The Emerald Labyrinth's humidity was a wall of hot vapor smelling of sap and decay. The dungeon walls weren't rock, but colossally intertwined roots, pulsing with a faint neon green light.
«Stay in the center, "newbie"», barked Korg, the Tank. He raised his magic iron shield, its runes emitting a reassuring hum for the weak. «Jace, Mira, flank. Lyla, keep a quick heal ready. This sector is infested with Serrated Vines.»
My brain ignored his orders, focusing on environment mapping.
Humidity: 92%.
Visibility: 14 meters.
Critical variable: The group's emotional instability.
They were terrified. And terror, to my logic, is an error multiplier I could turn in my favor. I wasn't here to collaborate; I was here to gather biomass and loot, and the presence of four other beneficiaries in the final split was an inefficiency to be corrected.
First Error: Jace (The Distracted)
The first clash occurred in a clearing covered in bioluminescent moss. Three Vinelurkers—masses of climbing roots with hardened wood claws—dropped from the ceiling.
«Engage them!» Korg yelled.
Jace sprinted forward, his short blades glowing with a blue aura. My brain noted an anomalous vibration in the ground three meters from his position: a natural trap, a Snap Root ready to trigger under pressure over sixty kilos.
I could have warned him. I could have hit the root with my rebar to disarm it. Instead, I took a step back, positioning myself to obstruct Lyla the Healer's view.
Jace stepped on the critical point. The root exploded from the ground like a steel whip, wrapping around his ankle and dragging him upward against a wall of thorns.
«Help! Lyla!» Jace screamed, as Grade E thorns pierced his light armor.
Lyla tried to cast Healing Light, but I "accidentally" tripped into her, breaking her concentration. The mana dissipated in useless sparks. In those three seconds of delay, the Vinelurker finished the job, piercing Jace's skull.
[PARTY MEMBER ELIMINATED: JACE (LEVEL 14)] > Note: Loot share increased by 20%.
Second Error: Mira (The Impulsive)
«Jace! No!» Mira, the second DPS, lost control. Instead of holding formation, she lunged at the monsters with a spinning attack.
My brain calculated the trajectory of toxic spores one of the Vinelurkers was about to release. It was a paralyzing gas. I moved with the Stabilizer's speed, hitting a fungal bulb with a stone as Mira passed by. The bulb exploded, drenching her.
«I can't see... I can't move my legs!» Mira wheezed, falling into a monster's coils.
Korg tried to intervene, but I yelled: «Cover the Healer! There are more behind us!»
There was no one behind us, but Korg, blinded by panic, turned his back on Mira. It was a silent feast. The roots dragged her into the thick underbrush. Two eliminated. The calculation proceeded without friction.
The Party's End: Korg and Lyla
Three of us remained. Korg was panting, his shield trembling. Lyla was crying, her mana nearly spent.
«We have to get out... Zero, we have to go back!» Lyla screamed.
«We're almost at the nutrient chamber», I replied, my voice a frozen whisper that seemed to come from the dungeon itself. «It would be illogical to stop now. Korg, there's an opening in that elite monster's side. If you charge now, you'll take it down.»
I pointed to a Grade E Groot-Crusher blocking the path. It was a slow but devastating monster. Korg, desperate for a win, activated his Bull Charge skill.
As he sprinted, I approached Lyla. She looked at me, and for an instant, her eyes met mine. She didn't see a hero. She saw the void of the Scrap.
«Zero... what are you...»
I severed her Achilles tendon with a sharp movement of the rebar. Lyla fell with a choked groan. Without the Healer's support, Korg became trapped in the Crusher's arms. The magic shield snapped under two tons of magic wood pressure.
I watched as the Crusher finished Korg. Then, I approached Lyla, who was crawling in the green mud, trying to escape.
«Why?» she asked, blood dripping from her mouth.
«You are superfluous variables», I replied. «Your loot and cores will fund my ascent. Your death is the only real contribution you can make to my equation.»
I drove the rebar into her heart with surgical precision.
The Predator's Loot
Silence returned to the dungeon, broken only by the hum of system notifications raining down before my eyes.
[PARTY ELIMINATED - SOLE SURVIVOR: ZERO] > [LOOT ACQUIRED:]
Magic Iron Shield (Damaged)
Light Staff (Grade E)
4 Mana Potion Pouches
1,200 Oakhaven Credits
Special Item: Seed of Vigor (Grade E)
I sat among the corpses and began stripping them of every useful object. I ate their high-quality rations and drank the potions. Then, I pulled out the Seed of Vigor and swallowed it whole.
I felt the dungeon's biomass and the seed's energy explode in my stomach. My brain guided the Bio-Inductive Stabilizer to distribute the nutrients exactly where my muscle fibers had been torn by training.
The scars closed. My skin became denser. Level 0 had never felt so powerful.
[[STATUS UPDATED] > Biological Integrity: 94%
Neural Synchronization: 88%
Combat Capacity: Increased by 40%.
I stood up, looking toward the corridor leading to the Boss chamber. I was no longer the Zero who had entered. I was the apex of that Labyrinth's food chain.
«One thousand days», I whispered, as the stabilizer's runes glowed under my skin. «Today the dungeon will give me the rest of my future.»
I grabbed Korg's shield—now just a heavy piece of metal in my boosted hands—and walked toward the Boss.