“Well, we did that pretty quickly. I would assume that means we have some time for a break,” I said hopefully as we stepped back into the waiting room.
“Doubtful, our next floor is just a monster match. They can have those ready to go immediately,” Rabyn said, and to prove his claim, Floor Master appeared next to us.
“Ah, good, here and ready for the next battle. Good luck,” the spider said before ushering us right back through the door we had just left, with no chance for rest or grabbing the tiniest bite to eat. My stomach rumbled slightly; I needed to get something into it before the fifth floor, or my performance was going to suffer.
The hallway disappeared the moment the door was closed behind us, and this time, there was no wondering where the enemy was. A group of humanoids split between what looked like mutated rhinos and pigs were surrounding us. Each of them had a strange-looking large gun drawn and pointing at us, clearly ready to fire. “Hit the ground!” Elicec yelled. I threw myself down, immediately understanding his reasoning as blasts of bright red light flashed above our heads. Several of the creatures dropped to the ground around us, the victims of friendly fire.
“Is this normal?” I called out, confused about why they’d kill each other like this.
“It can be, especially when they try to use more aggressive or experimental sapient species as monsters!” Rabyn answered.
“Remembering where they had all stood before, Elody rose back to her feet as the written words, sharp as freshly cut paper, flew from the page guided by her memory to their targets,” Elody said, followed by the sound of several more bodies hitting the ground. I was reminded of how Mel had initially planned for Elody to carry us through most of this as the hall came back into view alongside the experience notification.
Combatants Defeated Mutated Warthog x7 70,000 Experience Mutated Rhinosaurus x8 80,000 Experience Experience Gained 199,500 Points Arena Bonuses Floor 4 Cleared
8,000,000,000 Experience Experience Gained 8,000,015,000 Points Multipliers Applied No Armor x1.1 No Weapon x1.1 Unoccupied Squad Positions x256 Total Experience Gained 2,478,084,646,400 Points
Sadly, it wasn’t remotely comparable to the experience I'd earned on the previous floor. Fighting people with cores seemed to be the best way to gain experience, other than my own simulator, but that had some drawbacks. Then again, I supposed so did fighting actual people. The door swung open at the end of the hall, bringing me back to my earlier desires before this had started. I wanted, no, needed something to eat.
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I ran from the room as quickly as I could, ignoring any weird looks from Mel as I made for the food tables, quickly downing several sandwiches, gulping water to wash them down with. My core seemed to appreciate the food. Wait, why was I so hungry? I’ve done more than this between meals. Did Connie’s speed boosts accelerate my metabolism as well? Finishing my face stuffing and deciding to prod the dwarf for answers later, I moved as much of the rest of the food into my storage before finding Mel and Pryte in the crowd.
“Well, that’s four down. Y’all ain’t half bad so far, which is damn impressive considering we didn’t get shit for a chance at team training,” Mel spouted the moment I drew near him. He was still his usual shade of green and I was starting to associate with a positive outlook, not that I was fully sure what a positive Mel sounded like.
“I’m concerned about floor ten. As well as we’re doing currently, by that point, most, if not all, of the fodder will be gone. When we return to the home base, I wish to know more about your specific power set, Dave. I’ve seen many humans, but you appear to have somehow both greater and lesser access to different magics,” Rabyn said, joining us. The orc’s eyes were darting side to side as he spoke. Was he looking for someone or just trying to see if anyone was listening to us?
“We can talk builds once we’re outta here, not before, and yes, floor ten is gonna be a giant fucking issue, but I’ve been thinking on that, and we just happen to have several enclaves of yer people sitting back on Earth that need to be rooted out and a squad that needs to practice teamwork,” Mel said, smiling and glaring at us at the same time. I felt my stomach drop slightly at the thought of the orcs. Did we really have the resources to flush all of the remaining forces out? Hell, how many were sticking around?
“We may be of a similar evolution, but we do not share a true bloodline. They are not my people,” Rabyn said, with a heavy emphasis on the word my and the tiniest hint of anger escaping alongside the words. I had an idea of what was going on with him now, but just as with my own strangeness, this wasn’t the proper environment for answers.
“Hrm, for yer sake, ya better not be lying. Pryte is getting the proper files together for Dave to review on all the new faction members,” Mel said, his color darkening just slightly, but before any further arguments could happen, Floor Master appeared again, signaling our return to the Arena.
“I just realized that that is Melhelm as your Arena manager. I wasn’t aware he had returned. Excellent choice, Rabyn,” Floor Master said as he led us to the same spot as the last few times. That was the second person I had heard use Mel’s full name, and both times related to just how big of a deal he had been. I was going to have to find a way to get him talking about his past, too. If he was going to make me run an empire, then I wanted to know how the hell he ended up on this life path.
“Fate has chosen to favor me with a third chance. Thank you for your confidence, Floor Master,” Rabyn said, pausing to thank the referee while the rest of us entered the familiar hallway that so far had been the gateway to every floor.
“So this floor is going to scatter us all. There’ll be something in the sky constantly pointing you towards the victory zone, but keep in mind it’s pointing this out to all the squads, so be careful,” Rabyn said. I didn’t like the idea of us all being split up, mostly because of one person.
“Glorp, don’t worry about making it to the finish. Just hide out and stay safe, alright?” I said. I knew he couldn’t really be killed, but if it were anything like my simulator, the experience wouldn’t be great. Plus, we weren’t actually healed up between fights, so I didn’t know how that would affect someone who was saved at the last second.
“O…” Glorp started to say before I felt my stomach lurch as my current reality slipped away, only to be replaced by water moments later. The System had been kind enough to drop me into water that was well over my head. As I kicked hard back to the surface, I was at least glad it wasn’t freezing cold. I hated the experience of jumping into a cold body of water. Once my head broke the surface I looked around, finding myself entirely alone. I could easily see the shore in the distance if it could be called that. It looked to be wriggling.
Despite the unnerving nature of the shoreline, I decided it was best to swim for it before I learned just what lived in the water of this place. The shore was even stranger once I reached it than I had initially realized. For one thing, it seemed to be floating on top of the water, which made it a bit difficult to pull myself out of. The worst part by far, though, was the way the ground groaned as I stepped on it. At first, I thought the ground itself might have just been a strange creature living on the water, but the land stretched as far as I could see.
I looked up and spotted the arrow Rabyn had mentioned. I was glad to find it wasn’t pointing back over the water but instead towards a weird mass, possibly trees, far in front of me. It was too bad I didn’t have access to Connie’s enhancements. I’d have to make do with my own running speed. First, though, I focused on my chat interface.
Dave: Corey, can you fly overhead and keep a lookout?
Corey: Yes.
Corey appeared from my storage and took to the air above me. While my mana drain did seem to increase based on the distance it was from me, this seemed like a valuable use. There were three other squads out here, likely overtly hostile toward me. I wanted as much of a warning as I could get if we found any. Running toward the strange trees made me realize just how long it had been since I was doing anything really alone, not counting my brief fight in Smithtown. My only solo experience since arriving in the Spiral had been during my reading and some of my experiments. It was a far cry from the solitude I had spent so much of the last few years in. Considering how open and alone I felt at the moment, was it possible I had become numb to the loneliness during my self-imposed seclusion? Or had I just grown accustomed that quickly to my new friends? Corey messaged me reminding me I wasn’t even all that alone at the moment.
Corey: There are two people in the trees, likely waiting to ambush you. I do not believe they have spotted me yet. Should I attack?
Dave: Not yet. Can you time your attack for when I get close enough that they try to attack me?
Corey: Likely, yes.
Dave: Perfect, interrupt anything they attempt, and I’ll come in blasting after you.
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The jesters and their puppets aren’t a myth, but most who have met them soon wish they were. What exactly are the puppets? Or perhaps it’s better to ask what the puppets were. When the jesters appear, people often go missing, and those with the misfortune to encounter the jesters again often report how lifelike and familiar their new puppets are. Should you ever find yourself exposed to a gathering of jesters, accept nothing they offer, be polite, and excuse yourself as soon as possible. Remember these rules, and you may just survive.
Another 117 Scary Stories for Sleepovers by S. M. Grime