Countdown until level collapse: 1 days 06 hours 12 minutes

The next Neighbourhood Boss went down as easily as the last one, a sure sign that they either weren’t behind the curve thanks to the head start they got from the kruthik swarm on the first floor, or the frankly ludicrous amount of vespas they were forced to grind levelled them up faster than Borant anticipated.

At least there had been some variation this time, in the form of vines that greeted them halfway through the long tunnel that connected the two boroughs. The vines were as thick as an arm, forking off until they were as thin as a pinkie. They were covered in translucent white hairs that glistened in the light. Touching the hairs caused two effects, Drowsy and Slow Paralysis. The first one was spammed heavily by the flora, the latter unlikely to succeed until the sleeping target was restrained by the slow and blindly grasping vines.

And the biggest distinction from previous mobs, they were one huge Neighbourhood Boss mob. The vines didn’t have a health bar, nor a description. Just long, straight vines like exposed electrical cables that led you right to the Neighbourhood Boss room. Which was nice, it usually took about an hour to find the room in the maze of narrow tunnels even when it was neatly in the centre of the Neighbourhood. Only a few Neighbourhood Bosses were nice enough to be near the main halls, and those side tunnels could fork off into truly nightmarish mazes.

Instead of combat vines, there were Zarakian Corpse Flowers. They bloomed wherever a mob was being consumed, a yellow flower that looked like the bastard born from a lotus and a pineapple head on a long tulip-like stem. Darryl found out the hard way that they, completely in accordance with the theme and not weird at all, attacked anyone that got near by releasing electricity. He got an achievement for it called 'Shocking!', but no loot box.

The plants were easy to deal with. Everyone wore shoes after Darryl put his surface sneakers back on instead of sticking to the open sandals, so the vines couldn’t do squat to them. They might’ve been more dangerous if they could hang from above and fall down, but the walls had no cracks to hang on to. Instead the whole Neighbourhood was one big game of The Floor is Lava, and shoes negated the ordeal.

The place was kind of nice, finally giving them something that wasn’t vespa. There were still some vespa around, but they didn’t attack the plant and instead got tangled up themselves.

That, combined with a super-special big brain tactic called ‘walking around the corpse flowers that electrify you’, turned the place into an easy run. They followed the thickest vines to their Neighbourhood Boss, which turned out to be a massive, imposing and literally rooted in place Rafflessia flower.

So, certain that this thing wasn’t going to come out of the boss room, Ben just looked at it from outside and then took potshots once his buffs kicked in. They went in when the Boss was pretty much dead, and walked out of there not thirty seconds later. Most of which had been spent listening to the AI hyping up this definitely intimidating mob that wasn’t just one hit away from dying.

Unfortunately, this place had no Staircases either. They discussed going for another one, but eventually decided to head back earlier than expected. There was a good chance that escorting the camp was going to be entirely up to them, so they would need the extra hours.

­­­___ ___ ___

Countdown until level collapse: 0 days 21 hours 59 minutes

When they got back to the Safe Zone, Lena looked like a new woman while Jude appeared to be feeling… less awful. Taking care of a bunch of children seemed to give Jude something to do, keeping her too busy to mourn and lament, and overworked or not it seemed to work for her. Meanwhile Lena got a good night’s rest for the first time in days, perhaps even months considering she had a baby before descending the dungeon.

Jeremy had been grinding just outside the Safe Zone for a couple of days now. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work. Also boring, which meant that he was still using his wife’s Bronze Weapon Box cricket bat and torches, because the dungeon wasn’t rewarding him with anything useful for this cowardly way of grinding. His only good item was a hand-guard that could be put on blades for better protection, a troll item to rub it in that he lost his own Bronze Weapon Box’s machete when he blocked acid.

Still, he was already level 7 with some decent skill levels to work with. His participation wasn’t going to be a game-changer, but he’d make a useful addition to the escort party.

The group had their last long rest of this floor, while Lena and Jude set out to make sure that all the children would go to sleep and be ready when it was time to go.

Two Neighbourhoods to the north, the larger group should be doing the same.

___ ___ ___

Countdown until level collapse: 0 days 12 hours 43 minutes

“Alright children, now be quiet and stick to the group.” Lena said. “No causing trouble for our silver friends, okay?”

“If they couldn’t be quiet before, why would they shut up now?” A very annoyed and haughty voice shouted after her as she closed the door.

“Sup.” Small said, nodding to Lena as she emerged.

“Oh, who is your new friend?” Lena asked politely.

“You can call me Ron, my usual name doesn’t make much sense without Fred here.” Small said. “I’m just here to give the party a present from Corey.”

“The player-killer? Oh my…” Lena cautiously said.

“Nah, no more of that.” Small said. “Not without the ring.”

“Sma- Ron here came to give us the Neighbourhood Map.” Ben said. “It means that we can drop you off even closer to the Borough Boss room. There’s unfortunately no Tutorial Guild near the closest Safe Zone, so we’re in for quite a walk.”

“Well, I suppose we’ll have to cope, won’t we?” Lena said, grabbing Barry's hand so that the traumatised child would follow her. If no one cared for him, he might just sit in the corner and stare at his feet until the floor collapsed.

“Children, we’re going to be walking for a while, so no running yourself out. No one will carry you when your feet start to hurt.”

___ ___ ___

Countdown until level collapse: 0 days 9 hours 39 minutes

“You sure this will work?” Ben asked.

“Not at all.” Thomas said. “But if it doesn’t, he still has one Naughty left before the AI tries to kill him. We would have time to come up with a new solution.”

“And you’re fine with the risk of losing your weapon?” Ben asked.

“Those chains are decent, but I’ve since got these bad boys from a Gold Weapon Box.” Corey said, stroking his brass knuckles. “If the chains break, then that’s too bad but it won’t be the second end of the world.”

“And you, you’re still fine with this?” Ben said. “If you’re not certain…”

Darryl wriggled again, trying to find any leeway or some way that he could squeeze out. He found none. Even the tiny rapier they were using as a makeshift lock was stuck between the two ends of the chain. “Let’s do this.”

“You know what to do, right?” Ben fretted. “The moment you’re yourself again, PM us.”

Darryl nodded to Elise, and she took out the Rage Elemental mask. Darryl steeled himself as the rest walked out of the room, and then there was only rage.

There was a redhead. Sexy, strong, and so infuriatingly annoying. He wanted to tear her throat out, but his arms wouldn't move and she walked away before he could figure out how to grab her.

Door closed. Darkness. Anger. Darkness receding. Anger at vague blurs he saw. Anger at door.

Legs tied. Had to roll to door. Ram it. Door won’t budge. Anger.

Good arm tied. Couldn’t punch door good. Anger.

Bad arm bleeding. Ignored. Bad arm slaps against door. Won’t budge. Anger.

Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger.

Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger.

Headbutt door with head. Won’t budge. Anger.

Tied up. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger. Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger.

Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger.

Tied up. Annoyed. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Bad. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger. Tied up. Can’t move. Annoyed. Strain. Won’t break. Annoyed. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Annoyed.

Hear sound? No. Just breathing. Annoying. Lie here. No annoying. Lying good. Lying no anger. Anger annoying. Strain, chains don’t break. Annoying. Annoying bad, don’t do. Wait.

Wait.

Waiting…

Mask bad. Annoying. Take off.

Bad arm can move good. Good arm.

Arm punch door! Doesn’t budge. Anger!

Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Tied up. Can’t move. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Anger. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger.

Tied up. Annoyed. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Strain. Won’t break. Anger. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Bad. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Anger. Tied up. Can’t move. Annoyed. Strain. Won’t break. Annoyed. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Punch chains. Fist hurts. Ignore. Wriggle. No give. Annoyed. Stretch muscles. Won’t break. Annoyed.

Lie here. No annoying. Lying good. Lying no anger. Anger annoying. Strain, chains don’t break. Annoying. Annoying bad, don’t do. Wait.

Wait.

Waiting…

Good arm can move. Take off mask. Mask bad.

Mask stuck good. Anger.

Anger pulls harder! Mask stuck good! Anger!

Mask comes loose! Victory! Oh so good. Like how imagine tearing out redhead throat but better!

Mask torn off! Now smash!

Now sleepy… Now sad… No anger.

Countdown until level collapse: 0 days 5 hours 35 minutes

Darryl: Guys, you can come untie me now.