Left. Left. Right. Left… Uruvi rushed through the maze at a blazing speed, cutting anything that stood in her way. Arya dutifully instructed her on the turns to take. The path continued to be more of the same, a decaying urban landscape with a haunting silence that was occasionally broken by the screams of the monsters. She kept her eyes peeled for any signs of the Astaya, but it never showed its face again.

  Her path led her into another massive open space. At its center was a Yantra, which was now nearly eight feet tall. She came to a sudden stop a few feet away from the enemy, staring down at it with a frustrated expression.

  “Arya, do I get any penalty for just skipping a monster in the dungeon?”

  “Negative. No penalty. However, this enemy is guarding a chest. Defeating the enemy will grant you access to the chest.”

  “A chest?” She peeked around the enemy and saw a golden chest sitting on a raised podium. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of its marvelous shine. “Wait a minute. How am I sure it is not a monster, too? Illusions, right?”

  “Negative. Unable to verify if the chest is a monster,” said Arya.

  She looked up at the Yantra, who stood like a statue guarding the chest. It had the number 11 on its head. ‘I have no idea how many times I need to kill it to put it down permanently. Unless…!

  She charged at the machine, and it reacted by moving its arms, lifting its enormous sword up into the air. “Burning fury!” She shouted before striking the behemoth with her blazing axe. The Yantra’s health dropped by 10 percent, while 5 percent of it turned grey. ‘I hope this works.’

  The increase in size only seemed to have made the machine much easier to deal with. It was slower to move, and with her zipping around like a mouse on wheels, she depleted its health bar in under a minute, only waiting for her Spell’s timer to reset. By the time the monster fell, a quarter of its health bar had been greyed out. When it rose from the dead again, it had only 70 percent of the available health, hovering around half.

  “Nice!” She exclaimed, grinning like a madwoman. She repeated the process and saw the monster drop to the floor once more and turn to dust. “Man! I need to upgrade this skill. It is kickass!”

  She saw that her MP had fallen below the halfway mark, despite being very conservative.

  Her focus shifted to the chest, approaching it very carefully. She remembered what Rambha had said and tried to search for its eyes. “I can’t see any eyes… But, just in case.” She smacked the lid of the chest with her blade, leaving a deep scar behind. She watched the chest with bated breath, and when there was no reaction from it, she kicked the lid open.

  An array of items popped into the air and fell onto the floor as the chest disappeared.

  “Ooo! What do we have here?” She examined the items on the floor. A rusted sword, a green diamond-shaped crystal, and a wooden spear. “Well… That is disappointing.”

  The screen before her lit up, showing the picture of a gold coin with the text ‘+250’ next to it. “Arya, what is this?”

  “You opened a Gold Chest. Its main loot is Gold Coins.”

  “Gold…! Oh, digital gold. What can I use this for?”

  “You can use it to buy upgrades and charms in the shop. Note. Shop not yet open. Estimated time – 2 days.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Wonderful. I am playing a game that is being built on the fly.”

  Her eyes shifted towards the loot on the floor, with the green crystal catching her eye. She picked it and examined it closely. “Arya? Care to explain this?”

  “Item – Power crystal. Rarity – common. Power crystals can be used to level up certain stats. Common rarity crystals provide a temporary buff.”

  “Well, that is somewhat useful,” she said as she put it into the pocket of her jacket. She looked back down at the weapons, picking them up one by one. They were of common rarity and barely better than a hockey stick. “These are useless. What do I do with them?”

  “Suggestion. I can convert them into weapon material. It can be used to upgrade your current weapon.”

  “Do it!” she said without a second thought. The weapons lit up like light bulbs before turning into golden dust. The dust clumped together, turning into a grey cube, and flew towards her. She held it with her hand and observed it curiously. “Weapon material, huh? Hopefully, we can find someone who can use it,” she said and put it in her other pocket.

  “Arya. How much further?”

  “Calculating… You are 20 turns away from the exit.”

  “Hopefully, the Dungeon doesn’t play tricks on me anymore.”

  ***

  As Uruvi approached the final turn, she could see the gigantic doors peeking over the houses before it. The end of the road led into a large, empty grey space, and in it she saw two gargantuan monsters fighting someone.

  She rushed towards the battlefield, whereupon she spotted Ashwin fighting against a large Pisacha on wings and a large floating corpse of a woman. ‘Bhootha!’

  Ashwin used a sword to hold off the Pisacha while sending blasts of energy towards the Bhootha, keeping it at bay.

  “Ashwin!” she called out to him.

  “Took you long enough,” he said, without looking at her.

  Her eyes scanned the barren surroundings and found no sign of Rambha. She dashed ahead of him and said, “cast a shield.”

  A bluish tint appeared around him, following which she shouted, “Thunderclap!”

  A ball of energy erupted from her, throwing the two monsters off them. Large cracks appeared over his shield, but it didn’t shatter. “Quite a powerful spell,” he said.

  “Quite a powerful shield,” she replied with a smirk.

  The two monsters reappeared, circling them from above.

  “Got any ideas?” she asked.

  “That Bhootha has bound itself to its body. But it has an impenetrable wall of energy covering it. As for the Pisacha. Well, it is big, and it can fly,” said Ashwin.

  The monsters leapt at them, but Uruvi countered with a shield. They bounced off the shield and retreated back into the air.

  “So, we need to ground one of them. But what about the Bhootha?” she asked.

  “I got an idea. But we need to get the Pisacha occupied,” he said.

  “I can try and engage with the Pisacha.”

  “No. I need two people for my plan.”

  She watched as the Pisacha flew high up into the air. “That is going to be a little difficult.” The Pisacha dropped like a stone, headed straight for them. “Break!”

  The two of them leapt in the opposite direction, just as the Pisacha landed on the ground at a breakneck speed. Uruvi landed on her feet and spun around to engage with the monster, when suddenly the Bhootha let out an ear-piercing scream. She felt like her ears were about to pop, forcing her to cover them with her hands. The Pisacha jumped at her, grabbing her with its arms before flying back up into the air.

  She felt a little light-headed and her vision was blurry. The Pisacha flew around in circles, trying to disorient her even further, before throwing her into the air. She slowly spun around as she hung in the air for a few seconds, eventually facing the Pisacha, which was charging at her with its jaws wide open.

  “Barricade…” she said in an exhausted voice.

  The Pisacha smashed into the shield, shattering it, the force of which threw Uruvi off its path.

  She dropped towards the ground with the monster right on her tail. Just as she reached the ground, she shouted, “Thunderclap!” The shockwave from her Spell dampened her landing while also getting rid of the Pisacha that was on her back.

  Her senses slowly recovered as she got back on her feet. She saw that the Pisacha had taken off into the air once again. She turned towards Ashwin, who had been fighting with Bhootha all on his own. He sent beams of energy towards the monster, which kept blocking them with its shield.

  “This is going to be a long battle,” she said as she watched the Pisacha circle back and charge at her.

  Suddenly, a circular metal object flew past her and smashed into the Pisacha, knocking it off course. ‘What was that?’ She turned around to see a familiar face looking at her with a sharp grin.

  Rambha rushed at them, and she was followed by a small army of creatures in the shape of metal balls. “Hey, dudes! Missed me?” she asked.