The hero was on his last legs.
Armor dented, blood dripping from a dozen wounds, his breath ragged. His once-glorious blade, Lumina, now wobbled in his grip, its holy glow flickering like a dying candle. The party that had entered the dungeon alongside him—his stalwart companions, his closest friends—had all fallen.
Traps had claimed the rogue. A massive boulder had crushed the warrior. The mage had been lured into a pit of hungry shadow hounds.
But still, the hero pressed on.
Because that’s what heroes did.
He staggered into the dungeon’s final chamber—the Core Room—a massive cavern of jagged stone, glowing sigils, and eerie, shifting shadows. At the center, the Dungeon Core pulsed, dark and malevolent, basking in its triumph.
"One more step," the core rumbled, its voice a chorus of whispers from the fallen. "One more step, and you die, HERO~"
The voices chuckled in eerie amusement.
The hero gritted his teeth. "I have to. If I don’t—" He coughed, tasting iron. "The world… the people… they'll never be safe."
"Your people invade my halls, steal my treasures, kill my creations… and you call me the villain?" The voices echoed mockingly, dripping with condescension.
The dungeon let the words hang for a moment before continuing, almost lazily. "Although, I must admit… I do need you. You adventurers think you're conquering me, but really… you’re feeding me. I grow stronger with every intruder that falls. And you? You’re the biggest feast I’ve ever had the pleasure of trapping."
The core’s power surged, and from the depths of the chamber, the dungeon’s greatest creation emerged—the Apex Guardian.
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It was a horror unlike anything the hero had faced before. A towering, armored beast of shifting stone and steel, its molten eyes burning with the essence of the dungeon itself. It moved with unnatural speed, each step sending tremors through the cavern.
The hero charged.
For a moment, it looked like he had a chance. He ducked, rolled, dodged the first crushing blow. His blade flashed, carving a deep wound in the guardian’s chest. The creature roared, reeling—
Then the traps activated.
A barrage of enchanted spears erupted from the floor, piercing his leg. A hidden pressure plate sent a cascade of boulders raining from above. The hero barely had time to react before spectral chains lashed around his arms, yanking him backward.
And that was when he realized.
This dungeon hadn’t just been waiting for him to come. It had planned this. Every step, every move, had led him into a no-win scenario.
The Apex Guardian lunged.
A massive, clawed hand closed around the hero’s body.
There was a sickening crunch.
Then silence.
The Dungeon Core pulsed, victorious. The so-called Chosen Hero—just another failed adventurer—lay motionless.
For the first time in history… the dungeon had won.
And then, the heavens tore open.
A blinding light filled the chamber, and a voice, vast and terrible, shook the very foundations of the dungeon.
"You have greatly disrupted the balance of the world."
The core pulsed warily. "...What? Who are you?!? What do you mean disrupted the balance, for killing THAT THING?!"
Terror filled the dungeon as a wave of power rushed into its core.
"Congratulations! You have been chosen… for severe punishment. Enjoy your new life!"
"Wait, hold on, let’s be reasonable—"
But it was too late. A divine hand reached down from the heavens and—
POP.
Everything went dark.
When consciousness returned, the dungeon found itself in an unfamiliar form.
Weak. Flesh-bound. Trapped in a body that barely functioned.
Somewhere, a rooster crowed.
Pain set in, an uncomfortable feeling the dungeon had never experienced before… Then its eyes opened and looked down... Then realization set in…
"Oh no. Oh dear. Oh FUCK. I’m a hero."
A horrible thought struck.
"…I’m FOOD."
And thus began the worst punishment imaginable to the poor little dungeon.
Life as a human.
No…
Life as a hero.
