Shock.

Ideas raced through Colt’s head—had Kobolds or rats gotten to the boss? No. It wasn’t possible. He hadn’t seen anything strong enough in the Dungeon to kill Jack. The most obvious answer was that Bill and his group had happened upon the boss and taken him out.

Two hours later, his fear was confirmed.

Bill strode in, his face wide with a smile, and with him came Logan and Jimmy. Logan was as stoic as always, his face firm and giving the four of them a dark expression. Jimmy, on the other hand, was demure and looked away, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes; noticeably, Donny was nowhere to be seen. Gone. Vanished.

Colt fired off an inspect.

———

Name: Bill Glass | Race: Basic Human

Icon: The Ripper | Class: Corrupter (I) [Rare]

Level: 23

This is a basic human who has chosen to tread the path of the Ripper and is currently at the start of the class of a Corrupter. Be wary; this class is known for its ability to leech and corrupt others for their own benefit. This class grants access to magic. This human is a former convict, charged twice with possession and once with assault and battery. He has also been involved in at least two murders before system integration.

Noteworthy Skills:

[Hidden]

Inspect (Basic) has gained a level!

———

It… Was absurd. Bill had managed to gain levels even quicker and, in the process, obviously picked up the Hide Status skill—but that bit about the Icon.

That and the smile confirmed all he needed to know.

Bill had stolen his boss kill.

After he fired off his Inspect, the smile on Bill’s face vanished. He scowled and looked at Colt, who then felt his skin crawl. A clear mark that Bill had done the same exact thing to him.

———

Hide Status (Basic) has gained a level!

———

Until he took in the rest of Bill’s party, Logan was sitting at level 7, assuming that Leech had somehow let Bill steal levels from his allies or something like that—maybe? It was interesting to see that Logan had taken a common class called Brute. He’d also killed a level 29 boss. Somehow.

Bill was a monster.

“Level 20 and a rare class, huh?” Bill said and then plastered on a fake smile. “To think out of everyone, you would be the most handy. Way to go, Colt. If I’d known you’d be so useful, I’d have taken you out with me. Want to come next time? We can clear this dungeon together. I already killed one of the bosses.”

Liar.

It was there in Bill’s smile, the fake happiness. Clear as day to Colt, but even as he said it, Jimmy brightened. “Yeah, man. Bill is super strong. If you’re level 20 too—well, we could get out of here in days. I also got a useful class too. Healer.”

It was instinct. Colt inspected him as well when those words came out of his mouth.

———

Name: Jimmy Russo | Race: Basic Human

Class: Healer (I) [Uncommon]

Level: 11

This is a basic human who has not yet chosen a path to tread. They currently have the class of healer. This class allows access to magic, with a specialization in healing others through the use of Holy Magic. This human has a complicated history with their family and has moved several places over their life, struggling to fit in.

Noteworthy Skills:

Healing [Rare] - Level 4

Holy Magic [Uncommon] - Level 5

———

That was… Exceptional. Healing—holy shit, that was game-changing here. Higher endurance might boost your recovery rate, but Colt knew if he took a bad enough injury, it would put him out of commission and could potentially end him.

Having a healer in here… Wow.

Bill threw an arm over Jimmy’s shoulder, that grin of his still wide, hiding the danger underneath.

“You, me, and Jimmy? The next boss will be a breeze.”

“Where’s Donny?” Colt asked, and he noticed Jimmy’s eyes cloud.

“Died while fighting The Ripper. He ambushed us in one of those alleys, and we tried our best, but there were causalities.” Bill waved it away.

Logan grunted and looked away.

There it is. The web is woven, and a lie is being layered over another lie. The offer was tempting, despite that. He was sure that in another reality if Bill weren’t who he was, the two of them working together could have made easy work of this place.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

But he didn’t trust Bill.

And he knew Donny’s death wasn’t as simple as Bill had explained.

“No thanks. I think I’ll continue exploring with Nate and Sarah. We’ll let you know if we find the boss,” Colt said, which, well. Was his own little web of lies. He had no intention of telling Bill. Something about this whole situation reeked, and he wasn’t having it.

“A shame,” Bill said and then turned away—giving orders to Jimmy and Logan to make him food. Both the brute and the healer ran off to do it too quickly, in Colt’s opinion, as Bill sat back and supervised with crossed arms. It seemed they were done talking since Colt wasn’t willing to work with him the way they wanted.

The groups split back up into their respective halves of the kitchen, talking amongst themselves and making plans for the next day. Though nobody had a phone, and the outside sky was already night, they seemed to acknowledge that it was getting late.

A meal, some company, and talking about the hopeful future of getting out of the dungeon was what the hour called for. And Colt embraced it, letting himself sink into well-deserved rest.

Every so often, he could see those eyes of Bill’s wander over to their side of the kitchen. He had a scowl on his face as he stared at Colt when he thought Colt wasn’t looking. His hate was unmasked, and in those flickering eyes, Colt could have sworn he saw the red gaze of death that Jack the Ripper had before. Whenever he caught it, Bill was sure to look away.

That half of the kitchen was beginning to resemble the Kingdom of the Kitchen they were all familiar with: a king and his subjects, Bill and his minions.

Colt tried not to let it get to him.

And when he put his head to that pillow that night, he did it knowing that Nate would keep watch, and then he, later at night, could keep eyes on the opposite side.

They had started the day with eight people. And ended it with seven, and Colt wasn’t about to let it get to six.

Breakfast the next day was a lot quieter. Bill, Jimmy, and Logan left early. Shortly afterward, his own group was ready to go. Cindy refused to go back out into the dungeon—which was fine. Colt tried to understand her fear. Even if he felt like they didn’t have much of an option, he didn’t do more than try to encourage her.

She still refused. Alright.

Not everyone was cut out for this.

Sarah and Nate wanted him to venture with them—but he turned them down, opting to go out and explore on his own like before. They weren’t all that happy but understood. Someone had to keep themselves close to Bill’s level, or things would devolve further.

His drive was worth it as he went into the dungeon and got more kills. But the enemies had… Lessened? Fewer kobolds, for sure. It was eerie since, before, he’d run into them in groups every hour or so. Now, took over an hour to find them, and the rats were fewer and fewer.

It was also harder to gain a level after 20. Much more than before. As if he’d passed some kind of threshold.

Still, near the end of a tiring day of exploring, he saw an advancement as a reward for his efforts.

———

You have leveled up!

You have 3 Stat points to spend; you have gained 1 point of Dexterity and 1 point of Soul!

———

When he returned to the kitchen and inspected Bill and his crew, he saw that Bill himself had not leveled. Logan and Jimmy had advanced a bit, which Colt took to mean that Bill was either trying to even out his team or appease them.

Or Bill was readying soldiers for a fight.

During the downtime, as everyone wound down for the night, Colt kept trying to get Jimmy into one-on-one talks. The guy didn’t seem too happy over there, but Bill was right there every time he got Jimmy into a small conversation. Listening. Cutting in. Stopping him from siphoning his healer over to the other side of the kitchen.

The next day was much of the same, though finding kobolds took even longer.

A day after that, he saw another level.

———

You have leveled up!

You have 3 Stat points to spend. You have gained 1 point of Dexterity and 1 point of Soul!

———

Colt assigned out his stats later, splitting the six points pretty evenly. Two went to willpower, two to dexterity, one to strength, and an additional one to soul.

Having taken time to think it over, ‘Corrupter’ had to be contested with willpower. He was more thankful than ever to have ‘Mental Resistance’ skill, too, if his suspicions were correct. Every so often, he felt Bill looking at him late at night. He felt something nudging against his brain, unable to find a way in.

The notification that followed the feeling confirmed everything he needed to know.

———

Mental Resistance (Basic) has gained a level!

———

Bill was doing something. Probably related to his class. The next day, Colt alerted the rest of his side of the Kitchen—but they had a shadow of a doubt in them. A couple of days later, they began to share food with the other side. Cindy stopped spending the nights with them and instead flipped to the other side of the kitchen, cooking for Logan, Bill, and Jimmy.

That put them at four and three, with Nate and Sarah starting to talk about ‘cooperating and working together’ since they were having difficulty finding the Boss.

Colt doubled down and ranged further as he explored the dungeon. Knowing that Bill was up to some kind of game, the only real solution was to end this experience as fast as he could manage.

The Endless Alleys had alleyways of every kind under the sun. Not all were traditional, either. Colt began to scribble down a map as he moved—being able to mark places with relative ease as he explored. ‘Gorge Alleys’ was a shorthand for the brief but winding and confusing route of alleyway, which seemed to be cave-like, with homes wrought into the side of cliffs. He’d been in the ‘Victorian Alleys’ when he first encountered Jack.

Enchanted Garden Alleys. Ikea Alleys… The definition that this dungeon gave stretched the imagination.

Some of them were winding and confusing, others straight and forward. And then, some of them connected. Making a circular route.

The first time he’d encountered this, discovering that the Victorian Alleys connected around to the Hedge Garden Alleys—he felt relief.

This place wasn’t unconquerable. A maze, sure. But if he could find these connection points, it would lead to him finally finding wherever the Kobold King hid away.

Another couple of days passed, and Colt saw little reward as there were even fewer kobolds. On the rare occasion, he managed to find a fight, he drilled his combat skills, trying to level them as well. Days of effort finally paid off.

———

You have leveled up!

You have 3 Stat points to spend. You have gained 1 point of Dexterity and 1 point of Soul!

*Phantom’s Step* (Basic) has gained a level!

———

As always, he was quick to divide the stat points gained with each level, putting two into soul and one into endurance.

At the end of the first ten days, he’d gotten quite a ways. He had a comprehensive map—most of the alleys connected, a bunch of big looping directions that split and span, and he was starting to get a grasp of it—they weren’t nearly as Endless as the name suggested, but he and none of the others had seen the tail of hide of the so-called-boss.

On the eleventh day, something odd happened. Cindy finally left the kitchen, sweet-talked into it by Bill. She left with him and Logan, leaving Jimmy on a rest day.

Later that day, Colt returned to the kitchen, where Sarah was crying and Logan was cooking.

Cindy had died in a fight with kobolds. Or so that’s what everyone said. That was the story. It felt like the tangly and wispy webs of a lie.

However, when Colt inspected Bill, the man had jumped two levels. Bill hadn’t leveled at all since the first couple of days, and now suddenly, he was Level 26, and Logan wouldn’t talk to anyone about it all, simply repeating, ‘Talk to Bill.’

After day eleven, they were down to six people.