Chapter: The Recreational Block
The deeper the party moved into the cavern, the more it changed.
What had once seemed like a natural iron-wrought tunnel of waterlogged stone shifted into something almost structured—squares carved into the walls, smoother flooring, runes flickering faintly beneath the moss. It wasn't natural anymore.
It was designed.
And in the center of a wide chamber, half-submerged in murky water, stood something unnatural: a floating, obsidian-black cube inscribed with glowing red cracks, rotating slowly with mechanical hums.
> [Structure Detected: RECREATIONAL BLOCK]
[Function: Spawner – Undead Class: Skeleton Ranger, Skeleton Warrior]
[Mode: Adventure Mode Active]
Note: Designed for Adventure-Class Travelers. Standard combat flow with respawning low-ranking mobs.
Dozens—hundreds—of skeletons began to claw their way from the walls and floor, bones snapping into place, eyes lit with dull fire.
For any normal Traveler, this would be suicide.
For a survivalist like Oliver, this would demand traps, barriers, timing, and slow precision.
But for Luke Astoria?
This was just Tuesday.
Luke rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as the light from his sword reignited. He grinned—just a little.
"They just keep coming," Oliver muttered, stepping back cautiously.
"Adventure Mode mobs aren't a threat to someone like Luke," Fern explained. "They're scripted for flow. He's built for slaying them en masse. You're a survivalist, Oliver. You're meant to endure."
Luke surged forward like a lightning bolt through bone.
He cleaved through skeleton after skeleton—fifteen, twenty, thirty in one movement, his strikes wide and punishing, sweeping light beams illuminating the cavern like flashes of sunlight in a grave.
Bones cracked, splintered, and turned to ash under the force of his radiant blade. His footwork was smooth, confident—like someone who'd seen this scene countless times before. Luke didn't hesitate because he didn't have to.
But then—a tremor.
A bellow from the back of the cavern.
Something that wasn't part of the regular loop.
A new figure emerged from a broken slab of rock near the spawner.
Massive. Towering. Seven feet tall.
Its ribcage bound with iron bands, horns spiraling from its skull, and its right arm made entirely of sharpened bone-blades.
> [WARNING: Mini-Boss Engaged – Skeleton Juggernaut]
[Type: Rare Spawn | Reinforcement Class: Smash-Type]
"Now that one," Fern said, raising a brow, "isn't scripted."
Luke turned just in time as the Skeleton Juggernaut slammed the ground, knocking him back with a shockwave.
"Luke!" Oliver shouted.
But before the boss could follow up—
Vines whipped out, curling around Luke's waist and yanking him into the air. Fern, standing calmly near the side wall, had her staff buried in the ground, channeling nature's will. She tugged her hand—and Doli, screaming and flailing, was yanked up next.
"Wait—what?! Why me too—" Doli shouted.
"Because you're up," Fern said calmly, "and your hammer is not for decoration."
The vines dropped them both onto a high ledge above the flooded floor.
The Juggernaut turned toward them, skeletal jaw hanging wide, hollow eyes burning.
Doli hesitated, heart pounding—but then… he remembered.
The hammer.
Not just a dwarven weapon, but a geo-forged relic, passed down in his line.
He lifted it with both hands, its carved wooden head pulsing faintly, roots growing out of it even as he raised it above his head.
"Alright," he said, trembling but determined. "Let's put this bonehead back to the ground!"
With a battle cry that surprised even himself, Doli leapt, slamming the hammer downward.
The moment it struck the cavern floor, the earth answered.
A pillar slab of stone erupted from beneath the Skeleton Juggernaut, launching the mini-boss into the cavern ceiling with a bone-shattering crunch. Then—on Doli's second swing—the slab tilted and slammed down like a giant hand, crushing the juggernaut mid-air with a thunderous impact.
> [Mini-Boss Defeated: Skeleton Juggernaut – Status: Shattered]
[EXP Shared | Bonus: Dwarf Synergy Chain Reaction]
Oliver's jaw dropped.
Luke blinked from the ledge.
Fern gave a small, amused exhale.
Doli stood in the mist of pulverized bone, panting, both arms still locked around the now-steaming hammer.
"…I did it?" he whispered.
"You did more than that," Luke said, dropping down beside him with a grin. "You finished the fight."
Behind them, the recreational block went dim—no more skeletons emerging.
The cavern grew still again.
And above, through the cracks of stone and moss, a pair of unseen eyes narrowed in silence.
The game wasn't over.
The Silent Stalker was still waiting.
------
Chapter: Darkness vs Light
The cavern had just returned to calm.
Bones settled. Water stilled. Echoes died.
Then—Rindle, the twitchy, sharp-eyed dwarf of the seven, suddenly froze.
He sniffed the air. His head tilted sideways like a bird catching wind of a predator.
"…Something's wrong."
He turned, pointing to the stream of rushing water near the far end of the cavern, his hand visibly trembling.
"I-I feel something… moving with the water… inside it."
All eyes turned to the cascade pooling into the cavern, just as the shadows above began to stretch unnaturally long. The faint green glow of Fern's staff flickered once.
And from the highest ledge of the iron-lined cavern—
He appeared.
No warning. No presence. No sound.
Zack Erebus—the Silent Stalker—descended in a blur, his cloak fluttering like ink spilling in water. His face, young and unreadable, shadowed beneath his white headband.
With a cold snap, he unsheathed two long, jet-black iron daggers, glimmering faintly with a shimmer that absorbed light rather than reflected it.
> [Zack Erebus – Rogue / Voidstep / Blue+ Class Signature]
Status: Actively hunting Ruby bearers.
All focus snapped to Oliver.
He was still holding the ruby.
"Oliver," Fern said sharply, eyes widening. "Do NOT drop that ruby."
"I—got it!" Oliver replied, panic swelling. With trembling fingers, he stuffed the ruby deep into his inventory, where its glow faded behind a protective screen.
Zack's emotionless eyes flicked to Fern for a moment, calculating—then vanished into a burst of black mist.
He was already in front of Oliver.
The rogue's daggers slashed for Oliver's side—too fast.
Oliver raised his iron sword, barely catching the first blade. Sparks flew. But Oliver's stance faltered. His hands shook. This wasn't a skeleton or some predictable scripted mob.
This was Zack Erebus.
A living anomaly.
"Too slow," Zack murmured, voice a whisper behind Oliver's ear.
Then—
WHOOSH!
A wall of grass surged from the ground between them, summoned by Fern with a fierce downward strike of her staff.
Zack's daggers sliced through it like paper, vines snapping apart like threads. But it bought enough time for Doli, still energized from his last victory, to slam his hammer down again—
A stone pillar-slab rose from under Zack.
But the rogue phased.
One moment he was there, the next, nothing—replaced by curling threads of dark smoke. He passed through the slab, his feet never touching ground.
"He's using Voidstep," Fern growled. "He's skipping between frames of reality."
But then—
Fern's hands shot down again, and vines coiled around Zack's ankles, grabbing him mid-phase—anchoring him for the briefest instant.
Zack's dagger flashed down. The vines were severed.
But that pause—was enough.
A beam of radiant white light surged from the side as Luke Astoria, the hero, the paladin, stepped in like a blazing sun within the cavern.
His silver sword arced across Zack's chest, imbued with holy light and the full force of anti-void energy.
CRACK!
Zack staggered back—his cloak burned at the edges, his body stumbling for the first time since anyone had seen him move.
He didn't speak.
He didn't hiss or cry out.
He just lifted his daggers again, chest rising with his first real breath in the entire encounter.
Darkness.
Light.
They stood opposite now.
Zack's black daggers humming with suppressed void energy.
Luke's glowing silver blade radiant with divine light.
A moment of stillness.
The iron cavern reflected both forces—the light and the shadow warping along the stone walls like the forest itself held its breath.
Behind them, Fern, Oliver, and the dwarves braced themselves.
No one dared move.
No one dared breathe.
Because what came next would be a clash not of skill—
—but of alignment.
And in the Ruby Game's twisted ritual…
Only one of them would walk away untouched.