Part One Hundred and Eight

“Gah! Fuck that hurts!”

For the twenty-somethingth time in the last two hours, I watched as my spell fell apart, wasting the mana I used to craft it. [Soul Bind] was basically like a jigsaw puzzle. If even one glyph was off, then the whole thing would be. I was frustrated by my continued failures, and was starting to experience Mana Exhaustion, so I had to put this off for now.

Haaaah, I knew this would be harder than Grudge Magic, but I’m really struggling with it. And I can’t really work on [Mental Decay] without a target. Or can I? I practiced casting [Seize] without one. I might actually be able to cast the spell even without a viable target. Though I’ve already used a good bit of my mana, so I should probably hold off on this for now.

I felt some mild fatigue from casting so many times, but knew that falling asleep now would be a bad move. I’d need my wits about me if I was to survive the upcoming suicide mission.

However, just because I knew that didn’t mean it would be easy to wait. There was still more than six hours until the battle began, leaving me with too much time on my hands. I didn’t want to waste more mana by practicing a different Skill either, so my normal methods of passing time here were all lost to me.

Hrm, maybe I could mess with something in my bags? Hm, miscellaneous item, miscellaneous item, disposable armor, exploding bomb. Huh? Where’d this ring come from, and why does it look so weird? ……and why can’t I Analyze it? Oh, I’ve got a real bad feeling about this..

A strange twisting pattern was engraved onto the outer circumference of the ring, looking both similar and completely different to glyphs. The pattern also seemed to twist as I rotated the ring, creating a sort of hypnotic effect, just like those rotating spirals from cartoons.

I, I definitely don’t remember getting this. Uh, wait, where’s that ring I got in the Labyrinth? …….okay, so it’s pretty clear what happened here, and I really don’t want anything to do with this. I’m just going to leave this damn thing here, and never see it again. Yep, I’ll just throw it under my bed, and I’ll never see it again. Never again.

…………It’s gonna find me again somehow, isn’t it? The damn thing's cursed!

I flung the ring under my bed, and booked it out of there. I didn’t plan on ever returning to that room, so I doubted it would really hurt anything. Now I just needed something to occupy myself for a few hours.

***

Cameron sat with Braddock and Grant, finalizing the details of their plan. Everything had gone well up until now, but it would be the next few hours that would decide everything. They had to ensure that the final battle went well, or it would all be for naught.

“So, what do we think our odds are? The NPCs are sending out quite a few soldiers, so they seem to believe that we have a chance. But I’m not so sure I do.”

“Hrm, well, if this Dungeon follows the same pattern as others, then all the other monsters should disappear after the Boss is slain. Though I can’t say if that will happen here. After all, this Dungeon is far beyond what we’ve experienced until now.”

“And then what? We all just waltz out of here and be heroes? I don’t think this will end so nicely. We’re up against twenty thousand enemies who are supposedly being boosted by their leader. I don’t care what spell the Archmage is going to cast, cutting through that horde won’t be easy.”

“And yet, do we really have a choice? The time to balk has passed. Now we must steel ourselves for the storm to come. We’ve done all we can to prepare, all that is left is to see it out to the bitter end.”

***

Elsewhere in the fort, a much louder and more boisterous meeting was underway. Sampson had gathered his entire group together, along with their new recruits, and was conducting a sort of farewell party. This was his way of welcoming his new recruits, and rewarding the ones who’d stuck with him this long..

It also helped to serve as an impromptu census, allowing them to know who exactly had agreed to join them. The idea was that Sampson would have them all sign a sort of contract once they were out of the Dungeon. At the very least, he’d be able to pursue someone legally if they crossed him in the future. Not that it would matter if it happened in a disaster zone.

Both ideas were actually Jansen’s idea, and he’d done much the same back when he worked with Braddock. Granted, they’d never actually gotten to the point of needing those contracts back then, but that was all the more reason for him to push for them now. Especially after all that had happened here.

However, the merriment couldn’t last forever. Sampson wanted to use these people to further his own agenda, and they wanted to use him to achieve fame and fortune. That meant that there would be plenty of vultures looking for free meals. He needed to weed those ones out.

“Alright you bastards, listen up! I hope you’ve all enjoyed this party. However, the time for fun is almost over. You see, it turns out that there’s a limited number of openings in my group. Since I can only take about half of ya, I’m gonna be holding a little contest.”

“Something I’m sure all of ya know is that the System bestows a final rewards when a Dungeon's cleared, and that reward is based on how much ya contributed to the clear effort. So, I’m gonna give this openings to the fifty-five people who can bring me the most interesting things. Ah, just to be clear, you get to keep the item. It just needs to be something good.”

Those words hovered in the air for a moment, before realization struck near everyone at once. They’d essentially been pit against one another, and only the best would make it in.

This led to everyone eyeing each other, realizing that everyone here was competition. The air soon grew tense, so much so that no one noticed Sampson’s muttering.

“Heheheh, yeah, this is how it should be. None of that mamby-pamby togetherness shit that Braddock preaches. We need real power, and those willing to seek it.”

***

[Kalia’s POV]

Kalia sat alone in the infirmary, deep in thought. She was wondering what to do next. Not inside the Dungeon, but outside it.

Despite what many may have felt about her, she wasn’t a complete airhead. She knew that there was a near certainty that she, Braddock, and Grant would go their separate ways after the Dungeon was cleared. What she didn’t know was what she’d do after that.

The first option she had, and the first that occurred to her, was to return home. Her parents and siblings were surely worried about her even now. She’d only come this far out of a sense of obligation to Braddock for saving her life. Sure, she also felt the need to help others, but it wasn’t strong enough to motivate her to do something like this.

However, she also felt extremely reluctant to do that, a feeling she just couldn’t pin down. A voice in the back of her head told her that this was the easy way out. That by chickening out here, she’d lose something in herself that she’d only recently discovered. And it terrified her.

And that feeling was compounded by the second option: joining another group. Continue to venture into danger, and explore the mysteries of the World System. This appealed to that voice, and it urged her to choose this. Which is what led to her feeling so torn. And led to her sitting in the empty infirmary.

Both options had their pros and cons. On one hand, continuing on would allow her to grow even stronger, and learn more powerful spells. That alone appealed to her caring nature, as high-grade healing Magic would surely be able to do things modern medicine couldn’t even dream of. But it came hand-in-hand with tremendous danger.

There was probably some middle ground that she could find if she merely thought about it enough, but she didn’t have the time to do so. There were less than five hours until the final battle. Not enough to time for her to deliberate a life-changing decision.

Not unless something decided for her.

***

“Aight, I think that’s enough for today. At ease!”

“”””Oh, thank god!””””

Brad and his friends all collapsed from the exhaustion that working out for several hours brought with it. They’d been doing this since leaving Michael and Alicia, though there been breaks every other rep. Not even Tavin would work them that hard.

“Haha, well done all of you! Here, drink these! They’ll help you recover before the battle begins.”

The guys eagerly downed the drinks they were handed, only to gag at the taste. Not one of them had actually looked at them, otherwise they would’ve noticed that they were drinking Recovery Tonics.

“Hrm, I wish I had access to better equipment and facilities to bring the lot of you up to snuff. I’m limited in what I can do here. Ah, but fear not! I shall make you all into lean, mean, fighting machines! Ones who will herald the dawn of human might!”

Seeing the man so cheerful and enthusiastic, not a one of them had the gall to say that they didn’t want this. And just like that, Brad and his friends had become Tavin’s unwitting protégés.

***

Once again, Jansen found himself down here. He’d told himself he wouldn’t do this again after the last time. After all, she was no longer here, but he’d given in in the end. And so he sat, not on the ground, as he had before, but up on a chair that someone had left in the room.

Also unlike before, he had the wherewithal to observe the rest of his surroundings something he’d ignored until now. And it brought a not-so-startling surprise: there were new bodies down here.

Of course, it was a small number. Only three new additions. A pittance compared to all the death that had occurred here. The other deceased had all been taken out of the Dungeon by those who retreated the day before, leaving the room empty until yesterday’s battle.

I suppose those three are the lucky ones. They’ve at least left behind corpses for their loved ones. So many here didn’t, or don’t have loved ones to return to. I’ll have to do everything I can to survive, at least until they’re all dead.

Jansen rose from his seat, the flame inside him now accompanied by a new one.