I gasped as I woke up on the dirt road. Quickly scrambling to my feet, I retrieved my sword from my belt and summoned Cheroske’s blade from it. My body moved sluggishly, feeling as if my skin had become a pincushion. I did my best to shake it off as I took stock of where I was.

  We were back in the area where we had to stop for the children, but it was no longer as well maintained as I remembered coming through the first time. The brick buildings were holding up well, but the gardens were barren, the grass was brown and dead, and several of the roofs had partially caved in.

  A tangled mess of black threads were attached to just about everything, and they all headed back towards Winleshire. Some were in the road, but not nearly as many as there were through the trees. I scowled as I looked at them, fully reminded of a despicable creature back home, but continued taking in the situation.

  The Skymirror Carriage had completely disappeared, and its other three passengers were in various positions where they had fallen. Both Tabitha and Dalsarel had landed on their backs, since it seemed to have been dispelled while still in motion, while Ferrisdae was face down in the dirt. There was some blood in her hair from the landing, but it had already healed.

  Cojisto was on his side not far from us. The pugilist never used a saddle while riding Moose, so it was no surprise that he would have fallen off if he was also forced to sleep. From the way everyone’s chest moved and their limbs twitched, no one was dead. They were just asleep just like I had been.

  Everyone except for Moose. The healer was charging away from us with a tangle of black threads mixed up in his antlers. It was fighting him the whole way, lashing out and leaving bloody gouges in his hide. A glance showed no less than twelve of these creatures inert, possibly dead, all along the road.

  Moose ran head-first into one of the brick buildings, smashing the tangled creature into the wall with enough force to cause it to cave in. A psychic scream emanated from whatever it was, and I winced at the feeling. It didn’t last long as the strange monster curled and shriveled in on itself, no longer a threat.

  “Ah, you’re awake. Excellent,” Moose observed as he turned around and spotted me on my feet. “I’m afraid time is of the essence. Ms. Himia, please explain what is going on.”

  The Information Elemental appeared beside me, causing me to jerk away. I was clearly still feeling the after effects of my dream encounter, as I could feel my blood pumping through my body.

  Himia disregarded my amped up state. “There is a layer of information subterfuge blanketing the area that is keeping me from collecting intel as I normally would. I am unsure of how CC is doing it, but I do know that you must teleport the other four away from this place as quickly as you can, Inspector,” she stated.

  I blinked at the tone she took. It wasn’t urgent or indicated any dire need, other than her words. Her voice was the same as ever.

  Moose must have seen my hesitation. “Tell him why, and hurry,” he ordered as he returned to us, eyes wearily searching for more foes. He wasn’t letting his guard down for a moment.

  “There are strings connecting them to Winleshire,” she continued, reaching down to gesture towards Tabitha’s forehead. Himia didn’t touch my wife, but her finger trailed along a line I couldn’t see that led towards where I knew the town was. “It seems that the dungeon boss is eating the mana from directly inside of them. They are in danger, as all signs indicate that their life force will be next.

  “While Junior Inspector Ferrisdae has an unreasonably large wellspring thanks to the Dungeon Master, Master of Dungeons, the others do not. In the amount of time it took you to wake, they have already been drained to roughly a quarter of what I would consider to be above their safe zone. If you do not act within the next four minutes, approximately, then it will start causing damage to their bodies at an equally rapid rate.”

  Taking a breath, I took in what she was saying as best as I could. My headache was starting to recede, and I was starting to feel like I was back in control of my body again as I calmed down. Not that this news was helping, but there was no use panicking.

  “I can’t see the strings,” I said, gesturing towards my wife’s head before raising my sword. “Can I cut them?”

  “You may be able to with the crystalline sword,” Himia answered. “However, I would advise against it. Severing the connection in such a violent manner may cause backlash, which would likely affect the victims far more than the aggressor. In addition, the odds of such an action waking them up is low, which would allow them to reconnect.”

  “And a teleport won’t?” I asked, scowling.

  “It is the gentler of the two options, and the only other one quick enough to see results before we risk their lives,” the Information Elemental replied. Her calm tone was starting to grate on me. “For example, putting them all on Moose could potentially get them out of the area before they begin taking serious damage, but that comes with a lot of its own risk. Not the least of which is taking the time to ensure that they are strapped down safely.”

  “So we’re supposed to, what?” I tapped the flat of my blade against my shoulder in agitation. “Use the Teleportation Drafts to send away the bulk of our team because of this monster?”

  “That is exactly what we are going to do,” Moose assertively confirmed. “I would have already done it if it weren’t for the fact that I have no hands with which to retrieve and administer the potion.”

  “And I cannot interact with the world in a way that would allow me to do it myself,” Himia agreed. “So it is a good thing that you managed to break free on your own.”

  With a huff, I turned to look at the four prone figures. I searched for any sign of their waking, but they continued to twitch on the ground without any signs of recovery. In fact, I could literally see their skin become more pale by the second. I may have been able to break free, but it was becoming clear that I was an outlier.

  Reducing our power from six to two, not counting Himia, was a bad option even if she believed it was the best one. It probably was, to be honest. I felt like I could trust her on that. Chewing on the inside of my lip, I took the moment to process what was going on.

  In particular, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t hesitating because I was compromised, either because of the dream or the DTER. The part of me that controlled my divine core reached out towards it for Cheroske’s warmth. I hadn’t been able to do so while I was asleep, but I could feel it now. It interacted with me, dancing with my thoughts as if to urge me to go with this plan.

  It only took me a few seconds to decide that, no, I wasn’t compromised. I just didn’t like being forced into losing positions.

  “Fine, it’s not like we can take more than two people into the Dungeon Nexus, anyway,” I growled as I got my priorities straight. “If I had to guess at mana strength I’d go with Tabitha, Cojisto, Dalsarel, then Ferrisdae. Is that right? Cojisto’s been practicing it longer than Tabs has.”

  “I agree with your assessment, Inspector,” Himia confirmed with a nod.

  “Moose, bring your friend over here,” I commanded. Even though I could understand him, he stomped the ground once out of habit and plodded over there.

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  I shifted Ferrisdae onto her back and reached into her pocket to grab the Sending Stone. Without hesitating further, I went to my wife’s side and opened the satchel at her belt. I reached inside with one, drawing the Teleportation Drafts to the top of the Bag of Holding, and made a call with the other.

  The red and green liquid swirled within the vial. It pulsed with magic every few seconds. Teleportation Drafts were extraordinarily expensive due to the high level of the spell, and each team had been given eight of them. I was very glad that they had, because I didn’t want to lose any of these people.

  “Inspector Badger,” Justisius’s voice greeted from the Sending Stone. “To what do I owe—”

  “I’m teleporting Tabitha, Ferrisdae, Dalsarel, and Cojisto with the drafts,” I interrupted, getting to the heart of the matter.

  There was a brief pause as he took in this information. “Are you sure that’s the only course of action, Badger?” he asked.

  “Do you really think I’d do it if there were any other option?” I snapped back before letting the Sending Stone drop to the ground and uncorked the vial. “Tabitha’s coming through first. We’ll need healers.”

  There was some muttering on the other side. Justisius wasn’t responding to me, but likely passing on the message that they’d have visitors soon. I poured the contents of the potion into my wife’s mouth. From there, it was easy to get her to swallow it despite her unconscious state. She disappeared from my arms.

  I turned to see Moose dragging Cojisto towards me. He had the man’s armor in his teeth and had no trouble moving him. “Do you know where his potion is?” I asked the healer.

  “Belt pouch,” came the swift reply.

  “Okay, I let the ship know to expect new arrivals who need medical attention,” Justisius said. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re at Winleshire, the town that surrounds the portal to Camp Lexi,” I answered as I moved to assist Cojisto. “When we arrived, there were Gnome kids playing in the street and women tending their gardens. Seems like we were caught in a Dread Weaver’s web without realizing it. We were put to sleep despite being inside the Skymirror Carriage. Himia, let me know if I get anything wrong.”

  “Will do, Inspector. Though, I would like to remind you that my information gathering capabilities have been compromised.”

  “Noted.”

  “A Dread Weaver?” our liaison asked incredulously. “Like Sevensleg? Are you sure? Don’t they usually cause panic using their spores? How did they put you to sleep?”

  I scowled at the deluge of questions as I retrieved the Teleportation Draft. “Unclear, other than the fact that this is clearly a Dread Weaver. The black webs are a clear giveaway, and they’re everywhere. Possibly a Dream Spider that managed to keep some of its abilities. All we have eyes on are the black webs.”

  “I agree with your assessment that this seems to be a Dread Weaver,” Himia said. “Your theory that this might be a Dream Spider who has been taken over by the parasitic Nightmareshroom but not given into it completely is also sound. This may be another twisted creation of CC, one that can lock down a person’s psyche while feeding on their mana and life force. Tell me, were you caught in a panic-inducing nightmare?”

  “Mostly, it was just confusing,” I grunted. “Cojisto incoming.” The man disappeared as I fed him the potion, and I immediately moved to Dalsarel’s side. “Something tells me that it would have been worse if I stayed.”

  “Could you describe it?” the Information Elemental requested.

  “The guard kept showing us monuments,” I answered, seeing no reason not to as I reached into Dalsarel’s satchel. Like Tabitha, hers was an extradimensional space. “We would take a few steps, and then be at a new one. I almost got some good information on Lexi, but we moved on before I could. I thought it was an illusion until I realized that I couldn’t feel Cheroske’s divinity. That’s when I realized it was a dream, so I stabbed myself through my heart.”

  “Bold move,” Justisius said, though I could tell from his voice that he was slightly shaken by the admission.

  “Hey, it worked.” I pulled the potion out of Dalsarel’s satchel and started feeding it to her. “Second junior on the way,” I announced, and she disappeared. “Do you have eyes on them?”

  “I am not there, but I have reports of them appearing. They seem to be asleep.”

  “Well, try to wake them up. Hit the big guy first, no need to be gentle,” I ordered with a scowl before moving to Ferrisdae’s side.

  “They could be a little gentle,” Moose said.

  “Fine, be a little gentle,” I relayed as I unfastened the Forest Elf’s starry robe to reveal her traveling outfit beneath. She had the same kind of Dimensional Pocket that I did, and it was on the inside lining.

  I was hoping that they would wake up immediately after teleporting. That all they had to do was leave the monster’s sphere of influence, as large as it was, in order to start getting better.

  “The guard also mentioned another group of strangers,” I continued as I retrieved the last Teleportation Draft. “So if any other team is missing, there’s a good chance that they’re trapped here or… if Himia’s right about how the creature is sucking in mana and then life force, then it would be prudent to prepare for the worst.”

  “I can neither confirm nor deny,” Justisius replied softly.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think you could,” I sighed. Lowering my head for a moment, I thought about how easy it was for the other four to remain trapped and put those same expectations on another group. It could have been so easy to lose our lives here, Moose’s apparent immunity notwithstanding. I didn’t think about it for long. “Sending our last member now,” I announced.

  Ferrisdae’s body disappeared, and I stood up to retrieve my sword and the Sending Stone. Justisius muttered a few things in the background, so I waited patiently. My headache had mostly subsided, so I didn’t think I was in any more danger for the time being.

  “You and Moose should return, too,” my fellow Inspector finally said.

  “Did they wake up?” I asked.

  “You’ll see them when you arrive,” he replied. I narrowed my eyes; that wasn’t answering the question. “But we’ll need to regroup and figure out what’s guarding the city before we commit to taking it.”

  “Right now, Moose and I are both fine,” I argued. “I feel like going in there and taking care of the Dungeon Nexus now would be better. Then, we can leave the city to the monster’s whims. There would be no more reason to come here, not until everything’s calmed down. Also, did they wake up?”

  “We don’t know how long you’ll be fine for,” he retorted.

  “I believe that the Inspector and Moose have gained an immunity to the ability of this creature for at least twenty-four hours,” Himia said helpfully. “There are many mental abilities that work that way, and this feels like one of them.”

  “There you go, twenty-four hours,” I repeated, nodding thanks to her. “You know how some abilities are. They’re weird like that. This is our best shot. Now, are they awake?”

  "At least wait until a team from Third Division can come and aid you," he requested.

  That was the first time I heard the name other than ours, First Cell, but what they were called didn't matter. "Can they get here in a timely manner?"

  Justisius paused. “They're some distance away, but, Badger—”

  “Then no. And, if you don’t answer the question about my people, I’m going to assume that they have not woken up,” I interrupted, snapping at the liaison. “And if they haven’t, then that means we need to get moving now rather than later. I’m not sure what playbook you’re running, and I understand that you have to protect us, but I am not leaving those four in the state they are in. Am I clear?”

  “Yeah, crystal,” Justisius sighed. “You’re right. They’re not awake.”

  “Do they seem to be in pain?” I asked, my hand tightening around the hilt of my sword.

  “No, they’re resting peacefully. As far as the medical experts, both divine and mundane, can tell, they’re just asleep.”

  “Then we need to go. Thanks, Justisius. I’ll call back after we’re done.”

  He started to say something, but I ended the connection right then and there. I stood there for a moment, halfway expecting him to call back, but he didn’t. That was permission enough for me.

  “Okay, kill the dungeon owner with extreme prejudice, and then we take care of the Dungeon Nexus,” I explained as I looked up at Moose. “Any complaints?”

  “Only that you’re very slow,” the healer retorted before offering his antler to me. “Climb on. I’ll get us there as swiftly as possible.”

  “A great idea,” I said, storing the Sending Stone so I could grab his antler. He lifted me up with ease and deposited me on his back. I grabbed onto his coarse fur as he started with a trot. “Let’s go show that monster who they’re dealing with.”