Rick could hear everything that had been going on around him as if he were underwater. The conversation between Jimmy and Atrono, the madness overtaking his minions, Penny’s whines, all of it. But, the longer they went on, the more distant the voices became.

He wanted to scream, but his voice was mute. Everything around him was dark and weightless. His consciousness drifted further away from reality as if he were shrinking within the core.

Rick’s Energy had been depleted. Anytime his natural ability to refill his Energy triggered, the resource just slipped away.

Am I dying? He asked himself.

He realized that he might do just that if he didn’t act. Straining his consciousness, Rick pushed. There had to be a way to get back to the surface of his core but he didn’t know how. He just kept pushing forward, hoping to reach the top.

Then he felt something more. There was an opening where his Energy leaked out of. At first, he was frightened to go near it. But then something else leaked in. It was a calming sensation. It was Penny.

“I’m coming girl, stay right there,” Rick cried out in his mind, though he was still muted.

He pushed closer to the sensation and felt more Energy rush past him, fleeing his core. Except, Penny had blocked it. The Energy bounced back within him and Rick grabbed ahold of it, refusing to let it escape.

— — —

“P-p-penny, we may need to go help our friends,” Atrono stammered. “Yosk and Finn are making their way to Jimmy and the younglings now and we’re not sure if Jimmy has immunity from the minions anymore.”

Penny didn’t move from her spot near Rick. She kept her head planted near the core, eyes half closed.

Atrono glanced back, “Okay… you can stay here. I do have some combat training.” The centaur dug around in his saddle bag and produced a silver rod with a shaky hand. He pressed a button on the side and unfolded into a metal bow. A loose string dangled down front the top end which Atrono hastily tied to the bottom.

“Okay, just have to calibrate,” he muttered as he pressed another button. The bow lit up in a flashy green light. The string began to tighten and loosen on its own until it reached the proper tautness.

Atrono then plucked out a smaller pouch from the saddlebag. It had a pull string that he put around his head. Inside the pouch were short, fat, metal arrows. He grabbed one and with a flick of his wrist, it extended like a plastic lightsaber.

Sparing one last glance at Penny, Atrono opened the door to help the boys and Jimmy.

Yosk was already pounding away at the door with his sledgehammer.

— — —

Outside

The Spell & Sword walked the still lively streets outside of the dungeon.

“How in god’s name are we supposed to find these things?” Sarah asked, straining her eyes at every shadow she came across.

Screams erupted near a makeshift taco stand only a half block away.

“I guess even monsters love tacos. Let’s go!” Alex said, drawing a groan from Diane.

People were running toward the Spell & Sword. A woman stopped and pointed in the direction of the taco stand. “It’s you! Please help, monsters that way!” she squealed.

“A proper quest,” Alex said, eyes gleaming.

The rest of the group feigned annoyance at their leader, but truthfully, they were all a bit excited to be recognized and put their skills to work while protecting people.

“There!” Sarah shouted. The group looked to where she was pointing.

Diane laughed as she saw the furry creatures scurrying in their direction, toward the dungeon entrance. Three of them carried the man who ran the taco stand on their backs. The other two ran on each side, hissing at anyone in the way.

“They’re kind of cute, aren’t they?” She asked.

Grady looked at her with wide eyes, “No. I’ll never sleep again knowing that they’re lurking in the same building as me.”

Alex shrugged and fired a magic spear at one of the Snatchers. It easily hopped to the side and hissed. The rest of them skittered as fast as they could, but there was no way for them to pass Diane as she darted forward.

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One of them jumped at her and clanged against her shield.

“Wait! Let’s try to take them alive,” Deandre shouted.

Pablo scoffed, “You’re a madman. I like it. But why would we do that?”

“We don’t know if they can respawn out here. Let’s bag ‘em up,” Deandre said.

Alex nodded, “You’re right. Anyone got anything we can fit them into?”

Sarah eyed Pablo’s backpack.

“No chance,” he said, beating them to the punch.

Five little cages, or more accurately, animal carriers, materialized in front of Deandre. “Come on guys, we have the System Shop at our fingertips. It ain’t that hard.”

Diane looked appreciatively at him before turning back and hitting the leaping Snatcher with the pommel of her sword. “I’m sorry cutie. Into the cage you go,” she said and stepped over it, moving to the next one.

The rest of the group looked at each other.

“I’m not picking it up,” Sarah said, wrinkling her nose.

Deandre shook his head and kicked it into the carrier.

— — —

The two minions hadn’t noticed Atrono reenter the Auxiliary Room. His hands trembled as he readied his bow. The centaur took a deep, calming breath and aimed at the lizardman’s back.

The arrow flew forward, its speed imperceptible to anyone before the integration, and slammed into Yosk’s back. He lurched forward with a growl and slammed face-first into the clinic door.

Finn whirled around and growled at Atrono. For a brief moment, they locked eyes. Atrono saw the insanity swirling about the wolf’s gaze. He hastily pulled another arrow and aimed at Finn. The wolf burst into a sprint, larger and faster than ever.

Atrono’s arrow hit Finn’s chest but barely penetrated. After a few more bounds, the arrow dislodged itself, showing a minimal amount of damage.

Yosk had also recovered and stood upright, blood leaking down his back. He glared at Atrono with the same crazed look that Finn had.

“Oh dear. I’ve made a mistake,” Atrono breathed and began to run in a wide arc around the perimeter of the floor. If he could lead them far enough away from the clinic, perhaps the group of Challengers would be back in time to save the day. If there was one thing Atrono was confident in, it was his legs. Being a centaur had its benefits.

— — —

Billy stirred awake. He had fallen unconscious the moment the core cracked. The Ceaseless wolves were surrounding him in a protective circle.

“Rick? What happened?” he called out. No answer came, so he looked towards the wolves guarding him.

As one, they led him out of their area, showing him the remains of Elza and Stella. Billy quickly checked on the lizardfolk children who were all either asleep or knocked unconscious in their beds as he was. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least the children were safe.

“Who did this?” Billy asked, fearing the answer. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that both Yosk and Finn were missing.

The young pack whined and led him to the door in a run, dodging Elza’s traps.

Billy pulled it open with a shaky hand. He’d never dreamed of doing something like this. On the other side was a dark room with plants giving a purple glow. There was a large mosquito-like monster near the front, inspecting the plants. Its head snapped in Billy’s direction and he shut the door.

“Not in there,” he muttered. Billy realized that he had no idea how to work the door system and tried cracking it open one more time.

This time, it opened up to the Auxiliary Room where he immediately heard the rhythmic impact of Atrono’s hooves, followed by Yosk’s manic grunting. He then saw Finn hot on the centaur’s heels. The look in the wolf’s eyes told him that it was sick — no longer the same beast that he’d grown to love.

“Stay back,” Billy ordered the young wolves. “Don’t get too near unless completely necessary.”

The Ceaseless Wolves understood the command and took up a defensive position around the door.

Billy trotted to the two-story hobbit house as stealthily as possible and climbed to the top of the stairs, giving him a better view of the situation. He saw the damage done to the small building. There must be something in there that Finn and Yosk were after. The centaur must have distracted them. He had hoped that it wasn’t Finn who needed to be put down.

Unfortunately, he’d need to do just that in this situation. The centaur wouldn’t respawn, but for the first time — Billy had doubts about whether or not Finn would respawn either. Truthfully, he would also miss the annoying lizardman if the minions’ respawns were broken. But at the end of the day, Billy knew that if he wanted to help the dungeon, he’d need to eliminate the sickness inside.

Finn was moving too fast to get a good shot at this distance, so Billy fired off a few Protective Slugs between the wolf and the centaur. Finn slammed snout first into the barriers but didn’t whine. Instead, both he and Yosk stopped and searched for the source of the interruption.

It didn’t take long for Finn to spot him. The wolf’s eyes held no recognition of Billy. Billy’s chest stung at the sight. His first friend in this new existence wasn’t behind those eyes. Without wasting any more time, he unloaded his normal rounds at Finn.

The wolf flinched at the bullet wounds but continued to run at Billy. Yosk drew closer, albeit rather slowly.

“Fuck, what happened to you, boy?” Billy growled. The curse had weakened or killed everything else, but it seemed to make Finn stronger.

Atrono had halted his retreat and fired another arrow at Yosk, striking him in the neck. The large lizardman fell to his knees before twitching and collapsing completely.

Billy finished reloading. Finn was only two seconds from reaching the stairs. Less if he could clear them in this state. With one gun, Billy used the Protective Slugs to slow Finn’s advance. With the other, he steadily fired bullet after bullet into the wolf’s face.

Finn slowed and worked his jaw as if he had an annoying piece of hair in his mouth. An arrow slammed into his flank. He took one last step, reaching the bottom of the stairs below Billy, and collapsed. As he took his last breath, something escaped from him and drifted to Billy.

Unwittingly, the gunslinger inhaled the curse. His eyes shifted targets to a man with a horse’s body.

— — —

Penny sat patiently next to her best friend, waiting for him to wake up and fix everything. She focused on happy thoughts like bargle steak and tennis balls. Her friend felt far away, but she knew he’d find her.