I stood in front of what looked like a cave. The surrounding area had little greenery or wildlife. It was around midday but the sun refused to spare any light for this place. Human remains and bleached bones were scattered everywhere. The atmosphere around it wasn’t the same kind of darkness that I possessed. It was much denser, more malefic, as if to steer anything that was alive away from this place.

I summon my armor without any hesitation and being walking to the cave. I could have sworn I heard the breeze whisper into my ear, Turn back. Unphased by my hallucination I ventured forth into the world of daemons.

Exidium made sure to tell me that this was test. Something to show how much I’ve grown over the past 4 years, since I haven’t encountered any danger. I had no interest in dying here, so I didn’t dare underestimate any enemy, no matter how weak they looked.

Everything was dark, but since I had night vision I had no issue navigating through the maze, that was until I got lost.

I came across a fork in the path, and took a wrong turn and came across a dead end. There were goblins waiting behind me as I turned to go back. Man were they ugly. Short with ugly features. Noses that were probably broken multiple times, teeth protruding from their mouths. Worst of all was how badly they smelled. I had a helmet on and was about 30 feet away and could smell them as if they were leaving me with no personal space.

There were 4 of them standing in a formation, ready to attack as a group. The first one charged at me while the rest aimed to surround me.

My strategy here was to deal with them one by one as they tried to trap me. I met the one who was charging at me with a kick to it’s leg, breaking it instantly. I proceeded to throw a punch at it’s stomach, launching it into the air. I then used a spine on my left leg to pierce its heart with a roundhouse kick as it was falling.

The other three stopped in their tracks as their vanguard had been taken out in less than 3 seconds. Capitalizing on their surprisement, I dealt with the next one by punching it in the throat, shattering his windpipe and trachea. As the two remaining realized they had no chance to kill me, they began to run.

Of course, I couldn’t let them live. Showing mercy to evil is the same as being ruthless to the innocent. I chased after them and kicked one in the back, immediately breaking its spinal cord, and sent him flying into the wall, killing him instantly. I picked up the last one and slammed him into the ground, effectively breaking every bone in his body.

With my attackers dealt with I went back to the fork and headed in the other direction. More goblins got in my way and I put them down in a similar fashion. Quick and efficient. I continued to wander through. I managed to stumble into almost every dead end there was. With each one more goblins appeared behind me, trying to ambush me.

After a couple hours of frustrating exploration, I came across a path that led downward. It was a spiral that led down to another floor of the labyrinth. There was seemingly no difference here, so I began to explore. It wasn’t long before I discovered that it was much different than before.