CHAPTER 8: Dead End Dungeon
Let me tell you something about goblins.
They're not quiet.
When they're chasing you, it sounds like someone tipped over a barrel of scrap metal and rage. Screams, growls, boots on stone, steel clanging on steel. Behind us, it was a symphony of death and dick-swinging fury.
And we were the encore act.
Rordan ran like a man who hadn't eaten in days and was only now realizing his survival depended on cardio. His noble upbringing hadn't prepared him for full-on death sprints through dark, winding tunnels filled with murder goblins. Shocker.
I, on the other hand, had my own problems.
Like the fact that my boots were soaked in blood, my legs ached, and I had four damn swords bouncing at my sides like overgrown keychains.
"Left!" I shouted.
"Wh-what?!"
"YOUR OTHER LEFT!"
We veered sharply down a narrower passage, ducking beneath a low-hanging rock arch that nearly took off the top of my head. The glow of mage orbs pulsed behind us, lighting the tunnel like strobe lights from hell.
"They're still coming!" Rordan cried, glancing back.
"Really? I thought the screaming and fireballs meant they gave up and went home."
We barreled forward, footsteps echoing, lungs burning.
The tunnel forked.
Right path: steep and littered with debris. Bad footing.
Left path: cleaner, smoother, slightly wider. Better option.
I picked the left.
Mistake.
Thirty seconds later, we hit the dead end.
I stopped so suddenly Rordan collided with me.
We stumbled forward together and stared.
It wasn't just a dead end.
It was a sheer slab of rock, flat, dark, unbroken. No cracks. No markings. Just wall. A big, taunting, impassable slab of "you fucked up."
"Nonononono…" Rordan spun around. "We have to go back!"
"No time."
"Kaizen!"
"I know!"
Footsteps. Close now. Shadows dancing on the tunnel walls behind us. And then the voices, dozens of them, chattering, snarling, rising in pitch. Mages among them. The glow of spellfire creeping closer.
I scanned the area.
Nothing. No alcove. No crawlspace. No ceiling vent.
I pressed a hand to the wall. Solid. No illusions. No pressure plates. No secret exit.
This wasn't a puzzle room.
This was a trap.
I backed up, sword in hand, shield raised. Rordan fumbled to draw his own blade, chest heaving like a dying bellows.
"We're trapped," he said.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Thanks for the update."
The tunnel entrance ahead lit up in full now, goblins flooding into view, shoulder to shoulder, packed tight like a living wave. Armor-clad guards in the front, dicks-out degenerates behind them, and twelve mage goblins fanned across the back like a firing squad of doom.
The leader of the front line, a goblin almost as tall as I was, wearing a helmet made of a skull twice the size of his own, pointed a sword at us and shrieked.
I recognized the word.
It was "kill."
"Alright," I said, rolling my neck. "This is how we die."
Rordan whimpered. "That wasn't in the plan."
"Nope. That was in the 'everything goes wrong' section we skipped."
He looked at me, panicked. "What do we do?!"
I reached into my pouch, fingers closing around the first of the red orbs I'd looted from the mage staff.
It still pulsed. Warm. Angry.
"I've got an idea," I said.
Rordan looked down at the orb. "You said trying to use that could vaporize you."
"Right. Which is why you're going to hold it."
"What?!"
I smirked. "Kidding. Mostly."
I pulled the orb out and held it in one hand while gripping the sword in the other. It felt like holding a hot coal wrapped in tension. The closer the goblins got, the warmer it became, like it could feel the incoming violence.
The first wave charged.
"BACK!" I shouted, pushing Rordan behind me.
And then I threw the orb.
It sailed through the air, glowing brighter mid-flight, before it smashed into the center of the front rank and exploded.
Not fire.
Force.
A concussive blast of energy rippled outward like a shockwave of invisible fists, tossing goblins like dolls. Bodies slammed against the walls, bones cracked, weapons clattered.
The mage goblins staggered backward, their formation disrupted.
Rordan stared, jaw slack. "You said you didn't know what it would do!"
"I didn't!"
"But…"
I held up a finger. "Still alive, aren't we?"
The smoke cleared enough to show that the tunnel wasn't blocked but it was piled with twitching bodies.
The second rank was already pushing forward, climbing over the first.
We weren't out yet.
I reached into my pouch again. One more orb. Blue this time. The one I didn't know anything about.
I held it up and glanced at Rordan.
"Time to roll the dice."
He nodded, white-knuckled grip on his blade.
I threw the second orb just as the next rank hit the halfway mark.
This time, the orb didn't explode. It shimmered.
A flash of blue light burst outward and everything it touched froze.
Not just slowed. Frozen.
Goblins mid-charge, mid-snarl, mid-step, locked in place, eyes wide, bodies glistening with ice that hadn't existed a heartbeat ago.
I blinked.
"Well," I muttered, "good to know."
We had seconds, maybe more.
"Rordan. Move!"
We climbed over the frozen bodies, over shattered weapons, past the mages who hadn't even started their next incantation yet.
Back into the tunnel.
We didn't stop running.
Because frozen or not, they'd thaw.
And when they did?
We were still screwed.
We kept running.
Back into the dark. Away from the ruined tunnel and the pile of frozen goblins. Rordan's breathing was ragged beside me, his boots dragging now, scraping the stone floor with every step. But neither of us slowed. We couldn't. Not yet.
Torchlight flickered ahead again, orange and too steady to be random.
I skidded to a stop.
"Kaizen?" Rordan panted behind me. "What…"
I raised a hand, forcing him to silence.
The air felt wrong. Heavy again. Buzzing.
I crept forward just enough to glance around the bend.
My gut dropped.
Ambush.
They were already waiting.
Twelve of them this time, spread in a wide arc across a domed chamber. Every exit blocked. No grunts. No half-naked degenerates. Just robes, bone ornaments, and glowing staffs.
Five had red orbs, I recognized those. Fire. Destruction. The ones that tried to roast me alive earlier.
Five more had blue orbs, the same hue as the freezing one I'd tossed like a miracle grenade.
And two had something new: green orbs. Sickly and bright, pulsing like slime with a heartbeat.
I didn't know what they did.
I didn't want to find out.
"Kaizen," Rordan hissed. "What do we—"
"We're surrounded."
They were already moving slowly, deliberately, staffs raised, forming a semi-circle like a ritual was about to begin. The glow from the orbs lit their faces from below, giving them all the charm of corpse puppets mid-incantation.
I took a step back.
And another.
The countdown hovered again in my vision, like a cruel joke.
28:30:22... 21... 20...
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" I hissed, my heart pounding like a war drum in my chest.
This was it. No more tricks. No more lucky blasts or thrown Hail Marys.
They had magic. Position. Numbers. Coordination.
I had a half-melted shield and a guy who couldn't light a candle with all the mana in the world.
I clenched my fists, face tightening.
Come on, system, I thought, give me something.
I screamed it inside my own skull.
Menu. Status menu. Status. Inventory. Skills. Powers. Something.
I closed my eyes for a split second and shouted it louder in my head, like mental volume would make a difference.
TUTORIAL SHIT!
And then… finally… something shifted.
The countdown dimmed slightly, and above it, a new screen blinked into existence.
***---***
[SYSTEM INTERRUPT RECOGNIZED]
Would you like to activate Tutorial Mode?
Or would you like to speak to the System Administrator?
***---***
My eyes widened.
"Yes!" I said out loud.
"Kaizen?" Rordan looked confused.
I ignored him. My thoughts screamed:
System Administrator!
The prompt shifted.
***---***
Unfortunately, you cannot meet the System Administrator until your first mission has been completed.
Would you like to activate Tutorial Mode instead?
***---***
My jaw clenched.
"Fuck you," I muttered through my teeth, "fine."
***
Activate Tutorial Mode.
***
The moment I chose it, the world froze.
Everything stopped.
The air solidified like glass. The goblins mid-step, mid-chant, frozen. The flickering torches. The swirling spell auras. Even Rordan behind me, mouth half-open in breathless panic, locked in place like someone paused a video.
Only I moved.
Only I breathed.
The only thing that didn't freeze?
The timer.
28:28:55... 54... 53... 52...
"Of course," I muttered. "Because even God hates me."
Then a new screen appeared in front of me, bright white, far cleaner than the red mission prompts. It hovered midair, accompanied by the soft ping of some fake-friendly operating system tone.
***---***
Tutorial Mode Activated
Please Enter Full Name
***---***
A holographic keyboard shimmered into view beneath it. Each key pulsed faintly like I was being prompted to answer before the world decided to start moving again and explode in my face.
I didn't hesitate.
Kaizen Vale.
I typed it, hit the green [CONFIRM] button that blinked like an exit sign during a fire drill.
The screen flashed once.
***---***
Confirmed: Kaizen Vale
Survivor #2563892 – Origin: Earth
Primary Ability: Ki
Initializing Tutorial Mode...
***---***
My throat was dry. My sword was still in hand. The timer ticked on.
And behind it all, I could feel the goblins frozen in time, waiting.
Ready to kill me the moment this little intro screen finished its smug little sequence.
I stared at the blinking text.
And muttered to no one in particular:
"Okay... now would be a great time to explain what the fuck I'm supposed to do with Ki."