The Cave of Death (2)

Nothing was visible. The space around me was pitch-black — so dark I couldn't see an inch in front of my face — and I couldn't even bring myself to move.

Where is this?

No matter how hard I looked, darkness was all that answered. Still, I didn't panic. I waited. Hadn't the roulette room been just as dark when I first arrived?

Just as I'd expected, the messages appeared. After a brief wait, the darkness around me began to lift, slowly giving way to light.

What's this?

Enormous statues stood scattered throughout the space, and beneath them, a handful of people had gathered.

Who are they?

It didn't make sense. I was supposed to be the only one who'd come to this dungeon — so why were there other people here? For now, I slipped behind a wall, out of their sight, and listened carefully to what they were saying.

"Think we can actually clear this?"

"Probably. Why wouldn't we?"

"I heard even a 2-star dungeon scroll is supposed to be hard, though…"

From the sound of it, they had used a dungeon scroll to get here, same as I had. Apparently, using one of those scrolls transported several people to the same dungeon at once.

"Even a 2-star scroll gives you a gold chest, though. If we beat this thing, the reward's a sure thing."

"Right?"

"People like us shouldn't have any trouble. We're all ranked in the national top 100."

The national top 100. And there were three of them. Looking at what they were wearing, they did seem like they were reasonably strong.

Should I try talking to them?

But I couldn't just walk up and speak to people I didn't know. If they happened to have any ugly ideas, I was looking at a three-on-one — and in that situation, protecting my own life would be impossible.

I watched them a while longer. Then a message appeared before my eyes.

A deep rumbling shook the ground. At the same time, a massive stone shifted aside, revealing the yawning mouth of an enormous cave.

A low voice accompanied the words, and the gloomy mouth of the cave only made it sound more ominous.

"Alright. Let's go."

"Okay. Let's do this."

The three of them walked slowly into the darkness of the cave. I had to go in too. I'd come this far — and if I didn't, how was I supposed to protect the shelter?

I followed them in, feeling my way along the walls. The darkness was so complete I couldn't see a thing. The passage was cramped, barely wide enough for one or two people to squeeze through. The ones who'd gone ahead must have already gotten a long way in; even the faint footsteps I'd heard at first had faded to nothing.

I walked for a considerable time. Then a bright light began to take shape ahead of me, and with it, a wide-open chamber. I tightened my grip on the knife in my hand, half-expecting monsters — but fortunately, there was nothing there.

What is this place?

I was looking around the chamber when a sound reached me from somewhere nearby. A wet thud. The hiss of a blade. A heavy stab. The clash of steel.

A monster's roar tore through the air. I ran toward the noise, and what I found waiting for me were enormous creatures — pig-headed things with the bulk of a bear. Their name was orc.

And it wasn't just one or two of them. I could see about twenty just from where I stood — though even that number had already been thinned out considerably.

"Hey. Let's wrap these things up quick."

"Okay."

Blades flashed. Throats opened. Bodies dropped. Roughly thirty orc corpses already littered the floor, which meant there had been close to fifty of them in this chamber, and those three had already put down thirty.

That's impressive.

They moved with a lean, predatory speed, cutting through orc necks in a blur. They were clearly high-level — their ability was on another scale entirely. In a matter of moments, the remaining twenty-odd orcs were slaughtered by sheer, overwhelming force.

"Let's keep moving."

Having wiped out the orcs, they passed through another door up ahead and disappeared. I started to follow — then the corpses caught my eye.

Gulp.

A feast, laid out and dripping with green blood. The entrails spilling from the orcs' bellies seemed to writhe, as if they were tempting me.

What do I do?

I wanted to go after those three right away. But the bodies in front of me weren't just appetizing — if I predating them, the monsters I could command would grow in number and in strength. There was no telling what kind of danger waited further in. I pulled a fork from my inventory.

The tines sank deep. Fresh orc entrails came up with them, green blood dripping in thick, slow drops. I pushed them straight into my mouth.

In that instant, a rich, nutty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠savor exploded across my tongue. I chewed. There was a slight toughness to the meat, but that chewiness was precisely what made it exquisite — like biting into a perfectly grilled plate of tripe. I found myself craving a pinch of salt and a shot of soju, but there was no time for that. I had to finish predating as fast as I could and catch up to the ones who'd gone ahead, so I started shoveling it in.

No special ability was a shame, but every orc I ate still swelled the ranks of the orc force I could field. I ate as fast as I could, but the things were enormous, and finishing off several dozen of them took a fair amount of time.

"They're going to have a decent lead on me by now."

I set off after them, but as expected, the gap had grown wide enough that they were nowhere in sight. I walked for a long while after that. Then another vast hall opened up in front of me.

This one felt different from the first. There were no monsters. Instead, there were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two doors: one already standing open, and one shut tight. I started walking toward them, and a voice drifted over.

"Oh, there was still one more person?"

I looked down. A small fox was gazing up at me, as if offering a greeting.

The fox is talking?

It was a fox by any measure — and a talking one, at that. A fox that spoke. I honestly wasn't sure how to process what I was looking at, but then again, nothing about this situation made any sense to begin with. I kept my knife raised, a thread of caution still in me, and the fox made a gesture that seemed meant to put me at ease before it went on.

"Nice to meet you. I'm a guide. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I help with choices."

"A guide?"

"Congratulations on clearing the first gate. From the second one on, things get a little different, so stay sharp. Ask me anything you want."

The fox smiled up at me. I didn't find its offer to teach me everything particularly trustworthy, but people had come through here before me, so I started there.

"Which door did the ones who came first take?"

"The ones who came first went through that door over there."

The fox pointed toward the door that was shut tight.

Huh? Something's off.

It didn't add up. Anyone could see that door was closed. Unless the people ahead of me had opened it, gone through the other door on the far side, and then deliberately shut this one behind them, that couldn't be the right answer.

"Then which door is the safer path?"

Two doors. I asked for the safe one. The fox pointed to the closed door on the right.

"The safer door is the right one."

"The right, huh. Then what about the left?"

"That one's harder than the other."

I wasn't buying a word of it. If those people had gone through, they would have taken the safer door — the right one. But the door standing open was the left. So I tried a different question.

"Which number is bigger, one or two?"

"One, of course."

There it was. A fox that lied without so much as blinking.

So I do the opposite of whatever it says.

It had claimed the right door was easier, which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left me with only one choice: the left. The people who'd come first had probably figured out the fox was lying, too, and taken the left door themselves. I started walking carefully toward the open door on the left.

I hadn't gone far inside when the screams hit me.

"AAAAAGH!"

"Help me!"

Those were the people who'd gone ahead. I sprinted toward the sound — and what I saw stopped me cold.

Three rankers who had looked overwhelmingly strong. And in front of them, a monster whose level was beyond anything I could have imagined.

A blade of force sheared through one of them. His head came off, and he died where he stood. In the same instant, the man beside him simply exploded — a burst of bright red blood and torn pieces of his body raining down in every direction.

I have to run!

This was not a monster I could fight. Its level didn't even display. Running was the only way I was getting out of this alive.

I ran, lungs tearing, with no plan except forward. Behind me, the last of them screamed. That one was dead too. Which left only me.

A roar erupted at my back, and I could feel it getting closer. The distance between us was shrinking. Whatever that thing was, it was fast — for every step I took, the gap closed in a heartbeat.

Then I saw it. A door, right in front of me. I threw myself through it, and the terrible presence that had been bearing down on me began, little by little, to recede.

Shit. Was that even the right door?

If I'd been even a second slower getting out, I would have died in there too. I was still catching my breath when the fox appeared in front of me again.

"Alright, alright. Ask me anything. I'll tell you everything."

That infuriating little smile. It looked like it was enjoying this. I walked up to it, slowly, and brought my knife down across its throat.

Blood sprayed. The fox collapsed, red pouring from the wound. No experience. No coins. Just a corpse, lying there.

I can't keep getting played by this thing when I don't even know whether it's telling the truth or not.

I'd been an idiot — so sure it always lied that I'd charged off in the opposite direction. Even if a thousand of its words were false, if there was a single truth mixed in and I couldn't tell them apart, I'd fall for its schemes all over again.

With the fox dead, I forced myself to think it through coldly. No matter how hard this dungeon is supposed to be, a monster like that doesn't make sense. There has to be a path that's actually meant to be taken…

Honestly, I didn't believe the difficulty was supposed to be high enough to butcher top-ranked players that brutally. So I started looking for another passage — something other than the doors in front of me.

That was when I saw it. A small gem, set in the floor. The moment I touched it, a message appeared.