The Infinity Dungeon [LitRPG]

It took the duo several hours to cross the distance to the underground lab. The vehicle David had commandeered the first time he had visited the second floor of the dungeon, when he had been presented with his own variation of it, was no longer usable. Even if it had been, it was where he left it, at the underground lab. The second time around he had come here with Michael, and it had taken the two of them at their prime no time at all to go from the entrance point to the lab.

This third time was once again different. Liff shivered while he carried her, even bundled up in thick warm covers: the best they could find after scavenging the whole village. David's great stride carried them fast but the moments when they could move freely were few and far between. Most of the time, monsters pounced at them from hidden crevices, or entire swarms and packs of wolves lay in ambush on the road.

Michael could dispatch them with ease thanks to his versatile magic, which could be very effective when dealing with large quantities of enemies, but each stop slowed them down significantly. Even just a single monster slipping past their guard could be fatal for Liff, after all.

It started raining a couple of hours after leaving the village. The wet ground around the gravel road transformed into small streams and rivulets of water, which disappeared into cracks and holes in the rock that seemed to run parallel to the road.

When they reached the bunker-like door they were cold, wet, tired and weary. David's nerves were shot, and Michael had been forced to drop the shield and be hyper-attentive to his surroundings, forgoing its comfort. While this doubled as training, and he was close to taming his heightened senses, it had come at a cost.

"I ain't stopping here," warned David after they crossed into the dimly lit tunnels, "not when we are this close."

Michael looked at the man, "I wasn't going to ask you to. We're close, let's go."

David flashed him a smile, "thank you."

Their plan had never been well-defined. It involved the underground lab, and the WITCH AI somehow. Somehow they were supposed to find an answer down here, several floors deep into the earth.

It was late when they reached the control room. Michael didn't need sleep, but David was yawning, struggling to stay upright even though they were theoretically at similar magical power levels. They had analyzed his condition of course, and along with a whole series of other problems, it was simply a product of his age and failing body. A True Silver aura was powerful, but also extremely taxing on the body. While usually the benefits outweighed the downsides, David was hitting the limits to what it could do.

"Watch over her as she rests," Michael said, "I'll look around."

It was as if he had been waiting for the go-to signal. David delicately set Liff down and then plopped to the floor beside her, resting his head against a wall.

"Man," he grumbled, "I ain't built for this shit anymore."

"For now," said Michael. "We'll get you back into shape soon enough."

Looking around, he found the lab just like he had left it last time. Broken consoles, signs of battle, scars in the walls. His senses extended like invisible feelers within the bubble of his aura, which was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They had limits, though, and they could not reach many parts of the great underground maze that was the research facility, while many others were nothing more than vague sensations.

Michael knew that an upgrade to his senses was overdue, but tried not to think about it. Despite his resilience stat, he wasn't looking forward to more torture due to hypersensitivity.

He explored, never leaving the main room out of his sights and senses. There were sinister presences everywhere, hiding in the corners where the flickering lights did not reach. Red, glowing eyes where the beams of light and dust made seeing difficult, and when he looked at them, all he could see were old boxes and broken glass.

Michael found some old computers, caked with dust. Their analog interfaces reminded him of old sci-fi movies, from back before digital devices were everywhere. Keeping an eye to the dark corners of the room, and never letting David and Liff out of his sight, he tried to unlock them.

David was nodding off, his head bent at an angle against the cold concrete. Try as he might, the computers would not unlock, not without the biometric signatures of the researchers or the authorization of the WITCH AI.

Sighing, Michael brought his phone close to them, and Icarus' icon flashed on the screen. It took a while for the digital-magical AI to figure out how to establish a connection, but then it was in. Perhaps due to its WITCH legacy, it unlocked the whole system in bare moments.

"What did you find?" asked David several hours later.

"That the staff here were up to some truly terrifying stuff, but nothing that we can use."

The older man got up, groaning as a couple vertebrae popped in his back. "I must have fallen asleep."

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He turned around in a hurry, searching.

"She's fine," Michael said with a smile. "I just moved her over there."

David relaxed, "that's good. Thanks, man. She hasn't gotten better, has she?"

Michael shook his head. At that moment, David finally noticed the small mountain of bodies and body parts at the far side of the room.

"What are those? They look like wolf monsters just… uglier."

"They are just that. They have been attacking non-stop ever since we came here."

As if on cue, another one of the monstrosities leapt out of the shadows from a place Michael could have sworn was clear. He didn't even turn around to meet the threat head on: a Hycean Ice spear caught the monster in mid-air and turned it into a dead meat skewer. Then, using [Telekinesis], Michael moved the body to the quickly growing pile.

"They are mutating," Michael explained, "twisting into something different, more vicious. Stealthy. I didn't sense this last one at all until it decided to leap at me. All the while, I feel the Gaze on me growing stronger. Do you feel it too?"

He withdrew part of his aura protection so that David could feel it. The man closed his eyes, groaning as if a great weight had just settled on his shoulders. When Michael's protection snapped back into existence, he felt like he had just worked out in the gym.

"I can feel it alright," he said, "but there's something about it. It feels empty, like it only has weight for the sake of being an obstacle," David said with a frown.

"True," Michael said, "had it been the true Gaze, you would have folded like a napkin. No offense."

"None taken. It's true, even though you don't need to remind me out loud. So what do you think is it doing?"

"This floor was never declared a safe zone, was it? Not like the Misty Valley has."

David shook his head.

"Then this must be some sort of dungeon automated protection against exploits," Michael concluded. "That's my theory of course. We still have no idea what the dungeon even is."

Another monster appeared out of the shadows. This time, David quickly turned it to paste before grimacing at the mess he made. Michael didn't lose composure, not even looking up from the computer screen. He waved his hands, and the blood and viscera froze in an instant, then flaked off the walls and floor and flew to the pile.

David looked at the scene, following the pieces with his gaze as they moved through the air, then at straight Michael like he wanted to say something. In the end, he didn't speak. After a while, he sighed.

"Now what? Liff mentioned the Witch."

"I tried to wake up the AI. Nothing."

David looked at the ceiling. The lights were flickering, but most of them were bright. "Does it lack power?"

Michael shook his head, "no. the generator we hooked to it when we extracted Liff is still working. We'd be in the dark otherwise."

"That's what I was thinking too. But if not this, then what?"

It was Michael's turn to sigh. He switched off the screen of the computer he was examining, then slowly got up from the strange thing the researcher had for an ergonomic chair.

"I don't think she's there anymore. Icarus and I have been trying to make sense of her code while you were resting. Apart from a few scattered memory engrams, bits of data, there's nothing left."

"How could this happen?" David asked, pacing. "She was sort of working when we left last time."

Michael breathed for a moment. David didn't like the way he looked at him, because he in turn shot Michael a look.

"What did you do?"

"You might want to sit down," Michael said, scratching his head.

"Michael!" the other man yelled. "What. Did you do."

"I might have come back here, alone."

"Why?"

"To study the WITCH's core programming and her magical matrix. As I was doing so, she came back online. She was hostile. She detected Icarus and I while we probed at her code, and tried to unleash her defenses on us. Now, I'm not entirely sure it if was her failing hardware or the sheer difference in power between her and me, or Icarus' computational complexity–"

"Spit it out," growled David.

"Well, fuck it. She broke. In her dying throes, we cannibalized her matrix and integrated it into Icarus. Now our AI can understand and do magic, David."

"That's great and all," said David while inhaling. His voice grew in volume and pitch with every word, "but I don't give a fuck about Icarus right now. Liff is not getting better and our only hope is dead. Did you kill the only thing that could save Liff, Michael? Don't tell me you did."

Michael said nothing. David deflated.

"Why even have us come all the way here?" his voice was a whisper.

"I thought Icarus could take her place. By connecting him to what was left of her systems, I thought it could find a solution. It didn't."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Michael did not have an answer for that.

"What now? Can you put her back?"

"Not without sacrificing Icarus' advanced capabilities. It would go back to being a glorified text completion model."

"What if I didn't care about your fucking AI?"

"It would be totally fair if you didn't, right now. But it's not a decision you can take."

"You can, though," challenged David. "You are the big boss."

"I can. And I won't."

"Are these your true colors, Michael?"

"Where's the shrewd businessman?" Michael shot back.

"Fuck you. That would be Travis, not me."

Before the conversation could spiral any further, and Michael could see the magic winding up in his mentor's body even though the man had to know how useless fighting would be, Michael held up a hand.

"It's something to be discussed with everybody."

"Everybody who?" asked David. "Who even matters that much?"

"Everybody important within Unity. This is not a solo endeavor, David. Hasn't been for a while."

"It sure don't feel like that, man." David said.

"I know. I want to change that. Let's call the others."

"I'll go," growled the man, "you watch over Liff. I trust you can do at least that much. I'll be back with the others."