They entered the dungeon. An opaque, blue barrier rose up behind them, stopping them from leaving and telling other players someone was inside. Entering was still possible, but leaving could only be done after the dungeon had been beaten.

“Hihi-hihi,” A fairy few over, “welcome to my abode. I wish you the best of luck.”

Dungeons grew in power for each player they managed to end, and since fairies were a part of the dungeon, they’d also grow in power. If a fairy managed to kill over one hundred players, they’d evolve, growing into a real beast. But in their current state, they were unkillable in every way but destroying the dungeon core.

“Shut the fuck up,” Frost sneered, whilst the others walked past the fairy without acknowledging it. The fairy stopped for a moment, shocked at what had just happened, and flew back after them.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” She said, her spiky high tone made it a screech. Nobody answered this time, instead opting to continue walking forward, deeper into the dungeon.

The dungeon had bright lanterns on the walls, lighting up the steps. It was large and spacious, a true massive dungeon. The challenge ahead of them was much larger than usual. Generally massive dungeons had a low level, but many weak enemies, preferring swarm type tactics, this one had a high level, and many enemies. For now those enemies were hidden, but they’d come out soon enough.

Lucian wondered if this would be the type of dungeon with many paths, or one direct path that they’d have to travel down. Both existed; massive dungeons tended to lean towards being more free, labyrinthic in a way.

A yellow liquid trickled down beside the stairs. The stairs were stone tainted slightly green with intricate patterns carved into them. The steps were small, but long, and they continued down for a long time.

On the walls and roof, different paintings of different stories were shown. It was paintings of men and women, that were highly disfigured and cut into pieces and blood was everywhere, and children cried, and the clouds fell. The story grew grimmer the further down they went, detailing how it would look if the gods descended.

Dungeons have different themes to them. It was something they came with. This one was filled with the colours yellow, orange and green and very old types of paintings.

Lucian felt a bit more clumsy and disorganized than he’d usually feel. He was tired, and sleep deprivation was a possibility in this game. They had to clear out an area in the dungeon and get rest, but that would be after a few hours. He could push on for that long, even longer if need be.

They reached the bottom, and the stairs stopped descending. It flattened out into a platform surrounded by a yellow lake. Large leviathans swimmed through the waters, their distorted images on the top gliding around. These shouldn’t be here. On the very opposite end of the sea there was a crystal.

“That’s the dungeon core right there,” Coco said.

“No shit,” Frost spat.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“I guess we’ll just go swimming then,” Coco said and tried walking up to the edge, but Scarface tripped him before he had the chance.

“We’ll die if we swim, those leviathans are over level 100.”

“What?” Coco said, “but they shouldn’t be in this dungeon right?”

“No,” Cupid said, “they shouldn’t, but I wager they’re made as a trap rather than enemies. Look.”

She shot an arrow into the lake, and instantly the two leviathans jerked for the arrow. The liquid splashed open, and the two monsters rose up into the air. Their skin was black like a panther, and their eyes shone yellow, sharp teeth filling their jaws. They fell and waves spread, gradually calming down.

The dungeon core had a hallway behind it. There was another path to getting there. They had to go around. There was two different paths. Right, and left.

“Fairy,” Scarface asked, “what path should we take?” ‘

“Right!” She said, happy that someone finally asked her a question, “go right.”

They all walked left. The fairy's face turned dark for a moment, and then that disappeared. This trick would only work once. Fairies were quite intelligent, when they realized that their answers weren’t trusted they threw in a bit of honesty to mess with you.

They entered the hallway again. The paintings on the walls completely disappeared, replaced by rough stone. The tunnel shrunk in size, and they soon spotted holes covering the stone. Scarface stopped everyone.

“This is a classic trap,” he said. “See that button over there. I wager if I click it, then it will deactivate.”

“Be careful,” Cupid said, and Lucian scoffed.

“I’ve told him that a million times.”

The arrows were a blur, and easily missed with a blink of the eye. Somehow, though, Scarface managed to duck, jump, evade, jerk, away from every single one. It was as if he had a sixth sense for the arrows. He pressed the button, or rather, held it down.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be cleared,” the fairy cried. “Not at all.”

They walked over and turned the corner. There was a white wall there, a dead end with nothing on it except for hieroglyphics that fed into the system, creating a riddle.

I move, but I have no life. I am, but I do not think. I can recover, but I feel no pain. What am I?

Before Lucian had time to process the riddle, Cupid had already answered.

“A Golem.”

“I was about to say that,” Coco said.

“Suurreee,” Frost said, and Coco clicked his tongue.

“But, I really was.”

They continued forward, and the tunnel spread out. The paintings on the wall reappeared. This time it showed the famous god Palpatus, shown by the white shadows surrounding him. He was eating a human child.

There was three stone statues in front of them. One wielding a spear, one a sword and shield, and one the form of a large dog.

“Well then, who’s ready for a fight,” Lucian said.

“W-where?” Coco said, “I don’t see any enemies.”

“The statues you moron,” Frost spat, “they’re golems.”