Monroe

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy-Nine. Now we really don't have a choice.

"Our world is infested with these beasts?" Gualla asked, aghast at the idea.

"Overrun would probably be a better way to describe it," Bob replied.

"And we're not actually in our world?" Gualla continued.

"Nope, you're in a Dungeon, which is a special type of pocket dimension," Bob frowned. "Sort of like my inventory space, but much more complicated, of course, much larger."

"What happens now?" Gualla asked.

"Well, there are eighty-three other Dungeons that we need to clear in order to stop the overflow, at which point the monsters on your world will eventually dissipate, although you'll need to keep the Dungeons cleared so they don't overflow again," Bob explained.

"How? Our bravest protectors weren't able to do more than purchase us a few seconds with their lives," Gualla demanded.

"The System provides," Bob replied grimly. "Dungeons scale. Not only won't you have to fight monsters as powerful as the ones you saw here, but you won't even be allowed to. The monsters you fight will be your own tier and level, or at most, one level higher. You'll kill the monsters to earn the crystals to become more powerful, to fight more powerful monsters, to become more powerful, to protect your people."

"How can we trust this System when it has already claimed so many lives?" Gualla asked.

Bob frowned. "The System, as far as I've been able to determine, is completely amoral. Its only concern is keeping energy circulating to prevent the heat death of the universe. It has determined that sapient beings, such as ourselves, are the best method for doing so. It doesn't care how many people die as long as the energy keeps moving. I may not agree with it, but I have to live with it, as you do you."

"The System says we're going to be stored away until the quest to clear our world is complete," Gualla said. "How long do you think it will take?"

"Can I see that System notification?" Bob asked.

"I don't know how to share it," Gualla shook her head.

"Just will it to display," Bob advised.

A moment later, the notification appeared.

Congratulations!

A group of sapient beings has reached your planet and been tasked to remove the overflow condition from the Dungeons.

Once the overflow condition of the Dungeons has been eliminated, you will be released from stasis. At this point, you will be responsible for keeping the Dungeons from overflowing.

The names of your Saviours will be made available, permanently, to all the users they save.

"The System is going to place you in stasis, which is basically like going to sleep. You'll wake up and have no idea how much time has passed," Bob assured her.

"Can't I come with you?" Gualla asked. "If it's going to take time for you to save my people, it would be time better spent learning about this System so that I can explain what needs to be done when you finish."

"I don't know," Bob said slowly. "I mean, this has never happened to us before. The whole putting people into stasis, when the System activates in a new universe is actually a very recent development. Maybe I could smuggle you out in my inventory?" He mused.

"Please, I'm certain I can be of assistance when you meet with more of my people," Gualla pleaded.

"I'm willing to try it, I just don't know for sure what will happen," Bob hedged. "The System might pull you right out of my inventory and put you into stasis, it might put you in stasis in my inventory, it might not let me leave with you in there," He shook his head. "I just don't know."

"I would like to join you with Laura as well," Lara said quietly, speaking for the first time since they'd sat down. "Lara has just lost her father, as well as the children of Kessen that she cared for. She has been explaining what happened to the Avatar of Kessen, and already her tail droops less."

Bob looked over at Monroe, who was sprawled indolently on a huge shaded cat bed that Bob had summoned to ensure the comfort of his Divine Feline Overlord. Lara was leaning up against the massive Maine-coon, her face and the upper half of her body hidden in his ruff. He squinted but he couldn't have said if her tail was drooping more or less than it had.

"It's entirely possible that this entire experiment will fail, and you'll implode or something when I try to leave with you in my inventory," Bob said.

"Implode?" Gualla asked.

Bob paused. She'd said the word slowly and in English. "Implode is the opposite of explode," he explained. He was paying attention to what he was saying and noticed that explode was translated over by the System. "Imagine an explosion, only stead of going out, it focuses in."

"Oh," Gualla replied. "I've never heard of that."

"It's something my people discovered through the study of fluid dynamics, at least initially," Bob explained.

"Still, I'd rather risk that than lose the chance for Lara to continue healing. It will be hard enough as it is," Laura said.

Bob narrowed his eyes. "How much of this is just not wanting to go back into stasis?" He asked.

"Some of it," Gualla agreed, while Lara nodded.

"Alright," Bob sighed. "I'll try."

Dungeon 4578G8249N98ISS2PM3D.

Capacity 92%

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.

"Well, the good news is that we stopped the overflow," Bob shook his head. "The bad news is, we only bought eight days."

"We should have some time before the forces from the other Dungeons get here," Amanda mused. "It ought to be safe out there, at least at the moment."

"We're heading right back in to burn down some more of the capacity, right?" Mike asked. "Because there is no way we can clear another eighty-three Dungeons in eight days."

"How about, and maybe I'm just crazy, we drop it down to tier nine?" Jack suggested. "Those auras are an unwelcome change, and if we are speed running, why subject ourselves to them? We'll have plenty of time to suffer once we've completed the quest. It's not like we're going to end up farming this planet anyway."

"I'll bet that we'll get better rewards if we complete the quest at tier ten instead of tier nine or even eight," Amanda said firmly.

"I have to agree with my little loot goblin," Dave grinned. "The rewards we pulled from the Eire world for our first clears were much better than the rewards we pulled from the couple of first clears we managed on Thayland."

"I do like loot," Jack grumbled.

"Let's get out and jump back in, yeah?" Jessica gestured toward the exit. "We know we need to drop this place to zero capacity, and now that we've cleared it once, the clock is ticking."

Bob nodded and mentally projected 'Yes' to the System notification.

He stepped forward a few paces and then turned around to look behind the Dungeon entrance. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he could see that the jungle had grown up over the ruins of Meluben.

He winced as a sharp stab of pain lanced through his pain.

'Well, I can confirm that I'm unable to pilot even a ritually summoned monster out of the Dungeon,' Trebor said.

'I had a flash of pain for a split second,' Bob mentally projected. 'I'm guessing that was your attempt failing and the reconnection.'

'I believe so,' Trebor replied. 'That does mean that my occupying a ritually summoned monster is a rather expensive proposition. Assuming you're able to garner the usual reward of one hundred to one hundred and twenty mana crystals as a reward for each delve, that leaves little or no profit.'

'Maybe if we put you in a ritual summons before you go in, you'll be able to come back out?' Bob suggested.

'In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I'm more than willing to make the attempt,' Trebor offered.

"What are you looking at, handsome?" Jessica asked, pulling him from his thoughts as she slid an arm under his.

"I'm looking at what I think was Meluben," Bob pointed at the ruins.

"I think you're right," Jessica murmured. "Do you still have those three in your inventory? I won't lie, I sort of half expect that whole thing to just be some crazy System shenanigans."

"I'll find out," Bob replied, dropping a portal at his feet and falling into his inventory.

He hadn't actually needed to do so, as he could see into his inventory, and he knew the three Urlinads were alive and well.

"Good news," Bob said as he landed in his living room. "I was able to bring you out of the Dungeon with me."

"That is good news," Gualla smiled. "What now? Will you move to another city?"

"No, not yet," Bob shook his head. "We dropped the mana levels of the Dungeon down to ninety-two percent, which means it will overflow again in eight days. We need to drop it further, as we won't be able to clear the other eighty-three Dungeons in that time period. We'll have to sort of stagger things," he explained. "We'll drop this one to zero, which will give us a hundred days, then we'll clear the next, but we'll only clear it down to three percent or so instead of zero. That will put us at ninety-seven days. We'll keep that pattern up, and we should end up with every Dungeon cleared and maybe ten days before they start overflowing again."

"Doesn't that mean in ten days, the monsters will be back?" Lara asked.

"No," Bob shook his head. "As soon as we complete the quest, all of your people should be released from stasis, and you can start delving the Dungeons yourself to keep them under control. It'll probably require almost everyone to delve to do so, but honestly, you should be doing that anyway."

"I'm not sure we'll be able to do that,' Gualla shook her head sadly.

"You'll be fine," Bob replied with a smile. "Believe me, when the monsters are level one, you can quite literally beat them to death with a stick. I know, that's what I did."

"Can we try?" Lara asked suddenly. "Hoalda is gone, but I will fight to protect Laura."

"Let us do another run," Bob said slowly. "I'm pretty sure the Dungeon is going to be different now that we've completed the quest to save everyone in Meluben, and I'd like to know what you'll be facing. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

He fell through another portal, dropping next to Amanda, who was surrounded by the rest of the group.

"They're fine," he announced.

"Shit," Jack muttered.

"What, did you want them to die?" Bailli asked sharply.

"No, but that means they're real, which means we have to complete the quest," Jack sighed. "Saving the world is Bob's thing, not mine."

"Not mine either," Bob protested.

"Sure it's not," Elli said with a grin. "I mean, your not the heroic type, you'd never throw yourself in front of a monster wave to save a family you don't know."

"You certainly wouldn't hand out secret affinity crystals and paths to a bunch of kids you've never met," Eddi agreed.

"Or help your waitress regrow her arm," Bailli added.

"That's just on Thayland," Dave said. "He saved our whole damn planet."

"Let's get back in there," Bob said quickly. "I'm going to try and bring a ritual summons in with me, the one I had summoned in there couldn't come out."

"Yeah, how are you doing that again?" Eddi asked.

"Super special hero powers," Wayna said sagely.

The Dungeon looked the same, but the quest had changed.

New Quest!

Meluben has been overrun by monsters! The rituals that prevent the volcano above the city from erupting are in danger of failing!

Kill the monsters, 0/10,000

Locate the Temples, 0/10

Seal the Ritual Chambers 0/10

Defeat the Elite Monsters that are drawn to the Rituals 0/10

Bob winced as Trebor snapped back into place. 'Well, that apparently didn't work,' Bob mentally projected.

'No, I'm afraid it did not,' Trebor agreed.

"What is an 'Elite' monster?" Eddi asked.

"A bigger, badder version of a normal monster," Dave explained.

"It doesn't look like your summon made it through," Amanda observed.

"Nope," Bob sighed. "Which is disappointing."

"Let's get our effects rolling," Mike said. "We can't assume that we'll be facing the same monsters, not with the quest having changed. Treat this like a brand new Dungeon."

Bob nodded and fought back the urge to wince as he burned another eight mana crystals on his Eternal Servants. 'Rule Six,' he reminded himself. Summoning out Jake as a Defender, he followed the group as they advanced toward the ruined wall.

He felt a touch of deja vu as the monsters flowed over the wall. They appeared, on initial inspection, to be the same ones they had fought before. The auras certainly felt the same. Spells blazed and summons charged as the battle began.

"What if I don't want to go into the big scary temple?" Dave asked. "I've run enough campaigns, hell, I've written enough campaigns to know that this is where things go badly."

"Not really an option, babe," Amanda replied idly.

"We've cleared everything except the temples, and there are only ten monsters left, so I figure they'll basically be mini-bosses," Jack said.

Quest updated!

Meluben has been overrun by monsters! The rituals that prevent the volcano above the city from erupting are in danger of failing!

Kill the monsters, 9,990/10,000

Locate the Temples, 10/10

Seal the Ritual Chambers 0/10

Defeat the Elite Monsters that are drawn to the Rituals 0/10

"How bad can they possibly be?" Eddi asked.

The answer, it turned out, was pretty damn bad. The Elite Monsters were combinations of the mantis and quill beasts. It remained bipedal and kept the exoskeleton but now boasted quills and a venomous stinger, along with a fifty percent increase in size.

They found it in the center of the temple, where a long shaft capped with a crystal at the top allowed light to stream in, showcasing an elaborate, active ritual circle, which the monster was trying to destroy.

The fight was a little disappointing. Jack and Mike took turns acting as the beacon, allowing Erick and Jessica to focus their healing on the active tank while everyone else just poured on the damage. It did explode every so often, sending quills out toward everyone, with an added bonus of venom on the quills, but it wasn't anything that the team couldn't handle. It turned out that there were a set of four levers that needed to be pulled in order to seal the four entrances to the chamber, which they did after they'd won.

"One down, nine to go," Bailli said happily, having been able to fully stack her ability that increased her damage.

"One almost down, eleven to go," Erick corrected. "Clearing this Dungeon down to zero is something we should focus on doing as quickly as possible, especially now that we know the layout."