36.

  They all stood there in silence, the only light coming from the doorway behind them that showed their way free of the dungeon. Trevor and Bo were looking at Tank with a lot more respect than they had when they had entered the dungeon. Saving someone’s life could do that.

  Duncan’s eyes were unfocused as he stared off into the distance. Going through the status screen and the notifications that were likely popping up. Santi wasn’t touching any of his till they were away from the assassin and into the hills and away from his prying eyes.

  He was sore about losing his secret aces, but the boss monster had been too strong for him to simply try to whittle it down. The creature’s speed, strength, and durability had been impressive. Now they were all waiting as Duncan worked his way through his changes.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Duncan said. He looked toward Trevor and Bo, who’s eyes had unfocused themselves as they took their own level ups. They hadn’t been super helpful, but they had done enough against monsters heavily outleveling them that they had earned a few levels themselves.

  “Hmmm?” Tank inquired. The large healer was staying alert, not lured off by the promise of prompt screens.

  “Didn’t quite hit my level. I can feel it, just standing on the precipice. So close,” his voice trailed off as both Bo and Trevor finished their level ups. Both men were smiling as they looked at each other.

  Duncan reached over and slit Trevor’s throat.

  The room went quiet, shock running across it. Bo’s mouth gaped open, eyes filled with betrayal, pain, and confusion. Duncan stepped to the side, letting the arterial spray fill the space he had just occupied. Before anyone could move, a shadow blade emerged from the ground and rammed itself into Trevor’s chest, killing the man.

  Duncan stabbed Bo, his arm pumping with machine gun speed, killing the second man before he could begin to defend himself. Santi grabbed Tank, throwing the healer behind him as the morph blade spun into a saber and he stepped between Duncan and Tank.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. A deal’s a deal.” He waved the bloody knife at Santi as he bent down and started to tug the heavy bag Bo had strapped to his back off. He grunted in annoyance and wiped the knife on the back of Bo’s shirt before sheathing it. He looked over and met Santi and Tank’s horrified looks.

  “You thought these two were going to make it out of here alive? How charming,” his voice had a cheer to it as if he really did the thought of not murdering comrades was charming. Santi was holding down bile as he stared at the two men.

  They had died so fast. There was nothing he could have done. They weren’t his people, they weren’t his responsibility to protect or lead. But they had been people. Decent enough people who didn’t deserve to be knifed by the man who was supposed to be leading them.

  “Why?” Tank asked in little more than a whisper.

  “I needed the levels and they were here. If not here, then I would have taken them out on the way back, after we dropped you off. They had seen a bit too much and were getting too friendly with you. Now, I just tell their friends that you killed them, like you did their other friends, and they’ll hate you more. Keeps the questions down that way,” Duncan explained as he rifled through the bag before heading over to Trevor’s corpse and beginning again.

  “You thought I didn’t see you two working on them as we came down here. Trevor wasn’t quite as devoted as Bo, but he was loyal. Until he met you,” Duncan jerked his chin toward Santi.

  “Can’t have a split house, Santiago. He goes to the group and tells them all about you and how wonderful you are and how I acted, and next thing I know, they’ll be talking about mending fences. That what happened should be put aside, maybe we shouldn’t kill you. And I can’t have that.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tanks said, his hand straying toward his club.

  “Careful Santiago. You two keep your word, I’ll keep mine. I don’t leave this dungeon, my people not only won’t help you, they’ll make damn sure Mercy’s finishes you off.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Tank, chill. Just for a minute.”

  “Fuck that Santi. He killed them! For no fucking reason, he just murdered them!” Tank’s voice was filled with anger and his hand finished wrapping around the hilt of the club.

  “And if we bring the murderer to justice, everyone else dies. We need his numbers to beat back Mercy. We need Duncan too. Aside from me, he’s the most powerful person in the region and Mercy is going to be a nightmare even with Duncan. We can’t square shit up right now,” Santi pleaded. His mind was racing.

  If Tank pushed this, Santi would be forced to kill Duncan. He’d split the assassin in half without a moment’s hesitation, without remorse to keep Tank alive. Then they’d have to move, abandon Homebase and everything they were building. Head South towards Mexico, hope to establish themselves there.

  “There has to be a line. There has to be,” Tank whispered those last words, so full of sorrow that it broke Santi’s heart.

  “Duncan crossed the line a half dozen times, and we will get square. There will be justice, it just can’t be right now,” Santi said. Duncan snorted softly, the exhalation so faint that Santi hardly heard it.

  “Let’s get out of here. I can’t stand him.” Tank burst into motion, heading toward the gate.

  “Don’t you want the riftheart?” Duncan said and Santi paused. It was why they had come out here and done all of this afterall.

  “You have it here. Brought it into the dungeon?” Santi asked.

  “Yes. You did your part and have fulfilled the bargain. I’ll have my people ready to join the fray when Mercy comes down on you. You still haven’t told me how you get her to attack you,” Duncan said.

  “Just have your people ready and I’ll get Mercy to come to me.” Santi reached a hand out and Duncan withdrew the riftheart from the bag. Metal chains with runes carved into them were wrapped around the ball of power, each of the runes glowing dimly in the dark.

  Santi grasped the riftheart through the chains and felt the pulse of power through the chains as it forced his mana down and contained it in his body. With a bit of effort he could push through the binding chains, but the fact that they already had at least one binder powerful enough to make these irons was concerning.

  “Nasty aren’t they? Was planning on using them on you, but our guy just isn’t strong enough to really make it worth the time and effort. You can keep the chains, free of charge,” he offered with the hinting mockery of a smile. Tank grabbed Santi’s other arm and the two of them walked out the dungeon and into the sunlight.

  Exiting Dungeon

  Rewards Not Settled

  Once you have left, the rewards can’t be retrieved

  “We need to get moving,” Santi said as he shoved the riftheart into Tank’s backpack. Tank just grunted in affirmation and the two of them set off quickly. Santi led the way as they backtracked, his mind still reeling from what had just happened.

  It wasn’t the Apostate killing his own followers. It was how easily he had done it. Both of them had been decently leveled Acolyte’s with a lean toward the physical side. Yet, Duncan had overpowered both of them so easily it had been almost laughable. His knife was obviously System forged and he had some skill related to killing players, but Santi was forced to re-evaluate where Duncan’s actual levels were. He had to be close to sixty.

  A full ten level disparity between the two was covered by Santi’s titles, but the extra skill slots the man had made it more dangerous. He had managed to avoid showing Santi any skills inside of the dungeon and had managed to get Santi to reveal his. From an information gathering point, the dungeon run had been a total disaster.

  He had the riftheart back though and the number of alerts on his feed was enough to make him a little giddy. He had cleared to level fifty, which opened another slot for him, and then there was the Pillar and the wealth of coins he had that could make up for the slots being used already. There was much to do, but he couldn’t risk doing anything while they were on the road.

  “I can’t believe he killed them.”

  “He caught me off guard too. If there had been an attack, I was expecting it was going to be at you. Try to remove our most powerful healer and then see what happens from there. I never expected him to kill his own people like that,” Santi said. They were moving at a good clip, neither of them caring to see what type of monsters or mutated animals were out and in the woods.

  “They were his people and he just…” Tank shook his head as he let the thought trail off into the aether.

  “I just don’t understand. The world has gone to shit. Monsters are literally appearing from thin fucking air, people have become consumed by curses, there’s portals to slices of different realities, and he’s killing his own.”

  “He’s fucked up. He’s a rabid dog that needs to be put down.”

  “Is he rabid though? Everything he does seems measured and weighed. Even killing Trevor and Bo, it was done so calculatingly. He’s a fucking psychopath.” Tanks shook his head slowly as he finished the thought.

  “Can’t argue there. He’s dangerous though. The moment Mercy goes down and her curse is lifted, we’re taking him, and anyone of his people who fights back, out. He knows we’re going to be coming too and he wanted that reward bad,” Santi promised.

  “We have our plans and our counters. We just have to trust in each other to get it done. But first we cleanse the curse,” Tanks said. Santi nodded and the two of them continued on in silence.