I’m tempted to try and clear it alone and keep all the credits and loot for myself. But I remember the last time I tried to milk a dungeon for-profit and pull out my phone to call Lillian. Between her, John, and myself we should be able to take this dungeon out in a couple of days and easily get another 5,000 credits each. That will seriously help my family, especially with my mom blacklisted.
I’ve dialed Lillian and have my phone next to my ear. I hear someone pick up and say, “Hello. Anthony?”
I smile, knowing that Lillian will be happy to get a higher level dungeon after being blocked from them the last couple months. But before I can say anything, I feel something cold and metallic pressed to the back of my head and heard the distinctive click of a gun hammer cocked back. My body instinctively freezes, and I hear a voice whisper into my left ear. “End the call and drop your phone.”
I briefly consider using one of my abilities to kill this guy, but I don’t think I can bring myself to kill a real person. This guy is probably just trying to rob me. It’s better to give him what he wants. If he kills me, I’ll just respawn in my room, but I’ll lose a good amount of XP and likely get knocked back to level 9. So not worth it.
I drop the phone and wince when I hear it crack as it hits the ground. Stupid phones are so delicate. I wish I’d purchased that extended warranty now. I just want to get this robbery over so I can go on with my day. “Hey, man. I don’t want any trouble. My wallet is in my left pocket. I don’t have much money, but it’s all yours.”
The person holding the gun to my head snickers, “You think this is a robbery, Anthony? You’re mistaken.”
The use of my name sends a shiver down my spine. Before I can do more than considering implications, I feel the sharp prick of a needle on the side of my neck and the sensation of something injected into me. The world goes blurry, my whole body relaxes, and I’m only vaguely conscious of dropping to the ground. Then everything goes black.
Chapter 39
A throbbing pain in my head and neck bring me around. My eyelids strain to open at first but gradually gain strength, and my surroundings come into focus. Only there’s not much to see. Bathed in a pool of light, I can see that I’m tied to a wooden chair with black nylon rope. Only my head is unrestrained, and as I look around, I see that beyond that pool of light is total darkness. It’s disconcerting not to know where I am and I call out, a note of panic in my voice, “Hello? Is anyone there?”
A voice that seems to come from everywhere answers from the dark, “Oh, you’re awake? Good. I was wondering if I gave you too much sedative.”
“Who are you? Where am I? Why have you brought me here and why am I tied up like this?”
“Ahh. Is poor little Anthony afraid?”
I remain silent, knowing that my capturer is just toying with me.
“What? No witty response? Well, how about I show you why you're here?” Before I can wonder what he means by that; the cold edge of a knife pressed against my throat. I freeze and hold my breath, hoping that I won’t have my throat cut.
The menacing voice whispers into my left ear, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.” I breathe a sigh of relief as the blade moves away from my throat.
“Yet!” The voice cries. There’s a meaty thwack as he plunges a glowing red blade into my chest from behind. I’m shocked at first by the move and look down to see the hilt of a knife sticking out of the right side of my chest and a red number 13 float way. The sharp pain hits me next, and I close my eyes and grit my teeth to keep from screaming in pain.
I hear the unknown man come around from behind me and I open my eyes to see the same masked figure from the alleyway. His head tilts to the side as he considers the scene in front of him. He reaches out with his left hand and grasps the hilt of the knife in my chest and pulls it out in a swift, practiced motion. Blood starts to leak out of the wound and stain my Quickie Stop Mart shirt. A small icon appears in the corner of my vision. Focusing on the small picture of a drop of blood a blue window pops up.
Bleeding Debuff
You take two damage/sec for 30 seconds from bleeding debuff.
I can’t help but laugh at the notification. Like I didn’t already know I was bleeding. However, the information does give me some additional information. I already know this guy knows me from somewhere since he used my name. Now I know he’s a User. Only one of them would be able to use an ability that caused that kind of debuff.
I use Inspect but get a jumble of nonsense.
????
Level ???
Dammit. He must have an ability or item that hides his identity.
“You asked why I’m doing this? Well, it’s your fault, Anthony. Some of the movers and shakers don’t want Monster Squashers Inc. to participate in the upcoming Dungeon Games. They think the little girl that runs the company doesn’t deserve a spot at the big boy's table, much less a chance at the big prizes available from the games. But they can’t act against her directly. She’s too high profile. She disappears, and the System Authorities will start an investigation. Her father’s old friends will use their not inconsiderable resources to find out exactly what happened to her.
Instead, they’ve been trying to knock her out of the competition by buying off anyone she tries to hire.”
The man giggles and continues, “I deal with those that can’t be bought or persuaded to quit.”
All the warning from Lillian about the dangers of working for her pour through my head, and I recall that she had another partner.
“You’re the one that made her last teammate, the friend of her father's, disappear?”
The masked man nods, “Yes. Yes. You are connecting the dots.” He pokes me in the chest with the tip of the blade in his hand, “Good for you.” A single red one floats away.
“So, you plan to kill me?” I say while laughing. “Well, get on with it then. I’ve died before and survived. When I come back, I’ll be sure to thank you properly for the hospitality you’ve shown me.”
The masked man bobs his head left and right as if considering my words carefully. Then his bobbing stops and he pokes me with the knife again. “I see where your misconception is. You think that if I kill you, then you’ll just respawn back at your home base. Well, I have a solution to that little conundrum.” He snaps his fingers, and another light shines down from the ceiling to reveal a podium with a large blue crystal floating above it.
I stare at the object, not believing what I’m seeing. A respawn crystal? I turn my head back to the masked man and see him nodding. “Yes, that’s right, Anthony. You’re in a dungeon. A very special one. You see, I stumbled upon a failed experiment. Some of the corporations were researching how to create an artificial dungeon. They knew dungeon seeds existed which could make User Dungeons, but they wanted to be able to create their own seeds. Then they could make dungeons at will and reap all the credits and items they wanted.” He shrugs and gestures to the dark empty room. “But despite pouring massive amounts of credits into the project, this is the best they could create. A big empty room with a respawn crystal that disappears after a week.” He sighs, “While the corporations abandoned the project, I scooped up the artificial dungeon seeds they were supposed to have destroyed. Now I have my own private space where I can kill a User repeatedly until they’re back at level 1. Then after I kill them one more time, they’re dead. Permanently.”
The man in the mask stands and twirls around; his hands raised high in the air. “Isn’t it a brilliant idea, Anthony?”
“Yeah, except you forgot one thing.”