Congratulations!

By surviving an attempt to deflect a massive projectile

you’ve reached [Reflect Projectile] Level 2!

Your deflection capabilities are enhanced!

You may now send smaller projectiles back at those who fired them.

Smaller Projectiles DO NOT include pedestals the size of a human head.

Warning

You have fallen below one quarter of your maximum HP.

Continued damage will result in death.

Death is not recommended.

Ether was sure he’d shut off combat alerts after the first few fights, but apparently smug, understated HP alerts weren’t considered combat related. Somehow.

He rolled to his feet just in time, as a massive claw slammed down where his head had been moments before. One of the gargoyles, shaped like some sort of vaguely humanoid dragon, stood a few feet away. It opened its stoney maw and roared, nearly deafening the [Adventurer], but that turned out to be a mistake. Ether, dazed though he was, acted as quickly as his battered body would allow and lunged towards the monster blade first. The grating sound of metal grinding against stone hurt his ears even more than the roar had, but he pushed on. Plunging the blade as far down the gargoyle’s throat as possible, he looked into the now terrified beast’s eyes.

“[Shock]!” He shouted, focusing on the weapon in his hands. “[Shock]![Shock]![Shock]!” His MP seemed to flow more easily than it had when he’d wiped out the giant rats the day before, coursing swiftly through his weapon and into the deadly monster, who could only twitch and spasm as cracks ran throughout its body.

You dealt 24 damage to Terror Gargoyle Level 9

You dealt 24 damage to Terror Gargoyle Level 9

You dealt 24 damage to Terror Gargoyle Level 9

You dealt 24 damage to Terror Gargoyle Level 9

Apparently all his combat messages had started to ignore his settings. He’d make sure to report the bug as soon as he finished fighting for his life.

Suddenly, the gargoyle exploded, fragments of stone flying in every direction. Ether leapt backwards, shielding his face as twisting away from what was now a pile of rubble. There should still be two more gargoyles left-

There! One of them had Perseus backed into a corner, and unlike the others, this one looked - and fought - like a human. The massive stone spear it carried looked heavy and impractical, but it struck with deadly speed and accuracy, nearly skewering Perseus half a dozen times in as many seconds. The [Rogue] was breathing heavily, and with the monster’s attention focused solely on him, his class bonus wasn’t able to take effect. He hadn’t taken a direct hit yet, but one would probably be enough to end him, while the stone hide of the gargoyle had allowed it to shrug off a dozen blows from his enchanted daggers already.

Meanwhile, the other remaining gargoyle was hurling rubble at Shar as quickly as it could manage, pelting her with everything it had. The redhead hadn’t been as lucky as Perseus, and seemed to have taken a glancing blow to one leg, making continued evasion almost impossible. The choice was clear.

Bolts of lightning tore their way free of Ether’s glaive as he did all he could to distract the one fighting Shar, even as he sent her a quick message. Just as he’d hoped, the gargoyle focused its wrath on him, leaving the redhead alone as it hurled fistfulls of apple sized stones his way. Hiding his nerves behind a smile, he used his newly upgraded skill and prayed this would work.

His MP, which had already been sitting at half capacity, suddenly ran dry as he spun his glaive. The gargoyle was caught off guard by the return volley, flinching as the rocks shattered against his thick, stoney hide. Ether cursed under his breath as the sudden loss of his remaining MP caught up with him.Even with the damage notifications turned off, he could tell that the beast hadn’t been hurt. A ring of flames sprang up around it as Shar tried to [Flash Fry] the creature, and for a moment, as a blinding light illuminated the caldera, he dared to hope that they’d won.

Then a blackened, burning stone arm flew through the air, missing him by inches as he frantically threw himself out of its path. Wounded and furious, the gargoyle used its remaining arm to grab the nearest thing it could find - the exhausted [Battle Chef]!

Shar struggled, thrashing about wildly as It slowly raised her to its earthen maw. Its jagged stone fangs dripped with a viscous clear fluid, and a foul stench threatened to overwhelm her as it roared in her face. Panic began to overwhelm her, and she desperately tried to cut her way free of the lion headed beast’s grasp. It didn’t even seem to notice the scratches left by her knife as it opened its mouth wide and leaned in towards her -

Only to be stopped at the last second as Ether wrapped his arms around its head, using his glaive to block its mouth. The monster thrashed about, trying to shake him off, but it couldn’t manage to knock the persistent [Adventurer] loose. Furious and desperate, it released Sharlette, freeing its remaining hand - but before it could grab the pesky human crawling on its back, he leapt off, landing next to the redhead. “Can you run?” he managed to get out between labored breaths as he pulled the girl to her feet. She nodded, panic and adrenaline drowning out the pain in her leg as she headed towards the entrance to the caldera. She went to type a message to Perseus, but before she could even start, she saw a black blur race past them.

“I BLAME YOU FOR THIS!” Perseus screamed at his friends as he darted towards the relative safety of the narrow pass that had led them here.

“Well THAT was a disaster,” Ether said a few minutes later as they paused to catch their breath in a slightly wider part of the pass.

“I hope you’re prepared to wake up buried in glitter,” Perseus snapped at him. “That was easily the worst plan you’ve ever come up with.”

“I think it was more a problem of execution,” Ether replied obnoxiously.

“You try soloing one of those creepy bastards!” Perseus shot back. “I need a nap, a snack, and at least two months of therapy.”

“Well, I dunno about therapy,” Shar said as she reached for her pack, “but I brought plenty of snacks!”

She pulled out a large blanket and a picnic basket, laying out a meal as the two boys stared in confusion.

“You brought an entire picnic to a dungeon?” Ether finally asked as the redhead pulled the third consecutive baguette out of a basket too small to possibly contain it.

“I’m always prepared for a picnic,” she replied immediately. Perseus, uncertain if she was joking or not, decided to play it safe - which in his case meant sitting down and shutting up.

That proved to be nowhere near safe enough, though. Rather than trying any of the meat, bread or fish that the [Battle Chef] had already pulled out, he stuck his hand into the still open clearly magical wicker basket and pulled out a muffin, immediately taking a bite. Shar, eyes wide, snatched the muffin out of his grip and smacked him in the face hard enough to send his mouthful of food flying. She hurled the muffin after it and quickly covered her ears and closed her eyes. “What the fu-” Perseus began angrily, only to be cut off as the muffin exploded in a blinding flash, waves of heat rolling off of it..

With a cautious glance towards the blast site, Shar slowly lowered her hands. She nervously glanced at the others, blushing slightly. “Remember that special skill I mentioned, [Instill]? Well… that’s what happens when I use it with [Flash Fry]. I thought I threw all of those out, but I guessed I missed a batch.”

Ether’s mind raced as he stared, slackjawed, at the blackened stone beneath the point where the airborne muffin had detonated. “You can make those?” he asked, a smirk snaking its way across his face.

His party gazed at him with trepidation. “Yes…” the redhead confirmed slowly. “Why?”

“I have an idea,” the mad [Adventurer] said cheerfully.

Gargoyles weren’t quite as smart as a human being, but they certainly weren’t as dumb as an ordinary animal. They were able to set a trap, had thought to separate their prey, and, apparently, mourned their dead. When the adventurers returned to the caldera, the two remaining gargoyles had already gathered the fragments of their fallen into a rough pile, and stood over it with their heads bowed and their eyes closed.

It should’ve been touching, but for some reason, looking at the scene gave Ether a migraine.. He paused, blinking rapidly as pain pulsed through his head.His mind drifted to the friendly, if arrogant, Orlando. He had seemed so real. So human. The goblins, too, had seemed more emotive than any npc he’d ever seen before. The more he thought about it, the worse his migraine got, but he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if this was really just a-

“Ether.” Shar’s voice cut through the discordant thoughts flooding his mind.

“Yeah?”

She smiled gently. “Deep breaths, fearless leader. The dungeon awaits.”

He smiled back as the sudden pain faded, taking with it whatever sympathy he’d felt for the twelve foot tall stone beasts. “You’re right,” he said with a nod. “Now’s no time to get cold feet. You guys remember the plan?” He glanced meaningfully towards the tallest member of the party, who was stubbornly refusing to look his way.

“I’m too busy mourning the death of my dearest friend,” the [Rogue] responded, still refusing to look at him.

“I’m right here.”

Perseus turned to glare at him. “Considering how many of your plans involve using me as bait lately, you’re dead to me!” he said waspishly.

“That’s fair,” Ether allowed as he held an explosive muffin towards his sulking friend. “May I offer you a muffin in these trying times?”

Perseus’ mouth twitched for a moment as he glared at the man he’d known for over twenty years. They locked eyes for an uncomfortably long time - nearly a full minute - but in the end, the pale man sighed and took the muffin. “Explosives are a good start,” he admitted with a smirk, “but I’ll need better bribes than that if you want to avoid a glitter tsunami.”

“Why do you keep using that as a threat?” Sharlette asked curiously.

“It’s not a threat-” Ether began with a smile.

“-it’s a promise!” his friend finished sternly.

Seeing she was still confused, the [Rogue] added, “I’ve done it before. Glitter is incredibly difficult to clean up, and if you’ve got any kind of carpeting at ALL, it’ll basically fuse with it. It won’t actually hurt him - at least, not with the glitter I use - , but it’ll annoy the hell outta him and waste a ton of his time. It’s been my spiteful revenge of choice since middle school.”

The redhead slowly nodded. “Doesn’t it become less effective when used on the same person repeatedly? I mean, if they’re already covered in glitter, it's basically pointless.”

“If he’s really mad, he waits until his victim buys new clothes,” Ether muttered. Shar took the pale man’s gleeful cackling as a sign that her party leader had been on the receiving end of such vengeance more than once.

She was about to interrupt Ether’s attempts to bribe Perseus with the promise of pizza when the other two suddenly froze. They seemed to be staring at her, looking shocked.

No. Not at her.

Behind her.

She dove towards them, twisting her body as she landed to face her foe. Just as she’d feared, their bickering had drawn the attention of the gargoyles. While the massive statues were too large by far to fit inside the narrow pass, their weapons were a different matter. The spear wielder struck with lightning speed, nearly skewering Perseus. The pale young man’s form blurred as he stepped backwards with the aid of a skill, and lifted the muffin to his mouth. He ripped into the muffin with his teeth, tearing off a small piece of it in his mouth and hurling the rest of it at the spearman. Spitting out the bite he’d just taken, Perseus smirked and flipped off the confused gargoyle an instant before the tiny projectile detonated.

The other two mimicked him, albeit more politely, throwing their newly dubbed [Flash Fry Muffin Grenades] in unison. They already knew the gargoyles could survive the full force of Shar’s strongest spell, but they wouldn’t emerge unscathed. With 3 consecutive blasts?

They never stood a chance.

As the smoke cleared, the lone remaining gargoyle could be seen staring in shock at the rubble that had once been it’s ally. It roared, rage overwhelming its self preservation instincts as it took the shattered pieces of the stone spear and began to hurl them into the pass. Unfortunately for the one-armed gargoyle, it was already too late. Enchanted steel blades pierced through either side of it’s neck as it stooped to pick up a second chunk of jagged stone, and the last thing it saw before its severed head shattered into dust and rubble was a smirking [Rogue] staring down at it.

“I will reluctantly admit that this time, your plan worked pretty well,” Perseus said with a genuine smile. Ether nodded shakily, his heart still racing from the surprise attack.

“We’re not done yet,” he replied. “The plan isn’t over until we set foot in the dungeon. Anyone have any ideas about that riddle from before?”

Each of them took a moment to look over the notification that had recorded the riddle earlier.

I raised you to heights of which you’d never dreamed

Beautiful, terrible, not as I seemed

Now struggle against me, you cannot escape

Be you God or Mortal, pathetic or great

I’ve brought you to ruin, burnt you to ash

Even so we both know you’ll mourn when I pass

For without me your lives are listless and gray

I am all you’ll remember of your fondest days.

What am I?

“IS THE ANSWER LOVE?!” Perseus suddenly shouted in the direction of the massive doors. At first, Ether thought nothing had happened, but then his friend sighed.

“I’m gonna take that as a no,” the [Rogue] said dryly, “considering the message I just got telling me I can’t try to answer again for a week of in game time.”

“Which would seem to imply that we get separate chances to answer,” Shar noted.

“Which is good to know,” Ether said with a glare towards his pale friend, “but we should’ve been working under the assumption that we wouldn’t be getting any second chances, and acted accordingly.”

“I was,” Perseus protested with a smirk. “I just didn’t mind if it blew up in our faces. We’re really close to level 10 now, so the dungeon isn’t a big deal anymore!”

“I still want to finish it,” Shar interjected before the boys could start yet another argument. “Levels are only half the battle. Equipment and skills are a huge part of any hero’s kit, and both can be found in dungeons. Loot first, bicker second, boys!”

“One for your side,” the lanky [Rogue] said quietly, nodding towards the door. “What do you think it is then?”

“It’s something that can be either incredibly good, or incredibly bad,” the redhead said, putting one hand to her chin and walking towards the doors. “Something that even gods can’t escape. Something dangerous, but precious…” she hummed softly to herself as she contemplated, but Ether thought he might have an answer.

“What about dreams?” He said aloud, looking up to the doors. “Are you dreams?” It seemed logical enough to him - a dream in the metaphorical sense could easily lead someone to ruin, and on the literal side, nightmares were a form of dream as well.

The only reply came in the form of a system message.

You have answered wrong, and are unable to provide another answer until one week has passed in Lazuros.

Maybe pay a little more attention to the wording next time, genius.

Ether couldn’t help but briefly wonder if he could sue the company behind the game for having an emotionally abusive menu, but quickly dismissed the idea.

“You’re both on the right track,” Shar said with a smile as she laid one hand on the doors, “but you’re looking at this the wrong way. Dreams don’t pass, and any love that dangerous doesn’t deserve to be called love.”

The [Battle Chef] looked up at the doors, confident in her answer. “You are Passion!” she shouted at the stone gates. For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the ground began to tremble. As the gates crumbled to dust, the voice that had first put forth the riddle spoke once more.

Enter, challengers, and prove your worth.