Isaac stood up, but Rona instantly latched onto his leg like a determined barnacle.
Llyne: If only there's popcorn. This would've been perfect.
Isaac: Llyne. Why are you just sitting there? Get her off me.
Llyne: Nah-ah. I'm living for the drama.
Isaac tried to shake her off, but Rona's grip only tightened.
Isaac: Fine! I'll tell you guys, so let go, Rona!
Rona: Promise?
Isaac: Yes! Now let go!
Rona released him with a grin, and Isaac slouched back onto his seat, rubbing his temples.
Isaac: It's an embarrassing story. You remember how I told you I was poor in the city?
We nodded.
Isaac: On my first day of school, I was bullied. Poor kid with no mom? I was an easy target. It got so bad I stopped going to school.
Llyne: Being bullied isn't embarrassing. What matters is what you do after.
Isaac: Haven't finished. That's not the embarrassing part.
Llyne: Oh. My bad.
Isaac: During those days I skipped school, I taught myself how to hack. Eventually, I hacked a few accounts and used the money to… buy the school.
Rona: That's awesome!
Isaac: It was. No one bullied me after that. But… I forgot to hack the education system to change my attendance. I had to repeat a year. Took all those useless exams for nothing.
Rona: Attendance is so evil.
Llyne: It's always the attendance holding people back.
Isaac: What even is the point of it?
Rona: Maybe you can buy this evil thing called attendance too!
Llyne: That's called bribery, Rona. Illegal, but smart.
Isaac: Doesn't matter. We're stuck in a death dungeon now.
Isaac stood up.
Isaac: Let's go. Second stage. Where doom awaits.
Rona: When I find attendance, I'll teach it a lesson!
Llyne: ...I'm surrounded by lunatics.
We approached the glowing blue screen.
[Are you ready? OK]
I pressed the 'OK' button.
The space around us distorted—light fracturing, walls shifting—until the dungeon split into three distinct paths.
[One player per route]
Llyne: Which one has the core?
Isaac: Doesn't matter. We each take a path.
Rona: Left!
Isaac: Middle, then.
Llyne: Right for me. Good luck.
Isaac: Yeah, yeah. Goodbye, all. Hello, doom.
Llyne: You need therapy, not a dungeon.
Rona: …
Llyne: Rona?
I looked to the left. Rona was gone.
Llyne: She left me?!
Isaac: Birds gotta fly.
Llyne: She's too young to fly!
I pouted.
Isaac: We've got team chat, at least.
I grabbed Isaac's collar.
Llyne: She's not replying!
Rona: I passed Stage 2. My route was so empty~
I let go, and Isaac bolted into his path.
Llyne: You better hope I don't catch you.
I closed chat and stepped into the right corridor.
Inside, I looked up—and gasped. A twilight sky stretched above, painted in dancing stars. A cosmic ballet, surreal and unreal.
I reached toward the stars.
One star drifted down, settling in my palm. It turned into soft yellow powder. Odorless. Weightless.
Then something brushed my leg.
I looked down.
A single, glowing lily.
I knelt, touched it—and in an instant, a path of lilies bloomed forward, illuminating the road ahead.
I know I get lost a lot, but how do I lose myself on a straight path?
But then I looked up.
Bones. Human bones.
They hung from the ceiling like grotesque chandeliers.
This place… it hides death behind beauty.
I stood tall and followed the lily trail. It ended at a massive iron door marked with crimson inscriptions.
Ping!
[You have a new message]
Isaac: Mine's empty. Yours?
Llyne: Dreadful. Bones everywhere. Facing a massive iron wall with some creepy blood script.
Isaac: Sounds like a boss room. Good luck~
Llyne: Maybe I'll peek inside.
I pushed the door slightly.
A giant boar came barreling toward me.
Oh crap.
I slammed the door shut, but the impact launched me back. My spine kissed the ground.
Ack!
Pain laced my spine.
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.
Rona: Llyne?
The ceiling shook. Bones fell. The dungeon echoed with menace.
"Oui… could this get any worse?"
Wall monsters began pouring in.
Teeth. Claws. Shadows.
I activated Dash.
I kicked open the iron door. Met the boar.
It roared.
"I ain't your opponent, bozo. They are."
I hurled my scythe into the ceiling.
"This better work."
I dashed forward, leapt onto the boar's back, used its bulk as leverage, and launched up to grab my embedded scythe.
"It worked!"
Below me, chaos. The boar fought worms in a brutal, frenzied bloodbath. Each tried to devour the other alive. The boar hurled worms into walls, but they were too slick. Too many.
Then—
Movement behind me.
"Haack!"
I turned. Worms.
Dodged. Swung my chain.
Splat.
[Level Up!]
"Come back again, and I'll turn you into my Ma's favourite—fried worms!"
The worms retreated and swarmed the boar instead.
"Yeah, you heard me! Fried worms! My Ma loves 'em!"
I opened my skill screen and borrowed Isaac's Information Gathering.
[Ravonsac Wild Boar]
LV: 50
HP: 135,000 (-10)
MP: 120 (-10)
ATK: 305 (-10)
DEF: 558 (-10)
AGI: 70 (-10)
LUCK: 1
Skills
Passive: Hurl
State: Bleeding, Corrosion
Worse luck than me. Wait—Ravonsac? That sounds familiar... Meh.
Then I scanned the worms.
[Alkin's Precious Worm, Al]
LV: 10
HP: 222
ATK: 20
AGI: 70
LUCK: 15
Skills
Passive: Crawl, Co-op
Active: Bite, Stats Down!
Who names a deadly worm 'Al'?
I spotted Stats Down! and tapped it.
'Decreases target's stats'.
Uh oh.
I checked my own stats.
[Llyne]
LV: 10
HP: 55
MP: 20
ATK: 88
DEF: 20 (+10)
STA: 101
AGI: 75
LUCK: 3
A silent sigh of relief.
Still intact.
I clung to my scythe, observing the blood-soaked arena below. Worms bit deep. They targeted one area. Tactical.
"Co-op skill… they're intelligent."
The worms thinned out. The boar's HP dipped—60%.
I opened my skills again. Activated Merry Go Lucky!
"Hope my ludicrous idea works."
I coated my twin daggers in poison from the scythe.
[Warning! You have been cursed by the Cursed Dragon. Penalty is death.]
"...Eh?"