The next trial room is entirely empty. I wait for a slimy adversary to bounce out of thin air, but the room remains empty still.

"Here's where you have a choice to make, Challenger," the Announcer says. "Call it quits for today." An orange gate appears at the unsaid command. "We had a lot of fun, you and me. I'd be sad to see you go, but there's always tomorrow." The Announcer's voice turns emotionless for the first time. "Or..." The gate starts dimming and brightening in a regular interval, like a heartbeat, moving the light of the room with it. "We can finish the game."

"Let's take it to the end." The gate is snuffed out.

The Announcer returns to normal instantly. "Awesome! Special trial. Three questions, three answers. Zero correct—you lose. One correct—you can go on. Two correct—you get to skip a few trials. Three correct? I'll let you guess that one."

"Is the first answer 'blobbies'?"

The Announcer makes a funny sound. "No?" It sighs heavily. "...Can I at least say the riddle first..."

"Wasn't it a question?"

"Riddle, question, same thing."

I say with a smile, "Go ahead."

My host clears its throat theatrically, preparing its voice for the performance of a lifetime. "Master of one and master of all. A weakness and a strength. Don't judge by its exterior, for there is none. Don't judge by its interior, for it's more than it seems."

"Kinda too vague. Even for a riddle."

"I'm trying my best, okay!" The Announcer then adds in a mumble, "I'd like to see you come up with a riddle..." Another throat clear. "You were correct. The answer was blobbies. But the second riddle won't be as easy. Are you ready?"

"Go for it."

"It fights against threats unseen, always the winner, but it could never harm you, a faithful companion forever."

"How is it even more vague? That can be so many things," I say. The Announcer starts grumbling. I try to placate my host, "Fine, don't get grouchy. Is it a plush toy?"

"…Yes. Now that you've guessed the answer to the easiest riddle of the bunch, what were those 'so many things'?"

"There's this class of ship I have that—"

"Terrible answer. Final riddle. You can't count it on one hand. You can count it on two. But you can't count it on all the hands in the world. A transition, one dear to my heart."

"I think I'll just go. Can you bring back the portal, please?"

"It's not vague! Ahem. Two out of three's not bad. Do you want to give up?"

"Hmm."

"Just guess something. You might get lucky."

"The colors of the rainbow."

"...Correct."

"Wow. What a great guess from yours truly. Isn't that right, Announcer?" An extra slow, and extra screechy, portcullis is my only answer.

I start following the hallway, quickly arriving at the next room. I step inside.

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Without a preamble, the Announcer says, "Final trial, Challenger. Win."

The boss appears on the other side of the space, squeezing its way through nothingness, its form a staticky scar on reality. The spherical monster wobbles up and down, a blank orb of absence in its very center. Disruptor Slime.

A needle hits the boss. My spell dissolves, not even able to puncture the outermost layer of pure destruction.

A tendril extends out and slaps down at me. My barrier spell fails to resolve, the outside pressure exerted too much. I barely raise my sword to block, my left hand bracing the weapon near the tip. The tendril eats through the steel and then through my body.

As I store the two pieces of metal, another shell replaces the severely reduced one, only for two new tendrils to hit it from both sides in a sort of clap. For the first time, I feel the impact of the attack differently, like it struck my very core. Enervating.

My new shell extends an arm, forming a needle. The projectile crackles with electricity. With a thought, I launch it forward. Metal punctures destruction, revealing reality on the other side.

Before I can cast another spell, I am pierced through. The tendril latches onto me, disrupting everything. My tempering flickers out, my spells fizzle into nothingness, my mind empties, my mana field weakens moment by moment. I can do nothing. Until... Alert. Spatial fold destabilization imminent. I am looking at death.

A scene flashes in my mind. A hand lifts up, no longer powerless. My river of mana churns and bubbles, foaming up, threatening to erupt out. With crackling lightning, a dart forms, deep crimson metal. Electrical arcs dance along its surface. My eyes trace a glowing line that soundlessly appeared along the path of my spell, ending at the slime's core. The static splatters along the stone floor, settling forever.

I breathe out a hot breath. My mind is quiet. There is no network, no plan, no consequences, no past, no future, only this moment. My power triumphing over my enemy. The fight is won.

Colorful paper confetti erupts out of the ceiling, filling the room and obscuring my sight.

The Announcer lets out a celebratory howler. It then congratulates me verbally, "You did it, Challenger! You won the game!" A gate out blinks open next to me, but through the revelrous rain, I catch glimpse of another gate opening—a lattice of metal.

I start walking forward, collecting the dropped mana crystal on the way. The Announcer starts saying something, but I can't hear over the rushing of blood in my ears, in my mind.

The core is in front of me, a swirling orb of glimmering confetti.

"You found your prize," The Announcer says, its voice a faraway whisper. "Thanks for playing the game. I had a lot of fun. Did you have fun?"

There's a split second of hesitation. "Yes." And then my hand shatters the core.

I am outside once more, the nipping cold calming the thrill, the breaking dawn illuminating my way, in more ways than one. With this A-grade destroyed, I've finally taken one of the hardest steps. The Announcer truly was a fascinating discovery, revealing so much about dungeons, about the extent of their meta-awareness. He was— No... Did I just kill someone?

My vision has shifted. I am now staring at the snow-covered ground. What happened? My throat is burning. With a wretch, bile painfully escapes out of me, joining a brown puddle that looks awfully similar.

I replay the last interaction with the Announcer. I reach the core. He says— It. Not 'he'! It! It says, 'I had a lot of fun. Did you have fun?'. There's happiness in its voice. Right? I listen to the Announcer's last words again. And again. And again. Until it's the only thing cycling inside my mind. I replay them one last time. Happiness, and something else. Sorrow, a touch of bitter sweetness.

I murdered him.

My stomach clenches, trying to empty itself once more. But there's nothing remaining to throw up. I dry heave, chocking on my spit, eyes bulging. My muscles seize, my heart thumps, my vision darkens. I feel like I'm being swallowed by the earth itself, my limbs sinking into the snow, impossible to pull out.

Focus. I didn't kill anyone. Dungeons are dangerous. Look at all the destruction and death they've caused. They are not sapient. They are not people. Am I a person?

Of course I am. The Announcer just had meta knowledge. That's all. It couldn't reason. It couldn't... If the Announcer wasn't a person, how can I ever be?

I don't have time for this. I need to break the hold on my mind. Picture the scene again—Lucius the Adventurer. Let it bring you back, like it always does. Let it give you the strength you know you carry inside, the strength you just showed, the strength you need to protect everyone.

Like a guiding beacon, it flashes in my mind, the closest it's ever been.

And then, the image turns, giving me a new perspective. I regard myself from the side. I am not staring down some monster. I am looking down. Looking down upon innumerable savaged corpses, swimming in a sea of blood. My ethereal gaze moves to my imagined face. An ugly sneer is curling my lips upward. My eyes are filled with perverse pleasure, finding nothing but delight in the carnage I've wrought with my own two hands. I turn to myself, pure joy staring back at me, asking for more and more, until there is nothing left.

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