Once I entered, the world around me transformed. The air became thicker and I could no longer smell the stench of the battlefield. It was replaced by a musk that reminded me of a gas station bathroom. I found myself in a tight room, light grey slabs of rock surrounding me, save for a small exit.

I couldn’t hear anything nearby, so I inspected the exit. It was about three-fourths of my height and looked similar to the entrance of a mine. I got down onto my knees and began to army-crawl into the tunnel.

The space remained very cramped for the duration of my crawl, but I managed to inch myself through the tunnel.

I inched out into a small room that contained a bed, a chest, a sconce with a torch - still lit - and a table, on which there were three small orbs; one grey, one blue, and one red. I grabbed the blue one, but quickly pulled back when I felt a slight tingle. Slowly putting my palm on the red one, I felt a warmth envelope my body. ‘Interesting. Fire, water...what is the grey one?’ I put the previous two into my pack, then grasped the dull one. I was prepared for the worst, but the cool glass orb did absolutely nothing. Disappointed, I added it to the others.

I went to open the chest but hesitated. I drew my enchanted katana and slashed at the chest. THUNK. Solid wood. Sighing in relief, I opened the chest.

Inside, I spotted three vials, all red. Likely health potions, I deduced. Putting two into my backpack and one in my pocket, I searched for a door.

To my left, there was a painting depicting a war. It was an...interesting...picture. The skill of the painter was comparable to that of a child, using different sized stick figures to differentiate between goblins and non-goblins. It displayed goblins peeing on the corpses of their enemies; namely, humans. ‘How did they know that we existed? Were there humans in whatever place they came from?’ I pondered, before eventually giving up on that train of thought.

The wall to my right held a simple wooden door. Solid wood, no glass. I grasped the doorknob and turned.

The knob squeaked, nearly making me flinch backwards in fear, but then I peeked through the door. ‘Another damned hallway,’ I complained, but proceeded forward anyway. This corridor was my height, thankfully, but was significantly darker than the previous room. I went back to grab the torch from its holder. Holding it above my head, I treaded onwards, slower now that my vision was limited.

The hallway got damper as I advanced deeper into the dungeon. When I began to notice sounds echoing through the corridor, loud grunts and chatter I couldn’t make out, I snuffed the torch, flipping it upside down and pressing it against the ground. My eyes closed so I could try to locate the source of the noises, but after a few minutes, I determined that the attempt was futile.

I continued onwards, before smacking into a door. Grasping around the cool wooden surface, I eventually managed to locate the knob. I gently opened it, ready to bolt at any moment.

Instead, what I was greeted with was another room, this time populated with two goblins. They didn’t seem to have noticed my presence yet, so I eased the door shut behind me and drew Lament.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The room appeared to be some sort of armory, full of more of those rusted swords. The occasional shield was thrown into the mix, surprising me because I hadn’t seen any goblins with a shield in the encampment earlier. The walls remained stone, but the floor was wooden, which was strange. Typically there aren't wooden floors in dungeons. The goblins were seated at a table, playing cards while appearing very sleep deprived.

One of them suddenly stretched his hands above his head and yawned, but when he opened his eyes, he noticed me standing next to the door. He shouted a warning to the other one, who looked confused for a second before turning around.

This left me plenty of time to prepare a [Heroic Slash]. I swiped, and the second goblin promptly fell to the ground, its face frozen in shock as a deep red swelled from his neck.

The first goblin just screamed, then ran at me on all fours. I raised my sword just in time for him to impale himself on it, still swinging at me. It was impressive how dedicated they were to defeating us humans, almost as if they had something else driving their actions.

After my musings, I went and checked the bodies for any keys or gear that might be of use to me. I found nothing on either of them, so I glanced around one last time for anything interesting in the room. Not finding any, I shrugged and moved on, just as something shiny caught my gaze. I turned back and investigated what the item was.

A dagger on one of the weapon racks remained peculiarly unrusted. I quickly [Inspect]ed it.

Sticker

[Below Average]

'You don’t want to find this in your gut'

Material: Goblin Steel

Enchantments: 0

Durability: 87%

Not a bad weapon, I stuck it into my pack. ‘Should sell well once I get out of here’.

Finished, I opened the door to the next space and examined it closely.

The floor switched back to stone, unsurprisingly, and the walls remained the same. There was nothing on the ceiling, thankfully, and the area was mostly empty, save for two doorways, both containing a hole large enough for one of those orbs that I grabbed earlier.

The left one was an ocean blue, with waves running down its length. It likely required the blue orb, but I wasn’t one to enjoy swimming too much. I didn’t know if it would actually be a water room, but I was unwilling to take the chance.

The one on the right was a bright red, designed with flames eating up the bottom of it. Similar to the other door, it likely required the red orb. That did raise the question, however, what was the grey orb used for? Is it used later on in the dungeon, or was using it an option?

I made my way over to the blue door, curiosity overtaking my caution. I pulled the red orb out of my pack and inserted it. Nothing happened. Then, I pulled the grey one out and swapped it with the red orb. Again, no change. I went over to the red door and repeated the process with the blue orb and the grey orb. Still, nothing happened.

I turned around, curious if there were any hints earlier on in the dungeon that I had missed, when I realized that the way back was shut with another door. This one was a stone grey, and you would have missed it if you weren’t looking for the way back. It was rocky, the same as the rest of the wall, but it had an outline that was barely visible. I smirked, glad I had found this alternate entrance, but remained curious. This door, however, had three places for the orbs. I stuck all three of them in.

The entire room rumbled, and the other doorways dissipated suddenly. The doorway in front of me slowly went into the ground, revealing the deep cavern behind it. I strode in, confident I had made the correct choice. Taking my torch back out, I held it in front of me. Just as quickly, I stumbled back, suddenly terrified of what was in front of me.

It was a giant hobgoblin, nearly ten times my size, wielding a great club. The enormous goblin was a deeper color, almost a forest green, and had a larger, more bulbous nose, as well as sharper teeth.

‘The dungeon boss? It shouldn’t be the end yet! In the last timeline, I was told that dungeons had 5 floors. Was I lied to? Has something changed?’

The boss suddenly turned towards me, his eyes slightly narrowing as he spotted my terrified face.

‘Oh shi-’ was all I could manage to think before he swung at me.