After their mining adventure, Saland and Haytham returned to the village of Valley and immediately sought out a blacksmith to forge their weapons. The blacksmith was a tall, muscular man with a thick head of brown hair. He asked, "What brings you to me, adventurers?"
Haytham replied, "We've come to have weapons custom-made for us. I'd like a katana of medium length. The blade should be white with three prongs on the back. The guard will be triangular and red, and the hilt will be entirely black with white squares along its length."
Saland continued, "As for me, I'd like two twin iron swords. The tips of the two swords will be special. After the long part of the blade, at the end, they should have a diamond-shaped point where two fragments of the stellar sphere will be placed in the center of each diamond."
The blacksmith responded, "It shall be done."
Before leaving, Haytham placed the stellar sphere on the counter and said, "If it's not a problem, could you use this to enhance the weapons you'll build?"
The blacksmith nodded and said, "Before you go, I must tell you that with those clothes, you'd be killed at the first opportunity. There's a mage specialized in strengthening clothes who would be perfect for you."
Saland and Haytham paid their monolithes and went to the mage. They gave the mage their clothes, and in a short time, she strengthened them. When she finished, she said, "Now your clothes have immunity to flames, and you'll take less damage."
The two went outside, and seeing that night had fallen, they decided to go to a nearby inn and entered. The atmosphere was very pleasant. The interior consisted of wooden tables and chairs, there was blues music playing, and many waitresses were serving the tables. Saland and Haytham sat at the counter. Haytham ordered plain sparkling water, and Saland ordered non-alcoholic beer.
While they sipped their drinks, a guy at a table next to theirs was talking, "You have to believe me! A dungeon has appeared on the mountain near Valley. Anyone who has gone in has never returned. No one knows the level of that place, but it's close by."
Saland and Haytham, after hearing this, finished their drinks and paid 500 monolithes to sleep in a cheap room.
When the two went to bed, they began to discuss what they had heard earlier. Saland said, "What do you think? Could we try going to that dungeon tomorrow?"
Haytham replied, "But will we be ready for such an undertaking already?"
And Saland answered, "Come on, what could possibly happen?"
The two slept, and early in the morning, they went to the blacksmith, who gave them their swords. Haytham's was a katana with a white blade and three prongs on the back, a triangular black guard, and a black hilt with white squares on it. The blacksmith said, "The special ability of your sword is to make you much more agile, slowing down time around you and allowing you to move more freely."
Saland's two twin swords were quite long and had no hilt, but near the tips of the two swords were two diamonds made of the same material as the sword. In the middle of the diamonds were two pieces of the stellar core that had become bright yellow. The blacksmith said, "Your two swords will allow you to master your light abilities, and thanks to the stellar core, you will be able to enhance them in the future."
The two thanked the blacksmith and went to the notice board, taking the quest with only question marks.
Saland and Haytham walked up the mountain until they reached an enormous rock wall in which a huge wooden door was set. In front of the door, however, there were already three people. Saland and Haytham approached and saw: a very muscular boy wearing only a black jacket, with black hair that fell downwards and gray jeans; then two girls, one with blonde hair gathered in a braid that fell over her chest, of average height and dressed in white pajama-like clothes with small blue kittens on them and pajama-like pants, on the left side of her head she wore a white cat-shaped mask with red trim, and she held a transparent white umbrella; the other girl was tall, with black hair from the back to her bangs and then two slightly green and purple strands of hair that reached her shoulders, she wore a black mask that covered her mouth, revealing only her beautiful green eyes, and she was dressed in a black maid outfit with white trim and fishnet stockings.
They immediately saw that the guy was striking very masculine poses that highlighted his muscles, and the two girls were looking at him very confused. One of the girls said, "Sister, ever since we arrived, this brute has been striking deplorable poses."
The guy said, "Behold everyone, the beauty of Shimmon!" and made his pecs dance, smiling very exaggeratedly.
Saland and Haytham approached and said, "Are you here for the dungeon too?"
The two girls replied yes, and Shimmon said, "Of course! How could I not come to a place to further highlight my beauty, which is my strength?"
The blonde girl said, "My name is Christa, and this is my twin sister Marty. We were intrigued by the guy talking about the dungeon last night, and I imagine this weirdo is here for the same reason."
Shimmon replied, "Obviously, I'm here because my intuition told me that the guy from last night would lead me to greater beauty. But who are you, little elf and shadowy sir?"
Haytham and Saland replied, "My name is Saland, and he's my friend Haytham, and we're here too because we heard that guy's conversation."
In the end, the five of them decided to form a group, but they didn't know how to open the gate. Haytham, thinking the gate wasn't very strong, threw a very strong punch at the wooden door. Immediately, Haytham's arm and entire body trembled, and he fell to the ground in pain, making everyone laugh. Shimmon took out a black necklace amulet that lit up, and the gate magically opened. The group entered, and immediately the door behind them closed, and torches attached to the walls lit up the surrounding area.
Immediately, our heroes noticed that they were surrounded by humanoid reptile-like monsters with yellow eyes and drool coming out of their mouths. Without thinking, Shimmon attacked one of them, throwing a punch and saying, "This is the power of beauty!!" Around his arm, the aura was very concentrated and almost seemed to cover it. The monster flew into the air, and Saland immediately teleported near the monster and cut it in two.
Shimmon asked Saland, "What's your innate ability?"
Saland replied, "Light."
Suddenly, the enormous horde of creatures lunged at our heroes, but Christa immediately grabbed her umbrella, opened it, and said, "Endless sleep!!" A sphere of light formed at the tip of the umbrella and was fired at the horde of monsters. One after another, they fell asleep, and their mana began to flow out of them. Christa absorbed their mana, and the monsters vanished.
However, some creatures had not been affected by "endless sleep" and got up a little confused. Marty immediately dashed forward, holding a black scepter with a red sphere surrounded by black circles on top, and said, "EXPLOSION," and the remaining creatures were charred by explosions.
Christa explained, "My innate ability is called 'endless sleep.' Basically, I shoot a blast of energy that disperses in the surrounding area and hits most targets, putting them to sleep. Meanwhile, I absorb their aura, causing them to die. Marty doesn't talk much; I'll explain her innate ability: 'explosion.' With her scepter, she can hit designated targets with one or multiple explosions."
The group continued their journey and noticed that the further they went, the narrower the cave became. They encountered no other enemies besides those at the beginning of the dungeon. The group went further and further, and the walls and ceiling seemed to shrink more and more. The torches on the walls disappeared, but Shimmon noticed a dazzling light towards what seemed to be the end of the tunnel.
The group ran towards the light, but Shimmon suddenly stopped, and everyone bumped into him. Christa said, "Why did you stop, idiot!"
Shimmon replied, "There's nothing ahead of us anymore. I only see an enormous bottomless abyss."
At that moment, they were inside a narrow passage as big as a 120 cm window, and Shimmon barely fit.
Marty said, "What do we do now?"
An idea came to Saland, and he said, "Shimmon, let me come forward. I have an idea; I don't know if it will work, but we have to try."
Shimmon agreed and let Saland come forward, who said, "Everyone, hold hands."
Everyone did so, and Saland concentrated, emitting a lot of yellowish magical aura. In an instant, Saland found himself in a bizarre circular garden and noticed that there was an enormous circular stone wall with many loopholes like the one they were in. He immediately looked back and saw that everyone was fine, although a little dazed. However, suddenly, Saland's legs gave way, and he fell to the ground. Haytham immediately went to him and offered his hand, and Saland got up. From behind, Shimmon slapped him on the back, making him fall again, and Shimmon said, "Haha, good job, my little elf, I mean Saland, sorry, your light is beautiful." He smiled and gave a thumbs up.
The group immediately looked towards the center of the garden, where there was a large staircase, and above it, the treasure room with a gate similar to the entrance. The group hurried towards the staircase, but the ground shook, and a giant beast emerged from it.
Christa said, "This must be the boss of this dungeon. If we defeat it, we can access the treasures of this place."
The gigantic creature had the head of a lion with a black muzzle and an orange mane. Its body was very muscular and covered in scarlet armor, and it wielded an enormous iron sword with a red hilt. Shimmon immediately dashed towards the monster and punched it in the face, destabilizing it. Marty immediately ran around it, creating several explosions, and Haytham fired a barrage of energy shots at the monster. Saland struck the back of the giant's knee, causing it to lose balance, and it tried to hit them by swinging its greatsword. The monster got back up and swung wildly, roaring immediately. Shimmon repeatedly struck it with devastating punches, and the beast fell to the ground again. Saland slashed the enormous creature's chest, revealing its core, and Haytham destroyed the core with a gunshot, causing the boss to vanish.
Saland and his companions climbed the staircase, and the enormous gate opened, revealing countless riches before them. Marty and Christa threw themselves into the gold, Shimmon put on all the necklaces and crowns he found and admired himself in a gold ingot, and Saland looked at all that enormous wealth speechless. Haytham was searching among the various riches for something to enhance himself and found a small chest, calling Saland to see it.
Haytham, very curious, said, "What do I do? Do I open it? Do I open it?"
And Saland replied, "Alright, go ahead and open it."
Haytham opened the small golden chest. Inside was a strange black sphere on a red cushion, and immediately a strong wind began to blow from inside the chest. The sphere levitated into the air, and all the riches dematerialized into green pixels. From the black sphere, a strange human-like figure formed. It was quite tall, with no special features except that its body seemed to glitch, and the colors black and white interchanged. The only distinct features were its long black hair and violet eyes.
Everyone felt an enormous pressure of mana that was so strong it paralyzed them. The mysterious entity said, "I don't know who you are, but know that you have made the worst mistake of your existence."
Immediately, Marty and Christa, feeling in danger, said, "Neural fusion control!" Christa and Marty became one person, now wearing a long purple dress with long black hair and green eyes. As weapons, she had two purple and black fans with sharp points at the front, and she said, "I am Christy, and I am the fusion of Christa and Marty. Now you'll deal with me."
Immediately after saying those words, the entity dashed forward at lightning speed and with a single punch sent Christy crashing against the wall, knocking her unconscious and separating her back into Christa and Marty.
The entity said, "How rude of me. My name is Bruhsuperdoom, and I am a glitch that has been locked away for too long in a timeless and spaceless prison."
Immediately, Saland, without a second thought, lunged at his opponent, but Bruhsuperdoom easily parried his twin swords and with a flick of his arm brushed him aside. Haytham tried to shoot him, but Bruhsuperdoom dodged the shot simply by moving his head, and Haytham tried to strike him with his katana but was instantly knocked to the ground by a punch. Shimmon dashed forward and struck Bruhsuperdoom, who parried, and Bruhsuperdoom said, "You're not bad at all." There was an exchange of blows, but Bruhsuperdoom was on a whole other level, and with another blow, he sent Shimmon crashing against a wall.
Saland struggled to his feet and dashed towards Bruhsuperdoom, saying, "X light!" An X of light formed on Bruhsuperdoom's chest, and he was struck by a myriad of slashes. However, Bruhsuperdoom showed no sign of pain or physical damage and laughed, "Haha, do you think an attack at such a low level can hurt me?"
Bruhsuperdoom condensed a strange corrupted magical energy from his index finger and fired it at Saland, but Shimmon got back up and stepped in front, taking the hit instead of Saland. As he fell to the ground, he said, "I protected your beauty..." and fell to the ground with his usual flamboyant smile.
Bruhsuperdoom said, "I'm surprised none of you died instantly from my attacks. I've really gotten rusty." Saland's legs were trembling with fear, but he tried not to let the enemy notice. Bruhsuperdoom instantly emanated an exorbitant amount of mana, and Saland fell to the ground from the pressure.
Bruhsuperdoom said, "I will spare your lives. After all, you are the ones who freed me. I hope you will be stronger next time. See you later, brats." Bruhsuperdoom vanished in a cloud of pixels, and the dungeon began to collapse.