He slammed into one of the skeleton warriors, sending it flying against the wall and instantly transforming it into a scattered pile of bones. He quickly engaged another warrior in a duel, swinging his sword with force and clashing his shield against his opponent's. Teeth gritted, enraged, they were common low-level monsters, from what he'd heard in this world and from his experience with video games. It wasn't something to take so seriously, but he supposed Peter had something to prove to his boss, that is, to him now.

  The woman, Celeste, was a bit smarter and faster. She slipped behind them, running along the wall first and then directly onto the ceiling, without falling, somehow. What agility and speed she had! Was that even possible for a normal human, without a system and without magic helping her? Wow, Max made a mental note to be careful with her, just in case.

  Anyway, running across the ceiling, she ended up landing behind the skeletons. She blew the skull off one with her first blow and drew the attention of two others. She deftly dodged their attacks or parried them just in time with her daggers, one in each hand. Daggers that were close to being called short swords; it was a fine line. Celeste took down a second skeleton in the time it took Peter to finish the job, decapitating the monster with his own shield.

  It was going well. He wouldn't say better than he expected; it would be very sad if he hadn't expected at least this. It wasn't a great victory or a surprise. Still, it was reassuring. They could manage in this place.

  Helen proved her worth, delivering the final touch to the fight with her magic, but there had never been any doubt about that, of course.

  "Well done, honey."

  He would have preferred, naturally, to leave her behind, in the care of the priests, but he knew perfectly well that this protective instinct was also quite hypocritical. The girl was in danger every second of every day since he had decided not to abandon her with the elves or in some orphanage. He wasn't doing her any favors by insisting that she stay behind, that she not fight and not take risks, since her life was going to be full of conflict anyway. The least he could do was get her used to it, teach her to live with it, live it and breathe it.

  "Thank you," Helen replied.

  The fight was relatively intense, but short, and it didn't cost them anything. The first fight of many, it was a Dungeon after all. They didn't intend to go through all the floors, reaching the bottom. That would be impossible, certainly for a team of four people, alone, but they would still get a good reward. This was just the beginning.

  "We don't work badly as a team," Max admitted. "If anyone is starting to have doubts, they better say so now, because we still have time to turn back."

  Peter shook his head.

  "No," Celeste said. "We need this."

  Helen didn't answer. He had already assumed, naturally, that this question hadn't been for her, that he would know perfectly well what her answer was, in any case. And he was right, of course.

  Max sighed.

  "Okay, little by little, calmly. We have potions and we have all the time in the world. There's no need to rush. It's better to do things right than fast."

  "Of course," Peter said.

  "Down here you're not looking for honor and glory, even if you see an opportunity, so to speak. I'm counting on you to back down instead of getting greedy."

  "We're not in a hurry to die, boss. Don't worry."

  Max nodded. He supposed those answers were good enough for now.

  They continued deeper into the Dungeon. The next group of enemies consisted of spiders of a very unnatural size. In the other world, the other life, Max hadn't been able to stand spiders, even though most weren't really dangerous; he always got tense. But now, despite seeing spiders of such an unnatural size, his heart didn't even flutter. With each passing day, Max became more convinced that Ares had somehow altered his mind. He didn't respond as he should to too many things. Very quick to start a fight and very slow to leave it. And things like these didn't make him feel any fear. As if he had a heart of steel. It hadn't been a simple change. Not when he had been in this world for such a short time. He was sure of that. Now he had no doubt: the system did more than it claimed to be able to do. At the very least, it had affected his ability to feel fear.

  As for the fight, to be honest, it was also without any problems. His heart didn't tremble at all having to get so close and sink his sword into those hairy monstrosities. Good. Very good. Because otherwise he would have had a panic attack or, at the very least, he would have backed down, letting his two companions show him their worth. Max split one of those beasts in half, barely avoiding being bathed in its guts.

  Step by step, fight after fight, very carefully, everything in due time. That was the only way to complete the Quest with only four people, and none of them particularly experienced in exploring a labyrinth.

  They finished off the giant spiders... He wished he could say that. They finished the fight. Otherwise they have been devoured, obviously. But the fight ended with the last one of them fleeing, to their surprise. Max bit his lower lip. It was going to give him goosebumps, looking around, wondering if it would come back to try its luck at any moment. Maybe that wasn't how it worked. Maybe the fight was over anyway. But he would be on the lookout, just the same. Max couldn't afford to let his guard down. Having one of his prey escape was already an intolerable lowering of his guard in itself.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "I don't want to repeat that," Peter muttered, regarding avoiding being bathed in monster guts. He hadn't been so lucky, but surely that wasn't his problem. Anyway.

  Some people might not care about spiders, but what kind of person wouldn't be afraid of a giant spider and more than half a dozen of them on top of them? Yes. What kind of person?

  Max frowned.

  Good question.

  "Don't be a crybaby," Celeste said.

  Max ruffled the girl's hair.

  "Are you okay?"

  The girl blinked.

  "This is just getting started. And so am I."

  Max grinned from ear to ear.

  "Very good answer."

  Shortly after, they had to stop again, but not because more skeleton warriors or giant spiders appeared, no enemies at all. They simply encountered a dead end. Well, more precisely, the only way out was a deadly drop. He could see a patch of ground in the distance, but it was clearly too far to jump, especially wearing armor.

  "We'll have to go around," Max said.

  "I hate heights," Peter said.

  Max frowned. He hadn't been so whiny in the other Quests.

  Too late to reconsider his inclusion in the group, anyway. Besides, if he'd kicked him out, he would have lost Celeste too. They obviously weren't strangers. They weren't a couple, but they were very close friends.

  Anyway.

  He had to roll with the punches, adapt.

  That's what life was all about, after all.

  Max took a step back, he was going to turn on his heels, but then...

  One of those damn blue screens consumed his vision: *What are you doing? You can't back down now. Press the X button to jump the gap.*

  Max blinked. What did it say? His hair stood on end.

  *What's wrong? You play a lot of video games, right? Everyone knows you have to press the X button to jump. It's common sense.*

  What was wrong with this damn System? That wasn't even remotely normal.

  Max opened his mouth, for a moment he was about to ask what damn button, what the hell are you talking about, out loud, making him look like a damn lunatic.

  "Something wrong, boss?" Peter challenged. He always jumped in instantly, he wouldn't let anything slide. The guy acted like he had something to prove, but at the same time like he was testing him. It was irritating.

  Max had nothing to prove. He needed to become stronger because his enemies had inconceivable power and influence, but a normal guy like this had no right to judge him.

  To look at him as if saying: What the hell is wrong with this guy? Always the same. He doesn't have what it takes, he's not ready for this.

  Asshole.

  After they got out of the Dungeon, he'd get rid of him. He wasn't a good team player and, in any case, he didn't like him.

  *Didn't you hear me? Press the X button to jump the gap.*

  Another damn notification.

  It wanted him to jump. That was crazy. Or was it? He swallowed hard.

  "Helen, if I fall, do you think you can catch me? Stop or slow down the fall? Anything?"

  Helen's eyes widened.

  "If you fall? But the distance is too great."

  "Listen to the girl. Even I couldn't make that jump," Celeste said.

  "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean I can't. Don't ever suggest you're superior to me in anything." He spoke arrogantly, as if it were something he did every day, even though he himself didn't believe he could make the jump.

  That wasn't even the main problem, thinking about it.

  Assuming everything went well, that he crossed such a distance with a jump and landed without breaking half the bones in his body...

  Then, that feat would only serve to get him across alone.

  He was in a team because he needed them to carry out the Quest. He couldn't go on alone.

  But...

  He'd figure it out. It was clear that the System wanted him to jump. He wasn't anyone's tool, but if that was the case, at least he could be sure he wouldn't die.

  Right?

  "I think I can catch you," Helen said, hesitantly, after a while.

  "Forget it. It won't be necessary."

  Max took a deep breath. Gathering his courage, he sprinted towards the edge.

  He jumped after leaving the edge. It was madness, an impossibility, but he was sure. There was nothing but air under his feet when he jumped.

  Oh, what madness. He convinced himself that he could consider himself dead. He wouldn't make it, it was impossible to jump that far. Instead, he would plunge into the bottomless darkness of the ravine. Helen wouldn't even have a corpse to mourn. She would harbor a childish hope, searching for a ghost. No, no. What madness. He shouldn't have jumped. He shouldn't But life wasn't a video game. He couldn't simply fail and return to the last checkpoint. He had jumped, that couldn't be undone. And he wouldn't get a third chance.

  , he thought deliriously as he fell and fell.

  But in reality, it was nothing.

  He landed rolling to absorb the impact, as if he had practiced it for a whole year. He couldn't believe it. He slowly stood up, raised his head towards Helen and the others. The distance looked even greater from this side. A completely impossible jump. And yet, he had made it possible.

  "I can't believe it," Celeste muttered.

  Peter's mouth was open, and Helen looked... disappointed. Ah, he understood. Disappointed for having doubted him.

  "How do we get across?" Helen asked, as if convinced that he would have the answer. As if determined not to repeat the mistake she had made.

  , he thought.

  "I'm on it."

  Max looked around. There had to be a way, right? The System couldn't expect him to enter the Dungeon alone. Or to leave Helen in the hands of those strangers in the meantime—worse still, that was for sure.

  Alright, he thought he had seen a way.

  It could end badly. He might bring down more than he intended. Even so, he couldn’t think of anything else to try.

  "Get back!" Max warned.

  He took a deep breath. He filled his lungs with air and his body with energy. Like a bull, he charged at one of the stone pillars.

  On the third try, he managed to knock it down, destabilizing the structure.

  But it wasn't enough, of course. He punched holes in the wall, knocked down more pillars, and finally achieved what he wanted. A shower of debris that conveniently formed a kind of bridge over the void. That probably shouldn't have worked so easily. But he shouldn't have been able to jump that far either. He shouldn't even be alive.

  Any shred of common sense with which he thought he could have woven reality had evaporated long ago. All he could do was try his best to survive in this madness he called reality.

  He had to overcome it.

  He had to adapt. He had to count his blessings for having this opportunity to suffer and adapt, in the first place.

  His companions crossed the debris bridge.

  Peter and even Celeste were afraid, so Helen was the first to cross, with steps as sure as if her confidence in him extended to the makeshift bridge just as easily. After that, Peter shrugged, as if to say, well, we can't stay here, and set off. Celeste was last, slow and careful. And with her eyes fixed on him.

  "How did you do that?"

  [Press the X button to jump. It's not rocket science, haha.]

  Max grimaced.

  "I can do a lot of things," he replied simply.