When Guile returned to the group, I saw him smiling towards the two of them. “Way ahead is clear.” He said aloud, though immediately afterwards, more words emerged from his unmoving lips. “There’s another sacrifice door ahead. You should know what I mean.”

Dolan appeared to have not heard anything, though Jeza’s face changed instantly. I blinked in confusion, looking back to the dungeon core for an explanation. “My mana occupies every corner of this dungeon. Monitoring thought-communication like that is a simple task.”

“Ahh…” I hadn’t known about that fact, though it did make sense. When I looked back to the projection, Jeza’s face had returned to that pleasant smile, though her eyes had turned colder. Given that we didn’t hear anything from her, she apparently wasn’t planning to warn her lover about the upcoming ambush.

And sure enough, the three of them soon arrived at the room Guile had discovered. The dungeon’s layout was not exactly complex, so it was no real surprise that they had managed to get from one door to the other quickly. As I watched, anticipating the battle, the look of betrayal on Dolan’s face, the core spoke to me again.

“Would you like to be the one to kill him for what they did to you?” His voice was like a sweet temptation, echoing my own thoughts. I found myself gripping my bow, slightly nodding my head.

“Yes.” I confessed, the idea of personally killing Dolan was more appealing than it should be. The same could be said for any of the three. If possible, I wanted to take them all out together, but I found myself strangely satisfied with the core’s suggestion.

Soon, I heard a yell of pain as the projection’s lighting flickered. Some part of me realized what that meant, and an arrow appeared in my hand as I spun around. Dolan was now standing behind me, half-kneeling on the ground with blood pouring out of his side. The Dolan currently in the projection should be the same thing as what happened before, an illusion created by the dungeon while the sacrifice was transported.

I saw him looking up towards me with disbelief as I fired the first arrow. As it flew, it flashed, splitting into four. Each arrow struck into one of his knees or elbows as I pulled my next arrow. “W-wait-oww!” He shouted in pain, trying to stop me. “How are you--”

“Repent in the next life.” I told him, the tip of this arrowhead glowing an earthen yellow as I aimed it at his heart. He could tell what this glow meant, the ki flooding my arrow enough to become visible around it. His eyes registered panic when I let loose the arrow, taking advantage of his temporarily disabled state.

My arrow drilled straight through his heart, leaving a thin hole in his armor before embedding itself in the ground behind him. His health bar emptied in an instant, and his body remained pinned in place from my first four arrows.

Congratulations! You have earned an achievement!

For taking vengeance on one who fatally betrayed you, you have earned the Vengeful Soul achievement. +5 Strength, Karma Sight

Karma Sight? I muttered inwardly as I read over the achievement. It was a lesser known secret of the Underworld that the Goddess Irena watched over the karma of all beings. That those who had earned substantial karma could attain eternal happiness, while those whose souls were stained black would suffer for all time.

However, from what I knew, there had never been another creature capable of reading karma. Was it just because the conditions for this achievement were so hard to replicate? A ‘fatal’ betrayal does not typically allow for any vengeance, after all. And those few who would have met the criteria no doubt kept silent about it.

Curious, I looked down towards my own hand, focusing on this new ability. I saw a rather… interesting mix of black and white ‘blobs’ crawling around my skin. For the most part, the white was prevailing, which gave me a bit of satisfaction.

When I pulled my gaze back towards Guile and Jeza, I saw that the two of them were almost overwhelmingly covered in blackness. On Guile, it didn’t even take the form of blobs, but more of a dense light with only a few specks of white hidden within.

“So, what now?” Jeza asked, staring hard towards Guile as her body remained tense. Given the pattern so far, it was clear that only one of them would survive to the end of the dungeon.

“Now, you and I work together until we hit the next gate.” Guile said, turning his back to Jeza and walking towards the gate as it opened. He could feel her mana building behind him, and called back. “After all, if we don’t have the required two people for the next gate, we might be trapped here. And I already tried to use an escape charm.” He tossed out two fractured pieces of wood, which fell against the ground.

Jeza’s eyes went wide as she saw that, her mana immediately settling down. Teleportation spells typically used a great deal of energy, so she wasn’t too keen on testing his words. Guile might not rely too much on his mana to fight, but she did. Without it, she’d just be leaving herself defenseless, whether it was against her current ‘partner’ or the monsters of the dungeon.

Of course, I knew that Guile never really tried to use anything like an escape charm. That was just a piece of wood that he snapped himself on his way back to meet Jeza and Dolan after discovering the second gate. Most likely, this dungeon didn’t have an ability to block teleportation, but this ‘proof’ was enough to convince Jeza.

Naturally, the fights became more difficult now that the group had lost its warrior. The two remaining members of the party were forced to work together more closely as they encountered the deep trolls, large creatures with thick arms and small brains. Warts grew along their skin to give them a hideous appearance, and they preferred to simply bludgeon people with their misshapen limbs.

The reason that these creatures often resided within the depths of a goblin den was simple. Goblins feared creatures more powerful than themselves, while deep trolls were not only that, but cruel as well. If they were displeased, they had no problems with simply eating the offending goblin.

Thanks to this, the deep trolls were almost always morbidly obese, having their food brought to them by their underlings without having to exert themselves much at all. This resulted in obscene masses of green flesh walking through the hallways, doing their best to pummel Guile and Jeza.

The nimble rogue darted his way around the trolls, stabbing accurately at their joints while Jeza hit them with fire spells. If not for what I personally knew of these people, I might think that their display was impressive, reducing even deep trolls to cinders. Instead, I could only feel disappointment every time they defeated an enemy.

To my surprise, however… the monsters in the dungeon did not appear to have even a trace of karma, good or bad. I could not see anything from them whenever I activated my new ability. Was it that monsters did not possess karma in the same way that people did, or because they were creations of the dungeon?

In my mind, I was leaning towards the former. It takes an intelligent mind to deduce right and wrong, and karma should only affect those with such an ability. A goblin has no way to know that its habits would be seen as evil, acting purely on instinct. On the other hand, Guile knows fully well that he is playing the villain, and his karma reflects that fact.

“Is there any way I can get involved here?” I asked the dungeon core, impatient for the next gate to appear. I wanted to act against Guile and Jeza, make them regret what they tried to do to me. If possible, yes, I would even kill them before they reached the next door.

As if the core had been waiting for me to ask that, it immediately spoke up in a pleased tone. “There is… my master.” Once its words finished, I saw another window appear, awarding me the Dungeon Master achievement.

I never expected that this would be how I would get this achievement… I thought that after I got my revenge, the core would either kill me or release me as the sole survivor. However, I wasn’t able to feel happy at this change, more focused on the task at hand.

A golden sphere slowly manifested in front of me, lowering into my palm. I was able to recognize it as the proof of someone being a Dungeon Master, the AC unit. An artificial dungeon core that allowed me to both establish my own temporary dungeon, and synchronize with the dungeon that I was attuned to.

Inserting my mana into the sphere, I found that it was actually very intuitive. I only had to think about what I wanted, and the change would take place. At the same time, I could sense the entire dungeon’s layout. The goblin breeding dens, the deep trolls’ lair, and most importantly… the trap that was hidden beneath the final sacrifice room.

A wide pit of boiling acid, above which were dozens of rapidly spinning blades coated in what I had to imagine were poison. And above the room, a ceiling designed to collapse to prevent flying challengers to escape the trap below.

Clearly, the dungeon was never designed for anyone willing to sacrifice their allies to leave alive. Still, there was plenty of room for me to work.

I began adding dangers of my own, projectiles that I could trigger mentally when the group arrived in the appropriate area. They were hidden within the natural cracks of the stone walls to prevent Guile from detecting them so easily, though ideally he would have his hands full with goblins and deep trolls at the time.

To really vent my frustration, I mixed in distortion arrows, splitting arrows, ki-empowered arrows, and seeking arrows. Similarly, I stretched out the path leading towards the final sacrifice chamber, ensuring that they had plenty of time to enjoy my gifts.

“Are you not worried that they will be killed too quickly?” The dungeon core asked as he watched me placing the various projectiles. I don’t know why, but I just assumed he was male.

“Most of the arrows are set to aim too low to be lethal. Well, for Jeza at least. For Guile…” I simply shrugged. I felt like he’d be able to avoid any of the shots aside from the distortion arrows. If he couldn’t, then it didn’t bother me if he died early. The only downside was that Jeza might freak out and try to teleport away. If she managed to escape, I’d have to find another chance to get back at her.