The Mad Rat's Lab

"Command your support mobs to jump right after you. Remember that the gear will start moving as soon as it detects someone on top. And don't fall off!" I remind everyone.

Clara takes a military pose, saying, "Yes, yes, sir! I won't fall, sir!"

Ignoring my sister's antics, I sigh and jump onto the platform. Clara, Ricard, and Laura jump at the same time, and our support mobs do it right after.

This platform is shaped like a gear, and its smooth surface, likely metal, has little friction, which is a problem. As soon as we put weight on it, it starts spinning, using the spiral tube in the center as the guide, as if it were an elevator going down. Once movement begins, the centrifugal force starts pushing everyone on top of it towards the edge, the smooth surface not helping much to prevent it.

This is why I warned everyone: who knows how high the fall is? It's possible that falling off this gear-shaped platform guarantees instant death.

Two meters away from the gear, giving ample space for us to fall, the walls create a perfect cylinder, without a single imperfection. Due to the lack of light, it's a bit claustrophobic, but hey, I've seen much worse.

"There might be attacks aimed at us during the trip," warns Laura. "I would add them if it were me."

"We'll come to that when it's needed." There's no need to worry about the future if you die in the present. "Just focus on not falling off the gear."

Everyone nods. Tense, we shut up and focus on securing ourselves and our respective support mobs on top of the platform. Luckily for me, my only support mob, The Surprise, is half slime: it can stick to any surface.

I drop to the ground and increase the contact surface with the ground as much as possible to avoid slipping off. The platform is large enough to accommodate at least twenty people, with ample space. With our low numbers, we aren't uncomfortable even when lying on the ground like this.

Although I said that as soon as we stepped onto the platform, it'd start moving, most real-life physical rules still apply in DMA. When the gear starts spinning, going down the spiral tube, it does so very slowly, gaining velocity as time goes on.

After the gear picks up speed, I realize something: if the speed keeps increasing like this, the centrifugal force will eventually win over the friction. This is bad…

Ricard, the closest to the central axis, suddenly starts talking. "You know… I can't see any brake system. It's possible that the gear starts spinning uncontrollably and the speed increases without end… We might be in real trouble if it takes too long to reach the end."

Don't jinx it! Don't even dare think about 'possibilities'! Damn Ricard! If your guess is right, I'll blame you for it!

Everyone glues themselves to the metal surface, holding to it for their lives.

But, as Ricard expected, the gear's speed keeps increasing, and soon, the first victim appears.

From the corner of my eye, I see movement. I raise my sight just in time to see one of the most disgusting units in the whole game, even worse than the Giant Cockroaches, rising from the ground and flying away.

"Nooo! Charlie!" My sister shouts, a bunch of tentacles extending to grab 'Charlie' mid-air. "Don't let go of your mom, your mom will save you!"

A shiver runs down my spine as I watch the horror being held by an equally terrifying creature. This sight, those words… I'll just… I'll just pretend I didn't hear, or see, anything.

Aah, happy, blissful ignorance. I'll always miss you.

The gear keeps picking up speed, and I feel my body slowly sliding over the ground.

At this rate, I'm going to fall! Aaaaaaah, I'm doomed… Hahaha, I'm kidding. Didn't I say it earlier? I've got with me the best support mob ever – for this situation, I mean –, a support mob that guarantees my survival.

"The Surprise, grab my arm and don't let go!"

Following my order, my support mob moves slightly, and I soon feel a sticky sensation on my hand. The fluid extends, covering my whole arm, until it is inside The Surprise. With my monster sticking to the ground like glue, my survival is all but guaranteed.

Hahaha, I won't ever fall! I. Am. Immortal!

The gear falls a bit more without incidents. But then, something weird happens. The cylinder around the platform changes. Previously dark, we start to see light coming from below. As the gear continues to move down while spinning, the objects producing the light inevitably reveal themselves.

In rings, creating perfect circles around us and covering the cylinder perfectly, they look like expensive paintings. Each ring releases a slightly different light tone, and the scenery displayed in them is different, too.

"Those are portals," Ricard immediately identifies them, "This thing isn't designed to kill us, it's designed to split our group!"

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Split…? That's fine, we're safe then... No, wait! Isn't it equally as bad!? Splitting up, isn't it just delaying the inevitable!?

"Charlie, I'm slipping off…" Clara's sad voice fills the silence that follows Ricard's explanation, "...your mom will fall if she doesn't let go… Sorry, my baby. But you won't die, your mom will find and save you."

My sister lets go of her minion, and 'Charlie' flies straight into one of the portals. With my body flying in mid-air, held only by The Surprise, I can see the whole process perfectly.

As the speed keeps increasing, more and more minions start to fly away.

Losing support minions isn't ideal, but it isn't the end. As long as none of us fall, it'll be fine…

Laura's shouts. "I-I'm slipping away!"

Noooo, not you! If it were Ricard or my sister, losing them would at least have a good part, one being extremely annoying when he wants, and the other too terrifying for my taste. But not Laura! She isn't annoying, and her looks are perfect!

Furthermore, she's our healbot! What am I going to do without her heals? Kill myself like usual!? I refuse!

"Lily, use Blink! Come here! We can both use The Surprise to–"

Before I can finish, my vision becomes blocked by something large. No, not large, but very close. Two arms grab my waist with a firm grip, and I feel two soft mounds pressing on my chest.

"Fufu, isn't this exciting?" Laura smiles, her head right in front of me. She's so close that if I moved my head just one centimeter, we'd end up kissing. "Are you the prince that came to save this poor me?"

My thoughts become a chaotic mess for a moment, but I quickly recover.

"You fool!" I burst out. "Not me, but The Surprise! You've doomed the two of us!"

"Eh? But I thought you wanted to embrace me, and that's why you were offering…"

Fuck, fuck, fuck…! This is bad! Thanks to Laura's extra weight multiplying the force trying to throw us off the spinning gear, I can feel The Surprise lose grip of my hand. With a disgusting wet suction sound, my hand slips out of my support monster's body until, inevitably, we're both sent flying.

"N-no! My perfect, secure position…!"

I regrettably extend my hand towards my minion. Don't you agree with me? Isn't this the saddest of partings? We couldn't even say goodbye to each other before being forcefully pulled apart… And I mean it literally.

"Don't worry, Mad Rat. We still have each other. We'll have lots of fun together, without anyone to interfere… Fufufu!" Laura smiles, seductively licking her lips.

I glare at her. "Now isn't the time to fool around!"

She just grins at me, pulling me even closer and placing her head over my shoulder.

Annoyed, I look away, just in time to see Ricard being thrown away due to the never-stopping speeding gear.

"Remember our training!" He shouts. "We can't let this break us! Explore and regroup!"

Ricard, as well as the rest of our support mobs, have all lost their grip and are flying towards the portals like us. Those that aren't have already disappeared from view.

There are just two creatures still holding onto the gear-like platform. The first, to no one's surprise, ironically, is The Surprise. As for the second… It's my sister. Using her extendable tentacles, she's grabbing both extremes of the gear at the same time, holding for dear life. Thanks to the gear's teeth, stopping the centrifugal force, she isn't falling off, and I don't think she will unless she voluntarily lets go.

What a horrifying combo… If we end up in different places, which is almost guaranteed, I pity whoever has to fight the combo of my sister and The Surprise – even if they're monsters controlled by AI.

My vision suddenly shifts when Laura and I cross the portal, thankfully interrupting both my vision and thoughts.

"Ugh, ouch!"

We roll on the ground due to the speed of being thrown. Inertia isn't lost after crossing a portal, something I've used too in the slide trick near my dungeon's entrance, but this time, it hurts. Well, it doesn't, because our HP stays the same, but you know what I mean.

The portal remains active, allowing us to go back, but we aren't going to cross it. Crossing the portal now would mean falling from a deadly height. We aren't that stupid.

I untangle myself from Laura's body and stand up, looking around. Following this dungeon's theme, there are several large gears around us, but I don't recognize this place.

"Hmm… a new space…" I think about what to do.

According to my sister, the best course of action is to continue the exploration, but take fewer risks, and leave clues for the teammates so we can reunite eventually. I'm not going to pretend I know better, so I'll stick with that and…

Ah! I don't have the Stitched-crumbs with me! How am I going to do it!?

Meanwhile, Laura makes an awkward pose and coughs to get my attention. "Hey, um… I'm sorry about that. I lost it when you told me to Blink to your position… It was the first time, and, you know… um, I… I'm sorry about sticking to you and pulling the two of us away."

I scratch my cheek, "No, well… Forget it, it's fine. Ricard fell anyway, so splitting up was inevitable. Remember what my sister taught us? To not go against the flow?"

According to Marta, dungeons that are designed to split the party require a larger size, or the party will quickly reunite, which, if you think about it, is something everyone should realize on their own…

As expected, Marta's explanation went a lot deeper than that. Split parties mean larger dungeons, which in turn mean less density of dangers, as they must be spread over a larger area – the cp budget is the same for everyone's dungeon, after all. Instead of wasting time staying together, Marta said that we should voluntarily split up and search in teams, taking advantage of the reduced difficulty to speed up our exploration. As long as we meet up before approaching the dungeon core, where the difficulty usually spikes, that's the best course of action.

I watch Laura fidget, nervously stealing glances at me for some reason I can't understand. Well… at least I have our team's healbot with me. There shouldn't be any risk of killing myself by accident by overusing my spells.

"Let's go, Lily," I say to wake her up, "We've got lots of work to do."

"Y-yes!"