Seth stood in a room, in front of him the words "Choose your path" stood in golden letters floating in the air before vanishing without a trace. "" Seth said, But still no answer. 

The system suddenly warned him, what did it mean? Where they disabled or just weakened? And what path, all he could see was fog and more fog. Nothing made sense, But looking behind him, he understood there were no going back.

Seth was walking, feeling his way through. As if a switch had been switched the fog cleared an area, He could see a cobblestone road, two men arguing in the middle and wooden medieval storefronts on each side with glowing orange lanterns intermittent and the fog just outside of it. The men had shortswords in their belts, both holding one hand on it. The words "Choose your path" was ringing in Seth's mind; what was he supposed to do?

Seth crept closer, running away may be the smart move, but curiosity got the better of him, hiding behind some barrels he could hear them.

"Give me my pay!"

"I will. I just need some time."

"I have given you over a week, and I need to leave before they know!"

Seth could see a small smirk on the one man's face when he realized that stalling just a day or two more would mean that he did not have to payout. Criminals Seth figured they had to be, not wanting to cross paths with them. He tried hiding while they continued arguing, the interaction sounded scripted. They just kept saying the same thing over and over on repeat. 

"Think, I need to choose a path through, be it hiding in the shadows or" At that moment Seth finally figured it out, it was the Shadow-dungeon, and he had to choose a path, why not combine those two in one. Choose the path that is in the shadows. 

Crawling in the shadows, trying not to make a sound, he slowly made his way past them. Until "who's there?" one man shouted, the other man instantly tried looking around himself. Just as he did, a sword pierced his chest. Seth was stunned and in panic, yelled, "". Nothing happened, except both men looking his way. Seth stopped breathing, like a kid hiding behind the curtain; he did nothing, just hoping he was invisible. The man pulled his sword out, and the other man collapsed, "not need paying a dead fool, right?" the man laughed to himself. Seth now hurried his way past unnoticed. 

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

the system suddenly showed as he yet again entered the fog.

No more information was given, but even so, using a little logic, two of them where offensive skills, and the last sounded like a teleport spell. Not wanting to fight, Seth chooses Shadow-blink. 

Exiting the fog, he found the same scenario unfolding in front of himself, the same two men arguing. Seth used "" trying to teleport passed them and onto whatever was next. Instead, Seth teleported into the shadow of one of the men, the same man as last time draw a sword, but this time the other man was prepared and countered. Seth was just as surprised as the man, Seth pulled his pickaxe spinning around the man he was behind, and with all his force entered the pickaxe into the other man's neck, going all the way through.

They both looked at each other, "Thank you so much for helping me," the man said. 

"No problem," Seth answered, not knowing what to say.

"You helped me out; I don't know why this robber would attack me," the man continued.

"I only saw him drawing a sword on you," Seth lied, playing along with the man's lie.

"Thank you; I would have surely died," the man continued, looking calculated and unmoved about his friends' death.

Seth only nodded and started walking away, "Hey, you forgot something," the man said. Just as Seth turned around, the man pulled the pickaxe out of his friend's neck, blood dripping from the pickaxe, walking over to Seth, and handing it over. Just as Seth turned away with a little to much haste, Seth could hear it, the man's sword was unsheathed with haste, "" and Seth was inside the fog. 

This time Seth tried fire; instead of sneakily going past the men, he simply powerwalked his way past them. 

"Hey you there, why in such a hurry?" one of the men asked. Not stopping to answer Seth tried continuing until he could hear them both jogging after him. Seth turned around "" he said twice in rapid succession. Seth could not see the fire, but the men were burning up in front of his eyes without smoke and flames, slowly turning to ash. Seth started throwing up. He had been thinking of the dungeon as a game, a realistic game, but still a game. He had not really killed the other man before as he was back the next time, but seeing the men screaming begging for mercy while slowly turning to ash was too much.