Part Fourteen

“So borrrrrred!”

“Stop complaining! You’re ruining my mood and making me want to gripe.”

“But we’re just sitting here. I’d rather be doing anything else than being on watch duty.”

After we’d repelled the monsters earlier, we’d assigned several people to watch duties alongside the soldiers. Me and Alicia had unfortunately gotten the night shift, meaning that we were stuck here until dawn. There were few distractions inside the Dungeon, making me incredibly bored.

“If you keep complaining, everyone’s going to get tired of you.”

“It’s the waiting around that’s bothering me. I’m used to being able to fight monsters whenever I wanted to, so having to wait for the monsters to show up is aggravating beyond belief.”

“Personally, I like that we get a little time to rest. We’re usually fighting against monsters every hour, so not having to worry about being attacked at any time is a major relief.”

“Eh, that is a relief, but it does nothing to alleviate my battle lust. Though the fact that an army of monsters could show up at any moment is more than enough tension for me.”

“Wait a minute, than why were you complaining!?”

“Because I couldn’t stand the quiet any longer. It’s far too eerie. Normally there’d be some animal life making noise in the forest, but I can’t hear a thing.”

“Does that mean you’re used to forests? You don’t strike me as the outdoors type.”

“Exactly. But my sister is. She would drag me out for walks in the woods all the time. She absolutely loved nature. She’d even go to state parks on the weekends.”

“Ah, okay.”

We lapsed into silence, the discussion having become awkward. She went back to looking her bowstring over, performing maintenance on it. I’d already done that on my armor and my swords didn’t really require maintenance.

“Hey y'all! How’ve the two of you been?”

Oh no! Why’s she back? Didn’t she bug me enough at the meeting? Or is her curiosity so strong that she can’t hold herself back?

“Hello Kalia. How have you been?”

“Oh, I’m doing fantastic! We’ve finally gotten everyone on the same page and into proper formations, so any further battles should go much smoother. Braddock’s really incredible when it come to military matters. He shaped our little group into a proper fighting force.”

“That’s amazing! Michael would never willingly try to do something like that, he’s far too aloof and grumpy to earn people’s respect.”

“What the hell Alicia!? What did I ever do to you!?”

“Um, did you forget when you harassed me with that zombie? And all the pushing for us to keep fighting? We spent a whole week killing those disgusting Goblins.”

“While they certainly are disgusting, it still made for good training. I know my methods can be a little Spartan, but they show results.”

“A little! You woke us up at dawn each day and we only stopped once it got too dark to see.”

“And lunch breaks! Besides, it was one week. It won’t kill you.”

“It literally almost did! What about that time when those Goblin Huscarls and Crushers chased us for ten miles!? If we hadn’t found that car, we would’ve died!”

“Eh, you’re overreacting. It wasn’t that bad."

We went back and forth like this for a minute or two, before Kalia laughed.

“You look like such good friends. You get along so well! Ooh, are you two dating?”

“”Not a chance in hell!””

We were both so startled by her question, that we reflexively yelled at her. That we both said the same thing was a disgrace.

“Get this straight! There is no way I’d ever date him! He’s a massive battle junkie and acts like everything’s a joke, never taking a moment to rest. He’s-.” it was here were I made her stop talking.

Oh shit! That’s probably not a good sign. Survival Instinct was flaring up, a sure sign that something was about to happen.

“Sound the alarm! Monsters are coming!”

I stood up and looked towards the forest. Several large shapes, about the size of cows, were emerging from the tree line. They were too far to Analyze, but my instinct told me we were in for a rough time.

Since Alicia’s eyesight was better than mine, she could more easily identify the monsters, giving us an idea of what we were up against.

“Armadillos? Why would there be armadillos in the forest?”

“Doesn’t matter. We need to get ready!”

I ran over to the alarm bell and began ringing it. We must not have been the only ones to see them, because several other bells started to go off. With that much racket, it didn’t take long for the whole fortress to wake up.

Demolition Dillo

Rank: D

Description: An armadillo monster, or so it appears. It’s actually a Golem created through Earth Magic, controlled remotely by its creator. Named after an actual armadillo monster with a similar appearance.

So it’s a golem? How’d it get here? Was it made by the monsters, or did it spawn naturally? And how should we deal with them?

The dillos were rather slow, probably due to their large size, and it was taking them a long time to get to the fort. The problem was that there was other shapes milling about behind the dillos. Those are probably their creators. I can’t see their descriptions from here, or even make out their features.

“Can you see what’s behind the dillos? I can’t even see them from here.”

“Kinda. They look sorta like giant moles or screws maybe? It’s too dark to really make out any details.”

“Mmm, could we maybe attack them from here?”

“Not a chance. They’ve been staying too far back, far out of range of any arrows I could fire at them. Maybe even out of range of any magic.”

Shit, I’d been hoping that if we dealt with the others preemptively, we’d be able to avoid a fight. We weren’t even through the first day, so receiving multiple attacks would only whittle our numbers away. I personally wanted as many fights as possible, but I was aware that I had some battle maniac tendencies. Not that I was a battle maniac!

“Siege warfare is too complicated. I just want to run out there and kill them. It’s always so much simpler that way.”

“Haaaah, just… stay here. If you go off by yourself, I just know you’ll wind up in some kind of trouble. That, or you’ll somehow kill the Dungeon Boss alone.”

“Just what do you think I am? Some kind of-. Oh, those mages are doing something.”

Something indeed. A group of them were all gathering on the central tower, chanting and murmuring to themselves. I hadn’t interacted with the NPCs all that much, mostly because I just didn’t interact with people, but I’d heard others found them to be a little disconcerting. They apparently had a bit of a vocal tick, which led to some pretty freaky speech patterns.

As we watched them, the ambient mana began to gather around them. They were clearly attempting some kind of greater spell. I’m not a mage, so I can’t tell exactly how much mana they’re using, but that’s a butt-ton.

“They’re using a Ritual? That’s pretty impressive, I can barely even use a fourth grade spell, let alone a Ritual that strong.”

She’s behind me again!? How does she keep sneaking up on me!? And why’s Alicia just calmly talking to her!? And why do I keep having these overblown reactions?

“You know what they’re doing, Kalia?”

“Yep, yep! They’re using a Ritual, a more powerful form of magic. You can’t even compare the power of a spell and Ritual, as the latter is greatly superior. They take longer to use and are more complex, but the payoff is far better.”

As she finished explaining, the mages finished the chant and with a very loud and emphasized keyword, the magic coalesced into a fiery mass that spilt into eights and flew off.

*FWOOOOOOOOOM*

Oh fuck! How do you even deal with something like that? It’s like a force of nature barring down on you. The monsters never stood a chance, there wasn’t anything left but ashes. Even some of those controlling the dillos were caught up in the blast and the survivors were busy fleeing.

Well that’s anticlimactic. I was hoping we’d have a pitched battle against them, but they’ve been dealt with so easily. Oh well.

“Well that’s been dealt with. I wonder what the purpose of that was? Eh, it probably doesn’t matter.”

We settled down in order to finish the night shift.

[Chris's POV]

So much paperwork. I’m drowning in documents and there’s no escape in sight. Not only do I have my own responsibilities, but that stunt they’re pulling in Ethiopia is piling work on me. And then there’s this, life just keeps piling one thing after another.

“Director, we’ve got-. Are you okay Director? You look pretty pale.”

“Just overworked. Things have taken a strange turn as of late. Forzerenth’s been pushing to try and legally regulate mercenaries heading into the disaster sites.”

“Him again? Is he doing this intentionally or is it coincidence?”

“It’s probably a mixture of both. He’s trying to get as many resources for himself as he can, all the while using anything to his advantage. It may not be the most moral thing to do, but with the current crisis, it’s hard to criticize him for it. We’re all desperate.”

Such was the sad truth. Everyone who had direct experience with the System knew of the dangers they faced and was trying to adapt as quickly as possible. Even at the cost of others.

“Well, what did you need Saito? You seemed pretty panicked when you came in earlier.”

“Ah, that’s right! The scouts came back!”

“Trouble always comes in threes. So what did they say?”

“Not much. They got as far as Kurume, but had to turn back after losing most of the squad. They ran into some kind of humanoid monster covered in mouths.”

“What!? Did they report anything else?”

“No, they were apparently too busy trying to escape the monster to really analyze the situation. Or the monster for that matter. Out of ten people, only four returned. They did mention that where they met the beast was covered in blood and gore.”

“What a pain. We don’t know anything about this monster, yet it’s clearly doing something. Do we have anyone capable of dealing with it?”

“I’ll have to ask around, but off the top of my head I’d say either me or Ouka should go. Or maybe one of the other lieutenants. They’re the only ones capable enough to get there and deal with the monster.”

“Damn. That means more paperwork for me. We need to hire some more clerical workers.”

“Wouldn’t that make more paperwork anyway?”

“It’s a vicious cycle. No matter what we do, we’re doomed.” The two had a bit of a chuckle at the dark humor. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh.

“Wait, you said threes. Is there something else happening?”

Ah, I didn’t think he’d catch that. He’s a bright kid, I’m glad I have someone to rely on.

“It’s a personal matter. I don’t want to bother you with it.”

“Director, there’s no need for that. I can always lend an ear to your complaints or grievances. And relives you of stress, then that’s a bonus.”

“Haaaah, fine, fine. It’s my brother’s family. We’ve never seen eye-to-eye, but he’s the only family I’ve got.”

“And something happened to him?”

“He, and my sister-in-law, are among those considered missing. There’s been no trace of them for months. But they’re not the problem. It’s my niece and nephew that worry me. My niece is a well-known singer-songwriter back in the States and I’ve already talked to her and made sure she’s okay. But the real problem’s this.”

He slid a document across the desk to Saito, who picked it up and looked it over. It wasn’t anything complex, just a list of names in alphabetical order. Though it was in English, Saito was at least able to read most of it.

“Hm, Michael Walters? Is he your nephew? But what’s this list about?”

“it’s a list of the participants for the Ethiopian excursion to clear that Dungeon. Its taken me weeks to uncover this and what do I find? That my nephew is participating in something extraordinarily dangerous. The Ethiopian National Defense Force has already tried to clear it three times and no one’s come out alive. I can’t even tell Katrina because she’s already worried enough about him.

Chris seemed to have gotten it out of his system, as he calmed down.

“She’s been worried sick about him and I can’t tell her anything. She’d probably head out there and try to get into the Dungeon. I feel completely useless.”

“….”

“I’m sorry for unloading this on you. I’m sure you already have enough to deal with, you don’t need this added on.”

“No, think nothing of it. It doesn’t bother me and you’ve helped me out so much already. I can tell this is bothering you a lot. What’s your nephew like, if I may ask?”

“Michael? Well, let’s see. He’s always been headstrong. Once he’d decided on something, he’d see it through no matter what. He’s clever too. It doesn’t surprise me that he survived on his own. But I’m worried he’ll have trouble in such a large group. He doesn’t always get along with others. He used to get into all kinds of fights.”

“Huh, was he some kind of delinquent?”

“No, it never went that far. He’d just fight back when either he or someone he was close to got bullied. Katrina told me about this later, but one time he apparently choked a guy out for bothering her. He wouldn’t leave her alone, so he grabbed him from behind and put him in a headlock.”

“That’s…”

“I know what you mean. He’s always been overly confrontational. He won’t back down even when outnumbered. It’s why I’m so worried. He could easily pick a fight he can’t win.”

There was little you could say to someone who was worried for family. Especially when their fate was a complete unknown. The two sat together, talking much later into the night