“I wish we could get some news on what’s going on out there,” Rick said as he produced panels of the bulletproof glass in a neat stack at Jimmy’s feet.
“Only a matter of time until someone uses their magic abilities to create some sort of social media or broadcast,” Jimmy assured. “In the meantime, I should be able to ask Challengers what they know.”
“Speaking of which, what happens if they just attack you at the door like the last guys?”
“I’ll be ready this time. I can just use the door to pop back into the ground level. Any Challengers must go in through the first floor. And I’m limiting the number of Challengers to two until you get some more minions in there. I’ll deny entrance to anyone else until Billy and the wolf respawn.”
“Aw, my little Jimmy’s all grown up,” Rick joked.
“Don’t ever call me your ‘little Jimmy’ again.”
They both laughed and continued to work on the security booth. Rick looked at the empty dungeon room a bit sadly. It nagged at him to improve it, but the drain of his limited pool of Energy made it a slow process. Once he made 25 panels and brought his Energy all the way down to 25, he decided to rest.
“Think that’ll be enough?”
Jimmy nodded, “It’s enough for me to get started. Catch ya later,” he said and started hauling the panels through the door.
Rick started drawing up plans in his head about how to improve Billy and the wolf’s odds of surviving. The bulletproof glass gave him a few ideas. First, he wanted to stagger some barriers of the glass throughout the floor for Billy to use for cover. Of course, Challengers would also be able to utilize these so they’d need to be toward the back of the room.
Next, he imagined using the glass to build a low tunnel around the perimeter of the room for the wolf. He could add various openings for the wolf to exit depending on where the Challengers were. Although, he would paint the glass black so the Challengers couldn’t see inside. The wolf should have a better sense of smell and hearing than any humans so wouldn’t need to rely on its vision much while going through the tunnel.
Rick inspected Billy to see if he gained any new levels or skills. He had forgotten to do it earlier. It was also nice that he didn’t have to burn any Energy on it since Billy was technically a part of him and the dungeon now.
Billy did indeed rise to Level 3 but didn’t have any new skills. Instead, his Quick Reload was now Level 2.
“Hey, Billy?”
“Yes, dungeon?”
“Were you offered any new skill choices?”
Billy shook his head, “No, I was only able to upgrade one of my current skills. My reload time was still not acceptable for battle, so I chose to upgrade that one.”
“Yeah, good call. I was just curious. Let me know if you are offered a new skill, ok?”
“Yes, dungeon. I will consult your guidance if such an instance occurs.”
Rick gave the Pistol Specialist a mental thumbs up. He would have to ask Jimmy if he knew about Floor Bosses' and minions’ skill evolutions. Both he and Jimmy had received a new skill, so clearly the dungeon mobs had a stricter growth rate.
The door opened, breaking Rick’s train of thought. Expecting Jimmy, he was slightly surprised to see an older man walk through. He was wearing a bright salmon-colored polo shirt, nice slacks, and spiked golf shoes that clacked as he walked in. He was carrying a golf club with a large head like he was going to the driving range.
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Rick watched him, perplexed. If he planned on using the club as a weapon, he would have been better off with a 9-iron.
Billy and the wolf didn’t mess around either. The wolf began its sprint toward the Challenger and Billy began to jog to get in range. The golfer smirked with a tanned and wrinkled face. Calmly, he bent down and placed a golf ball on the ground then set his stance and eyes on Billy, then swung.
It was a beautiful swing. One that had clearly been perfected through decades on the course. The ball shot forward faster than a human eye could follow. Rick, being in his own domain, was able to follow it, but Billy had no chance.
The ball didn’t just smack him in the forehead as Rick expected. Instead, it exploded on impact like a rocket, completely removing Billy’s head.
“That’s not good,” Rick said, beginning to worry that this old man would ransack his shop.
The wolf closed in and the golfer knew he didn’t have time to line up another shot. With a quick backswing, much less calm and majestic than the first, he brought the club forward at the wolf. The wolf lunged, as the long club barely clipped its backside.
The impact may have sent the wolf tumbling if it hadn’t latched onto the man’s ankle. Rick could hear the bone crunch between sharp teeth. The golfer yelled in pain as the wolf shook its head, severing the limb.
His body smacked to the floor, cutting off the yell as the air left his lungs. The wolf dropped the severed foot and lunged again at the man’s throat. He managed to raise an arm to block, only to hear another crunch of bone.
Rick noticed that the golfer held another ball in his other hand. With a defiant growl, he swung it at the wolf’s head, slapping the ball on its skull. The ball exploded as before, killing both the wolf and himself.
Leaderboard Unlocked
Leaderboard
1: Chris Carpenter
Rick just stared in shock at the scene, barely registering the alert. More alerts came in as well.
“That was certainly a surprise. I’d be screwed if a bunch of golfers walked in here and decided to go after my Core.”
Jimmy peeked his head in, his jaw went slack as he took in the scene.
“Damn, I thought this woulda been an easy one. Billy’s out for thirty minutes, right?” he asked.
“One sec,” Rick said as he checked the status. “Yeah, only thirty minutes. How’d you know?”
Jimmy shrugged, “My Lore skill seems to be improving. When this guy died,” he said as he lightly kicked Chris Carpenter’s corpse, “Some more information flooded my mind. All minions are out for five minutes. All floor bosses are out for thirty. The timer doesn’t kick in until the battle is over though.”
“Good to know. I was worried it might scale with their level. That could have become a tedious pain in the ass. Anyway, how’s it going out there?”
“Nobody’s fucked with me yet if that’s what you’re asking. It’s still a warzone, unfortunately. There’s a constant stream of gunfire and explosions. Luckily, our street isn’t where the action is. Just a few strays.”
“Good, 'cause that old man nearly won and could have taken all of our shit. Plus, I don’t want anyone to find Penny and think she’s a floor boss or something. Give me a few hours before you let in any more strays.”
“Sounds good. I’ll check back in a while then,” Jimmy said as he left the dungeon to work on his security stall.
Rick absorbed the golfer’s body and started to check the rest of his alerts.
+15 Challenge Points (30)
+5 Energy (31/150)
It was a bit disappointing that the victory didn’t top off his Energy and confirmed that he needed to level up for that to happen. Rick was still pleased that he got the same amount of Challenge Points from one person as he did with the first three combined.
New Skill Added to Registry: Bomb Shot (Level 4) - Infuse a ball with explosive energy. Explodes upon impact with the intended target.
Rick dreamed of having a line of minions with this skill smacking hundreds of exploding golf balls at any would-be Challengers. Although, if the Challengers had the Parry Projectile skill, the battle could certainly turn in an instant.
Unfortunately, Rick also knew that Billy couldn’t use the skill. The description clearly indicated that it must be a ball and he highly doubted that the conjured bullets could be infused in such a way. Once Billy was back, he would ask him if there was a way to improve the destructive capabilities of his bullets.
He noticed that even though Chris Carpenter had been absorbed, the silly clothes, golf club, a couple of sleeves of golfballs, and some jewelry had been left unabsorbed on the ground. Jimmy would have to collect it when he checked back in. Rick’s trained eye could tell that the jewelry left behind wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t really impressive either, and decided to add it to the reward for whoever survived against Billy and the wolf.
Rick had no intentions of letting that happen, but it was a good carrot to dangle.