Dungeon Resex: Chapter 2

The message rang out as an otherworldly power flooded across the entirety of the Dungeon.

A low rumble started shaking the earth, the vibrations rejuvenating the torn and broken lands that were destroyed by the unending conflict between beasts, monsters and players that were fighting for survival.

Trees that were felled regrew in place, returning to their original forms. Shattered rocks and boulders floated back in place, creatures and monsters that were killed breathed life again and returned to their homes. The traps that hounded the survivors returned and reset themselves, the tunnels and walls of the ruins destroyed in the heated battle regained their original shape, all culminating with the Gatekeeper coming back to life with a low hum as its mana-core reformed.

"What the hell...?"

**** couldn't believe his eyes as he watched his own blood that was pooled on the bottom of the pitfall trap rise into the air, drop by drop before disappearing. The iron spikes he pulled out of his own body raised itself into the air, as if it had a mind of its own, before planting themselves back in their original position. Finally, the the trap door far above ****'s head closed itself again with a quiet 'click', leaving him in pitch black darkness.

'....'

Silence filled the dark hole that **** was still trapped in.

**** sat in the darkness in complete disbelief of what he had just witnessed. He had seen countless things that couldn't be explained over the course of the past month, but nothing had prepared him for what he had just witnessed. He shuddered to think what else the Dungeon was capable of, if it could rewind time itself for the amusement of whoever controlled it.

'Reset? Why... why would the Dungeon need to reset itself?'

He soon came to the conclusion that it must be doing so because one round was complete, and it was restoring everything to its original condition to prepare for a new batch of 'survivors'.

It was mere conjecture but a convincing one. The Guide had mentioned that survivors come and go, there had been others before them, and more would follow after.

'... I first need to find a way to get out of here. I can't do anything while trapped down here.'

He decided that the first thing he needed to do was to find a way to get some light into the hole again, and fumbled around his immediate vicinity until he managed to get ahold of a palm sized rock. He aimed as carefully as he could in the darkness, and flung the rock upwards towards the trap door.

Luckily the stone struck the door, and the trap door swung down, flooding the well with a beam of light. Once he could see, **** looked around again. The iron spikes had returned to their pristine condition, razor sharp, without a single trace of ****'s blood left on them. He examined the walls of the pitfall trap. Made of slabs of stone fitted together, too tight to get any kind of purchase to scale the wall.

'Could I climb this?'

Right then, he heard a familiar voice.

***

With a flash of light, a giant zipper appeared in mid air in the now empty final ruins. The zipper unzipped itself revealing a a shimmering portal, and a white bunny dressed in a tuxedo emerged.

[Tada~ I have arrived!]

[Close the magic gate~ Here we go!]

Gripping the zipper, the bunny closes the purple portal behind him with a satisfying 'zip'. Another flick of his wrist, the zipper pops out of existence, leaving no trace of the portal.

[Okay, lets see. Is the reset complete? Are we ready for our next batch of competitors?]

"Grrrrrggh."

[Hm?]

The massive Gatekeeper rumbles in response.

[Hehe! Our precious Gatekeeper. So massive, so dependable. Did you sleep well?]

"..."

[...]

A hint of sadness flashed across the bunny's face. But in no time, the bunny returns to his usual cheerful self. He was used to talking to himself to pass the time anyway.

[Okay! Time to go to work!]

The bunny proceeded out of the final ruins to check on the rest of the dungeon.

[Lets make sure that everyone is ready for the next act!]

He knew that his actions were largely unnecessary. This world, the Dungeon operated on a set of immutable rules. Doing these checks served little purpose other than entertainment, a reset worked with our without the Guide. Without exception, without-

[Eeeeh?]

But something was different this time.

The bunny stopped in his tracks and twitched his ears.

"--me! I'm still here!!"

There was no way it was possible. There were no players left in the Dungeon. The last group had already moved on, a new one had yet to arrive. What was he hearing then?

[Huh? This is... Room 7?]

Room 7 is what the bunny called the pitfall trap room that lured in unsuspecting survivors with an empty treasure chest, responsible for the deaths of countless players.

[Huh... what is this?]

The bunny's heart beat rapidly with trepidation as he approached the trap room. He had been the guide of Stage 1 for as long as he could remember, and this was something he had never dealt with before. Something had gone wrong. The perfect Dungeon system was compromised, and he wasn't sure if anything could be done to fix the error.

He flew past the gaggle of beasts crowding the great hall leading to the trap room, only to find the trap already sprung. A panicked voice could be heard from below.

"Hey! I'm here! I'm alive!"

[... Fuck! It's a ghost! Eeeeh!!]

A dead man, or someone that should have been a dead man was looking up at him from inside the pit.

***

[Uh, Mister. Why aren't you dead yet?]

The bunny flew down the well, flitting around **** and inspecting the pitfall trap, trying to figure out the cause of this new and unexpected turn of events.

**** on the other hand, had completely forgotten about his dying wish to smack the bunny one last time, seeing a familiar face while trapped in a well with no way out was more than enough to make him change his mind.

[I should have been. But there was this silver mist. Something about a stage clearing reward?]

The bunny's mouth gaped open in shock as he realized what happened.

[Wait... the Complete Restoration?]

"I guess?"

The bunny's fur bristled with anger.

[Goddamn it, you reject. You fell in a deathtrap. It's in the name. ****. Trap. You know why it's called a deathtrap? Because you're supposed to die when you fall inside. Why is your lazy ass still alive? You so slow that you even bleed slow or something?]

"Well, excuse me for not dying fast enough!"

**** didn't understand the Guide's anger. Something clearly had gone wrong. The Guide was now spinning in the air pulling tufts of fur out of the top of its head in a display of frustration.

[NO, NO, NO!. Look at these pointy spikes. How are you not dead? These spikes were ergonomically designed for maximum stabbibility. Just look at them. What is wrong with you!?!]

"Uh.. not dying is a good thing. That was kind of the point of the whole game. I didn't do anything wrong."

[You think it's that easy? That things are that SIMPLE?]

The bunny looked like he was about to cry.

"Huh?"

[Open your status screen.]

"Why?"

[Just do it!]

"All right. Open status screen."

A translucent window appeared in midair in the center of ****'s field of vision. It was a common ability given to all players upon entering the Dungeon world.

<Status Screen>

Name : ^&@$#」 (Error)

Health : 100/100 (%)

Satiety : 100/100 (%)

Skills : Purification (Beginner: Level 7)

"Huh?"

The reward for clearing the stage was amazing. His health bar was completely full, despite him having been on the brink of **** just minutes ago. His skills were still intact, but there was one strange thing.

"Huh... I can't see my name? There's a bunch of broken letters and it shows up as an error."

[I thought so. I noticed I couldn't call you by your 'Name' anymore.]

"You can't call me by my name?"

[Yeah, I've been following you and your friends for a month. I remember exactly who you are, but whatever your name is, it has been erased from the system. I can't 'register' your name now, even if you tell me what it is.]

"Huh..."

**** thought it was strange that the bunny had started calling him 'mister'.

"How did this happen?"

[The Dungeon believes you are dead. Usually, when that happens your corpse should disappear, but you're not. So you're still here where you shouldn't be.]

The bunny could feel the rising panic in his chest. This was his fault. He would be blamed for this if anyone found out.

[I can't believe I let this happen. I ended a game with a survivor still left inside. I'm a failure as a guide. But... Hmm...]

The bunny eyed **** and looked around his surroundings once more.

"Wait.. you're saying I'm not a player anymore? Does that mean you can send me home?"

[Haha. No. It means you need to die now before anyone else finds out.]

"Goddamn it, that's the conclusion you reached? I have to die because you fucked up?"

But the bunny had clearly already made up his mind, he waved down to **** as he smiled brightly.

[When you make an unfixable mistake, an enterprising Guide like me knows that the best thing to do is bury it deep so no one finds out. Coincidentally, you're already down here, so I kind of need you to die now, or later. Don't take too long though? Just, go quietly. Starve to **** or something. Mister nameless.]

"No wait, goddamn it. This isn't fair."

**** reached for the bunny in panic as he started floating back up towards the surface, but his hand just went right through him, grabbing nothing but air.

"What is this? Are you a ghost?"

[Hehe. Call it enlightenment. My Gyo** is that much higher than yours. You might as well be an ant trying to move an elephant. You're nothing. And you're going to die being nothing. You only have the one skill, purification, don't you? It's not like you would have gotten that far on your own anyway. You only survived this long riding on Ryu's coat-tails. It's time you let nature run its course. A lowly worker bee that can't do anything on their own. A parasite that can't fight. Now die like one. Heehee~]

Even as he spoke, the bunny's incorporeal body rose towards the ceiling towards the opening of the trap.

He noted with satisfaction that the trap was deep enough that it would be impossible for anyone to climb up.

[There's no way out of this for you anyway. Even Ryu couldn't climb something this high even with both his hands. And this isn't the only thing that resets when the Dungeon refreshes. Did you know that?]

****'s face paled as he heard the familiar grunts of the giant creatures they had to clear out on their way into the final ruins.

[It's not like the situation up here would be any better for you even if you did manage to make it up here somehow. You don't have a single combat oriented ability. How do you figure you'll make it out of these ruins alive?]

The bunny was right. **** knew there was no way out for him. The Guide noted the change in ****'s demeanor as the despair set in and grinned in satisfaction. Things have a way of working out after all.

[So, those are all the reasons you should just off yourself. Or starve to ****. Whatever. Just don't bother anybody and die here alone. Okay? Okay~ Baaai~~]

"W, Wait! Stop!"

[I don't really care anymore, Mister Dead Man.]

The bunny dissapeared out of sight, leaving **** alone at the bottom of the well.

But there was something the bunny had not forseen.

"Just die alone, eh?"

****'s voice dropped to a whisper as he looked down, his fists clenched until his knuckles were white.

"...A parasite that can't fight?"

The bunny wasn't wrong. **** didn't have any combat oriented skills. He couldn't contribute much to the actual battles against the creatures. But it seemed like the bunny wasn't really aware of 'exactly' what ****'s job was within the group of survivors.

"...Starve to ****? That's a laugh."

"Inventory."

Another translucent window opened before ****'s eyes.

<Inventory>

Smoked Meat(99), Water Canteen(99), Torch(31),

Smoked Meat(99), Water Canteen(99), Flint(7),

Grilled Fish(99), Water Canteen(43), Knife(6),

Smoked Meat(71), Water Canteen(99), Grindstone(12),

Smoked Meat(99), Grilled Fish(99),

Grilled Fish(99), Grilled Fish(43),

……

……

A veritable mountain of food and drinking water.

****'s specialization within the group was that of the party quartermaster. In his inventory was the entire food/drinking supply for his group. If he was surviving on it alone, it would last him for at least six months.

He pulled out a strip of smoked meat and bit down, chewing thoughtfully.

"I'm not going to die just because you told me to."

**** changed his mind again. He was going to smack that rabbit if that was the last thing he did. In order to do so, he was going to make sure that he first could survive long enough that he might find a chance to do exactly that. Starting with not starving to ****.

He was going to survive, no matter what.

[LEGEND]

Gyo: A Korean word that denotes enlightenment. The idea that all of creation, from the lowliest bacteria to godly celestial entities all have an innate level of enlightenment. Or consciousness/awareness. A being of a higher gyo would exist on an entirely different plane of existence, able to draw on powers that would seem godly to someone or something that exist on a lower plane of existence.

Gyo is something that can be overcome with training, or knowledge. A creature born of a lower plane can sometimes rise to a higher level of existence through various means of accruing power or knowledge, but it is exceedingly rare.

Some folks are just built different, y'all.