“Seriously?” I asked, staggering back. “Just one health?”

  “So that’s a dungeon Core, huh?” Cierin asked. He grunted, pulling two silver daggers from his inventory, hunching over. “It doesn’t look so bad.”

  I scrambled up, pulling my shovel up to block.

  Rocks split open in an upward curve, up the monster’s face, into a lopsided smile. It tilted its head, watching. Then, it ripped a massive ruby from its chest—one easily the size of a basketball, maybe larger, and radiating far more energy than any orb, weapon, or crystal I’d seen up to this point.

  Still grinning, it pushed the crystal back under its skin.

  “Is that thing… taunting us?” I asked.

  Cierin gritted his teeth. “It must be feeling pretty good about this matchup. And the bold number is concerning.”

  “Bold number?”

  He nodded toward the core’s health bar. “Bold numbers mean the wielder is holding back. He’s got a second phase, if not something beyond.”

  There was a deep grinding sound, and the massive hole in the ceiling sealed itself shut, rock overlapping into a smooth layer.

  I sighed. “You know, with all this, I’ll bet he runs this place.”

  “Well that makes this remarkably simple, doesn’t?” Cierin said, with a smile. “If he’s the boss, then to beat this entire dungeon, we’ve just got to kill him.”

  [Swift Tempo: 2X AtkSp (90%) [0:30]]

  Cierin bolted forward, slicing across the rock. The stone plates chipped, but the monster’s health wasn’t going down. Worse, metal flakes were cracking off the edge of his blades, littering the ground.

  Cierin gritted his teeth, snapping back and around the core, before unleashing a second wave of attacks.

  The Core barely seemed to notice his presence. It flicked a wrist to the side, cracking against Cierin’s forehead, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. The Core kicked him to the side, out of the way.

  This entire time, it’d kept its head pointed toward me.

  “AHHH!” I shouted, bonking the Core on the head with the business end of Crapshoveler.

  If it had eyes and a tongue, it would have blinked and then started clicking its tongue in disapproval. Currently, it had neither, so it settled for a quick punch in the side to get its point across.

  My vision slurred together, tinting red as I shot over the floor, ramming upside down into a stone column.

  [(-14) 2 Hp]

  Before he’d attacked, the Core had dropped his damage down, to avoid a lethal blow.

  Why?

  Cierin gritted his teeth, propping himself up on the central pillar. “He’s just toying with us.”

  {Cierin: (-22) 28 Hp}

  He sighed. “Grind, you know how to block with that shovel, don’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “Focus on that,” Cierin commanded, stepping behind me. “When he attacks you, I go in for a stab, and we both pray nobody gets killed.”

  The Core made a sound like grinding metal, before blurring.

  My shovel twitched, just left of my ear, and I followed its movement, turning to the side.

  A solid gold fist rammed against the blade, shoving the two of us no less than fifty feet.

  Cierin gritted his teeth, catching me before I fell to the ground. “He’s way too fast.”

  The core blurred, then vanished, followed by a sudden explosion of dust right to our left and a rapid change in air pressure.

  I blocked, staggering backward, but managed to keep myself up on two feet. “It’s an ability, right? Maybe we’ve just got to wait it out?”

  The Core stopped, snapping back into focus. This time, it had a certain dimness to its metal which definitely hadn’t been there before

  The monster was getting tired.

  It dropped to its knees, a smile stretching wider, until it centered itself across the face, flashing more thin barbed teeth.

  The Core slumped, hands outstretched, beckoning us forward.

  Cierin glanced at me, and I nodded.

  We stayed right where we were and waited.

  The monster stopped grinning, making a noise not unlike splitting metal. It rushed us, unfurling its rocky hide to reveal sharp fragments of metal and glass.

  I swung, Crapshoveler shattering most of the spikes, knocking the monster off its feet to allow Cierin to jump up onto its head.

  Rocks curled up onto its back, winding around Cierin’s ankles, forcing him to move faster, changing his footing to grab the monster by the jaw, snapping around the side and plunging his dagger through a crevice deep inside its chest.

  “YES!” Cierin laughed, kicking off to land beside me.

  The monster shook violently, clutching its chest. But not like it was in pain.

  The dungeon Core was laughing.

  It dislodged its jaw, opening its mouth to reveal the massive red crystal lodged within its throat.

  It snapped its mouth shut, grinning.

  Cierin groaned. “Well, this guy is a pain.”

  “No kidding,” I grumbled. “You know those street performers? The ones with the cups?”

  Cierin paused. “They put a ball in one and shuffle it around?”

  “It’s got one weak point,” I said with a nod. “We have to hit it, or it won’t take damage. The issue is, this thing can move its crystal around.”

  “And if the crystal isn’t its weak point?” Cierin asked.

  I opened my mouth.

  I shut it.

  “Right,” Cierin grumbled. “We’ll get there if it comes to that.”

  For the better part of an hour, Cierin and I went back and forth with the monster. Most of the time we just spent defending, since its rushing attack was so dangerous. Whenever it started losing control—racing toward us and expanding into a ball of sharp metal and glass—we’d have a short window to aim for its crystal.

  After another failed strike to the neck, the monster opened its hand, revealing the crystal.

  Cierin ducked, narrowly avoiding a sudden jab, then ran back, using my shovel as cover for a second possible blow. Thanks to his passive regeneration, he’d been able to get a couple hit points back. We weren’t in great shape, but so far, given time, there was a good chance we’d be able to beat this thing.

  “Again!” Cierin shouted, jumping forward. The Core responded accordingly, reaching out. At the last moment, he ground his heels into the floor, ducked under the Core’s passing hand, and wrenched his dagger into its arm.

  The blade shattered into a million pieces, dusting the floor.

  Cierin huffed, stepping back to safer ground, pulling another sword out of his inventory. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

  I sighed, shovel raised for a potential attack. “If this is the boss, then won’t Dexten and Mall get here eventually? With the four of us, we might stand a decent chance.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I don’t know about decent, but yeah, Dexten’s a lot, lot stronger than anyone his level should be,” Cierin agreed. “So…where are those two?”

  The Dungeon Core tilted its head, collapsing its rocky hands behind its back.

  “That’s new,” Cierin hissed. “Get ready for anything.”

  “Little surprises me,” I said.

  It flexed, sprouting hundreds of long silver arms, each holding a different bow. Arrows were formed from thin spires of rock, then notched on strings.

  “I stand correct,” I muttered. “Think we can block that?”

  He didn’t respond.

  That was because Cierin had already charged, screaming, ramming his knee into the dungeon core.

  The monster fired.

  Cierin staggered, then fell to the ground, pierced clean through by several arrows. Where they’d stuck, a small pool of glowing red blood dripped down, running over the stone floor. He gritted his teeth, ripping a pair of bows from the monster's grasp and limping back toward me.

  {Cierin: (-22) 6 Hp}

  The Core chuckled, sprouting more bows for its gallery. At the moment, it was sitting patiently on the ground, smiling wide.

  “Cierin!” I shouted, putting my shovel between him and the monster. “You idiot!”

  “Grind,” Cierin whispered, grinning. “You recognize these, don’t you?”

  I glanced down at the bloodied bows in his hands. The first was thin and wooden—little more than a twig with string—and beside it a sturdy black-silver bow with faint gold frills—“Those are Dexten and Mall’s.”

  “We’re not getting backup, Grind,” Cierin hissed. “If either of them are still alive, they’re going to need their bows.”

  He sighed. “I’m a dead man, Grind.”

  {Cierin: Debuff : Tainted Aura II}

  {Cierin: (-5) 1 Hp}

  He struggled up to his feet, eyes bloodshot. “Get out of here, Grind. I’ll buy a couple seconds.”

  I laid the bows into my inventory, before stepping forward. “Better to die with someone than alone—”

  “NOW!” he shouted, clutching my shirt. “GO!”

  Before I had the time to reconsider, I was running.

  The monster folded his gallery of bows back into his skin, making a grating noise again. Then, he plunged a hand into his head, pulling out a broadsword easily twice the length of anyone in our party, and effortlessly twirled it around one hand.

  I didn’t bother to watch. I just ran faster, ignoring the clatter of metal behind me.

  Was I going to die? What would happen if I died here? Would I go back to the forest—or was that a temporary thing, for players who died right at the start of the game?

  Who was I kidding? I was going to die whether I responded or not.

  I spun, suddenly lost in a maze of forking hallways.

  There was no exit. So where was I going?

  I stopped for a moment, grabbing the glowing stain on my chest, where Cierin had grabbed me.

  Monsters NPCs, and me have slick black blood. Players have red blood that glows. That was kind of funny, wasn’t it? Perhaps the players' blood glowed because they radiated power, while mine absorbed the natural energy, so it looked black? The same would apply to monsters and NPCs, and it was likely a side effect of being immortal.

  I wouldn’t die.

  This simple fact forced my brain back into reality.

  What happened to Mall and Dexten?

  If the Core had attacked Mall, then eight levels or not, with a wound in the gut she’s only really as strong as I am—but she doesn’t have a legendary shovel with a remarkable sense for danger. I could understand how she’d lose, but Dexten should’ve been able to do something, right? He had an air of danger around him—less like Brom and more like Asiel, so he’d have to be alive. He had to be.

  I gritted my teeth.

  Neither of them were—are—pushovers. Dexten’s strong and Mall’s too stubborn to die.

  I allowed myself a grin.

  They were probably fine. I could see it. If the Dungeon Core was after their items, they would’ve dropped them and ran. Perhaps they found newer, better ones further into the dungeon.

  One by one, the torches along the hallway started fading and I was plunged into darkness. Darkness or not, I started running again.

  [Debuff : Exhaustion I : Indefinite ]

  I collapsed against the wall, grabbing my chest. My health was so, so low, but my body’d been able to adjust, so I didn’t feel quite as close to death as I'd been earlier. Wherever I was, the lights were still out, but I hadn’t heard anything chasing me. For now, it was safe.

  I summoned my shovel. “Feel like pointing me in the right direction?”

  Made as much of a shrug as an inanimate object could muster.

  “Nevermind,” I muttered, stuffing it back into my inventory.

  Considering that I was in a pitch black tunnel closed off from the outside world with no less than a dimensional gateway—it was reasonably light. If I squinted, I could just make out the red-tinted edges of the hallway in front of me.

  Actually, it was a lot brighter in that direction.

  I sighed, standing up to my feet.

  Chances were, there’d be only one room in this dungeon with light. Wherever that was, that’s where the core wanted me to go. No getting around it. I’d have to fight, and I’d have to die.

  Eventually, I found the source of light. A drop of player blood, on the stone, followed by a thin, faint trail of glowing red liquid.

  But there wasn't a body.

  And if there wasn’t a body, then whoever's been hurt was still alive.

  I started running, then sprinting, ignoring my debuff altogether in a rush of adrenaline.

  The hallway bloated out, into a vault not unlike the first we’d been in, with a massive half-open chest in the center of a large room.

  Beside that chest, Dexten was hunched over, sobbing.

  “DEXTEN!” I shouted.

  Dexten barely noticed.

  “What’s wrong—” I stopped, inches from his side, and my heart stopped.

  Mall lay sprawled in Dexten’s lap.

  She wasn’t breathing.

  Her skin was dull and cold and utterly lifeless.

  Dexten made a choking noise, suddenly smiling.

  “Grind, you have to get out of here,” Dexten whispered, rubbing his face with one arm. The other he kept by Mall’s side. “The dungeon boss has no checkpoints or boundaries. He can go anywhere, wherever and whenever he wants.”

  I shivered. “He got Cierin.”

  Dexten laughed. “Idiot.”

  “He fought well,” I said.

  “Such a wonderful, wonderful idiot,” Dexten chuckled. “But I’m not one to talk, am I?”

  He glanced up at me, grinning like a madman. “How hard do you think this dungeon is? Be honest.”

  I knelt beside him, staring into his eyes.

  They were sad beyond any point of reason. Beyond any point of sanity.

  I sighed. “It’s impossible, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged. “For us, anyway. I mean, we went in, without once thinking to ask another player for advice or backup.” He laughed again, brushing Mall’s dark black hair. “We’re all idiots. The whole lot of us. You should’ve seen her. She was half dead and still giving the Core an earful. I’d say she did more to it than the rest of us combined, and then some.”

  “Dexten,” I said, tightening my grip. “We need to get you out of here.”

  “To where?” Dexten asked. “It’s best to die with a friend. “Cierin always said something like that.”

  “But—”

  ~unmasked~

  {Dexten}

  [35 Str 1 Hp 150% AtkSp]

  The screen appeared, floating patiently in the air.

  “One health?” he shook his head. “Madness keeps me conscious, of course, but I won’t last much longer.” he glanced over my head, with a sigh. “But you’re still standing, so you’ve got some options as to what you want to do with the rest of your life.”

  I sat down beside him. “I think I’ve respawned—in the forest—twice. If there’s a way to survive this, I’ll find it. Even my blood is different. I’ve got some sort of power—”

  “But if you do survive, get some real adventures to handle this fellow, alright? That said, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Dexten said, with a shrug. He gustored to a gaping red wound in his side. “Players are made of exp, thus why our blood glows. NPCs don’t have any, that’s why it's black. If you died in the forest, I doubt you had a drop of exp in you. Perhaps the game got you confused." he grinned. “There might be a hidden exit. Would you like to go find it?”

  “I’m not going to leave you,” I said.

  “Well then you’re as much of an idiot as the rest of us,” Dexten chuckled.

  I grabbed his and Mall’s bows. “Cierin wanted you to have these.”

  “Of course he did.” He laid Mall’s bows in her hands, with a sigh. “Sorry it wound up like this.”

  “Nothing against you.” I got up from the ground and reached into the chest, finding a massive red orb, and a bunch of gear I couldn’t use. “There’s decent stuff in here. We could try and fight.”

  Dexten laughed. “Why give the monster that courtesy?”

  “We have to do something.”

  He shrugged. “Do as you please.”

  [(+15 23 Str)]

  After a little more digging around, I found a common spear, in a dusty corner of the vault.

  ~Common Item~

  {Forest Tempest}

  [+10% AtkSp]

  [+5 Str]

  “This loot is insane,” I muttered.

  “There was a common sword in there too, but the core split it in half,” Dexten chuckled. “Sorry.”

  The dungeon shuddered, then with a groan of metal, the Core stepped from the hallway into the light, mouth hanging open in a lopsided grind.

  I glanced back at Dexten. “You’re not going to try?”

  “My attacks don’t work on rock and glass,” he said, with a huff.

  If this was what the average dungeon raid was like… a shudder ran down my spine.

  There must be something seriously wrong with this game.

  The Core vanished, then was by my side.

  [(-2) 0 Hp]

  Without the shovel, I just couldn’t respond in time—even with the boost to attack speed.

  I fell to the ground, and my body began to darken, and I felt suddenly distant.

  Dexten smirked, glancing over his shoulder at the monster. “Hey, buddy. Excited to get the last kill?”

  He notched an arrow and shot himself in the leg, so fast it might’ve been instant.

  {Dexten : (-1) 0 Hp}

  “I think we’ll call this a draw,” Dexten whispered.

  Then I blacked out, to the sound of crunching rock.

  There was something horribly, horribly wrong with this game.