Part Fifty-Nine

It took a few minutes, but we soon found an isolated spot to have our conversation. A quick check showed that we were the only ones nearby, so it was safe to talk without being overheard.

“So first of all, Finnél and his men weren’t from this world. They came from a place called Genaap. A “dimension that’s existed alongside the System for tens of thousands of years” is how they put it. How much of that we should believe is difficult to say though.”

“I see. I’d already guessed that, but it’s good to know for sure. But tens of thousands of years? Just how old is their civilization?”

“They didn’t give an exact date, but it’s probably longer then human civilization. We’re dealing with people with a long history, and powers beyond what we can imagine. Any information is good to have.”

I definitely agree with that, but it’s still not good to hear it first-hand. Otherworlders, huh? Most of them probably possess weapons and equipment beyond what we can imagine, just like he said, but more importantly, they know what we’re dealing with. If they know about the System, then they have that much of an advantage. It won’t be easy to counter that.

He then went on to tell me everything he’d learned and it was quite a bit. Their objective, who they and Finnél were, what powers they had or knew of, everything. Most of it was useless now, but one piece of Intel had been most disturbing. There were more agents on Earth, who would undoubtedly report Finnél’s death.

“I’d watch out if I were you Michael. It sounded like you’ll be their top target for revenge if they find out.”

“That’s nothing new. They’re the ones who started the whole thing by attacking me. By the way, why did they do that? I don’t remember doing anything particularly worthy of that kind of retaliation. Not to them anyway.”

“They were actually confused themselves. It was apparently the butler's idea in the first place, but Finnél took your survival personally, and ordered them to kill you. But they didn’t seem to know what set it off in the first place.”

“Huh. Maybe I accidentally violated some sort of interdimensional etiquette or something. Guess it’ll just have to wait for later. Any clues on that weird drug he was taking? The one that turned him?”

“That’s the most disturbing thing. They knew of it, but hadn’t taken it themselves. And all of them paled when I mentioned his transformation. Apparently, whatever that thing was is known as a Fiend.”

“Well that lines up with the Analyze results I saw. Did they know anything else?”

“No. I get the feeling that they were uneducated, and knew little aside from what they’d been told. They only knew that Fiends were equivalent to a natural disaster, but didn’t know what created them.”

“Hm, fishy. The drug, the transformation, it all seems a little too, I don’t know, conspicuous. If people were turning into things like that, you’d think the knowledge would be more widespread. Unless it’s being purposely suppressed.”

“An ominous thought. We’ll have to be careful if this drug shows up on Earth. We don’t want more of those things running around.”

“Ugh, no. One was enough, thank you very much. Alright, if we’re done, I’m gonna go take a nap. I’ve got night watch again.”

“Don’t you always have night watch? It seems a little odd that you’re always the one up there at night when things happen.”

“Yeah, don’t I know it. But it’s actually because I volunteer for it. I find that night time makes it easy to think about things on my own. Plus Alicia usually has it during the evening, so we just hang out together.”

“So then, why wasn’t she with you just now?”

“She’s still pissed at me. Can’t really say I blame her for it though.”

“So she’s avoiding you then?”

“Eh, other way around. I’ve been avoiding her and Cameron because I don’t know how to apologize. I’ve never been good at it. It used to get my sister so mad at me. If I’d known what was going to happen, I would’ve told everyone I could’ve. It was just, just an error in judgment.”

“Hm. Interesting. You want to know what I think? I think you’re the kind of person who wants to take care of all of your problems all on your own. You don’t like being seen as vulnerable, so you hide any issues from others until its too late. It’s not a bad trait, but it isn’t good either.”

“Huh, that’s the same thing my sister says about me. That I tend to block others out or something. Can’t say I really understand it though. I just do what I think needs done.”

“I see. Say Michael, would you be interested in working with us? At least until this Dungeon is cleared?”

“Er, are you asking me to team up with your group? Because that’s not exactly something I can decide on my own. We aren’t a dictatorship.”

“You say that, but I’ve seen enough of your interactions with them to understand your group dynamic. If you ask them, they’ll surely follow you.”

“Maybe they will, but this still seems sudden. What’s brought it on? Is it cause you’ve had so many deaths lately?” a crude question, but one I felt needed asking.

“That’s a significant part of it, but there’s more to it than just that. Tell me Michael, what do you think of the state the world is in? The last four months have been extremely challenging for many. So much destruction has occurred, and there’s no end in sight to it all.”

“You want my honest opinion?”

“Yes. I believe we’re similar, in that we both don’t avert our eyes from this truth. I’d like to hear what you think will happen in the coming months and years.”

What I think? Well, that’s rather simple. I’ve been saying it this whole time.

“We’re fucked. Well and truly fucked. Unless we manage to get ahold of this while we still can, there’s no coming back for us. The next disaster could spawn monsters capable of killing us all, and there’d be nothing we could do short of a nuclear blast. And that’s just self-destructive.”

“Exactly. We know too little about what’s happening. We have no real defenses in place, and we may soon see monsters beyond what we can deal with. And so, I’ve been planning something, something that just may give humanity the edge it needs to survive the coming disasta-.”

*Bwwwooooooooom!*

That noise interrupted what he had to say. Even if it was important, what we just heard was more so. That was the sound of the monsters' warhorns, signifying that a battle was to begin, one we had no forewarning of. I could even hear the alarm from the north, but nowhere else. Both of us realized that this meant nothing good, and headed for the walls.

***

Braddock was breathing heavily by the time we made it, and I was only slightly better off. We’d had to dodge around others to make it on time, as everyone was in confusion over what was going on. Some were trying to make their way to the northern wall, while others were heading for elsewhere. Getting through the mob that resulted was difficult.

We burst out of the staircase, looking for answers. And boy did we get them.

“OIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKK!!!”

No. Fucking. Way. Hello little piggy. Have you decided to come play?

Arranged along the edge of the forest, were dozens of monsters, most of them Demi-Humans, with a single armor-clad Orc in front. I couldn’t Analyze it from here, but I just knew that it was that damn pig. It was the only monster that had managed to nearly kill me since I left the Labyrinth, so I held quite the grudge against it. And maybe it too hated me, as I swore I could feel its gaze on me the moment I saw it. Maybe it just felt my hatred for it.

“OI-OI-OI-OI-OINNNNNNNK!”

“Is it taunting us? Why announce yourself like this if you’re not? Braddock, any guesses? Braddock?”

Since the man never wore his helmet unless we were fighting, I could see his expression all too well, and it was twisted in rage. Ah, I almost forgot. That thing killed two of his men. Geez, his group’s been getting beat up, haven’t they?

Something was happening among the monsters, but I couldn’t make it out from here. I didn’t have Alicia’s amazing vision, so there was a limit to how far I could see. Still, I knew something was up.

“ERGHM, ERGHM. HUMANS.”

See? What did I tell ya? Holy shit, they can talk.

“HUMANS, HAVE YOU WITNESSED WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF YET!? ARE YOU QUAKING IN YOUR BOOTS? HAHAHAHAHA, WELL THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. IF YOU DO NOT STOP ME, THEN YOU SHALL ALL PERISH! BUT I AM GENEROUS. I WILL GRANT YOU A SINGLE CHANCE. SEND ONE HUNDRED OF YOUR FINEST WARRIORS NORTH, OR THE ENTIRETY OF THE ARMY SHALL ATTACK. HAHAHAHAH, COME IF YOU DARE HUMANS.”

With that bombshell of an ultimatum, all of the monsters retreated into the forest. And those on the walls burst into pandemonium almost immediately.

***

An emergency meeting was called almost immediately, and all of the original members of the strike squad and then some were gathered. Fear, nervousness, and panic adorned the faces of many, while others appeared more excited. Even the NPCs had lost their usual composure.

“I think the first thing we should do to decide whether it’s better to accept this challenge or to prepare for their inevitable assault. Personally, I think it’s obvious we should accept. The chance to eliminate one of their leaders will not come about again so easily. Even if it causes casualties, we can inflict heavy losses to the enemy.”

“Scouting has revealed that there is a clearing to the north. The Orc General and ninety-nine of its subordinates are waiting for us there. As far as I can tell, it’s not a trap, therefore I agree with the commander in that we should take advantage of this opportunity. As for who should actually go, we will leave that up to you. This will be the most dangerous battle yet, as multiple Minotaur Soldiers, Orc Ruffians, and Kovis Dark-Claws are present. Each of these is a threat on their own, but in such numbers…”

It sounded like this would be a true test of our skill. The latter four aside, I knew that Minotaur Soldiers were troublesome opponents for most of the mercenaries. If the others were at a similar level of power, very few people may come back from this one alive. And yet…

The alternative is to be attacked by all of the remaining monsters. That has to be close to eighty thousand. We just won’t be able to defend against that kind of attack. It’s ten times the number of the last few battles. No matter how well we fight, we’ll be overwhelmed somewhere, and that’ll be that. Giving up here isn’t an option.

Even if it was a hundred against a hundred, there were few mercenaries capable of fighting a Minotaur Soldier one-on-one. I knew I could do it, and I figured Braddock and Sampson could as well, but I didn’t know about the others. Regardless of how this turned out, things weren’t looking good. We would almost undoubtedly lose a few people here, and that was the best-case scenario. At worst, everyone who went could die.

And I wasn’t the only one to realize this, as everyone was hesitant to volunteer for the battle. Fame and glory were all well and good, but they were worthless if you weren’t alive to enjoy them.

“I’ll go.”

That quiet, almost ghostly, mutter had come from Jansen, who I hadn’t even realized was there. He’d been MIA since last night, but it seemed even grief wouldn’t keep him away from a meeting this important. I had to say that I didn’t like the look in his eyes. They were dead, all emotion and life drained from them. They were the eyes of someone already dead inside.

It made sense though. I’d accidentally overheard this, but he’d apparently been planning on proposing to his girlfriend, and he was going to use the compensation from this job to buy the ring. There was some dark irony here.

Anyway, his declaration broke everyone free of their hesitation, and people began volunteering left and right. Braddock’s and Sampson’s groups both volunteered, along with an assortment of others, including the weirdo, who was even now sending me the occasional thumbs-up, and Hunk-lite. Naturally, the three of us also joined, though Cameron seemed hesitant to do so. I’d started to notice that he was acting odd lately, but I also thought he’d tell us what was on his mind when the time came.

Kalia was the last to join, though she seemed both resolved and terrified in equal measure. I did think she could be a little more confident though. She was the one who allowed us to finish off Finnél after all. Her magic would come in handy here.

“So it’s decided. In addition to those who volunteered, five mages will be sent with you to provide aid. May the fortunes of war be with you all.”

With those words from the commander, the curtain was about to open on the most difficult battle any of us had yet faced. This could potentially decide our fates within this Dungeon, and whether anyone would be returning home.