So he was right. Dungeons modified what was already there. In this case, you could still see some of the paint on the steelโwhat looked like the word "warning" was wrapped around its chest in block letters.
Thanks. I'll keep it in mind.
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๐๐๐๐๐๐ค:
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ (๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐) [โ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐]
๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฅ ๐ ๐๐๐ช ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ช.
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โ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ โ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ (๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐) [๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐]
๐ป๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ค ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐๐ช ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ ๐-๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค ๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค.
He looked for its weakness, and thought for a moment it had none. Then he squinted and saw itโthose slits with the boxes connected the joints where crate met pipe lit up red. It made sense. Punching it seemed like a very stupid idea. He might have seven Levels on the thing, but he was still pretty sure his hand wasn't harder than steel.
Dismantling it, though? Very doable.
It rushed him. It wasn't well-oiled; every joint of it creaked, squealed as it barreled past. He skated easily out of the way. Its enormous arms struck a tree, swiped clean through it, and it practically leapt off its stump. It crash-landed into another tree and snapped it in half too. Branches rained.
Yeah, I'm not getting close to that thing. So he drew out his chains and waited for it to circle back around, huffing and creaking.
When it came at him again, he ducked out and wrapped its near arm in a chain, sliding it right around the elbow, and yanked, jerking it close. Then he took the chance to wrap the other around the shoulder joint.
Promethean noose!
The chains flared white, and there was a shrill hissing. The golem tried wrenching out its arm, but once Zane had a bite, you'd have an easier time knocking him out than making him let go. He had that in deep, and he held.
Streams of melted steel dripped out. The arm began to sag. The golem let out another shriek, ripped hardโand ended up stumbling away, crashing to the ground.
Its arm flapped free the other way, still smoking. The joints glowed white-hot.
As the thing came up to a knee, it found a chain looping around its neck. It tried grabbing for it, but another caught it around the wrist, yanking it back. It went for another tumble. It wouldn't get back up.
Laws of Ignition danced down the chains' black length. He felt them bite into the thick steel of the neck, felt the hardness give way, felt his chains crunch in, squeezing out the slack. Steel pulled out in a steaming puddle. The golem jerked one last time and was still.
It was kind of like taking apart a very big Lego, Zane thought. Poor thing hadn't even gotten to fire off a skill.
One of these were no troubleโฆ but a horde of them rushing him at once? Interestingโฆ sounded like good fun.
The forest started clearing quick as he made his way deeper in. His mini map showed a clearing in the shape of a rectangle. And at its centerโฆ
Zane whistled. "Fuck. It's really still here."
This was where his warehouse used to be. It had been a plain metal box, aggressively nondescript. It was what he imagined purgatory must look like.
The monstrosity before him looked similarโhe could see how it got from there to here. But if his old warehouse was purgatory, this must be a circle of hell.
It was less warehouse and more fortress. Towering walls of corrugated metal streaked with rust and tar loomed against a bleak gray sky. It had two floors, the first a sprawling expanse of weathered steel and concrete, its flat windowless walls broken up only by a black maw of an entrance run over with barbed wire. Above, the second floor overhanging slightly, making it seem a watchful brooding presence. Tesla coils lining the roof buzzed slightly, giving the whole thing a flickering electric-blue halo.
He heard a constant rhythmic pounding, like hundreds of blacksmiths working at once, alongside the clanking of steel on steel. It was enough to give you a migraine.
After he got past the shock of it, Zane started to wonder. Were all the buildings still there, just changed somehow? Was his apartment some kind of death trap now, and what about the Seattle Needle, the Golden Gate Bridge, were they still there, justโฆ different?
He blinkedโa sound jerked him back to the present. Was that screaming? He looked up at his mini map.
New clusters showed up. White dots spread on the other side of the clearing. He frowned, staring across. There were corrugated steel plates thrown up on the other side of the clearing, right about where the dots were. Those were people. They'd barricaded themselves in.
Around them was a mass of X's.
There must have been the people trapped at the warehouse when integration came, the day shift people clocking in. This all used to be a parking lotโฆ
More red dots were ambling out of the fortress maw. More box golems. A cluster made for the people; out came a flurry of essenceโred and blue and whiteโmages? Bolts of pure essence split the air. That had to be from a bow, surely. The golems stumbled back, groaning. He heard shouts. There must have been dozens of themโ
"Are you crazy?!"
He blinked, turned, just as something grabbed him by the arm and yanked him behind the tree. He came face to face with an angry looking lady. She was sweating pretty hard. "Do you have a death wish?!" She hissed.
"Uhโ"
"What's your name?"
She was in her early 20s, with sharp eyes and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was dirt-streaked but still distractingly beautiful. She looked familiar. She wore a tattered brown jacket, and a pin there marked her out as a manager. In her hands was a long white staff, crowned with a glowing fist-sized blue gem.
"I'm Zane," he said.
"Get back to camp, now! The eastern front's going down, we need more bodies!"
He identified her.
ย
โ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ค (โ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐
โ๐๐๐ค๐ค: ๐ธ๐๐๐๐ค โ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐
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That was a lot stronger than he was expecting. A full ten levels over anyone he'd seenโexcept himself. She must've really gone after it.
She was still ranting. "You should know better than to wander out alone! Youโ"
She stopped to look at himโreally look at him. Then her demeanor totally changed. Her stern look froze, then melted. Her eyes went wide. She must've identified him too. "Uh," she said. She let him go. She went kind of limp.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm not from here."
A pause. "Who are you?"
"Zane Walker. I told you."
"No, I meanโdid the feds send you? Are you here to help us?"
"I'm here on my own. As for helpingโฆ" he was here to fight the bosses. But it did have the neat and pretty accidental benefit of helping these folks out, he supposed. He shrugged. "Sure. Why not? Who are you?"
"I'm Reina. I lead the survivors back there." She jerked her head at the barricades.
"I need you to do something for me," he said.
She nodded quickly.
"You've been here a while, yes?" He gestured to the fortress. "What's going on in there?"
She started telling him. She was stuttering a little, and he could tell this wasn't the sort of person used to stuttering.
He remembered where he'd seen her before. In the few times he'd visited the warehouse during the day, he'd seen this woman prowling the warehouse floor, stern-faced, snapping orders. No doubt that kind of attitude got her her role now. But speaking to him she was almost timid. Unlike those Snaring Thickets people, at least she could firmly meet his eyes.
Ever since integrationโmaybe ever since he started Levelingโhe seemed to have gotten this strange aura, the stranger effect. Everyone seemed constantly nervous around him. Part of it was the look. He was a lot bigger; he'd filled out a lot more; he dwarfed pretty much everyone he spoke to now. But it was more than that. Something about the power difference seemed to get to people.
She told him there were two floors, each with one boss, each with its own region. The first-floor boss was a steel brute of a thing, like those golems it spawned, only more so. It was Level 41, and surrounded by minions. The second-floor boss they'd only gotten a brief glimpse at. Level 48, and it wielded lightningโthat was all they knew. They had their hands full trying to fend off the first one.
48โฆ That was a pretty big jump.
"Did you find any treasure areas?" he asked.
She stared blankly at him. "You mean resource zones?"
"The yellow dots, whatever."
Reina looked a little guilty. "We took them all. We had to. There's that Cavern of Insight, but that's itโit's all outside. The insides are just boss lairs stacked on each other."
He mulled all this over in silence. "I can help you," Reina said suddenly. "Let me tag along."
He thought about it. It wasn't so much that he didn't trust her, more that he didn't her to not get in his way. "Appreciate the offer," he said. "But there's no need."
"Why not?" She looked wounded.
To be polite, he said, "I do better on my own."
"Iโmy subclass, Aegis Cleric, all it does is buff and protect!" she said. She seemed frustrated. "I chose it for them. I wanted to help."
She jerked her head back at the survivors. "But it'sโฆ it's not enough. Buff a Level 12, they still can't take out a Level 25 Golem. I'm trying so goddamned hardโฆbut I just, I can'tโฆ with you it'll be different. Let me help you end this. I swear you won't regret it!"
He considered her for a long moment.
"You're strong, but you're still fighting up a level gap," she said. "Especially against the second-floor boss. I can heal, make shields, cast buffsโI'll help bridge that."
Valid points.
"You'll have to fend for yourself. If they come for you, that's on you. I fight solo. I won't be able to protect you," he said at last.
"I don't want you to protect me," she said. There was steel in her eyes; it reassured him. She seemed for real. "I want you to end this."
"โฆ" He shrugged. "Alright."
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***
ย
"Ready?" said Reina.
He nodded, and she let out a breath, and her staff began to glow.
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๐๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ช: ๐น๐๐๐ค๐ค๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ โ๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ: ๐๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐%!
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ: โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐%!
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ!:๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ช ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐%
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Together, they marched for the first lair.
He heard shouts from the other side of the clearingโthe others must have seen him and Reina walking out. Seeing them striding up to the mouth of the first boss lair. They were greeted at the entrance by two box golems. One Level 24, one Level 25.
It was a simple game of keep away with these ones. Slip between them, away from them, keep the body out of reachโthen when the time was right, sling a noose around their necks, and clamp it tight. He burned through one, then the other with ease. Reina had barely gotten halfway through her spell. When he turned, he saw her staring at him. She shook herself out of it.
He heard the other survivors' shouts grow louder too. The maw of an entrance gaped at them. They strolled on through.
The moment they didโ
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๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐๐!
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐๐๐๐ฃ.
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A blue wall sealed the door behind them. He heard Reina's breath start to quicken, but when he took a sidelong glance at her he found her jaw set as strong as alwaysโthough her fingers were white-knuckled on the staff.
"I'm good," she gritted at him. "Let's do this."
The lair was run over with fat steel pipes, twisting up and down the walls, snaking over the floors. Gears and pistons whirred in a jarring symphony. Steam hissed from unseen vents, and the air was thick with the smell of oil and rusted steel. Steel racks stood here and there, seemingly at random. At the center of this mechanical mess stood the boss.
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๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ (๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐
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It was like four or five Box Golems strapped together; even sitting it towered twenty-odd feet. Its joints were strapped in by what looked like conveyer belt cables. In the middle of its torso lay its heartโthis dim yellow core which flared to life as it stood.
It loomed over them, gears whirring, eyes shining a bright red light.
Zane licked his lips. Okay. Let's dance.