Cody cleared the second dungeon in just two days.

Being prepared made a major difference in Cody’s success in the second dungeon. On his way to the next dungeon, he had stopped at a Big-5 Sporting Goods and bought a cheap hiking pack, a change of clothes, and some dehydrated food. He saw headlamps by the register and thought it might be a good idea. {The next dungeon might not have glow-in-the-dark monsters in it…}

The headlamp wasn’t as necessary as Cody had imagined, although it still came in handy. When he entered the second dungeon, he stepped into a lush deciduous forest.

He wandered the first day in the dungeon without incident. It was, by all accounts, a totally normal forest. He set up a nice camp, ate a meal of jerky and trail mix, and managed to get several hours of genuine, restorative sleep.

It wouldn’t last. Cody was startled awake by howling in the distance, and in his mind it clicked immediately: he would be hunting wolves.

As he lie there counting the howls and attempting to figure out how many wolves there were, Cody made another discovery: his bruises, aches, and stiffness had almost disappeared.

He found that no matter how fitfully he slept, he woke up physically restored. Injuries healed in hours instead of days or even weeks. His physical condition and health were improving, despite the danger and difficulties.

The howling made the wolves easy to track. The fact that they traveled in a pack turned the dungeon into one large confrontation once they finally found each other. The wolves were much larger than he remembered seeing at the zoo, but they died easily. Cody had nervously anticipated a very difficult fight, but his new sword cleaved through wolves like a hot knife through butter.

When the last wolf was dead, a gust of wind shook the trees and Cody knew he had cleared his second dungeon.

Mark was waiting with a small security detail when Cody exited the second dungeon. Cody recognized a few of the soldiers from the basement of the Henry Building. Unlike the enclosed basement where the previous breach had opened, this breach was located in a green space beside an industrial park. 

Mark couldn’t believe his eyes when Cody emerged from the cleared breach. He gave Cody a stern talking to, about how he was so incredibly reckless to jump right back into danger with his injuries. Cody could tell that Mark’s heart wasn’t in it.

Mark smiled at him afterwards and told him in a hushed tone that another breach had opened up a few miles away. If Cody hurried, he could jump into it before Miranda’s team locked it down.

Cody took off again. He had to stop at a 7-11 along the way to restock on bottled water and jerky, and this time remembered to grab some toilet paper. It had been a rough last couple of days paying for that mistake, and now all of his shirts were sleeveless.

When Cody arrived at the third breach, this time tucked away in an alley behind a liquor store, he could tell right off the bat that it was larger than the first two. It wasn't by much, but in order to enter the first two breaches he had to turn sideways and duck. The third breach was barely wider than his shoulders and a little bit taller than himself. Cody only had to step forward.

There was no rhyme or reason to the dungeons, Cody was learning, as he found himself inside a subterranean catacomb this time.

The skeletons were easy for Cody to deal with. There was something very satisfying about blasting apart the animated bones as they shambled at him in their creaking, rusty armor. However, these catacombs had rats the size of dogs and even larger spiders. The creepy crawlies weren’t particularly hardy or difficult to dispatch, but they were disgusting. Cody felt like his skin crawled for hours after dealing with each one. 

Cody was adapting quickly and, despite his surroundings, he managed to rest a couple of times in the catacombs. He found, albeit rarely, small rooms where he could barricade himself inside with the wooden remnants of tables and benches. It wasn't airtight, but any monster would make a lot of noise trying to get to him and he wouldn't be totally vulnerable. Predictably, he didn't sleep well.

After days of following passages, tunnels, and staircases, Cody found himself standing outside a set of ornately-decorated doors. 

The dungeon had been pretty much similar up until this point. He would enter a room, skeletons would begin rattling and rising to attack, and Cody would smash them to pieces. As Cody got more accustomed to the monsters he started to be able to destroy half of the skeletons before they even managed to stand upright. After the difficulty of the first dungeon it felt too easy. 

{There’s no way I have improved this much, these things are insanely weak.}

The ornate door was the signal that something was about to change. 

Cody took a second to readjust his hiking pack on his shoulders. It felt weightless to him, but it still sagged down at times and hindered his movement. This was one of those moments that he wished he had gone home after beating the wolves.

In the past few days, he’d had that thought quite a few times.

After a few deep breaths, he reached out and grabbed a metal ring that was attached to the door and pulled. The door groaned and creaked as Cody forced it open. 

Nothing came of the noise. No monsters charged at him nor traps sounded in the distance. Instead of putting Cody at ease, it put him on edge.

{Something is wrong here.}

The room beyond was dark, and he was thankful for his headlamp. As he stepped across the threshold, the air inside felt cold and heavy and Cody had to almost lean into the room, pushing his way forward.

A sharp, rushing noise came to Cody’s ears and flames suddenly erupted on top of short, gilded columns around the chamber.

Cody could see everything in the newly lit, long rectangular room.

Along each wall were bones, stacked so high that Cody had to glance up to see the tops of the piles.

An enormous, robed figure sat on a large, ornately gilded chair situated in the middle of a small dais at the far end of the chamber. Its head was down, resting its chin on its chest. The gray hair obscured any other features, but Cody had a terrible feeling that he already knew what he was about to see.

A vibrating sensation began to carry through the floor of the room, and slowly built up to a rumbling, rattling, and shaking in the chamber. The piles of bones flanking each side began undulating and rearranging themselves into an endless skeletal army. What he had fought up until now had seemed shambling and rag tag, piles of bones to smash.

This was different.

The skeletons were forming neat lines surrounding him, there was coordination and timing.

It was as if the last few days Cody was just passing through the lobby, and now he had just walked into the actual dungeon. 

The horde kept forming like droids manufactured on an assembly line. Cody watched as the number ballooned from a few dozen to scores of them. As the numbers continued to grow, Cody readjusted his grip on his sword, struggling to maintain a strong hold with his sweaty hands. {How am I going to handle this many? Maybe I can find a choke point or...}

Without warning or fanfare, it began.

Several skeletons at once swung their rusty swords and slashed out at Cody in a coordinated attack. His large sword was able to easily knock the smaller blades away, but as soon as the first blows landed a second group attacked from a different angle and he struggled to pull his sword back to deflect the next volley of blows.

In a matter of seconds, Cody had gone from being the aggressor to the defender. 

He stumbled and took a half step back. His heart skipped a beat as a blade came within inches of making a serious wound on his torso. Cody's confidence shattered as he was forced back. The attacks were coming so quickly that he was barely able to block before another attack was being launched. He would defend against the left, and an attack would come from the right. They would attack high, and then the next attack would come low.

Cody felt like he was flailing with his sword. He had only carried it for a week and so far wielded it more like a baseball bat than as a slicing weapon. He now found himself in the first legitimate test of his skills, and he quickly realized he was not up to par.

He felt a sharp pain as a cut appeared on his forearm, and seconds later another one on the side of his ribs. As he continued to fight, he could feel himself slowing down, but the skeletons kept on with relentless, mechanical precision.

{I can’t beat this, I need to get out of here!}

As he retreated little by little, Cody always kept his back to the door. The constant barrage of attacks didn't give him any opportunities to disengage. Deciding to retreat, he began to back up more quickly with each deflection. He gritted his teeth and tried to control his rising anxiety.{I can make it out!}

Another few steps and he’d be able to get through the doorway, but the last few backpedaled steps felt like a marathon. He desperately fought on until finally he felt his heel bump against the threshold. 

{Okay... I just need to push them back and run.} 

As he blocked the next attack, he swept his sword across the front of his body as hard as he could and caused the whole first line of skeletons to blast apart from the force.

Cody took that split second to turn and bolt back through the door, sprinting down the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder after running several dozen paces and saw that the skeletons had stopped in a neat, orderly formation at the entrance of the chamber.

For the first time, Cody could see that the huge, robed figure was standing on his dais behind his army, hand outstretched towards his guards. Where eyes should have been, red flames blazed in the hollow sockets of its skull. 

Fear flared up in Cody and his insides felt like ice as he nearly stumbled in his retreat. He could feel its stare piercing through the darkness as he ran. For the second time since gaining his abilities, Cody felt like a lamb who had walked right to the slaughter.

{What am I going to do?! I can't escape until I kill that thing!}

As he scrambled back into the catacombs like a frightened rat, Cody could feel the heat from the red, burning gaze on his back.