Virtual Space, Dungeon.
Jayden tilted his head back against the tunnel wall, eyes fluttering shut for a second as he breathed through the ache in his thigh. His voice came out rough, touched with disbelief and half-regret.
"What level are you now, Amir?"
Amir leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. His shield lay beside him, dented and stained with black ichor.
"Level 6," he said quietly. "My lowest stat's twenty-two, though."
Jayden let out a breath that was half cough, half laugh. He turned his head, squinting at Amir like he was looking at something inhuman.
"That's your lowest?"
Amir didn't answer. He just gave a faint shrug, eyes distant.
Jayden shook his head and gave a low whistle. "You're a fucking monster, dude. My highest is twenty-eight—and that's with a trait buffing it."
Amir raised an eyebrow. "What trait?"
"Got it from the tutorial." Jayden shifted, wincing as he stretched his leg out further. "I made it to round eight; the system dropped me two uncommon traits afterward. One of them gives me a flat five-point agility boost."
Amir blinked. "That's actually pretty useful."
Jayden grinned tiredly. "Only in the early game. I'll probably replace it unless I can rank it up somehow. The other one's trash, though."
"Still," Amir said, "Two traits ain't bad."
Jayden gave him a side-eye. "Alright, how far did you get?"
Amir hesitated for a second, then nodded. "I cleared round ten."
Jayden's smile faltered slightly. "Wait. You cleared the whole thing?"
"Yep."
"I was struggling for my life at round seven." Jayden rubbed a hand down his face. "What'd you even get?"
Amir was quiet for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Two traits and a title."
Jayden squinted at him. "Just that? No secret reward? No ultra overpowered skill? No hidden system?"
"Nope," Amir said simply. His expression gave nothing away.
Jayden stared for a second longer, then scoffed and dug into his cloak. "Right, I get it. Mister Humble over here…"
He pulled out two plums—plucked earlier from one of the mountain trees—and cut the cores out with a flick of his dagger. He tossed one across the tunnel.
Amir caught it with one hand, inspecting it before taking a bite. It was soft, slightly tart, and not nearly ripe enough.
Jayden cracked his neck and bit into his own, chewing with a grimace. "Ugh. These taste like shit."
"It's better than nothing," Amir muttered, swallowing.
"Barely," Jayden said. "Honestly, I thought we'd be pulling meat from monster corpses by now."
"We could, if you want to eat Skarnling. They're half-off, too; we've got a surplus."
Jayden made a face. "Hard pass."
They ate in silence for a few moments, the only sound being the occasional distant drip of moisture echoing from deeper in the cave.
Then Amir tilted his head slightly. "So your tutorial—what'd you fight?"
Jayden blinked. "I didn't fight at all. Mine was an obstacle course—all traps and stealth tests. Had to infiltrate some fake fortress without being spotted. Why?"
Amir looked at him, brow furrowed. "Mine was a combat arena. Waves of boars and wolves, each one harder than the last."
Jayden straightened a little, curiosity flashing in his eyes. "Wait... they're different?"
"Apparently." Amir leaned back, stretching out his bad arm with a soft wince. "Looks like the tutorials are class-based."
Jayden gave a slow nod. "Makes sense. I picked Rogue, so mine was agility checks, stealth, sneaking past guards, climbing. There was even an archery section, though I skipped it."
"What about Scholars?" Amir asked. "You think they just sit there doing math problems?"
Jayden snorted, picturing it. "Probably solving puzzles and memorizing rune patterns while things explode in the background."
"Doesn't sound that bad, actually."
"Gotta disagree with you there, bud."
Jayden tossed the pit of his fruit down the tunnel and wiped his hands on his cloak. "Still, kinda smart, I guess—tailoring the tutorial tests to your chosen role. No one can complain they're out of their depth."
"Unless you're bad at your job," Amir added dryly.
Jayden grinned. "In that case… just get good, I guess."
Amir gave a faint chuckle. The ache in his limbs hadn't faded, but the food had taken the edge off his fatigue. He checked his HP—126. Still low, but climbing steadily.
Jayden leaned back again, daggers resting across his lap. "You think it's waiting for us?"
"The boss?" Amir asked. "I don't know what else it can do."
Jayden nodded. "Yeah."
"Then... yeah," Amir said. "It's not coming to us. Probably planning something."
Jayden's grin faded. He rolled his neck with a sigh. "Great. I hate smart monsters."
"Better get used to them now."
A brief silence stretched between them before Jayden muttered, "You don't think it left, right?"
"No." Amir's voice was firm, grounded. "It's still in that chamber. If it could move, it would've chased us down already."
Jayden frowned. "So why hasn't it?"
Amir glanced deeper into the dungeon. The tunnels had quieted, but the air was charged—like the moments before a storm. "Did it look like it was doing something when we saw it? Just before we fell back?"
Jayden sat up straighter. "Not really, but we had other problems going on."
"Do you think…" Amir's eyes narrowed. "Do you think it's ranking up?"
Jayden cursed under his breath. "So, what? It's getting stronger while we're licking our wounds?"
"Possibly."
"Great." Jayden scrubbed a hand through his hair. "So we've got a choice. Rush it before either of us are ready… or wait, recover, and let it become something worse."
"Really only one option," Amir said. "Or do you think we can fight something a rank above us?"
Jayden cracked his knuckles. "Honestly? Sounds like our usual odds. But yeah—better to hit it now, while it's vulnerable."
Amir nodded. "No point in making this harder than it needs to be."
They both rose, gathering their weapons.
The tunnel seemed quieter now, like the dungeon itself was holding its breath. Faint tremors pulsed through the floor—a slow beat echoing from the heart of the cave.
Jayden turned his head toward the chamber. "We rush in. I go right, draw its focus. You tank it head-on."
"I figured."
"I'll look for an opening—if it's ranking up, maybe its guard's down."
Amir frowned. "Doubtful. It already saw us, and it seemed different from the other Skarnlings."
"Then we go fast. Hit it hard before it finishes."
They moved out, boots crunching lightly over gravel and blood-streaked stone. The deeper they went, the warmer the air became—suffused with a faint, metallic tang.
Then they saw it.
The cavern widened ahead, the tunnel spilling out into the boss chamber—a broken stage of jagged rock and trampled, glowing mushrooms.
At the center, the Skarnling leader hunched low, its segmented carapace glistening with newly hardened layers. Its body had changed—bulkier, the limbs swollen with raw mass, the claws fused into a solid, obsidian-hued shell.
Glowing veins pulsed beneath its armor like magma under cracked stone.
"It's shedding…" Jayden whispered. "That's not normal. Is it done already?"
"No. It's not over yet." Amir could feel it now—something in the air was being pulled into the beast like a whirlpool. Its shell shook faintly with each pulse. "That shell's a defensive cocoon."
Jayden crouched slightly. "Can it fight like that?"
As if in answer, the stone near the Skarnling twitched—barely perceptible—but Amir caught it. A hairline crack in the rock floor stretched slightly, as if something beneath were pushing upward.
"I think so. Watch the ground…"
Jayden's hand twitched near his dagger hilts. "Maybe it can use the terrain?"
"Only one way to find out."
Amir stepped forward, shield raised. The Skarnling steadied itself—but that low vibration intensified. Lines of pressure rippled across the ground like something flexing just beneath the surface.
Jayden drew both daggers, the edge of a grin returning to his face. "Alright then, let's do this!"
He charged, Amir just a step behind.
The Skarnling didn't move. It didn't have to.
As Jayden broke into the open chamber, the air shifted, and the ground beneath his boots shuddered.
Amir's eyes snapped to the cracked stone, already too late. "Spikes—!"
The floor erupted. A jagged spear of earth shot upward, barely missing Jayden's thigh as he dove. He didn't get the chance to curse. The ground split again with a sharp crack, a spike exploding upward where he now stood.
"Shit!" he hissed, rolling backward. Another spike tore through the ground behind him, and another.
It was chasing him.
"They're targeted!" Jayden shouted, already darting away from the boss. "It's tracking movement through the ground!"
Amir stayed low and steady, advancing with short, grounded steps. "Then stop moving in straight lines!"
The closer he got, the heavier the air became.
The Skarnling leader twitched.
Its hardened carapace shifted, plates locking together like stone armor. A deep hum rang out, and the entire shell gleamed—thicker now, denser.
"Defensive skill!" Amir called out. "It's fortifying!"
Jayden dashed behind a crumbling rock spire and flanked around. "Can you break it?"
Amir reached striking distance and pierced his spear forward, testing the shell's defense.
Thunk!
The impact sent a jolt up his arm. The creature didn't stagger or even flinch, like hitting a wall of solid diamond.
The ground pulsed again—deeper, more primal, like the cavern itself was alive. Amir felt the quakes in his bones.
A grinding rumble echoed through the chamber.
The Skarnling didn't budge—but its carapace lit with flickering veins. Its legs dug deeper into the stone floor, and a violent tremor rolled outward from its body like a shockwave.
Cracks webbed across the chamber in a perfect circle.
"Jayden—get out!"
Too late.
From every crack, a massive earthen spike surged upward, one after another—encircling them.
They were trapped.