The hole the monster was in seems to be the only way forward. We have enough rope between us to get to the bottom of the 100 foot drop without much difficulty.

We rappel down after harvesting the loot from the Uranium Elementals, which turned out to be mostly glow sticks. A handful of depleted Uranium shells were mixed in. The shells are made for tanks, but Jose swears he can use them so he ends up with eight of them in his inventory.

The fourth floor is lit by a miniature moon that overlooks a small, old fishing village. We get a good look at the village as we head down the rope. The entire chamber seems like it's several miles across, the ceiling 80 feet up and the water abruptly ending at the far wall.

As Franco, the last to descend, finally hits the grassy floor, I go over the situation. I pull out my Minimap, making a transparent 3D model of the floor appear in my right hand.

“Okay so there's no clear exit. That means it's in one of the buildings, or there's a trigger to open it.” I point out the buildings. “There's seven farms, a village with three rows of shacks and a...”

“Cannery,” says Mercy. “If this is Lovecraft, then this is a Massachusetts fishing village circa 1910, and there's a disgusting cannery involved.” I nod and am about to continue when she says, “probably run by fish men.”

“Alright, we should expect fish men. They have anything to look out for?”

Mercy gives us the fish man bestiary entry. “They should be tough and very strong, but no special attacks. The women might appear human, but they are not human.” She squints at Franco. “And don't let them seduce you.”

“Hey, why am I the only one who has to worry about it?” he asks.

Mercy points at Quins, then Jose, then me and says “taken, married, I would kill him.”

Franco cracks his thick, muscled neck and says “fair enough.”

“Right, so anyway,” I say, trying to regain attention, “teams of three. Breach and clear every building, every room.”

Alicia points at the larger buildings on my map. “Why don't we just start with the mayor's house, hospital and church?”

I shake my head as if she's a simpleton. “Because, Alicia, we want to get level ups.” She rolls her eyes at me but I persist. “No, really, we need to be as strong as possible when we get to the 15th floor. We tackled the St. Louis arch dungeon and that was 10 floors. The boss there took basically no damage from conventional weapons. We need as much power as we can get if we're going to fight a boss that might be 50% stronger than a 10th floor boss.”

She concedes. “Alright. I think it's a waste of time but you're the boss.” I note the last part seemed condescending and decide that if I have to give her healing snacks she's getting the Xtra Flamin Hot Doritos. See how her white lady taste buds fare with that. Ha.

“Alright, team A is Quins, Franco and me. Jose, you take Mercy and Alicia.” One sniper, one heavy, one switch hitter per team. Plus I want to better know how these new guys fight.

We head off in different directions and I tell everyone to keep in contact on the comms. Franco, Quins and I are taking the rows of shacks down by the waterside.

We approach the moonlit village and it's apparent that it looks like a place out of time. There's no technology I recognize. I think the lamp posts are, yeah, they're oil lamps. The windows to all the buildings are dark. Most of the shacks are one story, with a few two stories mixed in. We get to the first row of shacks and a fog rolls in.

“Hello?” I call down the street. “Any fishmen here?”

I hear sounds from the third shack down and dash over to see a door swinging on what looks like a two-story saloon. I peer into the dark and can't see a damn thing. I hover a wakizashi up and cast Yellow Ray through it, illuminating the saloon. Shadows are cast as my light shines through the window and I hear a crash of glass from the inside, followed by the click of an old gun being cocked. I step up and to the side of the front door, taking cover behind the wall.

I motion for Franco and Quins to go around back. This row of shacks is butted against a short hillside. I know it should only take a minute for them to break in that way. Over comms I whisper, “give me five seconds when you're in position.”

“Roger,” comes Franco's deep gravelly voice. Then ten seconds later, “in position.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I fly four more wakizashi up, hit Yellow Ray on all of them, and light up the inside of the saloon like it's showtime. There's screaming in a language I don't know and then my guys rush in through the back. Franco is shouting and I hear his heavy machine gun belch a few rounds, hitting wood. I rush in and see them holding up an Afghani man who's trying to drop a shotgun on the bar counter. He lays it down and Quins comes over slowly and snatches it.

Franco speaks to the man in Pashto, and the man dissolves into tears. Then he's babbling, he can't stop talking to Franco. Franco lowers his gun and lets the man finish before opening his backpack and handing the man a protein bar with extra protein.

I am quite taken by the whole scene. Franco turns to me. “So this is Malik. He and some other guys are trapped here and couldn't escape. They were told to come down and mine but when the reset happened their rope disappeared. He just wants out.”

I go over comms. “We just found a local Afghan and he's scared but not hostile. Alicia, you speak Pashto?”

“Yeah, I'll negotiate if we find someone,” her voice comes into my earpiece.

Malik talks to Franco more and Franco nods and listens patiently. “Malik says there's a bunch of guys in the Mayor's house. There's no enemies on this floor. But they're afraid of going in deeper.”

I ask Malik, knowing Franco will translate, “how did you get past the monsters above?”

Some translation happens back and forth and Franco says, “they had a guide, a warrior. A white man they called Pierce.”

“Desmond Pierce? ” I ask, and without translation Malik nods yes.

Over comms I say, “well agent Bennet, you can go ahead and confirm Desmond Pierce on that terrorist list.”

We regroup and gather the surviving men, 49 all told. It takes a few hours to get them back to the surface, which Alicia argues is a waste of time, and I argue is fucking humane.

As the last of them leave R-32, Malik comes over and shakes my hands vigorously. He's got tears in his eyes. He speaks to me and I don't understand the words but I understand their meaning. He thanks me and I see him and the other 48 men go off into the desert towards the nearby town.

Something inside me clicks into place. Something that had been looking for a place in my heart since we got everyone out of the Get!. It's something so simple, so inherent to humanity, and yet something I lacked, or didn't understand: It feels good to save people.

I see gratitude come from a man as I stand in the place of my greatest trauma. I see a man whose countrymen I killed en masse. And I see him and his comrades filled with happiness to be escaping R-32. They're escaping just like we did. And this time I'm the one making it happen.

I didn't expect this. I didn't expect to find myself in the place where I lost myself all those years ago. And yet here I am, realizing, just now, that maybe killing terrorists in revenge for 9/11 was never what I should have wanted. What I should have wanted all along was to save people when tragedy struck them. I became a soldier when I should have been a firefighter. Damn.

Mercy holds my hand as we watch them go. If I had been a firefighter, I wouldn't have been here. I wouldn't have been in the Get!. I wouldn't have the combat skills to fight monsters. I wouldn't be standing next to the love of my life, or have Jose as my best friend. That path wouldn't have led here. And I'm just now starting to like it here.

And that's when we get thrown a curve ball.

Attention! This is a global system update for the Dracosys! All those with at least one level will receive this message.

The words seem to come from inside my head. Just like the first time, the first Notice from the system.

Due to spontaneous brain death in some people, classes will no longer provide equipment training. Those who have already received equipment training through their classes will not have it revoked.

Due to an underwhelming number of deaths, the following changes are being made:

* Dungeons that are not cleared in a week will gain a floor at the end of their dungeon break period.

* Dungeon breaks will feature monsters from all floors of the dungeon, rather than just the first few floors.

* All those entering a dungeon will now receive the 24 Hour Lock Down quest.

* Ruins will now grow by 10% each week they are not cleared, and their monsters will gain strength by 10% each week.

* Ruins will gain a dome-like barrier to prevent the sniping and bombing of their monsters.

* Arenas will draw in the nearest person at the end of each hour if no one is inside challenging the arena.

* Arenas can now be cleared! Just fight the strongest monster in there and win!

* Castles will now issue quests to reward those who work towards their growth.

* Castles that do not grow each week will instead shrink, and will be destroyed upon hitting zero size. When a castle is destroyed all nearby dungeons, ruins and arenas will gain 5 floors!

* One month from now will be the three month anniversary of the Dracosys, and to celebrate, the first ever RAID BOSS will appear from the least challenged dungeon! This will be a difficult monster, so plan on coordinating with others to combat it.

We thank you for your participation in the Dracosys, and remember, slay or be slaughtered!