Dungeon Resex: Chapter 5

[That reject must be dead by now, right?]

The bunny guide was largely preoccupied with running the game with a new set of players, but as the new group got closer to completing the stage, he couldn't help but think of the previous round's mistake that was still in the pitfall trap.

Unable to stifle his curiosity, he eventually decided to make the time to visit the trap, expecting to find a dessicated corpse. Much to his surprise, he found a gaping hole and mounds of dirt at the bottom, and little else.

[Oh hells, where is that useless idiot?]

Stifling his rising panic, the bunny guide flew down into the trap to inspect the surroundings. All the iron spikes lining the bottom of the trap were missing. Bunny didn't realize that **** had used the spikes as a makeshift shovel, only recognizing that the trap was now ruined for the most part.

[I told that idiot to not ruin the game for anyone else and he destroys the trap and runs away? Pfft. Managed to dig his own grave too. What did he think was going to happen? That he was going to dig his way out? A useless headache to the end.]

The bunny guide smirked to himself as he flew into the tunnel, expecting to find **** buried in his makeshift grave. But something wasn't quite right.

[... huh?]

He had expected to find a corpse before long, but as he went further, he realized that the windy, narrow corridors of the tunnel eventually gave way to wider, well formed walls, until it became more of a corridor. Well packed walls and ceilings lined the tunnel now, looking like a purpose built structure that would have taken a team of builders months to build.

[What? What's with the quality workmanship here? Who has time to do shit like this while they're starving to ****?]

Bunny could feel himself starting to get nervous. He didn't like surprises. He picked up speed as he continued down the corridor, until he eventually reached a large cavern that had no business being under the final ruin.

[Oh, hell no.]

This was new. The cavern was clearly man made. Four even walls, rounded corners, with... furniture? Mr. Dead-man that should have been, well... dead, was sitting at a table eating a meal like he didn't have a care in the world. Completely out of place in a Dungeon where every second of existence should have been a fight for survival.

[What in the nine hells do you think you're doing, Mister Dead-man?]

"Goddamn it. What is it now?"

[... Grilled Fish? On a plate?]

Bunny was completely flabberghasted looking down at the spread before ****. There was even a water bottle sitting next to the plate. A proper meal.

[What on... why are you not dead? Where did you get all this? You having fun down here playing house? What do you think this is?]

"Oh, haha. I had some supplies left? And I wanted to clean up the place a little and make it more livable."

[Wait, how do you still have food left? How much food did you come down here with that you can... wait a second-]

Remembering what ****'s job in the group had been, Bunny understood where all the food had come from, and wanted to cry in frustration.

[You- You useless slug! You were meal prep! You had everybody else's food! EEEEEEEH!!!!]

"..."

'He's not going to just kill me himself, is he?'

Watching the bunny guide flitting around the cavern pulling tufts out of his head was amusing to watch, but **** knew he was in trouble. If the bunny decided to kill him, he had no way of fighting back.

He couldn't touch him, but he had already seen the guide decapitate someone on a whim. Thankfully, it seemed the bunny had gotten distracted inspecting the rest of the furniture in the cavern.

[Is this a bed? You made a bed. With pillows. In a DUNGEON. How long were you planning on staying down here?]

Bed, pillows, tables and chairs... even plates made out of dirt. Four perfectly formed walls and a domed ceiling.

[You've got some natural talent in some weird areas, I'll give you that much. You get a new skill or something?]

**** wasn't sure if he wanted the bunny guide knowing the full extent of his newfound abilities, but seeing his expression change, the bunny deduced enough to have an idea of what happened.

[So it was a new skill. Huh, I didn't know system errors like you could still gain new abilities. The Dungeon system is an enigma sometimes. So, what did you get? You learned a new shovel passive or something?]

"... I learned <dirt packing>."

[Dirt p...]

Peals of laughter echoed in the cavern as the bunny burst out laughing.

"Yeah, laugh. Haha. So funny."

The bunny started rolling on the floor, seemingly unable to control itself as spasms of heaving laughter racked its body.

[You know, I thought these looked a little 'too' polished. Even your main ability was something borderline useless like <purification>. I guess you work with what you've got. You're a born lackey, Mr. Support-class.]

"Born with it...? Are your skills determined by your natural abilities?"

[Depends. Sometimes it's something you already had in you when you were called here. Sometimes it's a reward by the Dungeon system for an achievement. In your case...? Just a bad luck of the draw? Maybe?]

**** couldn't argue with the sentiment. Getting summoned here in the first place was a testament to his 'luck', or lack thereof.

The bunny on the other hand, didn't particularly care to put too much thought into how **** had gotten by thus far. New abilities or not, whether he had food or not, his time had come to an end.

[I want to congratulate you on getting this far. It's a testament to human ingenuity and tenacity. There's a reason we chose you for the Dungeon games. But unfortunately... you're out of time.]

**** took a step back and eyed the bunny guide warily.

"You're going to kill me now?"

[No? Why? You're already dead. I don't need to get my hands dirty.]

It didn't make sense. But the bunny guide's widening grin told a different story. His eyes flickered up towards a corner of the ceiling.

[The new group just finished the Gatekeeper. The game is over. While you were here playing with dirt, a whole new group of survivors went through the entire gauntlet to complete the round.]

"No-"

[Well, time to go.]

The bunny rose in the air, turning transparent as he faded out of view.

[Thanks for the entertainment. I'm going to go end the game now. Good luck? Too bad. This looks like it took you quite a bit of work.]

Before long, another message rang through the Dungeon.

[The dungeon is resetting.]

Ice flowed in ****'s veins as he realized what was about to happen.

The entire cavern and tunnel system he built would be gone soon. He didn't want to be caught in the middle of the tunnels when it happened.

His only chance of survival would be to make it back to the pitfall trap before the tunnels refilled as the dungeon reset around him. **** broke out into a run as he made a mad dash for the entrace of the tunnels.

Coughing and wheezing as he finally emerged from the hole, **** cursed himself for not doing a better job of removing the mounds of dirt from the last few (or first few) dozen feet of his escape tunnel network.

It didn't matter, he was alive.

The reset was in progress. The iron spikes he had in his inventory were renewed, and the small patch of light above him was closing again as the hatch door pulled itself back closed, leaving him in complete darkness, once more.

**** took in a deep breath to calm himself, and started feeling around himself for the same rock he found a month ago. Locating it in the exact same spot he remembered, he flung it upwards again to trigger the trap door once more, flooding the inside of the well with light as the dust settled around him.

Everything was back where he started a month ago. It was discouraging to think that he'd have to start all over again, but this time he had a new skill to rely on. He steeled himself and got ready to get back to work...

But something was different.

There was still a hole where he started digging out of the well last time. **** lit a torch and started crawling through the tunnel, narrow at first, which opened into the bigger corridors he had built. Everything was still there. The tunnels, the cavern. His bed and his table, the torch lighting the room.

The home he built for himself was untouched. Everything else had gone back to the way it was, but everything he built with his own hands were unaffected. **** realized that being an 'error' that the system didn't recognize actually mattered.

He was something outside of the Dungeon system. The moment he fell through the cracks of the system due to the bunny-guide's mistake, he had become something unpredictable, a crack in the protective shell compromising a closed ecosystem that could potentially bring about the downfall of the whole thing.

**** dared to start hoping again as he started digging again.

'I can continue progressing without worrying about dungeon resets.'

Digging was no longer something **** dreaded given his new abilities. Not having to worry about the potential futility of it all lifted a huge burden that was weighing on ****'s mind. With the mental block removed, there was nothing to hold him back anymore.

Rejuvenated in mind and spirit, **** redoubled his efforts.

"Dirt Pack."

A bowling ball sized patch of earth came off in his hands before spinning and condensing itself into a spherical shape. **** started on the wall with renewed vigor, a tunnel growing at an incredible pace as he blasted the earthen wall before him as he walked.

'I'm going to make it out of here no matter what. This isn't how I die.'

**** was digging again.