Pocket Dungeon 2, page 17
Iris looked at me in astonishment, and I took a deep breath before I launched into the explanation of everything that had occurred in the few hours since we had left her in the apartment. I told her everything we had learned from Monty, and I made sure not to leave out any details.
When I was done, Iris looked as if she had run a marathon. Despite the fact that she had just slept, she looked exhausted all over again and slumped back into the couch and Yasha’s side like a deflated balloon.
“So what do we do now?” she asked me. “What can we do to prepare for this?”
“Well,” I said. “We need to go into another dungeon to make sure we’re on the correct level as Monty, to give the code thing Trog gave me a better chance at working.”
“When?” Iris asked.
“Uh, well, I figured we could sleep for a little bit, and then we’ll go in,” I admitted. “I don’t want to waste any time, because we only have four days to make sure this plan goes off without a hitch.”
“I’m going with you, then.” Iris stood up from the couch and turned to face me with a determined look on her lovely face. She planted her hands on her hips and pressed her lips into a thin, determined line.
“I’m sorry, what?” I was flabbergasted.
“I’m coming with you,” she repeated, and her tone gained a little more strength with the second repetition. “I want to practice, because I want to go with you to kill Harper.”
I exchanged a startled look with Yasha.
“But… I didn’t think you were ready to go back into a dungeon so soon?” Yasha asked. “Are you certain you will be alright?”
Iris nodded. “I want to do this. I’ve spent so much time wishing I could take back everything Billy took from me, but I can’t do that. I can’t get back that life anymore, but I can take away his. And if I have to go back into a dungeon to do that, I will.”
The strength I had long since observed underneath the surface when it came to Iris was finally showing through on the outside, and if I was being honest with myself, I found it incredibly hot.
“Well, okay then,” I said. “I guess we have a dungeon to beat.”
Chapter 12
After we slept for a few hours, just to make sure the three of us wouldn’t be going into a dungeon with practically no sleep whatsoever, we made our way out of the apartment and in search of the perfect location to enter the crystal.
We had to be a little more discerning this time than we had been the last few ventures out, because this time, we wouldn’t have anyone on the outside that was able to be a lookout for us.
In the end, I found a gas station that was fairly empty of people and even merchandise about thirty minutes from downtown near one of the surrounding city suburbs, and it was deserted enough that I didn’t foresee any issues.
Then we entered the crystal.
I was prepared for the strange, almost falling sensation that came with entering a crystal, and when I opened my eyes, I was on my feet in the familiar equipment room.
It hadn’t visibly changed since the last time Yasha and I had left it, and I did a quick cursory glance just to make sure nothing was amiss.
As I was looking around, Yasha appeared at my side in the blink of an eye, and then Iris emerged from nothingness just as the fox-woman had a second before.
Unlike me and Yasha, however, Iris looked like she felt sick to her stomach. Her lovely tanned skin had gone a sickly yellow shade, and she looked a little green around the mouth. She clamped her hands to her exposed midriff and swallowed back a gagging sound as she stumbled over to lean up against the massive table in the center of the room to support her weight.
Instantly, I rushed over to her side and cupped one of her elbows in my hand to make sure she was alright. I knew the look of concern on my face must have been rather severe, because Iris waved her free hand in an attempt to reassure me almost immediately.
“I’m okay,” she mumbled, but she didn’t sound okay. “I’m okay. I just… I’ve only done that once before.”
It was strange to think about, given the time she had spent in dungeons, but she was right. Before right now, the first and last time she had entered a crystal had been with Harper when he lured her in without telling her what to expect.
“Alright,” I murmured and took a step away from her, but I didn’t move far. I wanted to be ready to help her in case she fell.
“You are doing very well,” Yasha informed her with an encouraging nod. The other woman had already turned and made her way over to her locker. She pulled it open, and just like every time before, all of our equipment had been organized and stowed away by Mimic.
I glanced around the equipment room to see if the chest mimic was out and about, but it appeared he was asleep, or at least pretending to be asleep, in his usual spot against the wall.
Yasha was clearly unbothered by the fact that Iris had joined us in the equipment room, because she started to strip out of her skirt and long-sleeved shirt without so much as a care in the world.
I watched her with thinly-veiled lust as she peeled off all of her clothing until she was standing naked in the middle of the equipment room. It was an absolutely tantalizing sight, and honestly, I might have started to drool.
I quickly shook myself out of my own lewd thoughts and looked back over at Iris again to offer the other woman comfort, but she was also watching Yasha. Her pink lips were parted, and I couldn’t tell if it was in surprise or something else.
Interesting reaction. I filed that away for later.
Iris seemed to realize that my eyes were on her, and she looked away quickly and cleared her throat with a loud sound and tucked a platinum-blonde strand of hair behind her ear.
“If you’re going to come into dungeons with us from now on,” I said, “we’ll have to make sure we get you some good armor. But for now, you can have some of mine.”
“Thank you,” Iris mumbled. She was still flushed a little in embarrassment, and it was pretty fucking cute.
Meanwhile, Yasha had finished dressing in her pale green, armored dress and boots, and she strapped her katana to her back.
“Here,” she said as she came over to stand in front of Iris. She extended the Braided Sphinx Hair Whip to the other woman with an encouraging nod. “It is a good weapon.”
Iris looked down at it before she looked back up at Yasha. “Thank you.”
“And I have some armor and boots you can wear,” I told her as I made my way over to my own locker. I quickly pulled out the Leather Boots of Swiftness and my Fire Smith’s Leather Armor and brought both pieces of gear over to Iris.
She set the whip down and took the armor from my hands, but I wasn’t finished yet.
I didn’t intend to go into the dungeon entirely unequipped, but I was more than willing to give Iris as much armor as she needed to feel protected.
I pulled out Timul’s Belt from my locker, along with the Poison Soother Ring and my Tanned Beginner’s Gloves. The only pieces of armor I intended to keep for myself were the Pauldrons of Wisdom and my Smelter’s Maile.
I set all of the pieces of gear down on the large table next to Iris. “Here. Wear all of it or none of it, whatever will make you feel the safest in the dungeon.”
She looked between me, the pile of armor, and Yasha. Her eyes were glassy and the sickly yellow color that had overtaken her face had been replaced with a pale cast instead. Clearly, she wasn’t thrilled to be back in a dungeon, but she was taking it in stride.
I moved away to give her some space as she started to put on all of the gear I had set out for her. As she did so, I ventured back over to my locker again to grab out my weapons. I took out Phantom Doomslayer, along with Aegis, the Ivycaster, the Bone Hatchet, and the Talon Blade of a Silver Dragon Wyrmling.
I strapped Phantom Doomslayer to my waist, put on my Smelter’s Maile and Pauldrons of Wisdom, and then slung the Ivycaster bow and its quiver over my back. I slid Aegis onto my wrist and then slipped the Bone Hatchet into a loop at my waist.
“And here’s a dagger for you,” I told Iris as I passed her the Talon Blade of a Silver Dragon Wyrmling. She had put on all of the armor I’d given her, and even though it obscured her womanly form, it all seemed to fit her perfectly.
She chewed at her lower lip, but she took the dagger from my hands and slipped it into a loop on her belt. She might not have been ready to be in a dungeon again, but she looked the part.
I made sure I grabbed the rest of the things that could be of use to us, like both of my magical orbs, from the lockers, and then we were ready to go.
“You have got this,” Yasha said to Iris with a reassuring smile. “We will kill anything that threatens to harm you.”
“Thanks,” Iris said, and she looked as though she was trying to mean it.
I glanced around the equipment room one last time to make sure we had everything we would need, and as I did so, I caught sight of the timer in the corner of my vision in large red numbers. I had been so focused on Iris that I had missed the usual spiel that was projected into my mind when I entered the equipment room before a dungeon, but we apparently had two hours for this dungeon.
That was far more than we’d had before, and in fact, it was double the time of usual.
“I don’t think this is going to be an easy one,” I said. “We have two hours.”
“I will not worry,” Yasha said. “With you to help us through, we will get through in half the time.”
I grinned at her response and felt a swell in my chest at her faith in me. I just hoped she was right. And it was time to find out.
I took a deep breath and moved toward the door that led from the equipment room and into whatever waited for us in the dungeon on the other side.
I sucked in a deep breath and gave a harsh pull on the handle, and then I led the way into the dungeon.
The door disappeared behind us immediately, just like it always did, as I began to get my bearings in the dungeon’s hallway.
Unlike the last dungeon we had been in, this one wasn’t covered in disgusting slime, so already, it was a plus in my book.
The hall was so narrow that if I extended my arms out entirely to either side of myself, I was certain I would be able to lay my palms flat against the sides without any problem whatsoever. The stones that made up the wall were a dark gray that was nearly black, and the torches that usually lined the walls were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, there were large glass lanterns hanging from the ceiling every yard or so that were meant to illuminate the way. The light emanating from inside the lamps was a pale yellowy-orange, and it cast strange shadows over the walls as the lamps swayed.
There must have been a slight draft of some sort to make the lamps move like that, but I couldn’t feel it against my skin.
The floor of the dungeon was also different than usual, and instead of the stone tiles that matched the ones that made up the walls, the ground was made of tightly tamped and packed down dirt. It looked like it had been walked on so much that it had compacted into something as solid as concrete under the soles of my boots.
“Weird,” I mumbled as I stomped down once just to see how well packed it really was.
The entire area glowed in a faint blue aura that marked it as generally safe, but I was still on high alert. I refused to allow myself to be caught unaware at any moment, even if it meant I felt fucking paranoid.
“Do you see anything suspicious?” Yasha asked. She had already pulled her katana from the sheath and brandished the blade out in front of her.
Meanwhile, Iris stood behind the both of us so close that I could feel her quick, ragged breaths against the back of my neck.
“No,” I said. “It’s all marked as safe, but let’s not get too comfortable.”
“I agree,” Yasha told me.
I started to walk down the narrow hallway slowly, and with each step, I looked out from side to side to scan my surroundings to make sure nothing changed from blue to red.
Yasha paused to let Iris walk in front of her, and then the fox-woman took up the rear as we crept down the hallway at a slow, cautious pace. I wished the three of us could have walked in a line together, but the hallway was far too narrow for something like that to happen.
After a few moments of slow creeping down the hall, I noticed a faint sound that I hadn’t caught before. It sounded like some sort of bubbling or running water. I frowned and looked around the hallway.
There was nothing on the walls on either side of me to indicate that there was running water nearby, though I wasn’t sure what specifically I would have been looking for, and there wasn’t anything on the floor or ceiling, either.
Whatever it was, it must have been coming from where the hallway branched off just a few yards ahead.
I picked up my pace and followed the sounds of moving water until I made it all the way to the end of the hall. Iris stopped so close to me that she nearly slammed into my back, but she seemed to catch herself at the last minute.
The heavy, labored sounds of her breathing were almost as present now as the sound of water.
The hallway split off in two directions, and they both looked the same. The identical halls stretched on for a few more feet before they also branched off in their own crossroads about ten yards down.
Thanks to the Pauldrons of Wisdom, I was able to see that there wasn’t anything different about the two halls at all. In fact, both of them were illuminated in blue entirely. There wasn’t so much as a spark of red or yellow to be seen.
I frowned again and looked between the two halls like my head was on a swivel.
“What is it?” Iris asked. Her voice floated into my ear. She was so close to me that I was surprised I couldn’t feel the wispy strands of her hair brushing against my cheek.
“Is everything alright, Wes?” Yasha asked. The sexy fox-woman crowded closer to Iris and I and tried to peer around the both of us to see down each of the halls, but it seemed she was too short to manage it. I heard the sound of her dropping back down onto her heels as I continued to look between our two potential paths.
“I’m not very sure,” I admitted. “The halls both look identical, and there isn’t anything the pauldrons are signaling that would differentiate them. I think it’s the first puzzle, and it’s meant to waste our time.”
“So which one do we take?” Yasha asked.
“Oh, no,” Iris mumbled so softly that I didn’t think I was supposed to hear it. I imagined that the idea of running out of time in the dungeon was something that terrified her specifically.
“Do you guys hear the sound of water, too?” I asked. “Because I think that might be part of what we need to figure out which way to go.”
There were a few seconds before either of the women behind me replied. Yasha went first.
“Yes,” she said. “I do. It sounds like the shower.”
I almost laughed, but of course the only frame of reference Yasha would have for running water was the shower back in my apartment. She had grown up in a literal desert world.
“I hear it, too,” Iris added. “But why does that matter?”
“I think we should follow the sound,” I said. “Because that means there’s probably something else we need to interact with that way. Yasha, can you tell which direction the sound is coming from? Your hearing is better than mine or Iris’.”
I looked back over at my shoulder and saw the fox-woman’s face had twisted into a look of concentration. Her lower lip was between her sharp teeth, and her head was cocked to the side. Her ears twitched as she listened for the sounds of the water like I had asked.
Finally, she spoke. “We must go to the left. It is coming from the left.”
“Here goes nothing, then,” I said. I stepped out into the crossroads between the two hallways, and like Yasha said, I turned and started down the hallway that led to the left.
The walls remained just as narrow as they had been through the first hallway, and I kept the same slow, cautious pace as I walked until we reached the end of the hall where the next crossroads waited for us.
Once again, we were met with a set of dual hallways that branched off in opposite directions.
“Can you still hear the water?” I asked her.
“Yes,” Yasha confirmed. “And it has grown louder.”
I couldn’t hear the difference, but I was going to take her word for it. She had the better ears.
“Which way?” I asked.
She didn’t hesitate for long. “The right this time.”
“To the right we go, then,” I announced and turned toward the right.
This hallway seemed to have grown even more narrow than the last two, and now I could barely walk head-on without my shoulders brushing the walls. It felt like a drastic difference, but then again, maybe the other hall had been smaller, too, and I hadn’t noticed.
One thing was for sure though, Yasha was right that the sound of the water was getting closer. It was louder now, and I didn’t even have to try and strain my ears to hear it.
We came to another fork at the end of this hall, and we were met with a choice for the third time.
I looked around and took in all of the pale blue light that filled the space. I felt as though we had been lulled into a false sense of security, and I was waiting for something to jump out and attack us.
The last dungeon we had been in had been quiet, but that had been because of Trog’s assistance before we had arrived. I had a feeling that wasn’t the case this time, and that we were just getting ready to walk into something terrible.
“Which way, Yasha?” Iris asked. Her voice was soft, but she was clearly trying to be brave. I don’t think she knew how much I appreciated her attempts at all. She was easily one of the bravest people I had ever met, and I wondered if she knew that.
If she didn’t, I would have to make it a point to tell her.
“The right again,” Yasha said. “It is very close now.”
I turned to the right. The hallway in front of us now was so narrow that I doubted I would be able to walk in a straight line and make it through.
