A decision had to be made regarding Benny's current situation. While he was stuck in this labyrinth, he couldn't just stay in the sanctuary forever. Should he try digging through the blocked entrance, or should he go deeper and find out what this place was actually about? The problem was that the monsters here were mutated and unknown to the outside world. There hadn't been any records of this type of labyrinth yet, so they were basically going in blind. No wonder everything had gone to shit.
Now he was back to his conundrum: what the hell was he going to do down here? Sure, he might have some semblance of life in the sanctuary, but what lay beyond that? He had no goal down here, he didn't even know if there was another exit. His head was filled with racing thoughts, making it impossible to think straight.
And if there was supposed to be some reward for reaching the lower floors, what the hell were they hoping to achieve in this labyrinth? Why had they come here? No, why had *he* come here when he had nothing to prove to anyone?
"Ahhh, why am I so fucking stupid?!" he shouted into the empty sanctuary. "I should never have come here."
Since he'd lost all track of time, he had to constantly check the rat meat in his makeshift smoker. The dehydration process had taken quite a while, but it turned out pretty good actually. It was gamey, but the herbs and spices he'd rubbed on it somehow covered most of the unpleasant smell.
Now it was time to decide what to do next. His cowardice—or maybe his self-preservation instinct—was trying to keep him from moving forward. So he decided that, for now at least, he'd clear the upper floors and find the best places to hunt for food. That rat had to have come from somewhere, after all.
What he didn't know was that while he'd been busy with his thoughts and smoking meat, the innards and head he'd thrown away earlier had already been consumed by other inhabitants of the labyrinth. Soon enough, he would meet these denizens and face them. Whether he'd survive would depend on a combination of luck, his will to live, and whatever skills he'd built up as a guardsman.
He'd strapped two light crystals to his sides as light sources. They also seemed to have a temporary blinding effect on most monsters, which was useful.
Moving forward without much vision in an unknown place was dangerous as hell, especially when you knew monsters were lurking around, waiting to harm you.
And that was exactly what he was about to experience. The discarded innards and head had attracted monsters of another species entirely—insectoids as large as newborn babies. Eight-legged critters that devoured decay and rotting flesh.
But this wasn't the only dangerous thing about them. They came in swarms, and when threatened, they would attack en masse. Fortunately, they had their own weaknesses. They didn't have anything resembling eyes, ears, or noses. Instead, they had antennae and sensitive feelers covering their body parts. These antennae searched their surroundings, wriggling constantly to catch wavelengths in the air and send location signals back to their primitive brains. Their feelers could detect ground vibrations beneath them.
The range wasn't huge—maybe ten meters—but within that distance, they could sense if something was approaching. They'd then use their antennae to get a clearer "picture" of whatever was around or moving toward them. They were basically roaches with thicker outer shells, but they weren't immune to damage. If you hit them hard enough to break through their armor threshold, they'd die. A strong person who could slice through rock could slice through a roach. Blunt weapons were probably most effective.
But there was no available information about these creatures. Benny was about to get a rude awakening, going completely dark into the darkness. He'd have to learn everything the hard way.
Moments later, those things began to move. It was silent when there were only one or two, but a hundred would be a completely different story. They crept with surprising speed and agility, and they also had wings that allowed short bursts of flight.
When Benny heard movement, he stopped and scanned his surroundings. Moments later, every hair on his body stood on end as a warning. His gut wrenched, screaming one word at him: *RUN!*
His cowardice and survival instinct were so strong they could detect mortal danger even when it was still far away, even now when he sat practically blind in the darkness, seeing only a few hundred feet of dim light that faded the farther it reached.
But his feet told a different story. Fear gripped him where he stood—a battle between different inner voices. His legs began trembling, unable to even draw his weapons. He couldn't see the enemy, but his mind had already conjured various horrors that weren't supposed to exist. Gigantic flying monsters and worse. If only he'd known they were just the size of babies, maybe he would have had the courage to run. But he was experiencing severe overthinking, and his weak will already gave up, as per his pathetic character.
The bastard couldn't even decide whether to run or stay cowering in fear. Truly pathetic, he thought to himself.
The voices returned, all screaming inside his brain—an internal dialogue between two opposing groups. He was overwhelmed even before any monster came into view.
He could only hate himself in that moment.
But the moments were sudden, and there wasn't much room for thought.
The monsters moved in his direction. They could sense him there, but since he wasn't moving much—only trembling with his own terrified thoughts—they couldn't make out exactly what their antennae were picking up. His paralyzed fear might have just saved his life. If he'd tried to run, the monsters would have attacked immediately as a defensive measure.
Instead, they moved closer, their antennae twitching in the darkness, trying to identify this strange, motionless presence that radiated fear but gave off no clear movement signals.
Benny stood frozen, caught between his survival instinct screaming at him to flee and his cowardice rooting him to the spot. In this moment of complete terror, his greatest weakness might accidentally become his salvation.