"Nothing special here. Just a big corridor."Kael watched the surroundings carefully, his eyes scanning the damp and silent walls.
"Nothing special, huh? Hehehe…"If Noah had lips, he'd definitely be wearing a devilish grin right now. But since he was a crystal floating in a dark chamber, he had to settle for a mental chuckle.
"Wait! Let's not go wandering recklessly. There could be traps."The archer raised his arm, pointing to the ceiling."Look at this. Mutant spider webs. If there's a nest here, this could be a serious problem."
"Oh, the kid's good..." Noah thought, impressed. "Maybe not all of them will end up as fertilizer for my skeletons..."
The group cautiously moved forward. It wasn't long before the young mage stopped, her gaze fixed on something on the floor.
"Ugh... someone died here..." she murmured, staring at a half-destroyed skeleton.
Then the bones began to shake.The skeleton's hand dragged itself to the sword lying beside it, grabbed the hilt firmly and—in a sharp, terrifyingly quick move—rose up, brandishing the blade at the mage.
"AAAHH!"She screamed, but before the blade could hit her, a clang echoed through the corridor.
Kael placed himself between her and the enemy, blocking the blow easily with his sword.Then, he spun his wrist and plunged his blade straight into the skeleton's skull. The enemy collapsed like a house of cards—or better yet, a pile of bones.
"Is… that it?"Kael raised an eyebrow, suspicious."Dead already?"
If he had eyes, Noah would be raising his eyebrows too."How did this guy solo my skeleton?!"Kael looked at the other two companions and spoke confidently:"Looks like there's not much to worry about. That skeleton was pretty weak."
"Weak, huh...?"Noah muttered mentally, irritated."Nothing to fear... I still have zombies and the mutant spider! Ha! Let's see you laugh at that!"
The trio continued down the corridor, their steps echoing off the damp walls.Suddenly, a slimy, sinister sound came from the ceiling.
The archer was the first to notice. His eyes widened, and he drew his bow fluidly."Mutant spider!" he shouted, pointing upwards.
The young mage, who hated spiders with all her soul, let out a horrified squeal and instinctively cast a fireball.
FWOOOOOSH!
The creature was swallowed by flames, turning into crispy barbecue before it even had a chance to react.
"Don't let your guard down. There could be more of them nearby," Kael warned, already taking a defensive stance.
"There are... there aren't any more..."Noah murmured from the back of the room, completely downcast."DAMN SYSTEM! Why did you give me such weak monsters?! This was supposed to be a deadly dungeon, not a playground!"
If crystals could cry, Noah would be sobbing right now.
Kael took a few more steps forward, watching the path closely. The weak torchlight flickered against the damp dungeon walls.
The sound of something dragging... began to echo.
Shrrrk... shrrrk... thump.
The archer raised his hand in warning. "Did you hear that?"
"Ah, now we're talking..." Noah murmured, peering through the core's magical vision with a dark smile. "I present to you... the ZOMBIES!"
From the dark corners of the room, two bodies began to move, trembling and slow, with rotting flesh. One had half its face missing. The other dragged a rusty axe chained to its arm.
The young mage stepped back."This is awful... they stink even through the mana!"
Kael stepped forward, sword in hand. "Don't underestimate the undead. They may be slow, but—"
Before Kael finished, the archer had already fired two precise arrows. One hit a zombie's knee, which dropped with a plop, and the other hit the eye of the second.
The zombie with the axe staggered, let out a strange roar, raised the axe...
...and tripped over the chain, hitting its head on the ground.
Silence.
Noah froze.
"No. No. NO!"If he could pull his own hair out (or crystals?), he would."They didn't even land a single hit! What kind of dungeon is this?!"
In the room, the group laughed, relieved.
"At least it was easy," said the mage, smiling.
Noah, in complete despair, began hitting himself with his own mana tentacles."That's it. I'm a dungeon failure. I'm switching careers. Maybe open an underground spa..."As the group started to relax, chatting about how easy the zombies had been, Noah diverted his attention to a dark corner of the room.
There it was.Another skeleton, lying on the ground... too still.
Noah frowned—if he had eyebrows, they would be raised.Through his magical vision, he mentally approached the creature.
"...Hey."The skeleton didn't move.
"You listening, bony? I know you're conscious there. You're pretending to be dead again, huh?"
Nothing. Not a creak.
Noah sighed deeply, like only a frustrated magic crystal could."Out there, people are burning mutant spiders, punching zombies... and you're just lying there. You gonna stay down or at least try doing something?"
The skeleton trembled slightly.
"Oh, so you're awake, huh, lazybones? Come on, come on. Go scare at least the mage. Show some teeth, put on a show."
The skeleton finally began to rise slowly, its bones cracking dramatically as if trying to look more threatening than it actually was.
Across the room, the mage let out a squeal. "Another one?!"
Kael was already spinning his sword between his fingers. "Want me to handle this one or you guys?"
Noah, still watching the scene, muttered:"Yeah... at least this one's trying. Congrats, you're not the worst monster in the dungeon. Just the second worst."
The skeleton stood up fully, finally lifting the old rusty sword that had been lying next to it. It assumed a combat stance... kind of crooked, with its head slightly tilted like it had a bony stiff neck.
"He's coming!" the mage shouted, already preparing another fireball.
"Relax, let him try at least," said Kael, crossing his arms, curious.
The skeleton charged full speed.
Or rather, tried to.
On the second step, one of its legs popped off with a dry "clack" and it fell flat on its face, scattering bones like Lego pieces thrown in anger.
Noah let out a heavy sigh.
"Oh god... you had one chance. ONE. And you do me like this..."
The mage's eyes widened. "He... died?"
"Again?" said the archer.
Kael stepped forward, poked the fallen skull with his foot and said with a smirk, "Looks like this one died of embarrassment."
"Now it's official... WE'RE SCREWED!" Noah gnawed his nails in panic. "If they get that far... they'll find my core! I gotta figure out how to send them away... fast!"
In a flash of desperation and creativity, Noah closed his eyes (if cores can do that) and focused on the torches in the corridor. One by one, they started flickering: lighting up and going out like a cheap horror movie.
The girl shrank, looking around with wide eyes. "These torches... do you think there are ghosts here?" she murmured.
"That's it, that's it! Ghosts! Now scram, run, get out!" — Noah cheered like a soccer coach in the final minutes.
But the group completely ignored the supernatural warning of the flickering lights and headed toward the gigantic door at the end of the corridor. When they opened it... their eyes widened at what they saw.
An immense, empty hall. No monsters, no traps, just a giant blue crystal floating lonely in the center.
Kael immediately raised his guard. "This is... the dungeon's end? What a small dungeon..."
"Something's off," commented the archer, arrow already nocked.
"G-Guys... usually the final boss is in rooms like this, right?" — the girl trembled slightly, trying to hide her fear.
Even Kael, always firm, swallowed hard. None of them had ever faced a real dungeon boss.
Noah, now in full emergency mode, opened the system interface at full speed and bought from the shop: [Common Chest].
"Go, go, go! Here's your reward! You won! Bye! Never see you again!"
With a magical, triumphant sound, a big chest appeared right in front of the group.
"Hey... isn't this the completion reward?" said the archer, already relaxing.
Curious, they approached, opened the chest and found silver coins, a set of simple armor, a magic wand, and some rings.
"Wow! Look at this! This was the easiest dungeon ever!" — the girl spun around with the new wand in her hands, excited.
"Let's grab all this and get out of here. You never know if someone's lurking, wanting to steal from us. Luck smiled on us today."
"YEEEEEES! GET OUTTA HERE, YOU BLESSINGS!" — Noah shouted inside, almost bursting with relief. His core had survived... for now.