Unexpected Guests - Chapter 5 - It Begins

As soon as the timer hit zero the transparent wall fell away, exposing the path beyond. I stuck my head out to take a look, and was immediately hit with a horrid stench so bad that I had to pop my helmet back on.

The room had opened up onto a combination of forest, and swamp. The sky overhead was dark, and overcast, only allowing the moon to peak through briefly before disappearing again. Ahead of us was a wide dirt road, flanked by blue lanterns and overshadowed by massive, rotting black trees. 

“When did it get so dark?” Bob asked, as he strode out of the room. “Wasn’t the match supposed to start in the early afternoon?”

“It’s not real,” I replied, quietly. “Think of this entire thing like a giant mesh simulation with full feedback enabled. You’ll feel everything that happens to you, but your body is safe back in the chair.”

As soon as the team left the safe room, slowly spreading out, the wall materialized behind us, cutting off any chance to escape.

“Stay on the path, and don’t stray too far from the rest of the squad. We don’t know what’s out there,” I ordered.

“This stench is overwhelming,” Bandit hissed. 

“Each floor has a different theme,” I explained, “so all we need to do is get to the end and deal with the boss. Once that’s done we’ll be able to move on to a more pleasant setting. I hope.”

“Then there’s no reason to delay!” Bob declared as he began plodding along the path.

The ghostly lanterns might have lit the path, but they also caused the twisted trees around us to cast long flickering shadows. I’m sure these helped put a lot of people on edge, and helped the dungeon helpers sneak up on people, but they didn’t cause me any issues. The vision enhancement in my helmet stripped the darkness away, and helped highlight the figures stalking us deep within the forest. 

They didn’t appear to be aggressive yet, so I chose to keep an eye on them and wait until they approached.

While I was scanning the forest, only partially paying attention to the trail ahead of us, Bob let out an exclamation of joy. “Jelly!”

“Beg your pardon?” I asked, turning towards the bear, only to recoil in horror.

He was absolutely covered in slimes. The putrid, puddles filled with rotted debris and bones were crawling all over him, slowly dissolving his facade and prodding his frame looking for a way inside.

“Get rid of those things!” I screeched. 

“Why? They’re not harming anything,” Bob replied, completely unphased by the slime that had crawled directly onto his face.

“They’re extremely acidic, they’d have to be eaten through that thick hide of yours, and they’re probably riddled with poison and disease. They’d have to be with all that decaying matter inside,” she growled. “They might not be dangerous to you, but they could be deadly to the boss. Get rid of them!”

“Fine…” Bob sighed, before driving one of his dinner plate sized hands down on one of his passengers. I’m sure the thing was resistant to a lot of things, but being squeezed out between Bob’s massive paws wasn’t one of them. He systematically slapped the remaining slimes one by one, causing the remainder to explode into puddles on the ground.

“No problem!” Bob declared as he wiped his hand on a nearby tree, causing the rotting wood to bubble and smoke. 

“Where did those come from anyways?” Dusty asked.

“They were in the tree! I saw them beforehand, but didn’t think they were that dangerous, and I was right!” Bob declared.

“For you maybe,” Deadbeat hissed. “Most of us don’t have anywhere near as much armor as you, let us know the next time you see something.”

“Oh, alright.” Bob mumbled. “You mean like the tree people running out of the forest behind us?”

I twisted around, hefting my axe, just in time to see a green skinned woman clad in gnarled, blackened bark, emerge from a tree not even three meters away. A handful of others emerging from the trees a couple steps further away, or sprinting out of the forest towards us. I watched as the first’s fingers elongated into a set of wicked looking knives, dripping with some sort of dark sap, which she jammed into the back of the nearest target.

I winced at the sickening crunch that echoed around the area, just before the woman withdrew her shattered hand. I saw a momentary look of confusion cross her face right before Heavy whirled around, using the turn to add extra momentum to his mace and slam it into the woman’s chest. 

Her ribs shattered under the blow, causing her to fall back for a moment before dissolving into a cloud of shimmering light. 

Heavy just stared at the cloud for a moment before huffing, and moving to intercept the rest of the group.

The rest of the women watched us warily, slowly spreading out and whispering to each other in a language I didn’t recognize.

“What do you think, boss?” Bandit asked quietly. 

“Don’t give them a chance to organize,” I replied. “On my mark.” 

I smiled at the nearest woman, not that she could see it, and muttered, “Mark.”

The team surged forward, rushing our foes. Many of the women were able to parry the incoming blows, or dance away, but not the one closest to me. It took me less than a second to close the gap, ducking under her outstretched talons and slipping behind her back. Eyes wide, she turned in an attempt to follow my movements, but it was far too late. 

As I swung the heavy axe into her back I flipped the switch on the handle, triggering the weapon, igniting the weapon and causing it to glow red. Instead of embedding itself in the woman, it burned all the way through, causing the woman to explode into a shower of sparkling lights. 

The next closest woman turned, and brought a hand up in my direction, but before she even finished the motion I’d already slipped up next to her and brought the axe around, burying it in her chest.

The loss of two of their number in as many seconds sent the remaining women into a panic. Some dropped their guards, allowing my squad to get a quick strike in, while several others started to retreat.

As I moved to intercept I felt something loop around my ankle and pull. The sudden attack sent me tumbling to the ground, struggling to pull loose. It took me a second to realize what had grabbed me was a vine, one that hadn’t been there a second earlier. Not only that, but the vine was crawling up my leg, probing for gaps in my armor.

A quick swipe severed the offending root, causing the thing to almost immediately shrivel up and fall away.

By the time I climbed to my feet the fight was over. The last of the women were disappearing into trees, or deeper into the swamp filled forest.

“Should we follow them?” Dusty asked.

“No, we’re supposed to stay as close to the path as possible,” I grumbled. “I doubt that we’d be able to catch them out there anyways.”

“What was that anyways?” Spooky muttered, a moment before he stood ramrod straight and Nyx took over.

“I think those were Dryads! Fascinating! Most books call them Fae, but considering they’re only stories in your world, there’s no way to truly know. According to what I’ve been able to find, which is a lot, they bond with a tree and then protect the forest in that area. They’re supposed to be very beautiful, but that lot seemed to have a skin condition. Wonder what that means?” my AI exclaimed.

“I think that question was rhetorical, Nyx,” I said. “How do you know all that anyways? I never would have guessed that you read fairytales.”

“Normally, I don’t,” Nyx explained, “but since you’re trapped in a fantasy world, and out of my reach, I thought I should do some research. You never know what could be useful!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I muttered, taking a look around.

We’d somehow managed to make a decent way down the path before being attacked, and just ahead was a decent sized clearing with a gigantic rotting tree in the middle. Just beyond the clearing, peaking over the trees and lighting the surrounding area, was the manor.

“Looks like we’re almost there!” Bob declared, casually wandering into the clearing.

“Bob, STOP!” I shouted.

“Why? The goal is in sight? What is there to be afraid of?” he shouted back.

In the middle of the clearing the tree creaked, and groaned. The gnarled trunk straightened, and the two large branches that were reaching upwards came down, imitating arms. Finally, the roots were ripped out of the ground, allowing the tree to turn, revealing a very humanoid, yet titanic figure.

“Each floor has a boss we need to defeat before proceeding,” I said quietly.

Bob threw his hands up in the air. “Now you tell me!”