Chapter 31: Forfeit
Dustin and his team were finally in the last layer. Layer four.
They had already declined the option to leave the dungeon. There was no point in backing out now.
Once again, there was another team waiting in front of them. It meant another fight was coming, but what kind of fight or how it would happen was not clear yet.
Both teams were resting in their own separate corners, sitting on the floor and completely ignoring each other.
"I think this layer is going to be about that rare grade item," Dustin reminded Zac and Saya quietly. "The one that was supposed to be hidden somewhere in this dungeon. I am not completely sure, but it makes the most sense."
Dustin suddenly sat up straight. "Oh right." He quickly opened his stats screen.
[ Physical Strength: 79 ]
[ Vitality: 67 ]
[ Agility: 86 ]
[ Stamina: 69 ]
[ Endurance: 63 ]
[ Wisdom: 17 ]
[ Intelligence: 34 ]
[ Bonus stats points: 18 ]
During that intense fight against Zama and his team in the last layer, Dustin had completely forgotten about his unspent bonus stat points.
Using them wouldn't have made him a very strong, but allocating them wisely definitely would have made that fight a lot easier to manage.
"Let's see. How should I distribute these?" Dustin thought, rubbing his chin.
[ Physical Strength: 85 ]
[ Vitality: 70 ]
[ Agility: 89 ]
[ Stamina: 73 ]
[ Endurance: 65 ]
[ Wisdom: 17 ]
[ Intelligence: 34 ]
[ Bonus stats points: 0 ]
He dumped six points into Physical Strength. Three each into Vitality and Agility. Four into Stamina. He tossed the last two remaining points into Endurance.
"The next time I level up, I need to focus entirely on getting my Strength, Vitality, and Agility past the one hundred mark," Dustin analyzed internally.
"Are you two friends in the real world?" Saya asked Zac while Dustin was busy messing with his glowing screen. "Or did you just meet here?"
"We just met a few days ago," Zac replied, leaning back on his hands. "Right after all those tutorial zones merged. But we are going to stick together for a while. So yeah, I guess you could call us friends. Right, Dustin?"
"Yeah. Anyway, Saya, what is your..."
DING.
A familiar sound interrupted Dustin mid-sentence.
[ Task: To clear layer 4, one team must either force all members of the opposing team to forfeit, or kill them. ]
[ Note: A rare grade item is hidden in one of the boxes in this room. Whoever finds it becomes the owner. The item cannot be stolen. The owner can willingly give it to someone else, or another person can take it by killing the current owner. Once the owner successfully activates the item, they will gain full control of this room. The owner will automatically become the main leader of their team, and the other members must follow them. The item can also be carried and used outside the dungeon. ]
[ The match begins in 5 minutes. ]
[ Time remaining: 00:04:59 ]
"We have to find that item first," Dustin said urgently, his eyes locked on the timer. "If we get control of this room... I do not know what that actually means, but it will definitely raise our chances of winning."
"I do not think it is going to be that simple," Saya corrected him, pointing at the text. "It says 'if' the owner manages to activate it. That means there is probably a condition, or maybe a time limit before it actually works." She looked at both of them. "Our best bet is to find it, survive long enough to activate it, take out their mage, and then force the other two to forfeit."
"But what happens if they find it first?" Zac asked, frowning. "Or what if we do get it, and we somehow manage to heavily injure their mage, but the other two just refuse to quit?"
"It is a rare grade item, Zac. It is going to have limits," Dustin argued quietly. "Look at them. There is a good chance they just grouped up for this dungeon, exactly like we did. If we take out their strongest member, the other two might just break. But if they do not... well, you remember that crazy guy from the last layer. We have to be ready to fight to the death if it comes down to it."
"He is right. I heard that killing an intelligent species gives way more experience points than killing a normal monster," Saya added, supporting Dustin's grim point. "Even if we do not want to kill them, we have to assume they are perfectly willing to kill us."
The trio kept whispering their strategy as the timer ticked down.
[ Time remaining: 00:00:19 ]
[ Time remaining: 00:00:03 ]
[ Time remaining: 00:00:02 ]
[ Time remaining: 00:00:01 ]
Both teams exploded into motion.
Instead of charging at each other to fight, everyone sprinted toward the hundreds of cubical boxes scattered randomly across the massive room.
The main objective was the rare item. Finding it was a pure numbers game. Both teams frantically smashed boxes apart, occasionally throwing ranged attacks at each other just to slow the other side down.
CRASH.
"Damn it. Nothing," Dustin kicked his twenty-seventh box to splinters. Empty.
SQUELCH.
"Die you stupid bugs!" Zac yelled. He was stomping wildly on dozens of small, ugly creatures that had swarmed out of the box he just broke. Instead of the rare item, he had found a nest of tiny monsters.
Breaking these boxes was like playing a twisted lottery. If you were lucky, you hit the jackpot on your first try. If not, you could be smashing wood all day.
The monsters pouring out of the wrong boxes were weak, mostly under level ten. But since both teams had already destroyed over a hundred and fifty boxes combined, the sheer number of bugs crawling around the floor was getting incredibly annoying.
BAM. BAM. CRASH.
Time dragged on.
"Hell yes!" the fighter from the opposing team suddenly roared and quited down quickly. "I found it!"
His eyes widened with joy as he reached into the broken box. He pulled out a strange, red rock. It was hollow inside, shaped weirdly, and had six small holes carved into it.
The fighter quickly hid it by his side. He didn't shout to his teammates. He just kept pretending to search. "I have to wait ten minutes for it to activate, he thought greedily. And once I use it, it takes another half hour to recharge."
Time kept ticking.
"I found it", the man finally shouted towards his teammates.
CRACK.
"Damn it all," Dustin cursed, kicking a box so hard it shattered into dust. "He found it. Should we just attack them now?"
"So this is what it does. Haha!" The enemy fighter suddenly burst into loud laughter. He lifted the strange red rock to his lips and blew into it with all his strength.
"What is he doing? Is that a whistle?" Zac asked, confused.
"What is happening? It did not do anything," Saya said, gripping her bow.
Everyone froze, waiting for something to happen.
EKKRRKKKKK.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
A horrible, grinding noise echoed through the giant room. Suddenly, every single remaining box in the room exploded simultaneously.
The tiny monsters crawling on the floor started shrieking. They rushed toward each other, forming huge, writhing piles. They were merging.
They twisted and grew into horrific new shapes. One had the snapping jaws of a crocodile but the muscular torso of a man. Another had the hunched, furry body of a hyena dragging itself on thick tortoise legs.
"What in the world are those?" Dustin gasped, stumbling backward. "Damn it. Even the system does not know. It just labels them as 'mutated beasts'."
The newly formed creatures looked like they crawled straight out of a nightmare. They were so grotesque that just looking at them made Dustin's stomach churn.
"Hahahaha!" The fighter holding the whistle laughed maniacally. "Go to hell!"
"Give that to me," the enemy mage demanded, walking over to the fighter.
"I found it," the fighter snapped back, still grinning as the mutated monsters charged blindly toward Dustin's team.
"I said give it to me. Right now." The mage raised his voice. A cold, murderous light flashed in his eyes.
"Okay, okay. Here. But do not forget it belongs to me," the fighter grumbled. He did not want to push his luck. He tossed the red whistle to the mage.
"Damn it, they are too strong. There are too many!" Dustin yelled, swinging his blade wildly to keep the horrific beasts back.
Dustin, Zac, and Saya were completely on the defensive. The mutated monsters were slow, but they were incredibly tough and there was nowhere to run.
"Do we really have to forfeit after making it this far?" Zac groaned, throwing a punch that barely staggered a crocodile-man.
"What else can we do? Let us just quit before we actually die here," Saya urged them, her voice tight with panic.
"No! We are not quitting until the absolute last second," Dustin yelled back, parrying a heavy claw strike. "If we forfeit, we get locked out of all the other dungeons in this region. Keep fighting. There has to be an opening."
"What opening? You two are crazy. If you want to die here, be my guest!" Saya shouted in frustration.
Despite her angry words, Saya did not forfeit. She kept firing arrows, covering their blind spots as the trio slowly backed away from the relentless monsters.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, things were falling apart.
THUMP.
The mage suddenly kicked the fighter hard in the chest, knocking him to the ground. "Who do you think you are talking to? A friend? A teammate? Know your place, trash."
"I am sorry. It will not happen again." The fighter kept his head down, apologizing quickly as he scrambled back to his feet.
"Good. Do not forget it."
Their archer stood quietly in the back, watching the abuse without saying a single word.
SWOOSH.
"Watch out!" The enemy archer suddenly drew his bow and fired an arrow straight between the mage and the fighter.
BOOM.
His arrow collided mid-air with an arrow fired by Saya. The explosion rocked the room.
"They spotted us," Saya cursed under her breath.
Dustin's team had managed to kite the slow monsters away and were using the chaos to sneak toward the enemy team.
"I cannot believe these idiots actually want to die," the mage chuckled darkly. He raised his staff and fired a barrage of flaming fireballs at Dustin's group.
"What are you two waiting for?" the mage barked at his teammates. "Go kill them and let us be done with this."
"I... I cannot run properly. My leg from the last layer is still healing," the archer stammered nervously. "I can just stay back here and give you cover fire."
"Fine. Whatever," the mage snorted. He and the fighter prepared to charge.
"Wait, one more thing," the archer called out quickly.
"What now?" The mage glared at him. "Speak."
"Could I hold the whistle while you fight?" The archer pointed at the red rock in the mage's hand.
"You want what?" The mage's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"No, listen to me. While you two keep them busy in close combat, I can use the whistle to direct the beasts to ambush them from behind. We can crush them from both sides," the archer explained rapidly. "I will give it right back. Besides, you have to wait ten minutes before it even works again anyway."
"Fine. Do not forget your place," the mage sneered, tossing the red whistle to the archer. He turned and charged at Dustin.
A brutal and messy fight broke out in the center of the room.
CLANG. WHOOSH. SLASH.
All five of them fought with fury. It was a chaotic brawl of swinging blades, dodging fireballs, and heavy punches.
"I forfeit."
The loud, clear voice echoed across the massive room. Everyone instantly froze. They all turned their heads to look.
It was not Dustin. It was not Zac or Saya.
It was the enemy archer. He was standing near the back wall, gripping the red whistle tightly in his hand.
"You bastard!" The mage screamed. His eyes went completely bloodshot with rage. He spun around and hurled a massive fireball at his own teammate. The archer easily deflected it with his bow.
DING.
[ Since the leader of one team has chosen to forfeit, the opposing team automatically clears this layer. ]
"Hahaha! Finally! My main task is done," the archer laughed wildly. "You idiots can all go to hell. Now I just have to find a nice place to hide until this whole event is over."
"Wait. His task is completed just like that?" Dustin stared at the archer in shock. The guy had finished his main objective on the very first day. Now he could just sit back, survive, and collect his rewards. "Wow. What a lucky bastard," Dustin muttered, unable to hide his envy.
DING.
[ You have successfully cleared Layer 4 of the dungeon ]
[ Rewards: 3000 points have been rewarded to each person in the group ]
DING.
[ You have successfully cleared this special Dungeon ]
[ Event task: 1/7 Dungeons cleared ]
Dustin read the text. He was still jealous of the archer, and he still had six dungeons left to survive, but seeing that '1/7' on his screen made a wave of deep relief wash over him.
"ARRRGGGHHH!"
A horrible, agonizing scream ripped through the room.
Everyone snapped their attention to the mage.
The bizarre cicada had came out on top of his head had suddenly died. Its body burst open. Thick blood poured down over the mage's hair, running into his eyes and sliding down his face.
Then the sizzling started.
The blood was boiling. It melted through his skin, eating away his flesh with terrifying speed. The mage thrashed wildly on the ground, screaming until his vocal cords dissolved.
Then there was only silence.
Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. It was not that they didn't want to talk. They were just paralyzed by horror. They were looking at their own potential future. If they failed their specific tasks, that horrific, melting death is exactly what awaited them.
It was obvious to everyone watching. The mage had somehow failed his hidden objective during the dungeon run, and this was the punishment.
Dustin had seen melting bodies in horror movies and video games before. Seeing it happen to a real person right in front of him made his blood run cold.
[ Everyone will now be transported out of the dungeon ]
SWOOSH.
Five pillars of bright light slammed down from the ceiling. The survivors were pulled away.
When the blinding light faded, the trio found themselves standing in the desert once again. It was not the dungeon entrance. They had been dropped a few kilometers away. The sky above them was already turning the deep orange of evening.
"I cannot move a single muscle," Dustin groaned. He collapsed flat onto his back in the dirt.
"Me neither," Zac sighed, falling down right next to him.
"Have you decided if you want to stick with us? Our main tasks might actually line up," Dustin asked, tilting his head to look at Saya. "Actually, I never even asked what your task was."
"I am not coming with you," Saya stated flatly.
"But why? We actually make a pretty good team," Dustin argued, pushing himself up on one elbow.
"Why do you care?" she shot back.
"Fine. Keep your secrets," Dustin muttered. He dropped his head back into the dirt and stared up at the darkening sky. "Just six more to go."