Chương 45: 44-The Hall of Law

Sam heard the Circlers' voices calling them to come out of their homes.

"There is a cloud of Essence all over the zone. This city is going to be awash with monsters in hours. Please, come with us. We are building a safe zone inside the perimeter. We will keep you safe!" The Citizen making the calls had worked at an LP store and had power over sound. His voice was not bound by the laws of physics and could be clearly heard throughout Milwaukee. Sam put his index finger on his lips, signaling his family to be quiet.

"They have destroyed the army with their Elven magic. Now they want to capture the civilians to feed them to their dungeons. They probably released that Essence—they invented it," he whispered to his wife and his daughter. She was only fourteen, but was holding up well; he was fiercely proud of her.

"Sam, maybe we should go with them," Alice, his wife, whispered back.

"I watched them help Mrs. Rosenbaum out of her home. They did not seem hostile. Maybe they are telling the truth."

"Do you want us to get killed? Do you have any combat experience at all?" asked Sam, who worked at the Federation's canteen making sandwiches for the troopers and considered himself a warrior by proxy.

"You just shut your dumb mouth while I try to keep this family alive," Sam ended his tirade, shaking his fist in the face of his frightened wife. He was not a bad man, just a scared one, and fear sometimes brings out the worst in people.

"We wait for sunset, and we head north, to the Answer's territory. They will not let these monsters into their lands."

"Sam, no one who comes to their territory ever comes back. No one."

"They are still human, Alice, and willing to fight. That is enough for me." Sam watched as the Circlers entered the building next to theirs, looking for civilians.

"We can't stay here. They will capture us if we remain. We must move," he whispered.

"I will go first, follow me, and try not to make any sound. We will go to the cellar and exit the building through the back door. They will not see us leave." He went first, a light orb in his left hand and a heavy kitchen knife in his right. The building was very quiet. Had they already taken the rest? They went slowly down the stairs, trying not to make a sound. They were going to make it. He signaled his family to be quiet again as he grasped the handhold to the cellar door, pulling it gently open.

His mind reeled, trying to understand what he saw. The passage leading from the door was no longer the same. No more brick and mortar. It was circular, fleshy, and pulsating. Some strange white structures circled the door frame. Then something fast, elongated, and strong snapped from the bottom of the passage, grasping his waist and pulling him into the passage as if he weighed nothing. He finally recognized the passage for what it was as the teeth closed down on his body.

"Bob, snap out of it," Jenna told him briskly.

"We need you."

"Sorry, Jenna. This is a bit much," he answered, as he contemplated the chaos surrounding him. Amazons, Avatars, and Citizens were herding a vast crowd of desperate families into the hastily built walled camp they had erected on the outskirts of the city. Brick Golems moved ponderously among the Circle's troops. They were filled to the brim with rescued Milwaukee citizens.

They would stop and settle on the ground, allowing them to leave the building and rejoin the rest of the refugees before resuming their search for more people in need of help. Dignity was using the spatial powers lent to her by a bloodbound Avatar to create a huge gate through which the refugees were being transported towards Madison, the nearest Circle town.

From there, they would enter the Secret Mountain, travel through the permanent gate to New Velta, the spatial dungeon that acted as the Imperials' new home, and end their trip in Old Belona. The Beli had volunteered to shelter them. Gamblers have a soft spot for those who have lost all.

"Set up those dungeons as soon as you can, and build them strong," Elariana had told them.

"If we are attacked during the evacuation, there is no way we can protect this whole crowd without taking heavy losses—and there is something more. I would be very surprised if we get them all. I am sure only a fraction of the civilians have come forward."

"That does not sound good at all," conceded Bob. They had to build the symbiotic dungeons. It was the only way to clear the Essence away. Bob and Jenna listened to Billy's battle plans. Wherever there were dungeons involved, he always took the lead.

"There is only one way we can play this," he explained.

"I must use Heart of Darkness and become the dungeon's new core. I will try to get a reproductive mechanism similar to the one I got when in Belona's past: the Core must destroy other dungeons to use their Essence to create new ones."

"I think I understand," Jenna said.

"We hit dungeons hard and fast, trying to convert them into symbiotic ones before they have time to upgrade. We do not even have to get them all. If we create enough, they will absorb the extra Essence, and things will return to normal." They had been walking among the deserted streets, looking for a good spot to set their dungeon.

Billy usually needed the Essence burst released by the death of another dungeon to create a new one, but the atmosphere was so saturated with Essence that the only factor limiting the rank of the dungeon he could create was his Achievement Points.

"I think this is a good spot," Billy said as he signaled the old fire station.

"It is big, visible, and well-placed at the city's center. It also has a history of sending help to others, which will shape the dungeon's final properties."

"I don't know what final form the dungeon may take, but it will be heavily influenced by the Federation lifestyle. So, yes, I think we may also pick up vibes from them."

"That could actually be a good thing, Billy," said Bob as he inspected the old, decrepit building—it had probably not been used for decades.

"It will increase the chance of the civilians accepting these Essentials as protectors. They may distrust Amazons and Avatars, but they will accept cops and paramedics." Finally, they went for it—wild dungeons had probably already started their grisly work. The Losers were aware that people were probably already being attacked inside their own homes. Jenna broke the chains holding the doors closed with her strength and let Billy have the room.

He sat down and concentrated for an instant, disappearing in a blue flash. The Heart of Darkness: You can respawn as a Dungeon Core. You may build a dungeon around yourself and populate it with mobs and bosses, using achievement points. While in Core Form, any event that would cause a Dungeon to gain Essence will grant you equivalent Achievement points. You must choose a Motif. You may choose additional dungeon tags. Each tag will increase the cost of respawning as a Core.

He used the whole bag of tricks he had designed over the months to avoid losing his mind as a dungeon core. Hatchery: The Essentials had to be able to work outside the dungeon if they were to help the civilians. Repository: It would calm the population if they interacted with full human beings rather than cookie-cutter clones. It would also help Billy maintain his identity, though the reincarnation trick did most of the work now. Symbiotic: indispensable to protect the city and clear Essence from the environment.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Reproductive: crucial to transform other dungeons into symbiotic ones. His body dissolved into the blue room. He named the dungeon the Hall of Law and used as a Motif to serve, protect, and uphold. With some luck, he would get dedicated cops who also put out fires and acted as paramedics.

He had solved the whole Welfare State problem with a few Achievement Points obtained by solving the vermin problem—he should definitely run for mayor. He arranged the dungeon stats while in the Blue Room. Name: The Hall of Law Rank: Pending Motif: to serve, protect, and uphold Tags: Symbiotic, Hatchery, Repository, Reproductive He summoned his Heart of Darkness screen, in which he was supposed to describe the Core's history.

The module gave him a lot of leeway for personal details and filler, but it grayed out all sentences that tried to determine specific powers. He used the old reincarnation trick, entering a whole diary he had written over seven hours, full of personal details. Lawman had a dream and discovered he was not only Lawman but also Billy, a nineteen-year-old born near Brotonville who… He spent all the Achievement Points he had available. This was not hard science.

The more you spend, the better the results will align with your interests. The old fire station shimmered for a moment, then returned, transformed into a futuristic glass-and-steel mansion. Jenna and Bob quickly entered it. Jenna tried not to smile. She knew the situation was serious, but something in her could not stop her from finding Billy's relationship with Murphy's Law as deeply hilarious.

"Okay, lover, show yourself. Let's see what you have come back as." Billy walked up to them slowly; he looked exactly the same. This was kind of a letdown compared to the building itself, which looked like an emergency-response center from 200 years in the future.

"Okay, so you decided to add Kingmaker at the last moment and not come back as the Core. Change of plans. I guess you must have your reasons," said Jenna, scanning the whole building, trying to find out where the Core was.

"Introduce him to us, please," she said, her back still turned to him." I AM LAWMAN," said a voice behind her, so deep, powerful, and filled with the promise of dreadful retribution that Jenna actually squealed in fear. She turned around to find a masked figure in a stylish black neoprene body armor that clung to a wiry body packed with muscles so defined that each probably had its own first name. Several gadgets of unknown function clung to the stranger's body." WE ARE LOSING TIME. PEOPLE COULD BE DYING.

CLIMB INTO THE EXECUTIONER." A sleek black vehicle, somehow looking like the son of a limousine and a tank, surged from the depths of the station and approached them at high speed, then suddenly braked in front of the Losers, inches from hitting them.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lawman," Jenna said suspiciously.

"Where is my boyfriend?"

"It's me, Jenna," Billy answered in the blood link.

"These Essentials all have civilian identities as a common power. Sorry about the voice, I will try to communicate using the Blood Link." The car's ceiling went up, swiftly revealing three other occupants in it: One girl and two guys, none older than twenty. They were all masked and wore the same neoprene armor Billy wore. Luckily, their voices were not as imposing as Lawman's.

"Hi, I am Calamity Jane," said the girl, who favored a cowboy style and had a bandolier crossing her chest, with several weird-looking revolvers in it.

"I am Bowman. I am good with bows," said Bowman, who carried a bow and was good with it.

"I am Living Weapon. Better not find out why," said the third youngster, probably some kind of unarmed combat specialist."Sit down, there is plenty of room for all in the Executioner. Congratulations on your first mission!"

"Oh, God, not superheroes, please," mumbled Jenna as she scrambled with Bob into the vehicle.

"I think the correct term is vigilantes, Jenna. These seem to rely on training and gadgets; they are somehow an imitation of the Federation's tactics, with Essence powers that mimic the effect of gear, but without breaking the rules." Both Losers summoned their elven armor around them before taking their seats. Better safe than sorry.

"Oh, cool, you have secret identities too," said Calamity Jane.

"In real life, I am Paula and work as a secretary," she said, happily shaking Jenna's hand.

"What are your codenames?"

"I am Lady Fart, and he is Itchy Groin," Jenna snapped back, peevishly." THEY ARE THE PRIMORDIAL AND THE SKILLMASTER, AND THEY HAVE A JOB TO DO," Billy's voice crashed through the speaker.

"Got it. Officially Primordial and Skillmaster. Unofficially, Lady Fart and Itchy Groin," said Jane. Bob made mental calculations as the Executioner glided through the streets of Milwaukee. Three bosses plus Billy meant a rank four dungeon, just from ambient Essence. They were going to face tough opposition. The Hall of Law had no mobs, which meant the Cores and Bosses were slightly more powerful, probably around the equivalent of 36 levels for the Bosses and 48 levels for Billy. They would have to do.

Suddenly, the vehicle braked so fast that Bob feared for a moment he was going to lose his fillings. The ceiling snapped open. No one said anything. No orders were given. Everyone sprang into action. The road was no longer empty; an impromptu cemetery had formed in the middle, and hordes of zombies were pouring out of it. Calamity Jane was standing on top of the vehicle, her hands almost invisible as they blurred, swapping weapons in her holster, raining even more death on the already dead.

She had a veritable trove of weapons that fired every type of bullet: bullets that exploded as grenades, bullets that turned in mid-air to strike from the blind side, bullets that transformed into miniature suns that drew back the darkness. Bowman stood at her side, shooting arrows—arrows that found their enemies and killed them. Good old Bowman: boring but reliable, doing his job in a precise but unflashy way.

Living Weapon and Lawman had jumped among the undead, singing a duet of lethal and precise martial arts strikes, punctuated with the use of gadgets that transformed the flow of combat. Bob saw one big zombie uselessly trying to tear off the mine Living Weapon had planted in its flesh, concealed in his open-palm strike. The vigilante kicked the zombie in the chest, throwing him into a group of others, seconds before the monster exploded.

Lawman was using some kind of high-tech cestus that injected his targets with holy water each time he struck them, leaving only a pile of ashes on the floor. Jenna held a burly zombie by the ankles and used him as a mace to clobber the others. Enough of this, Bob thought. We do not fight like this, Billy. We think our fights through. He summoned the ball he needed. Alarel's Wisdom (Palooga 4): Throw the ball marked with Alarel's name.

If it hits an enemy, it will reveal all information that could be obtained with Gaze of the Eternal Warrior. Requires Gaze of the Eternal Warrior 4. He threw the ball at the nearest zombie, braining him in the process. Gaze of the Eternal Warrior 4: Your enemies are not zombies. They are spiritual presences that jump from corpse to corpse, animating them. One of three combat patterns was detected. They inhabit the corpse for one minute, and then jump to the next. Two out of three combat patterns were detected.

Animated corpses remain active for seven minutes after the spirit has vacated them. Three out of three combat patterns were detected. Weakness detected: the spiritual presence can be destroyed if the body it currently occupies is killed. So that was how they fought: not as rabid monsters, but as army builders. Bob did not even need to use his powers to find out where their true enemies were hiding. There were three corpses at the edge of the cemetery that howled and threatened, but did not enter the fight.

That is where they are. Those will join the fray as soon as the spirits leave them to inhabit fresh corpses. Bob summoned his bow from his inventory and calmly and efficiently took them out. A few minutes later, the last of the reanimated corpses fell—they had run out of time.

"Seems it is over," Bowman said.

"No, we have gotten all the Bosses but one. The dungeon has not imploded; the Core must still be alive," answered Bob. Just then, a scrawny-looking, scared man with a shovel and huge, thick glasses crawled from behind a tombstone.

"Thanks God, you have come. I am Angus, the caretaker. I was just doing my job, and those freaky things just started coming and…" He could not go on, as his head flew through the air. Jenna's sword had beheaded him. His body dissolved into a disgusting mass of worms. Bob could hear Billy's voice through the link: "Good move, Jenna. He was the Core. But how did you guess? I had to use Essence Sight to determine it." Thankfully, his voice was back to normal in the mind link.

"Come on, Billy," Jenna answered.

"Don't tell me you never watched Scooby-Doo as a kid."

"Really? You killed him based on that?"

"No, dumbass. He had three hearts. I could clearly hear them," explained Jenna to a suddenly relieved Billy. The graveyard became fuzzy and less real." IT IS IMPLODING," Billy/Lawman said. He pointed at Living Weapon: " THIS IS YOURS NOW," he said.

"I accept," answered the young martial artist. Then, the graveyard came back into focus, but it was no longer a graveyard—it was another futuristic building. They climbed back into the Executioner. Living Weapon was left behind. The last they saw of him, he was entering the building.

"What happened there, Billy?" Bob asked.

"I promoted him to Core. I can only do that at the moment the dungeon implodes, and the new aspirant must be present. This is how the Hall of Law reproduces," explained Billy through the Blood Link.

"Does that mean we now have one Boss less?" asked Jenna.

"No, a new Boss has just spawned in the Hall of Law to replace him. Living Weapon is now meeting the members of his own team."

"This was actually cool," Jenna admitted.

"I am glad you liked it, because we are going to have to do it again many, many times, if we want this city to survive."