A roar of flames filled the entire hallway, and I cursed and activated block, hunkering behind my small steel shield. The flames parted around the invisible shield that appeared in front of me, but as they continued to roar forward, I watched as the steel shield became red hot, searing my fingers. The fiery wall around me seared my skin and flesh, and I screamed in agony. I could smell burning flesh, and the crackling of my skin, but I desperately held onto the shield, keeping my eyes closed until the roaring wall of flame came to an end.

  My eyes shot open, and my senses wrapped around the large fire breathing lizard on the other side of the tunnel, and with a roar I reached out towards the void and activated dash. My body filled with power, and I flashed forward, coming to a stop next to the squat lizard. It blinked in surprise and snapped at me, but I had activated leap and was sailing over its head to its other side. It hissed and snapped at me again, but all it received was a hammer bash to the side of its head.

  It hissed and grumbled as fire sputtered from its mouth, but it received another hammer bash, and then another one, and another and another as I unloaded my strength into each one. Its head was knocked to the right, to the left, down into the ground, dragged along the ground, and then crushed over and over again by my hammer and hammer bash. It was a rather one sided slaughter at this point, and as it flopped to the ground, dead, I fell to my knees, with a groan.

  I couldn’t help but wince as the burned skin of my legs cracked against the hard stone ground. Fucking hell… that had to be the biggest fire breathing lizard that I had fought so far… maybe this really was the right tunnel. To think that I had actually had to go through every damned option in order to get to this point… ugh.

  I sighed and cracked my knuckles. Alright… This was the remaining seventh tunnel. Which meant that after going through here, I should have another three options, and then with each of those having three of their own, that meant nine more at most until I reached the tenth option, and hopefully freedom.

  I winced as my skin crackled below my seared and singed flesh and glanced at my now warped shield. That damned fire breathing lizard… I can’t believe that it had actually managed to warp the metal even with block active. I guess I could still use it if I tried, but… ugh. This really was just a piece of trash now.

  I grumbled to myself and tossed it aside before making my way over to the lizard's corpse and walked around it looking for loot. With its massive size and everything I had really been expecting something impressive, but the only things I found were another haunch of meat, and a bag of bottled liquids. I’d found similar bottles in the rest of the dungeon, but when I had taken a sniff of them they hadn’t smelled rather good so I had decided to pass. This one though… it smelled almost like fresh baked brownies. It was divine, and I felt my mouth water as I brought it closer to my mouth. I mean… I guess one drink couldn’t hurt, right? It was the first time I would have died today, so I wouldn’t even lose a level from this!

  I thirstily drank it, delighting in the delicious flavor of chocolatey brownies that filled my mouth. It tasted absolutely divine, much like how it smelled, but that wasn’t all. As I drank more and more of the liquid, I could feel a soothing chill spread throughout my entire self, coating my arms, chest, and legs. My singed and burning skin that had been screaming so desperately was calmed, and I could feel the skin that my Unending Vitality was so desperately struggling to heal and rejuvenate was entirely refreshed.

  I finished the bottle and blinked down at my healed arms, running my fingers along the smooth skin and laughing, “Holy shit… Just like brand new huh? This must be one of those healing potions that old man had told me about… haha! Perfect!”

  I hummed to myself happily and skipped up the tunnel, making sure to snag the haunch of meat as I passed by it. I wasn’t hungry, but there always seemed to be a use for ‘random’ items. It wasn’t much longer until the tunnel opened up, and I found myself greeted by three tunnels once again. The right tunnel smelled of gunpowder and sulphur, the center tunnel smelled of rotten meat and decay, and the left tunnel… was interestingly quiet, and lacking any smells.

  I considered each tunnel for a moment, but with a shrug I made my way over to the left tunnel and slashed a line in the wall. It was probably some trap or stealth creature, but I wasn’t all that worried about those. I hummed to myself as I walked through the entryway, and stretched out my senses. Nothing stood out to me, but as I made my way further down the tunnel, I noticed a line in the ground and walls. I crouched low and expected it curiously. It was a small line, so thin that it was almost imperceptible really. It probably didn’t mean anything, but I knew better than that.

  I sighed and hefted the haunch of meat, “Alright… let’s see what you’ve got in store for me this time.”

  I casually tossed the haunch of meat forward, and watched with an eyebrow raised as it sailed through the line. It wasn’t immediately destroyed, but as it slapped into the ground, suddenly the floor and walls exploded with rows and rows of massive steel spikes, instantly skewering the haunch. Then the floor and the ceiling began to crush down towards each other, over and over again almost like a giant steel and stone maw.

  I blinked in surprise at the new trap and laughed, patting the stone floor, “Holy shit! What a crazy new trap dungeon! If I had just walked into that… I would have been turned into mush in a moment, eh?”

  The dungeon thrummed below my feet, almost as if it was laughing, and I laughed too. I stood up with a chuckle and paced back and forth in front of the gnashing ‘teeth’. It didn’t seem like there was a pattern at first, but as I sensed the teeth gnashing down over and over again I began to notice one. Five quick snaps, two slow snaps, a sudden quick snap, three slow snaps, ten quick ones, thred slow snaps, five more quick snaps, and then… a brief pause before it returned back to the start of the pattern.

  I took a few steps back with a nod, and then cracked my neck and shook out my legs. It wasn’t a super long section that was gnashing up and down, but it was also possible that there would be more gnashing teeth on the other side. My spatial awareness couldn’t stretch that far, and getting to the other side might end up getting me nothing in the end, but… It was worth the risk!

  I took a deep breath and reached out towards the void within. It happily swirled back and forth at my touch, and then as I reached towards the power for sprint, I found that it had already activated the skill for me. Strength flowed through my legs, and I took a deep breath before exploding forward, racing as hard as I could for a few more steps, and timing it until the exact moment that the maw finally paused. The edge of the maw came up, and with a laugh I activated leap, sailing through the air and landing on the other side of the snapping maw with a thud.

  I closed my eyes in expectation of being crushed by another maw, but the only thud that I heard was the one from behind me. I couldn’t help but laugh as I was unaffected, and stretched out my senses. There was no line or gap like before, only straight walls and floor leading forward. I hummed to myself and made my way forward, feeling the tunnel begin to widen outwards. Unfortunately it didn’t open up into three tunnels, and instead I sensed yet another dead end. It was slightly irritating, I admit, but I was used to it at this point. What really intrigued me though… was this odd chest that was sitting in the middle of the room.

  I hummed to myself again and carefully inspected the rest of the room, but it too was empty, with no more lines or markings indicating any kind of traps. I shrugged and cautiously approached the chest, letting my senses wrap around them. It was a pretty simple chest, made of wood, or at least something that seemed similar. Oddly enough there was no lock, and not even a latch on the outside. There were only the lines and grains in the wood.

  I considered it for another moment, but with a shrug I dug my claws into the lip of the chest and lifted. It didn’t even resist, and with a pleasant little pop, it swung open. Inside the chest there was a bag, two more bottles, a pair of chainmail pants and a chainmail shirt, and a beautiful long sword.

  I was still expecting a trap, but as I lifted each one out of the chest, nothing happened. The bottles smelled pleasant, though, interestingly enough, different from the one that had dropped from the lizard. The chainmail and pants slid on relatively smoothly, much like all the armor and clothing that had dropped from the monsters in the dungeon so far. The bag contained nothing more but col and gems once again, and so with a sigh I set it on the ground and hefted up the gorgeous longsword.

  I sighed and ran my finger tenderly along its side. It really was beautiful, in stark contrast to the other blades that I had looted from goblins and skeletons throughout the tunnel so far. Granted, I guess I had no real idea what a beautiful blade looked like, but something deep down within me was telling me that it was.

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  I considered it and my war hammer for a moment. I guess I could try to dual wield the two, but I had never been the best with dual wielding weapons. When I had been training with Wess, he had actually laughed at me when I had awkwardly tried to use both weapons at once. I honestly much preferred using a blade and my claws, and when I had mentioned that to Wess, he had heartily agreed. Unfortunately the shields had been required as I went through the dungeon, but this… I much preferred this.

  I set down the war hammer and after a moment's hesitation, downed the other two potions. They were delicious, but the taste reminded me more of strawberry juice and tea. I much preferred the brownie tasting ones, but ah… I guess that couldn’t be helped.

  I hummed to myself and picked up the war hammer and long sword. I would prefer to use the longsword, but it never helped to have an extra weapon. Worse comes to worse, I just left it behind and continued forward. I still had no clue what this final boss was anyways… What if it was impervious to slashes and cuts? It would pay to at least keep this within range then.

  I smirked and raced back to the ‘maw’ trap, and after waiting for it to stop crushing shut, I activated leap and shot through the opening. I landed on the other side safe and sound and activated sprint, running all the way back to the opening of the tunnel and slashing an X on the side of the wall. The other two tunnels both seemed equally dangerous, though if I was correct the middle one had to be some sort of undead creature. The far right one though… It intrigued me. I laughed and charged towards the tunnel, slashing a line in the side of the wall as I raced into the tunnel.

  It reeked of sulphur and gunpowder, but as I stretched out my senses, I couldn’t detect anything that would have caused the smell. It was simply just a normal tunnel, no lines or gaps indicating traps, no sounds of footfalls or breathing, and nothing that jumped out to me. The only thing that really was different was that it winded back and forth in hard turns. It wasn’t all that new of a tunnel of course, but it was worrisome.

  I carefully made my way forward, slowing down to a light jog and dropping out of sprint. Even then, I almost missed the slight click as I rounded the corner. My senses screamed out danger, but they were too late. My eyes were blinded by a sudden explosion of roaring flame that filled the tunnel and came roaring down towards me.

  I panicked and tried to activate leap, sprint, or even dash, but the flames crashed into me, instantly searing off my flesh and superheating the chainmail that covered me. I screamed in pain, but that was a mistake as well and the flames hungrily shot down my throat, devouring the oxygen in my lungs. I coughed and spluttered, staggering back as pain and agony hungrily devoured me, and then everything went dark as I slammed into the ground, only lasting a few more moments before the flames moved on from devouring my body and snuffed out my soul.

  My eyes snapped open on the sand island, and I groaned and cursed, “Shit! Gunpowder! I should have known that something like that was going to happen, but really? An instakill? Right after I got that chainmail and longsword? Fuck! They better all be there when I get back!”

  The roiling darkness around the island didn’t respond of course, but honestly I didn’t know what I would have done if it had. I sat up with a sigh and dragged my claw along the sand. Great… I was stuck here again. Thankfully it was my first death for the day, so I shouldn’t lose anything, but to lose it to a trap? Come on Will! You should know better by now!

  I sighed and stabbed my claws into the sand, “Ah… I guess that couldn’t be helped. If this really is the last series of tunnel options and the left tunnel had been closed off, that meant that I should only have at most six more tunnels to go through at most, right? My math might be off I guess, but I don’t even remember the last time I was in a school, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised…”

  I shook my head and sat up, resting my elbows on my knees. Still, even if I got through these tunnels there was no promise that would be the end of this floor of the dungeon. Hell, it wasn’t even a promise that it was the end of the tunnel options, it was entirely possible that I would have yet another series of options after going through that tunnel… Holy shit wouldn’t that suck? Hahaha… I guess it would be the perfect way for the dungeon to break my spirit, but something told me that it wouldn’t pull that. It was unbelievably hard to traverse through the dungeon, and I had ended up dying quite a lot so far, but it was still feasible. Especially if I had actually ended up trying this with a group instead of just soloing the floor, or had been able to leave and restock my equipment in order to deal with the new monsters and beasts that reared their ugly heads.

  Not only that, but… even with that hatred and disgust that I had originally sensed from it, I got his odd feeling that the dungeon wanted me to continue forward. Almost as if it wanted me to see more and more of its traps and monsters, almost as if it wanted me to defeat them, and almost as if it wanted to reward me for doing so. I had quite a lot to ask the old man when I saw him next, but… I think I was more curious about this dungeon and how it worked than anything. If it hated those that entered it, why would it reward them? Why would it make traps that were able to be defeated or avoided? It was sentient, but if it was sentient, then what was the purpose of travelling through it?

  I hummed to myself and let my eyes wander throughout the swirling darkness. I guess there was no reason to think too hard about that, after all, I was just another intruder at the end of the day. I wonder if Verdant or Grim knew anything about the dungeon? I would ask them, but hadn’t they said something about sitting back and ‘watching’ me? Did that mean that I wouldn’t see them for a while? Well that would suck… I had quite enjoyed talking to each of them. Verdant was a bit of an oddball, but they had a wild joy to them that was always welcome. Grim was very stern and reserved, but I could sense that they were very kind at their center. I hoped that watching me travel through the dungeon was enough to make their days, but it did make me curious about the abilities that they had given me.

  Obviously Death’s Favoured had given me the ability to never die, but what exactly was Unending Vitality? It really seemed like it was a simple regeneration ability, but was that really true? I mean, it was rather helpful, but at the same time I felt like Verdant would never be that simple. There had to be something else to it… Some catch or hidden aspect that I had not discovered, but… what could that be? Hmmm…

  My train of thought was broken as the darkness around the island swirled back and forth aggressively. I sighed and stood up, brushing off the sand covering me, and turned to watch the aggressive swirling and spinning of the darkness, mentally preparing myself as it suddenly massed. With a groaning thrum that shook each individual piece of sand on the island, the darkness shot forward and consumed me, sucking me back into itself so quickly that I blacked out before I could sense anything else.

  My eyes snapped open again, and I hurriedly stretched out my spatial awareness. I was back in the tunnel, and right as I leapt to my feet, I heard another click from far down the tunnel. Power flooded me without even asking and dash activated, throwing me back down the tunnel right as another explosion of flames consumed the ground right where I had been standing.

  I gasped for air and rested against the wall with one hand and shakingly stared at the still searing red floor, “Holy shit dungeon… Nice trap, like, seriously! That shit killed me instantly! Though, please tell me it didn’t melt that chainmail? I had really looked forward to using it in the next fight…”

  The dungeon thrummed and purred in amusement, but there was no other response like usual. I sighed and rolled my eyes before sneaking forward and carefully peeking around the corner of the tunnel, fully prepared to snap my head back and run if I heard another click. Fortunately there was no click, and I took my time considering the odd machine at the other end of the tunnel, still illuminated by the red hot ground.

  It appeared to be a rather large cylinder, manned by a creature that was sitting behind it. There were two more similar creatures that were racing about, grabbing items and shoving stuff down into the cylinders mouth. It still reeked of sulphur and gunpowder, which was probably what that thing used as ammo. It was a strong weapon, but it had to be like a crossbow in the fact that it needed to be reloaded… which meant that I still had a little bit of time!

  A grin spread across my face, and with a roaring laugh I reached out towards the roiling void within me. It happily curled around my outreached hand, and my whole body filled with power once more, shooting forward and closing the distance with the furry creatures. I didn’t need my sword or warhammer for these little gremlins, fucking die!

  The first one whipped around, procuring a metal shovel from seemingly nowhere, and screaming, “MINE!!! MINE LIGHT!!!”

  I snapped forward and activated bite, ripping out its throat and sending a spray of blood flying through the air as the other kobold charged forward with a screech. I spat out the flesh and activated dodge, easily dodging its pickaxe, and then spun around and slammed my fist into the side of its skull. It staggered back, stunned, and desperately swung its pickaxe again but it was easy to dodge now. I could sense the other kobold desperately turning the massive cylinder around towards me, and with a laugh I grabbed the kobold with both hands and with a heave, lifted it into the air. It screamed and struggled, but with a roar I shoved it head first into the cylinder and dove down to the ground as I heard that click once again.

  I sensed the gunpowder explode, igniting whatever odd concoction that the kobolds had shoved into it, and with a muffled scream, the kobold was instantly incinerated. Fortunately, it was able to stop the explosion for long enough that the cylinder grew even hotter, and with a creaking boom it shattered, sending shrapnel and molten metal flying in every direction, including my flesh and the other kobold that was manning it.

  I hissed in pain, rolled over, and sat up, feeling the singed flesh on my back and the pieces of metal that had embedded themselves into my flesh. I cursed and reached around, yanking them out one by one as I watched the gunner kobold run around and scream in agony. The poor thing was bleeding, half seared, and blinded, and as it screamed and ran by me, I shot my claws out, activating pierce and stabbing its head. It dropped to the ground, spasming as the last of its life left it, and I sighed and ripped out the last piece of shrapnel.

  I stood up with a grunt, wincing at the sensation of the still hot ground on my feet and checked each of their corpses for loot. The gunner had a pair of trousers and a thin shirt, which I thankfully pulled on, and a torch. The kobold that I had shoved into the cylinder had nothing but ashes, unfortunately, but the first kobold I had killed had some jerky, a flint, and its metal shovel. Nothing else really stood out to me, so I just shrugged and chewed on the jerky as I made my way back to my old corpse.

  It had been reduced to nothing but ash, shriveled organs, and dried blood, but thankfully I noticed the chainmail and longsword were still seemingly fine. The leather that had wrapped the handle of the sword had unfortunately melted off, but thankfully there was still a solid metal handle that fit in my hands well. Unfortunately… the warhammer, which had a wooden handle, had been reduced to a lump of metal.

  I sighed and put the chainmail on with a grumble and lifted the longsword up, “I had rather liked that warhammer too… I guess I still had the longsword, but… shit! You really did get me dungeon… haha!”

  The dungeon happily purred, and with a chuckle, I made my way down the tunnel, wincing as the skin on my back cracked and ripped painfully. I could feel Unending Vitality working its glorious magic and working to repair and regenerate the flesh and skin there, but I still couldn’t help but sigh. Another fire trap that had killed me… what was that, five times now? I needed to figure out some way to combat it… maybe there was some potion of fire resistance out there? Or a fire resistant cloak or some shit? Ugh… fuck you Darnell! Just another reason that I’m going to fuck you all up the next time I see you…