Monroe

Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Six. No time.

Bob looked at the row of bodies uneasily.

"This was a lot easier when they were in nice little boxes," he muttered.

"Stasis is stasis," Amanda shrugged as she finished loading a row of bodies into her inventory.

Wincing, Bob began working his way down the longest row, storing each one in his inventory, all under the watchful eyes of a couple of thousand Urlinad who had gathered to witness the event.

Tyolad had given a stirring speech, promising to return after all the other cities had been liberated by the Avatars.

It was a relief when he'd finished by ordering the clergy to activate their 'Dungeon Born' skill before activating it himself.

Bob was eager to put Kulaod in his rearview, as were his friends. They'd spent almost six weeks here, and while they'd managed to grind a bit, it was only about a third of the time.

"Hoover up that lot, yeah?" Jessica's voice came through his earpiece. "I'm keen on getting back up to the Freedom and having a coolie."

Bob resisted the urge to shake his head. Tyolad had asked him to store their bodies ceremonially, or if he couldn't manage that, with a degree of decorum and dignity.

He walked down the row, touching each of the Urlinad in turn, until finally, he tapped Tyolad.

He turned to look up at the crowd of Urlinad that surrounded him.

Not knowing quite what to say to the obviously expectant crowd, he cleared his throat. "I don't know exactly how long it will take for us to liberate the rest of your cities," he began. "While you await our return, keep delving the Dungeon. Every level you gain now will make your return to Url easier."

He dropped into a portal, falling to the ground at the exit to the Dungeon that housed the city of Kulaod and it's two hundred thousand-plus residents. "I'll drop a portal on the other side," Bob said as he stepped through.

Dungeon 4578G8249N98ISS2PM9D.

Capacity 4%

Estimated time until overflow 8 solar cycles.

User tier eight, evolved. User grouped with eleven other sapient beings, tier eight.

Dungeon completed at Tier Ten, Level Fifty-Two.

Would you like to exit the Dungeon?

Yes/No.

Bob mentally projected 'Yes' as he exited the Dungeon, immediately opening a portal, positioning the terminus in the sky above. Stepping through the portal, he activated his armor's 'Flame Feather' infusion, hovering in the sky as he waited for the rest of his group to join him.

Looking down, he noted that there weren't nearly as many monsters as he'd expected, only a couple of them. As his friends appeared, he nodded to the monsters below them. "We'll have to see if that becomes a pattern."

"I'd wager that they aren't rushing in because there aren't any people or monsters for them to fight," Mike said.

"We can check the video when we get up to the Freedom," Dave replied.

"Speaking of which, Bob?" Amanda asked. "Mind opening up that portal?"

Nodding, Bob began casting his Portal ritual. While the Freedom wasn't home, not really, it was a lot closer than the Eire habi-cubes they'd been living in.

Bob walked into the cabin, freshly showered and shaved and feeling much more refreshed after a good night's sleep.

"Good morning," Harv said cheerfully.

He was kneeling on the floor, giving Carson, his golden retriever, a belly rub.

"I'm guessing the goodest of boys was happy to see you?" Bob asked as he settled down into a chair at the table.

"He was," Harv agreed. "I'm going to bring him in his crate from now on."

Bob nodded. Almost everyone had a pet, but Bob had been the only one to bring his, in no small part because Monroe could, and would, use his 'Home' ability to join his human-servant if Bob left him on the Freedom.

"Yeah, that was way too long, even with the automatic feeders, waterers, and litter boxes," Bob agreed.

Red Fang and Icing Death had not been pleased to have been separated from their human-servants for over a month. Icy had expressed her displeasure by peeing on the bed shared by Bailli and Erick, while Red Fang the Mighty had managed to get behind Eli's dresser, wriggle up past the drawers, and then use the top most drawer as a litter box.

Reximus had simply torn everything in Eddi and Wayna's room to shreds.

Bob frowned for a moment as he thought about the familiars.

'Trebor, we were using the Arcane Familiar paths to pretty good effect,' he began. 'Considering that everyone had to spend a skill point for the familiar skill, and the familiar had to accept the bond, shouldn't those paths still be offered? I understand that the System doesn't want to give out paths that can't kill monsters, but honestly, they weren't going to be doing that on their own anyway.'

'Would you like me to submit an anomaly report?' Trebor asked.

'Please,' Bob mentally projected.

He was the only one who had tiered up his familiar, with Eddi breaking down and having Wayna enchant a collar that let him bring Reximus down to the size of Carson.

"So," Bob began, "how are we feeling about the next Dungeon?"

Harv shook his head as he continued to lavish affection on Carson. "Like this is going to be an endless grind," he replied before looking around quickly. "No pun intended. Glad Eddi wasn't here for that one," he sighed. "I know we have to do it, but I'd like it to be done and over with."

Bob nodded.

The plan had been to find an appropriate planet, clear it for the rewards, and then grind a bit. They'd thought it would be a three-month excursion, maybe six at the most.

No one had planned on spending over a year, maybe even as much as two years, away from their other friends and family.

The general consensus of the crew of the Freedom was that while this was real adventurer work, it was a damned long time to be away.

"We'll grind it out as quickly as we can," Bob promised. "We won't be in the next one for nearly as long, and we're constantly getting stronger. Every spell level, every threshold means we can clear the Dungeon that much more quickly."

"Just eighty-one more to go," Harv sighed.

Bailli liked to think of herself as a generally happy person. She had Erick and her friends and even a kitty of her own. She was so far from her youth and the tragedy that took her parents that she sometimes had trouble believing just how far she'd come. She was tier eight, with power that would have challenged even the mightiest noble in Harbordeep.

She owed a lot of that to Bob. Not Erick, of course, but the rest of it had come about almost entirely from falling into Bob's orbit.

Still, she hadn't offered to join him on his adventures across reality out of a sense of obligation, not really. She'd done it because she'd been able to see, as clear as day, what would happen if she didn't

She and Erick would have settled down, building a nice house. He would have started teaching because it was something he loved, and she would have started researching ritual magic more deeply.

They would have cut down their hours in whatever Dungeon they were nearest to because they were powerful enough as it was, and repetition breeds boredom.

She would have become pregnant, and they would have settled down even further. Knowing that she would never want any child, let alone her own, to suffer as she had, she would have stopped delving entirely.

After thirty years and two or three children, something she and Erick hadn't fully decided on yet, how eager would she be to start delving again?

Bailli knew she wasn't alone. In one way or another, most of the group had expressed similar feelings. Yes, they'd come out here with Bob because he was their friend, but moreover, he was driven in a way that they were not.

She knew that she had more than pulled her weight in the group. In many ways, Bob was actually the weakest link. He'd focused on going it alone for so long that his path was designed for doing so. Summoning was definitely a utility specialization, one that allowed someone to fill in the gaps of a group. Amanda and Eddi both brought more to the table, their summons providing a buff to the damage dealt by all other sources, or in Eddi's case, a debuff.

No, she was generally happy, and she knew she was one of the group's heavy hitters, but the truth of the matter was that being cooped up on this planet was driving her mad.

She checked the display on her armband.

It told her that they were dropping to the next Dungeon in forty-five minutes.

She let out a sigh as she sat up, tossing aside the covers. This was going to be the first of the underwater Dungeons, which meant that it might be different from the other two layouts they'd been grinding through for the past eight months. Of course, it was also underwater, which was a concern. They all had the collars they'd been given by NASA, so breathing wouldn't be an issue, nor would the temperature difference, something she hadn't even considered until Dave had brought it up.

No, it was the way lightning reacted to water that was her primary concern.

The group had worked out a plan, although it required finding a defensible location where they could slaughter the monsters as they came or lure them in. Erick, her brilliant, handsome partner, had offered to cast a ritual to create an air pocket for them, allowing Bailli and Dave to continue to contribute, Dave suffering the same issue with his Acid Blasts as she had with her Lightning Blasts.

"Thirty-three," she mumbled as she moved over to her dresser, picking up a brush, and starting the process of combing the tangles out of her hair.

There were thirty-three Dungeons remaining to be cleared, and they were all under the oceans, although they were also all along the coast, as apparently, the Urlinad hadn't colonized the true depths of their oceans.

Amanda had suggested that while they could likely withstand the pressure of deeper water, thanks to their natural affinity for Endurance, they didn't appear to have developed the senses needed to live in the complete darkness of the ocean depths.

Regardless, the first city was a mere sixty feet under the waves.

Erick walked out of the bathroom, running a hand through his damp hair. He leaned against the doorjamb and smiled. "I haven't told you how much I love you today, have I?"

Bailli snorted. "I woke up three minutes ago, so no, you haven't had the chance," she replied.

"Well," he moved behind her, looking at her face in the mirror, "allow me to rectify that egregious error. I love you so very, very much," he lifted her hair and kissed the side of her neck. "Your beauty is only exceeded by your wit and brilliance," he continued, kissing his way up to her ear.

She closed her eyes. "I love you too, but we have a Dungeon to delve and Urlinad to save."

"Thirty-three to go," he whispered in her ear.

Bob blinked, trying to focus his eyes as he looked at the video feed coming from the drone that had just dove beneath the waves.

He had pushed himself even harder than he'd pushed his team, and it was taking a toll.

He'd known that two weeks for each Dungeon was too long. After Kulaod, he'd pushed Tyolad and the rest of the Urlinad clergy hard. They'd managed to get a batch of the locals pathed up in a week and a half.

The looks on his friend's faces told him that they'd been able to do that math as well.

In the next Dungeon, he'd enacted a radical plan. For five days, Tyolad and his clergy, along with Bob and his friends, had driven the locals through exhaustion. Replacing calories with food, they'd leaned hard on their natural Endurance affinity, pushing them further than humanly possible.

Of course, as Wayfarers, they weren't human themselves.

Surprisingly, Tyolad and his clergy had wholeheartedly embraced this plan. The High Priest had explained that the gods were not meant to be kind and that they only rewarded their faithful with the opportunity to survive extraordinary circumstances if they proved their devotion by struggling through the trials placed before them.

Ancestral Blessings Available.

Robert Whitman, He Who Walks Before, The Reef, The Redeemer, Light Bringer, [Lord of Blight], [Harbringer of Tribulations]

Venerating this being allows you to allocate skill points to share in some of his skills.

Mana Sight

Mana Manipulation

Enduring Sphere - Arcane

Summon Mana-Infused Object

It was clearly working. He'd picked up a new title, as had the others.

The exhaustion was even working to their advantage, as five days without sleep made even the most patient amongst them a little snappish, which was exactly what the Urlinad expected from their pantheon.

Of course, it wasn't just the Urlinad that had suffered from their frayed tempers.

To that end, he'd told everyone to take two days to catch up on their sleep and try to relax. He'd then extended that to three when he'd been unable to rouse everyone.

They'd then spent a day working out a plan for dealing with the Dungeons that were under the sea. Bailli and Dave were both going to be more dangerous to the party than to the monsters, but Erick had come through for them.

Bob didn't look down on Divine Magic. In his mind, the Elemental control spells were second in utility only to Summon Mana-Infused Object. He simply lacked faith.

Erick had assured them that he could use his Control Air spell to create a bubble around the party, allowing them to fight the monsters without their two Conjurers being rendered useless.

As he watched the drone footage, he noticed two things. First, the ruined city it was approaching wasn't terribly large. He had some experience with Urlinad cities at this point, and he guessed it had contained forty, maybe fifty thousand people.

The second was the monsters.

Bob had accepted the reality of monsters more easily than most of the people from Earth. He'd been so concerned about Monroe, locked in his apartment with an ever-dwindling supply of food, that he'd simply rolled with it. The System liked to throw animals into a blender and hit frappe. Whatever.

There were, however, occasions when he felt the System had perhaps gone too far.

This was one of those instances. Crabs should have neither what looked like venomous spikes nor tentacles.