“I wish the Cartel would just fuck off at this point,” Rick complained telepathically to Luca.

The mosquito buzzed and tilted its head much like Penny would do, “Eager to kill. Need levels. Send here.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. After this next training session, or whatever the hell it is, I’ll see if we can change the door to have the Challengers face you first,” Rick mused.

“Yes. Good. Boring here.”

“Huh. Didn’t know you got bored. What do you need?”

“Friend.”

Rick felt a little guilty and made a mental note to browse for other mosquito minion types when he had enough CP.

Jimmy had gone to speak with Lazaro and returned with the tattooed man a few minutes later, giving Rick an excuse to leave Luca alone.

“Lazaro and the Cartel have decided that they don’t want the restrictions after all. Isn’t that right, Lazaro?”

“That’s right. We weren’t this soft on our initiates before. In this new world, only the strong survive, so that’s how we should do it. Only the best can enter our ranks.”

“That definitely works for me,” Rick said.

Jimmy nodded, “You’re sure about this, Laz? The minions level up too. They’ll be too strong for your little whelps soon.”

“If they’re not getting stronger on their own before they come in, they have no business in the Cartel,” Lazaro said matter of factly. “We’ll send in the first round now. Groups of five, right?”

“Yep,” Jimmy confirmed. “Rick, you need anything before they come in?”

“Nah, just keep the trash coming. Also, if you can think of any way that’s better than the stream for a backup Energy supply, let me know. I’m running out too quickly again.”

“I’ll research it,” Jimmy said.

He and Lazaro left, leaving Rick with anticipation. Receiving Challenge Points, leveling up, and on a different scale, the broadcast — all gave him a high. A feeling he wanted to chase. It was hard for him not to just order his minions to crowd the door and slaughter anything that came through, but alas, that wasn’t what a smart dungeon would do.

“Look alive,” Rick said to his minions.

Elza scrambled up and checked her traps around the construction area of her house with Yosk. Rick could already tell that she was pregnant.

“Yosk, do not wander outside of this house. There are too many traps and you’ll only hurt yourself,” the lizardwoman said.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh Nice try!” Yosk cackled.

Billy commanded Finn and Stella to stand on either side of him and wait.

The Ceaseless wolves spread out as much as they physically could. Two of them were in the open, giving the front door a wide berth. The other three were hiding in the tunnels.

The broadcast started again as the door opened. Five young men entered. Possibly ranging between 20-25 years old. It was hard for Rick to tell for sure.

The number of people viewing the broadcast climbed much higher than the first time, reaching close to 2.7 billion. This meant that there were a lot more people in the world than everyone had realized. Rick was sure it was a welcome sight for most. It was also welcome to Rick since that meant the first broadcast was a success. More Challengers should be making their way here soon.

An Alert snapped his attention off of the fluctuating number of viewers.

ACHIEVEMENT - Capture over 80% of the planet’s population on a single broadcast.

Broadcast Evolved: The Broadcast can now be accessed by the multiverse on a subscription basis. Hire a Showrunner to assist in growing the broadcast and viewer base.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

A mix of glee and frustration filled Rick. There was a lot to unpack in the Alert, but he also wanted to watch the Challengers. Before diving in too deep, he would watch the beginning of the battle at least. The shock of 2.7 billion people being over 80% of the world’s population hadn’t quite set in. That meant that over four billion people had died. The number was too large for Rick to wrap his mind around.

A howl brought Rick’s attention back to the Challengers.

The five young men that had entered didn’t appear fit for dungeon diving. Rick could sense their heart rates skyrocketing and their bodies trembling. All except one.

The youngest and smallest one in fact. He had his face painted like those dia de muertos dolls and wore a large backpack. The kind you would see a privileged college student wearing as they backpacked across Europe. White paint covered the surface, with black ink drawing a design and contouring his face to appear like a skull. Bright green paint was in a tribal design around his eyes.

It looked pretty magnificent, but Rick thought that it might drop off as the fight started and he started to sweat. Rick decided to use Identify on him.

Pablo Lopez - Level 9 Toymaster

“Oh, that’s a new one,” Rick said aloud. Billy looked up quizzically, but Rick wasn’t going to give anything away to him.

Pablo unslung his backpack and unzipped the top. Like ants pouring out of an anthill, little dia de muertos dolls climbed out. Some of them held miniature knives. Others held syringes with red fluid inside. Rick probed the syringes and found that they were filled with a low-grade healing potion.

“Clever kid,” he mumbled.

There must have been 30 of the little dolls in total. Five of the healing dolls clattered up onto the shoulders of each party member. The rest of them spread out on the ground among the Challengers.

The pair of Ceaseless Wolves that were out in the open growled and paced, waiting for the Challengers to make a move.

The scared young men in front of Pablo pulled out various guns that Rick recognized as ones he had made for the Cartel. With a shaky hand, one of the Challengers aimed a pistol at the wolves and fired, missing terribly.

It was as if an Olympic race began with the gunshot. The two wolves shot toward the group. Ten of the dolls started running forward in a staggered wave, holding up their tiny knives.

Rick wanted to laugh. The toys were very cute, running forward with unnatural movements. One bite from the wolves and they’d be little more than splinters.

That’s probably why the wolves ignore them. As the gap closed, the wolves kept racing towards the group of men and the dolls leapt at the two wolves, grabbing their fur and climbing on them.

The wolves halted and began to yelp as the little monster dolls stabbed them repeatedly with the small knives. One of the wolves began to roll around on the ground, knocking them off. The other scratched furiously, trying to smack them off with its paw.

A small bit of fear left the young men as they raised their weapons and shot the wolves repeatedly until their ammo was completely out. The two wolves lay on the ground among broken pieces of most of the dolls.

“You fuckers shot my dolls. They take forever to make,” he grumbled. The group moved to the unmoving wolves as they reloaded their guns, hoping to find the sacks of goodies they had all seen the other Challengers get from the previous broadcast.

The Challenger that shot first was also the first to reach for one of the wolves. The moment he touched it, the wolf lurched up and bit his nose. The other wolf jumped up and bit his leg. The man started screaming, blood running from the bite wounds. The little healing doll on his shoulder plunged the syringe into his neck, slowing the bleeding. But the wolves didn’t stop.

The rest of the Challengers pulled up their guns and started shooting at the wolves, hitting their comrade in the process. But the wolves didn’t stop. They just kept biting, no matter how bad their wounds were. One of them was missing half of its skull and it just kept snarling despite its eye dangling from the hole in its face.

Pablo heard panting behind him, making him whirl around. Three more of the monsters sprinted toward them out of a hole in the side of a hill. He quickly ordered all of his dolls to intercept them and ran the other way.

“Behind us!” he yelled.

The other three young men whirled, screaming obscenities, and fired at the new wolves. The dolls began latching on as they had before, bringing two down. Even after they fell, the wounded wolves kept struggling forward, dragging themselves. The last wolf lunged, and bit at the closest Challenger, killing him in seconds.

The first two mangled wolves snapped at the men’s ankles from behind.

“Fuck, this isn’t good,” Pablo said. He still had one trick up his sleeve as he pulled out a tiny horse-shaped pinata the size of his hand from another pouch in his backpack. He infused it with a small amount of mana and put it on the ground.

The pinata started sprinting towards the last, the healthiest wolf still causing chaos. The rest of his dolls kept stabbing at the incapacitated wolves.

“Sorry boys,” Pablo said as his horse pinata reached the group and exploded, killing the wolf and showering his two remaining party members in blood and bone. When that happened, the other four wolves all stopped moving as well.

His two teammates noticed this as well and fell to the ground, panting.

A smile grew on Pablo’s face as he saw that precious glow of the loot sacks by the corpse of each wolf.

“Clean yourselves up, boys. We just passed initiation,” Pablo said to the other two survivors

One of them laughed. The other buried his face in his hands. His body shook uncontrollably with a mixture of adrenaline leaving his body, fear, disgust, and a large dose of relief.

Pablo whistled and the nine remaining dia de muertos dolls went to grab the loot sacks.

“I get 80% of whatever is in these. You two can fight over the last 20%” Pablo said, watching his dolls.

The other two glared at the smaller man but didn’t argue.