Sam and Kevin entered the dungeon, and were promptly greeted by the quintessential dungeon monster. The monster rat with fangs and claws. The dungeon itself was incredibly well lit, and the walls were marble.

Honestly, the rat looked really, really out of place in the bright, marble-walled and floored dungeon.

Kevin shrugged, and then, a silver shovel that glowed with a faint white light appeared in his hand. “Well. That earlier shovel skill still works!”

Sam did the same, and the exact same shovel appeared in his hands too. The shovel was incredibly light, and they felt like they could swing it instantly.

[You are in a combat dungeon - generic type A. Activating Hit Points.]

[You have 20 Hit points. If you take 20 damage from the rats, you will die. If all party members die, the death is permanent. If any one member completes the dungeon, all dead members will be revived and all damage will be healed.]

“Huh.”

“Seriously.” Sam cursed. “We are JRPG characters now?”

“Life’s a game.” Kevin approached the rat, and the rat hissed. The rat’s hind legs bent, and Kevin’s eyes glared at the rat. The rat leapt, and Kevin’s magic shovel smashed into the rats head in a smooth, swift downward swing.

[Shovel dealt 20 damage. It’s super effective!]

The rat slammed into the marble floor, and then it vanished.

[Monster Rat (Level 5) has been defeated! 19 Monster Rats and 1 Boss Rat remain!]

“There’s a boss rat.”

“So let’s not take damage.” Sam said. “We need our full health for the boss, right?” They both played enough games together to know what they needed to do.

In the next room, they found two more monster rats. Once again, they both approached slowly, and then, the monster rats charged at them. In the exact same movement set.

Kevin slammed the shovel on the monster rat as expected, and it vanished. Sam did the same, but his timing was slightly off. He still defeated the monster rat, but he took a small scratch.

“Ouch.”

Kevin turned and immediately ran to his friend. “You alright?”

“I took 1 Hitpoint damage. It says that I’ll regenerate the HP if I survive the next room with no damage.”

The next room, there was another two monster rats, and they repeated their attack. This time, Sam got a better hang of their movement, and they both took no damage. With full health, they pressed on.

The next two rooms also had two monster rats.

[9 Monster rats defeated. 11 Monster rats remaining and 1 Boss Rat.]

Then, the next room had four.

“Uh. Four?”

“We’ll have to take two each.” The rats clearly split in the same manner, and Kevin eyed two monster rats. They had 20 HP each, so it shouldn’t be a problem. The monster rats charged at the same time, and Kevin only managed to smash one of them.

The other monster rat’s claws scratched his skin, and he felt his entire body suddenly propelled backwards.

[You’ve taken 1 damage. You have 19 Hit Points left]

His arms were fine, even though he clearly took a scratch. Sam too, took a hit. The remaining rat charged again in the exact same movement, and then, they killed them both.

“Ugh. We both took a hit.” Sam cursed. “I’m betting that the boss does 3 or 5 damage.”

“As long as it’s not an instant kill.” Kevin said.

With 7 monster rats remaining, they went to the next room, and noticed there were 5 monster rats. The room was large, and airy, but then, Sam suggested. “Let’s hold them back here at the entrance. Do you think we can juke them so that we face them one-on-one?”

“Good idea.” They retreated slightly to the entrance, and as Sam predicted, only 3 monster rats charged at them. The other two still seemed to just sit there and zone out like nothing had ever happened.

2 versus 3.

“I’m going to try a horizontal swing instead of a vertical swing.” Sam suggested. “Try not to get tangled in my swing.”

“Got it.

The three rats charged at the same time as if they were robotically synchronised, and Sam’s shovel smashed into one of the rats. That rat flew into the rat next to it, and the third rat, and all three rats staggered sideways. The first rat vaporised into dust, but the other two looked a little sluggish, as if ‘stunned’.

Sam didn’t hesitate, and he swung his shovel sideways again. It landed, and this time, both died instantly. They took out the last two easily.

“That was smart. A sideway swing worked well.” Kevin complimented his buddy.

“I wanted to try it when I noticed they all moved and jumped at exactly the same time. I thought I could catch them both.”

At that moment, that last rat dropped two wooden sticks. Kevin immediately picked it up.

[You’ve picked up a Wooden Stick. This Wooden stick deals 66% less damage compared to your current weapon.]

“Uh...” Sam shrugged, as he tossed the stick away. “Our shovel is better. It’s a quest reward, surely it’s better than these regular drops.”

Kevin laughed at how easily Sam adapted to game-lingo. “Alright, alright. Next stage’s the boss. Let’s go?”

“Yup.”

The final boss was a rat twice as large as the others, with proportionately larger fangs and claws. It hissed at them when they entered.

Two of the normal monster rats charged first, and the two guys smashed into them. They were both very familiar with its timing.

The boss hissed, and then boss rat’s claws glowed red.

“Oh shit. That don’t look good.” Sam cursed, and then the boss charged in a blur. The boss smashed right into Kevin’s shovel, but the impact was so strong that Kevin was instantly smashed back to the wall.

[You took 4 damage! You have 15 Hit Points left. You dealt 10 damage to the boss]

Kevin felt a little dizzy as pain flooded his body, at that moment, but somehow, all his limbs and bones were fine. The monster boss was also momentarily ‘stunned’. Sam took the chance to close in, and smashed his shovel on the back of the boss. He managed two hits, before the boss leapt backwards.

“I did 24 damage to the boss.” Sam shouted. “I saw you land a hit, how much did you do?”

“10!” Kevin felt clarity return to him, and the boss hissed at them again.

“I’m betting it’s going to come to me, now.” Sam said, as he entered a defensive form. He placed the shovel in front of him, a bit like a spear. “If it gets stunned, quickly run in and land as many hits as you can!”

The boss’s claws glowed red again, and it blurred. As Sam predicted, the boss charged at him. Sam managed to yank the shovel right at the boss’s fangs, but the sheer brute force of the boss’s attack still pushed Sam backwards and slammed him at the wall.

It left both of them stunned, and Kevin ran forward and smashed.

[You’ve dealt 20 damage to the boss]

The boss leapt backwards. “I dealt 20.” Kevin repeated, as Sam snapped out of his ‘stun’.

“I dealt 11.”

“You deal more damage than me per hit.”

Sam smirked. “That hurt. I took 4 damage.”

“Same.”

The boss’s claws and fangs both glowed. “Oh. New gimmick-”

The boss was suddenly in front of Kevin, and the claws smashed into his body. Out of pure fear, he swung his shovel and smashed into the boss’s face. The boss’s fangs also bit into his body, and at that moment, he felt an incredible pain.

[You received 8 damage. You have 7 Hit points left. You dealt 10 damage to the boss.]

Strangely, despite how ‘real’ those claws and bite felt, his body and bones were fine. Not a single bleed. The boss was stunned, and Sam smashed. This stun was a little longer than before, and he managed three hits, dealing another 33 damage.

Then, the boss started to melt.

[You’ve defeated the Boss Rat!]

[Awarding one War-Perk-Point. You may use the war-perk-point in the next stage onwards!]

[Initiating preview of future stage and installing countdown timer-]