It is surprising how acclimated I have become to this place as my body. I feel no more like the lost toad in the everlasting pond. I feel... at home... --37.8 Seconds Post-Integration.
Their return journey into the backrooms was much more eventful than the first time around. All throughout the hallways they once traversed without issue were Noir Slimes bubbling out from hidden puddles of goo. Theo whacked them with the ferocity of a professional, but after so many of the slimes met their end, there was only so much reverie he could retain for his new friend's combat skills. Until, that is, they returned to the shipping and receiving space they had found the corner office and dolly. There, the gauntlet was thrown. The collapsed wall was in front of them leading back into the dungeon interior. "Well, we're going in. You ready?" he asked Theo.
"Yeah. I am... I should be asking, are you ready? It's your turn to fight the slimes. I want to protect my sigil, anyway."
"Sure. I'm tired of pushing this thing around."
They switched off again. Happy the bat was in his hand instead of the overly heavy dolly which had been a pain in the butt to push and pull, he held the bat out in front of him like a spear. "You wouldn't happen to have a flashlight, would you?"
From his bag, Theo tossed him a flashlight. It was small but it had a sticky armband which allowed him to attach the light to his wrist so he could use it while still using the bat. 'One problem solved. Now, if only we could find some food...'
He and Theo ventured into and past the collapsed wall. Inside the wall was nothing but black plague rot. The rot was so thick and deep, their footwear sunk into the rot much deeper than they experienced in the store block corridors. "Don't lose your shoes!" Theo called to him.
"I have boots, and I tied them tighter than your mother's corset." To his relief, Theo giggled interminably at his joke. It was the first time he had taken such a liberty with him, and so Clark was unsure of how he would react to such a risqué joke. "He doesn't mind ribbing humor. Good for me to keep in mind," Clark kept a mental note of.
The deeper the two went into the dungeon interior, the more he thought they had made a mistake. Around them remained the same inky sticky as earlier in the passage, except now, it was totalizing. With each step they took the pathway became steeper and more unreliable. When they invariably lost their footing and slid down the darkened path, he was not surprised. With the dolly out of Theo's control it slid first, shoving Clark out of the way with a violent 'oomph!'
When their sliding came to a halt, they found themselves within a large rectangular room. Like the other rooms they had thus far visited, this new place was filled to the brim with plague rot. What stood out to them, however, was how large blocks glowed not unlike how the sigil stone glowed.
"What is this?" Clark muttered under his breath.
Behind him, Theo stirred. He found the sigil stone and quickly fastened it to the dolly.
SIMP called to him to answer. "The glowing blocks are called Engine Blocks. They are components in the dungeon interior which allow for all manner of mechanical operations within the Tower. They were powered by the leylines which run through the tower. These blocks are low on fuel, however. Likely because of the plague rot."
Seeing nothing else to the room other than the large blocks -- much larger than even a horse and buggy, a sight he often glimpsed on approach to the tower -- Clark wondered if this was where they would meet their end. "Sorry to be so downtrodden," he said. "But I am getting tired of dead ends and mysteries while my body slowly eats itself alive."
"You're so dramatic, Clark... I'm sure there is a way out from here. We just have to look for it and be patient. Search the block to your left and I will take the one to the right." Theo said, though really ordered.
"Clark! I detect monster cell starting to form! Four Noir Slimes incoming -- sixty seconds!" SIMP declared before they had even taken a step deeper into the chamber.
"Shet! Theo, whatever we're going to do, here, we got to hurry. Slimes and soon!"
"Crap-crap-crap!" was all Theo replied before both of them hightailed it over to the gently glowing cubes.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Difficult no more because of their adrenaline once more coursing through their bodies, Clark took little solace in having this last bout of energy. He knew he would pay for it later.
Once they had made their way to the first of the 'engine blocks,' all originality left him. "What do we do?"
Theo made his take before even SIMP got a chance to speak. "Look! The bottoms of the cubes are chipped and not glowing with the rest of the cube. Let's realign the cubes with the leylines. I think we just have to push. Help me!"
A brief troubleshooting struggle later, he and Theo found how they thought the cube should be aligned. By then, the Noir Slimes had formed on the other end of the space. SIMP informed them the slimes would reach them in under a minute.
"Buy me some time, Clark!" Theo shouted at him. "Take care of the slimes while I nudge this--"
"I'm not leaving this all to you! You won't be able to move this block on your own -- look how hard it is with both of us here, heaving with everything we have! Let's push, now! No more talk!" Clark said, pushing the block before he even got done speaking.
A grunt and a nod later, Theo resumed pushing alongside him. Glancing back every few seconds to make sure the slimes weren't literally on their backs and about to attack them, he knew he would need to confront the monsters should the cube prove stubborn. Inch-by-inch, the cube shifted. Until, with a few drops of sweat to the ground, the cube slid back into an indentation in the ground; a sharp clicking sound, followed by a whirling of gears, alerted them to the cube locking into its proper place.
About to congratulate themselves, Clark was half-way through the enunciation, when Theo burst out. "No talk -- go and defend me!"
With a shove, and a toss of the bat, Theo pushed him toward the enemy as they rushed to the next engine cube. He didn't have any time to ponder if Theo would be alright moving the next cube by himself. The Noir Slimes were closing in; Clark took hold of the baseball bat and swung, then swung again, hitting two different slimes. He sidestepped on slime's charge attack and dodged another's charge before he swung the bat around in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc, hitting several slimes, and killing one.
[You've defeated Noir Slime!]
[You've defeated Noir Slime!], the System blared. Followed soon was [You've Gained Experience!]. On, the System went as the battle dragged. Fifteen hectic minutes of battle later and the six slimes were destroyed. Panting, though still able to move, however exhausted he now and truly was, Clark still had the energy to limp toward Theo just as they slid the engine cube into place.
Another click, more whirring. His flashlight briefly illuminated Theo's face. Long enough to see how sweaty and red it looked. How chapped Theo's lips were... he guessed it wasn't only him who wasn't doing so hot. "Okay! What are we doing?" He was too tired to say anything other than the essential, so he kept his words curt. "How are we getting out of here?"
This time, SIMP spoke before Theo could answer. "Clark. I have charted the lost store block in relation to the active store. It seems there is an active store block on the other end of the primary wall located at the far end of your current location. There is no 'crevice' active at the moment. However, once you reach there, I have a solution which should deliver you and Theo to freedom."
Clark wanted to ask what this 'solution' was, but they didn't have the time, literally. He knew SIMP wouldn't steer him wrong, so he trusted that whatever SIMP's solution was, it was better than idly standing by chit-chatting as more Slimes inevitably formed. He relayed the information to Theo, and they started running toward the far end of the chamber. Despite the adrenaline, by now, they were slowing down. Clark prayed he would not have to fight another group of slimes by himself. If he did, he had no doubt he would emerge victorious, but that would be it. A pyrrhic victory.
By the time they arrived at the third engine block -- SIMP being insistent every block in the chamber needed to be re-inserted to their proper nooks -- they also gave the next slime warning. "Sixty seconds the next slime group will materialize."
"On my count!" he yelled to Theo, urging him to push next to him. "One, two -- three!" The two teens pushed with everything they had left. It took the full minute they had before the slimes formed, but they did it all the same. A click, a whirr.
"Clark: the slimes have materialized on the far end of the room. Because of your efforts with the blocks, the Noir Slimes' travel will be impeded. Their bodies do not, biologically speaking, 'get along' with the energy emitted by the engine blocks. You should have two-and-a-half minutes before combat," SIMP explained to his great relief.
By now, they were about half-way through the chamber. Hopeful, sure, but dispiriting all the same -- they still had half of the bloody chamber to go!
"Gods, please help me through this!" he whispered.
A minute later, they arrived at the fourth cube. A minute after that, they finished laboring the cube into its nook. "Thirty seconds left!"
Glancing back, he saw the Noir Slimes -- at least ten! -- near one of the cubes. Around the cubes, a silver light glowed. As SIMP had told them, it indeed looked like the slimes were having trouble. Shrill, high-pitched shrieks came from the slimes as they attempted to navigate the engine cube's light. 'Black slimes and magical light cubes... natural foes, it seems!'
"On to the fifth freaking cube!" Theo blurted while out-of-air, hyperventilation soon a reality.
"Right... there... with ya!" Clark huffed back, trying to catch his breath.
Which they did -- for ten precious seconds, their weak bodies forced them to stop so they could breathe in and out before continuing.
On course again to the sixth block, an explosion to their rear illuminated and demanded the attention of all.
Has Something Ever Exploded at Your Workplace?
