Ryan looked over at Lee, who was covering his ears with his hands. “Did you hear that?”

“Creepy voice in my head? Yep.” He sighed. “Thought I was so hungry I was hallucinating.”

Ariel approached them holding a bowl of steaming broth. “Did you guys hear that voice also? Talk about weird!”

“Ariel, where did you get that from?” Ryan asked, putting his hand on his forehead.

Ariel pointed to a group of four women with brownish skin. “Vivian used her Spanish skills to snag us something to eat!”

The trio walked towards the camp that belonged to the four women. One of the women smiled and handed them piping hot bowls of stew as they approached. Lee and Ryan bowed slightly to show them that they were grateful.

Ryan sat down on the ground and took a moment to take in his surroundings. Vivan appeared to be having an intense discussion with the oldest lady in the group. The woman was a deep shade of caramel, with stunning blue eyes. She looked older, middle fifties if Ryan had to guess. Her face and arms held many scars, the most noticeable being the one across her right eye. She wore a full set of steel armor, with a sword and shield strapped to her back. Ryan glanced at the other women in the group. Each of them had scars littered across their face, arms, and legs. These were warriors that had survived countless dungeons.

Ryan’s thoughts were interrupted by a burp from Lee. “Holy hell, that was so good! Wonder if I can get Vivian to ask for the recipe!” he said grinning and rubbing his stomach.

Ryan looked at the now only mildly-warm bowl in his hand. The stew was a rich red filled with what looked like pieces of meat. He took a small sip of the warm stew and his mouth exploded with flavors that he had never experienced before. It was delicious. “Whoa, you weren’t kidding.”

Lee, who had been staring at the other camps, turned around to face Ryan with a serious look. “I never joke about food man.”

Ryan and Ariel burst out laughing while Lee took another bowl from the woman that had served them before.

A few minutes later Vivian joined them, a troubled look on her face. Ryan noticed the look on her face, “so what did you find out—”.

“Viv! Do you know what this stuff is made of? It’s the best thing I’ve ever had!” Lee asked, completely oblivious to what was going on.

The look of anxiety on Vivian’s face disappeared as she burst out laughing while Lee looked at her with his ridiculous puppy dog eyes. She grinned while she spoke, watching Lee’s face drop further and further into despair. “It’s called menudo. It’s a traditional mexican soup. The broth is a red chili pepper base I think, and the meat is cow stomach. You’re basically eating cow guts.”

The trio laughed as Lee pretended to faint. “Okay, I’m going to pretend I never asked,” he muttered as he got up to get another bowl from the woman.

Ryan turned to Vivian. “So, what’s up?”

Vivian shook her head as she spoke. “It doesn’t make any sense. These women are from Mexico. They entered a D-ranked dungeon portal a day ago and ended up here. People have been showing up for hours.” She motioned to the other camps in the surrounding area. “They’re all from different places and guilds around the world. Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, South America, North America.”

Ryan looked at her in alarm. “Are you saying that the same dungeon portal appeared all around the world at the same time?”

Vivian shook her head. “No. It looks like the spider dungeon we crawled through was different for everyone. But this chamber,” she gestured to the room of pillars, “is … unique. Dozens of different dungeons have led everyone to this same place.”

Ariel spoke up between spoonfuls of soup. “That isn’t possible is it? No one has ever heard of anything like that happening.”

Ryan’s eyes considered the groups of restless dungeoneers nearby. Everyone seemed scared or anxious. “It shouldn’t be possible.” Vivan replied. “At least not according to everything we know about dungeon portals. But—here we are.”

A deep rumbling sound filled the chamber. The ground and air vibrated so much that Ryan lost a grip on his bowl and it shattered on the ground. Ryan watched in awe as the set of intricate doors opened slowly. There was a rush of air that entered the chamber as the doors finished opening. It smelled and tasted the same way the tomb they had found in the tunnels had. Ancient. Cursed.

There was a moment of hesitation as they waited to see if anything would come through the opened doors. Then, with a grunt, the first group of dungeoneers picked up their weapons and walked through the doors. When no-one heard any screaming, the rest of the groups littering the chamber began to pack up. One by one they all headed through the doors.

Ryan and his friends were one of the last groups to pass through the gate. They gawked as they looked around the room they had entered.

The room, like the chamber before, was massive. Lit up by blue torches that lined the walls. In the center of the room were steps that led up to a platform. The entire room was surrounded by stone statues that must have been 100-feet tall. Each statue was flawless. They reminded Ryan of the Roman statues that he had seen in books. The only difference was that these statues were made of dark gray stone instead of white marble. Some carried weapons while others carried instruments. Their sculpted eyes seemed to be staring at something at the back of the room.

The group of dungeoneers walked towards the middle of the room and up onto the platform. There were gasps of alarm and fear as some of them pointed at something. Lee grabbed hold of Ryan’s shoulder and gripped him tightly. “Do—do you see that?”

Ryan looked in the direction that Lee was staring. At the back of the room was the biggest stone statue that he had ever seen. It must have been over 350-feet tall, and it was sitting on an equally monstrously sized throne. Ryan shuddered as he stared at the face of the statue. It looked alive. Its eyes were deep black caverns, but its mouth was into a menacing grin that revealed white teeth. Do statues have teeth?

Ryan and his friends moved towards the middle of the platform where a group had gathered. There was writing on the ground.

First, Worship the Lord

Second, Praise the Lord

Third, Prove your Faith

Then, as suddenly as they had opened, the colossal doors closed.

There were several moments of panicked silence. The dungeoneers pulled out weapons and shields, while mages cast buffs. Ryan had the presence of mind to re-cast his buffs on the entire team.

The minutes crawled by and still nothing happened. A group of dungeoneers, shaky from fear, began to creep their way towards the doors. The group approached the gates and began to pull, muscles bulging from the effort of trying to open the door. And still, nothing happened.

The leader of the group, frustrated and driven by panic, took his axe and swung it against the massive doors. The noise of the axe hitting the steel gates reverated throughout the room. At that moment, one of the statues near the door came alive. Its stone eyes turned blue and it stepped off its pedestal. The movement of the statue was nothing like what Ryan would have expected. It was almost human. Moving in ways that shouldn’t have been possible for stone limbs.

The statue swung its axe three times. Ryan watched in horror as the three dungeoneers fell dead to the ground. Beheaded in an instant.

The statue returned to its pedestal and took up its former position. The blue in its eyes faded and did not move again.

Lee grabbed Ryan by the arm and whispered into his ear. “This isn’t good, that thing just took out three dungeoneers without breaking a sweat.”

Ryan could hear the fear in his voice. He looked over at Vivian and Ariel. Vivian was screaming while burying her face in Ariel’s shoulder. Ariel was pale as she continued to stare at the statue. Tears streamed down from her eyes.

Pure white light erupted from the eyes of the giant statue sitting on the throne. The light made contact with one of the dungeoneers and split him in half. Those nearest him cried out in terror as they were covered in blood.

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The next several minutes were chaos. Every few seconds the stone being on the throne would release a pair of white beams, killing another dungeoneer. Nothing could stop them. Armor, shields, magic. It didn’t matter.

Thirty dungeoneers lay dead. Those that tried to escape towards the door were cut down by statues. The rest died to the unstoppable beams.

A voice rang out amongst the crowd. “Get on your knees! The words engraved on the platform are instructions! We have to bow!”

Worship the Lord. He’s right! Ryan thought to himself. He looked towards the voice. He saw a hooded man on his hands and knees in the center of the platform. It was Lucifer!

“Lee, Ariel, Viv! Do what he says! Bow!” Ryan yelled as he dropped to his hands and knees and placed his forehead firmly against the ground. He felt the rest of his team drop the floor next to him.

More beams of white light.

More moments passed.

It took half a minute for Ryan to notice that the beams of light had stopped. Another minute passed before Ryan had the courage to lift his head. He looked at the statue on the throne. The Lord.

The statue’s eyes glowed bright red. Similar to the blue glow that the statues protecting the doors had. But these eyes had pupils. Pitch black pupils in a sea of red. The face of the statue was terrifying. The face of a mad, grinning god.

Ryan looked for Lucifer and found him on his hands and knees in front of him. “What do we do now Lucifer?!”

Lucifer took a moment before he replied. “Praise the Lord.”

Lee yelled before Ryan could reply. “How the hell do we do that?!”

One of the dungeoneers crawled forward towards the throne. He cupped his hands in front of his forehead and began to pray. “Our Father, who art in heaven—” The stone lord turned around in an instant, his grinning face twisted into one of fury. It stood up from its throne. In the blink of an eye, at a speed that should have been impossible for its size, the giant statue stepped on the praying dungeoneer. The sounds of shattered bones made Ryan throw up.

The stone statue’s face fixed back into its vicious grin. He praised the wrong god.

The group of dungeoneers lost all semblance of reason. They scattered in all different directions. Those that ran towards the statues with weapons were cut down. Wait. Ryan looked around and saw that several of the dungeoneers that had run towards statues armed with instruments hadn’t been killed.

Everyone that has gotten close to a statue dies. But those that ran towards the statues without weapons are hiding behind them.

An idea came to Ryan in an instant. “Run towards the statues with instruments!”

Ryan had no time to wait and see if anyone had heard him. He grabbed Ariel by the arm and dragged her to the nearest statue that was holding a flute. He looked back as he ran and saw the rest of the group and Lucifer following him. Other dungeoneers had begun to run towards statues that held other instruments.

The statues started playing music. The music sounded like something you would hear at a church. As dungeoneers continued to run towards the statues with instruments, they began to play louder. As the last statue with an instrument began to play the massive grinning stone god returned to his throne.

The stone god sat back on his throne and raised an arm. Massive circular blocks of stone came crashing from the ceiling and landed on the center of the platform forming an altar.

A blue flame erupted from the hand of the god. The blue flame drifted from the god’s hand and fell on top of the altar. Twenty-one flames appeared from the altar, forming a circle.

“Prove your faith,” Ryan whispered.

One of the dungeoneers cried out in anger and fear. “What do we do now?”

Lucifer made his way towards the altar and placed his hand on the stone. “Now you prove your faith.”

Another man limped up towards Lucifer. “How the hell do you suppose we do that?”

Lucifer turned towards the man. “Look around you. What god do you think would do this?” He gestured to the bodies that littered the floor. “The God of Death.”

He stared at the man with a blank expression. “And how do you please the God of Death?”

In a movement that was faster than Ryan could follow, Lucifer grabbed the man’s head and broke his neck. The man fell to the floor, his eyes wide with surprise.

One of the blue flames that surrounded the altar went out.

The slaughter that followed was unbelievable. Lucifer was faster and stronger than any other dungeoneer that was still alive. He has to be at least A-ranked. He flew across the room, sinking a dagger into the throat of one of the members from the Mexico team. The woman that had fed them went into a rage. She launched herself at Lucifer and thrust her sword at his chest. Lucifer grabbed the woman’s arm and twisted. She screamed in pain and dropped the blade, falling to her knees. Lucifer picked the sword up, the same calm expression on his face as he beheaded the woman in a single strike.

Lee yelled at Ryan. “Wake up! We need to help them! Viv Shield me! Ryan, Ariel let's go!”

Lee roared as he launched himself towards Lucifer. “Shield Bash!”

Ariel sprinted after Lee, while Vivian raised her arms and cast Mass Shield. Lee hit Lucifer with the sound of crunching steel. For a brief second, Lee thought that the fight was over, but his eyes widened in panic when he saw that Lucifer had stopped his charge with one hand. The man’s fingers had torn through the D-ranked metal like it was paper. Lee dropped the shield and swung his sword at Lucifer’s head.

But the hooded man was too fast. He dodged the sword and struck Lee in the head with a punch that screamed as it flew through the air. Ryan could hear the crunching of bones as Lee flew backward 10-feet and fell on the ground. Blood poured out of his eyes and his nose.

Ariel screamed in rage. “LEE!” She thrust her spear at Lucifer and managed to slice his inner thigh. A flash of anger crossed his face before he jumped back. Vivian ran as fast as she could towards Lee’s crumpled body. Tears ran down her face as she pressed her hands to his chest and cast Heal after Heal. “Don’t you leave me, Lee Jones! I love you! Please, Lee! Wake up!”

“Ariel! No! Run!” Ryan screamed in fear. He aimed his rifle at Lucifer and pulled the trigger as quickly as he could. One of the bullets caught Lucifer in the shoulder. Lucifer cried out in pain for the first time as he looked at Ryan in surprise.

Faster than any bullet, Lucifer appeared in front of Ryan. The hooded man aimed a fist at his chest, but Ryan managed to turn just in time to avoid death. The glancing blow took his breath away and launched him back several feet. He fell to the ground, blood falling from his nose and mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ariel trying to attack Lucifer from behind. He tried to call out, but couldn’t find the strength to form the words. Ariel … please … run … don’t …. Die.

Ariel struck Lucifer in the back, but the spear didn’t pierce. He turned around and kicked Ariel in the stomach, causing her to lose her grip on the spear. Lucifer picked the spear off the ground and approached Ariel’s body.

Panic, fear, pain, and desperation all gripped Ryan. He tried to crawl towards Ariel, but his ruined body wouldn’t work. No, not Ariel, PLEASE!

Lucifer raised the spear, and almost casually thrust it into Ariel’s chest. There was a thud as the spearhead exited Ariel’s chest and embedded itself into the stone floor. Ariel coughed blood.

She turned her head as Ryan screamed her name. Their eyes met and Ariel smiled one last time as the light in her eyes faded away.

Ryan watched as Lucifer walked towards Vivan, who was still huddled over Lee’s body. Her eyes were vacant, and she was mumbling incoherently. She looked up as Lucifer approached, then looked over at Ryan. She mouthed words at him, but Ryan was going in and out of consciousness. He couldn’t make them out.

Vivian lowered her eyes back to Lee and closed them as Lucifer lifted his dagger and dragged it across her neck.

Several minutes passed by, or maybe it was hours. Ryan didn’t know. He didn’t care. He heard the screams of dungeoneers as Lucifer killed them one by one.

Then there was silence. Ryan heard footsteps as Lucifer approached him. The man’s face looked almost sad.

“I’m sorry it had to be this way. I know you won’t believe me. But I need this power.”

Ryan gathered the last bit of strength that he had to spit in the face of the hooded man who had killed his best friends. His love. One final act of defiance.

Lucifer shrugged and wiped the blood-spit off his face. He picked up a sword and without any hesitation, thrust it into Ryan’s stomach.

Ryan withered in agony. Every part of his body was on fire. He watched as Lucifer got up and walked towards the God of Death. Seconds passed as Ryan began to lose consciousness. The god waved his hand and a portal opened. Lucifer took a final look at him, then stepped through it.

Ryan could hardly think. The pain was overwhelming. Only the thought of revenge allowed Ryan to think rationally. I will kill him. I will kill him. I will kill him. I must live.

Ryan repeated the mantra over and over. With one last desperate move, he cast God’s Defense on himself.

Then he slipped into unconsciousness.