Frank’s breath came hard and fast as he stumbled through the glowing doorway, his entire body still vibrating with the sheer wrongness of what had just happened.
A second ago, he’d been running for his life. Something huge had been chasing him—its presence a crushing, suffocating weight. He’d felt its claws nearly rake his back, his own heartbeat pounding in his ears as he dove forward—
—And now?
Now everything was silent.
Too silent.
Frank froze, his hands still clenched into fists of pure survival instinct, but there was nothing there. No sound. No shifting weight of a predator moving behind him. No echo of a snarl ready to rip him apart.
Slowly, he turned.
The doorway behind him stood empty.
The tunnel he had just sprinted through, the one where he’d felt death breathing down his neck—
Gone.
A wall of smooth, polished stone now stood where the opening had been, glowing veins of light running along its surface in intricate, unnatural patterns.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ DIMENSIONAL STABILITY: THRESHOLD BREACHED
│ HOSTILE ENTITY REPOSITIONED
│ RELOCATION SEQUENCE INITIATED: CREATURE REMOVED FROM ACTIVE SECTOR
----------------------------------------
Frank’s stomach dropped.
"Did I just—" He exhaled sharply, trying to slow his pulse. "What the hell does that mean?"
The system, of course, didn’t answer.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ HOSTILE ENTITY REPOSITIONING COMPLETE
│ NEW DESIGNATION: OUTSIDE BOUNDARIES
│ WARNING: UNREGISTERED ENTITY DETECTED IN DIMENSIONAL SHIFT
----------------------------------------
His fingers curled tighter. “Okay, so what I’m hearing is… you panicked and teleported the big scary thing somewhere else. And I’m just supposed to pretend that’s reassuring?”
Predictably, the system didn’t respond.
Frank’s eyes narrowed, his instincts still screaming at him. The air in here was wrong. Not just physically, but fundamentally.
It wasn’t just quiet—it was hollow.
Like this place wasn’t supposed to exist.
His boots scuffed against the floor as he stepped forward, moving cautiously. The walls were different from the rough-hewn stone of the tunnels before—too smooth, too clean, like something had manufactured them instead of carved them. Strange geometric lines pulsed faintly in the stone, reminiscent of circuit boards, glowing in a dull blue light.
It felt… unfinished.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS: UNFINISHED SECTOR DETECTED
│ WARNING: STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY PRESENT
│ ATTEMPTING SYSTEM REPAIR…
----------------------------------------
Frank stopped dead in his tracks.
“Wait. Repair what?”
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: TERRAFORMING SUBROUTINE DISABLED IN THIS SECTOR
│ ERROR: MONSTER GENERATION SUBROUTINE NOT INITIALIZED
│ ERROR: EXIT PARAMETERS NOT FOUND
----------------------------------------
His blood turned ice cold.
No monsters.
No exits.
And the system was actively trying to fix it while he was standing inside it.
Frank inhaled deeply, forcing himself to stay calm. Okay. Think.
If this place wasn’t finished… that meant no proper rules.
And if there were no rules…
Then he might be able to break them.
Frank exhaled slowly, forcing his heartbeat to steady. The system messages lingered in his vision, their presence almost mocking.
No monsters. No exits. The system actively fixing itself.
He didn’t like any of that.
His eyes swept the space, taking in the details. The walls, the floor, the entire place—it was pristine, but off. Like a video game level that hadn’t been fully loaded yet.
The dungeon wasn’t meant to have a sector like this.
Which meant the system wasn’t prepared for him to be here.
And that meant—
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ WARNING: UNSANCTIONED ENTITY DETECTED IN INCOMPLETE SECTOR
│ ATTEMPTING REBALANCE…
│ ERROR: NO MONSTER SUBROUTINE DETECTED. CREATING TEMPORARY WORKAROUND…
----------------------------------------
Frank’s spine stiffened.
"Workaround?"
A deep, mechanical grinding sound rolled through the cavern.
The walls shuddered, the faint glow in the stone pulsing erratically. The geometric lines running through them flickered, then sharpened, as if something was actively rendering them in real-time.
The floor beneath him hummed, the low vibration crawling up his legs.
Something was coming.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ COMPENSATING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEFICIENCY
│ TEMPORARY ENTITY DEPLOYMENT INITIATED
│ WARNING: ENTITY MAY NOT FUNCTION AS INTENDED
----------------------------------------
A jagged, unnatural crack split the space ahead.
Frank took a step back, muscles tensing.
Something was forming.
Not summoned—not like the monsters before. This was different.
Like the dungeon was forcing something into existence.
The first shape jittered, flickering in and out of sight, like a corrupted file trying to load. Then a second, then a third.
Frank’s stomach twisted.
He recognized this.
He’d seen this before.
Lag. Rendering issues.
The things in front of him weren’t alive.
They were errors.
Frank didn’t move.
He barely breathed.
The things in front of him twitched in and out of existence, their forms jittering, like a corrupted game model struggling to render.
One second, they were humanoid silhouettes. The next, they were shapeless, crawling masses of jagged limbs.
Then both.
Frank’s stomach tightened.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ WARNING: ENTITY RENDERING ERROR DETECTED
│ ATTEMPTING AUTO-CORRECTION…
│ PROCESSING…
│ ERROR: CORRECTION FAILED. COMPENSATING…
----------------------------------------
The first creature lurched forward, its body snapping between frames of reality like a badly desynced animation.
The second creature flickered, its arms extending unnaturally, stretching three times its original size before snapping back in an instant.
The third creature… just stopped moving. Its form locked mid-motion, frozen like a broken 3D model in a loading screen.
Frank’s gut told him one thing.
Run.
He moved.
The moment his foot left the ground, the first creature snapped into motion.
It didn’t move toward him.
It teleported.
One second, it was twenty feet away.
The next—
Right in front of him.
Frank barely ducked in time, rolling just as a warped claw carved through the air where his head had been. The attack left a faint ripple, like the space itself was catching up to its movement.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR DETECTED: HOSTILE ENTITIES FAILING TO STABILIZE
│ ATTEMPTING TEMPORARY REBALANCE…
│ WARNING: UNREGISTERED ENTITY STILL PRESENT
│ SYSTEM RESPONSE: INCREASE HOSTILE DIFFICULTY
----------------------------------------
Frank froze.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“…Wait, what?”
The creatures jerked, shuddering violently, then suddenly—
They stopped glitching.
The jerky, unnatural movements ceased.
The frozen one unlocked itself.
Their shapes solidified.
They were stabilizing.
Frank’s blood ran cold.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: ENTITY STABILIZATION PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL
│ ESCALATING ENEMY CLASSIFICATION…
----------------------------------------
Less broken.
More functional.
And a lot more dangerous.
Frank’s muscles tensed.
The system wasn’t fixing them for his benefit.
It was making them stronger.
The nearest creature turned its head, its new, stable eyes locking onto him.
Then they charged.
Frank barely had time to react.
The three creatures were already on him, their newly stabilized forms moving with terrifying precision. No more glitching, no more jerky phasing—these things were real now.
And they were fast.
The closest one lunged first—the same one that had teleported earlier. Now that it had stabilized, it moved like a damn machine, its elongated limbs carrying it forward in smooth, almost calculated movements.
Frank twisted his body just in time, barely avoiding the first swipe, but the second caught his left arm.
Pain ripped through him as the creature’s claws shredded muscle, a deep, gaping wound opening along his forearm. His jacket disintegrated, blood spraying across the flickering stone.
Frank staggered back, his left arm now useless.
Shit. That’s bad.
He didn’t have time to process the injury—because the second creature had already launched itself at him.
The four-armed one.
It moved like a fused nightmare of a spider and a human, its extra limbs working independently, claws flashing as it slashed at his chest.
Frank tried to step back—too slow.
A hooked talon raked across his side.
The force sent him skidding backward, nearly knocking the air from his lungs.
He barely had time to reset his footing before he noticed—
The third creature was missing.
His stomach dropped.
Where the hell—
Pain.
A razor-thin claw sliced through his back, cutting from shoulder to lower ribs.
Frank choked, barely managing to keep his balance. His breath hitched, the white-hot pain blurring his vision.
His regeneration kicked in, but it wasn’t instant—and these wounds were bad.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY COMPROMISED
│ REBALANCING…
│ ATTEMPTING ADJUSTMENT…
----------------------------------------
Frank tried to stay focused, his mind screaming for a way out.
These things were stronger than before.
More organized.
And now?
They were circling him.
His vision flicked between them, looking for an opening—anything.
One of them twitched.
Not an attack.
Something else.
A flicker in its movements—a distortion.
The bulkier one—the four-armed horror—jerked suddenly, its body glitching at the edges.
Frank had seen that before.
Right before the first one died.
He didn’t have time to think about it.
The bulkier creature convulsed, spasming violently. Its limbs twisted unnaturally, its body locking up like something was forcefully overriding its controls.
Frank could barely process what he was seeing before—
It collapsed.
Not like it had been killed normally.
Like it had been deleted.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: HOSTILE ENTITY UNEXPECTEDLY TERMINATED
│ ATTEMPTING RECOVERY… FAILURE
│ WARNING: UNREGISTERED ENTITY INFLUENCING LOCAL PARAMETERS
----------------------------------------
Frank stared at the message, his heart hammering.
He hadn’t touched that one.
So why the hell had it just died?
The remaining creature froze, its body rigid as if the system itself was processing what just happened.
Frank exhaled sharply, his breath shaking.
Something was wrong here.
And whatever it was—
The system had just noticed it, too.
Frank stood frozen, breath ragged, body aching. His left arm hung uselessly, a gaping wound running from shoulder to forearm, blood dripping onto the cold stone. His back burned, the deep slash along his ribs a constant throb, and his legs felt heavy.
But he was still alive.
The second creature had just died.
For no reason.
Frank hadn’t even touched it.
His mind raced for an explanation, his pulse hammering in his ears. He knew he didn’t have time to think, but something about that death wasn’t right.
Then—
The last creature moved.
Not attacking.
Not blinking around.
Just standing there, perfectly still.
Watching.
Frank’s gut twisted.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: UNEXPECTED ENTITY TERMINATION LOGGED
│ ATTEMPTING AUTO-BALANCE…
│ COMPENSATING…
----------------------------------------
The remaining creature twitched violently, its glowing blue eyes pulsing brighter.
Then it convulsed.
Its limbs stretched unnaturally, bones—or whatever it had instead of bones—elongating and thickening. The once thin, jagged frame became sleeker, reinforced, the strange, smooth black plating over its body solidifying like something hardening into its final shape.
Its arms extended further, its once-hooked talons now fusing into curved, blade-like extensions. The edges shimmered faintly, like the system was reinforcing them with some kind of energy field.
Its legs bent at a sharper angle, the structure shifting from erratic and unstable to a low, crouched predatory stance, built entirely for explosive speed.
And its face… changed.
The once featureless, smooth expanse of its head split open—just slightly—revealing something underneath. A slit-like crack formed vertically across its face, inside of which pulsed a soft, blue glow, like an optical sensor adjusting to focus.
Frank realized exactly what had happened.
The thing hadn’t just stabilized.
It had evolved.
It was no longer a corrupted error.
The system had given it purpose.
Then—
It moved.
Frank barely had time to register the attack before a bladed limb slashed through the air.
He ducked on instinct, twisting his body just in time, but even then—
Pain.
The edge of the blade grazed his already-injured shoulder, tearing deeper into exposed muscle.
Frank gritted his teeth, stumbling back.
The thing wasn’t teleporting anymore.
It was just fast.
And precise.
Frank barely had time to recover before—
It was already attacking again.
This time, a straight lunge, both claws extended.
Frank threw himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the strike. The creature’s blades sank into the stone behind him, cutting through it like soft clay.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ENTITY HAS ACHIEVED HIGH-SPEED TARGET ACQUISITION
│ ATTEMPTING REAL-TIME ADAPTATION
----------------------------------------
Frank’s stomach dropped.
It was getting faster.
Every second that passed, the system was tweaking it, making it more efficient.
Its movement was sharper now, no wasted motion—every shift in its stance was a calculation, every twitch a precise adjustment to how it would strike next.
Its blades were longer.
Its legs were stronger.
It wasn’t just stronger.
It was perfecting itself.
This wasn’t a normal fight.
He wasn’t just trying to kill it.
He was trying to kill it before it became impossible to beat.
Frank forced himself to breathe, his mind pushing past the pain, past the exhaustion.
I need to think. I need to find a way to end this fast.
But the mini-boss wasn’t giving him time.
It was already moving again.
And this time?
It wasn’t playing around.
Frank was done.
His left arm was useless, nothing but shredded muscle and burning pain. His right side bled freely, torn open from the relentless attacks. His legs barely responded, exhaustion turning them into dead weight. Every breath was sharp, ragged—pain woven into every inhale.
And this thing wasn’t slowing down.
If anything, it was faster now.
More refined. More precise.
The system had stopped trying to balance the fight.
It had just decided to win.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ENTITY REACHING OPTIMAL COMBAT PARAMETERS
│ PREDICTION ADAPTATION: 72% ACCURACY
│ WARNING: TIME-TO-KILL RATE NEARING CRITICAL
----------------------------------------
Frank let out a wet, bloody cough, shaking his head.
“Oh, fantastic. Skynet’s officially lost its shit.”
Because that’s what this was.
The system had given up on balance.
It had stopped tweaking XP rates and encounter difficulty and just decided to build a Terminator to kill him.
Which, honestly? Bullshit.
Frank barely managed to stumble out of the way as the Terminator Reject’s bladed arm carved through the air. The force of the swing split the stone beneath his feet, sending shards flying.
Too close.
Way too close.
He was getting slower. It was getting faster.
And if he didn’t end this now, he was dead.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ WARNING: CRITICAL INJURY DETECTED
│ HP DROPPING BELOW SUSTAINABLE LIMITS
│ SYSTEM RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE RETREAT
----------------------------------------
Frank let out a ragged laugh. “Oh yeah? Where, genius? The gift shop?”
The Terminator Reject lunged—a final, perfect strike.
Frank couldn’t dodge.
He barely managed to raise his good arm, catching the creature’s wrist mid-swing.
But it was too strong.
It pushed forward, blade aimed for his throat.
He was seconds from death.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ PASSIVE EFFECT DETECTED
│ HOSTILE ENTITY EXPERIENCING HEALTH DEGRADATION
│ DAMAGE RATE: UNSTABLE
----------------------------------------
Frank’s breath hitched.
That message.
He’d seen it before.
Right before the last one died.
His aura.
It was still active.
Still eating away at this thing.
Frank clenched his teeth.
I don’t need to win.
I just need to last longer than it does.
He shifted his weight, letting the creature’s strength carry it forward.
Its blade nicked his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.
But he didn’t let go.
He held on.
Forcing it closer.
Forcing it to stay near him.
The Terminator Reject twitched.
A tiny, imperceptible glitch in its movements.
Frank grinned through bloody teeth.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ERROR: HOSTILE ENTITY EXPERIENCING CRITICAL INSTABILITY
│ COMPENSATING… FAILURE
│ ERROR… ERROR… ERROR…
----------------------------------------
The Terminator Reject convulsed violently, its body seizing up, its limbs locking.
Then—
It collapsed.
Falling lifelessly to the ground, its blades scraping against the stone, body twitching erratically.
Frank staggered back, barely holding himself up.
Then—
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ ENTITY: "TERMINATOR REJECT" ELIMINATED
│ ERROR: EXPERIENCE REWARD NOT CALCULATED
│ COMPENSATING…
│ LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP!
----------------------------------------
The moment the last notification hit, his legs gave out.
He collapsed to his knees, his body wrecked, his mind spinning.
Everything hurt.
His chest heaved, sweat dripping down his face, mixing with the blood staining his clothes.
He had nothing left.
His left arm was useless.
His right side was torn open.
And his entire body felt like it had been thrown through a meat grinder.
But he was still here.
Frank let out a rough, exhausted breath, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling.
Then, hoarse, broken, and completely drained—
He laughed.
Just a little.
Just enough to spite the system.
----------------------------------------
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
│ WARNING: UNREGISTERED ENTITY CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE LOCAL BALANCE
│ ERROR LOG FORWARDED TO ADMINISTRATORS
│ AUTO-ADJUSTMENT INITIATED…
----------------------------------------
Frank exhaled through his nose, shaking his head.
“Oh, shut up,” he muttered. “You lost. Just take the L and move on.”
For the first time since he’d entered this dungeon—
There was silence.
Real silence.
And for now?
That was enough.
And with that final thought, Frank let exhaustion take him—slumping to the cold stone floor as everything faded to black.