Chapter 14-

I'm finally standing in front of the large door from my dream. After getting a good look at it, the more I remember the dream that I had.

There were glowing purple crystals along the frame of the door, giving it a similar appearance to something you'll see as a final boss door in video games.

I placed my hand on the door and I could feel that the door was made of solid smooth stone. It felt quite cold to the touch.

The light from the crystals was lighting up the area and was keeping the invisible creatures away, who were still scratching at the walls and floor of the tunnel.

I started looking for some type of opening or way to unlock the door, but only saw that there wasn't anyway to open it.

I then remember what the creature said in the dream.

It wanted a 'key'.

I held up the strange black sphere. It was still giving off a similar purple glow, just like the crystals around the door.

"Whoever or whatever's inside this place must be important if it was hidden from the world?"

I then looked back at the tunnel. The invisible creatures were still scratching at the walls and floor.

"It's almost as if someone doesn't want anyone here?"

I then shout out to the door.

"Hey, I'm here! Why do I need to be here and why are you insisting that I free you?!"

There was no response.

I didn't want to open the door yet, since I remember that in the dream I saw a giant creature on the other side. So I wasn't sure if it was good or evil.

"Could you at least tell me if you could fix my arm or if you aren't some evil dude that would eat my face the moment I open this?!"

Still no response.

"Please don't give me that 'I could only talk once a month BS?! I'm standing right outside your door!"

Still no answer.

I sigh and plop down on the ground.

"Two years and I'm finally here, just to get the silent treatment. Can't even leave, since whatever those things are is blocking the exit."

After calming myself down, I get back on my feet and walk towards the door.

"Fine, I'll play your little game."

I hold out the black sphere towards the door. Then a notification popped up.

[You are entering the &$*ERROR*#@% Dungeon. All Gifts would be shut off inside. You won't be able to leave or teleport until completed or if you expire.]

[Know that you'll be risking your life and this place would not hold back in trying to kill you.]

[Any items collected inside would be yours if you somehow survive.]

[Do you wish to enter? Accept/Decline]

"What kind of name is that? What does it mean 'somehow survive'? What kind of notification is this?"

I look back at the invisible creatures, then back at the door.

"It's not like I have a choice? Accept."

The moment I said that, the black sphere disappeared and everything from my inventory appeared on the ground around me.

"Guess my inventory skill isn't allowed in here either?"

The large stone door started to slowly open while I was gathering everything.

I used some rope to tie the three large backpacks together and carried them on my back.

"Alright whoever you are. I hope you could fix whatever's going on with me?”

I then walked through the stone door and proceeded inside.

As soon as I entered, the large stone door closed behind me.

****

Everything was dark and it was hard to see anything.

I kept walking for a while, but soon stopped after I felt that I stepped on something squishy.

'What's this?'

I poked the area again with my foot.

It felt like I was stepping on a water balloon.

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the torches.

Once I lit it, I held it close to whatever I was stepping on.

It was a fleshy organ.

"What the heck?!"

This caused me to jump back.

I soon recognized it as a human lung. But it was odd that there was a fresh human lung lying on the ground.

It wasn't until I started looking around, that my question would be answered.

I was in some sort of cave and there were pieces of human organs scattered on the ground around me.

I also saw that I was standing in one of the many puddles of blood on the ground.

I was trying my best to not freak out at the sight of the organs. But as I took a step back, I felt my foot bump into something.

“Oh God... there’s going to be something that I won’t like, isn’t there?”

I slowly looked on the ground behind me and immediately wished that I didn’t.

I was staring at a mangled corpse on top of some train tracks.

I was staring at my own corpse and wanted to puke my guts out.

Then one of the arms of my corpse reached out and grabbed my ankle, causing me to scream and try pulling my leg free. But it’s grip was strong and wouldn’t let go.

Then the ground under the corpse started to act like quicksand and the corpse started to sink into the ground, dragging me with it.

“No, let go! You’re not real! No!”

I was desperately kicking at the corpse’s head, but it kept dragging me into the ground.

Then several arms came out of the ground and grabbed me all over, then pulled me into the ground.

All I could do was scream while everything went dark.

****

I woke up with a terrible headache and felt like I was seriously dehydrated.

"I've encountered a lot of crazy things during my time in this world. But that was the scariest thing that ever happened to me.”

I looked around and saw that I was in a strange underground jungle. All of the plant life had a strange magical glow to them and the trees reached up to the cave ceiling, which looked to be a couple hundred feet high.

The branches of the tall trees reached out and almost looked like they were holding up the ceiling.

There were dozens of glimmering lights on the ceiling of the cave, giving it the similar appearance of a starry night sky.

“Where am I?”

Then a flock of strange small green birds flew by, shining light on everything they passed by.

"Guessing this is the inside of the dungeon?"

I saw that my backpacks were on the ground beside me. So I picked them up and started walking through the strange jungle.

This wasn't what I expected to find past the stone door, since I remembered things turning out differently in the dream.

I was expecting a fight with some large monster or some dark power offering a wish for freeing it. But I never expected to find a strange dungeon like this.

"Maybe I should've waited until Alice returned before heading inside?"

I tried opening up my inventory, but nothing appeared in front of me.

"Just like the notification said, I can't use my Inventory Skill here. Guess I'll just have to figure out what's waiting here for me?"

I soon arrived at an open clearing.

The ground was filled with grass that was blue and a stone obelisk in the center.

I looked around and searched for anything strange in the area.

After looking around, I didn't see any traps or anything that would ambush me.

'It wouldn't hurt to be safe?'

I picked up a nearby rock and tossed it at the obelisk.

The rock then bounced off of it and nothing seemed to happen.

Just to be safe, I tossed a few more at it before walking up to it.

The obelisk had pieces of stone missing and was covered in moss. There was a metal plate in front of it and had words on it.

[This is the Tomb of the Banished God.]

'Banished God?' I thought to myself, before continuing reading the rest.

[If you're reading this, then it means that you're unfortunately trapped in here.

The dungeon has thirty floors of endless jungle, wildlife, and water. But this isn't only to keep you alive. These are to sustain the creatures that'll be on the hunt for you.

This is to keep trespassers out and keep the Banished God inside.

If you happen to perish inside here, don't worry. Know that your soul would be allowed to return to the world that you came from.

But if you so happen to make it to the end, know that this dungeon would do everything in its power to prevent you or the Banished God from escaping.

Good luck and hope you could forgive us for doing this.

The Maker.]

This was a lot to take in. I had many questions, but the only thing that I could say was.

"You gotta be f***ing kidding me?! Why does stuff like this happen to me ever since I came to this world?!"

I kicked at the metal plate.

"Why does everything in this world want to kill me so badly?!"

I kicked at the metal plate over and over, slowly causing the obelisk to crack.

"Why did I have to have the worst luck out of anyone and get trapped inside a murderous dungeon?! I just wanted to find a way to fix whatever's happening to my arm!"

I then punched the metal plate with my left hand, causing the obelisk to fall over and broke on the ground.

I then stood there for a while, trying to calm my breathing.

I looked at my left hand and saw that it was slightly bleeding, but the Divine Cloth started to heal the wound.

I then laid down on the ground, staring up at the cave ceiling.

“I guess this is how I die. Trapped inside a deadly dungeon with the god that’s responsible for what’s happening with my arm. At least it can’t get any worse than this?”

Then the sounds of something big could be heard coming my way.

“... Why do I do this to myself?”

I climb up to my feet and readied my longbat for what’s coming.

“Alright whoever you are! If I’m going to die here, I’ll at least do it fighting!”

As soon as I said that, two large green eyes could be seen in the shadows of the trees.

“Come on! I’m right here!”

A large red blur zoomed out from the trees and went straight at me.

I held the longbat in front of me to guard the attack. But whatever this thing was, it hit me with what felt like a truck.

I could feel and hear several of my ribs cracking to the force.

Next thing I knew, I was flying backwards and crashed through a tree.

It was difficult to breath as I was slowly getting up, but I glanced up and saw the creature that hit me.

It was a long and massive red snake with antlers. It’s back was covered in thick crimson scales, but it didn’t look like they bothered it while it was slithering around. It had emerald green eyes that had a slight glow to them. Two large antlers were on top of it’s head, just above its eyes.

It slowly raised its head, towering about thirty feet above me, and stuck out it’s long grey tongue to taste the air.

This creature had the appearance and aura of a hunter, almost like it was saying ‘I’m strong, you’re not’.

I used my longbat as a cane to support myself and after seeing it, I knew that this is a powerful foe. With just one hit, it bent the longbat beyond repair and use.

I could just tell that the snake was about to eat me. It might think of me as nothing but an appetizer to it.

“Guess this is it?”

My longbat and backpacks might’ve taken most of the damage, but I was in no condition to run or dodge. So I just closed my eyes and waited for what’s next.

I could feel that its head went for me, mouth open and ready to gobble me in one bite.

A sudden rush of images from moments of my life came flooding through my mind.

The moments I spent alone at school, getting bullied, turning down offers from other kids to hangout since my parents wanted me to focus on my studies, the countless hours of study, and all of the bad stuff that happened to me.

‘Do I really need to see this before I kicked the bucket?’

But then images of the people I met here, the friends I made, the mentors that went out of their ways to teach me to survive, and the moment with Xamera.

Then the moment I felt the giant snake’s mouth get close to closing around me, my body immediately acted on its own.

“Damn it!!!”

At the last moment, I used my longbat to wedge between it’s jaws. This caused it’s mouth to not shut all the way shut.

I was inside its mouth, on top of its tongue and holding onto the longbat with an iron grip.

“Thanks to this stupid arm, I’m forced to ignore the friends that I made in this world! I’m just doing the same thing from my past life!”

The snake was swinging its head side to side. Since it couldn’t close its mouth shut, it was trying to shake me out of its mouth. But I kept my grip.

I then used my other hand to reach for my dagger and use it to start stabbing the snake from the inside of its mouth.

“I said that I’m not dying without a fight, and I’m going to keep that promise!”

I plunged the dagger deep into the roof of the snake's mouth. This caused it to swing its head with one strong swing.

I was then flung out of its mouth, carving a large cut on the way out.

I flew fast and far into the air, screaming as I was falling.

I then landed into something wet and smelly. It felt like I was inside mud or in stinky swamp water. Whatever it was, it broke my fall.

I swam to the surface and managed to poke my head out of whatever I was in.

As soon as I did, I saw the snake staring down at me.

I could see the hatred in its eyes and the nasty cut on its upper lip, where the knife carved it’s way out.

The longbat was still between its jaws.

The snake then snapped its jaw closed, crushing the bat.

As it spat out the remains of my weapon, I was expecting it to do the same thing to me.

But to my surprise, the snake was looking around and poking its tongue out.

Despite the fact that I was right in front of it, it didn’t look like it saw me.

That’s when I remembered that snakes have terrible eyesight and find their prey by tasting the air.

It would appear that whatever I was in, it was hiding my smell with the foul smell.

The snake then slithered away, leaving me there. So I climbed out of the mud and onto a nearby patch of grass.

I was panting heavily and in pain all over.

“That’s right… you better run.”

After catching my breath, I looked at what saved my life. I immediately felt like throwing up after seeing it.

The thing that saved my life and hid my scent was a pile of a creature’s excrement.

“Even when I’m saved, I have terrible luck.”

I picked up the crushed longbat and started limping into the jungle.

Picking up a nearby log and using it as a crutch, I wanted to make my way as far away from the snake as possible.

“I gotta pay everyone back… everyone who helped me get this far… I gotta pay them back, somehow?”