The Mad Rat’s Lab

This chapter has a different POV.

 

Jonny and Pony proceed with the dungeon exploration while talking between themselves.

“Hey, Jonny. I’m sure there wasn’t a hole there when we crossed this tunnel before.”

“What hole…?” Jonny looks at the place Pony is pointing at. “Oh! It’s true. There wasn’t a hole there before.”

“Isn’t it weird? Is the dungeon changing in real-time?”

“I don’t think so, never heard of it before. But there’s a rumor circulating through the forums about these kinds of things happening before…”

“W-what kind of rumor? Is it scary?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s scary, but… They say that there’s something hidden in the dungeon’s walls. Something dangerous, extremely dangerous. And it’s related to these holes.”

Jonny then partially hides his face and starts to talk in the tone people use to tell ghost stories.

“They say, once you enter the dungeon, a secret mechanism activates, and holes start to appear everywhere in the dungeon walls and floors. Then, sometimes, you can hear a rumbling sound through the tunnels. The more holes that appear, the stronger the sound. There’s no one who has confirmed it yet, but they say that, if you are really unlucky, you are going to face whatever makes that sound and you are going to die. That there’s no way to escape. See? If you stay silent for enough time, you can sometimes hear the sound coming from a random tunnel. Like right now!”

“...p-please, stop! Don’t scare me! I’ll believe anything regarding this dungeon after so many surprises, so don’t tell me things like that!”

Pony is trembling in fear, scared of whatever happens in the dungeon. But the reaction Jonny has is the exact opposite.

“Hahahaha!” Laughing so much he drops on the floor, Jonny tries to calm Pony. At the same time he makes fun of him. “Don’t worry that much, you scaredy cat! Hahaha! With your luck, I’m sure we’re never going to encounter it. Also, I’m sure it’s a fake rumor. There must be a weird mechanism that creates the holes. It’s just that nobody has found the origin yet! Hahaha!”

“I-it isn’t f-funny, ok!? I-i was scared shitless!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Just at that moment, from one of the nearby tunnels, they start to hear a rumbling sound. It sounds like a multitude of objects striking a hard surface at high speeds. And it's getting closer.

“Aaaaah!” Shouting aloud, Pony immediately starts to run in the opposite direction.

Jonny, who an instant ago was rolling on the floor, laughing, stands up as fast as he can and chases after Pony. His previous smile, replaced by fear.

“H-hey! W-wait for me! Don’t leave me alone!”

 

---

 

“Haaah, hah… Jonny… W-what was that…?”

“...hah, hah… I… I don’t know. Haaah… and I don’t want to know…”

Exhausted, Jonny and Pony stop running only when they reach the first laboratory zone. Lucky them, they didn’t encounter any danger after hearing the rumbling sound.

“There’s a golden rule for exploring this dungeon: you should never investigate those things you don’t understand. That’s, of course, unless you don’t care about dying. If you are ok with it, then you can freely investigate. And you’ll be treated as a hero by the other players if you explain what you discovered.”

“I don’t care about fame or being a hero. I just don’t want to find whatever was making the rumbling noise.”

“Me neither, I just want to reach the end of this dungeon and clear it. So that I can brag about it.”

“Hey, why do you care so much about clearing this dungeon? I already cleared it once and I don’t find the need to brag about it at all…”

“You are still too noob to understand. You must have failed at least twice before you can understand the meaning behind it!”

Jonny rubs his nose after talking as if he was proud of his previous failures.

“If you say so…”

“I say it because it’s true.” Jonny stands up and leans against the wall. He then spies what’s inside the next room. “Anyway! It’s time for the first big fight. Let’s defeat this guy with the lab coat and move on. With the two of us, it’s going to be a breeze! Hahaha!”

“Ok… Please protect me.”

“Yeah, sure!”

Several machines and laboratory equipment fill the room. Cables, pots, containers filled with suspicious-looking liquids... There are also several capsules of multiple sizes, all of them glowing and providing enough light to illuminate the whole room.

Inside, standing completely still next to an ominous operating table, on top of which blood stains still remain, stands the enemy they must face. It would look like a normal human if not for the long and pointy ears, and the short and muscular limbs.

“Hyahaha! Dieeee!”

Jonny shouts and runs inside the laboratory wielding his greatsword. Noticing the intruder, the monster, called Lab Assistant, makes a jump over several tables and laboratory equipment to land right next to Jonny. With a loud impact sound, a shockwave occurs and Jonny takes some damage.

“Hahaha! Is that all!? I’m going to crush you to death! Hey Pony, take care of the lightning rod first! I’ll keep him busy!”

Lightning strikes Jonny from a metal rod inside the room. It isn’t very big and the damage it deals is low, but it can’t be ignored. A few seconds later, lightning is released from the metal rod again, this time against one of the support units.

“Sure, leave it to me!”

Pony casts a spell. Several energy balls, called Magic Missiles, appear near the tip of his staff. Not long after, they accelerate and strike the metal rod. Pony repeats the process another time and the metal rod is destroyed.

“Done! I’ll support you now!”

At that moment, an ice nova is released from the Lab Assistant, encasing Jonny and most support units in ice.

“Shit! Why did it trigger so fast!? It should have triggered when it was at half HP and not now!”

“I have no idea! If you don’t know, how am I supposed to know? I don’t remember the condition for it to trigger because the last time was a long time ago… I also only saw it one time for each Lab Assistant.”

The Lab Assistant takes this chance to hit and kill a few of the support units. They can’t defend themselves, so it’s a foregone conclusion. What’s weird is that the Lab Assistant is killing the invaders with a pencil, stabbing them repeatedly until they die.

Finally released from the ice, Jonny quickly resumes fighting against the Lab Assistant.

“Pony, be careful and ready for more tricks! I don’t know what has changed, so we should be ready to face whatever comes at us.”

“I know!”

As Jonny continues to exchange blows with the Lab Assistant, Pony supports him from behind, continuing to cast spells. The Lab Assistant casts a Fireball and throws it where the rearguard is standing. Pony was paying attention and manages to avoid it, but a few support units aren’t as lucky and the fire consumes them, with two dying from the fire damage.

Engaged in melee combat, Jonny is getting angry. “Fuck! It’s starting to kill too many mobs! We must quickly finish it!”

“Then I won’t hold anything back! You ready!?”

“I always am! Hahaha! Give it death!”

Pony casts his strongest spell. Light condenses on the tip of his staff until it gets so bright it’s impossible to look at. Then, the light is released in a continuous stream toward the Lab Assistant.

“My MP is going to be depleted! This spell deals very high damage but the MP consumption is no joke!”

“Don’t worry! It’s more important to kill it as soon as possible! Keep going!”

The Lab Assistant’s HP bar is decreasing at an astonishing rate. Only a second after Pony casts his spell, its HP is reduced to under a third of its maximum. A second ice wave is released from the Lab Assistant at that exact moment, immobilizing every close invader and killing a few.

The Lab Assistant then tries to cast another Fireball spell against the immobilized invaders, but before it can, Pony’s spell kills it and the Lab Assistant drops to the floor, dead.

“Fuck! I knew it still had some trick! I didn’t expect to release a second ice wave… Well, at least we killed it before it was too late.”

“I’m sorry, I caused it to release the second ice wave...”

“Naaah! It would have activated anyway. You did a good job killing it so fast. If it managed to cast that last Fireball, only you and I would have survived.”

“That’s also true… But now I don’t have MP, so I’m useless.”

“Yeah… But I prefer it this way. Also, for the next area, we mostly need good luck. And with your luck, I’m sure it’s going to be ok! Hahaha!”

“...again, no pressure at all…”

 

After a short rest, Pony and Jonny enter the Freezer area. Filled with Stitched, corpses, and partially frozen body parts, this area is the worst for Pony so far.

“Ugh… I don’t feel so good, I want to puke… I don’t remember this part being so… disgusting. I think last time there were fewer corpses and gore. And I don’t like it! When are we going to enter the next area?”

“Depends on the paths we take. If you choose correctly, it’s going to be soon. So… which path? The right or the left?”

“I don’t know… let’s pick the right.”

“Ok, let’s go!”

Jonny strides forward, but when he steps on the ground, a nearby corpse explodes with a disgusting squelch. The whole area is now covered with an extra layer of blood and gore.

“Buaagh! I can’t stand it anymore!”

“Bleeeegh! I’m now covered in it! That’s why I hate this area so much! It isn’t only dangerous, but also extremely gross.”

“...don’t need to convince me… Ugh… I want to leave it as soon as possible.”

Not long after, Jonny and Pony find themselves in another room covered in blood and body parts. In front of them, a group of Stitched is shambling through the room.

“Let’s kill them fast and leave the area, ok?”

“Yeah…”

They quickly engage with the Stitched squad. But Pony is out of MP, and most of their support units have died, so they can’t kill them as fast as they wanted. During the fight, two more Stitched squads enter the room and join the fray, surrounding them. Also, more steps and moans can be heard from the adjacent tunnels.

“It looks like your luck has run out, my friend! Hahaha!” Even in this situation, Jonny laughs. Something in his brain must have been damaged due to the repeated failures.

“...I’m sorry. I couldn’t carry us out of here.”

Regret stricken on his face, Pony apologizes to Jonny.

“Hey, don’t be like this. Don’t need to apologize! You can still leave this place if I open a path for you and block them with my everything. So go, leave me here! I’m already used to dying like this, hahaha!”

“No! I won’t abandon you!”

“Do as you see fit, but don’t complain if we both die together, ok!? So… this is our last stand, huh?”

“...don’t be so ominous, please.”

“Hahahaha!”

Surrounded by Stitched, Jonny, Pony, and their support units try to keep the enemies at bay. They choose a corner so that they aren’t attacked from all sides at the same time. The disgusting monsters hit them with their all, attacking with their deformed fists and limbs. And when they can’t reach the invaders, the Stitched instead throw poisonous spit from their mouths.

Pony and Jonny fight with their all, but the Stitched are relentless and don’t mind getting killed if they manage to kill the invaders, sacrificing themselves for defending the dungeon. Jonny ends up taking too much damage and is on the verge of dying, and though most Stitched had been dealt with, some of them still remain.

“Heee… It looks like I’m going to die here… My HP is close to zero. Hey, won’t you have a healing spell?”

“...I’m sorry. I do, but I don’t have enough MP…”

“Well… you did your best. It was the best invasion into this damned dungeon I had. Hahaha…” The last two remaining Stitched attack Jonny at the same time. “Good luck, Pony. I hope you can finish the dungeon for both of us. I’m sorry we couldn’t reach the end together… Ughh…”

These are Jonny’s last words before dying.

“Nooo! Jonny! Don’t die on me! And don’t leave me alone! I’m scared!”

Crying over his teammate’s dead body, Pony doesn’t notice that there’s now a phantasmal version of Jonny staring at him.

In his phantasmal form, Jonny looks at Pony with a weird face.

“Hey, you know I can follow you during the rest of the dungeon, right? I’m a phantom now and can’t help with anything else, but I can follow you.”

“...I didn’t know. Sorry, I got too immersed in the roleplaying.”

 

Pony was close to dying in the last fight, but he managed to kill the Lab Assistant, so it turned to be a happy ending. Even for Jonny, who died along the way. That’s because completing the dungeon or not is a team effort, so this dungeon invasion counted as his first time clearing it.

After bragging to his friends and through the forums until he was satisfied, Jonny decided to try to conquer The Mad Rat’s Lab again. This time, without dying. And Pony went with him.