“Well, we did that pretty quickly. I would assu that ans we have so ti for a break,” I said hopefully as we stepped back into the waiting room.
“Doubtful, our next floor is just a monster match. They can have those ready to go imdiately,” Rabyn said, and to prove his claim, Floor Master appeared next to us.
“Ah, good, here and ready for the next battle. Good luck,” the spider said before ushering us right back through the door we had just left, with no chance for rest or grabbing the tiniest bite to eat. My stomach rumbled slightly; I needed to get sothing into it before the fifth floor, or my performance was going to suffer.
The hallway disappeared the mont the door was closed behind us, and this ti, there was no wondering where the enemy was. A group of humanoids split between what looked like mutated rhinos and pigs were surrounding us. Each of them had a strange-looking large gun drawn and pointing at us, clearly ready to fire. “Hit the ground!” Elicec yelled. I threw myself down, imdiately understanding his reasoning as blasts of bright red light flashed above our heads. Several of the creatures dropped to the ground around us, the victims of friendly fire.
“Is this normal?” I called out, confused about why they’d kill each other like this.
“It can be, especially when they try to use more aggressive or experintal sapient species as monsters!” Rabyn answered.
“Rembering where they had all stood before, Elody rose back to her feet as the written words, sharp as freshly cut paper, flew from the page guided by her mory to their targets,” Elody said, followed by the sound of several more bodies hitting the ground. I was reminded of how l had initially planned for Elody to carry us through most of this as the hall ca back into view alongside the experience notification.
Combatants DefeatedMutated Warthogx770,000 ExperienceMutated Rhinosaurusx880,000 ExperienceExperience Gained199,500 PointsArena BonusesFloor 4 Cleared8,000,000,000 ExperienceExperience Gained8,000,199,500 PointsMultipliers AppliedNo Armorx1.1No Weaponx1.1Unoccupied Squad Positionsx256Total Experience Gained2,478,141,797,120 Points
Sadly, it wasn’t remotely comparable to the experience I'd earned on the previous floor. Fighting people with cores seed to be the best way to gain experience, other than my own simulator, but that had so drawbacks. Then again, I supposed so did fighting actual people. The door swung open at the end of the hall, bringing back to my earlier desires before this had started. I wanted, no, needed sothing to eat.
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I ran from the room as quickly as I could, ignoring any weird looks from l as I made for the food tables, quickly downing several sandwiches, gulping water to wash them down with. My core seed to appreciate the food. Wait, why was I so hungry? I’ve done more than this between als. Did Connie’s speed boosts accelerate my tabolism as well? Finishing my face stuffing and deciding to prod the dwarf for answers later, I moved as much of the rest of the food into my storage before finding l and Pryte in the crowd.
“Well, that’s four down. Y’all ain’t half bad so far, which is damn impressive considering we didn’t get shit for a chance at team training,” l spouted the mont I drew near him. He was still his usual shade of green and I was starting to associate with a positive outlook, not that I was fully sure what a positive l sounded like.
“I’m concerned about floor ten. As well as we’re doing currently, by that point, most, if not all, of the fodder will be gone. When we return to the ho base, I wish to know more about your specific power set, Dave. I’ve seen many humans, but you appear to have sohow both greater and lesser access to different magics,” Rabyn said, joining us. The orc’s eyes were darting side to side as he spoke. Was he looking for soone or just trying to see if anyone was listening to us?
“We can talk builds once we’re outta here, not before, and yes, floor ten is gonna be a giant fucking issue, but I’ve been thinking on that, and we just happen to have several enclaves of yer people sitting back on Earth that need to be rooted out and a squad that needs to practice teamwork,” l said, smiling and glaring at us at the sa ti. I felt my stomach drop slightly at the thought of the orcs. Did we really have the resources to flush all of the remaining forces out? Hell, how many were sticking around?
“We may be of a similar evolution, but we do not share a true bloodline. They are not my people,” Rabyn said, with a heavy emphasis on the word my and the tiniest hint of anger escaping alongside the words. I had an idea of what was going on with him now, but just as with my own strangeness, this wasn’t the proper environnt for answers.
“Hrm, for yer sake, ya better not be lying. Pryte is getting the proper files together for Dave to review on all the new faction mbers,” l said, his color darkening just slightly, but before any further argunts could happen, Floor Master appeared again, signaling our return to the Arena.
“I just realized that that is lhelm as your Arena manager. I wasn’t aware he had returned. Excellent choice, Rabyn,” Floor Master said as he led us to the sa spot as the last few tis. That was the second person I had heard use l’s full na, and both tis related to just how big of a deal he had been. I was going to have to find a way to get him talking about his past, too. If he was going to make run an empire, then I wanted to know how the hell he ended up on this life path.
“Fate has chosen to favor with a third chance. Thank you for your confidence, Floor Master,” Rabyn said, pausing to thank the referee while the rest of us entered the familiar hallway that so far had been the gateway to every floor.
“So this floor is going to scatter us all. There’ll be sothing in the sky constantly pointing you towards the victory zone, but keep in mind it’s pointing this out to all the squads, so be careful,” Rabyn said. I didn’t like the idea of us all being split up, mostly because of one person.
“Glorp, don’t worry about making it to the finish. Just hide out and stay safe, alright?” I said. I knew he couldn’t really be killed, but if it were anything like my simulator, the experience wouldn’t be great. Plus, we weren’t actually healed up between fights, so I didn’t know how that would affect soone who was saved at the last second.
“O…” Glorp started to say before I felt my stomach lurch as my current reality slipped away, only to be replaced by water monts later. The System had been kind enough to drop into water that was well over my head. As I kicked hard back to the surface, I was at least glad it wasn’t freezing cold. I hated the experience of jumping into a cold body of water. Once my head broke the surface I looked around, finding myself entirely alone. I could easily see the shore in the distance if it could be called that. It looked to be wriggling.
Despite the unnerving nature of the shoreline, I decided it was best to swim for it before I learned just what lived in the water of this place. The shore was even stranger once I reached it than I had initially realized. For one thing, it seed to be floating on top of the water, which made it a bit difficult to pull myself out of. The worst part by far, though, was the way the ground groaned as I stepped on it. At first, I thought the ground itself might have just been a strange creature living on the water, but the land stretched as far as I could see.
I looked up and spotted the arrow Rabyn had ntioned. I was glad to find it wasn’t pointing back over the water but instead towards a weird mass, possibly trees, far in front of . It was too bad I didn’t have access to Connie’s enhancents. I’d have to make do with my own running speed. First, though, I focused on my chat interface.
Dave: Corey, can you fly overhead and keep a lookout?
Corey: Yes.
Corey appeared from my storage and took to the air above . While my mana drain did seem to increase based on the distance it was from , this seed like a valuable use. There were three other squads out here, likely overtly hostile toward . I wanted as much of a warning as I could get if we found any. Running toward the strange trees made realize just how long it had been since I was doing anything really alone, not counting my brief fight in Smithtown. My only solo experience since arriving in the Spiral had been during my reading and so of my experints. It was a far cry from the solitude I had spent so much of the last few years in. Considering how open and alone I felt at the mont, was it possible I had beco numb to the loneliness during my self-imposed seclusion? Or had I just grown accustod that quickly to my new friends? Corey ssaged reminding I wasn’t even all that alone at the mont.
Corey: There are two people in the trees, likely waiting to ambush you. I do not believe they have spotted yet. Should I attack?
Dave: Not yet. Can you ti your attack for when I get close enough that they try to attack ?
Corey: Likely, yes.
Dave: Perfect, interrupt anything they attempt, and I’ll co in blasting after you.
The jesters and their puppets aren’t a myth, but most who have t them soon wish they were. What exactly are the puppets? Or perhaps it’s better to ask what the puppets were. When the jesters appear, people often go missing, and those with the misfortune to encounter the jesters again often report how lifelike and familiar their new puppets are. Should you ever find yourself exposed to a gathering of jesters, accept nothing they offer, be polite, and excuse yourself as soon as possible. Rember these rules, and you may just survive.
Another 117 Scary Stories for Sleepovers by S. M. Gri
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