“Can you hear me?” I prick my ear so I don’t miss any sounds. “...where are you?” I wait, but there’s no answer. I don’t think I can survive alone when I have no idea where I am. I won’t stop calling for them. “Matta? Berta?”
The silence is only broken by the sporadic cries from some monsters. There’s no sign of my teammates.
“Wait, this…!”
Suddenly, a thunderous sound pops out of nowhere. It grows closer and at an extraordinary speed. I have no idea what kind of monster or trap it is, but it's coming in my direction.
I gulp. “Shit! Maybe I should have stayed quiet…”
Can I do it alone? It depends on what kind of monster, but… It’s so loud. It must be something huge, right? I don’t think it’s a good idea to face it when Matta and Berta aren’t here.
I look around. There are only a few mushrooms and rocks in this tunnel. This place is quite dark, if I hide, it’s possible the monsters won’t see me, so I quickly hide behind one of the biggest rocks.
“Maybe I can survive like this…”
The noise gets closer. I couldn’t hear it properly because of the tunnel’s echo, but now that it’s closer I can finally hear it properly. It’s the noise of hundreds of legs stomping on the ground at irregular intervals.
“...is it a giant centipede…?” I pop my head from behind the rock to look in the direction the sound is coming from. I can’t see the monster yet, but I notice something else. “Uah, those two rocks are so close to the wall… should I go there?”
The rocks are placed in such a way that it’ll be impossible for any monster to see me if I hide there. But it’s a little bit far away. Will I have enough time to go there before the monster appears?
“Do I go? Will I have enough time?”
I’m tempted to go, but I don’t dare to. The noise is so loud that the monster could show up at any moment now. Also, Matta always says that when it comes to survival, the first idea you have is usually the best one.
Yes, I’ll follow his lead this time. “I’m staying here because I believe in him and not because I’m too scared to move out of my hiding place…” I convince myself.
Finally, the monster shows up. It’s a pale, deformed humanoid, made of body parts from several species. It’s running in my direction at an absurd speed, one that defies its uncoordinated and wonky movements.
Then, from behind the monster, another one appears. And second, a third, a fourth… An unending stream of monsters pours from the other side of the tunnel.
There’s a mix of monsters from different races, but most of them are either deformed humanoids like the first one, or humans. Completely uncoordinated, they push each other and walk over their fallen teammates, trying to reach the pale humanoid at the front. They never dare to overcome it, but they don’t care about what’s in their way to come as close as possible.
What the fuck? Are there tens of enemies? Maybe hundreds!? There’s no end to their numbers as they flood the tunnel, leaving almost no space unoccupied.
I grab my legs and make myself as small as possible.
The first monster passes close to where I am but doesn’t see me. The same is true for the rest, but I don’t dare tempt my luck.
Don’t make any noise, Carles. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t blink…
I stay immobile like a statue. The thundering noise and the ground vibrations are enough to tell me the monsters are still coming, there’s no end to them. The monster horde continues, and continues, and continues…
*Pop!*
I almost scream at the noise of something compressed being released. Alarmed, look in that direction and see a part of the wall on the other side of the tunnel dropping to the ground. From the hole, a new monster soon drops to the ground and joins the horde.
*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
More hidden compartments bust open and monsters come out from the walls, the ceiling, and the floor.
I watch horrified as a monster appears from behind the rocks I discovered a while ago. There was a hidden monster there!? It looked like the perfect hiding place because there was a monster hiding there!?
Omg, I was so lucky to stay here! If I had changed the place I was hiding…
Matta, my best friend. From now on, I’ll believe everything you say. I’ll follow whatever you say when it comes to survival, I swear.
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the last monsters pass where I am and the noise starts to get away from me. I don’t dare to move a single muscle until the silence returns to the tunnel.
“What, the, fuck… was… that…?” I shiver.
I don’t think I could run away, they were faster than me. Had they found me, I would have been shredded into a gory mess by the ravenous horde. I can’t imagine a worse way to die.
I send a reluctant glance in the direction the horde disappeared. Then, I turn in the opposite direction.
“To get away from them… there’s only one way I can go.” I don’t think about it a second time and start walking. “Let’s hope I don’t find them a second time…”
This dungeon… Matta told us players consider it a dungeon with high difficulty, that you rely on luck and skill to clear it.
Then, why did it turn into a horror dungeon? When did it switch genres?
----------------------------------------
Stolen story; please report.
“How annoying! How many times does it make this? I stopped counting long ago.”
For the umpteenth time, I defeat a group of Goblimps. They never stopped appearing since the cave with the turtles, but at least they’re weak. I’d rather fight them than a group of those teleporting flesh-dogs.
I inspect the area to make sure none of them survive. “That green, fat belly… I’d recognize it anywhere! Matta, it’s you, right? But why are you lying on the ground…” I get closer.
Ah, he’s dead. This is why. It all makes sense now.
“What to do… what to do…” I ponder.
There are no visible traps in the surroundings. If he’s dead, it must mean he encountered some powerful enemy… If only he could tell me what it was…
But he can’t tell me anything as long as he’s dead. The game won’t allow him to write to me either. The most he can do is log out of the game, but even then he won’t be able to talk to us until I or Berta beat the dungeon or surrender.
His corpse is still here, so he must be in his phantasmal form. I’m sure that he’s observing my every action with a smirk on his face.
There are two actions I can take. I can leave him here and abandon all hope for him to come back, or bring him with me and hope we can meet Berta. She has the Resurrection skill, so she can bring him back to life.
I’d like to reunite if possible, but is it possible? I have no idea where Berta might be.
His Champion is a fat goblin, which makes it harder to move. But at the same time is a Goblin, which is a lot smaller than an adult… I can always bring his corpse with me and toss it to the ground when I have to fight, can’t I?
“You’re lucky, Buddy,” I say after deciding what I’ll do. “If we find Berta, you might be able to come back! Hahaha! You’ll owe me one for this!”
I grab him like a sack of potatoes and resume walking. He isn’t as heavy as I expected. Now I only need to find our child teammate…
A few minutes later, I hear a shout.
*...Kyaaaaaaah…!*
“This cry… it must be her. But why does it sound muffled?”
The wall bursts in an explosion and a giant worm appears, occupying most of the tunnel with its enormous body.
“...Kyaaaaaah…!”
The shout continues. As if in response, the worm starts thrashing around. I make a few steps backward to avoid being dragged into whatever’s happening.
But it doesn’t make any sense. The worm has 0 HP, so why is it still moving?
“Kyaaah! Aaaagh, so disgusting! Kyaaaaaah!”
The worm spasms yet another time. Its movement coincides with Berta’s cry. Is she… inside the worm?
Then, something small drops out from the dead worm’s mouth. That something starts moving in a weirdly fascinating dance. It’s like a newborn coming out of its mother, covered in disgusting fluids I don’t want to know the origin of.
“Uaaah… I want to die… Save me, Carles…” She starts crying. “Where are you…?” She stands up and turns in my direction. She freezes when she sees me staring at her.
“Uh, hey. Hello, Berta… How have you been?”
“Kyaaah!” She hides her body, still covered in that disgusting fluid. “Did you… did you see…?” She asks, her voice fading away as she talks.
“...”
See what? Her current aspect? Or when she was shouting while struggling inside the worm? Is this one of those trap questions? What should I answer? In fact, is there any answer I can give her that won’t put me in danger?
She starts sobbing. “Uaaah, it was so horrible, snif! I didn’t know where I was, and then the tunnel closed, and I was inside the monster, and now I’m covered in this sticky fluid… Carles, I’m so glad you’re here…” She walks in my direction. “...I don’t want to be alone anymore…”
I take a step back. “...hey, Berta. Stop. Don’t come any closer…”
“...why? Didn’t you miss me too…?”
She cutely tilts her head to the side and asks me. The problem is she’s still sticky, and I don’t want to touch that stuff at all.
“Stop!”
“...why?”
She keeps getting closer with her arms open, asking for a hug. I can only solve this one way, and that way is…
“Kyaaah! What are you doing!?”
…I throw Matta’s corpse and pin her under it. That’s the only solution. At least, it’s the most cost-efficient one.
The next step is to change topics so she forgets about what I did. “I found Matta’s corpse lying around some time ago. Can you use Resurrection on him? I’m curious about what killed him.”
“...huh?” She takes a moment to realize that the thing that’s pinning her is Matta’s corpse. “...ah, huh… alright, I’ll do it.”
Bright green light converges around Matta’s body as she uses her skill and it is then absorbed into his body.
Resurrection (Activated skill) Cost: 300 MP You return a dead allied unit to 10% of its maximum HP. The resurrected unit will have all their stats reduced by 20% for the rest of the Dungeon Invasion or Dungeon Battle. After using this skill, your MP and SOU will be reduced by 10% for the rest of the Dungeon Invasion or Dungeon Battle.
When the light disappears, Matta releases a grunt and stands up.
“You know…” he says, “...I don’t mind going away if you need some time alone, you lovebirds.”
What bullshit is he saying as soon as he wakes up?
“What did you say!?” Berta, who still hasn’t fully recovered from her awful experience, snaps at him. “Is this what you have to say? Why don’t you say thanks first!?”
“Stop, hihihi! You’re going to kill me again!”
Wheew, looks like she will leave me alone and I won’t have to touch that weird fluid… I exhale, relieved.
“So… how did you die?” I ask. “What monster killed you?”
Berta stops chasing after him. “Yes, it’s weird. You don’t usually die. If anything, you’re more resilient than a cockroach…”
“Well, you see…” he makes a weird laugh and scratches his cheek. “Do you remember that monster that inflicted fear on us? Didn’t you notice? While running, we were taking damage. So… I died because of it.”
““...””
He continues talking after noticing we aren’t saying anything. “Hihihi, you know, since my champion’s so weak, such unavoidable damage was lethal…”
I’m not misunderstanding him, right? He’s admitting he did nothing at all since we split up, right?
I had to explore, face dangers, and fear for my life… while he was resting comfortably, waiting for us to rescue him. I even had to drag him with me so we could resurrect him, and Berta even got eaten by a giant worm!
“Berta…”
“Carles…”
We exchange a look and nod at the same time.
“Hey, guys…?” Matta steps back. “Why are you grinning? Noooooo, stooooop!” He starts squealing like a pig. “Don’t do it! Release me! Aren’t we friends?” We lift him as he struggles. “Where are you dragging me? Why are you doing this? We’re finally reunited, we should take this chance to clear the dungeon! I have the map, remember? You won’t be able to clear this if I’m dead!”
““Ahahaha…”” We ignore his struggles as our sinister laughter fills the tunnels.
[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
“Real friendships will never break under any circumstances. It doesn’t matter what dungeon you go or what situation you find yourself in, they will always stay strong.”
- Ramblings of a random crazy DMA player.