#088 – I’m starting to feel bad about trying to conquer this place

Words : 1196 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

#088 – I’m starting to feel bad about trying to conquer this place trelipideliberitation: can you go thru the fog? I stopped short of the building I was walking toward and turned to look into the thick fog that blocked the streets leading out of the market square. “...I dunno. It looks like I’m not supposed to go there though.” I hummed. trelipideliberitation: but is it solid? trelipideliberitation: or can you walk thru? JamieWasTaken3: yea mb theres a secret I eyed the fog in one of the streets for a moment, then shrugged, and headed over there. “Sure. Let’s check it out,” I decided. The closer I got, the less confident I was that it would lead anywhere with how dense and opaque the fog was. But when I got to the unnatural mass of fog and tried reaching into it, it let my hand through like normal fog, contrary to what I expected. “Huh. Maybe I can walk through then... Hmm...” Unlike the water park and the crystal crater, this dungeon seemed incredibly straightforward, so I hadn’t expected it to hide any secrets, but... “...Well, let’s go, then.” I stepped into the fog, letting it engulf me. Even though there was no fog at all just a few steps back, it was dense enough here that I couldn’t see my own hands, even if I brought them closer to my face. My footsteps were also muffled, even if normal fog shouldn’t be able to do that. “Clearly, this isn’t normal fog...” Even my own voice sounded half like I was underwater. JamieWasTaken3: watch out for horor monsters bloopbooper: boop... (•᷄- •᷅ ;) I grimaced. “Jamie, don’t say that... Now you’re just making me paranoid.” I looked around, but still couldn’t see anything but more fog. My body began tensing up all on its own in preparation for any unseen opponent. uptonMIKE: heat vision? I stopped, resisted the urge to facepalm, and turned on Heat Vision. “Right, of course. I keep forgetting I still haven’t swapped it out.” Once again, I tried looking about, but nothing really stood out to me. Either there was nothing out there or the fog blocked my heat vision as well. I turned it off again. “Not that useful...” I murmured and continued walking deeper into the unknown. “Ugh, chat. If I get lost, it’s all your fault.” trelipideliberitation: no way im innocent JamieWasTaken3: were just helping! I just lightly shook my head and continued trekking. At some point, I tried going in different directions, but either the buildings on this street had disappeared, or my sense of direction had been fully and truly destroyed already. I also tried summoning John and having him fly every which way, but all it did was muffle my own voice for chat. I recalled him and continued walking, feeling more and more uncomfortable as I went. A subjective eternity later, something finally changed. I began hearing muffled sounds of metal striking other metal. “What is that, chat...?” I murmured but kept going toward the sound. “Is that... chains? Or... fighting?” SunOfABeach: sounds like swords hitting each other Were there actual people?! trelipideliberitation: secret boss proly JamieWasTaken3: yea maybe he drops gold chests I carefully breathed out and looked back into the fog. I shuddered, but then shook my head and walked further away. “Okay, chat. That was not good. Secret boss, yeah, I could see that.” Another breath. “And yeah, if we go by the classic tropes, that might have been the humans’ hero here to kill all the demons.” FouxMoux: this is messed up FouxMoux: it implies that all the demons had to desperately fight FouxMoux: even kids in schools FouxMoux: even grandmas with pans I grimaced and glanced at one of the doors, remembering the first and second fights of this dungeon. “You think that’s what it is...? I guess I could see it...” I paused for a second, thinking about the feeling the dungeon gave me when I entered it. “Unity... Determination...” I murmured. “I think you’re right, Foux. The demons were trying to desperately band together to fight off the humans.” Which meant that if this dungeon really was some kind of echo of the past, then the people trying to conquer this dungeon were... like the humans, trying to kill everyone. Heck, I’d already fought an elderly cook, a child, a shopkeeper, and... uh, some young dryad lady? It still felt like I was missing something, but it sure painted a grim picture. “Chat, am I the bad guy?” I murmured, trying to ingest a bit of humor into my tone and probably failing. JamieWasTaken3: well maybe the demons were evil JamieWasTaken3: trying to take over the world or smthn “I mean... I guess?” trelipideliberitation: their not real anyway trelipideliberitation: ur not killing real people “Well, yes, but...” But it still felt wrong. Now more than ever, if our theorizing was correct. Not to mention... Going through this dungeon taught me to be comfortable with killing. And that was one of those things I wanted to avoid. I didn’t want to become a total murderhobo by the time I made it back to Earth. But the more I learned about this dungeon and the potential history it was painting, the more uncomfortable it made me to continue. JamieWasTaken3: r u giving up? JamieWasTaken3: what about ur stuff? “I...” I took a moment to think about it. About whether it was worth chipping away at my humanity just to get my stuff back and get more skill points. Whether I could find my way back, even if I gave up on conquering a dungeon that made me uncomfortable. But that was naive, wasn’t it? I had no guarantee that returning was even possible. I had to take every chance to get stronger to pass that Limit Break, so that I could access the incausal rifts. I had no other leads. I had to make it. “...I’m gonna keep going,” I finally declared. I quickly checked my Ether levels after pulling that combination shot stunt and found them quite drained, but it shouldn’t be a problem if I sipped from the flask a little. Ah, but I’d promised myself that I would take a break if I ever had to pull out my trump cards, hadn’t I? And I had used both of them back there... “...Tomorrow,” I finished. JamieWasTaken3: ur gonna fail the quest like this tho I shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll fail.” But then again, I’d just told myself that I needed to get stronger in any way I could, and failing the quest would set me back quite a bit... I sighed. “Tomorrow. We’ll come up with the optimal strategy for each of the fights and then I wanna try getting at least two fights further than today, alright?” Needless to say, I wouldn’t be wandering off into the fog again. With that, I approached one of the buildings, wished to leave the dungeon, and opened the door.

#088 – I’m starting to feel bad about trying to conquer this place

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