The infinity dungeon 244

Chapter 244

Unfortunately, Infy did not respond to Michael and Johanne's summons, and a strange buildup of energy forced Michael to return back to the surface as soon as possible, but not without a promise to Johanne that they would try again so that she could get her audience with the spirit.

When he appeared in the surface world, he immediately locked onto the energy signature and teleported, but he was too late. There was nobody in the patch of forest at the edge of the dungeon’s Area of Influence, but the message was clear. It had been the Renegade, and the man would not hesitate to capitalize on any and every moment Michael was distracted.

When Michael returned, Johanne bowed. “Thank you, my lord. I feel guilty for wanting to meet her, for I had sworn to you that my forgotten past did not matter to the present me. I told myself that I only wanted to see her to satisfy my scientific thirst for knowledge, so that I could better understand what sort of being can exist with the power to influence the dungeon itself, but I was lying to myself. I realize now, forced as I am to wait some more, that what I really sought was closure.”

Michael patted her on the back. “You will have closure, Johanne. I promise.”

When she left, thoughts about the Renegade began to bubble up from the depths of Michael’s mind. How jealousy for not being the champion ultimately led to Johanne's imprisonment, and then jealousy festered into hatred, hatred that caused the destruction of a whole civilization. 

Was the same fate going to happen to Earth? Other than the Renegade’s world, it had happened twice more already, with the dwarves and with Theobond’s people. Was humanity going to be the fourth fallen civilization?

He watched the rain fall on the distant trees for several minutes before he managed to shake himself out of his contemplative mood. He disappeared, funneling mana into a teleportation spell, and Travis’s office materialized around him.

His sudden appearance startled the man, who gasped and cursed.

“Michael,” he said. He sounded out of breath, adrenaline flooding his system. 

“Travis,” Michael said coolly. “I don’t need Truth to know that you look one notch too frightened to see me than is normal.”

“You just startled me, that is all,” he said.

Michael hummed, eyes going to Travis’s left hand in his pocket. “I see. You have some taint. I just cleaned David up, do I have your permission to fix you up?”

“Of course. I appreciate you asking instead of just… doing it.”

“I am trying to become a better man,” Michael said, snapping his fingers. “All done. I also came here to tell you that I’m going to have to take the remaining coins from Candle Light’s SCUs to finish a project. So, if you go looking for them and don’t find them, it was me.”

“We had a whole stash, more coins than we knew what to do with them!” the man said.

“About that… high level magic is expensive, and I need to finish this thing.”

“Feel free to take the coins,” Travis said. “I will send more teams into the dungeon. I was meaning to intensify the delves anyway.”

“Good, good,” Michael said distractedly. He paced around the room. “I am also going to hop around and gather some materials David has prepared for me. Dismantle an abandoned factory or two, gather some ingots at our warehouses.”

“I saw the purchase logs. You need them for your inner space, don’t you?”

“Yep,” Michael said. Twirling around, he pointed at Travis's hand, which was still in his pocket, and asked in a sing-song voice: “what’s the new gold card do?”

Travis controlled his body’s reaction almost perfectly, but almost was not enough when faced with senses like Michael's, who pretended not to notice.

“I got it in the dungeon. After David and I had a… talk, if you want to call it that, I realized I was being a pussy and faced my fears.”

“I see, I see. You still haven’t told me what it does.”

“Of course,” he said quickly. “It’s the same as my old elemental weapon, just more powerful, and it can also summon armor. I know it sounds underwhelming, but it is very versatile. Do you want me to show you?”

“No,” Michael said, perhaps with more force than he intended. “I can feel it from here. It’s not a bad card at all. You must have been very lucky.”

Travis gulped.

“I’m sorry man,” Michael said, his voice strained as he threw himself backward and was caught by a chair materializing out of thin air. “I didn’t mean to be such an asshole. Why were you hiding the card, though? Was the challenge that bad?”

Travis nodded slowly. “No,” he said. “Not yet, but it will be.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?” 

He did not want to become suspicious again, but something about Travis rubbed him off the wrong way.

“It’s a challenge I can repeat over and over again,” the man said. “This card? This was the sign-up bonus to get me started. Like the first win at a casino. From the next one on, I will have to do some fucked-up shit, I fear.”

Understanding dawned on Michael, and his tension melted away. “I understand, man. Shit, I had never heard of a repeatable challenge before, but given the strange stuff the dungeon threw at me in barely six floors I have explored so far, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Is it one you can only do alone, or can you take people with you?”

“Alone. And it’s better this way.”

Michael nodded. “I get it. Yes, sometimes it’s better to face certain challenges alone. The dungeon makes you go through some fucked-up shit sometimes. Just look at David’s challenge, and Liff. Man, that was another tough one. You two are more similar than you think. He too likes to do things by himself, when push comes to shove. Johanne told me he went down to the sixth alone.”

“He did,” Travis said. “You also do things by yourself, most of the time. Perhaps men like us, we are built this way.”

Michael nodded. “Perhaps, yes. Just know that I'm here, okay? If you ever want to talk.”

“Talk?” Travis scoffed. “I’m a grown man. I don’t need to talk. I’m no coward.”

“Look, you said it yourself, there’s no shame–”

Travis cut him off. “There is! There fucking is!”

Realizing that he was screaming, he winced. 

“Listen, I’m… sorry,” he said. “It’s how things are. David gave me a good talking down to, you know. I faced my fears, and I have this fucking gold card to show for it.”

“Alright,” Michael said. He nodded. Once, twice, then three times as he got up. “Good for you, man. Good for you. I’m going to go and get my shit sorted, now.”

“Yes. I’m sorry for lashing out at you. You want to grab dinner later?”

“I think I will be busy. I’ll let you know.”

He left. Behind him, Travis sighed and slumped on his chair. He was relieved Michael had not accepted. He felt sorry for pushing the man away, but had Michael accepted, Travis doubted he could have been able to keep the truth of his new gold card a secret.

Later that day, Travis was barking orders at Operators and men of Vanguard alike in front of the dungeon. David was there too, helping him coordinate the two divisions so that they could work together effectively. 

Claiming that he was doing it because he did not want to just be the man giving orders anymore, he offered to join various squads in their delves. To watch and help get the new command structures hammered down without incident, he said. 

There were tensions. This expedition was several times bigger than the ones they had done before, and most people from Vanguard were newly rejuvenated veterans who thought too highly of themselves. They struggled to cooperate with the Operators, at first.

He was happy to see that his presence helped. He was even happier when David also joined him in accompanying the squads into the dungeon. He felt himself growing closer to the man, who no longer saw him as a spineless pussy now that his gold card showed the world how he had faced his fears.

There were casualties too, especially with the rowdier teams. 

Nobody suspected a thing, then, when the leader of the sixth out of ten teams Travis led into the dungeon failed to return to the surface. Sad that it happened to him, everyone said. He was talented and had shown great promise.

Then, to wrap up the day, Travis went to do a solo delve, to work out the stress. He told everyone he wanted to tackle the repeatable challenge he had talked to everybody at length about.

“Good job,” Infinity said when she manifested. They were alone, away from prying eyes. “There are others, but none that I am allowed to talk to you about.”

“Why is that?” Travis asked.

She shrugged. “Rules. Expand your surveillance network, and then I will be able to help you again.”

Travis emerged with the silhouette of a second gold card glimmering in the light of the setting sun.