Seventy-Nine

Honestly, it didn’t take much convincing to get Kalia to join me on this excursion. And luckily, we ran into Alicia on the way back to the gate. Two heads are better than one, right?

Hm? Why am I not counting myself? Because, I suck at puzzles. I think it took me close to a week to get through the puzzle portions of the tower in the Labyrinth. So yeah, I’ll leave this to them, thank you very much.

Anyway, we soon stood before the Gate of Rebirth. The two girls were taking in the gate’s presence, while I stood back and thought about a certain Great Dane.

“How did you even find this thing? You must’ve stumbled across it by sheer dumb luck.”

“Exactly. I channeled the power of Scooby-Doo, that’s how I found it so easily.”

“W-what? What does a cartoon have to do with it? I can’t even begin to see the connection.”

“Then you have much to learn in the ways of the meddling kid. But never fear, for I shall tell you everything there is to know about solving mysteries where weirdos are wearing costumes to conduct elaborate schemes, that ultimately fail due to the snooping of four teens and their dog.”

“I, what?”

“Hey, could you two stop your flirting for a few minutes? I’m trying to focus here.”

“”We’re not flirting!””

Our not-flirting aside, we did need to get it together so we could figure this out as soon as possible. Kalia was already stooped over the pedestal.

“Hm, interesting. We definitely need something that fits in here, but I can’t think of what it would be. And these slots, what are they for?”

“What about that gold disk you found? Wouldn’t it fit in the slots?”

“Believe it or not, I actually tried that. It fit perfectly, but wouldn’t stay put. We definitely need another one of them and something else, but I can’t figure it out on my own. I was hoping one of you had an idea what it could be.”

“Hm, I haven’t seen anything with this pattern on it, but it kind of looks like a face. Or maybe the head of an animal? I’m not sure.”

“Oh yeah, definitely an animal. See how it has a rounded snout? It’s probably something similar-ish to a cow, or maybe a horse?”

“Ooh, I could see that! Oh! Is it a sheep? That would kind of mesh with the name of the fort!”

“Hm, Aries? Yeah, yeah that might be it. Michael, we’re looking for something with the head of a ram or sheep on it!”

“…We are?”

I still didn’t see it. All it looked like to me were a series of shapes and lines. Maybe if I saw the reverse I’d realize it, but I wasn’t getting it no matter how hard I looked.

Rina did this to me all the time. She’d bring me one of those illusion puzzle things, and try to make me see what I just couldn’t. Then she’d give me that look, like I was the one in the wrong for not being able to see whatever the hell it was.

“Well whatever. If that’s what we’re looking for, then it’s what we’re looking for. Now, what the hell do we do about the Gate? Just leaving it alone seems like a bad idea. The thought of a monster sneaking down here and breaking the Gate sickens me. I imagine failing the Scenario is a bad thing.”

“Well, the way we came in seems pretty secure. I can’t imagine that most monsters would be able to figure out the trigger on their own. Do you know where that stairway goes?”

“Somewhere into the officer quarters. It won’t let me open it though, so that’s just a guess.”

“So it’s locked? Didn’t you tell me you know how to pick locks?”

“I do. It literally won’t let me open it. I can’t even touch the door.”

I’d already tried to go through it before going to get Kalia, but there was this magical repulsion field that kept me from grabbing it. I’d even tried [Rot], but the spell had just dissipated upon contact. Wherever it led, I wasn’t finding out.

“Ignoring the fact that Michael knows lockpicking, what else do we do? The Gate doesn’t seem to be doing anything right now, so couldn’t we just leave it?”

“Works for me. But how the hell did the Archmage and Commander die? And did no one see it?”

“It is pretty odd. There were monsters everywhere, sure, but I can’t imagine they were strong or numerous enough to attack those two. They’re both C-Rank, so I’d think that they’re just as strong as Michael, if not stronger.”

“The only really dangerous monster I saw was the Wyvern. Admittedly, I was asleep when the battle started, so I might’ve missed something.”

“No, it’s impossible. We would’ve had far worse casualties if something that strong was running around. That there isn’t means, well, I don’t know what it means.”

“Tch, I was afraid of that. So not only do we not know how the two NPC leaders died, but we also don’t have a clue on how to open this Gate.”

“About that, why do you want to open it? I may not know what a Sub-Boss is exactly, but I could hazard a guess. We’ve got enough problems without this.”

“Oh that’s easy. It’s cause there’s a major reward for beating the Sub-Boss, that’s all.”

For once, Insight actually came through for me. It had a whole entry on Sub-Bosses, and what loot could be expected from them. Titles, Authorities, Skills, even Unique Rank equipment were possible rewards. The hardest part of it was actually finding them, as they were completely hidden within their respective Dungeons. You wouldn’t even know there was one unless you got lucky and found it, like I did. As for the monster itself, it shouldn’t be any stronger than the actual Dungeon Boss, so it should make for a good test fight for us.

“That’s it? You just want the reward?”

“I mean, I think that’s a perfectly good reason on its own. For one, this should be a single monster, unaccompanied by any guards. For two, it’ll be at about the same level of strength as the Dungeon Boss. If a few others join in, the fight should be a piece of cake. And three, whatever we get will help us in the long run. It’s not like all the monsters will disappear if we clear this Dungeon, so any advantage is a major help. It is a risk, but a measured one. I wouldn’t do it if I thought I could fail.”

“That sorta feels overconfident, but I guess you’ve proved that you can deal with it.”

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still can’t open the Gate yet anyway. This only matters if we find a way to do so.”

“Yep. So, do we keep this quiet for now? At least until we figure out what we need?”

“Sounds good to me.” “Count me in."

Phew, guess that’s wrapped up. All that’s left is to find the missing pieces we need, and maybe convince a few more people to fight with us. I’m not doing this half-assed.

***

Meanwhile……

“Who does that prick think he is!?”

The five men Michael had cowed hadn’t stayed that way long. It is the rare scoundrel who can remember the fear they faced when away from the threat. Most will simply allow their anger to win over their fear, causing them to make foolish choices.

“He has no right to meddle in our business! I say we go back there and beat that into him!”

But fortunately, his companions were that rare scoundrel.

“Hey, calm down. That guy's serious trouble. Remember how he fought the Orc General? We’ll be slaughtered if we fight him, just like Finnél’s men were.”

It was well-known by now that Michael had fought nearly a dozen opponents, and had killed them all. While the rumors had been somewhat exaggerated, some stated that he’d killed the men with his blood lost alone, they were also surprisingly close to the truth.

“Bah! I’m sure that’s all just exaggeration! If all of us fight him, we’ll win hands down.”

“Seriously, give it up. We’re not throwing our lives away here. It’s better to just wait until tomorrow to leave then get in his way.”

“Fine, then get the hell out of my sight! I’ll do it on my own! Then you’ll have to come crawling back to me!”

Fed up with his attitude, the other four men left, making perhaps the wisest decision of their lives. The other man's posturing and yelling had attracted the wrong kind of attention.

Now alone, the former leader of the group headed deeper into the alley. As the shadows grew, so too did his regret. So when he heard something scraping against the stones, he thought that it was the others coming back to him. But when he turned around, he came face-to-snout with a massive wolf, one he couldn’t Analyze.

Before he could run, or even scream, the wolf had him by the throat. It snapped his neck with a sharp jerk of its jaw, nearly ripping his head off. With its prey's life extinguished, the wolf faded back into the shadows, looking for the next.

***

[Edwin's POV]

*Thwack! Thunk! Shick!*

“Hyaaa! Take, this!”

*Riiiiiiip!*

“Ah!? Dang it. Over did it again. These dummies are helpful, but not really suited for real weapons, are they? Hm, but I need to get used to my weapon. What to do?”

Edwin had finally gotten his hands on a decent weapon, but he didn’t know how to use it. So he’d made his way to the training grounds to try and get a better feel for his weapon of choice.

“I wonder if one of the NPCs would be willing to train me? They certainly seem to know what they’re doing. If only I could find one. They’ve been busy all day.”

He’d been just as busy though, what with the full on invasion of the fort. Though his weapon had served him especially well, so maybe in-depth instruction was unnecessary. No! That’ll just get me killed quicker. I need to properly train so that one day, I can fight like he did.

During the invasion, he’d happened to witness Michael fight against a group of Minotaurs on his own. He’d already known that the other man was much stronger than him, but to see monsters actually running from him only drove it in deeper. And Michael wasn’t the only one. There were a number of mercenaries who were much stronger than him, just in this Dungeon alone. Imagine how many that were still out there!

Which is exactly why he picked another training dummy, and started again. He was already behind, he wouldn’t fall further back.

***

“So this is what the three of you were up to? I wondered about it, but I didn’t think it would be something like this.”

“Yeah, it’s something. So about the Sub-Boss?”

“You want me to help? Hm, why not try to tackle it with just your group?”

“I could if I had to, but this is a monster on the same level as the Dungeon Boss. I can handle the Mid-bosses on my own, but that’ll be beyond me for now. I figure the three of us, you and Kalia, and maybe a sixth or seventh should be able to handle whatever’s in there.”

On our way back out, we’d run into Braddock, who’d asked what we were up to. Considering that I’d already mentioned telling him, it was immediately decided that I’d show him the Gate of Rebirth. Kalia and Alicia had gone back to the infirmary though, so it was just the two of us.

“And who would you want to recruit?”

“I don’t know. The five of us are already pretty balanced as it is. We’ve got a healer, a ranged attacker, a tank, a damage dealer, and someone who can shift between damage and tank. I suppose another ranged attacker might be good, but the only person I can think of is Jansen, and that’s, well…. He’s gone off the deep end, no offense.”

“None taken. I can’t say I disagree. He’s taken it pretty hard. In fact, I haven’t seen him today.”

“Really? Not gonna lie, that makes me pretty nervous. We’ve got an unstable person with intricate knowledge of explosives running about. Not a good thing. Oh, and there’s the mysterious attack that killed the Wyvern, along with the otherworlder with futuristic guns. Yep, lots of shit happening here.”

“It gets better. Someone killed the prisoners during the battle, and did it painfully. They look like they were tortured.”

“Well shit. Now we’ve got another sociopath on the loose? Hey, you don’t think that Finnél had another crony like the butler, and that they’re trying to cover themselves?”

“Hm, could be. The others didn’t know about any potential associates though, and you’d think they would’ve helped him in the fight, so I’m inclined to disagree. Though we should keep an eye out.”

“Ugh, now I’m getting paranoid. Even after he’s been dead for days, Finnél keeps finding ways to fuck shit up. Haaah, hopefully whoever it is won’t cause too many problems. We’re almost out of the Dungeon, and I’d like for this last day to go by peacefully.”

“Twenty-three hours left. It’s been a long six days to get to this point, but we still have a major fight coming up.”

“I’m actually worried about that one. I’m kind of afraid that too many people will leave the Dungeon before that fight. Having our forces cut in half just before the climax of the Dungeon isn’t a good thing.”

“I don’t think we’ll lose that many. Most of what I’ve heard is that everyone's inclined to stay due to the massive growth spurts we’re having here. Plus, there’s the reinforcements we’re supposed to get from the Archmage.”

“Oh yeah, I actually forgot about that. Are we ever going to see a payoff from that?”

“I couldn’t tell ya. All I know is that a number of people found those mana shards during the operation. What the Archmage is planning to do with them is hard to say.”

“Yay, more mysteries. Well, I think we’ve seen all we’re gonna see down here, and I’ve got other stuff to do, as do you. I’m heading out.”

“Alright. I’m going to stay here for another minute or two.”

“Huh, okay then.”

Why does he want to stay here? There’s nothing in the room but the Gate. Eh, whatever. It’s not my place to question him about this. I’ve got things to do that I’ve been putting off for too long.