Five hours earlier...

  Or was it twenty minutes? Seriously, time loves taking its sweet—time?—when you’re bored out of your skull!

  But wait, I don’t have a skull.

  Huh.

  Semantics always messing with my mind. Regardless, I’m pretty sure—like, twenty pert sure—it’s only beey minutes, so maybe ighat whole “five hours earlier” bit.

  Waiting ioad boss’s chamber, I led into a perfect Asian squat—scratch that, it sounds a bit racist… Japanese schoolgirl squat? Nah, too bathroom-y fetish-sounding. Just picture a deep, rexed squat—ugh! You know what? Think of my current position more like a chaotitortionist’s crouch. Wait, now that sounds even more sexual. Let’s just move on, okay?

  There I was, hunched over, repeatedly castio see how long the cooldown was on that area skill—verdio fug clue! Meanwhile, I was fiddling manically with Silk Webbing, throwing every ouny crazed insight into mastering it. Sure, I could use my skill to weave intricate silk that looked like ghost-white skin—skin that would give Tim Burton a hard-on—but that was all done subsciously (which might actually be better, not so muy inner trol freak). Trying to do it on and? That’s a bit harder.

  Take teeth, for example—yeah, I have teeth woven out of silk... but no actual biting with them—they’re too soft. Still, they were woven from my subscious desire, probably because havih felt natural, so naturally, I wove them. But hey, either way, they look great o my bck gums and tohat being said, I was curious about what my trolling nature could do with this silk—besides going full dominatrix like I did with that lizard.

  Oh, that was fun!

  Mhmm. And tasty—

  “Ah-ha! Cat’s cradle,” I cackled, my head and butt shimmying in harmony at my triumph! Silk strings swirled between my fingers as I held them before me, proudly dispying my mastery—

  Huuurk!

  “Shit man, I swear if you dry heave one more time...”

  —They’re here!

  My head snapped sharply upwards—or downwards, from your perspective—as I focused on the sounds ing from outside the doors. Bck tendrils, which I called hair, stood straight up into the air—ht! Did I fet to mention I had been doing all this from the ceiling? What I say? Spider Walk is just too badass! Not sure how to use it in bat; it’s not like I could leap far—though, I do have Leap waiting to be selected. That said, I Burst in any dire.

  I quickly flipped upright falling to the ground, rushing around like a madwoman searg for something to sit on and look menag, like a throne! Sadly, there was nothing—not even the boss’s corpse—what I say? I was hungry!

  Where to go? Where to go there!

  I sprio the ter of the circur chamber, put a hand on my hip, and struck my best disied pose as the doors creaked open.

  ~

  Five mier… or now!

  “We—we ’t take her,” Heather gasped, her words fraying like a thin thread in the oppressive air of anticipation. Her eyes were glued to the system s, her Appraisal returning nothing but more questions.

  V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE

  AppraisalResults

  Error.

  Error.

  Admin:\Magic>Login_

  Target Data Overridden.

  Reinitializing Skill Request...

  Request Accepted.

  Appraisal Results: Restricted.

  V:\>

  Heather stood in shock, her mind rag. The woman’s abilities—her weaknesses nor resistances—were visible. Normally, the system would outline something, yet now it dispyed only oail about her: Restricted. What truly unnerved Heather, though, was the involvement of an admin irig the woman’s information.

  Arouhe others seemed uurbed, their eyes fixated on the enigmatian before them. Lost in their own calcutions and unaware of Heather’s distress, they did not grasp the gravity of Heather’s revetion—that this woman was uhe prote of the admin; a foe they were unprepared to face.

  Despite the undercurrent of fear permeating the room, Jason’s resolve only hardened. His eyes, sharp and calg, studied the strange woman’s form, his spirit not daunted but invigorated by the looming challenge.

  Yua, gathering her ce, voiced the question hanging heavily in the air, “What level is she?”

  No answer came from Heather as the strange woman tinued her murmurs, detached from the reality around her. “Yeah, I got this! Yeah, piece of cake, totally got this!”

  Yua’s elven ears caught ss of the woman’s whispers—her words fragmented and elusive, painting a portrait of chaos that left her vihe woman was nuts!

  Uainty g the others, their vi wavering. Yet, they maintained a facade of resilience, well aware of the sequences of doubt—though that was a lie. Rob appeared on the verge of panic, his face pale and sweaty as if he might colpse at any moment. Heather’s usually dark plexion turned ashen, a testament to her fear. Jeremy’s eyes darted nervously, his uainty palpable. Yua’s skin crawled, the hairs on her neck standing on end. Despite their fear, they steeled themselves for what was to e, the woman’s manic whispers resonating around them like a harbinger of doom.

  “I should savor the taste of their flesh. Mhmm! Yes. Yes. That sounds good,” the woman murmured to herself, her voice a disturbing blend of delight and malice, her head nodding in agreement with her own words.

  Jason’s smirk, edged with a hint of madness, widened. “This bitch is crazy!”

  Jeremy interjected urgently, “Heather, what’s her level?”

  “I—I don’t know! The admiricted aails about her,” Heather stammered, finally catg everyone’s attention.

  “What?!” Yua blurted out.

  “Appraisal was restricted by the admin,” Heather replied.

  “Restricted?” Yua repeated, disbelief c her tone.

  Jason ughed, the sound slig through the tension. “Hahahaha! This just got a lot more iing.”

  Rob suggested, his voice tinged with fear, “I think we should run.”

  Jason dismissed Rob’s s with a fident wave. “Don’t be a coward! If we work together, we take her down without a problem.”

  Heather’s voice trembled as she tried to emphasize the threat of the admi, her words fell on deaf ears.

  Jason, still ughing, suddenly surged forward at the woman, his determination unwavering. The others stood frozen, caught off-guard. Meanwhile, the enigmatian seemed barely aware of their presence. As Jason closed in, her arm erupted, her white skin unfurling like threads as a single bck tentacle shed out, poised for a lethal strike.

  In a fsh, her tentacle smacked Jason across the face, sending him spinning through the air before he crashed down, his body writhing in agony as if his flesh were dissolving in acid, purple veins crawling visibly under his skin.

  A scream distorted Jason’s features, but no sound escaped; he froze as if petrified. Meanwhile, the woman’s tentacle reverted bato a human arm, its skin eerily absent. She shifted her focus from her nails to Jason, her eyes burning with an uling e glow, radiating a fierner light. Detached yet observant, she watched Jason’s plight, leaving the rest of the group speechless and frozen in disbelief.

  Time seemed to stretto an agonizing sileil it shattered. Jason disappeared from the ground and reappeared suddenly beside Jeremy, his voice erupting in a sharp cry as he clutched his fa visible agony.

  “That fug bitch! She hit me with some sort of acid attack, and some kind of poison that paralyzed me,” Jason bellowed.

  “What statuses did the system show?” Jeremy queried.

  “It didn’t.”

  A heavy silence fell. The only other time statuses had been absent was a haunting memory—when Jason had turned oo kill Sophia. Otherwise, the system always revealed the nature of every mohey faced.

  The por-skinned woman chuckled, amused by the turmoil she induced. “That was a bit much, wasn’t it?” she mused, her mischievous gaze flickering. “I haven’t killed him... yet.” Pausing, she seemed to listen to whispers only she could hear. “No rush. No rush at all. Let’s have fun with my food first,” she grinned.

  Jason’s agony widened Heather’s eyes in shock. With hesitant steps, she approached him, her hand trembling as she reached out to touch his shoulder. Muttering a shaky intation, she invoked, “Heal!” A warm glow radiated from her touch, ing Jason in a soothing aura, gradually reversing the damage wrought by the acidic sp.

  Despite her as, Heather’s true feelings for Jason were far from passionate. She loathed him deeply, yearning to see him suffer. She knew well that he would not hesitate to harm her if their roles were reversed. But survival trumped hate, making it crucial to keep him alive, even if relutly.

  Yua snapped, “We’ve got to work together, you dumbass!”

  “Yeah, I think I figured that out,” Jason grumbled, standing upright, his wounds now healed.

  The initial shock of fear and personal grievances faded as they reized the y of unity against the looming threat. The mysterious osed a dahey could only face together. Relutly, they set aside their differences, even Jason aowledging the need for solidarity. Steeling themselves, they prepared for the battle ahead, knowing that only through cooperation could they hope to survive—or so they would have liked to have believed.

  Yua shed out with no pn, her voice fierd panicked, “I call upon you, oh dark goddess, heed my plea, Darkness Arrow!”

  Jeremy followed suit, shing out in blind fear, “From the gastral depths of my soul, I call forth, Acid Ball.”

  “Intations, seriously?” the woman scuffed.

  The dual attacks struck the monster disguised as a stunning woman with full force. She screamed in agony and stumbled, colpsing to her hands and knees. Jason burst into triumphant ughter, but Heather, notig the smile on the woman’s face, shivered.

  “Dramatic? Yep! Still, I khat year I took in drama would be worth it someday,” the woman snickered, unnoticed by the others.

  “Fear the phantoms, for they shall e you,” Jason ted before vanishing, “Phantom Ssh!”

  He materialized above the woman, a wicked smile spreading across his face as she writhed and trembled below. Filled with sadistic delight, he raised his sword, relishing the anticipation of delivering the final blow. As he swung the bde toward her neck, a chilling realization struck him—the woman’s cries were of perverse pleasure, not pain. Her ughter resohrough the chamber, mixing fusion and trepidation within him.

  Undaunted, Jason pressed on with his attack. However, just as his sword oised to strike, the woman vanished in a blur. Jason found himself sshing at empty air, his face t with perplexity as he grappled with her sudden disappearance.

  “What just happened?” Jeremy asked.

  They all stood in stunned silence.

  Rob was the first to catch sight of her—right beside him! The woman’s appearance had undergone a dramatic transformation. Her faoeared almost alien, resembling a mask, and her dress g tightly to her curves, atuating her newfound allure. Her entire body was an oily bck, and her hair, matg in color, cascaded down to the small of her back, moving with sinister i as if alive. Despite these ges, her glowing e eyes remained unmistakable, pierg through the darkness with an intense, unwavering gaze.

  “My turn,” she cooed.

  One of her arms had twisted into a tentacle, ensnaring one of Rob’s undead goblins as he stumbled backward. The goblin struggled desperately but in vain; it dissolved within her grasp, its innards spilling to the ground as its flesh melted away.

  “Aw, that’s the best part,” she sighed.

  Meanwhile, the sed goblin leaped between Rob and the woman, bravely positioning itself to shield its neancer master.

  Jason yelled in frustration, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!”

  “Yua, how long until you recast Darkness Arrow?” Jeremy asked while sidering their options.

  “It normally takes around three minutes. What about your Acid Ball?”

  “Same,” he groaned.

  The woman shifted her gaze from the oozing goblin guts back to the group, a smirk pying on her lips. “Really? Discussing cooldowns right in front of your enemy? e on, isn’t that, like, Gamer 101?” She paused, tapping her lip with a theatrical fir. “And while we’re oopic, just how did you geniuses figure out your cooldown timers?”

  “FUCK YOU!” Jason screamed.

  Heather, however, immediately realized something was off about the woman’s ent. “How do you know about gamers?” she asked.

  “Hmm...? Oh, well, that’s an iing little tidbit,” the woman mused, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. “Maybe I shouldn’t spill the beans... But then again, why not? It’s not like it’s going to ge anything,” she tinued, engaging in her peculiar self-dialogue.

  She then snapped her attention back to Heather, her eyes alight with a mix of madness aement. “That’s because I’m a summon didate too. Just. Like. You!” she decred with a twisted grin.

  “And not only am I pnning to win—not that I particurly care about the title of Dark Champion, I’m here to steal your skills. And don’t worry,” she added with a smile, “I’m really looking forward to sav my meal when I devour eae of you!”

  “She’s a sadistic psychopath,” Jason stated.

  “Well, isn’t that rich,” the womaed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “A demon acg the devil of being sadistic? At least I have the decy to finish my meals, unlike you, who leave behind a delicious corpse after your murderous rampage. What a waste of a perfectly good meal. Oh, what was her name again… Sophia?” Her tone, mog and amused, carried a dark undercurrent.

  Rob stepped back, his st remaining undead goblin in tow. “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Hmm... Oh... Uh, what? Didn’t I just tell you who I am?” the woman responded, her voice tinged with a mix of fusion and irritation.

  Jeremy advanced fidently, his voice steady though he tried to mask his underlying fear. “We don’t o resort to violence,” he said. “Perhaps we could colborate and find a way to escape this dungeon without having to murder each other.”

  “That’s a fair point,” she mused, her smile unfaltering. “But, as, it will not e to pass. For I am hungry, and you are here. Besides, Team Evil boasts a geous vampire I’d love to hook up with, but I need your skills to plete the admin’s little side quest first,” she added with a grin.

  Jason nodded in uanding, then paused, perplexed. “Side quest?”

  Rob was ed by fear, the thought of dying in this cursed pce overwhelming him. Despite daydreaming of himself as a noble, heroic padin, the reality of being summoned as an evil half-oreancer cshed with everything he believed. Determined not to let fear trol him, Rob pushed away the ive thoughts. Deep down, he knew he was lying to himself about being brave. With a silent whimper, he extended his hand toward the woman and began ting his most powerful spell, “The death of the undying pain knows no end, ic Fme.”

  As the intation slipped from Rob’s lips, light blue fmes erupted, verging into a colossal wave aimed straight at the woma, with arming speed, she vanished in a blur. Her wicked and delighted ughter echoed through the chamber, but as they gnced around, she was o be seen.

  “Why are your ic Fmes blue?” she asked, her glee unabated by the situation.

  Startled, Yua gnced up, yelped, and stumbled backward, colpsing onto the ground, her screams of horror pierg the air. The woman chuckled at the sight, her wicked grin unwavering as she stood on the ceiling, right above Rob.

  “I just want to go home!” Rob cried out—Ack!

  With a swift flick of her wrist, her arms transformed into sientacle-like appendages, swiftly ing tightly around Rob’s ned his undead goblin, both still within arm’s reach as she stood upside down on the ceiling above them.

  As she tightened her grip, she muttered in frustration, “Ugh, seriously? Why are mine green and purple, but yours are blue?”

  She paused her ramblings to gnce down—or was it up?—at Yua, who remained beh them. Rob and his remaining goblin dangled in her grasp as she lifted them off the ground. “Will you stop screaming? It makes talking to myself—I mean, to him—really hard.”

  The group stood frozen in fusion and disbelief as Rob, paralyzed by Fear—or perhaps more accurately, immobilized by airely different skill—remained suspended in her grasp. Suddenly, his body colpsed, his head separating as his neck dissolved within her grip. The severed head bounced on the ground, ing to a stop just timeters away from Heather, whose scream echoed Yua’s, amplifying the horror of the gruesome sight.

  Meanwhile, the woman’s other tentacle maintais vice-like grip oruggling goblin, tightening with sadistic pleasure. Her moans of twisted delight filled the air, adding a chilling soundtrack to the horrifying se.

  The abrupt loss of Rob struck Heather and the remaining didates with a heavy blow. The two girls’ tinued screams rattled through the chamber, mingling with the woman’s moans that followed Rob’s brutal demise. As Heather stared into his lifeless eyes, a wave of fear enveloped the group, freezing them in pce.

  Jason, his voice thick with disappoi and a twisted hunger, muttered, “Dammit, I wahe fug pleasure of ending him myself.”

  Jeremy, overwhelmed by a mix of emotions, shouted in fury, “Murderer!” Summoning the full extent of his powers, he decred, “I call forth the rage of the gods, Death Bolt!” A vibrant, purple lightning bolt surged from his hand, striking the woman with cataclysmic force. She was hurled from the ceiling and through the air as the goblin turo ash in her grasp. Her body smashed into the wall with a siing spt of bck ooze, causing half the chamber to colpse from the initial impact of the skill.

  The group fell into stunned silence as stones rained around them, grappling with the horrifying spectacle they had just witnessed. Heather sniffled, tears streaming down her cheeks, while Jason’s jaw went sck, his jagged teeth hanging in disbelief. Jeremy exhaled relief and adrenaline, and Yua remained frozen on the ground, her mind rag with shod fear.

  “What the fuck was that skill?!” Jason cursed in shock.

  “Run!” Jeremy bellowed as more stones began to fall.

  Heather's voice cracked as she cried out, "What about Rob?" Each word was drenched in desperation.

  “Leave his dead ass!” Jason yelled as he sprinted for the exit.

  Yua remained silent as she hurried after Jason, scrambling over debris. Stone by stohe chamber tio crumble around them as they fled the boss chamber, huffing and heaving for breath.

  Then there were four of them...

  1

  AnnouHello everyone,

  I wao share that I've started writing short stories alongside polishing up Bke's tale, hoping to make it more suitable for publishing—hehe Final Draft. I doubt I’ll approach my writing in this sort of method again, but hey, that's the joy of w on my first series.

  These short stories I've mentioned are a fun diversion for me, adding a little variety to my life. As I tio write them, I'll be posting them on Patreon for FREE for anyone who wants to take a peek.

  The catch? You just have to click that follow button, at no cost.

  I will warn you, I hope each story turns out to be an amazing little burst of writing that might one day bee its own expanded novel. Iy, some might be fantastigers crossed—while others might be just so-so as I experiment with the various ideas floating around in this scrambled brain of mine. In any case, they're all up there for your enjoyment.

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