Chapter 119 - Return to the Dungeon

  My declaration hung in the air. For a long moment, no one spoke. If I’d been expecting folks to cheer me on, this was the wrong crowd for it. That was fine. I knew what needed doing. It was time to make it happen.

  I turned toward Reynolds "Do you have any gas masks? The dungeon we're heading into is filled with monsters that emit spores. They're toxic as hell."

  "Gas masks? Let me think." She snapped her fingers at one of her guards. "Harrison! Check the old police station storage. We had some equipment there. Bring back any gas masks you can find. Two at minimum."

  "Yes, ma'am!" The guard took off at a sprint.

  Reynolds turned back to me. "Cameron, I want you to know... for what it's worth, I disagree with Alex's approach."

  "You do?"

  "Don't get me wrong. Stopping Cerberus is important. That monster is a walking plague, literally. But so is saving the people who've been bitten." She gestured at the wounded scattered across the Yard. "These are good people. Defenders who put their lives on the line tonight. I won't abandon them just because Alex is blinded by grief and rage."

  The words soothed me in sore spots I hadn’t even realized were there. Alex’s words had hurt more than I’d thought. "Thank you."

  "I'm setting up quarantine tents outside in the Yard," Reynolds continued. "Anyone who's been bitten goes there. We’ve already seen that the werewolves leave the already-bitten alone. By placing them outside, if they transform, they can leave without hurting anyone else. Meanwhile, I'm evacuating the unbitten to the stadium south of the river. We'll hold there until this is resolved, one way or another."

  Harrison came running back, breathing hard, clutching two gas masks. "Found them, ma'am! They're old, but the filters look intact."

  Reynolds took them and handed them to me. "Bring back those Cleanse spells, Cameron. We're counting on you."

  "I will," I promised. "As fast as I can."

  I turned away from her and prepared to take off, my mind already rushing ahead to everything I had to make happen. Before I could launch myself into the air, a hand touched my arm. I turned to find Maggie standing there, her face pale but determined.

  “Maggie? What’s wrong? Is Emmy okay?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Emmy’s fine. I’ve got her with some people who will look after her. They’re taking her down to the stadium where she’ll be more secure.”

  “Then what?”

  “I want to come, too.”

  A hundred reasons why that was an absolutely terrible idea flashed through my mind, but I stilled them all and instead asked her the key question. “Why?”

  “Because if you fail, I’m going to turn into one of those things,” Maggie replied. “Anything which increases your odds of success improves my odds of not being furry. Cameron, the last time you went in there, you had a whole team behind you, right?”

  “That’s true.”

  “And now you’re going to…what? Solo the thing? At least once, right? What if you don’t get Cleanse on the first run? Or don’t get enough of them? You’ll need to get enough Cleanse crystals to hit tier six if you want to cure everyone here, and tier eight if you want to have even a shot at curing people bitten by Cerberus,” Maggie said. “I got a sense of the curse while I watched Marion transform, Cam. I think we might be able to reverse the curse even on the transformed, if we have a high enough ranked Cleanse.”

  That was news. Should I tell Alex? I glanced over to where he’d been standing, but he and his people were already gone, probably on the move back to City Hall to get more troops before carrying out Alex’s vendetta. I shelved the idea of telling Alex. If Maggie was wrong, it wouldn’t be fair to get his hopes up. But if she was right? Maybe we could get Marion back for him. If I did that, it would change everything!

  “Okay, then I’ll speed-run the thing a few times,” I replied. “We hit it slowly and cautiously the first time, but now that I know what to expect, I might be able to run through it faster.”

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  “You’d be quicker still if you had someone on hand who could Heal you when you get hurt,” Maggie pointed out.

  She wasn’t wrong. I just didn’t want her to put herself into harm’s way like that. I wanted her safe. At the same time, she wasn’t safe. None of us were. She and I were both going to turn into monsters sooner or later, unless we got those crystals in time. What right did I have to keep her away from the attempt to save everyone, including her?

  “All right,” I said.

  “All right, what?”

  “You can come,” I replied.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. You’re right. I hate you heading into jeopardy, but having you along will probably improve our odds,” I said. “No one else, though. If we could get some strong tier five and six people, that might help, but Harvard is going to have its hands full keeping their remaining people safe, and we’ll be able to move faster with fewer people. Speed is going to be critical here.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Maggie replied. “I’m terrified, don’t get me wrong. But I won’t let you down.”

  “I know you won’t. You ready to go?”

  "Ready as I'll ever be," she said.

  I activated Flight and scooped her up, one arm around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck, holding on tight as we lifted off. The gas masks dangled from my other hand.

  "Where are we going?" Maggie asked as we climbed higher.

  "East and south," I said. "Toward the heart of Boston. That’s where the dungeon is."

  We flew in silence for a few minutes, the city spreading out below us in the darkness. As we flew by, I pondered all those dark buildings and wondered how many dangers lurked in the shadows. The Event had turned Boston into a nightmare landscape, and every day it seemed to get worse.

  "Cameron," Maggie said quietly. "What's it like? The dungeon?"

  I thought about how to answer that. “It was terrifying and deadly. The monsters inside are mostly fungus creatures. I saw walking mushrooms that emitted spores that'll kill you if you breathe them too long. We fought through puffballs that exploded with toxic spores, fungus knights covered in stone armor, and a boss at the end that was one of the toughest fights I’ve been in.” I trailed off, remembering the Architect. "It was tier ten. We barely survived it."

  "And we're going in there with just the two of us?" Maggie's voice was small.

  "I know it sounds insane," I admitted. "But those Cleanse spells are the only thing that can save everyone. Including us."

  "I know. I'm not backing out. I'm just..." She took a shaky breath. "I'm scared."

  "Me, too," I replied.

  The dungeon building came into view ahead. It was impossible to miss, a massive stone structure that definitely hadn't been there even a couple of days ago. It had just appeared, fully formed, like something out of a fantasy game.

  I descended toward the front of the building, where a massive gong stood on a stone pedestal. The doors behind it were closed, sealed tight. Last time, they'd only opened after I rang that gong.

  "Okay," I said, setting Maggie down on the ground. "Here's how this works. When I rang the gong last time, a fungus giant came out as soon as the doors opened. It was tier eight, over ten feet tall, and it put out spores that were immediately lethal on contact. One guy was infected and just grew fungus all over him. We had to fight it before we could enter the dungeon proper."

  Maggie's eyes went wide. "And you think another one will come out?"

  "Maybe. Or maybe something different. I honestly don't know." I looked around and spotted a delivery truck parked nearby, abandoned after the Event. “But if we do get another fungus giant, I already know how to deal with it.”

  I pushed the truck nearer, until it was positioned right next to the gong. Last time, I'd used fire to take down the fungus giant. If another one arrived, I figured I’d tackle it the same way. All I had to do was fly the truck above the monster, rip open the gas tank, then set the gasoline on fire once the monster was doused.

  "Maggie, I need you to get way back," I said, pointing to a building a hundred feet away. "If something comes out and it's hostile, I don't want you anywhere near it."

  She hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. But be careful."

  I watched her jog away until she was safely behind cover. Then I turned back to the gong. I had no idea what would be waiting behind those doors. It could be another fungus giant or something worse. Heck, for all I knew there might be nothing at all. And there was only one way to find out.

  I picked up the mallet hanging beside the gong and struck it hard. The sound that rang out was deep and resonant. It echoed across the empty streets, and seemed to vibrate in my bones. For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then the massive doors began to grind open.

  Stone scraped against stone as they swung inward, revealing darkness beyond. I tensed, my hands ready to cast Lightning Bolt or Drain Life at a moment's notice. The doors opened wider, slowly revealing what lay beyond.

  And then it came.

  At first, I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. It looked like someone had taken a garbage dump, covered it in mold, mildew, and fungi, and animated it. The thing that surged out from between the doors was massive, easily twenty feet across. But it had no real shape. It was just a living puddle of rot and decay, covered in mushrooms, slime mold, and things that looked like they'd been decomposing for months.

  The smell hit me a second later. Even from fifty feet away, it was overwhelming. The wind carried the smell of rot, death, and fungal decay toward me, so strong it made my eyes water.

  The creature flowed down the steps like a wave of garbage come to life. It moved with disturbing speed for something so formless, undulating across the ground toward me.

  I checked its rank. Tier eight, of course.

  The thing surged closer, and I realized with growing horror that I had no idea how to fight this. The fungus giant had been solid. I could punch it, Lightning Bolt it, or set it on fire. But this was a living puddle of decay. How did you punch a puddle? How did you kill something that didn't seem to have any vital organs or weak points?