“G–aahahahahhhhhhh!” I screamed, flailing midair.

  I was at least a thousand feet up.

  The wind whipped around my face, burning against my skin. It ruffled my tattered shirt and jeans, spinning me over and over in the air, until the current changed, and I snapped around.

  Bright sunlight filtered through clouds, casting yellow and orange hues over the vast ocean of lush grass below.

  Despite falling, I couldn't help but take a solemn moment to appreciate this new sunrise.

  Then I landed.

  [(-100) 136 Hp]

  I groaned, spitting dirt from my mouth. “No fair. What kind of dungeon is this?” After a deep breath, I managed to calm myself down.

  Falling a couple thousand feet was bad, but it could’ve been worse.

  There was a scream and flash of light from above me, soon followed by a large stocky object nailing me in the head.

  [(-90) 46 Hp]

  {Throttle : (-20) 50 Hp}

  She staggered off, rubbing her butt. “What did I land on?”

  The sky flashed again.

  [(-15) 31 Hp]

  {Cierin: (-10) 55 Hp}

  Cierin rolled off of me, clutching one bruised side. “Go on the quest, you said. It’ll be fun, you said.” Cierin hissed in pain. “Grind? Hey…you’re looking pretty rough.”

  I groaned, cradling my head in my hands.

  Then there was a third and final flash of light.

  I whimpered, bracing for impact.

  A bubble floated down, with Sern inside, popping by my feet.

  She blinked. Sern stooped down and poked my swollen head.

  “Please don’t do that,” I winced, summoning potions from my inventory and downing four before anybody had the chance to tell me otherwise.

  [ (+50) 81 Hp ]

  [ (+50) 131 Hp ]

  [ (+50) 181 Hp ]

  [ (+50) 231 Hp ]

  Feeling returned to my body, and scalding pain simmered down to a low burn. I wasn’t totally healed, and the impact had done a number on my body, but I’d be alright in a couple minutes.

  “That’s better,” I sighed.

  “Where are we?” Cierin asked, turning around. In response, a notification appeared.

  {Unknown Origin}

  (No information has been provided.)

  “Well that’s sure helpful,” Throttle hissed. “Grind. Up on your feet.”

  I staggered, using Sern as a crutch. “Something tells me this dungeon is a little special.”

  “Did the drop clue you off?” Cierin asked, looking up. “Seems a little unfair, if you ask me. Plunging players to their near certain death before they’ve even started…”

  His eyes went wide, and he cut off. “…guys? How are we getting back?”

  “Back? You mean the door’s up there?” I frowned. “You’ve got a point.”

  Throttle picked up a mound of dirt and chucked it into the air. It rose maybe a hundred feet into the air, before dropping down onto the ground.

  The cloud layer was a lot higher than a hundred feet.

  She snorted. “Throwing’s out of the question.”

  “It was never an option,” I muttered. “Whoever threw the others would have to stay here, on the ground, in the dungeon. Forever.”

  “Then we’ll beat the dungeon,” Throttle grunted with a nod toward a black speck in the far distance, radiating some form of ominous energy. “It doesn’t look too bad.”

  “Idiots,” Cierin hissed. “The size of a dungeon is directly proportional to the dungeon’s power. This is going to be a nightmarish fight. We don’t even know the star of this place.”

  “It’s going to be a hard dungeon,” I stated. “Gut instinct.”

  Throttle cackled. “Then we’ll get good loot.”

  I found myself smiling. “What kind of loot do you think a place like this would have?

  “Aren’t you the least bit worried about Sern?” Cierin huffed. “We could all die.”

  “But we won’t,” I snapped. “And since danger is a constant in this world, we might as well embrace it. Right? Come on Cierin, you love loot.”

  “I know…” Cierin muttered. “But Sern’s just a little girl.”

  Throttle poked Cierin in the chest. “You look after the girl.”

  “I dragged myself into that one,” Cierin whined, extending a hand to Sern.

  Sern backed away, tightening her grip on my hand.

  I put a hand on her shoulder, shaking my head.

  She squinted in protest.

  “Sern, I’m always in the center of danger,” I said, with a sigh. “The further you are from me, the safer you are.” I gave her a little shove, and she dropped my hand, wandering over to Cierin, arms crossed.

  “Children,” Throttle scoffed.

  The speck rose before us, steadily bloating into a long black wall, extending miles in either direction and a ridiculous distance into the sky. Within the wall, there was a black gate, a smooth sheet of solid with black spikes. If all that wasn’t enough, stone gargoyles perched above the wall, glowering down at us.

  Sern shrank behind us, grabbing onto Cierin. He gave her a little pat on the head. “What? They’re just statues.”

  “There’s no way those are just statues,” Throttle muttered. “I’m calling it now. We’ll reach the gate, and then like twenty of those things are going to jump us.“

  Once we got close, I bent down, giving the solid metal gate a good kick in the side.

  {Phase 1}

  (Floor 1)

  [(0/20) Enemies slain]

  There was a clicking sound not unlike twenty stone gargoyles snapping to their feet and plunging off the wall.

  Throttle sighed. “I hate being right.”

  Gargoyles screamed, streaming high into the sky in dense packs. After reaching a certain altitude, their massive stone wings snapped shut, and they started diving, plowing into the ground.

  “THROTTLE!” I shouted, summoning Crapshoveler. “NOW!”

  [ Strengthening II (2:00) ]

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  My muscles bulged, and I cracked Crapsholver against a gargoyle's jaw, knocking it way off course, into the ground.

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned.

  The gargoyle shuddered, clawing me off its back. I spun from its grip, grabbing onto its head, and unleashing a flurry of punches, into its face and eye.

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  “GRIND!” Cierin screamed, ducking under a gargoyle’s jaws. “This isn’t working!”

  “Don’t give up!” I shouted back, ramming a knee into its forehead.

  A single crack split across its forehead.

  {Gargoyle : (-1) 999 Hp}

  “How durable are these things?” I asked. My knee was already starting to hurt. At any rate, I’d break before taking out a single gargoyle.

  It shuddered again, almost like laughter, before launching, ramming my face into its forehead.

  [ (-40) 191 Hp ]

  I ducked, grabbing its arm, jumping onto its back and spinning, only to be caught in the chest by another gargoyle, then spun, avoiding a serious blow, ripping my shovel from my inventory in the nick of time, absorbing a thunderous kick that drove my heels inches deep into the earth.

  Throttle, Cierin, and Sern were doing substantially worse, more or less flailing around, trying to survive the mob, which had grown so thick that the gargoyles had started clawing into one another, snapping around for a better point of attack.

  I jumped into the air, landing ontop another gargoyle, and giving its head a sharp upward twist.

  While I’d intended to pull its head off, the gargoyle just shuddered, flapping its wings, and bolting into the sky.

  My hands fumbled and I slipped off the smooth stone body into the air.

  The gargoyle opened its mouth—a jaw filled with serrated gray teeth—and rammed into me, clenching. I’d managed to get two hands onto its mouth, forcing the jaws from closing, but I was quickly running out of energy.

  The gargoyle strained, snapping and cracking through the air as we spun. I clenched a fist and punched it in the eye.

  [(-0) 999 Hp]

  This wasn’t working.

  I grabbed its nose, hooking around onto the gargoyle’s back. It flailed around, and the world spun, suddenly lurching up toward us.

  I rolled across the ground, hand over my head, hitting a pile of dirt. The gargoyle, however, plowed straight into the ground, cracking against layers of packed dirt and rock.

  A notification chimed.

  {Gargoyle : (-99) 900 Hp}

  The gargoyle shuddered as it rose from the earth. One of its fingers had been broken, and there was a large gouge in its rocky neck.

  Of course, I thought, eyes wide.

  There’s a correlation between health and weight.

  I glanced at the notification. “Is this what I’m supposed to learn here?”

  The gargoyle screamed, lunging toward me. It was fast and angry, but stupid and reckless, allowing me to grab its horns and tug.

  First it hollered, scratching at its head. When it couldn't move, it braced against the ground and jumped, wings flapping hard, higher and higher into the air.

  “GUYS!” I shouted, wrenching its horns. “RIDE THEM!”

  Cierin glanced into the sky, one side of his face covered in glowing blood. “ARE YOU INSANE?”

  No point explaining. I’d just have to show them.

  I dug my heels into the rocky scales on the gargoyle’s neck, forcing it to move. The monster titled, then launched into a death spiral, spinning around and around.

  At the last moment, I changed course and jumped into the air.

  The gargoyle righted itself, snapping toward me, oblivious to the metal wall it was headed into.

  Upon impact, there was nothing left but a pile of dust and orbs.

  {Gargoyle : (-0) 1000 Hp}

  [((+1) 1/20) Enemies slain.]

  One massive exp orb dropped to the ground, spilling over my chest and arms. My health bumped back up, and my exhaustion vanished.

  [(+300) 436/700 Exp]

  I started laughing.

  The other gargoyles took notice, charging toward me, ignoring the rest of my party.

  That gave Cierin the perfect opportunity to grab one, mimicking my movements, riding high.

  Before it got too high, he jumped over its head, pulling it down, driving it straight into another gargoyle beneath it.

  They shattered into a million pieces.

  {Gargoyle : (-1500) -500 Hp}

  {Gargoyle : (-2000) -1000 Hp}

  [((+2) 3/20) Enemies slain.]

  “They’re brittle!” Cierin laughed, jumping up from the ground. He smashed two orbs of exp, blossoming with energy.

  {Cierin : LEVEL UP! (13/700) exp)}

  “You don’t need to be so showy about it,” Throttle muttered, hunched on the ground, beside Sern. “And how’d I end up on babysitting duty? It was your job!”

  Sern reached up, patting Throttle on the head.

  “Thanks kiddo,” Throttle scoffed.

  Once the first few gargoyles were taken care of, the rest became a breeze. You didn’t even need it that high for the trick to work. If a thousand health was four tons of mass, the gargoyles just had to be some twenty-fifty feet off the ground for their weight to dash themselves into pieces, either through the metal wall, or each other.

  I laughed, swinging from the gargoyles horns, jabbing a heel down, and it dove into the wall, adding another dent. I myself managed to get ontop of the wall, to a large flat section where the gargoyles had been sitting, before they’d dived off.

  The air had a shimmering barrier, and a notification flashed before me.

  ~Locked~

  [(19/20) Enemies slain]

  “Yeah, I know,” I muttered, kicking the notification out of the way. The last gargoyle was climbing after me, clicking and snapping in rage.

  I jumped off, grabbing it by the head, using my own weight to force it off the wall, into the air, then around in a loop, shattering the gargoyle against the metal gate.

  Sern clapped her hands, standing.

  Throttle huffed. “Please tell me you saved an orb for your trusty bodyguard.”

  I pulled two from my inventory. “Thank you.”

  “Whatever,” she muttered. “Next time, I’m fighting too.”

  “Can I ask what just happened?” Cierin asked, breathlessly hunched over on a mound of rubble. “We were absolutely dead one minute, and the next, we’d killed three or four.” he grinned. “Do all monsters have tricks like this?”

  “Someone mentioned that to me,” I muttered. “Cores are supposed to have tricks, but we’ve gotten so strong, we usually just get by with brute force. But it only works to a certain point.”

  “And now the monsters have tricks to them,” Throttle finished. “So even relatively easy enemies like these appear hard.”

  “EASY!?” Cierin scoffed. “Even once I'd figured them out I still almost died! Twice!”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Throttle huffed.

  Sern walked up to Cierin and patted him on the head.

  “Thanks kid,” he said, with a sigh.

  I nudged Sern.”Good job staying brave out there.”

  She swished her dress, smiling wide.

  Then she reached up and patted me on the head.

  “Very well,” I said, patting her head back.

  Now that she'd been on a fair few dungeon raids, she seemed to have gotten more used to them. That much was good.

  I cleared my throat. “Has the gate opened yet?’

  Throttle walked over and gave it a good kick. The metal shuddered, then lurched upward, crawling back into the ceiling.

  “Yeah, it's open.” Throttle said. As the gate opened, she rubbed her eyes, checking again. “That’s new.”

  Me, Cierin, and Sern took a step back.

  On the other side of the metal gate, the sky had been changed, from light blue to a sickly green. Wind whipped around a large fenced-in courtyard, the floor pressed gravel. Other than the occasional lamplight or gnarled leafless tree, there wasn’t anything notable in the acres stretching out before us.

  “Sern, stay here,” I whispered, pushing her toward Cierin. She took a step toward me, objecting, before slumping down and staying put.

  I smiled. “Thank you. Throtte, you coming?”

  “This place reeks of danger.” Throttle cackled. “Of course I’m coming.”

  “And I’m babysitting.” Cierin groaned.

  Sern turned slowly. She gave Cierin a hard stare.

  “Oh come on,” Cierin groaned, “You’re what, twelve? Then it's babysitting."

  Sern stared harder.

  Cierin glared back.

  Sern leaned closer.

  “Kid-sitting! Fine,” Cierin snapped, “But you’re still helpless.”

  Sern crossed her arms and plopped onto the ground.

  “We’ll get you a pretty souvenir, dagger boy!” Throttle chuckled, raising a hand in a mock salute.

  “Stay sharp,” I huffed. “For all we know, we’re walking right to the Core.”

  “If a dungeon only has two rooms, then their Core’s gotta be a total pushover,” Throttle sneered.

  I gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah yeah, I’ll get serious,” she said, with a sigh, pulling a dagger from her inventory and clenching it in her mouth. “Shee athnthing?”

  A faint chime rang through the courtyard, echoing off the empty stone walls around us.

  It was the sound of the iron gate slamming shut.

  Cierin cleared his throat. “Grind?”

  I glanced back, to the metal doors. “We’re fine!”

  Stone walls. Three one either side, and last from the closed gate.

  “Throttle, this is an arena,” I muttered. “We’re boxed in.”