Zane could feel the cold stale air of the dungeon. He could feel the rough unforgiving hardness of the rocks. He felt the suffocating loneliness of the dark corridor he was trapped in, but there was something else now. He felt an energy that had been lost to him for years now. He felt hope.
As Zane opened his eyes, he saw nothing but the faint glow of the glow moss. He sat up and took a look around. He could see that around the corridor exit it had become darker. Before he passed out the exit was the brightest part. The giant hole that served as both entrance and exit was surrounded by a thick and bright amount of glow moss, but now was dark and the walls seemed black and charred. He stayed seated there thinking about what had happened. It took him several minutes before all his memories came flooding back. It was his magic; he must have burned all the glow moss that surrounded the door.
Whistling Zane said "I always knew I was hot, but this is just ridiculous."
Zane got up and approached the hole cautiously. He wasn't sure if the barrier was still up, or if anything was waiting for him out there. The closer he got the more his heart raised. He inched closer, he could feel his breathing quickening. When he got to the exit, he saw… nothing. It was way too dark to see anything out there.
He stood there squinting trying to make out anything, but alas it was too dark to see. He thought about how he was going to make it out of here if he couldn't see anything. Clearly the dark was no problem for the monsters, but that posed a real issue for him. They could just lie and wait, then when he stumbles into range, they could ambush him and that be that.
"Wait a second, I have fire magic." Zane said, smacking his forehead.
Walking back into the corridor he contemplated how he was going to make his escape. He sat down in the center of the corridor and held out his hand palm upwards and closed his eyes. Before he focused on his hate, but that caused him to lose control. He needed to match that strength but not lose control. He focused on the last thing his grandpa had said "Don't live life with hate in your heart. Be kind and free."
"What did that mean though?" Zane said, pulling on his hair in exasperation.
It hit Zane like a lightning bolt "Hang on now, I might have just figured it out. Being kind is just me being a good person, but free is what I need to let my fire be. Both the fire of my magic and the fire in my heart both need to be free. Free to burn a path that I create."
Zane again held out his hand and closed his eyes. He pictured the flame he wanted to create. The size, the function and the form of it. Now all he needed to do was let the fire free. In seconds Zane was holding a basketball sized fireball. It was still a deep crimson, but the heat that radiated off of it was purer and freer. More akin to a campfire or fireplace. Still dangerous, but controllable.
"Perfect now to make this baby float and we got ourselves a consistent light source."
Zane practiced for about an hour, and perfected three fire spells that he named cherry light that spell creates a ball of flame that illuminates his path, fireball which as the name implies is creating balls of fire that he then throws at his enemies, and flame wall which like the name says creates a flame wall that protects the user.
After mastering those three spells he decided to first go and evaluate the situation. When he got to the exit, he took a moment to appreciate that even though he threatened Shelly. She chose to allow him to still be protected with her barrier, or at least he was pretty sure that's why he hadn't been attacked. Truthfully, he didn't know if it was still up or not. He hadn't seen any monsters except the one that had tried to send his head to another continent with same day shipping.
Zane got to the exit and activated Cherry Light. A ball of fire lit up the surrounding area and what Zane saw almost made him sick. Laying charred and dead just off to the left of the exit was a giant goat man. The goat man had blue fur although now it was more blackened. Its teeth had to be as long as Zane's arm, and just as huge was its size. This creature had to be at least twelve to fifteen feet tall. It had laying by it a roughly eight- foot cleaver, and stained on it like a badge of honor was the dried blood of all this creature's previous victims.
In a less than great timing moment his stomach began to rumble. Zane stood there for a moment trying to remember the last time he'd eaten. He wasn't sure precisely how long he'd been down here, but if he had to guess at least one day if not two. He'd been so preoccupied with survival that he hadn't noticed how hungry he'd become. Unfortunately for him he had little in the way of food. Staring at the goat man lying motionless on the ground. Zane knew he really only had one option, but he really didn't want to take it.
After going back and forth on what to do his stomach erupted in hunger pains and that made the decision for him.
"Well, I had always wondered what monsters tasted like. Though, in anime the monsters look a lot more appetizing." Zane said, sighing before heading to the goat carcass.
He used his flames to burn off the fur, which had Zane gagging from the smell. He then used his fireball to break the monster's cleaver into something he could use to cut the meat. After gathering the meat, he went back into the corridor to lay the meat down and used his flames to cook the meat. He hopes that the same principles from his world applied here that he could cook off the bad bacteria. He also hoped that monster meat could be ingested by humans. This gave him a small pause, but with another hunger pain he pushed that thought to the side and began to chow down.
"I found the meat to be a bit tough and dry, but overall, the taste was definitely better than the appearance. It looked like road kill, but tasted like over cooked turkey." Zane said, chuckling. Back in his old life he'd occasionally watch cooking competition shows. He always found the judges comments to be so pretentious and stupid that he couldn't help but laugh. He was just happy it wasn't like this one anime he watched where the main character ate monster meat and it tore his stomach up. Probably would have killed him if it hadn't been for the holy water he just happened to find.
After Zane had eaten and digested a bit, he decided it was time to head out and find a way to leave this dungeon. When he exited the corridor and passed the dead goat man, he weighed whether or not to take some of the meat with him. Since he hadn't seen any monsters in the area except this one, he wondered if the monsters on this level were more sparse or something. He wondered what level or floor or whatever he was on, also how to leave this place. The last thing he was trying to do was head to the bottom of this hell hole. While he was confident he could protect himself he figured that the goat man was a lucky shot and that the monsters further down would probably not be so easy. He wasn't even sure he could take the monsters on this floor without either luck or an ambush.
Turning away from the goat man he sent his light down the right path opposite the goat. All he saw was empty space and the side wall of the dungeon, but no exit. Something about that way though seemed to beckon him, and hoping this was his adventurer instincts kicking in he chose to follow it.
He had wondered before if the monsters were sparser the further down you traveled, but it didn't take him long to run into more monsters. Within ten minutes of leaving the dead goat me he ran into a pack of shank rabbits. Shank rabbits are deceptive in the fact they look like a normal white rabbit one might own as a pet. There are two main differences though. First, they walk on two feet unlike a normal rabbit. Second, they carry with them daggers that they use to cut through their prey like a hot knife through butter.
Zane came across them as he was turning a corner and within seconds, they were on him. He tried to defend himself using a flame wall, but they were too fast and one cut him in the upper thigh, and another got him on his left side. Jumping back Zane activated a flame wall to slow the pace and allow him to get his bearings. This served to give him only a moment's respite. The rabbits cut through the fire and made a charge for him. However, Zane only needed that moment to gather himself and prepare for his counter attack.
"Get fuck fur balls!" Zane shouted firing off fire ball after fire ball.
As his attacks hit their targets the rabbits let out blood curdling shrieks as they died. The pack had about twenty-five members, and his attack served to kill about eight of them. This left him with seventeen rabbits. He did gain one advantage though. His fire magic had served to cause the pack to hesitate, and that opening was exactly what Zane needed to test out a spell he'd been mulling in his head, but wasn't sure on the control part.
"Well, if I don't do something this fight could go sideways." Zane huffed seeing that the rabbits were now taking a wider position to counter his fire balls.
Zane raised his hand and created a giant orb of fire that lifted it to the ceiling of the dungeon which was easily thirty feet high. He then concentrated on splitting and dropping the scattered fire balls, while simultaneously avoiding hitting himself. He knew that he didn't have the control to aim each ball, but at the distance they stood from him he didn't have to worry about that.
After all the preparations were done, he shouted "NOW YOU DIE CRIMSON STAR FALL!!!"
The once dark dungeon floor was soon lit up like a fourth of July fireworks show. The dying screams of the rabbits were drowned out by the massive explosions of the fireballs. The walls, ground, and ceiling violently shook as the eruptions bombarded its targets.
When the smoke had settled and the shaking ceased. The scene that laid before Zane was absolute carnage. The remains of the once fearsome and terrifying shank rabbits were now just loose appendages and, in some cases, only a puddle remained. Zane gagged as he looked around. The once grey walls were now a slimy green with the monster's blood. He could barely walk without stepping on a leg, eye, ear, and or intestines. He even saw genitals now separated from their masters. This hurt him in a way only a man could understand. He wondered to himself if killing monsters was always going to give him this disgusted feeling, or if one day he'd be numb to it.
Zane continued to traverse the dungeon and swiftly disposed of any and all monsters that crossed his path. It took him roughly two days, but he finally found the stairs leading up to Floor 71. He mused about whether the adventurers who'd made it this deep were the ones to build the stairs, or if the dungeon made it itself.
Chuckling as he walked up the dark staircase, he landed on it not mattering who made the stairs. They were probably dead anyways so what's the point in
overthinking the answer. He was impressed that he'd been able to survive so deep in the dungeon. He also hoped that this meant the rest of the trip would get easier as he went, but he figured there'd be boss rooms so he wasn't holding his breath.
Floor 71 went much the same as Floor 72. Walk the long and dark passages, encounter monsters, kill said monsters, cook the now dead monster, and finally eat the monsters. After that he would simply repeat the process. This became so routine for him that by the time he found the exit to Floor 71 he'd gotten this down to a science for each type of mob he encountered. Rabbits he used Crimson Star Fall, goat men got a fireball to the face, and another mob he encountered often were giant rats. These rats stand at about five feet and have huge sharp teeth that can easily tear through boulders. Their pelt was thick and had decent magic resistances. Zane had to create a brand-new spell just for them. It was called Diablo Bullet; this spell can simply be explained as Zane condenses his fire magic into thin but dense bullets and fires them at high speeds at his opponent. This spell would fall under the piercing attack spell. He would shoot the bullets through the rat's eyes, and as he mastered it, he learned an evolution of the spell by exploding the bullets in the rat's head. He only used that spell in tight spots, due to the fact that he couldn't eat them if they were slush. He did try though out of curiosity, and instantly regretted it. It was so gross that he vomited off and on for several hours. Even after that he still had trouble getting an appetite for a few days.
When Zane arrived at the exit he was surprised to find no staircase, but instead two bright blue magic circles. The room looked no different than the corridor he awoke in, it was smaller and due to the light from the circles much brighter. Still, the room almost felt nostalgic. Zane wasn't sure if it felt that way in a good or bad sense, but it felt nostalgic all the same. In front of the circles sat two stone tablets with text on them. As Zane approached, he learned that this word has a language and writing system all their own, and for some odd reason he could read it. Picking up a rock on the ground he scribbled his address on the floor and found that he could write their language as well.
"Well fuck me like a side piece I can read and write. Guess that will make living here easier." Zane said laughing before returning to the tablets and reading their contents.
The first tablet read "I walk the path of Gods" this brought back the malice and hate that Zane holds for the divinity of this world. The only one he finds conflicting is Shelly, but he still isn't a fan of her either.
The second tablet read "I walk the path of Devils" Zane wasn't particularly interested in getting involved with devils either, but they weren't the ones to drag him to this world against his will. So, if he had to choose between the two, he'd walk with the devils ten out of ten times.
"Sorry gramps, I know you were a god-fearing man, but after the fucking bullshit they've put me through I hope you can understand my decision." With Zane's resolve steeled he made his choice and stepped on the second magic circle.
The magic circle began to glow brighter and brighter. As the glow illuminated the color changed from a calming blue to a deep sinister red. He remembered a quote from a movie he'd watched with his grandpa. The main character and villain were looking for the holy grail and when they got there the villain chose first after picking up a chalice. A knight that had been in the room said "You choose…Poorly" that rang loud in his head just before the world went black.