CHAPTER 13

The remaining forty members of shadow corps made there way to the next floor. The group had left behind the 20s themed gangster floor to find themselves in the wild west. Everything still had a cartoon vibe to it. They all had found themselves exiting a train tunnel as the entrance to the new floor. The last three to exit the tunnel weren’t so fortunate as a train came out of the tunnel with no warning. It killed two of them while injuring a third.

“Well, this is just a great way to start a floor.” The leader of the group said with an angry voice. He was watching the healer’s do the best they could to save the third man involved. The healers were low on magic and had to rely on healing potions for now.

The leader checked his status to see what was needed to beat the new floor. At least this time there was a simple and easy goal. They had to get rid of Henry Hiena, Ozzy the Ostrich, and “Bullseye” Billy. It added the leader would have to take out Billy. That seems easy enough. Although I have no idea who those cartoon characters are. I should ask if anyone knows who they are in the group.

The group leader sent out a chat notification to the remaining party members for any idea who they were dealing with. Luckily of the remaining thirty-seven members. Two of them had some info on what they were dealing with. The group leader had both join him.

“So, these are the only two who know what we are up against?” The leader asked. By now he was getting very tired of dealing with cartoon shenanigans. He was losing men left and right. Information was power after all. He probably knew there were more who knew but were to afraid to speak up for the fear of failure. Shadow Corps didn’t tolerate failures. He was willing to let it slide for this instance. Although he would silence anyone who spoke up.

He looked around at the others who looked away or were too afraid to speak. The leader just sighed as he looked at the two in front of him. “I’ll be rewarding you two depending on how accurate your information is. I am on my last nerves losing good men because I was to incompetent or others were being too stupid not to listen. So what do you know…”

The two told him all they knew about the trio of characters. Henry would be chasing around Ozzy. It would be hard to track them down since they tended to run around in the middle of nowhere. Henry was also clever and smart. Although, tended up having way too much bad luck on his part. He would use all sorts of WANCE INC brand things. From explosives to bird seeds. The leader just nodded knowing they could fall into any traps with this issue.

They then told him about Ozzy. Ozzy could run fast. If he couldn’t escape Henry, Ozzy would just stick his head in the ground. Henry would then end up losing Ozzy. The leader raised a brow at this and wanted to laugh. The two assured him that is how it worked. The leader nodded. He was going to take the matter seriously even if it was dumb as it sounded.

The final target “Bulleyes” Billy was a western gun slinger. They would have to be quick and fast to take him out. He was quick at ending people who played unfairly. He could usually be found mining or in the local western town drinking at a saloon. Every episode ended up with someone in a gun fight with Billy.

The two finished what they knew about the trio. The leader dismissed them to plan. He was going to have to break the party into two groups. One group would go after Billy and the other after Ozzy and Henry.

The group that would go after Henry and Ozzy had eighteen members. The going was going need a few rogues and trackers. That group would split into two. One to go after Henry and one for Ozzy. Seeing Ozzy was the least of a threat. The leader had five of the group go after him while the remaining thirteen after Henry. He had the weakest of the remaining three healers to join that group.

Billy on the other hand would be a challenge. He was going to need all the fire he had. He selected the highest fighters in stats. Especially his gunners. He decided to keep most of his close ranged fighters with the group taking out Billy. He had the two remaining best healers with him. Seeing that things could possibly get out of hand. He would have to the group split up into two. One to check the mines, while the other on the town. Ten in each group.

The leader barked out the orders for everyone split up. He joined the group that would look for Billy in the mines.

GROUP 1 POV

“Well, I found some footprints here.” A tracker in group one who was looking for Henry said. “They lead up to that cave.” The man pointed up to a cliffside. If things couldn’t be more obvious that to tell it was Henry’s cave. There was a mailbox outside with Henry’s name on it. WACME INC branded stuff was thrown all about to add more.

The group notified everyone else of Henry’s location. The group was deciding how they should deal with the situation. One member suggested going in finishing him off. The other members were hesitant about the idea. They knew it could be a trap of some kind or worse. The group continued to think and argue on the best idea.

Eventually the man had enough of the waiting with the arguing and planning. He stormed into Henry’s cave only to face a trap. The man entered Henry’s cave. He turned on the lights. As he did this. The entrance to the cave was sealed behind him. The light switch he had turned on was connected a fuse. The man watched in horror as the fuse was lit and led to tons of explosives piled up in one corner. The man tried to flee banging on the entrance.

Back outside the others watched as the cave entrance shut behind the man as he went in. A few of the members sighed as the began to think on how to free him. They had approached the door. Only to hear the man screaming in fear. The group tried to work desperately to free him.

Back inside the cave the man watched in horror with his eyes as the fuse got shorter and shorter. He had tried to stomp it out with no success. It finally reached the explosives before a giant banner fell reading “BOOM”. The man was so panicked and shocked he fainted from the trick. The lights in the cave then went out as the banner rolled back up.

The door opened to the cave then opened for the others to rush in. They too fell for the same trap with the light switch. Instead of dealing with the threat of explosives. The group was knocked unconscious by sleeping gas. As every passed out a figure emerged from behind a hidden wall. It was Henry Hiena.

The group all woke up at the same time from a loud bang. The group had all found themselves tied up with chains to rockets with a fuse on the end of each one. They were all gagged. Henry noticed them all waking up with horror in their eyes. “You know I really hate trespassers.” Henry replied to all the group members sent to capture him. “Honestly, this job is hard enough tracking that stupid Ozzy. Now they said some looneys after me because I haven’t captured that Ozzy yet.” Henry spoke as he were looking at someone directly.

“Well time you all said goodbye.” Henry lit a fuse that was connected to all the others. The members all grunted and screamed with their gags. Henry just smirked and tried to walk away. Unfortunately, his foot was caught in one of the chains. He desperately tried to pull himself free, but with no avail. Soon the fuse lit all thirteen rockets sending all thirteen of the group members plus Henry up into the unknown…

GROUP 2 POV

You have beaten Ozzy. Read a message.

“Honestly that was pretty easy taking care of Ozzy.” One of the five in the group stated. Who knew covering up the hole he lived int would get the job done.

The group had tirelessly tracked Ozzy nonstop every time he stuck his head in the ground he would turn invisible and teleport somewhere else. The pattern was the same after chasing him for five consecutive times before the group realized. They planned to blast at the point where he was going to show up next. Only for the shooter to miss and hit a rock covering a hole Ozzy hid in.

The group informed the leader of their success as they planned to rendezvous with the others to take care of Henry. They were informed of Henry’s Cave but no sign of Henry. The group had told the others they were thinking of a plan to deal with Henry. That was all cut short when the leader of group 1 said he had to take care of an issue. That was the last response they had gotten. The others checked on the conditions of the other group. It said they were at full health and consciousness. No one was really concerned until no one had reported back for a few hours. Unknown to them another party member had accidently alerted the status somehow.

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The group was making there way to Henry’s when they heard a sound of a multiple rockets taking off. The group watched in curiosity as the rockets launched into the air. One rocket could be seen with a limp figure flopping around. There curiosity soon turned to terror as two of the rockets headed for Group 2. They all tried to flee but were bombarded by two falling rockets. One landed with a dud while the other exploded. Taking two of the group members with them. As the dust settled the group found that two in there group had been blown to nothingness. On the rocket the others found the healer that was with Group 1. The healer was in a daze but unfazed as the other three broke the chains off to get him down. The healer quickly explained what had occurred. Realizing the other rockets could be heading for the others they made haste for the remaining groups. They had tried to warn them, but the group chat feed was now blocked…

GROUP 3 AND 4 POV

The leader had taken his group to the mines. There was no sign of “Bullseyes” Billy anywhere. About half an hour later the group in the town informed their leader they had found Billy in town. The leader told the group to wait while he headed that way.

Back in the town a few of the members of the group were getting bored. One of them decided to head into town when he was told not to anyways. He went to the saloon hoping to get a drink. Knowing how dungeons operated sometimes the man was losing his nerves after all the carnage he had witnessed and hoped some ale would do him good.

The man stepped into the saloon and went up to that bar. “I’ll have the strongest thing you got.” The man said to cartoon bartender. The bartender returned with a mug and poured some ale. The bottle read “Dungeoneer’s Demise.” The party member couldn’t see the title of the label on the bottle. It was stained by water. The man didn’t care to ask what was on the name before he took a drink. After the bar tender had poured him the ale.

As soon as the man took a drink. Things for everyone that remained of Shadow Corps soon had issues. The group in town was the first to go through new stages. Everyone who looked at each other would see the others as Billy. The man stubbled out of the saloon. He was hiccupping asking for some relief from the healer to get the drunkenness out of him. Everyone saw each as Billy. Those next to each other who saw the change first hand knew something was up. Others who were separated weren’t so lucky, as they opened fire on each other with attacks. Only did the illusion of everyone looking like Billy ended when the man who walked out of the saloon was finished off. In the group of nine others only six were left after the confusion was sorted out among themselves. They still thought the man leaving the saloon was Billy though.

Group 4 realized things had gotten out of hand and tried to contact the leader. The groups status was being interferied with somehow. One of the members decided to go into the saloon and asked the barkeep what the man had to drink. The bar keep just handed him an empty bottle. The man thanked the barkeep and ran outside the meet the rest of the group. They all looked over the bottle to see there was a warning label on the back. It read “Drinking this ale will cause serious debuffs for every party member. Debuffs that can occur. Illusions, status interferences, Hysteria.”

The group all looked at the bottle in shock wondering what to do now. They were all startled by the leader’s voice as he walked into town. “So, you lot decided to go drinking instead of looking for Billy. I heard you had found him, but all I see is four missing members and six others with a bottle of booze. You know the consequences for goofing off.” Before the six could protest the leader activated their collars on their necks. Five of the six dropped dead. The leader kept the healer alive. Knowing the members was valuable. The others were expendable to him. That was one of the benefits of being a healer for Shadow Corps. Someone could screw up, but in the end, lives would need to be saved. Healers were hard to come by and such were kept alive. That didn’t mean they could escape punishment though.

The healer just gulped knowing that could have been them. “I’ll deal with you after this dungeon. That is if you live long enough.”

The leader had the rest of them search the town for Billy. One of the members soon informed that he was at his ranch on the outskirts of the town. The group quickly regrouped and met at his ranch. The leader had a plan to deal with Billy. He had asked one of the two members who knew Billy the best. He had taken the member with him. The leader was told as they searched for Billy. He liked to deal in gun duels. The old west kind of way. That was the best chance they would get at a fair fight. He didn’t take kind to cheaters. He would finish someone off in one shot.

As the group made their way to his ranch. They were all surprised to see Billy standing there as if he had been waiting for them. Billy sat on the porch polishing his revolvers. He then looked up greeting everyone in a western accent. “Welcome to my Ranch, my name is “Bullseye” Billy. The best marksmen of the west. I see you all are looking for a duel?”

The leader spoke up. “Yes, we are looking to have a duel. I’ll be your opponent.”

Billy let out a sharp laugh before making a point. “Okay, although I am warning you. Everyone who fought me ended up dead. You see that bell there. I plan to shoot a round off there. It will fly off that. Skim the roof of that saloon over there. Hit the drainpipe on the water tower. Fly back here and split your hair down the middle.”

The leader laughed as Billy fired off a shot doing what he said. The leader ducked as the bullet approached. I dived at the leader as he did so. Only to trim off his hair. The other members looked at him with a stare. One of them came up to him. “Are you sure you want to do this?” The leader just nodded. He was the only one who could deal with Billy.

The leader stood back up to meet Billy face to face. “We will settle this at high noon.” Billy said. The leader would have to wait an hour to show time. In the meantime, he tried to get an update on the other teams but was having status issues contacting them. The healer he had dealt with before approached him. The leader was about to shock the healer with his collar. When he gave him the empty bottle of booze as he quickly read the warning label. This made the leader pause to ask what they were going on about. The healer let out a sigh and told what had happened. The leader was in a rage hearing the news just then.

“I killed my men for nothing. I am so going to end that kid whenever I find him.” The leader yelled in a rage of fit.

Soon the leader met Billy in the town center walking down the road. His remaining members were stationed in different hiding spots in case something went wrong. They needed to end the duel fast. The town was quiet as the dungeon’s town residents hid behind doors and windows peeking out to watch.

Billy and the leader both waited for high noon to draw. There was about two minutes before high noon. Just as one minute was left a loud roar could be heard everyone looked where the sound was coming from. Billy was the first to react. “Why you double crossing no good…,” His rant was lost as he opened fire on the leader. Billy activated his “Call to arms” skill as other guns slingers joined in the fight.

The leader was hit twice. Luckily, his defense was high enough to block some of the damage. The leader ducked behind a wall as Billy continued to fire. The leaders party members began to open fire on Billy and his gang members.

The roaring got louder as eleven rockets could be seen hurtling for the town. They all separated as they approached. Four of the rockets ended up being duds. Including the one Henry was chained too. He was able to get himself free as it landed and ran. The other rockets exploded leaving the western town in ruins. Buildings were blown to bits while others burned to the ground. Everyone was in a state of panic. The landscape was covered in craters.

Group 2 arrived as the other rockets landed. They quickly went to help free the trapped members on the rockets that hadn’t blown up. The gunslingers took notice of them as they shot. The whole town was turning into a free for all.

Billy had been blown into a water barrel upside down. The leader tried to take advantage of Billy being stuck but was repelled back by the other gunslingers. They eventually won after terrible casualties from the rocket blasts and gunslingers. The remaining survivors at the town of Shadow Corps was down to seventeen.

The fighting lasted longer than anyone wanted. Group 2 left to track down Henry and finish him off. They took a few of the dud rocket victims with them who could still fight. They ended up chasing Henry into a train tunnel. The group split into two as they collapsed one end of the tunnel as the train went through the other. The second group then sealed off that entrance. A loud crash could be heard inside the collapsed tunnel. The vibrations from the impact and the loose rubble from the collapsed tunnels caused some boulders to fall. A member of the group wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way in time. It ended up crushing the member’s leg. THE others got word of it and came to help free him. As they were helping to free the man. Inside the tunnel came a loud boom. Followed by the debris blocking the tunnel being blown outwards. It rained down on the others helping the trapped man. The ground also shook causing boulders to fall off the mountain. The ensuing carnage only left three survivors as the others were crushed by falling rocks. One of the fatalities had been the a healer from Group 1.

Everyone that was left had received a message saying the floor was completed. Instead of having to find an exit they were warped out to the final floor. Shadow Corps was now down to twenty members.

MARIA POV

You have entered the phsycotunes dungeon. That was the message Maria got when she began to panic. She turned around only to see the city was now gone and she was standing in a western cartoon themed dungeon. She was watching all the ensuing chaos that Shadow Corps was facing. She wanted to panic, but before more fear could set in she was given another notification.

Since you have been in Kevin’s party before. Kevin the dungeon master wishes for you to join his party.

Maria was a loss for words seeing the notification. She was hesitant at first. Before getting a message from Kevin himself. He even proved it was him but told her secrets and such. Maria eventually expected the invite where she was then teleported away to a waiting Kevin.