CWD: OE ~ Thirty-Two

As everyone sprinted forward in an attempt at pushing past the incoming wave of monsters, Reuben cast Positive Vibes on the group. “That should make it so you can hit hard enough to knock them out of the way, Brie!”

Welcome to Active Combat! This poor freezer food has been ignored for too long, and the food wants revenge!

“For Celestial’s sake, concentrate on running!” Nacho shouted at his friends as he took the lead, surging ahead of the Berserker and doing a flying leap kick into what had to be an upper Tier two dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget. He was only able to knock it off of balance thanks to the fact that they were standing on a massive sheet of ice. It went skidding away, not entirely falling, but it was unable to scramble across the slick surface to rejoin battle before the rest of his team had bypassed it.

The ten remaining people in the group were fully cognizant that being caught by the various frozen foods in the arctic killbox was a death sentence. None of them could eat Nacho’s food for a boost to their physicality, so they were running off of fumes as well as Positive Vibes. For the vast majority of them, it was completely unreasonable to assume that they could even land a blow that would leave any lasting damage on these creatures.

More mutated food monsters were joining the battle every few seconds, ranging from mid-Tier two, to finally rousing a low-level Tier three monster: the bunny ice cream golem, with its body shaped into round portions that looked more like armor than a tasty treat. Simply being near it was painful, as its Tier three aura was affecting the world around it in a severe way. Specifically, it was sending out waves of frozen air, lowering the overall temperature of the entire ice box, as well as generating icy armor across its own body and those of the other monsters. That same ice was attempting to coat the humans, freezing them up and locking their limbs in place.

“Detour, detour!” Nacho twisted and kicked one of the packages that several monsters had been crawling out of, imparting enough force that it started to tip over and crush anything in its way. He could only hope that it would slow down the ice cream golem, but frankly, he had very little faith that anything would be able to hold that creature back. In lieu of stopping it outright, he fervently wished that it was the strongest creature they would encounter, and now that they knew about it, they could avoid that monstrosity of an area boss.

The array of creatures appearing to attack them was dizzying: everything from partially frozen spaghetti creatures to bloodthirsty hot pockets, as well as hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and frozen fruit. All of them were twisted into abominations that, strangely enough, were not attempting to eat them in some sort of ironic twist. No… what they were doing was far more dangerous.

They were trying to force-feed the humans.

As had been clearly explained to everyone, if a single one of them ate anything in the Starvation Dungeon, they would doom Earth and everyone living there.

There was one nice aspect about fighting inside of an enclosed box. Namely, the end was always in sight and growing closer every moment. It wasn't long before Nacho spotted the side door that was their size, and each of them understood that they had found the exit that they desperately needed. With their destination set, each of them put on a burst of speed and hoped to be the first one to open the door for the others.

Attempting to crush their hope, a package of Fudgsicles burst open and spilled out icy warriors brandishing sticks that they had pulled out of themselves. Some of them still had portions of their body covered in their plastic wrappers, and Nacho just knew that they would be harder to defeat in direct combat; likely the packaging would act almost as a force field or another piece of armor. As far as he had ever been able to determine within the Juxtaposition, there were no coincidences or accidents when it came to the monsters. Sometimes they might look silly, or do strange things, but there was always a purpose behind the details; and that purpose was always to make the creature deadlier.

The Fudgsicles brandished their sticks and shrieked out of their fudgy mouths, looking for all the world like a defensive line that was merely trying to hold out until the cleanup crew had arrived. A burst of icy air followed by a strangely gurgling roar confirmed exactly what the enemies were waiting on: ice crystals had already begun thickening on their frozen bodies, and the ice cream bunny was thundering toward the Snack Attack, its massive stride eating through the distance that they had been able to build up.

“Defensive Whirl!” Brie shouted as she brandished Mr. Lacrosse Stick, sending a swirl of energy forward and guaranteeing the safety of her teammates as they shoved through the line and scrambled their way to the human-sized egress. Of course, it was frozen shut and crusted over by a heavy layer of frost. They began slamming their weapons and shattering the ice, completely uncaring if it would impact the efficiency of this freezer once they escaped it.

Even though it felt like it was taking a massive amount of time, the distance between them and the ice cream golem had barely decreased by the time Nacho pushed the door open. A gust of blazing hot air, which was most likely only room temperature, swirled into the frozen arena and nearly knocked the humans back to their doom. Fighting against the updraft, each of them desperately wrestled their way toward the exit.

Something they had forgotten, thanks to the situation, as well as the adrenaline coursing through their bodies, was the atrocious smell of the sink far below. For one long moment, Nacho considered shutting the door, but the chill running down his spine created by the approaching Tier three monster he could not defeat smothered all thoughts of avoiding something just because it was ‘stinky’.

The only remaining consideration was how to get out of there safely, without simply diving into free fall and splattering on the floor. It took a precious few seconds, but Nacho realized that if they jumped at a certain angle, it was a forty-foot drop from the door in the side of the freezer down to a scuzzy kitchen sponge resting on an even scuzzier counter. “I found our exit! Aim for the landing pad, and prepare for the worst!”

Stephen reached the door and volunteered to test out the fall by diving headfirst out of the opening without a word or slowing down. The cook did an involuntary double take, as he had not been expecting anyone to risk themselves so nonchalantly. Watching the man land with a *squelch*, bounce slightly, then pop up and wave at them, Nacho knew that he had chosen the correct path that the Patrons had laid out for them.

One after another, the team started jumping. Over half of them were out, but the Fudgesicle soldiers were closing in, furious that their prey was escaping. The sticks that they had pulled out of themselves had shifted along with changes in their own sludgy bodies to make them better and more efficient at fighting—now they were threatening the remainder of the team with hockey sticks with a splintery blade on the bottom corner edge. Brie, Reuben, and Steve were providing security against them, blocking their attacks and shoving them away as the other members of their party escaped.

Soon only five humans remained, and Reuben was chosen to go out first. He nodded at Nacho as he sprinted to the exit and did a flip, while the cook moved forward to help with defense as Jessica prepared to jump. It was at that moment that things went horribly wrong.

A rebound from a blocked blow twisted and smacked into Steve, who stumbled and was unable to block the follow-up from the Fudgesicle warrior that he had been battling. The stick sent him tumbling deeper into the freezer, and he landed at the foot of the ice cream golem. Everyone thought that was the end for him, but instead of crushing the human with a single attack, the boss monster of the freezer reached down and picked him up surprisingly gently.

“No! No!” Steve struggled as hard as he could, but he knew what was coming. The tip of the ice cream golem’s rabbit paw shifted into a spoon offering a delectable, heaping portion of fragrant ice cream. It started moving slowly, inevitably toward his mouth even as the man struggled against it. “It's going to make me eat it! Make sure I don't! Don't let me be the reason humanity—*urk*!”

Nacho had tossed a Sewer Skewer to Jessica, then pulled out another one of his own. Without hesitation, both of them hurled their weapons at their friend as soon as it became obvious what was going to happen. Just as Steve had started to beg for them to end him, the attacks landed, dealing a total of fifty-two and a half damage with just the weapon’s base damage, more than enough to instantly kill him after the strike he had taken from the Fudgesicle warriors.

The remaining humans turned and scrambled for the door, completely ignoring the damage that they were taking from behind. Nacho was the last one out. The only reason tears weren’t streaming down his face was that they were freezing as soon as they touched his skin.

He soared from the open door, diving to the sponge below him. He landed, he bounced, and he stood up… ready to finish the mission.