Solo Apocalypse - Chapter 24

As it turned out, it was a Dungeon. I had no context for what that meant, or what it was. Someone did though or at least had a hunch.

“I’m telling you. We can’t leave, not with this here!” A harried bespectacled man was yelling. I have to convince them. Don’t they see?

“You’re out of your mind! It’s dangerous!” A gruff, heavyset man responded. “We have no idea what’s happening. Every hint of the unknown could kill us! You saw what a Field Boss did!”

“Let’s just wait for the police! The military!” Someone chimed in, shrinking at a few immediate glares.

“Are you stupid? We’re in the middle of a swamp. Our entire building was teleported. You can hope to be saved all you want but I doubt the government’s gonna be the one to do it. Everything’s gone to hell.”

“Someone will come by! They’ll fly jets overhead, send soldiers through the swamp. We’ll be rescued in no time.” The woman didn’t even sound like she believed herself. Her voice cracked.

A few eyes softened, someone sighed. “Someone escort her back to the camps.”

A man snorted, stepping up wordlessly. “Come on, Julia. Everything will be okay, alright? We’ll figure it out.” He brought her away from the group, bringing our numbers down.

A few people watched them go, the scene leaving a somber mood.

“Damn apocalypse.” Someone muttered.

“It’s fine, we can’t expect everyone to keep their heads.” A voice said. “It’s—there’s no precedent.” He said softly, finding his thought.

“Can you imagine what’s happening across the world? That [World Notice]? Think about what that means. The entire world is experiencing this. We’re the lucky ones, we probably—” A man spoke ponderingly, watching the two leave.

“Lucky ones?” Another man laughed, fatalist. “We got fucking mind-controlled. We were about to run into that thing’s mouth!” He yelled. “How many of us died? You think we’re fucking lucky?” He scoffed.

“I do,” Gary responded, voice steel. “We’re lucky because the most dangerous thing in this entire swamp is also probably that pile of ash.” His eyes drifted to the skyscraper. “The worst we’d ever have to worry about is already dead.”

That shut the man up.

“Enough,” Parker spoke, cutting into the silence. “Gary, everyone, let’s hear what Rickson has to say. He’s the one who found the Dungeon, let’s let him talk.” He said, gesturing.

The man in glasses, Rickson, took a breath, seemingly nervous with all the attention. He was the [Seeker], which I found to be an interesting Class. He looked caught off guard by the sudden prompt but eventually found his words. “I leveled when I found it.” He said shakily. A few brows raised. “We need to level. That’s how we guarantee our survival. Skills, attributes, you all saw the screens. If something like another Field Boss happens… we need to be ready.”

Gary was a middle-aged man with greying hair, strict, but he didn’t strike me as unreasonable. He eyed Rickson, whose determined eyes broke through a nervous posture.

“What’s that have to do with the Dungeon?” Gary asked.

“I think… I think, beyond doing things according to your Class, we can level by… well, experience.” He said. “This Dungeon is that. It’s like a natural resource. Remember that person who found that [Common Chest] around the roots? He got an Item. I think we can probably get those from the Dungeon too.”

“Experience?” Rose asked. “What do you mean?”

“Experience, like… killing monsters. Surviving dangerous situations. Overcoming obstacles.” He spoke. “We all leveled, just from surviving the Field Boss.” He said, which got him a handful of thoughtful looks.

“A natural resource, huh?” Gary muttered. “If we can get Items like the kind George found, then it might be worth staying.”

“It’s risky,” Parker warned. “And we can’t be sure how any of this works.”

“No one’s ever going to find out if we don’t try. How long are we gonna flail around for?”

“Look, all I’m saying is we should be careful. We can just take it slow and easy.”

“Slow? Careful I can agree with, to a certain extent, but slow? What happens if some godforsaken monster waltzes through the swamp and decides we’re all food? We need to do something. Someone has to take that first step, it might as well be us.”

“Then we go inside.” Everyone turned to Rose. She was the last person I—and everyone else, apparently—expected to speak. “I’m sick of being helpless. We go inside, see if we level, and see what we get. Everyone here can handle themselves, right? There’s no other way to know.” Her eyes were a challenge, and no one dared suggest otherwise. She took that as an answer. “And then we decide.” She finished.

Parker exhaled, keeping a cool head. “Let’s check out the entrance first.” He looked at the [Seeker]. “Rickson? Mind leading the way?”

There were ten volunteers total, down from the original twelve. Everyone had proven, one way or another, that they were survivors. It was a small group though, considering the number of survivors, but everyone here had a good head on their shoulders.

I could attest to that with the random snippets of thoughts I picked up on, even if some had been argumentative or combative, everyone was on the same page. I was still unable to focus that effect of [Telepathy], despite my cursory attempts at practice.

I knew Rose, Parker, Gary, and Rickson. The names of the rest were lost to me. I’d thought I’d be the odd one out but not everyone here knew each other despite working in the same building. Some were strangers, unified through disaster. Me among them.

The Dungeon wasn’t anywhere I expected. It wasn’t at the rootmother’s ashes, nor, technically, in the ruins of the skyscraper. Instead, it was an arched gateway formed from the gnarled bark of the tree itself, inexplicably pristine against the section of the swamp tree the skyscraper had been occupying.

Had it been there the entire time? Blocked by the building by happenstance? Or had the defeat of the Field Boss triggered something?

Though covered in soot and ash, the tree itself had never caught fire. It didn’t even look burnt. And the Dungeon entrance itself?

Otherworldly was the only word that encompassed what I was seeing.

“Woah.” I said dumbly.

“Beautiful right?” Rickson responded, staring as I did.

“It’s… yeah, beautiful,” I responded, at a loss for words.

It was a glowing film, a prismordial sheen over the space that should’ve led somewhere. It had depth, and not. Impressions dancing across the surface. I could almost see… a swamp? A forest? Something of nature flitting across the film, like a bubble of soap with more substance.

Rickson was small against the backdrop of that gateway as he continued, leaving me staring moments longer. I kept pace with him easily, a detail that was not lost on either of us. The roots became larger the nearer to the base and we’d climbed the whole way.

Most of the group was flagging. I was doing only a little better, knowing how to move across the roots. My clone’s physicality was actually more than my previous original self’s, before I’d gotten the Title. I don’t think my actual self would’ve tired at all.

“I’m surprised you can keep up with me,” Rickson commented, looking at me. “I’ve got [Terrain Traversal] as a Skill. It helps me move across this like it’s nothing. It’s amazing.”

My mind caught up to what he said, so lost in the sight. “[Terrain Travesal]? How’s that work?” I asked, looking at him.

“It’s like… I’ve always known how. My feet move before I can think. Not really any different than how we normally move around. I don’t really think about it. I just do.” It sounded like he was more in awe of himself than anything else. More in tune with this world than the last.

I had the sudden, quiet, realization that that made two of us. I saw him there, one foot a step higher on the root, eyes roaming the path up, and wondered if I looked like that. If someone could stare at me and say that I looked almost like I belonged.

“And you?” He asked, turning around to check the other’s progress. He sat down, waiting for them to catch up and I took a spot nearby.

“I’m not from the building,” I said after a moment, gesturing to the remains. A marvel of humanity’s mastery over nature, succumbed to this new reality. “I was roaming the swamp for two weeks before getting here. I guess I learned a thing or two moving across the roots. I tried to help as much as I could when I saw what was happening.”

“Alone?” Rickson blinked, immediately looking at me differently. “What’s your name?”

“Evahn,” I replied. “And you’re Rickson, right?”

“Nice to meet you.” He replied in turn.

“Likewise.” And we left it at that, both of us soaking in the sounds of the swamp.

When the voices drifted upward, Rickson broke the silence and called for a break. They’d climbed high enough to peek over the ridge of roots and see the gateway. It didn’t take long before we started moving again.

“You’ll see it soon!” Rickson called back, he and I leading the pack.

I was about to ask what he meant when I did see it.

Dungeon: [Sleepywood]

A lethargic glade shrouded in twilight, where creatures both wonderful and dangerous stalk freely. A haven for both fauna and flora that thrive between night and dawn. To venture forth is to cast away fear and enter the shadows of looming trees and watchful eyes.

– Vastly increased emergence of twilight-related, light-related, and dark-related rewards.

– Greatly increased emergence of nature-related rewards.

Note: This Dungeon has not been explored yet. As such, the first group to enter will have the quality of their rewards vastly increased. Upon the first group’s exit, the [Sleepywood] will undergo a period of 24 hours in which the quality of all rewards will be raised for all who enter thereafter.