Backwoods Dungeon

Chapter Thirty–Five

Phase

Rio

We were pretty sure that the whole building was donut-shaped already when we’d walked the circumference, opening empty cells. The lower floor confirmed this as the staircase let out into a rounded hallway similar to the ones above but this one was even wider than the cell block hall had been. There was a stone wall in the middle, which I could only assume housed the column of magma that rose to the floor above.

The place would’ve almost looked like a medieval ballroom if not for the decor. Wall sconces were plentiful here, lighting the edges of the room with pockets of firelight. Ancient pictures on the wall, housed in ornate frames that looked as valuable as they did old, seemed to indicate that whoever owned this place now was not the original owner. The pictures were of men and women. Kings and Queens. Knights in armor. Many of the faces appeared to have been scratched out or torn away, but some of the more ornate ones still remained.

What the hell was this place? A palace turned into a dungeon?

None of that mattered much to me. What was truly important was the wide set of closed double doors, well-lit by torchlight. They had the look and feel of an exit. We all came to a halt as we saw the creatures guarding it though.

There was a pack of gorilla dogs, their mouths wide enough to swallow a man whole, along with at least three of the muscley demons. Behind the three was a titanic-looking monstrosity that dwarfed even the jailers. At least eight feet tall, the creature was wearing hellish black armor that covered its whole body. At its side was an axe, and two enormous wings sprouted from its back that looked large enough to lift a dragon.

The only consolation was the fact that they looked as surprised to see us as we were to see them. They did not, however, look discouraged.

The dogs looked like vicious murder beasts, drool leaking from their mouths as they stared, just waiting for the command to be released, and the jailers didn’t look much tamer, each of them wielding one of those massive swords that none of us had been able to even lift.

“We’re going through that fucking door,” I said, as determination filled me. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Right. What are our gains?” Jody asked. “Anyone want to volunteer for the big guy?”

“Your minions,” I said instantly.

“Right.”

“I can get the dogs,” Tessa offered. “They’re going to be too fast for you all. Maybe me, too.”

“I’ll help,” Chester said. Whatever my first impression of him had been, the Goth Cleric certainly wasn’t a coward.

Carla, surprisingly, strode forward as well, holding that glowing mace she’d picked up from somewhere. The woman was glowing too, and the aura that spread out around her invigorated me. She was trembling, but she was standing. Apparently, the sobbing wreck had found her courage somewhere along the way, too. I still wasn't sure what class she'd picked, but my guess was Paladin.

“This is all so fucking surreal. Dante’s inferno shit,” I heard someone say. Todd, I thought. I hadn’t seen him using any abilities, so I assumed he hadn’t managed to kill any of the skeletons.

“I-I… I… can…” Emily tried to speak, but her voice faltered. I didn’t think she’d gotten more than one skill so far, and she’d chosen fireball against flaming skeletons. I hoped that would be more useful here, but my respect for the girl's intelligence had taken a drastic plunge.

We weren’t given any more time to deliberate as the jailers signaled, and the pack of gorilla dogs exploded toward us. They didn’t run in a group, but they spread out all over the place. One of them leaped up and somehow climbed along the ceiling towards us. Two went left and right, respectively, while the last two blitzed at us.

A fireball hurtled toward one of them, and I heard the creature whimper as the small bolt impacted with the force of a hammer. It wasn’t dead but it flopped backwards, stopped by the burn.

The other continued straight for us, and Tessa moved to intercept before I could blink. The girl must’ve been some sort of martial artist long before picking the Monk class, and it showed. The lumbering gorilla swung both its meaty fists at her, but she weaved under the swing before a lightning-infused punch smashed into it, causing the creature to scream in agony.

Chester followed her attack with a blast of white light that seemed much less effective on the demon dogs than it had been on the skeletons.

“Save for the big turret, or use the little ones, guys!?” I asked, plagued by sudden indecision. I still hadn’t gathered enough mana to use another one of those Frostbite Traps and I didn't think we had any more gold.

“Little ones!” Todd said. “Their range is bigger, and these things are fast! Slow them down!”

“Right!” I screamed before hurling traps ahead towards the individual fights.

The gorilla on the ceiling finally caught up with its brothers, and it leaped down, intending to crush Emily under its weight alone, but Carla met it with her mace like a batter at the pitch. The small Hispanic woman’s mace slammed into the falling gorilla’s outstretched hands with a sickening crack, and it was the gorilla’s wrists that broke rather than the mace. It flopped to the ground, whimpering, but Carla didn’t stop. A single overhead crack snapped the creature’s neck.

“W-wow,” I said. It had to be some sort of ability, and whatever it was, I was glad she picked it, mildly envious of whatever class she’d chosen.

The creature dropped a few pieces of gold, and I snatched them up. I saw a slight buckler fall to the ground, too, but I left that alone. Carla seemed overjoyed by it, though, as she picked up the shield and quickly set about strapping it to her left wrist.

I’d thrown my turrets to the sides since I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the two gorillas that had gone wide. Tessa seemed more than adept enough to dodge any swing her opponent could throw at her, and her electric punches were whittling away at the gorilla dog, but I wasn’t as confident she’d be able to fight two at once. Fortunately, my traps had a preternatural aim, and the bolts of ice began to freeze the two creatures before they even managed to get close. I only dared use two, though. The gorilla dogs weren’t our only enemies.

The Jailers were running as well. They weren’t as fast as their pets, but they charged as a group. A wall of muscle and flesh barrelling down on us that I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do anything about.

Jody’s skeletons rushed forward to meet them, but one of them was immediately set upon by the still living Gorilla that Emily’s fireball had initially struck. The girl was still active, though, and I saw another fireball smash into the same gorilla, this time scorching its back. The damage was already done, though, and Jody’s skeleton crumpled into a pile of bones.

Unperturbed, Jody merely turned to the fresh corpse of Carla’s victim, and soon, a skeletal gorilla dog joined the front line of our ranks just as the jailers reached Jody’s other two skeletons.

I threw out two more support turrets right behind the skeletons, but one of them, unfortunately, decided to target Tessa’s gorilla dog, wasting its bolts on an enemy that she had well in hand. The other started pelting the closest Jailer, but it didn’t stop the creature from swinging its massive sword and cleaving Jody’s weakest skeleton.

“Don’t you have a way to make those guys stronger, Jody!?” I asked.

The demonic jailer’s skeleton had lasted through the entire fight above and was still going strong as it moved with all the agility of its enemy. It struck out with the glowing mace and managed a few strong hits on the closest jailer before it, too, finally crumpled under two massive swings from those huge swords.

We all backed away as the hulking skeleton fell. Jody quickly set about reanimating the bones of Tessa’s finally dead Gorilla while Carla moved forward to intercept the steadily freezing jailer on the right.

“We don’t need to fight these guys,” I shouted. “We just need to make it to the door! Get them in range of my traps! The ice slows them! We can bumrush the big guy and get out of here!”

Chester seemed to like the idea and brought forth two of those white concussive lights, shoving his and Tessa’s opponent toward the highest concentration of my ice traps. I threw out one more, happy to see the demons growling with frustration as they desperately tried to dodge the incoming bolts.

We dashed through the opening as one. One of the gorilla dogs on the walls managed to leap out of my turret’s range and swiped at Todd, grabbing him by the waist with one massive hand, but Jody was there. Rather than try to physically overpower a fucking gorilla, the man poked it in the eye, and the gorilla dropped the terrified boy before it could take a bite like the one in the cell block had.

The two were back on their feet quickly, trailing the rear. Todd was certainly motivated enough by the near brush with death. I was near the front with Tessa, but I kept looking back to make sure all of us were okay. I took the opportunity to scoop up a few more pieces of gold for the precious mana they restored, but apparently, I could run faster than I thought.

My heart was beating out of my chest, and I could hardly breathe, but none of that seemed to matter. Adrenaline had taken over. We didn't even need to fight the giant demon knight. We just had to get to the door. Maybe Emily's fireballs could open it quickly?

Jody’s skeletons seemed to pop up the instant any of our opponents died, though so far, only the gorillas were providing him with bodies. I was starting to think we’d been extremely lucky killing that first jailer in the cell because the bastards would not go down. Huge but nimble, they still managed to dodge a good third of my traps' bolts despite their incredible aim and the bolts' ability to pass through my allies harmlessly. Still, that was enough to let us all run for the huge armored demon that hadn’t yet moved from the door.

The demon sighed as if irritated before slowly turning to us.

“That should be enough. So many. Master will be pleased…“ It said in the same deep voice from before. This was the creature that had awakened the skeletons, which I only now realized hadn’t followed us down the stairs.

The demon held up a black staff that seemed a bit plain next to the ornate armor he wore. I would’ve expected him to use the gigantic hammer at his side, but he ignored it.

The dark crystal atop the staff was suddenly lit with a black light that seemed to darken the world around me. I immediately felt the effects as bile rose in my throat. The others slowed as sickness seemed to rush through us.

Some sort of miasmic aura caused instant waves of nausea to wash through all of us. Chester was the only one who seemed unaffected, and he directed his healing light towards Tessa.

Jody crumpled first. Despite his obvious strength, he was still in his fifties at least. His body was weaker to sickening attacks like this. He threw up as he fell to his knees, and I didn’t think I would be far behind him.

I searched inward and found my only chance. There was no intuition as to how to use these abilities, but I imagined myself as a shadow. An invisible thing, untouched by the physical world. Maybe like one of those cute heartless from that game Theo played early in our relationship.

The ability activated. Phase.

I felt myself fade away from the corporeal world, my body becoming a dim shimmer in the background of reality. The sickness faded immediately as I was no longer affected by the outside world.

I also could no longer do anything. I saw a demonic jailer catch up to Chester and grab him, ending his healing light. The others were quickly overrun by the remaining jailers. More little imps appeared from around the corner with ropes to bind once more.

Tessa fell last. Something about the girl’s willpower or history allowed her to fight the sickness harder than any of the rest of us, but the jailers bound her as well.

I watched in horror, unable to do anything as I felt my batteries dwindle with the use of the skill. If I dropped it, I’d be caught too.

They didn’t seem to be able to see me anymore. I was terrified, but I crept closer and closer to that black light, immune to the sickening effect it had on the rest of us.

I couldn’t do anything for them. Not right now. I’d… just be caught. But I could come back. And I would.

I slipped through the door as if it were air, completely unnoticed, intangible tears trailing down my cheeks.