Ambush at the Threshold

Whenever Bennett and his party stepped into a dungeon, their very first priority was assessing their surroundings. This time, however, they were denied even a moment's reprieve.

Arrows came whistling toward them without warning.

Clang!

Edgar raised his shield in the nick of time, deflecting the projectile. But it wasn't just a single arrow. Whether they were facing a squad of archers or an enemy wielding a degraded repeating crossbow, bolts converged on their position from several angles at once.

"Edgar!"

"On it!"

Edgar slammed the heavy bulwark hard into the floor.

Screeech!

Interlocking metal plates expanded outward from beneath the primary frame, widening their defensive perimeter in a heartbeat.

"Wh-what in the world is that?!"

A portable barricade stood fully deployed in seconds. Though it only shielded their frontal arc, it offered more than enough coverage to shelter the entire squad. It was a fresh piece of work Edgar had commissioned from Balduin after his previous shield was ruined.

Bennett shoved Erika behind the barrier, then ducked into cover alongside Kyle.

Clang! Cl-clang!

A scattered volley rattled against the plating, but none could pierce the reinforced Dwarven steel, ricocheting uselessly away.

"What kind of crazy gear is that?!"

"Keep firing!"

Listening to the flustered shouts from above, Bennett rapidly shared what he had glimpsed during the ambush.

"Five hostiles confirmed."

"Five!"

"And the layout..." Bennett drew a rapid diagram in the thick dust blanketing the floor with his fingertip. "There's an open mezzanine on the second floor overlooking our entry point. Without a vanguard to raise a shield wall, anyone stepping through that doorway would be pinned down and slaughtered."

Fortunately, Bennett’s party possessed a dedicated vanguard, and the enemy had tried to eliminate Edgar ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first. A lethal bolt had been aimed dead center at his forehead. Had Bennett not shouted a warning, Edgar’s reaction might have been just a fraction of a second too late—neither of them had expected an ambush the moment they crossed the threshold.

"I caught a quick glimpse as well," Kyle murmured, "but there aren't any visible stairs within sight leading up to the second floor."

"Then we pick them off from range. Erika."

"I'm ready!"

Bennett's senses surged outward in a sudden wave. The biological signatures of the ambushers mapped clearly into his mind's eye. Leaning out from behind Edgar's barricade, he leveled his weapon.

Thung! Thung!

Two archers leaning over the balustrade took bolts straight between their brows. Neither had the breath to utter a scream before tumbling limp over the railing. But as Bennett swiveled Shooting Star toward the third hostile, his eyes narrowed.

The man clutched a degraded repeating crossbow in one hand, but in the other, he was priming a small glass flask.

"Eat this, you bastards!"

Instinct screaming danger, Bennett adjusted his aim in a split second. The flask had just left the man's fingers when a bolt clipped it dead center.

Pshk!

The glass shattered, and a violent plume of pressurized gas erupted outward. A sickly emerald fog swallowed the upper terrace whole—and the man who threw it was caught dead center in the blast.

"Gack! Ack—!"

Bennett cleanly ignored the man's suffocating death rattles.

"Bennett! Ready!"

Erika’s voice snapped him back. Bennett pointed toward the fourth presence outlined by Detection, and Erika swung her short wand with practiced grace.

"Magic Missile."

The crossbowman tucked behind the balustrade ducked at the sight of the forming incantation, but Erika’s kinetic sphere pulverized the stone railing entirely.

"Guh!"

A wet crunch resounded, followed by a muffled groan of agony. Erika slipped back behind the shield wall as Kyle and Edgar turned their gazes toward Bennett.

"Just one left."

"Shall I—"

"No, I'll take care of it." Bennett knew Kyle had the martial skill, but they needed to silence the survivor before he could escape and sound an alarm.

Waving Kyle down, Bennett broke cover. He kicked off an overturned desk, launching himself high into the air.

Flash Sprint.

His vision contracted into a blurred tunnel before snapping back into focus. In a single breath, Bennett landed softly atop the second-floor mezzanine railing. Down the corridor, the last man was sprinting for his life.

The runner had already opened a considerable gap. The moment his companions were wiped out, he had made a clean break for it—remarkably fast judgment and execution. But against Bennett, it wasn't enough.

Bennett raised Shooting Star. The distance was wide, but well within effective range.

Thwip!

The bolt traversed the hall in a blur, piercing straight through the nape of the man's neck.

"Ugh..."

The fifth hostile collapsed forward into a heap.

Bennett waved down to his party peering cautiously out from behind the ground-floor barricade. It was the signal that the area was clear.

"Phew, that gave me a fright," Edgar grumbled as he climbed up.

"No kidding. Getting ambushed the second you walk through the door is rough."

While the rest of the party made their way up, Bennett swept his eyes across the foyer. Their starting position was right in front of the building's ground-floor entrance. Rows of glass doors mirrored the architecture they had seen in the LT Department Store and the Closed Police Headquarters, though their condition was abysmal. Several had lost their glass entirely, leaving hollow frames, while others were webbed with fractures.

Beyond the glass, heavy barricades had been erected from the outside. Whether the wall had been built to keep external horrors out or to lock whatever was inside remained anyone's guess, but it looked remarkably sturdy.

Prominent Dungeon Language characters were engraved along the wall above the foyer entrance. Having studied the script for barely an hour under Marco's instruction, Bennett couldn't read the exact meaning, but the shape was etched into his memory.

It matches the letters on that restorative canister. The very container that had permanently boosted his psionic energy and stamina bore that exact inscription.

Creak.

Bennett glanced over his shoulder as the others reached the top of the stairs.

"Shall we loot the bodies first?"

"Leave the poisoned one alone. I'll search him myself."

"Understood. Watch your step."

Most of the ambushers had died cleanly—three taken out with precise head and neck shots, while the fourth lay with a caved-in chest courtesy of Erika's spell. The poisoner, however, presented a gruesome sight. His mouth and eyes were frozen wide open, his skin bloated and stained an unnatural purplish blue.

Bennett swept the corpse with Detection to verify that no residual toxic mist remained in the air before stripping the gear from the body.

"Looting complete."

"Did you see anything of interest on the ground floor on your way up?"

"There were a few side offices, but nothing worth taking," Kyle answered. "A bank of elevators was intact, but pressing the buttons did nothing."

"Then we begin our search from the second floor."

The party searched for a directory map. As in other dungeons, there were usually layout schematics posted near central junctions, and this building proved no exception.

"Found it!"

They located two diagrams: an overview of the entire complex and a detailed floor plan. The building wasn't a soaring skyscraper, consisting of two basement levels and eight floors above ground. However, the horizontal footprint was massive. Rather than building upward, the facility sprawled out wide, which explained why multiple stairwells were marked across the floor plan.

"We start from this end," Bennett traced a line along the diagram with his finger, "and sweep our way across to that side. Since there's another stairwell on the opposite wing, we can alternate routes as we ascend."

"Are we skipping the basement floors?"

"According to Marco, underground levels in dungeon worlds are primarily utilized as stables or carriage bays."

"Really? How curious."

"You remember those iron hulks we used as cover outside the police headquarters?"

"Yeah, of course." Edgar had bumped into one back then, setting off a clamor that drew out a mutated giant zombie.

"Those were carriages in this world."

"...They certainly didn't look like anything a horse could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pull."

"Which means they ran without horses."

"Ah!"

"We clear the upper floors first. If our haul is thin, we'll head down to check the basement."

"Understood!"

Scanning the corridor, Bennett pointed toward the hallway where the final hostile had attempted to flee.

"That way."

Unlike the open lobby, this exhibition hall felt enclosed, yet far from stifling. It was quiet and oddly serene. Erika peered inside and remarked, "It feels... almost like a library."

"Let's take a look."

The showroom was dark, prompting Erika to conjure a sphere of magical light. As the radiance washed over the chamber, the interior revealed an extraordinary display.

"I've never seen anything like this..." Kyle breathed.

Towering metal structures stood in orderly rows. They were crafted in the likeness of men, yet carried a deeply unnatural aesthetic.

"...Mechanical men?"

"Golems?"

As a mage, Erika's mind went straight to golems, whereas Kyle and Edgar used the term 'mechanical men,' thinking of the clockwork mechanisms crafted by the Dwarves back home. Whichever description fit best, the variety of forms on display was staggering.

Some stood twice the height of a grown warrior, while others were no larger than small footlockers. Some mirrored human anatomy down to individual joint articulations, while others featured smooth metallic spheres in place of heads or heavy pickaxe-like appendages instead of arms.

As they moved along the carpeted aisle, the designs grew increasingly uncanny. Some models bore such hyper-realistic human faces that meeting their gaze felt like staring into the eyes of living beings. Others abandoned humanoid anatomy altogether, possessing elongated arachnid limbs or headless torsos bolted to heavy pedestals.

Several units had been partially disassembled or battered by time, with piles of salvage and debris swept into dark corners. Though locked in rigid poses, their intricate craftsmanship and the sheer majesty of an unknown technological era resonated through the quiet hall.

Edgar stared at the massive metallic frames with open admiration, rubbing his chin. "Hey... think we should haul these all back with us?"

The party snapped out of their daze. While they had been mesmerized by the surreal sight, Edgar had cut straight to practical scavenging.

"C-could we even carry them?" Erika stammered. "Just looking at them, the bulk alone is ridiculous..."

"No need," Bennett interrupted.

All eyes turned to him. Bennett was peering into the hollow chest cavity of an exposed display unit where external paneling had been removed.

"They're mockups."

"Huh?"

"Display models built only to look convincing on the surface."

The party quickly understood. These intricate mechanical men that looked ready to spring to life at any second were completely hollow inside.

"Wow, you're right."

"They sure look convincing for fakes..."

"Considering how fiercely this civilization guarded its secrets, they wouldn't leave real prototypes out in an open showroom," Kyle noted.

Of course, that didn't mean they left empty-handed. With no hostile presences detected nearby, the party fanned out through the museum to search for any genuine valuables left behind.

"Oh?"

"Find something?"

Kyle grinned, holding up a laminated card attached to a lanyard.

The plastic card bore the portrait of a woman in business attire.

"Good work."

Even if an assistant manager held modest rank, it would likely unlock standard security doors throughout the complex. After pocketing a few curiosities, they swept the remainder of the second floor. Beyond the museum, the rest of the layout was occupied by an open-air cafe similar to the rest lounges in the LT Department Store. Packaged snacks had rotted into unidentifiable sludge, though a handful of sealed aluminum cans appeared intact.

"Moving up."

"Right behind you."

They ascended a gloomy, quiet stairwell to reach the third floor. Stepping through the fire doors, they were greeted by another lobby of dormant elevator banks. Directly opposite stood a wide office sealed behind frosted glass panels that obscured the view within. The only transparent sections were two small viewing panes set into the double doors.

That's the main entrance.

Mounted alongside the frame was a small electronic reader—the same access panel Bennett had encountered in previous modern ruins. Bennett stepped forward and tapped Kim Eun-jung's ID card against the scanner.

Nothing happened.

He tapped it again, but the device remained inert. If access was rejected, these devices typically emitted an abrasive chime or flashed a crimson light, yet this scanner showed no sign of life at all. As if the power had been cut completely.

Did I miss something?

Bennett swept his gaze around the threshold. Aside from a dark, hemispherical glass dome mounted to the ceiling opposite the doorway, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. A small lens was visible behind the glass, but it seemed dormant. Finding nothing of interest, Bennett shifted his attention back to the door.

"Shall we breach it?" Edgar asked.

"I'll do it."

Drawing his Chainsword, Bennett channeled psionic energy through the grip. The interlocking segments hummed to life, bathing the corridor in a warm, sunset-hued glow. With a single horizontal sweep, the blade cleaved effortlessly through the glass door.

Snikt.

Kyle and Edgar caught the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠severed upper half of the heavy tempered glass before it could shatter, setting it silently onto the floor.

"Incredible... I've never seen a blade like that."

"That sunset glow is magnificent. Bennett-nim, did Master Balduin craft that for you as well? Would you mind putting in a good word for me? I'd love to commission one myself."

While the party marveled at the Chainsword, Bennett stepped across the threshold, leading them into the silent office.

None of them noticed the glass dome mounted to the ceiling behind them.

The silent camera, lifeless only moments before, had begun to pulse with a faint, rhythmic red light.