Jerome and Jamie ran, or more precisely; Jerome ran with the grace of a man used to running up and down the gravelly, hilly, and sometimes nonsensical roads of the town. Jamie, meanwhile, jogged for a short while, caught their breath, and then started jogging again.
“Hey,” wheeze, “Can you all,” pant, “Please just slow down?” Jamie asked.
“Could you three, uhm, four go get Marc and Gus? If we’re headed into the Dungeon, it’ll be the perfect place for two people with classes.” Jerome asked the red wagon full of toys trailing shortly behind them.
“It will be done,” Marie Antoinette bowed gracefully as the red wagon changed direction without her moving. Definitely four of them.
“Why would we need those two? These’re soldiers.” Jamie asked, confused.
“Without any prior clearance, working on US soil? Nah, something ain’t right. If reading the works of Stanly Lieber taught me anything, it’s that with a hot-head in charge of military resources… Things tend to go amuck.” Jerome responded.
“What do you mean?” Jamie asked, putting the pieces together.
“I mean that I thought Zippy was our liaison with the government, and if they haven’t told him, then it’s simple. Someone’s making a power grab.” Jerome said succinctly, taking a break right at the final steepest stretch of road up. “If they’re in the Dungeon, there’s only five of them. I doubt Will would send for us without us being able to defend them. Me? I’ve got this shield and no gun, you, well don’t take it the wrong way but you’re not the strongest. As for those two, they have some real power.”
“Great, this is going to be a cluster, aint it?” Jamie asked, avoiding finishing the phrase due to the large crowd around them, only growing larger. People brought their children to the dungeon, a few of them didn’t look too great…
Jamie looked over in the direction Jerome was, their heart sinking. “A...are those?”
Jerome gulped. “Make-a-wish kids, stuff like that… Why’s the line so backed up?”
As if to answer his question they both heard a loud voice from up the hill, “Just clear on out folks, go on home, nothing to do here. Active military operation.” A slow voice said, his tone bored and dull.
None of the parents with sick children left, all staring daggers at the man as the line grows longer and longer as more people come up behind Jamie. Both of the town natives realized what was going on, both with the parents and with the long line.
“Is… Is that stain inside of a uniform telling the parents of dying children to leave?” Jerome asked, seething with anger, his orange glow growing brighter from within his shirt.
“Y-yeah, I think he is,” Jamie responded in incredulous shock, their mouth agape at the audacity of the young yet balding man.
“That. IS. IT!” Jerome yelled out loudly. Orange cracks running down his arms and gliding along his hands in a way that only Jamie noticed for now.
Jerome began stomping up the steep hill, his footfalls literally sinking into the gravel pathway and melting the pebbles into steps in his wake. The ground did not grow warm, nor did it steam, instead it simply melted around Jerome, bending to his will as a Dwarf bound by blood to his home.
“You get yer asses out of here you disgraces to the uniform!” Jerome yelled, seething anger. “If my Pa or any of your parents saw you doing this, I swear you would get yer ass whooped where I come from. Those children aren’t long and yer telling their parents, right outside of the ONE place the impossible no longer exists, TO GO HOME?!”
The unfortunate Private Fubar looked over at the seething Dwarf, assuming he was yet another civilian or local, “I’m sorry sir, but you will need to leave as well.” his voice not changing, keeping the same bored monotone.
Jerome was livid, “I am the sheriff of this mountain, I will do no such thing. Now, tell me your commanding officer RIGHT NOW!”
“That’s classified.” The smug soldier responded while trying to usher those at the front of the line away.
Stomping up to the soldier, Jerome growled, his voice sounding dangerous, “Now you listen here you little…”
Just as Jerome was getting ready to possibly get himself into a world of trouble, the toys then show up; rocketing up the gravel path in the red wagon. One of the muscular toys belting out notes on a tiny trumpet it had found.
Behind the toys a large mass of darkness was moving at a swift walking pace, only getting faster the closer it got to the boisterous argument. The soldier touched his radio device, backing away from the oncoming darkness.
Jamie, realizing what was likely going on; made sure Jerome was looking at them and winked at him, tilting their head toward the scene. Standing completely still just within the path of the darkness, Jamie waited. Jerome followed the example as the soldier looked at them with confusion.
“Hey, what’re you doing? Git! This is no place for civilians.” Private Fubar added while backing away from the oncoming orb, panicked sweat dripping down his face.
Jamie and Jerome were quickly swallowed up by the effect as it continued on, visually absorbing the two with a membrane of darkness.
The orb of pure black continued on, rolling past the goblin at the desk who merely looked up at them, his eyes sparkling with blue-green magic. “You’ve already filled out yer papers, yer clear.”
The three soldiers all looked at the Goblin in confusion; Oscar and Mike finally making their way over from strong-arming some parents into backing off. The orb of darkness slammed into the opening of the mine, the thin cover of darkness spreading over the entire opening. From the outside words became visible, “Reclaim Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here.”
Inside of the mineshaft, the bubble of shadow popped. Zippy, Billy Joe, Jamie, Jerome, Gus, and Marc all spilled out.
“What in the name of…?” Jerome started, rubbing his head.
“No time! We have to go right now!” Zippy shouted.
Zippy opened up his robe, pulling out a small sack; a very well dressed opossum fell out of the sack, far too small for him to fit inside. Pulling himself to his back feet and using a cane, he adjusted his hat.
“I believe many of you know me as Theodore. Majesty Will has sent me to get ‘reinforcements’ as it were.” The opossum said.
Gus and Marc stared blankly at the talking animal. Jamie asked, “Why do you need us?”
Theodore, walking between Gargoyles and pressing his paw against a rock. A rumbling noise sounded. “It is because Majesty needs your help, it is as simple as that. They have been disrupted by their own rules far too early and have not found effective defender forms. Especially against even a moderately trained force.”
Zippy spoke up at this, entranced by the idea, “Tell them what you told me.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Two of the gargoyles moved, turning to face each other as a pitch-black portal sprang to life between them. Theodore spoke as he walked inside, “Follow me and I shall.”
After Theodore stepped inside, the other five quickly followed. Jamie’s stomach lurched as they stepped inside of the murky darkness, however. Their innards felt as if they were being pulled forward, a cramping feeling started along their side as their back felt cold, doubling over as they stepped through all the way.
“Wha?” Jamie said before covering their mouth, trying desperately not to puke.
Theodore ignored Jamie however, continuing, “Majesty Will in creating this Dungeon created rules for it, those rules are as immutable as the law of gravity. That is to say, impossible unless one has a large amount of time and resources. I won’t get into the details now, but they have been working toward a project that requires these rules be created.”
Zippy looked fascinated, but Jerome spoke up, “Why would they limit themselves like that? I thought they were a genie.”
“Listen, you can’t tell anyone. But they’re working toward distributing a dungeon network. They tapped into your internet signal and have been learning of the goings-on. A leviathan has decimated whaling ships in the pacific ocean, and while that may be a good thing in the long run… It speaks to just how weak you baseline humans are right now. You need these classes, and magic, and places to get items of power merely to keep up with how the world is running.” Theodore said, stepping toward a wooden door with a brass doorknob on it, turning it and pulling it open the room it led to was dim and lit from the floor.
As the group stepped inside the room, Zippy noticed it first, being the nearest to the floor.
“Is that what I think it is?” Zippy asked, pointing down at the clear floor and the five soldiers doing their best to get through an enhanced skill test.
***
Grant stood flustered in front of an old-school punching machine one might find in a bowling alley. His sandy blonde hair was already lightly matted with sweat as he grit his teeth.
‘Tiny Wimp’ Appeared on-screen in big glowing red letters. Clarence decided now was a good time to go over and console his second newest officer.
“Sometimes ya just can’t win em all,” Clarence said, shaking his head and raising his arms up in a defeated gesture.
“Yeah, yeah, but intel did not say that these would be this hard. From everything we had gathered, the strength test was supposed to be an old carnival game with a bell. This is completely different.”
Charlie spoke up, her deep voice well known among the unit as they constantly wanted her to sing ‘Barracuda’, “Different day, different trial I suppose. It is Christmas after-all, we should have expected some things to be different, even if it was just an event.”
Clarence shook his head. It seems out of the five of them, only Charlie and himself had completed their tasks. The spinning wooden wheel covered in knives on various near randomly placed targets on it while he himself had seen to the repair of the ship-in-a-bottle. “Well, it looks like we just try again. At least we don’t get punished for failing in the first room.”
The leader of the group walked up to the statue, hitting the button in front of it labeled ‘RESET’.
***
Theodore steadied his hat, “Yes, those are the soldiers in question. Unfortunately, the rules Majesty has imposed upon the system do not allow them to create tests they cannot pass, merely that it requires their best. Truthfully we are all lucky they have not been able to consistently complete the re-arranging room of puzzles just yet, but it is only a matter of time.”
Zippy looked down at the clear floor, watching the small group of soldiers go about their tasks. “Jerome, would you please return outside? I would like for those families to be able to access the Dungeon. Use my name if you want, If this insurgency has been plotted by who I think it has, then we share the same ranking. If they give you too much issue; threaten to call a ‘General Hitchcock’. That should shut them up.”
Jerome smiled at the Gnome, “Thanks. I was unsure what I could do exactly to get rid of them, considering everything.”
Just as Jerome left, a small assistant hitched a ride with him, unbeknownst to the sheriff.
“Go ahead, tell them the rest.” Zippy chided the small mammal.
Theodore sighed, walking forward toward the next room with a glowing floor. No door stood between the two. “To be completely honest, we need you to help us cheat.”
Billy Joe, walking forward to the next room, looked down. Hero and his lackeys were in far better armor with Damascus weaponry, letting out a long whistle.” Not holding back, huh?”
Theodore caught up on his short hind legs, “No, no, we are not. As likely the more astute of you have guessed, Majesty Will’s boss system is meant to test everyone individually. Be they young adults or grizzled warriors. Galatea will not be as strong against these soldiers for the simple fact that if Billy Joe understood how to use her powers, she would likely be the equivalent of a ‘raid boss’. The soldiers simply do not have high enough base stats for Majesty’s boss system to fight them.”
“Wait, how strong am I?” Billy Joe asked, eyes wide.
Theodore, shaking his head and walking past to the third room, “Let me explain, Majesty Will’s statistics system is a little less… ehm, nuanced than some of your paper games. A score of ten is an average twenty-one-year-old human. The average weight they can lift is around forty pounds, average dexterity, all of it. Of those soldiers in there, two out of the five are in the mid-forties for strength, all of them are in their forties to fifties for endurance. All-in-all as humans they are rather formidable.”
Jamie looked up from inspecting the likely magical armor of Hero, “Wait, what does that have to do with her?” The nausea hadn’t abated, and they were still holding their gut.
Theodore shook his head. “A single point in endurance counts for ten health in Majesty’s system. Billy Joe’s endurance alone is well into the two-hundred and thirties. After she breaks her mental barriers, she will be able to access strength and magical affinity in those numbers as well.”
Zippy, this time, nodded in agreement. “Yes, the stronger beings put limiters on themselves subconsciously during their rebirth, it keeps them from damaging those they care about right after they come out. You must practice to remove them, but yes, I can feel your magical affinity and for someone as untrained as you, your potential is truly terrifying.”
As the group walked into the third room-above-rooms, they looked down. Behind the magical lobster-infantry, five exceptionally large Japanese spider-crabs with four arms stood at attention. On their backs stood five large prawns each, crackling with some sort of magical energy. The conglomeration of shellfish looked around, the different prawns heads searching at odd angles like the eyes of a chameleon.
“Wow, that’s some deadly seafood,” Gus said, their class letting them see just how much mana was packed into the tiny forms.
“Yes, the shellfish army had to be toned down for the average team. We are truly pulling out all the stops that Majesty has prepared. Hopefully, we can at least remove one or two of them before they come to the boss room.” Theodore replied.
The well-dressed Opossum continued, “those latent statistics, the multiple hundreds you have in those statistics, that is what allowed the throne to boost Galatea as much as it did. When Marc actually defeated her we were all shocked, however, you did make Wagon’s day.”
As the group walked over the fourth room, the glowing ground was gone, the floor to the room showed nothing but darkness.
“Why can’t we see?” Gus asked, looking for the formulapedes and Gruescheth.
“Darkness magic, no light can enter.” Zippy mused.
Theodore nodded, “You are correct, there are surprises in that room too, however, well they are more terrifying when you cannot see them. As I said, we are going all-out. When they openly declared they were taking the lamp, they might as well have declared war on us all.” he scratched his long chin, then mumbled, “turns out that forced truth rune was far more useful than I ever thought.”
Above the final trial room, the group looked down. The arena and Jed, as well as the hot-hogs and chillys, were much the same, however, one change was clear.
“What in the holy pork-rinds is that?” Gus said, pointing at the two-story-tall boar in the center of the hogs.
Theodore looked bored. “Oh, that was just a part of the test you all didn’t qualify for. Over half of your team needs to be outfitted with ranged weapons for Majesty to be able to use Smasher.”
“Smasher?” Jamie asked; eyebrow raised. As they neared the end of the hallways, and what they assumed was Will’s chamber, the nausea had ceased. More than that, a powerful, hard to shake euphoria had replaced it. As if the world itself were telling them to go forward, to step into that room.
Theodore shrugged, “It’s in the name. If you had tried to all use the barriers as cover and range down all the hogs, smasher comes out. His purpose is simple, to smash your hiding places and keep you moving. The metal barriers have runes in them that bring him to a complete stop though, so no accidental trampling.”
Coming to the sixth doorway, an actual door stood in their way. Seemingly designed by a gothic architect experimenting with psychedelics; the uneven metal opened wide.
Touching the brim of his hat, Theodore looked at the group with a dire expression. “I have just been informed that the soldiers have breached the trial room and are moving on to Hero’s Domain. There isn’t much time, everyone inside, we need to get you all kitted out and in the boss room with Galatea.”