Chương 82: CDM 2, Chapter 18: Shuttered Project

By the time I was through, the six zombies at the gate were pushed clear of the entrance and falling quickly. McDouglas beheaded two and removed the leg of a third. Black finished it off and stepped forward to thrust into a fourth. With a swift shield bash, McDouglas redirected one zombie to Cortez and then went after the last. None of the zombies had been humans. They were each a different kind of monster–three bugbears, a troll, a goblin, and a gnoll.

Like McDouglas said, they were fast, but they were what most people online called "dusters." A fresh zombie retained the strength its body had in life. With the added effects of being undead, like not feeling pain, something like a zombie hobgoblin could be more difficult to defeat than a regular hobgoblin. But corpses aged. Dusters were either very old zombies or the corpses the zombies were made from were old from the start. In either case, they had a papery, mummified kind of appearance.

A human duster was a weak zombie. A monster duster, like the mummified troll we just re-killed, was still strong but was more vulnerable to physical attacks. Size could still be an issue, but dusters were far better news than straight zombies. Assuming the duster trend continued.

"You didn't mention this was a variant," Grensmith said, looking at the pieces of zombie strewn about. I had seen the party bell gate a few times on stream I realized, but those crawlers only described the mechanics as waves. I had seen runs with dusters as well, but never in waves. Still, I felt mentally prepared for the crawl ahead.

"If they weren't dusters, I wouldn't have made it a surprise," McDouglas replied. Speaking louder to be certain the whole party heard, he said, "We're going to wait here for the bell, that way we have more time to find decent shelter, so hold this formation.

"When the last zombie is down, we're running. Don't get left behind." While we waited for the bell to toll, I took in the dungeon around us. We stood in a field of waist-high grass and within a section stamped-down from our brief battle. Boulders were scattered like marbles all around. The smallest I saw was one story tall, with most of the stones being two to three. The gaps between them varied, but none were particularly narrow. Were it not for the fog, we would have had a good view of the rest of the dungeon.

As it was now, I couldn't see much farther than I could shoot. There was no ceiling above us. Instead, the sky was black with streams of red so dark as to be nearly indistinguishable, but when you looked closely, you could see the endless flowing and swirling. I loved dungeons like this. Every gate was another dimension, sure, but you could really feel that was the case when the sky was laid bare like this. It was like visiting a different planet. Something like a church bell donged in the distance.

"Be sharp, and be smart," McDouglas said as he squeezed his wristwatch to start a timer. In the distance, stomping grass cut through the perfect stillness that blanketed the rest of the dungeon.

"On me!" McDouglas moved forward and between two boulders. The gap could fit maybe five people shoulder to shoulder, making a simple but effective funnel for the approaching undead. Seven bugbear dusters joined by ten goblin dusters charged forward mindlessly at a full run.

"Goblins," Grensmith said to me, so that's what I started to pick off. Where I whipped through my shots, Grensmith drew his bow slowly and held it for 3 seconds. Based on that, I suspected he ran a power-style rogue build, which had a lot in common with a power archer build, namely bonuses for taking your time and holding a stationary position for a prolonged period. And that weirded me out, big time. While the frontline met the initial crash of dusters, my mind whirled.

Rogues were proficient in archery and swordsmanship. Those proficiencies weren't as advanced as what specialists like archers or fighters received, but they were still pretty good. If your class had a natural dual efficiency, your build usually accounted for that versatility. Purely ranged and purely melee rogues existed, and here's how I knew Grensmith wasn't an archery specialist: Rogues didn't get access to as many ranged power buffs as an archer, but you could more or less imitate the dex build if you wanted.

Therefore, it would be strangely shortsighted for even a ranged-focused rogue to go power. The upgrade path was too short. But here's the thing: The same power buffs that boosted his ranged attacks were the groundwork for a Backstab build. That build could deliver crazy damage, but it had limited dungeon utility. Very limited. What could Grensmith need with a Backstab build?

"Move!" McDouglas called. All the dusters were down, and we took off in the direction the bell had come from. He stopped us thirty seconds before the next bell in a spot that had multiple funnel options, giving us good odds for a clean battle no matter what angle the dusters approached from. We repeated that process three more times before the tower came into view. McDouglas was always the tip of the spear, but Black, Cortez, and Megan rotated positions each time.

That cycle gave me a good look at Megan's new Knockback ability in several different situations. The way it instantly created space for her would definitely be useful on our wild hunts. More goblins would be easier to manage with that unlock in the mix. Built from wood and mud, our destination struck me as more of a watchtower than it did a bell tower. An undead troll stood at the top with a rope around his arm, waiting to ring it again. Behind the tower was a wall of the same mud construction with a wooden gate.

"20 seconds," McDouglas said to Grensmith. Grensmith drew his bow and released after 10 seconds. I hadn't noticed it before in the middle of battle, but his arrow didn't make a noise, not even when it punched a hole through the troll's head. Archers could do that by taking Silent Arrow. Rogues and assassins could take Silent Strike, which applied to any weapon-based attack, ranged or otherwise. Silent Strike was largely considered useless for dungeon crawling. What was going on here?

"Good shot," McDouglas said.

"Alright, everyone, we can take a breather and get some water. We're safe if we go in the tower to do it." As we settled in, Megan elbowed me.

"Having fun?"

"I am, actually. You?"

"Are you kidding? We're running a C gate!"

"Yeah, it's pretty-" I stopped talking when I heard Black say, "Enforcer Grensmith."

"Yes, Enforcer Black?" Grensmith had just come back from checking out the view from the top of the tower and wiped his dirty hands on his pants.

"What the hell kind of build are you running?" Grensmith and McDouglas both laughed.

"Once upon a time, the CDM was competing against the EPA for funding," Grensmith explained, "so a program spun up to train teams for wild monster culls. A bunch of us got picked, and we leveled into builds designed specifically for those things. They wanted a backstabber for upper-ranked bosses, and that ended up being me."

"What happened?" Black asked.

"The EPA got the funding, so the CDM cut the program."

"How do you feel about your build?" Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Grensmith shrugged.

"The way I see it, the CDM bought me those levels, basically, and I agreed to do what they asked. I'm not super-optimized, but I prefer this to not getting those levels at all." Cortez crossed his legs and leaned forward.

"So the plan was to have you sneak up on wild bosses and hit a Backstab?"

"That's correct."

"What was that like?"

"Never got the chance to do it."

"I mean, that sounds crazy scary," Cortez said.

"I'm not walking up to a frost giant to Backstab his ankle. Nuh-uh. No way." Grensmith laughed.

"I don't know that I would have been useful there, but in theory, yes, I was supposed to do exactly that." Black whistled and shook his head. He looked up at McDouglas next and started to open his mouth. McDouglas beat him to it. Grinning, he said, "Mind your business, Enforcer Black." Everyone in the room laughed.

"Alright everyone, boss is on the other side of that wall," McDouglas said. Addressing Grensmith, he added, "Tell us what we're in for."

"One duster necromancer, a human. It's probably more intelligent than other dusters. It's in the middle of a military camp, but all the tents are burned down. I have the wild suspicion the boss won't be alone for long."

"Wouldn't be a very good necromancer if it didn't call up some friends. See any good chokepoints?"

"There are a few options."

"Excellent." McDouglas turned his attention to the rest of the group.

"Alright. The process is going to be similar to what we've been doing. We get a decent position and hold it when a swarm rushes us. We'll keep the boss occupied so Grensmith can sneak in for the kill."

"What?" Grensmith tilted his head.

"No, we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Protocol for carrying lower levels is pretty clear. We stay with them at all times."

"This is your chance, and you might not get a better party set up for a long time. Our frontline hasn't had any issues, and Gray's been on his game as far as thinning the herd goes." Grensmith narrowed his eyes. McDouglas never dropped his smile.

"If that's going to work, then the party should cut to the left as soon as they go through the gate," Grensmith said. We did exactly as Grensmith requested. We pushed through the front gates and then took the party left, hugging the wall. I had pictured small, one-person tents, but they were actually quite large. Moving among them felt like moving through a burned-down town. Duster ogres joined the swarms for this fight, a monster I had never seen alive.

Until then, my experience was limited to ogre corpses when I was on inspections. I'm pretty sure we all puckered something serious when one of those climbed over the mud walls, but McDouglas handled them just fine. For as much as I learned about Grensmith's build by watching him fight, I hadn't figured out a thing for McDouglas beyond the fact that he was good with a sword. If he triggered an ability, I never caught it. He didn't move with super speed, and I never saw him exercise any sort of exceptional strength.

He fought like every step had already been choreographed in advance, and he was just hitting his marks for a dull rehearsal. Even with the duster ogres, McDouglas kept the same plodding pace. He used it to dodge punches and clubs, sidestepping this and ducking that. And then the ogre lost its legs, followed by losing its undeath. We were on our third swarm and had yet to lay eyes on the necromancer. The handful of dusters we hadn't killed yet collapsed abruptly. McDouglas sheathed his sword.

"Looks like we're done here." A moment later, Grensmith came around the corner.

"That was fun." As the others started to pull away, Megan came over to my car while I stood over my trunk, wiping down my bow.

"I leveled up," she said, softly.

"Level 8 huh? I finally turned the corner on level 7." Megan danced in place.

"Congrats! I know you were getting frustrated there."

"You weren't?"

"Yeah, I was frustrated too. What did you get?" I read her my options for new unlocks: Steady Hands Class: Archer Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual When in motion, your control over your bow and your shot is equal to that of a stationary shot. Swift Hands Class: Archer Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual Prerequisites: Improved Reload The speed of any action involving a bow–equipping, reloading, drawing, aiming, loosing–is improved by 10%.

Tainted Arrow Class: Archer Type: Ability Cooldown: 45 seconds Duration: 30 seconds Prerequisites: Bleeding Arrow While Tainted Arrow is active, any creature that has taken damage from Tainted Arrow is more susceptible to Bleed effects. Bleed effects that you inflicted do not expire, and Bleed effects inflicted by other sources have a 10% chance to experience the same benefit. Tainted Arrow also reduces the cooldown of Bleeding Arrow by 5 seconds.

"Steady Hands and Swift Hands are usually offered separately, with Swift Hands coming first," I added.

"Ah, and you need both?"

"Yeah. I wish the system didn't offer you abilities with prereqs you don't have, though. Tainted Arrow sounds badass."

"I guess the system likes to torment us," Megan said.

"What ability is next for your build?" I asked.

"I've been waiting for this one for a while." Her new unlock: Battle Sight Class: Brawler Type: Trait Cooldown: None Duration: Perpetual Prerequisites: Combat Sense Your perception of a battle's speed slows slightly, scaling based on your level.

"Sometimes I regret asking what abilities people have," I admitted.

"They all sound so cool."

"I feel the same way, but… Can I ask you something? I know it's late, and it's cold, so if you want to get going, I understand." I raised a curious eyebrow.

"What's up?"

"My roommate is moving out at the end of the month. Would you be upset if I asked Beth if she wants the room?"

"I don't get it. Why would that upset me?"

"Because I'm asking your little sister to commit to a lease and move out of your place." I shook my head.

"She's her own person. You don't need my permission."

"I'm not asking your permission," Megan said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm asking if you think that's a good idea or not."

"From here, it sounds like it would help both of you out. She could probably find a better roommate if she looked, but the convenience is a plus." Megan sighed.

"You're very funny. Oh, and Nathan's excited about the drone. Thank you for doing that."

"You talked already?"

"On the way over here, and he sent a few hundred texts while we were in the gate." I laughed.

"But really, I mean it. Thank you for solving that for us. We've never fought like that before."

"He cares about you a lot." Megan blushed.

"Yeah. I get that impression too. Alright, Dor. Keep an eye out for ice on your drive back." When I got in my car, I made my level-up selections. Usually, my rule was to get some rest before making a big choice. The wrong decision could put me in a position like Grensmith where I was locked into a poorly optimized build, and that was terrifying. However, I had been thinking about reaching level 7 for a while now. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I put 2 stat points into dexterity and then 1 into constitution.

Then I selected Swift Hands and reviewed my system profile: Dorion Carmino Class: Archer Level: 7 XP Progress: 230/6400 Str: 7 Dex: 14 Con: 8 Int: 5 Cha: 3 Abilities: Piercing Shot Dual Nocking Traits: Ranged Accuracy Improved Reload Sharpen Momentum Swift Hands Spells: (none) Adding Swift Hands was a big jump forward for my dex build. That blanket boost to all archery speed meant a compounding return on several of my current as well as my future abilities.

At level 8, I would take Steady Hands, which was kind of cool, but I was really excited about the unlocks that came after that. I'd eventually be able to shoot at multiple targets from one draw and get a dex-based boost to damage on top of that. Ugh. More and more, getting to the next level was less of a celebration and more of a reminder that I had so much ground left to cover.