Secret Floor, but no Treasure

With each step they took, Gwen’s heartbeat sped up. The smell was something that one could easily get over, but something deep. Almost primal screams screamed at her, pulling her in a direction that she didn’t want to go.

It was as if this part of the dungeon didn’t want them in it.

The long stairway widened before flattening out. The journey finally ended outside a door resembling the one the group had gone through earlier. A skull was in the middle of the door, glowing dark black.

Chris turned slightly, looking at Gwen. “Are you ready?”

“Wasn’t I supposed to ask?” Gwen replied snarkily.

“I thought I’d ask since I’m at the front of the group.”

“Ugh, can you two please be serious!” Claire interrupted.

The smile growing on Gwen’s face died. “You’re right, my apologies.” She paused, taking ‌a deep breath. “We found a secret part of the dungeon, and we need to give it our all if we want to tell others about it! Let’s go forth and defeat whatever comes our way.”

“That was a shitty speech, Boss.” Kira shook her head sadly.

Claire patted Gwen’s shoulder in sympathy.

Gwen slumped. “This was the first time I tried to give a speech.”

“I thought you did great, boss,” Chris said, giving a thumbs up.

“Suck up,” Kira muttered.

“Just open ‌the door, Chris,” Gwen sighed.

Chris gave a firm nod and approached the door. The harmonious mood in the corridor changed to one of tense anticipation for the unknown. A hand placed on the door; the eyes flashed white once before it slowly opened.

Creeeeakkkk

It sounded as if no one had opened the door in ages.

Gwen gulped. It took effort to keep her face neutral instead of showcasing the excitement she felt. It felt amazing to find something no adventurer has seen in modern times. Who else wouldn’t find this moment exhilarating?

Once the door opened, hitting the party with wind tainted with‌ dark magic. Chris immediately moved in front, a blue light flashing around his shield as he blocked the worst of it.

Gwen’s hood flew off her head, her hair blowing free.

A moment later, the wind finally died, leaving them looking into a dark void. This was it: time to make history.

Chris took a breath and disappeared into the void—Claire unsheathed her daggers, following wordlessly after him. Before Gwen could take a step forward, she felt a tug on her leg.

“Are you sure you should go through the door?” Kira asked, her voice low.

Gwen smiled and rubbed the top of her head. “It’ll be fu-err fine, we are going to be fine, I promise.”

“You were going to say fun, weren’t you?”

“No…”

Kira shook her head. “I don’t know why I thought you could reassure me.” Not waiting for a reply, she walked forward.

“Wait, Kira,” Gwen called, but it was too late; Kira had already gone through the void-like gate.

And there goes another fail at being a boss. Gwen grumbled as she marched forward. Maybe she should look into being a solo adventurer again, or alone with Bun-Li.

Gwen smiled at the bunny. “Are you ready?”

Bun-Li gave her a small nod.

With a deep breath, she marched into the void. For a brief moment, her body felt weightless as an icy breeze brushed against her skin. Then she stumbled forward, landing on hard stone.

“Ow…note to self: falling on stone still hurts.” She joked.

“Don’t worry, guys, it’s just our leader falling on the ground again.” Claire joked, lightening the mood.

“Haha, funny!”

Gwen pushed herself up, rubbing her backside. She looked around, but there was nothing to see. Just an endless darkness surrounding her.

“I wish the light would finally turn on.” Chris groaned.

Gwen felt something touch and grab her hand, shaking in fear.

A torch on the wall suddenly came to life, followed by another. Then another. One after another, flames spread across the room, illuminating the dark stone walls and floor until the entire area was visible.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Huh”

She glanced toward the walls, then the floor. “I was expecting treasure.”

Kira stared at her. “Seriously?”

“What? Secret dungeon floors should have treasure.”

“You’re impossible,” Kira mumbled, shaking her head in disappointment.

Gwen shrugged. It wasn’t her fault that this dungeon was being stingy after they found a secret.

Unlike the previous floors, the fifth floor looked like a small arena made entirely of dark stone. But it wasn’t the room itself that caught her attention. It was what stood at the center.

The light of the torches seemed to weaken around it, as if the darkness itself was being pulled toward its body. Heavy black armor covered the creature from head to toe, and it shone in the light. In one hand, it held a massive black greatsword nearly as tall as the monster itself.

It stood completely still.

At first, Gwen thought it was sleeping, but then two red eyes appeared behind the slits in the helmet. They stared directly at her.

Yeah… that thing is definitely not asleep.

Her heart began pounding, a grin slowly forming on her face. Gwen balled her hands into fists. She was about to move when the suddenly black puddles appeared in the middle of the floor. The puddles began to morph and take shape as each one grew to different sizes. Bones snapped and echoed from around them.

“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick,” Claire said.

Gwen could only nod in agreement.

Finally, after a minute, the darkness of the puddles disappeared, leaving behind monsters. Standing before the party, there were two orcs who stood at the back near the Black Armor. In front of them were a goblin mage and five hobgoblins.

Or at least they resembled hobgoblins; compared to the other ones, these were bulkier and taller. Not as tall as the two orcs, but bigger in comparison to the regular ones. The energy the monsters gave off was immense, with each of them glowing a slightly black color.

They seemed strong.

Gwen began bouncing on her feet. “I call—”

“No!” Claire interrupted, glaring at Gwen over her shoulder. “Since we didn’t get to fight the Slime Queen, you get to sit out the beginning of this fight.”

“But, but”

“No buts, Gwen,” Chris added. “That goes for you two, Bun-Li, no interfering.”

“That’s so unfair!”

“Should’ve thought about that before having fights with us!”

Gwen glanced down at Kira. “You disagree with this, right?”

Kira shrugged. “Sorry, Boss, we all know if you get involved, you’d just make quick work of the monsters, anyway.”

“But… but they seem so strong.”

“Sucks to be you then.”

“Wait, wait, can I join if I only use support magic like buffs and debuffs?” she hurriedly asked.

Claire and Chris shared a glance.

“I forgot she could heal.”

“She never uses it often.”

Chris tilted his head. “What do you think?”

“Hmm, I saw it's okay; it’ll make it easier for us not to die and stop her from having fun.”

“Alright, you can use support magic.”

Gwen punched the air. “Yes, thank you!”

The monsters looked at them before the hobgoblins took off, charging, not wanting to wait any longer. Chris and Claire didn’t say anything else as they hurried forward, meeting the charge head-on.

Clang!

The hobgoblin’s weapon crashed against his sword, forcing Chris’s arm downward. His muscles. strained as he struggled to hold the attack back, his blue reinforcement magic activating. Despite that, Chris’s arm trembled under the strike.

“Alright, Chris, time to give you a little boost,” Gwen muttered, cracking her fingers. She began channeling magic, letting white energy gather in her palm. “Strengthen…” A small ball of light formed above her hand, growing brighter as she continued feeding it magic.

Gwen held out her arm, her mind flashing to Chris. “Shift.”

The ball shot forward and slammed into Chris’s back. Immediately, he began to glow green as the spell started to take effect.

The hobgoblin brought its club up again and brought it back down with heavy force. Chris easily caught the attack without being pushed back. With a mighty roar, he pushed the attack to the side and slashed downward, drawing blood from the monster's body.

“Haha, now that’s more like it,” Gwen shouted with a grin.

The hobgoblin stumbled, its eyes widening in shock.