Ney's vision went back to normal, revealing the environment he now was in. He stood at the end of a tall but narrow corridor, built of the same stone material as the lobby. The ceiling faded into a cyan mist, obscuring its features, and the walls were plain, with magical torches serving as their only feature. The rhythmic sound of metal striking the stone floor echoed through the dungeon, a reminder that other beings also roamed these corridors.

Ney pulled his sword out, then carefully made his way to a nearby opening leading to another hallway.

This look like some kind of circular maze, probably going up over several floors since the dungeon is a tower. There are no distinctive features on any walls, so I'll have to try and keep a mental map of each floor as I go through them.

He walked to the next passage, trying to remember the turns he had taken so far. As he entered, he saw a group of three mechanical humanoids, about half as tall as he was, all walking in perfect sync and patrolling the area. The one at the front held a sword and a shield, in the middle was a bow, and the back was covered by a construct holding a staff, likely capable of casting spells. Thanks to his timing, Ney was behind them. If he managed to get closer without attracting their attention, he might be able to take down the spellcaster, but he also had the option of ignoring them and avoid the fight completely. The first option would help him gain a better understanding of what to expect in this dungeon, while the other would minimize the risk of getting injured and having to use his potions so early.

After thinking for a moment, he grabbed his sword with two hands and approached the mage construct while making as little sound as he could. Their own footsteps being so loud, they drowned out any noise he made, and he managed to catch up in a few steps. He swung his sword down, striking the mage's head and immediately causing it to dismantle as information flashed within him:

Critical!
112 damage inflicted.

The other two constructs, hearing the commotion behind them, quickly turned around and shifted their positions, the defender taking the front as the archer moved back several steps. Ney tried to take advantage of the element of surprise and strike before they had time to get in formation, but a shield bashed his sword away, forcing him to quickly jump back to avoid the sword now aimed at his belly. Before he had time to land, he heard the distinctive sound of a bow string. He couldn't adjust his trajectory while still in midair, so he tried to move his sword on the path of the arrow. Just as his feet touched the ground, a sharp pain in his shoulder informed him that he had failed to block the projectile aimed at him.

21 damage taken.

Ney staggered back, his shoulder sending uncomfortable waves through his body. He hadn't taken enough damage to start bleeding, so he quickly pulled the arrow out, causing it to disintegrate. The pain was somewhat alleviated, but he had no time to think about it. With the archer shooting once more, he stepped aside, parrying a strike from the defender in the same movement.

If they keep coordinating their attacks, I'll never get a window to strike back. Good thing I already took the mage down, otherwise I'd be taking hits left and right.

After dodging and parrying a few more attacks, Ney realized that the two constructs were slowly going out of sync. With the archer needing a few extra moments between its attacks, as long as he could stay within range of the defender, he'd eventually get a short moment during which he could attack the defender and dodge an arrow in the same move.

His movements became clearer, his steps more deliberate. He couldn't get into a rhythm, as the time between the attacks kept changing, but he maintained his focus and avoided them. After a few seconds, the sequence he was waiting for happened. He parried an attack from the defender, then immediately avoided an arrow, incorporating a sword strike into the movement. The defender fell, allowing Ney free rein to dash forward and, after avoiding another arrow, strike down the archer. As it finally broke apart, silence fell back on the corridor, only to be immediately disturbed by the steps of more constructs deeper in the dungeon.

Ney took another look at the dismantled bodies, finding a key within one of them. He pocketed it, thinking that he would figure out its use later. He also brought up his detailed stats, focusing on his HP in particular:

HP: 307/328

I'm doing just fine. Taking a potion now would be overkill, but I'll have to be careful not to take too many more hits.

With a much clearer idea of what to expect from the dungeon, he psyched himself back up and resumed his exploration of the labyrinth.

As he kept going, Ney got completely used to the dungeon. Most constructs patrolled by themselves, making them easy targets, while groups of two or three could easily be dealt with. He decided to avoid groups of four or more, fearing that he would need to take hits on purpose to defeat them.

He also noticed that some groups of three dropped keys like the one he already had, while smaller groups did not. It seemed likely that larger groups also had a chance to drop them, but he wasn't keen on risking his HP to find out.

Every floor looked like all other floors, so Ney lost count of how far up he had gotten after a while. There were no traps, no rare monsters, no hidden secrets that he could find. This tower really was the simplest a dungeon could be.

As he started climbing yet another flight of stairs, he noticed that this one seemed to be much longer than the others. Feeling like the exit was near, he dashed forward, jumping two steps at a time. After a minute, he finally reached a landing leading to a large door. Guessing that he had reached the boss, Ney drank one of his healing potions, made sure that none of his equipment had come loose during his many battles, and took a few deep breaths to calm down. Feeling ready, he pushed the large double door open and entered the boss room.

The inside was unremarkable, made of the same stone as the rest of the dungeon and decorated with the same lanterns. However, in contrast to the narrow corridors that formed the dungeon so far, this room was a large circular arena, with too many constructs running around to count.

Ney started panicking. He already had enough trouble with three of the little guys, how was he supposed to handle 30... or maybe 50... no, definitely at least 100... of them!? As he started trying to formulate a plan, they all stopped running, their heads snapping in his direction in perfect sync. Fearing that he would get swarmed, Ney lifted his sword, but noticed that none of the constructs held weapons. In that case, how were they supposed to fight?

The answer came without wait. That puppet-like creatures all ran to the center of the arena, their limbs flaying around as if their strings had come undone as they fell into a pile. With uncomfortable creaking noises, they started attaching themselves to one-another, shaping up into a single, larger body. Ney stayed near the door, which had now closed itself, too horrified to look away.

A hand formed of countless broken puppets appeared on one side of the mass, its accompanying arm building itself up as another hand formed on the other side. The creature then lifted its head, revealing a face formed of countless body parts and a pair of eyes made of helmets now stuck together. Its puppet mouth opened as it let out a scream that sounded like a bunch of metal parts scraping against each other. Hearing it, Ney felt uncomfortable, a wave of information providing an explanation:

Status effect Agitated inflicted.
Status effect Defense Down inflicted.

So this thing could inflict debuffs. While [Defense Down] was self-explanatory, he couldn't remember what [Agitated] did. He assumed it had something to do with his sudden inability to focus the way he normally did.

He gritted his teeth, lifted his sword up, and dashed forward. He aimed for the head, but had to quickly alter his trajectory when a hand slammed down on his previous position. With its legs now completed, the construct born from other constructs scurried back.

Ney was disturbed. The monster in front of him could be described as a torso with four pair of legs coming out it. Despite the vaguely humanoid head and arms, the whole thing looked more like a crab.

Is this a normal dungeon boss? It's gross, especially considering its made of the small people I've been fighting so far!"

Ney shook his head, trying to get his thoughts in order. It didn't matter what this thing looked like, he had to take it down and claim the dungeon's rewards!

He ran forward again, this time carefully navigating the two hands trying to crush him. He dodged the first, then the second, finally landing a sword hit on the creature's head.

27 damage inflicted.

So the head isn't the weak point. Is it possible for a monster to not have one? Since this thing is made of smaller constructs, I guess it wouldn't be that strange.

Ney didn't have time to think further, he jumped away from the mouth's attempt at biting him, then out of the way of the hand trying to catch him off-guard. He didn't know how much HP the boss had, but he'd just have to chip away at it until it went down!

The creature could attack him from three directions, and had great mobility thanks to its distressingly bizarre legs. While Ney didn't have any skills particularly suited to counteract this, he could stay mobile, favoring a hit-and-run approach where he struck the boss whenever he was in range, all while ensuring that none of its attacks could lock onto him.

As he grew more confident, he decreased the delay between each of his attacks, waltzing between the frenzied strikes the monster launched at him. Using [Power Strike II] when possible, he dealt enough damage for the construct to start losing bits and pieces, leaving a trail of dismembered parts across the arena. The creature's own attacks, becoming more and more desperate, also started inflicting damage on it, speeding up the dismantlement.

However, this created new hazards to avoid while dodging which, combined with the faster speed of the construct, led Ney to make a mistake. Still under the effect of [Agitated], he miscalculated the distance he had to jump to avoid an attack and land safely, leading to him sliding on a smooth metal bit and tripping. The boss took this opportunity to finally grab him. Its grip was too strong, the adventurer couldn't free himself as he was brought to the creature's mouth. As it opened, it revealed a complex mechanism of circular shapes all spinning together, sharp enough to serve as saws.

Ney didn't expect the boss to have a digestive system, or an approximation of one anyway. Considering it was made of warped construct pieces, getting swallowed would probably be extremely painful, despite the protection HP granted. And since he had no one to get him out of there, he would have no choice but to use the escape stone...

Run away? This close to the goal? He couldn't accept it. He tried harder to wiggle out of the hand, without success. As the sound of improvised saws got louder and louder, so did his struggle, but to no avail. Finally, just as his head was about to enter the mouth of the creature, Ney used [Power Strike II], empowering his arm for a sword strike that didn't hit anything, but got his arm out of the iron grip of the giant hand holding him. He couldn't get away, but now, he could attack back.

Using every bit of MP he had left, he repeatedly used [Power Strike II] on the puppet's head, breaking it a bit more with each hit. Running out of time, he did one last desperate attack, plunging his sword into the mechanisms inside the creature.

Critical!
196 damage inflicted.

The machinery ground to a halt, its components snapping and breaking off from their axles. With a final, artificial scream, the construct came undone, falling into a pile of artificial body parts. Ney pushed himself back up, trying his best to slow his heart down. That boss was far outside of his range of expectations for a first dungeon, leading him to wonder if being an adventurer really meant fighting such grotesque abominations on the regular.

A few deep breaths later, he sheathed his sword, made sure he hadn't dropped anything, and walked to the opening that had formed in the wall in front of him. Inside stood a treasure chest, a soft blue and green glow leaking from its seams.

Deciding to not stay near the remnants of the boss for a second longer than necessary, Ney opened the chest, expecting to grab its contents and get out of there. However, the message that reached his mind was longer than anticipated:

Reward Granted!

Equipment obtained: Ey-Tzi-Er Breastplate

3 Treasure Keys found.

Additional treasures: Ey-Tzi-Er Greaves, Healing Potion (x3), Ey-Tzi-Er Alloy (x10)

Rare Boss defeated.

Additional treasure: Ey-Tzi-Er Alloy (x30)

Ney was surprised by the amount of rewards, but didn't get any time to dwell on it before being teleported back to the lobby. He blinked a few times, getting his eyes used to the sudden reduction in luminosity, as Cariene asked:

"So, how'd it go? Got anything good?"

"I got a few pieces of gear and a lot of... alloy? What's this for?"

"Oh, you got crafting materials! They're not exactly rare or in high demand, but you can either use them to upgrade your equipment, or sell them for some easy money. Materials from dungeons can often also be used to craft custom-made gear, but that comes with a hefty price tag even for low-rarity materials, so you're unlikely to be dipping your toes into that any time soon."

"I see. And uh... Where are my rewards?"

Ney looked around himself, then around the room, not spotting any items or bags that could contain everything the crystal had given him.

"Oh, that? Inside of you, a bit like your skills."

"Eh?"

"Yeah, it's a weird thing to get used to, but dungeons store your rewards in some kind of magical space that you carry with you. By accessing your detailed information, you should be able to reach that space and remove its contents, causing the items to appear in front of you. However, you can't put anything in there yourself, and you stop getting rewards entirely if it ends up full. Most adventurers just empty it every day, or after every dungeon run if they're getting a ton of rewards every time."

As he listened, Ney followed the instructions Cariene had given, finding this magical space without trouble. As he looked inside, he saw that everything he had received was accounted for, to his relief.

"I'll do that too, then. That being said... Why was the dungeon boss so damn creepy?"

Cariene looked at him for a second, confused, before she burst laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Did you really get unlucky enough to meet the rare boss on your first run? Poor you, that must have been terrifying."

Ney shivered thinking back on the uncomfortable way countless body parts where attached together to form the boss.

"So that wasn't just the normal final enemy of the dungeon?"

Cariene wiped a tear from her eye.

"No, not at all. Normally you just meet a much larger version of one of the constructs that roam the dungeon. The thing we affectionately call the 'nightmare puppet' appears once every two hundred runs, on average. Since most adventurers don't grind this dungeon for very long, they never meet it."

"Well, at the very least it was courteous enough to give me extra rewards for killing it, so it's all good in the end."

Cariene smiled and gave Ney a thumbs up:

"Good attitude! We've had adventurers quit entirely after meeting that monster, fearing that every dungeon would be like that. The good news is that most dungeons aren't. The bad news is that some are actually way, way worse."

"Yeah, this was just a bunch of metal parts stuck together, even if the fact that they looked like bodies made it unsettling. If they had been actual bodies..."

Ney shuddered thinking about it, while Cariene, a face devoid of emotion as she thought back to some of her past experiences, responded:

"Right. That would be absolutely terrible. Just... don't worry about that for now."

"Wait, are you telling me that's a thing!?"

Ney did not receive a response as the guildmaster simply walked out of the tower, still deep in her memories.