Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] Chapter 28: 1.28 Pest Control

Read chapter 28 of Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

1.28 Pest Control Chapter 28 “So waiting for everyone else will also make things harder for us?” Francis asked, his face down turned into a scowl. “Looks like it,” I said. Barry was back on his amulet, talking to the captains, while I took to reassuring Vasquez, Norton, Fracnis and Huwett. We already knew we would have the worst time of it based on our plan, but this was the System kicking us while we were already down. “How bad do you think it will get?” Norton looked less scared and more… resigned? The large healer might be doing some mana calculations in his head already, figuring out what he could and couldn’t get away with healing as people got injured. It was a grim way of thinking, but one I was wholly behind for the healer. Resource management was key in dungeon runs, and mana was a resource like any other. I shook my head, “No idea. I doubt it will get to the point that we can’t win. But it’ll be a slog, and based on how willing the System is at killing people even in Tutorials…” I let the thought drift off for the others to grasp on their own. A series of head nods confirmed they all understood, even Francis. Barry finished up his calls and put his amulet away, then turned back to us. “We will continue with the plan. This added penalty sucks, but there’s really nothing we can do about it. We just need to trust the other teams and hope for the best. But, I believe in them, we have a good guild.” “We can at least start moving through this floor, though,” Vasquez said. His tone held an edge of impatience, a mounting frustration with the situation settling onto his shoulders. We looked out over the vast space. It was wide, with various circular holes or large columns decorating it randomly. Along the walls on either side were sporadically placed levers or pedestals. It didn’t take a lot of brains to understand the floor was as much a puzzle as it was a gauntlet. Explanations had to be given to Francis. In the end it was agreed that we could cross the floor, and wait at the entrance to the next one. It wouldn’t affect the floor difficulties for the others, and it would at least give us something to do, to focus on for the time being. “Adam, Huwett,” Barry said. “We know, we know,” Huwett rolled her eyes. “Let’s do this.” *** “Okay, go now!” I yelled, signaling to Barry, Norton and Vasquez to move forward as I held down the lever attached to the wall. The three men ran across the stones in a carefully chosen pattern. Francis was already ahead of them, the rage warrior standing on a small platform with a depression stick, like that of an old-timey demolition trigger box, pulled all the way down. Huwett was some way behind all of us, holding down a lever of her own. When they finally made it past the chosen stones, Barry waved his sword high overhead, and Huwett released her lever to dash across the floor herself. Arrows whistled by and exposed pit traps were dodged. She was quite graceful, especially compared to the others. Her high dexterity showing its worth as she moved her body fluidly to avoid the traps. It was a captivating dance. She moved ahead, past me and Francis and into the further areas of the floor beyond. Her aim was for another lever deeper in. As she reached the destination—her arm extended to grab the mechanism—a blade sliced upward from the floor, threatening to sever her limb entirely. She stutter stepped, pulling back as the blade whirred by, then yanked the lever down with an echoing click. “We’re good!” she yelled over her shoulder. I shot Barry a thumbs up, even though he also heard her. The floor was indeed a puzzle. Certain tiles on the floor would trigger pitfalls, or other nasty traps. While sometimes just passing certain distances along the gauntlet would be the trigger for an arrow barrage or swinging, multi-ton stone slab. As we took our time to assess, we were able to figure out a loose pattern to the pressure tiles and pitfalls, though that changed gradually the deeper we went. Huwett and I