Shawn and I followed the pulsing light emitted by the shard key, leading us down the dark tunnel. Every pulse of golden-yellow light illuminated the path ahead until it faded and another pulse made new light. There had been no sign of danger, and I hoped it stayed that way. I wasn’t eager to start another fight.

The tunnel was at a steady angle downward. I could tell it was leading us deep underground. Not knowing what was at the end was starting to get to me. Fear of the unknown, the most primal of fears. “So, you think we actually stand a chance?” I asked.

“Sure,” replied Shawn. “Why not?”

“I’m only at level three,” I said, trying not to seem too worried.

“Yeah, I’m level six now,” said Shawn. “Whatever we face can’t be too much higher than that.” I envied his confidence. Maybe I just took games a little too seriously or he didn’t take them seriously enough. With the ability to respawn, it seemed like the only thing that was really on the line would be losing your shit if you died.

Finally, we came to a huge door at the end of the tunnel. The golden beam of light pulsed out of the key and illuminated the entire door with golden light. A roar deeper than any we’d heard so far came from the other side and shook the tunnel, causing dust to fall off the ceiling. “I think it’s safe to say we found it,” said Shawn. “Make sure you’re ready for the fight before using that thing.” I took a deep breath.

I opened my inventory and saw a message in the corner of the window: You have a weapon that is stronger than what is equipped. I went to my weapon’s tab and there it was, the level 3 goblin sword I got from one of my first kills. Selecting the weapon, I equipped it.

LvL 3 Goblin Blade, +3 Atk

I checked my stats for good measure.

LvL: 3

Exp: 215/500

HP: 13/13

Atk: 7

Def: 6

Stl: 1

End: 2

Mgk: 1

My health seemed to restore itself after being out of combat. That was good to know, there didn’t seem to be any indication that items would add health. “Fuck it, I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” I declared. Shawn nodded and I placed the shard key into the lock. A tremor of fear shot through my limbs.

Nothing happened. “Are we supposed to...do anything?” my friend asked. I took a step forward and the circular key began to rotate clockwise and two horizontal bars, that I thought were just decoration, retracted into the walls. The solid rock door split down the middle and were pulled away from us like an unseen force opening them from the other side.

I followed Shawn beyond the door. The tunnel led further down. Another massive roar echoed through the cave. My friend and I froze in place. I could feel new sweat dripping down my neck. We were approaching the final leg of the quest, the reckoning of the final boss. I could feel it. Something nasty ahead of us would decide if starting this quest was a good choice or overeager.

The path finally levelled and turned left. Walking in, the cavern we found was massive. A hole in the ceiling acted like a skylight, clear moonlight made it easy enough to see our surroundings. The stone walls were cluttered with all kinds of crude symbols and blood paintings. Goblins weren’t known to be great artists but the presence of these unnerved me.

Directly below the skylight, in the center of the chamber, was a substantial pool of water. Shawn pointed, and I saw could be a thin path went around the pool and up to a raised protrusion of rock. “Maybe the loot is up there,” he offered. “We just need to find out how you climb up.”

“I don’t trust that water,” I said. “There’s no way grabbing any loot from here would be this easy. It’s the end of the quest, after all.” Before the final words even left my mouth, the entire cavern began to shake like an old apartment house near a new subway. “Shit’s about to get real,” I said, gripping my sword tightly.

The water in the center of the cavern erupted and rained down over Shawn and I. Looking up, I saw a giant creature, slumped over, it looked down at us with green, pill-shaped eyes. Its face looked like it split vertically in half, displaying a sideways mouth with rows of yellow teeth. The creature’s body looked soft and squid-like with two large, tentacle arms extending from its sides. Where hands would be, the arms split into a collection of smaller, wriggling tentacles.

Shawn and I took a few steps back. Above the creature’s head read Khugor the Mad, LvL 8. My friend was unnervingly quiet. The beast towered above us. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn’t find my voice. The creature raised its grotesque arms and swung them down at us.