trelipideliberitation: can you go thru the fog?
I stopped short of the building I was walking toward and turned to look into the thick fog that blocked the streets leading out of the market square.
“...I dunno. It looks like I’m not supposed to go there though.” I hummed.
trelipideliberitation: but is it solid?
trelipideliberitation: or can you walk thru?
JamieWasTaken3: yea mb theres a secret
I eyed the fog in one of the streets for a moment, then shrugged, and headed over there.
“Sure. Let’s check it out,” I decided.
The closer I got, the less confident I was that it would lead anywhere with how dense and opaque the fog was. But when I got to the unnatural mass of fog and tried reaching into it, it let my hand through like normal fog, contrary to what I expected.
“Huh. Maybe I can walk through then… Hmm…”
Unlike the water park and the crystal crater, this dungeon seemed incredibly straightforward, so I hadn’t expected it to hide any secrets, but…
“...Well, let’s go, then.”
I stepped into the fog, letting it engulf me.
Even though there was no fog at all just a few steps back, it was dense enough here that I couldn’t see my own hands, even if I brought them closer to my face. My footsteps were also muffled, even if normal fog shouldn’t be able to do that.
“Clearly, this isn’t normal fog…”
Even my own voice sounded half like I was underwater.
JamieWasTaken3: watch out for horor monsters
bloopbooper: boop… (•᷄- •᷅ ;)
“Jamie, don’t say that… Now you’re just making me paranoid.”
I looked around, but still couldn’t see anything but more fog. My body began tensing up all on its own in preparation for any unseen opponent.
uptonMIKE: heat vision?
I stopped, resisted the urge to facepalm, and turned on Heat Vision.
“Right, of course. I keep forgetting I still haven’t swapped it out.”
Once again, I tried looking about, but nothing really stood out to me. Either there was nothing out there or the fog blocked my heat vision as well.
I turned it off again.
“Not that useful…” I murmured and continued walking deeper into the unknown. “Ugh, chat. If I get lost, it’s all your fault.”
trelipideliberitation: no way im innocent
JamieWasTaken3: were just helping!
I just lightly shook my head and continued trekking. At some point, I tried going in different directions, but either the buildings on this street had disappeared, or my sense of direction had been fully and truly destroyed already.
I also tried summoning John and having him fly every which way, but all it did was muffle my own voice for chat. I recalled him and continued walking, feeling more and more uncomfortable as I went.
A subjective eternity later, something finally changed.
I began hearing muffled sounds of metal striking other metal.
“What is that, chat…?” I murmured but kept going toward the sound. “Is that… chains? Or… fighting?”
SunOfABeach: sounds like swords hitting each other
Were there actual people?!
Despite my trepidation, I sped up, eager to see what was going on.
The sound got gradually louder and louder and it quickly got to the point where I had the feeling that I was headed straight for a battlefield. I didn’t slow down, though. I was too curious about this.
Finally, the fog abruptly ended, just as it had abruptly begun back in that alley, and I stopped in my tracks as I stared at the scene in front of me.
It was the city square again.
Except… there were fire arrows embedded into buildings, motionless bodies laying all over the place, and countless figures running around the streets and fighting each other. All accompanied by the thick smell of smoke, blood, and… something else.
I froze in my tracks even as my eyes took in the scene.
There were… the same dark-skinned horned people – demons? – I’d already seen in this dungeon, but they all seemed to be fighting humans. All of them were still missing faces. Demons and humans both.
JamieWasTaken3: the humans are invading!
FouxMoux: is this a historical event?
FouxMoux: recreation of it?
I was about to reply to chat, when suddenly a huge pillar of light struck down from the sky and completely engulfed a group of demons with a loud screech.
I jolted and instinctively materialized my gun self and summoned my key sword to prepare for the threat.
When the light abated, the only thing left was half a demon’s body that had been outside of that beam of light.
A chill went down my spine.
Just as I was left staring at the carnage, a figure emerged from beyond where the light had come from. It was a faceless man with blond hair, clad in shining platinum armor, wielding a sword wreathed in golden light.
trelipideliberitation: oh shit the hero is here to slay the demon queen
The remaining demons threw themselves at the man in desperation, but he viciously cut them all down faster than I could even begin to figure out what I should be doing.
Once all of the demons were dead, he turned to me.
My instincts were screaming at me that I couldn’t fight this.
WIthout thinking, I brought up my gun and shot him before he could annihilate me as well.
But it didn’t do anything. He just flicked his sword in front of him and deflected my water bullet straight back at me.
Miraculously, I managed to dodge just enough that it missed me and exploded right behind me.
Unfortunately, that was not a good thing, because it knocked me forward and further away from the fog. Straight toward the man who was already rushing forward at me, his sword raised and ready to decapitate me.
I was in mid-air. I couldn’t dodge. I couldn’t hope to bring my sword up to block. My gun arm was angled wrong and it would be too late to try and right it.
I needed something. Something to buy myself time.
Replace [Armsmaster] with [Rend]?
Note: [Armsmaster] will not be re-equippable for 48 hours.
He missed a step and stuttered for a brief moment, just long enough for me to whip my gun out into his face and unload everything into him.
The resulting burst of steam and crystal shards knocked me right back and I quickly scrambled to my feet as soon as I could.
Only to see that my double whammy of trump cards had done nothing beyond pushing the guy back a few meters. He was already adjusting his stance, ready to come after me again.
uptonMIKE: into the fog!
trelipideliberitation: run!
I listened to chat, turned around, and sprinted the hell out of there back into the fog, hoping he wouldn’t follow after me.
Just as I broke back into the whiteness, I heard a loud boom and a familiar screech right behind me. I sped up even more, forcing myself to go as fast as I could, hoping to outrun that monster behind me.
The sound of the battlefield gradually got quieter and quieter until I couldn’t hear anything. The man never seemed to have followed me, but I still kept running regardless.
It wasn’t until I broke out of the fog and into the city square where I’d fought the green giant, that I let myself stop and catch my breath.
trelipideliberitation: secret boss proly
JamieWasTaken3: yea maybe he drops gold chests
I carefully breathed out and looked back into the fog. I shuddered, but then shook my head and walked further away.
“Okay, chat. That was not good. Secret boss, yeah, I could see that.” Another breath. “And yeah, if we go by the classic tropes, that might have been the humans’ hero here to kill all the demons.”
FouxMoux: this is messed up
FouxMoux: it implies that all the demons had to desperately fight
FouxMoux: even kids in schools
FouxMoux: even grandmas with pans
I grimaced and glanced at one of the doors, remembering the first and second fights of this dungeon.
“You think that’s what it is…? I guess I could see it…” I paused for a second, thinking about the feeling the dungeon gave me when I entered it.
“Unity… Determination…” I murmured. “I think you’re right, Foux. The demons were trying to desperately band together to fight off the humans.”
Which meant that if this dungeon really was some kind of echo of the past, then the people trying to conquer this dungeon were… like the humans, trying to kill everyone. Heck, I’d already fought an elderly cook, a child, a shopkeeper, and… uh, some young dryad lady?
It still felt like I was missing something, but it sure painted a grim picture.
“Chat, am I the bad guy?” I murmured, trying to ingest a bit of humor into my tone and probably failing.
JamieWasTaken3: well maybe the demons were evil
JamieWasTaken3: trying to take over the world or smthn
trelipideliberitation: their not real anyway
trelipideliberitation: ur not killing real people
But it still felt wrong. Now more than ever, if our theorizing was correct.
Not to mention… Going through this dungeon taught me to be comfortable with killing. And that was one of those things I wanted to avoid.
I didn’t want to become a total murderhobo by the time I made it back to Earth. But the more I learned about this dungeon and the potential history it was painting, the more uncomfortable it made me to continue.
JamieWasTaken3: r u giving up?
JamieWasTaken3: what about ur stuff?
“I…” I took a moment to think about it. About whether it was worth chipping away at my humanity just to get my stuff back and get more skill points. Whether I could find my way back, even if I gave up on conquering a dungeon that made me uncomfortable.
But that was naive, wasn’t it?
I had no guarantee that returning was even possible. I had to take every chance to get stronger to pass that Limit Break, so that I could access the incausal rifts. I had no other leads. I had to make it.
“...I’m gonna keep going,” I finally declared.
I quickly checked my Ether levels after pulling that combination shot stunt and found them quite drained, but it shouldn’t be a problem if I sipped from the flask a little.
Ah, but I’d promised myself that I would take a break if I ever had to pull out my trump cards, hadn’t I? And I had used both of them back there…
“...Tomorrow,” I finished.
JamieWasTaken3: ur gonna fail the quest tho
“Then I guess I’ll fail.”
But then again, I’d just told myself that I needed to get stronger in any way I could, and failing the quest would set me back quite a bit…
“Tomorrow. We’ll come up with the optimal strategy for each of the fights and then I wanna try getting at least two fights further than today, alright?”
Needless to say, I wouldn’t be wandering off into the fog again.
With that, I approached one of the buildings, wished to leave the dungeon, and opened the door.