Together, they struck — both bamboo sticks driving downward with every ounce of strength they had, pressing hard against the tiger's thick neck. The beast thrashed, snarled, its paws swiping through the air with murderous force, but their angle gave them an advantage.
Vhim grunted, leaning harder, sweat pouring down his brow. "Hold it—!"
The tiger's claws swiped across Arjun's arm, tearing through his sleeve and grazing his skin. Blood welled, but he didn't flinch. They pressed harder. The bamboo strained under the pressure. The tiger choked, its growl turning into a ragged gasp. Then—
A drop of blood fell.
From the tiger's throat, the blood struck the cave floor.
And everything changed.
Glow.
The cave lit up in sudden, unnatural colors — swirling hues of violet, gold, and sapphire. A pattern erupted from the stone below them, blooming like a flower — intricate lines forming a perfect circle beneath their feet and the tiger's body.
"What the—!?" Vhim stumbled back, eyes wide.
The sigil shone brighter. The air vibrated. The fire was gone. The cold vanished.
And then — silence.
Flash.
The world shattered.
No pain. No scream. No time to react.
They vanished.
The cave was empty. The tiger, the blood, the bamboo — all gone. Only the flicker of fading light remained on the cave walls, slowly dissolving like mist in moonlight.
The light consumed everything.
Color surged beneath their feet like liquid fire. The cave was gone in a blink. No sound, no wind — only sudden darkness, deep and absolute.
Arjun felt the shift in his bones before his eyes could adjust. One second they were battling a tiger; the next, they were nowhere. The air was heavier here — still, but charged with a strange energy. He couldn't see more than a foot in front of him.
He instinctively released the pressure from the bamboo stick. The tiger slipped free from his grip, but it didn't attack. Not here.
Even the beast, once crazed by hunger, now stood frozen.
Something was wrong with this place. Something bigger than any of them.
Vhim slowly stepped closer to Arjun. "Where… where are we?"
Then, a sound echoed from all directions at once. A voice. Calm. Cold. Ancient.
> [Welcome to the Dungeon of the Willows Family.]
[Please survive to receive the inheritance of the Family.]
The words didn't echo — they carved themselves into the space around them, like invisible sigils in the air. Even the tiger let out a startled growl and backed away.
Vhim blinked rapidly. "Did… did that just talk to us?"
Arjun's breath caught. A dungeon. That word alone pulled something loose in his mind — a feeling, not a memory. A strange happiness.
He didn't know why. He didn't even fully remember what a dungeon was supposed to be — but the word felt right. Like a puzzle piece sliding into place.
"Dungeon," he whispered.
It was a foreign concept to Vhim, but not to him. Not truly. Something in the depths of his soul recognized it.
And then, like a flickering candle, an idea ignited.
He wanted to test something — a theory he'd carried ever since that skill first whispered its name into his thoughts: Loser's Lie.
He stepped forward, voice suddenly bold and full of false certainty.
> "Is it really the famous international powerful family's inheritance?" Arjun said, voice laced with wonder. "The one who ruled over seventeen kingdoms long ago?"
Vhim's jaw dropped. "What?! Really?! Arjun, you know all this stuff? That's insane! Who were they? Why were they so powerful?"
Arjun didn't hesitate. He let his imagination run wild — or maybe not imagination. Maybe it was a memory in disguise. He couldn't tell anymore.
> "It was the family of one man," Arjun began, walking slowly through the black void. "He married twenty queens from the major kingdoms, merging bloodlines and power. His children… each one was born with multiple soul natures. Not one — but two, sometimes three."
> "As more children were born, his own soul nature began to evolve. What started as a normal trait… turned divine. Godly. And when his children died — their soul nature didn't fade. It returned to him, empowering him further."
Vhim's eyes were wide like moons. "That's… that's insane. So we're inside his dungeon now?"
> "Yes," Arjun nodded solemnly, letting the lie deepen. "This place must be filled with the legacies of his bloodline. And the treasures they guarded…"
Vhim leaned closer. "Wait, wait, wait — do you mean the fruit? That rumored fruit?"
> "Exactly. The Elemental Fruit," Arjun said, completely making it up — yet every word felt strangely real. "A fruit that could turn animals into humans… beings of soul and power."
> "The Willows Family once used it to tame beasts, gifting them souls and identities. Those animals became their protectors… their warriors. Their family."
Vhim looked at the tiger behind them, which now remained still, almost listening.
> "So if we find the fruit," Vhim said, "and give it to an animal… it'll become one of us?"
> "Yes," Arjun said with quiet intensity. "A true companion. One bound by power and blood."
Suddenly—
> [Skill activated: Loser's Lie]
[Truth embedded. Illusion acknowledged by the world.]
A pulse of energy swept the ground. Arjun felt it — a ripple in the space itself, as if reality had just accepted the lie as fact.
He blinked. That wasn't just Vhim falling for it. The dungeon had reacted. The skill worked.
His theory was right.
When Arjun told a lie that a "loser" like him had no right to know, and the listener believed it — the world itself began reshaping to fit it.
It wasn't just deception. It was creation.
Vhim was practically vibrating with excitement now. "So what now? We explore? Find the fruit? The inheritance?"
The tiger, now oddly quiet, walked beside them — not in aggression, but something closer to confusion… or obedience.
The void around them began to shift. Slowly, like curtains pulling back, the blackness peeled away. Stone corridors formed beneath their feet. A dungeon was shaping itself — not from old ruins, but from the will of belief.
> [Dungeon floor 1 generated: Hall of Echoes.]
[Begin.]