Bell was pacing in front of the dungeon entrance she couldn't enter, her boots scuffing the dirt with every tight turn. The stone cube stood silent now, no light, no hum—just a blank wall that mocked her helplessness.
Kai was making his way toward the still-injured police officer—Barry, apparently—ready to finish healing him. But before he could reach him, Tarni's voice cut through the air.
"Wait!"
Kai stopped mid-step and turned, one brow arched in that half-annoyed, half-curious way he had. "Why?"
Tarni had been elbow-deep in the pile of confiscated gear, sorting through rifles, armour plates, and tangled straps. He straightened, dusted off his hands, and started toward the group. "Because," he said, tone a mix of irritation and logic, "we need these lot to trust us first. If we don't, the next bunch they call might not wait to talk before shooting. We clear the air, make sure no one's coming to drag us off in cuffs again, then we figure out who needs help when the System finishes ticking over."
"I'm not leaving until Zane comes back out," Bell snapped before he even finished.
Lily crossed her arms, chin lifted stubbornly. "And I'm not leaving Mum here alone."
Tarni raised both hands in surrender. "Fair, fair. Family first. But if we can convince these asshats we're not lunatics, we'll have options."
Kai sighed and nodded slowly. "Alright, Tarni. How exactly do you plan to do that?"
"That's easy," Tarni said with a grin that was way too confident. "We tell them the truth. Then you heal the guy to prove it's real."
Before anyone could argue, he turned and strode over to the small cluster of tied-up police officers. Their faces were a mix of defiance and unease. Tarni planted himself in front of them, hands on his hips.
"Alright, listen up, you stupid asshats," he began, earning a pained groan from Kai and a smirk from Bell despite herself. "I'm gonna tell you what's been going on from the top. You can believe me or not, but you're gonna hear it."
He crouched down slightly, eyes flicking between the officers. "It started like this. I found Zane at his place early in the morning—the day after he went to Sydney to visit Bell in the hospital. She was dying. And I don't mean 'oh, maybe she'll get better' dying. I mean a week, tops."
At those words, Kai and Lily both flinched, their faces pale at the memory. Tarni caught it and hurried on.
"Yeah, so when I got here, Zane was covered in blood. There was blood all over the house. Power was out, no mobile reception, everything dead. I thought—honest to God—I was about to help him bury a body." He let the sentence hang for a beat, watching their expressions twist from disbelief to uneasy attention.
"That's when he told me about goblins."
The oldest of the offices scoffed. "Yeah, right"
Tarni turned and stared at the officer before saying. "No Need to worry, Mate, we are all friends here."
Before Tarni scratched the back of his neck, staring down at the cops, "So yeah… goblins. Real ones. Not some VR game crap. Little green bastards with knives and teeth that'd make a croc jealous."
The nearest officer—a woman with a cut above her eyebrow—snorted. "You expect us to believe that?"
Tarni's grin widened. "Nah, I expect you to remember when you see one. Because you will. Trust me."
He stood, rolling his shoulders. "Anyway, Zane tells me the System's real. Tells me about floating text, the levels, the stat screen—all that RPG stuff that shouldn't exist. I figure he's gone mental, right? Except next thing I know, I'm swinging a wood axe at something that's supposed to only exist in fantasy novels. Then I get the same pop-ups. "
Bell had stopped pacing. She stood perfectly still now, arms folded tight against her chest. Every word Tarni said pulled her back—back to that first morning when Zane had handed her a fishing spear gun and pleaded with her to shoot a tied-up goblin.
Her eyes burned, but she said nothing.
Tarni kept going, warming to his story. "Then Kai here joins up, healing people like some sainted medic out of a storybook. Lily's and Bell's are shooting holes in anything that moves. And Zane? He's the reason any of us are still breathing."
He crouched again, locking eyes with the officer who'd tried to talk earlier—Maya, if he remembered right. "Now, you guys came here loaded for bear, thinking we were domestic terrorists or something. But let me tell you, when the clock hits midday, this whole bloody planet's gonna change. Guns won't work. Your radios won't work. Anything running on smokeless powder or relying on the old world's rules—it's done."
Barry frowned, shaking her head like she wanted to argue but couldn't find the words. "That's… impossible."
Tarni gave her a flat look. "Mate, five minutes ago you were tied up by a woman who can put an Arrow through a vest rated for .308. You wanna talk about impossible?"
That shut her up. Even the others looked less certain now.
Bell finally moved closer, her voice quieter than it had been all day. "He's not exaggerating. Zane's inside right now, risking everything to finish this dungeon. If he does, everyone on Earth gets a chance—levels, skills, something that might actually keep us alive when this all goes to hell."
The silence that followed was heavy. The wind through the trees was the only sound.
Tarni nodded once, folding his arms. "So here's the deal. You believe us, we don't hurt you. You listen, we'll make sure you're not caught with your pants down when the mobs come through next."
Kai took that as his cue and finally stepped forward, kneeling beside Barry. His hands glowed faintly green as he used Targeted Heal—and before the officer's eyes, the Arrow wound sealed like time rewinding.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Barry just stared, mouth open. The others went deathly quiet.
Tarni smirked. "See? Told ya."
Bell didn't smile. She just looked back at the dungeon cube—her voice breaking as she whispered, "Come on, Zane… please be okay."
The twins, Max and Kaitlyn, woke with a start. Soft popping sounds drifted through the early morning air—light, distant, and irregular. To their sixteen-year-old ears, tuned by far too many hours of Call of Duty and late-night action movies, it sounded exactly like automatic gunfire.
They froze, listening.
After a few seconds, Max whispered, "You heard that too, right?"
Kaitlyn nodded, frowning toward the tree line. "Yeah… but it's probably just someone setting off fireworks or something. Don't freak out."
That was all the reassurance Max needed. Hunger quickly overruled caution.
A few minutes later, the popping noise was forgotten, replaced by the smell of toast and the excitement buzzing through the house. Today wasn't just any day—it was their Big Airsoft Birthday Bash. Months of planning, weeks of building, and nearly half the town were coming out to the twins' homemade battlegrounds.
It was going to be the best day ever!
Zane wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm and leaned against the rough stone wall he'd just finished stacking. Waist-high, uneven, but solid enough to break a charge — it would have to do.
He glanced at his interface map again, scanning for any hint of movement. No red dots. Yet.
Then his eyes caught something new — a faint sliver of blue beneath his health and mana bars. An XP gauge.
"Two per cent already," he muttered, a faint grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Guess my level being higher than those wolves explains my low XP gain, but maybe I can actually level up in here."
It had been forty long minutes since the first wave — grey-furred wolves with eyes like embers that tore through the clearing in a frenzy. The fight was intense but not overly hard; his shield arm was not even aching from the repeated impacts.
Now, with only five minutes until the next wave, the world had gone quiet again. Too quiet. The breeze had stopped. Even the smell of pine and dust seemed to hang motionless in the air.
Zane exhaled slowly, trying to centre himself. Heart steady. Mind clear.
"Alright," he said under his breath, gripping his shield and glancing toward the cliff wall that guarded his back. "Round two. Let's see what you've got for me this time."
Wave 2 Incoming Enemy Type: Goblin Clan — mixed Class Estimated Count: 13 Difficulty Modifier: Reduced (Core Expenditure Confirmed) Prepare for engagement.
The wind shifted just before they came.
Zane felt it before he heard them — the subtle tremor underfoot, the faint rustle in the brush beyond his stone wall. Then the sound hit: guttural growls, high-pitched screeches, and the clatter of metal.
He braced behind his wall, shield up, Machete ready. "Alright," he muttered. "Let's dance."
The first of them broke from the trees — small, wiry goblins with mottled green skin and yellow eyes, charging low and fast. Behind them, heavier shapes moved in formation — hobgoblins, easily half again Zane's height, with thick hides, crude armour, and heavy clubs that could crush bone.
Four goblins hung back, bows already drawn.
The first arrow clattered harmlessly against his shield, the second buried itself in the dirt beside his boot.
Then the melee started.
Zane's first swing came from low to high, the edge of his machete cutting through a goblin's chest as it leapt the wall. Another lunged from his right; Zane turned his shield into the blow, feeling the impact rattle his arm before he shoved the creature back and drove his blade through its throat.
Two down.
The hobgoblins reached the wall next — slower, but each blow they swung made the rocks tremble. Zane ducked behind his shield as one's club smashed into the top of the barrier, scattering stones. He countered with a shield bash to the gut, then followed with a short thrust under its ribs. The creature howled, staggered back, and didn't rise again.
Another club whistled toward his head. Zane dropped to one knee, sparks flying as the strike scraped against his shield. He rolled left, narrowly avoiding a follow-up blow, and sliced at the hobgoblin's leg. The monster stumbled — Zane lunged forward, putting all his strength into a two-handed swing that cleaved through its side.
Three hobgoblins down.
But the air around him hissed again — arrows.
One struck his pauldron and glanced away. Another hit the rock beside his face and split. A third caught him in the thigh. He grunted, snapped the arrow off, and ducked low behind the boulder as more shafts thudded into the dirt around him.
The last melee goblin tried to flank him, skittering up the rocks on his left. Zane waited, then turned suddenly and smashed his shield upward, catching it under the chin. The goblin flipped backward off the boulder and hit the ground hard. Zane didn't hesitate — he brought his machete down in a brutal arc, ending it.
He stole a second to breathe, to glance at his map — only red dots left were the archers, scattered wide, and one slightly larger marker pulsing near the back.
The chief.
"Fine," Zane growled, wiping blood from his cheek. "You want to play long-range? Let's close the distance."
He vaulted over his ruined wall and sprinted across the open ground. Arrows hissed past, one grazing his arm, another bouncing off his shield. He zig-zagged between trees and fallen logs, closing fast on the nearest archer.
The goblin squealed as Zane's machete split its bow in half, then its skull. He used the corpse as cover for a moment before throwing his shield forward like a battering ram into the next one. The impact crushed bone — Zane finished it with a downward stab.
Two left.
He charged the next archer just as it loosed a shot — the arrow tore through his side, but momentum carried him forward. His sword flashed once, twice — the goblin fell in pieces.
Zane staggered, clutching his wound. His breathing was ragged, his vision swimming at the edges, but he kept moving.
The last archer bolted — straight toward the chief.
The creature stood a foot taller than Zane, draped in patchwork armour, a jagged steel blade in hand, and eyes burning with cunning.
The chief barked an order. The last archer dropped to one knee beside him, drawing another arrow — and Zane threw his machete.
The blade spun end over end, striking true — through the archer's neck.
The chief roared, tossing the dying goblin aside.
Zane drew a replacement machete from his bag of holding that was tied to his waist and lifted his shield.
They circled each other in the dirt, only Zane bleeding, and exhausted. Then the chief lunged.
The first strike nearly took Zane's head off. Defensive Stance, He blocked, barely, the force knocking him to one knee. He kicked out, caught the chief's ankle, then rose with a desperate swing that scraped along the creature's armour. The chief countered with a backhand that cracked Zane across the face, breaking his nose, sending him stumbling backward.
Zane tasted blood. His arms screamed from the effort, his heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"Come on then," he growled.
The chief charged again, sword raised high — and Zane let him. At the last moment, he stepped in close, using Create Light right in front of the chief's eyes, blinding him for a split second causing the swing of the goblin chiefs sword to be a fraction off making it slam against his shield — Zane twisted, redirecting the force, and with a single, brutal swing of his new machete, buried the blade deep into the chief's neck.
The creature froze. Then crumpled.
Zane stood there, chest heaving, blood dripping down his arm, staring at the fallen body.
For a long moment, all he could hear was his own breathing. Then the familiar chime rang in his ears.
Wave 2 Complete Bonus: 500 XP (Applied Globally) Everyone on Earth +1 Level upon induction
+1 Level Gained +5 Stat Points
Shop Access Unlocked Next Wave Begins in: 45:00 Minutes
Do you wish to level the Dungeon?
YES/NO
Zane sagged to one knee, laughing weakly. "You said not certain death," he murmured. "Didn't say it'd be easy."
Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.