I tried to raising my right arm to signal that it was safe to approach, but the appendage dangled loosely by my side. Pain superseded the waning adrenaline, ushering me into a newfound agony. Nerve endings shot fire up the back of my shoulder and into my neck. I dropped to my knees and clutched a handful of grass with my left hand.

  “You crazy son of a bitch,” Duskblade shouted as he ran up with Tobias and Oakley in tow. “Unbelievable…”

  I shuddered, clenching my teeth. “My bag, get my bag.”

  Tobias brought my cloth sack over with stars in his eyes. “That was amazing. I’ve seen nothing like it. When we get out of here, you must meet with our captain. I’m sure Pearl Banner will extend a gracious offer.”

  I ignored the youth, way too concerned with the immense amount of pain to even consider a job offer. I rummaged through the sack until I found my last healing potion. But before I could pop the cork, Tobias grabbed my hand.

  “We can heal you. Save that potion for later,” Tobias said, grinning.

  The Pearl Banner boys gathered on opposite sides of me. They raised their arms and chanted something under their breath until a mesmerizing, golden orb of light appeared overhead and floated down into my chest. Warm energy swelled through me, concentrating throughout my shattered elbow and the ruptured tendons.

  I lay on my back, staring up at the mossy green orbs across the ceiling that reminded me of Christmas lights as the terrible pain slowly subsided. At least hitting level five felt like quite the milestone considering the plethora of unlocks that came with it. I was eager to weigh my new options, realizing I should’ve brought a portable mirror with me to access the system.

  “Try not to use that arm for a bit. You'll regain full mobility in a few hours,” Oakley instructed, dabbing the sweat from his forehead with a rag.

  Tobias bent over, legs shaking, and dry heaved. Whatever healing spell they had used must've fully exhausted them. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my cloak. It was possible to make a fist, but raising my right arm was out of the question.

  “How long until you can cast that ability again?” I asked.

  “It will take several hours for our mana to recover,” Tobias said. “I still have enough for maybe one or two small heals.”

  It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Since I hadn’t seen a chaos shard, I assumed this dungeon wasn’t finished.

  “Is there another floor?” I asked.

  Duskblade shrugged. “Grace is scouting ahead.” He sighed. “That last movement... It was too quick for me to track. Killing an elite goblin knight barehanded is outrageous.”

  “If it landed one hit, I would've died.”

  “But it didn't. It danced to your song until your first attack demolished its brain. Poor fool's eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.” He said, “Do you know why goblin knights don't wear helmets? Cause their skulls are thick as an anvil.”

  “What's your point?” I asked, tired of conversing over pointless topics.

  “I've trained my entire life to become the strongest. When I see people like you, it reminds me how far I am from that goal.”

  I shook my head, biting my tongue from shredding Leighland's ego.

  Being the strongest? What a joke.

  “Settle for being strong enough to protect your party. And re-evaluate your training methods if you've truly plateaued.”

  Duskblade took a knee and bowed his head. “Please train me and take over as the Twilight Ranger's leader.”

  I doubled back, clutching my sore elbow. Why did Waimo have to die in one hit? And how could Duskblade consider becoming my subordinate when I had blackmailed him less than 24 hours ago?

  What’s his angle?

  Thankfully, Joel and Callum interrupted Leighland's pathetic plea as they inched through the field, struggling as they carried a massive iron-bound chest. Everyone’s attention turned to them as they dropped the chest at my feet and a resounding thud echoed across the clearing.

  “This is the biggest, heaviest loot chest I've ever seen,” Joel said, out of breath.

  Callum asked, “Did anyone find the key?”

  When nobody answered, he trudged over to the fallen goblin knight and began stripping its armor off.

  “Where did you find that chest? I didn't see it when the fight began,” I said, dumbfounded.

  Joel cracked a wide smile. “I keep forgetting this is your first dungeon. When a boss dies, a loot chest always appears close by. It's a blessing from the gods. You should have the honor of opening it.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “I'll pass,” I said, not putting it past Chaos to rig it with explosives considering how our last meeting went. “Actually, let me go stand over here while you open it,” I said with a harmless smile, subtly backing away a good 15 feet.

  “Oh... Then I'll proceed,” Callum said.

  Callum eased the key into the lock and turned it. The latch popped open without setting off an obscene explosion. Instead, he oohed and awed, waving everyone over. They all moved in closer, captivated by the chest's contents, but I stayed the course, knowing that more complex bombs could be set on a timer. Everything had gone too smoothly. And the way Chaos claimed this place was irrelevant yet warned me to turn back gave me cause for concern.

  The little bastard was up to something. A scheme literally realms beyond my reach. He wouldn't move without a reason. Whether the warning was legitimate or not, I had to complete the quest the system had thrust upon me and return to Ingcaster.

  Justice and Chaos were certainly at odds, and it was likely that Justice designed the system with her goals in mind. Neither one of them was worthy of my trust or subordination. But for now, I'd placate Justice until I could worm out of from her grasp.

  “Incredible! This enchanted amulet seems to increase spell potency,” Tobias said, holding up a delicate silver chain, its links intricately woven together—metal gleaming with a faint luster in the center of the chain where a silver oval pendant hung. “Cyprus, come see this stuff.”

  “Did you find a chaos shard?” I asked.

  “No...”

  “Then it’s of no interest to me.”

  Callum, who seemed like the type to instigate a bar fight before hiding behind his strongest friend, chuckled shamelessly. “Too bad you gave up your rights to any of this loot. We haven't even had to lift a finger, yet.”

  The passive-aggressive slight may have stung if I hadn't already deduced that there was definitely a chaos shard in this dungeon, which meant there was another floor. I was also slightly impressed that someone who had just witnessed me kill an elite goblin knight in one strike would dare make such an asinine comment. A flick of my finger would probably snap Callum in half and as pleasant as that sounded, cultivating my reputation as Cyprus, the noble adventurer, would become much more difficult. People rarely associated the word 'noble' with someone that murdered his comrades for making off-hand comments.

  Instead of lashing out, I took a seat on the cool grass and waited for them to divvy up the loot. Along with the enchanted amulet, the haul included a handful of rare gems, six bolts of silk cloth, and a pitch-black mystery potion.

  “What a bunch of trash. I've never seen such a pitiful haul,” Callum said. “And what's this?” He reached into the bottom of the chest, and I hit the deck.

  Nothing exploded.

  “It's a scroll. This could be worth something,” Callum said, momentarily reigniting his excitement as he unraveled the rolled-up parchment. “It says, 'Eat Shit.' What is this?”

  Chaos...

  Duskblade slapped him on his back and said, “It may be underwhelming, but we're all still in one piece. Be thankful for that.”

  Tobias raised his eyebrows. “What a strange artifact. Perhaps it's a clue pertaining to the next floor.”

  “It better not be,” Callum said, slamming the chest shut with a sour look.

  He tossed the emptied chest into the field, cursing as he handed the lackluster loot over to Oakley, who stashed it into the leather satchel he kept strapped over his shoulder.

  “Pearl Banner will surely pay your group above market rate for such a find,” Oakley said.

  Duskblade nodded. “Good, it's not a total loss.” He stroked his salt and pepper colored beard. “Grace should be back at any moment.”

  “It’s over here!”

  Grace's voice resonated in the distance as the green shade of light emitted from the ceiling faded away, leaving nothing but darkness.

  Ten seconds of total darkness shattered the party's morale. Where I found tranquility in the stillness, the others discovered fear. There was a lingering sense that something was very wrong, like the grim reaper himself was cradling our necks in his scythe.

  Thankfully, no one could see the grin spreading across my face. I wasn't sure what happened to me. Maybe it occurred when I died or sometime after I crossed the moral lines I had drawn in my previous life, indulging in bloodshed, and chasing a high that was becoming impossible to reach. Killing the goblins and their knight was like taking an aspirin when I was really looking for heroin. The two foolish assassins from Soul Viper weren't any better, despite being human prey with hopes and dreams. Crushing them was hardly satisfying.

  “What is this? Why did we have to fucking come here?” Callum cried.

  And he’s called The Fearless? Who the hell is doling out these titles?

  “It's too soon to panic,” Duskblade warned. “Don't forget we're with the guy who killed an elite goblin knight in one blow, right, Cyprus?”

  Duskblade’s question came in one ear and out the other. I was too busy trying to figure out when my morals had shifted. The bloodbath in Oarwin was fun and at least made my heart race. That night I had briefly recognized traces of the elusive feeling I was blindly chasing. It wasn't the battle with Drayvoss, nor the bandit camp massacre, that set off my insatiable blood lust.

  Thinking further back, I remembered the flash of excitement and guilt I felt when I had accidentally killed Zelva. Was I subconsciously yearning to relive the moment that made me a murderer?

  “Am I a monster?” I whispered, wondering where my remorse had gone.

  “Exactly!” Duskblade said. “Cyprus is a monster. If we keep our heads on straight, we'll survive.”

  “Is everyone OK? I found a door!” Grace's muffled echo sounded through the vast darkness.

  It was impossible to pinpoint her location from her echo, but thankfully, the lights came back on. Tiny amber bulbs appeared across the smooth, porous ceiling. A friendly yellow shade of light swept across the dungeon, restoring our vision. However, the temperature quickly turned from 'nice and warm' to 'am I inside of a pizza oven?'

  “I get the sense we should hurry,” Duskblade said, putting the group in motion across the field.

  We jogged north toward a sparse forest consisting of dead brush and skinny, dehydrated trees laying beyond the grassy field.

  Our pace naturally quickened when the amber bulbs started drizzling waves of miniature sparks that extinguished themselves as they drifted through the air.

  “I thought we cleared this floor,” Tobias huffed, sprinting ahead of the pack.

  Duskblade held second place with Oakley on his heels while Joel and Callum fell slightly behind. We were only halfway through what I assumed was a highly flammable field, expecting the gap between us to widen.

  “Duskblade, make sure you look after the kids. I'll make sure these two clowns don't die,” I said.

  “What’s a clown?” Callum asked, already losing steam. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound flattering.”

  Leighland nodded and picked up his pace. “If you Pearl Banner boys beat me, you can have that amulet for free.”

  The challenge kicked Tobias and Oakley into overdrive just as the spew of sparks above us transformed into a hail of magma.