When I left my tent, I took a moment to enjoy the day’s fading sunlight. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, taking comfort in the reassuring warmth it provided. The horrors of the previous night, and the ones that were sure to come again soon, didn’t seem as bad when standing under the life-giving gaze of the sun. The magical light the dungeon provided was amazing, but it just couldn’t compete.

Regretfully opening my eyes and ending the moment of peace, I made my way towards the tents being used by Anita’s team. Maybe I should say ‘my team’, I thought. I’m a part of it now. I was surprised at the changes that had occurred in the last several hours. When I’d brought Mum up to see her off, there had been a lot of activity going on, but I hadn’t paid much attention. Now, I took in what had been accomplished in such a short amount of time.

The most eye catching was a barrier that had been erected up along the edge of the carpark. A series of white fabric screens had been connected and anchored into the ground, blocking off the entire carpark and extending even further towards the forest on both sides. They were a few meters high, so I couldn’t see anything on the other side. No more issues with camera crews, I thought approvingly. The faint sounds of cars going by on the main road were still clear, and I found the familiar noise oddly comforting.

The decontamination team were now setup on this side of the barrier, allowing for more privacy for those who had to go through the process. I was actually looking forward to being subjected to whatever they did to you in there, since that would mean I could leave here. Soon. Hopefully, that wasn’t just wishful thinking.

There were several large spotlights pointed towards the forest, hooked up to their own generator but not on at the moment. They were placed well outside the dampening effect of the dungeon and should be a big help tonight at keeping an eye on the woods.

I also noticed an increased security presence, just as Anita had promised. There was a 5-person squad guarding the entrance in the new dividing barrier, and another unit walking up and down the edge of the forest. Both groups were decked out in full riot gear, shields and helmets on for the officers patrolling and close at hand for the ones on guard duty.

When I walked into the tent being used as a dining hall and rest area, figuring it was the best place to find someone who knew where Anita was, I was surprised to see another squad also dressed in full gear. Mainly because I recognized them. It was Tully’s unit! The same people who had fought the Void puppets just the night before. They were lounging around, taking it easy and chatting with each other. When they saw me, they jumped up and rushed over, greeting me enthusiastically and slapping me on the back.

A little off balance by their presence and reaction, I blurted out, “What are you doing here?!”

“Good to see you too, Dean,” Tully replied with a small smile. With her helmet off and nothing to distract me, I got my first good look at her. Short cropped, graying hair made me think my initial assessment of her being in her forties might have been off. Maybe somewhere in her fifties. Her rugged, lined face also supported my revised guess, but it definitely didn’t show in her body or expression. She stood tall and strong, and her piercing gray eyes radiated a certain intensity even as she looked at me with genuine happiness at meeting again.

“Sorry,” I said, smiling back. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Or ever again, to be honest. How are you feeling?” I addressed the two injured officers I’d healed after the fight.

“Amazing!” “Fantastic!” They both said at the same time, and we all laughed. “After a bit of rest, I woke up feeling better than I have in a long time,” the woman said. I used Analyze to get her name. Kerrin. The man, Hamish, agreed. “Even some of my old training injuries aren’t bothering me as much. I’m glad we got this chance to meet you again. Everything was so crazy last night, I didn’t get a chance to really thank you for what you did for us.” I was put through some more back slapping and good-natured jostling as they all expressed their appreciation for my help in the fight and after.

Tully let it go on for a while before she put an end to the chit chat. “That’s enough. To answer your question, Ms. Anders requested our presence. Told us some stuff was going to go down this afternoon and she could use our help. When I put it to this lot, they jumped at the chance. I recommended we all take some more time to come to terms with last night’s events and to recover, but they badgered me until I gave in.” The way she shook her head gave me the impression she thought they were crazy. I had to agree. After what they’d seen and been through, why would they willingly come back for more?

Kerrin seemed to notice my disbelief, or maybe she was just responding to Tully’s unspoken disapproval. She spoke up, sounding a little desperate to make us understand. “As weird and scary as last night was, we actually did something! Not just training, not just patrolling. We actually made a difference here.” Hearing my own sentiments reflected back to me, I found myself nodding at her in understanding. I knew exactly what she was talking about. The feeling of doing something worthwhile made the bad things bearable. “Besides, thanks to you, we don’t need any time to recover. We’re good to go.”

“Physically, sure,” I said. “But I still think you’re crazy to willingly come back here.” I smiled slightly to take the sting out of the words, and followed up with, “But I’m glad you’re here. Having some people around who know what’s going on makes me feel better.”

“What is going on?” Tully asked intently. “Why did Ms. Anders want us back here so soon?”

I thought about how much I should tell them. I wasn’t sure what Anita had said to them, so I kept it vague for now. “You know those freaky animals you fought last night? Well, there’s going to be more of them. Maybe a lot more. And probably some other crazy animals.” I spread my arms wide. “I’m not too sure to be honest, and with any luck you won’t need to do anything. I need to talk to Ms. Anders about it all, actually. Do you know where she is?”

Not looking happy at what I’d said and seeming distracted as she mulled it over, Tully absently replied, “Probably in one of the other tents. She said she was going to be checking on the scientists’ work.”

“Cheers.” I noticed that most of her unit didn’t look worried after hearing what I’d told them. They seemed more determined than anything. It was a reassuring sight. Taking my leave, I soon found Anita talking to a few people in a tent full of monitors. She excused herself when she saw me and came over. On the way, she tapped the shoulders of a couple of people watching the screens. When they got up and joined her, I was surprised to see it was Brad and Steve. A lot of familiar faces. I wonder why that is? Didn’t she say she was getting federal police to help out?

I greeted them warmly, shaking their hands and giving them a big smile. “What are you guys doing here?”

They looked at Anita, who answered for them. “I requested their presence on the team. You’ll be seeing a lot more of them. Along with helping coordinate with the police department and temporarily organizing security around here, they are also in charge of watching over you when you’re not on site.”

It took a second for that to register. “What’s that?” I said, not sure I heard her correctly.

“You are a valuable asset that needs protecting. That is now one of their jobs,” she stated. “I thought you’d prefer if it were people you were already familiar with.”

“Hang on! We agreed I wouldn’t be on the frontlines, but you never said anything about having babysitters!”

“Who are you calling a babysitter?!” Steve said indignantly. “The term is bodyguard.” He emphasized the last word and pushed his hand forward slowly for dramatic effect.

“Call it what you want. I don’t want anyone watching over me, and there’s also no need.” I understood where Anita was coming from, but I didn’t want to be followed around everywhere. Besides, once we got this situation under control, I was intending on taking a well-earned night off. My big plans consisted of sleep, and then more sleep. There was no point in these two hanging around my house. There was nothing dangerous there.

Before she could protest, I held my hand up to forestall her. “Later. I’m about to put in the last bit of energy to finish the room. Then I’ll open it up, and we can expect trouble anytime after that. I’m not sure how long it will take for the wildlife to react to the dungeon room’s pull. Or for the Void puppets to put in an appearance.” Cax had told me that the dungeon’s reach would be quite far considering the size of the room, but he wasn’t familiar enough with Earth’s regular wildlife or the Void creatures to be able to say when they would notice the effect. Considering how long it had taken the carpet snake to turn up, we figured we’d have a fair bit of time to get ready.

She nodded and let the other matter drop. “Excellent. Like I said, I consulted with Officer Saunders here on the security situation. Since he is intimately familiar with some of the threats we’ll be facing, I thought he would be the best candidate for the job until we can bring in someone else. He has also watched the confiscated footage of last night’s encounter, and spoken with the leader of that unit, so he’s up to speed on the newest dangers.”

Brad took over, all business. “I’ll let you know what we have planned. The squad that assisted you last night, led by Senior Sergeant Tully, will be in the same position to head off any threats that make their way for the entrance that we’ll be using into the dungeon. I know the plan is for the animals to enter through the entrance you’ll create in the forest, but it’s best to be safe. Especially considering the unusual way the Void possessed I saw on the video acted.

The squad that is currently patrolling the forest’s edge will pull back and wait in reserve, ready to assist the first squad if needed. The final unit will remain where they are on the entrance to the park in order to make sure there are no further incidents with the media gaining entry. If the situation gets completely out of hand, they will also be called in to assist. Those two units are both made up of federal officers called in by Ms. Anders. She assures me that they can be trusted with sensitive information.”

“I know it’s not much, but it was the best I could do on short notice,” she said. “I’m still working on getting more support.”

“Finally,” Brad continued, “Steve and I will be down in the dungeon with you.” Before I even had a chance to object, he said firmly, “Yes, our main objective will be making sure no harm comes to you, but I also want to get a feel for what these defenders you can make are capable of. And if the Void creatures turn up again, seeing what they can do firsthand will be invaluable for planning future operations.”

I stared at him wordlessly, mouth open in surprise. “Ahh, don’t take this the wrong way, but I thought you were just a cop?”

Steve laughed while Brad grinned. “Be careful who you say ‘just a cop’ to. But I get what you mean. I did a stint with a tactical unit when I was younger. Some skills stick with you, I guess.”

“It’s very fortunate, actually,” Anita said. “The fewer people we need to bring in on the details of what is going on here, the better chance we have of keeping a lid on all this. I’m not entirely comfortable with the federal officers being involved, but it can’t be helped. We need the support.” So that’s why she requested Tully’s squad come back! I realized. Not just because they have experience with the Void puppets, but because it means she doesn’t need to tell more people the specifics of what is happening. I had my doubts about how long all of this could be kept under wraps, but I couldn’t fault her logic.

“Any problems with what you’ve heard?” Brad asked.

“No,” I said after thinking it over. “I’m no expert on this kind of thing, so I’ll trust you with the squad placements. As for the dungeon.” I stared at Brad and Steve and pointed my finger at each of them. “Don’t fight anything and definitely don’t kill anything! I need my defenders to do that so I can get the energy off the animals. Without it, I won’t be able to get any stronger.”

“No worries,” Steve said casually. “Unless something’s about to rip your head off, they’re all yours.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said uncertainly, letting my finger drop. He just smiled slightly in response. With the matter sorted, I gestured at the monitors in the room. “What’s with all this?” At Anita’s nod, Brad explained.

“We’ve set up as many cameras as we could around the perimeter of the forest in the areas we can easily get to, so we’ll know if anything leaves. We have two squads of regular officers ready to respond. One is patrolling along the footpath that runs next to the road and the wall, and another squad is on the opposite side to watch over the houses on the forest’s edge over there. If we see anything attempting to exit the woods, we’ll call in the location from here and the officers will be able to respond swiftly to contain the threat. We’re expecting all the action to occur right here, though, so with any luck they won’t need to do anything.

Also, just so you know, we placed the void blockers you provided inside the tree line facing the suburbs in order to protect the people living over there. The risk to them is much higher than to any passing motorists going along the road. We have some people working out how many more are needed for full coverage. I’m sure they’ll let you know later.”

I was impressed! They hadn’t had much time, but they’d managed to get a full-on operation up and running. Maybe they would be able to keep all this secret after all. I’m sure the presence of heavily geared squads patrolling the forest’s edge would raise many questions, but if the government was good at one thing, it was spinning events to suit their narrative. I was really curious to find out what the news reports were saying, but there was no time for that now.

“Ok then. I’m going to head down and finish the room, and then get it set up.” I took a deep breath to try and calm my suddenly racing heart and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. This was it. The first major step in our plan to combat the Void was about to be completed. I wasn’t sure I was ready for what might come, though.

Steve put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it tightly, looking into my eyes. “We’ll be there to back you up. Don’t worry.” I nodded at him gratefully. Smiling, he added, “And if things go to shit, you look like you can run faster than Brad. You and I will be fine.”

I laughed at that, some of my tension melting away. Brad cuffed the back of Steve’s head. “I’ll grab you by the ankles and pull you down the stairs if you try and leave me behind.” Looking at me, he said, “We’ll get everything in place up here and then join you.”

Acknowledging Anita’s words of support with an absent wave of my hand, mind full of anxious thoughts, I left the command tent and made my way back down into the dungeon room. Resuming the construction, I sent in the last bit of mana required to complete the room.

The huge amounts of mana that had collected in the room’s outline activated and began the process of clearing the dirt and other matter that resided within its boundaries. It took longer than my other two rooms had for all the material to be pulled in and compacted, creating the magically reinforced walls, floor, and ceiling. At last, with a final pulse of energy, the room’s magic was initiated, and it was done.

You have successfully constructed a dungeon room.

You have gained 100 experience.

This is the maximum amount of experience you may gain from constructing a room.

Your [Park] dungeon now consists of two rooms.

100xp?! I was overjoyed at the huge windfall and forgot my worries for a moment. We’d been counting on getting enough for me to level up again, but that was more than I’d expected. Sure, considering the amount of time it had taken to make the room, it wasn’t an efficient way to get xp. But it was safe! Apart from the animals and Void creatures attracted by the pull of the prep room I’d used. Hmm. Actually, not that safe at all.

Cax didn’t share my excitement. Instead, he seemed thoughtful. Apparently, he’d been expecting even more xp. “The amount of experience being capped is unusual. I can’t see why. It could be a result of making the room via a profession, or perhaps because this room was aiding you by contributing some of its energy to the construction. Or maybe you are unable to handle higher amounts of experience at your level.” I left him to his musings. I had nothing to add to the discussion, and there was more work to be done.

I could feel the large room now, waiting on the other side of this small space I’d spent the better part of the last day in. The floor was set lower than the room I was standing in, so I needed to work out a way for us to get in there. The first part of that was getting rid of this prep room, just like the original plan called for. Not only was it in the way, but it was also counting towards my room limit. I absorbed my cot, and then the five defenders that had shared the room with me. Again, I felt a little bad at snuffing them out so casually, but it had to be done. With the room completely bare, I went up the stairs and stood in the tent at the top of the staircase.

Cax had instructed me on what to do during the long night, but I was a little apprehensive about actually trying it. Rubbing my hands together vigorously to psyche myself up, I let the awareness of my prep room fill my mind, and then willed it to collapse.

You are attempting to dismantle one of your dungeon rooms.

Your connection to the room will be severed and the magic sustaining it will end, returning the materials used in its construction to their base form.

As the room lies within the influence of your dungeon, there will be no instability in the surrounding ground.

Do you wish to proceed?

I let out the breath I’d unconsciously been holding and confirmed the destruction of the room. Cax had assured me there wouldn’t be any problems, but I’d still worried about inadvertently causing the ground to collapse. As my connection was cut and the magic holding the room together dissipated, slight tremors and the sound of the dirt rushing back in to fill the empty space were thankfully the only repercussions of demolishing the room. I could see a pile of dirt filling up the bottom of the staircase, spilling out from where the entrance had been.

“What the hell was that?” I jumped a little as Brad asked his startled question from just behind me. I really need to start using my Domain spell, I thought, heart beating quickly. I turned around to see him and Steve standing there, looking at me questioningly. They were now dressed in riot gear, too, and looked imposing. I explained what I’d done, and what I was going to do next to the staircase just so they didn’t get worried. “Also, love the look,” I told them, mostly seriously as I gestured up and down at their protective equipment. “Looking very professional.”

“Right! How good is this?!” Steve exclaimed, ruining the tough image with his obvious excitement. He thumped his gloved hand against the protective chest piece he was wearing. “I mean, it’s not comfortable at all, but how cool do I look?! You should get some for yourself.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Brad said, taking the suggestion seriously. “We might be able to find some for you if you want?”

“No, thanks. I’ve got that covered.” Part of the plans I’d made with Cax throughout the night included a way to protect myself. “In fact, I might even be able to hook you guys up with something better.” After seeing how easily the monitor lizard had gotten through Hamish’s gear, I wasn’t putting too much faith in our regular items against the Void’s minions.

I turned back to the task at hand. Time for the staircase. I repeated the process to get rid of the existing one, and soon I was looking at freshly turned dirt at my feet. The only evidence that something had been there was the hole cut in the tent’s floor. I wanted to keep the entrance in the same place, but to do that, I needed to redesign the staircase to account for the new room’s deeper floor. It was easier to get rid of the old one and start from scratch.

With the help of my interface, I set up a switchback staircase that led down to the closest corner of the room. Cax had explained that I was free to set up the entrance in almost any way I wanted. The only real restriction was that it had to remain within the dungeon’s influence. That was now 19 meters from the room’s walls, so I had a fair amount of space to work with. Still, I kept it simple, only having two flights of stairs. I made sure it was wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably, with sufficient space on the landing so they wouldn’t have to twist around each other. This was going to be here for a long time, so I wanted something nice, not just functional.

Getting an easy 15xp for my work, I led Brad and Steve down the newly created stairs, the magical light emanating from the smooth stone showing us the way. At the bottom, I created a 2-meter high and 2-meter wide opening in the dungeon wall, enjoying the officer’s awed comments as the stone flowed like water and was drawn into the surrounding walls.

I entered with them close on my heels and took in the sight of what had taken me so long to create. The lighting and coloring were by now familiar sights, so it was the size that really impressed me. The far wall was 15 meters in front of me, and as my gaze travelled up it, I could easily picture the tree line that likely stood almost directly above the wall on the surface.

Off to my left, the room stretched down for twenty meters, with a fair portion of the park now supported by the dungeon’s strengthening effect. I craned my neck back to get a full appreciation of the high ceiling. It would be out of reach even if I held my staff up and extended it as far as I could. There’s a lot of room in here to move, I thought appreciatively. One thing I’d regretted about the size of the prep room was the fact I couldn’t practice with my weapon in there. There hadn’t been enough room to swing my staff, so I hadn’t been able to spend all that free time training. That definitely wouldn’t be an issue in here.

“What’s the plan?” Brad asked, breaking me out of my inspection. Cax and I had discussed this as well, so I was able to answer immediately.

“I’m going to put the forest entrance down in that corner,” I said, gesturing down at the far-left side. “I’ll stretch it as deep into the forest as I can to help the dungeon’s pull reach as many animals as possible. I’ll do that first so it has time to begin working, and then I’ll make some defenders and set the room up as much as possible while we wait for a response.” I’d argued with Cax about that, wanting to have my defenders in place before opening up the other entrance. He’d reminded me that with a way in already open on our side, the animals would simply try to access the dungeon through that. Rather than draw them into our camp, it was best to have the other entrance open straight away.

“You sure it’s a good idea to open it up first?” Steve asked. “Shouldn’t you get the defenses sorted first?”

“It’s already open,” I said, gesturing at the doorway behind us. No need to mention that Cax had to point that out to me, I thought. If they think I’m more capable than I actually am, it will be easier to make them give up on this bodyguard idea.

“Good point,” he replied. “Get to it, then.”

I walked towards the far corner, accessing my interface as I went and preparing the design I wanted to use. I was going to make a long tunnel this time without any stairs. With Tim in mind, it was going to be high enough for a person to walk through, but I was going to keep it fairly narrow. I didn’t want to make it so wide that multiple creatures could enter at the same time, but it still needed to allow the passage of some of the larger animals that might be out there.

Happy with my design, I pushed the outline through the solid walls and lined it up using the special view window. I stretched the tunnel under the forest’s surface, stopping it 18 meters away so it would open up just inside the limit of the dungeon’s influence. It had a soft incline to it thanks to the distance, so it should be easy enough to navigate that the creatures drawn in wouldn’t feel the need to explore the other entrance.

Once the magic finished pulling the earth into the outline and compressing it, the tunnel was done. I retracted the wall to match the tunnel’s opening. My dungeon now had an access point within the forest. It wasn’t within the area containing the Void’s influence, but I still could have sworn I felt an ominous presence traveling down the new pathway into my room. “Don’t be stupid,” I muttered to myself. “It’s just your imagination.” With the way open, though, I did feel the pressure to finish preparing. The clock was ticking.

Leaving Steve and Brad to their own devices, I turned my attention to the next part of our plan. This was where the experience points from the construction were needed. I looked at my current xp total. 145/55. I didn’t hesitate and leveled up immediately, riding out the sensation of my body being changed. Not only would the extra level give me more health and mana, it would also improve my physical attributes, giving me a little more of an edge. But most importantly in this given moment, it would let me create higher-level, stronger defenders, while also giving me the capability to make a total of ten.

I couldn’t help wincing when I saw the requirements for my next level had increased to 75xp. I currently had 90xp left over, so I could level again if I wanted to. We had other plans for that energy, though. “Any surprises?” I asked Cax, seeing a couple of notifications had appeared. I walked around, swinging my arms to try and adjust to my physical changes. My shirt now felt like it was going to rip when I moved, and my jeans were uncomfortably tight. If Cax was right, the outward changes from leveling should stop fairly soon and be focused internally. As much as I liked gaining additional muscle mass and definition with no work, the impressive physique I had now was more than enough.

Cax summarized the information from the notifications while I got used to the changes my body had undergone. “One is a note congratulating you on reaching level 5. It’s considered something of a milestone among adventurers, since it’s the point where everyone must choose a class in order to continue progressing. You already have yours, so it’s not exactly relevant. The other one is as expected, reminding you that you may now unlock a new profession thanks to the assistance of your class.”

A new profession. Even though I’d known it was coming, the information still excited me. Access to a whole new range of items I could magically create. A shiver of anticipation ran through me. That was the second reason for leveling up now. After I’d given up on my idea of making spell scrolls, I’d asked for Cax’s advice during our abundant downtime on which profession I should choose. He’d suggested Armorsmith, pointing out that I didn’t really have any suitable protection against attacks. I’d actually been considering requesting some of the riot gear the officers had, but after seeing how easily the Void creatures had penetrated it, I’d changed my mind. That made Cax’s suggestion even more appealing. The other option I’d been leaning towards was Alchemy. If I could make health potions and hand them around, I wouldn’t need to worry so much about other people getting hurt.

Basically, it had come down to preventing people from being injured or helping them after they got hurt. Cax had pointed out that I could fill the role of a potion if required, but we had nothing that could protect them from the Void’s creatures. I’d finally agreed that prevention should be the priority. Once I got the room’s defenses set up, I’d learn Armorsmith and make some gear for myself first, and the others if there was still time. We’d agreed to leave that for last just in case we ran out of time. I was planning on hiding behind my defenders, so it was a low priority on the list of things to get done.

I got to work on making my defenders once I felt comfortable in my own skin again. I started off by creating four level-5 skeletons. Each one cost 50mp. With the dungeon boosting my regeneration, that meant I could recover the cost of making a single skeleton in seven and a half minutes. The time waiting for my center to refill with energy was nerve-wracking. I kept expecting to hear stampeding feet coming down the tunnel, worried I wouldn’t be prepared before they showed up.

As each skeleton finished forming, I gave them orders and positioned them. I set three in front of the forest entrance and one at our camp entrance in case any animals were drawn in from the healthy side of the forest like the carpet snake had been. Their orders were to attack any animals and any Void puppet humans that entered, while protecting regular humans. I was hoping their upgraded intelligence from evolving Defenders at Rank 2 would help them know the difference. Since they didn’t immediately attack Brad and Steve, I was fairly confident it was a success.

Once the skeletons were done and in position, I created two rockaunchers, a monitor lizard, and a carpet snake, and then gave them the same orders. That brought the total number of defenders in the room up to eight. I could support two more now that I was level 5, but Cax had convinced me to save them for later. Depending on how the defenders we had now performed, he reasoned that we might need to quickly make something different to counter a specific enemy. I took a moment to look around and saw only Steve.

“Where’s Brad?” I asked, unsure when he’d left. I’d been so focused on what I was doing, I hadn’t noticed his departure. I really needed to get better at paying attention to my surroundings.

“He went up top to check on everything,” Steve replied, swinging his baton around probably out of a combination of boredom and wanting to stay loose. “Last time he went up, there was still no sign of any movement.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. Creating the level-5 defenders had taken a lot of mana, which meant it had taken a lot of time. The room had been open for about an hour now. We should have at least seen some healthy animals entering from the camp side. Either they hadn’t felt the dungeon’s pull yet, which was entirely possible, or they sensed something that kept them away. Something that could override the allure of power the dungeon promised. The Void. But if the Void’s minions were close enough for the animals to sense, why hadn’t they made their presence known to us?

Focus! I chided myself. You’re wasting time worrying about things out of your control. Use the time to get shit done. With the defenders ready, it was time for the next step. Preparing the room. Using the Miscellaneous section of my dungeon profession, I started to create a low line of rough gray stone at the base of all the walls, just slightly higher than ankle level. The entire bottom edge of the room was soon covered in stone, with only the entrances clear. The large amount of stone was growing directly out of the dungeon itself in order to anchor it, and it was supported by the dungeon’s mana, meaning the cost to myself was relatively low to set it up.

When it was done forming, I ordered one of the rockaunchers to set itself on the wall directly opposite the forest entrance, and the other one to the side of the entrance, back a couple of meters. They would be able to shoot themselves at any targets that came in, and just have to make their way to the nearest wall in order to get set again for another attack. I didn’t bother watching them as they made their slow way across the floor to get in position.

Opening the Traps section of my profession, I quickly found the one I’d decided on earlier when I’d spent time looking through all my options. My choices were limited until I got Traps to a higher rank, so I wasn’t able to make anything fancy. The one I’d chosen was a simple pit, 1 meter by 1 meter, that had spikes at the bottom. The main reason I’d gone with the pit trap was because I was able to make the spikes out of stone. If one of my rockaunchers fell in, they’d be able to anchor against one of the spikes, shoot themselves back out, and rejoin the fight.

I wanted to set the pit just in front of the forest entrance. I was hoping it would take care of a lot of the infected before they even had a chance to see me at the other end of the room. The outline of the trap stopped after descending only two meters, leaving me disappointed with its relative shallowness. Confirming the placement, I watched in fascination as the stone of the floor melted away just like when I made an entrance in the wall, but this time heading straight down. The liquid stone almost seemed to be eroding the floor at high speeds as it pushed down, until the outline of the hole was made. At that stage, the walls and floor of the pit hardened to match the rest of the dungeon’s surfaces, and out of the bottom, stone spikes flowed upwards, forming into sharp points before they too became solid.

“Very cool.” Steve echoed my unspoken sentiment, having come over to see what was going on. I ordered the 3-meter long carpet snake down into the bottom of the pit. It would take care of anything the spikes didn’t finish off. With a mental command finalizing the trap, the last part of it formed. A thin layer of stone grew out of the surrounding floor to cover the top of the pit. I could sense that it was extremely fragile, designed to break when stepped on. It blended into the floor well, with only a faint outline visible. If someone were alert and looking for hidden dangers, they would likely spot it. With crazed animals, the first they’d know about it was when they felt the spikes at the bottom pierce their bodies.

At Rank 1 in Traps, I could only have one in each room. As far as I was concerned, that wasn’t such a bad thing. In the middle of a fight, I could definitely see myself losing focus and falling victim to my own traps. That was another reason I set this one right in front of the entrance. It was easy to keep track of there. Some people might say it wasn’t very sporting to hit your enemy as soon as they entered the room, but stuff that. If you were going to hit them anyway, why did it matter when?

I arranged one skeleton in front of the trap, another to the side of it, and the third one at the corner. If anything got over, they could try and push it back in. The monitor was left free to roam. Its speed was greater than the skeletons, but I wasn’t sure how durable its flesh would be against the Void creatures. I had a mix of defenders in order to help counter the unknown. After seeing how well each one fared, I could make adjustments in the future.

With the room set up as well as I could manage, that part of the plan was done. Now for the final step. Making armor for myself, then weapons for everyone, and finally armor for the others to replace their riot gear. The officers’ batons could get the job done against the basic infected, but they hadn’t exactly been effective against the Void puppets. The same for their protective clothing. I wasn’t sure how much of that I could get done before it came time to fight, but I’d do as much as possible.

The piercing shriek that echoed down the tunnel made me whip my head around to stare intently at the entrance leading to the forest, dismissing the confirmation screen for my new profession before I had a chance to unlock it. There goes that idea, I thought, pulse racing. It looked like I’d run out of time to get ready. Everyone would have to make do with what they had. The Void’s minions had arrived.