NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39: Dungeon Time
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Marie: So I was watching the stream today, and you spent like an hour walking into a wall. What was that about?
Gordon: I forgot to engage the AI before I left the suit. Emergency part shortage at work.
Marie: You should read the comment section on the video.
Marie: "Sponsors will be like 'I paid for this?!'"
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Tuesday, November 12th, 2090, about 6:10 pm MST, Montana City
"If you want to know what I think," said Harry, "I think we shouldn't have split the party again. This isn't a horror movie."
"So?" Claire countered. "We've got a scout for a reason."
"That doesn't—" Harry exhaled. "Look, the point is, splitting up doesn't have to be horror-movie logic to be a bad idea."
"The more hits we land in a given time, the more effective we are in combat," Claire replied.
"'Combat unit' is a generous term for us," she added. "We've got me, a scout, a discount knight, we've got the Lone Ranger over there—I know it wasn't his fault this time, but he just has to be the star of the show."
She glanced at the chat and groaned.
"Oh, gosh, chat's murdering me for that one. I said it wasn't his fault this time!"
"Anyway," she continued, "we're the only ones who are really a cohesive unit right now." She turned to Harry. "Right?"
"Well, what about our healer?" Harry asked. "She's nice."
Claire glared at him.
"Marie's contribution is very much appreciated," she said stiffly, "but just because we have a potion dispenser doesn't mean—"
A health potion hit her in the face.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Completely caught off guard, Claire turned slowly, potion still rolling off her cheek.
"…Oh. Yeah," she said blankly. "…Why?"
Harry laughed.
"You said the magic word. 'Potion.'"
He raised his gloved hand effortlessly, and a second potion landed neatly in his palm.
"Show-off," Claire muttered.
"It's not my fault, Marie's that accurate."
Marie's avatar remained silent. It simply lobbed potions with unerring precision, neither amused nor apologetic.
"It's actually auto-aim," Harry noted. "She aims for your hand, but if she can't see your hand, she aims for your center of mass."
"Oh," Claire said flatly. "So she hit my face because why?"
Harry cleared his throat.
"Great question," he deflected quickly. "But I haven't heard the Minotaur for a while, so, Claire—do you think—"
Whatever she was going to say was swiftly lost as the walls began to move.
"Oh, shit," she muttered.
"Marie, follow. Now."
Harry didn't bother giving Claire instructions. He simply scooped her up like a sack of flour and took off.
The walls clapped shut behind them.
What had once been a corridor became a solid wall.
The rumbling receded, leaving them in a completely unmarked passage—except for the murals.
Even the stone dust on the floor looked freshly swept, as though the walls had never moved at all.
Claire exhaled.
"Warn me next time," she muttered, voice breathless.
"Didn't have time," Harry told her, his hold on her lingering half a second longer than necessary before setting her down.
"This is a nightmare."
She opened her streaming chat overlay.
Harry watched her, confused, until he saw the timestamps on the chat comments.
"We've been here for ten minutes," Claire murmured. "And it's already made a full rotation."
"Most rotations seem to take about twelve minutes," Harry mused. "So let's say five cycles an hour, a dozen minutes to solve it—and then it resets"
"That's doable," Claire admitted. "It's not the biggest maze in the world, but solving a labyrinth while being stalked by a Minotaur? That's bullshit."
Harry grinned.
"I actually like it."
Claire stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"The only problem," he added, "is that it's not really lore-accurate. You couldn't possibly follow a ball of yarn through a maze with shifting walls."
"…It would cut the thread," Claire finished dryly.
She stared at him.
"Of all the details I thought you'd focus on, that was not one of them."
Harry tilted his head smugly.
"I'm a man full of surprises."
"You're a fruitcake wrapped in a funnel cake." Claire exhaled. "You're sweet, but the deeper I go, the weirder it gets."