#049 – This feels like a calm before the storm
Ah yes, a dark, unnaturally silent locker probably full of monsters waiting just outside of my vision. How nostalgic.
Everyti I’d entered one of these, it had ended in a horrible experience and I was under no illusions that this ti would be any different.
The eerie silence only broken by my own breaths and my feet carefully tapping on the tal floor, the all-consuming darkness all around just barely lit up by the small fla in my palm created by Flaguard, the uncertainty of whether this place would decide to trap inside with its space-warping nonsense…
Why was I doing this to myself? Why hadn’t I just left this dungeon be and tried to maybe find civilization instead?
Right, because I was a completionist and leaving this dungeon unfinished, especially right before the final boss, would nag at forever.
“Okay, chat… So far so good…” I whispered, my voice echoing in the creepy space like the cry of a ghost.
KaiEbikoOfficial: I don’t trust this
GeorgeDoshington: BOO!
Irid123: I wonder what the trick is this ti
I resisted my urge to roll my eyes at George and kept a keen eye on my surroundings, even if I could barely see anything.
I briefly glanced back to confirm that, yes, the entrance was still there, and it was getting further away from . The column of light that was supposedly the exit was also still there and was getting closer as I walked toward it.
I didn’t trust any of this. It seed way too simple.
GonguuH: try checking the map
GonguuH: I feel like this is a trap
I humd in agreent and slowly pulled out the map before shining so light on it with my fire.
I narrowed my eyes on it when I saw that it was nearly completely empty save for three arrows. A blue arrow that seed to be the entrance behind , a red arrow that had to be the supposed exit in front of , and then a green arrow in between those two curling onto itself in an anti-clockwise circle.
I slowly blinked before lifting my eyes up at the column of light in front of .
“...It is a trap, chat.” I sniffed. “I knew it.”
Good thing I’d looked at the map. I still didn’t know what the red arrows ant, but better safe than sorry.
Even though it felt a bit silly, I did as my map commanded and followed the green arrow. That was to say, I began walking in a small circle while continuing to stare at the map.
Unlike the previous instances, the arrows on the map also began moving around as I walked, while the red dot stayed in the middle, like it was so kind of minimap in a video ga. As I walked, the green arrow in the middle slowly uncurled and by the ti it straightened out completely, I ran into another column of light – this one much smaller for so reason – that seed to lead outside.
“...Huh. That was… easy?” I carefully said, still feeling suspicious.
JamieWasTaken3: still feels sus
“It really does, doesn’t it?”
Despite my trepidation, I happily walked through and out of the dark locker. As soon as my eyes readjusted to the light, I found myself in a room with so tables and chairs as well as several doors in all directions.
I blinked as I looked back at where I’d co from and spotted a row of completely normal-sized lockers lining the wall behind . One of them was open and led back into the darkness.
“...And this is the first floor, isn’t it? It’s like I’m going back through the entire dungeon or sothing.” I shook my head before holding the map up again. “Well, where to now?”
As expected, a blue arrow on the map pointed back into the locker, one of the doors on my left had a green arrow, and the rest were all red arrows.
I was beginning to get anxious. Things were too simple. This dungeon was never simple. It had to be preparing to screw over sohow. Were the green arrows really leading to the final boss or was it sothing else?
Or maybe it was all reverse psychology and if I deviated from the simple green arrow path now, I would regret it.
Stupid dungeon had conditioned to be hyper paranoid about everything, ugh.
“Well, let’s keep going. If the pattern holds, then… this should be the last area before… Before I reach whatever it is that I’m going toward.” I pursed my lips.
GeorgeDoshington: final boss ti!
Jeofffff: check your ammo and ether levels and stuff
Jeofffff: just in case
I humd.
“Good idea, Jeoff. I don’t wanna get caught off guard now.”
A few bites of the life ooze, a quick check on the bracelet’s remaining juice – 29% – and with my naginata drawn in my hand, I finally set off again.
I was ready for whatever the dungeon decided to throw at now. The only thing I lacked was the Craftsman skill to properly utilize the lightning from my naginata, but I should be fine even without it. I still had my Fire Breath as well as my new gun for long-range options, and electrifying the blade wasn’t as hard as shooting lightning out of it. I could manage.
I opened the door and was greeted with a curving hallway. I didn’t hesitate before entering it while keeping my guard up.
I walked through in silence, eyes darting all over the walls in anticipation, but still nothing happened.
I reached the end of the hallway and was greeted by several windows I could climb through. If I looked at them all individually, they all seed to lead to the very start of the dungeon. But if I looked at my map, I saw that one of the windows had a green arrow, while the rest had red ones.
“Through here, I guess…” I mumbled as I approached the correct window and climbed through it.
I idly noted that it was much easier now than it had been when I’d first tried to climb through windows like these. I had probably grown a fair bit because of the blessing.
Once on the other side, I found myself in a corridor filled with windows reminiscent of the dungeon’s entrance. Except this corridor wasn’t straight; it seed to curve away and I couldn’t see what lay on either end of it.
I looked at my map.
My eyes narrowed and I completely disregarded all the red arrows indicating the windows. I was more interested in the green arrow pointing down one of the corridor’s directions, as well as the black arrow pointing down the other direction.
JamieWasTaken3: black?
KaiEbikoOfficial: that’s ominous
I lifted my head and glanced in the black arrow’s direction.
KaiEbikoOfficial: nana don’t
“...I’m not going there. Just curious,” I mumbled before shaking my head. “Well, it’s probably so kind of death trap anyway.”
With that, I ignored that path and continued following the green arrow down the snaking corridor.
It only took a few minutes before I reached a door with golden chains and a lock draped over it, similar to the golden gate that led to floor three.
I took a deep breath and let out a sigh as I stared at it.
“My gar senses are tingling, chat. I think that this is it. Whatever the green arrows were leading toward, it’s behind this door.”
GonguuH: agreed
KaiEbikoOfficial: be careful Nana
GeorgeDoshington: FINAL BOSS TIIII BABYYY
I approached it, eyed it for a mont, then reached into my backpack and pulled out the key sword manually for once – didn’t want to waste Tempor summoning it – before slotting it into the keyhole, and turning it.
The lock clicked and the chains around it fell apart, giving access to the door behind it.
“Here we go, chat.”
Jeofffff: good luck!
GeorgeDoshington: glhf
I put my hand on the door’s handle and opened it.
Inside, there was… an indoor pool. Looking perfectly innocent and innocuous. I didn’t trust it for a second but I entered the room anyway.
As soon as I did, the door slamd shut behind , prompting to whirl around in shock. Before I could register what was happening, the door clicked and I felt my stomach drop.
“Oh, no…”
Naturally, I tried grabbing the handle and opening it again, but it wouldn’t budge anymore. I was trapped in this place. I couldn’t help but really feel the ‘final boss room’ vibes now.
Jeofffff: oh shit
Jeofffff: it’s win or die
I swallowed and reluctantly turned back to the room at large while trying to calm my drumming heart.
As ntioned before, there was a large pool in the middle of the room. It looked like water but…
Death water
Dungeon liquid that drains intruder’s Ether on touch and creates dungeon monsters.
…Yeah, I figured.
I would have to hug the edges of the big room to stay safe. Luckily there seed to be plenty of space and I probably wouldn’t need to worry about falling into the pool.
That aside…
“...So, where’s the final boss?” I asked the empty room as my eyes scanned it.
Then I heard soone ask the exact sa thing from up above.
“Wha–”
I craned my neck up and froze at what I saw.
There was another pool up on the ceiling. Chilling there like gravity didn’t matter.
That wasn’t the surprising part though. The thing that had stunned was the fact that I could see a door by that pool diagonally across from and a girl standing in front of the door, staring at .
The girl had cyan-blue hair, a matching outfit, a naginata in her right hand, a map in her left hand, goggles on her head, bracelet on her wrist–
“What the hell?!” I yelled.
The girl yelled the sa thing.
We both gaped at each other for a good minute.
“Uh… Hello…?”
As expected, my reverse-gravity doppelganger mirrored everything I did and said.
“Are you… a clone? Or a mirror image?” I asked as our eyebrows scrunched up. “Or are you literally ? Like… is the space here warped so much that I’m sohow seeing myself?”
It wouldn’t explain the sound, but… Well, maybe it would. Who knew how the heck this nonsense worked.
GeorgeDoshington: finally found another person
JamieWasTaken3: double nana
KaiEbikoOfficial: wow that’s weird
Jeofffff: summon john
I humd and summoned John as Jeoff suggested. The mont I did though, I paused and slowly looked toward a specific spot next to my doppelganger. Just like how I felt John’s position, I could feel… another John’s position.
“...Chat. There are two Johns.”
I made John float over and to my other side all while his cara stayed on .
I could feel the doppelganger’s John do the exact sa thing.
“This is so, so, weird,” I murmured. “The dungeon duplicated .”
GeorgeDoshington: evil clone final boss?!
“I really hope not, George. I don’t wanna fight a dark version of myself. That sounds really dumb and cliche,” I murmured.
How would I even defeat such a boss without defeating myself as well in the process? If this room was perfectly mirrored, I would take any and all damage she would take. The only possible result would be a stalemate or a draw.
Regardless, I decided to do a little test.
I breathed in the tiniest amount and then spat a small Fla Bullet in my doppelganger’s direction.
She did exactly the sa thing in perfect sync with and I expected the fireballs to collide and cancel each other out, but instead, they sohow passed through each other and now there was a fireball headed straight at .
I squeaked and jumped out of the way as it hit the ground. My doppelganger did the sa thing.
Yeah, this wasn’t going to work.
Ugh, why was the final boss suddenly a puzzle? That didn’t feel like this dungeon at all.
Well, at least I had all the ti in the world to try and figure it out. No random monsters chasing this ti.
So with that in mind, I put the map back into my backpack, finally left the door behind , and began walking alongside the pool’s edge while keeping an eye on my reflection up above.
How would one even go about defeating an enemy who was the perfect mirror of yourself? If this was a video ga, there would have to be so kind of loophole or an exploit. So minor inconsistency in how it mirrored your movent, or even an item that would resurrect you on death, but wouldn’t do the sa for the doppelganger.
Not that I wanted to die to beat the boss, but–
Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by the pool’s surface rippling and sending out a large splash as sothing erged from it. Two sothings, one from each of the pools, actually.
I startled and gripped the naginata in both hands as I stared at the things with wide eyes.
As the water slid off of them – so of it fell down, so of it up – and revealed what the two things were, I couldn’t help but gape.
It was a pair of giant sharks. With large reptilian wings instead of side fins. And not just that. There also seed to be so kind of devices strapped to their backs with what looked like a sci-fi cannon. One of them was facing and the other was facing my doppelganger.
They opened their massive jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth and let out a ground-shaking roar in concert; I couldn’t help but stiffen at the horrible echoey doublesound.
Oh.
I belatedly realized that I’d had it all wrong.
My doppelganger wasn’t the boss. It was just a consequence of what this place was. The actual boss just didn’t appear until you walked further into the room.
After the shark facing closed its mouth again, the cannon thing on its back pointed at and began glowing while letting out very sci-fi energy charging sounds. Its twin likewise looked at my doppelganger and began charging its own cannon in unison.
My eyes widened and I moved on instinct as I jumped to the side just as it fired out a massive fucking laser beam that ripped through the space where I’d stood just a mont ago.
“What the f–”
I scrambled to stand up only to find the shark already swooping down at like an eagle.
I breathed out and spat out a river of flas in his direction even as I jumped to the side to dodge its body barreling toward .
The flaming shark smashed into the ground next to , its wings nearly clipping , and imdiately took off again.
I grit my teeth and got ready to tussle.
But then a wave of fire slamd into from where I’d shot it and I scread in surprise before activating Flaguard for fire resistance and let it wash over for the most part.
I looked at where the wave of fire had co from and–
Oh.
My doppelganger was in that direction.
I’d shot myself with fire.
That was the gimmick with this boss.
Now I understood.
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