael had been like family for more than a decade.

The Andromeda Galaxy, huh? Joe swallowed. He was immortal, now—so long as Ciara lived.

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Michael and Rihelah disappeared to Gaia—millions of light-years away—via Auronox’s magic. While Joe couldn’t bring Anna back, it might be possible for him to travel as they had. Please let those two be safe.

Joe thought of Mike, who’d managed to remain as stoic as ever following his outburst after they were told what happened. We have to go there, someday. For their sake… there’s no choice.

Joe mulled asking Lord Auronox to help, but it was Auronox who had called the pair away to begin with.

I hope we can trust Lord Auronox. We know so little…

That train of thought threatened to destroy Joe’s focus on their task, so he averted his eyes and asked, “Who’s the woman on the right?”

A tear ran down Joy’s cheek as she whispered, “Professor O’Connor.”

Joe looked closer. “Ciara told us she was plain as a woman, but she was as pretty as you, Joy. Hell, she could’ve been Siobhán’s sister.”

The locket slipped through Joy’s fingers and Joe looked up to find her staring at him, wide-eyed.

“What?” Joe asked.

“You—don’t joke about that.” Joy’s eyes were wide as she frowned at him.

“About what?”

Joy shook her head. “I’m not…”

“Not what?” Joe cocked his head.

“You know… not like Siobhán and Rihelah—they’re pretty.”

Ah, I see.

“One thing you’ll find, Peterson, is that I don’t bullshit people to make them feel better—especially my recruits. You’re an attractive young woman and a hell of a fighter. What you lack is self-confidence, but that’s already improving.”

A smile crept in, displacing most of Joy’s frown.

“Don’t get hung up on details. There are always others who are faster, stronger, taller, shorter—whatever. The important thing is doing the best you can with what you have.” Joe paused for a few seconds. “Ciara’s doing pretty well, all things considered. Hell, she lost her whole body, and she has the will to keep going.”

“She was like a second mom… to all three of us,” Joy choked out.

“And she still is,” Joe patted Joy’s shoulder.

[Is a fun-swim!] Sunny’s voice reached them an instant before the dogs erupted from the water.

[Next-room is humans,] said Sandy.

[Mean humans…] Bella whined.

All four dogs shook their fur out beside Joe and the others.

Joe snorted. “Well, so much for being dry. How far do we have to swim?”

[Not far,] said Sandy.

[Many paths,] Duke added.

[Bella knows the way.] The Collie’s ears perked up.

What else did you pups find?”

[Humans have loud-sticks,] said Duke.

“Guns?” Joe asked, rubbing each dog’s head in turn.

[Yes. Guns,] Sandy replied.

Sunny growled. [Shot at us.]

“How many humans?” asked Joe.

[Five humans,] said Sunny.

[Bad humans,] said Sandy.

[Yelled to kill dogs,] Duke growled.

[Why hurt dogs?] Bella asked. [Is love humans,] she whined, laying prone.

Joy moved to Bella and hugged the damp Collie. “I’m sorry, Sweetie. It’s just… some humans are bad.”

“Anyone who’d tell people to kill dogs is fucked in the head,” said Joe.

“No more fucked than anyone who’d try,” Joy replied.

Owen cut in, “Agreed. But it’s entirely possible they misunderstood the situation like me and Marcus did. The Dungeon Master here tried some animal experiments, and… those didn’t go so well.”

Joe sighed. “Okay. I’ll go in first and try to negotiate. You two stay here with the pups.” He gripped his bow and strode into the water.

Joy’s hand gripped his sleeve. “Uh, Gunny Schimpf, are you sure that’s a good idea? I know you’re stronger than the rest of us, but even me and Siobhán got mowed down by rifle fire. We’re tough, but not bulletproof.”

“Protect him,” Joe indicated Owen. “He’s not immortal. If you have to, draw fire so that he can escape. Saving lives is our priority. That means we’re expendable if we have to be. All of us knew that coming into this mission—including the marines who aren’t residents.”

“Okay,” Joy nodded.

“You’ve got this, Peterson. Work with the dogs. They’re the best friends we’ll ever have.”

All four pups wagged their tails at Joe’s words.

Joe asked them, “What’s the room like on the other side of the water?”

Sunny replied, [Big room.]

[Lights and chairs,] Bella added.

[Eating place,] said Duke. [Cooking meat-smell.] The Dane licked his chops.

“Well, at least we know what we’re up against,” Joe mused as he opened his storage and removed his compound bow.

“You think they’ll come after the dogs?” Owen asked.

Joe raised his eyebrows. “Doubtful, since they haven’t already. But there’s an easy way to prevent that. Sunny and Sandy, I need you girls to lead me through to the other side where the bad people are. After I go in, will you watch the tunnels and make sure nobody bad comes through to hurt Owen and Joy?”

[We will,] the Labs replied in unison, firming their expressions up as they retracted their tongues and locked eyes with Joe.

“Okay. Thank you, girls. I’m trusting you to keep them safe. You too, Bella and Duke. Stay in here with those two, and protect them.”

[For the pack,] Bella and Duke intoned.

[For the pack!] Sunny and Sandy echoed them.

Damn it, I love dogs. If only people were so loyal to one another…

Joe said, “Let’s go, girls. Lead me through, but don’t let the bad people see you.”

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Owen sat down beside Bella as Joe followed Sunny and Sandy into the water.

“Never wanted to go so deep inside this damned place,” Owen muttered.

Gaining magical abilities was amazing and all, but finding traps in Dungeons was the furthest thing from what Owen had envisioned. Others had amazing abilities like elemental magics or magical item crafting. The Dungeon’s interior was Owen’s least favorite place. Now, he was tied to it.

Owen sighed. “Now, I don’t have much choice. Finding and disabling traps...” What’s next? Robbery and stabbing people with poisoned weapons? Fuck that. I wanted something I could do outside this supernatural tomb…

“You get used to it, eventually,” said Joy as she scratched behind Duke’s ears. “Besides, not all Dungeons are like this one.”

“Yeah? Well this place… Alex is tunneling into a fucking supervolcano.”

Joy replied, “Owen, how much do you know about Dungeons?”

“I know they’re death traps full of crazy, violent people with magic powers.”

“Okay, granted—this place is rather spartan aside from the traps. What do you know of the Dragon war?”

Owen furrowed his brow. “The what, now?”

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Sunny and Sandy turned back as light shone through the submerged tunnel ahead. Joe stuffed his headlamp into his uniform’s pocket.

Holding his breath was much easier as a D-Rank Dungeon resident, and the four minutes it took to traverse the underwater passages felt more like ten seconds for all the urgency he had to draw a breath.

Rather than pressing forward, Joe waited for a moment. Marine Raider training kicked in. He’d moved with considerable speed, and the water’s surface would betray his passage.

Sure enough, loud sounds accompanied a volley of bullets piercing the pool ahead. Then there was a splash, followed two seconds later by a horrible pressure wave that blurred Joe’s vision and hit his body like a sledgehammer.

Fuck! With no other choice, Joe healed himself as rifle fire continued into the pool ahead.

The bullets stopped and he heard shouting voices before three people splashed into water and swam toward him. With his superior vision restored, Joe saw panic in their eyes.

They think I’m one of their own? Perfect.

Joe swam slowly toward them, dragging his bow behind him as he feigned injury.

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Floors: 9

Minions: 897/1260

Residents: 15/28

Denizens: 8.53M

Traps: 25/45