SSS Dungeon Awakening

Mike wanted to dodge.

He moved his foot—

but he couldn't move.

His feet wouldn't respond.

"W-what? Why can't I move?"

Mike panicked.

He looked down—

his feet were wrapped in the chain the zombie had swung.

The chains were tightly bound around his ankles—

no way to move.

Mike shouted:

"Tylaaa! I can't move!"

Tyla reacted quickly.

She grabbed her arrows and her bow in a flash,

reloading in seconds.

She fired—

all her remaining arrows one after another—

They shot toward the fat zombie,

who was still in the air.

All four arrows hit.

The first two

struck the zombie in the stomach,

pushing him back while still mid-air.

The next two came right after, lightning-fast—

they both hit his right arm.

The zombie let out a furious roar

and crashed to the ground.

With one motion,

he stood back up—

and the earth around him began to shake.

A strange aura surrounded the fat zombie now.

The chains lay on the ground,

but Mike had finally managed to free himself.

The chains suddenly flew back to the zombie.

He grabbed them with his right hand—

and began to swing them again.

But now—

they were faster. Much faster.

Tyla shouted:

"Oh shit, what should we do?!"

Mike answered:

"Stay back. You're out of arrows.

I'll handle this.

He's wounded anyway!"

Then—

The chains spun around like lightning

and shot toward Mike.

He managed to duck just in time,

and the chains flew just above his back.

Mike rolled to the side

just as the zombie kicked forward at him.

As the zombie raised his foot to stomp down,

the ground rumbled again.

The foot came down, aiming straight for Mike—

but Mike raised his dagger

and slashed the zombie's foot.

Blood splashed onto the ground,

and the zombie collapsed.

Now the whole ground shook again—

a crater opened up where the zombie had fallen.

Dust was everywhere—

nothing was visible.

But Mike saw a system message:

Mini-Boss Defeated

1/1

Level Up – Level 5

The smoke cleared, and a crater became visible.

Inside it lay the fat zombie.

Mike and Tyla watched as the zombie began to dissolve.

The fight was over—

Time to get out of this Walking Dead zombie village.

A blue portal opened.

But Mike asked Tyla to wait a moment.

Just as Tyla was about to step in, Mike said:

"Wait a second.

I want to check what the zombie dropped."

Tyla laughed.

"Then go ahead. I'll wait on the other side."

She threw herself into the blue portal—

and was gone.

Mike muttered:

"Oh man, I just saved her and then this…"

He stood still for a second.

"Wait—

didn't she save me?"

Whatever.

Mike ran a hand through his brown hair and said:

"System!"

By now, he had 16 stat points to allocate.

But he didn't want to use them yet.

"Not until I hit 50.

Then I'll spend them!"

He told himself.

"My life was boring up to now—

so if I'm dead, or wherever the hell this is,

I want action!

I won't spend anything before 50 points!"

Mike said this out loud as he claimed the reward:

"Inventory!"

Zombie Chains

Mike stared into his inventory

and looked at the Zombie Chains.

Then he whispered:

"Yeah… I'm never using those."

He laughed,

closed the inventory,

and stepped toward the portal.

He reached out his hand—

but then the portal pulled him in.

As he vanished, a message popped up:

Tutorial Completed

Tip: Use your stat points.

The blue pixels shot down onto the sand.

They began to merge and build themselves up.

Mike had been teleported.

He saw Tyla sitting in the sand.

They had arrived in a desert.

Mike spoke:

"A desert, seriously?"

He looked around,

and the sun's rays hit his body.

It was very hot.

As he turned to look around, he saw nothing but sand.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Mike shouted into the vast desert.

Tyla asked:

"What about food and water in this place? Are you thirsty or hungry?"

Mike shook his head.

"No, neither. You?"

Tyla replied,

"No… maybe that kind of thing doesn't exist here."

They had to cut the conversation short—

because the sand suddenly shot upward.

Mike asked:

"Is the sand… moving?"

You could see something like a worm-like shape beneath the surface.

Then it shot out of the sand and into the air.

It was a heavily armored worm with many sharp teeth.

Mike yelled:

"Shit! Let's get the hell out of here! That thing's straight from hell!"

Tyla quickly stood up and ran, with Mike following behind.

The worm dove back into the sand

but was clearly chasing them underneath.

Tyla shouted:

"Mike! I can craft arrows if I shout 'build'—but I need materials!"

Mike thought while running:

She can build things just by shouting 'build'?

If I have some kind of system… maybe everyone here has some kind of ability.

"Shit, I need to focus!"

Mike tripped over a stone.

"No, no—"

The worm burst out of the sand and launched straight toward Mike.

Mike was lying on the ground.

He drew his dagger and jumped to the side.

The worm landed exactly where Mike had been just seconds before and dived back into the sand.

Everything went quiet.

The worm was deep underground again.

No worm-shaped movement could be seen on the surface.

From farther back, Tyla shouted:

"Is it gone?"

Her face was bright red,

as if she wasn't built for this kind of heat.

Both of them were breathing heavily.

Mike was still gripping his dagger—

in fact, even tighter than before.

Then he walked over to Tyla.

Her face was really flushed.

Mike asked with concern,

"Are you okay?"

Tyla replied,

"Y-yeah… of course…"

But she didn't look okay at all.

She was staggering around,

and then collapsed into the sand.

She added,

"I just need to r-rest for a bit—"

She laid her head down in the sand… and fell asleep.

Mike said,

"You've got to be kidding me.

There's no way I can carry her.

Sure, she's thin,

but in this heat, I can barely move myself."

"I've got no choice… I need to level up Strength."

He leveled up 10 points into Strength and 6 into HP,

so now he had:

HP: 206

Strength: 15

That should be enough—at least for the desert level.

So he grabbed Tyla, who was still sound asleep,

and lifted her up.

He carried her on his back.

She felt light.

"Because I leveled up Strength… obviously!"

he said to himself.

Then he started walking—

before that armored worm came back again.

So Mike kept walking in the heat,

with the sleeping Tyla on his back.

But then—he saw something.

Two worms were forming in the sand ahead of him.

They were back.

The armored worms.

Mike gently set Tyla down in the sand.

Then, he stepped forward.

He had drawn the worms' attention.

He ran a bit further away—away from Tyla—

to keep her safe.

He drew his dagger and took a fighting stance.

Mike had played a lot of video games in his life.

He didn't regret all that gaming,

but he did regret not being there for his mother.

And so he shouted:

"NO! I will earn this second chance… and live again!"

He gripped the dagger tightly

and charged at one of the two worms.

It had just surfaced.

Before the worm could react, Mike was already there.

He slashed its side

and ran along its body, slicing deeper.

The armor split open.

The worm thrashed and hit Mike,

sending him flying into the sand.

The second worm shot up directly underneath him—

Mike was launched into the air.

But he landed right on top of the worm

and stabbed it—again and again.

The armor broke apart,

and he sliced deep into the flesh.

Yellow blood covered the dagger—

the poison effect had activated.

The worm tried to dive back into the sand—

but it collapsed and disintegrated into blue pixels.

Mike grinned.

"I love that poison effect!"

Then he was blasted into the sand,

covered head to toe.

He stood up—

just in time to see the other worm,

its armor shattered, falling right toward him.

Mike dodged to the side,

jumped up onto the worm,

and slashed again—

this time right through its exposed flesh.

The worm sank into the sand,

unable to move.

The poison did the rest.

It too dissolved into glowing blue pixels.

Level Up: (6)

I just took down two worms… I'm so strong!!"

He kept celebrating and looked over—

Tyla was still lying there in the distance.

He ran over to the girl,

but before reaching her,

he looked around for a moment,

still holding his dagger.

He looked straight ahead

and saw a door in the distance.

"The boss!"

Good.

He put the dagger back into his inventory

and carefully lifted Tyla up with both hands,

placing her back onto his shoulders.

He whispered:

"Alright… let's just head to the boss now, okay?"

Tyla didn't answer—

she was still fast asleep.

Mike laughed.

"Oh, right. You can't hear me right now."

He started walking with the girl on his back.

Even though the door

that led to the boss arena

was already visible,

it was still a long way off.

He kept walking for quite some time—

by now, it was already evening.

Mike spoke to himself:

"So… there's even a day–night cycle in these dungeons."

Mike arrived

at the door.

He laid

Tyla down gently in the sand.

He shook her and said:

"Wake up!"

But she didn't wake up.

Mike would have to fight alone.

He didn't know which boss would appear.

He picked up Tyla again

and opened the door.

Passing through the door,

they entered a flat sand arena.

There was nothing but sand—

no dunes,

no rocks,

just plain, orange sand.

Mike gently laid Tyla down again

and equipped his dagger.

Suddenly, the sand started shaking—

from beneath, a massive black scorpion

rose out of the sand.

But that wasn't all.

From above,

a kind of moth swooped down

and landed on the scorpion.

Mike shouted:

"Oh shit—how am I supposed to beat that?!"

"Okay, fine. I need to be smart about this…"

"Poison… does it work on both of them?"

System Message:

Defeat the boss:

0 / 1

"One? So it counts as one boss. Okay… I'll give it everything I've got. Mom!"

Mike charged toward the moth and the scorpion.

The scorpion swung its tail sideways at Mike.

Mike jumped over the tail.

Poison dripped from the stinger and landed in the sand—

the sand instantly melted away.

While in the air, Mike saw it.

"Shit—what kind of acid is that?"

Then…

A sudden idea hit him.

He spoke to himself:

"Okay, this could go bad—

but what if I improve my dagger…

If I can get the scorpion poison on it?"

Mike landed in the sand.

The moth spat poison!

"No!!"

Mike dodged at the last second.

He was still on the ground

when he saw the scorpion's stinger coming down toward him.

The tip was aimed right where Mike lay.

The stinger shot down—

but Mike was quick.

He raised his dagger just in time and parried.

Poison flowed down onto the dagger.

System Message:

—Dagger temporarily boosted (5 minutes)

Poison Damage: +50%

Mike parried the scorpion's stinger with such force that it flew upward.

The stinger shot straight into the moth — it pierced right through it. Mike couldn't tell if the poison worked, but the moth was hit and fell to the ground.

The moth dissolved into blue pixels.

Mike ran a short distance, and the scorpion charged after him.

Suddenly, Mike stopped running and stood still.

The scorpion kept coming.

Then, Mike ran toward the scorpion.

The scorpion couldn't react fast enough — Mike's dagger was already in its armor.

He only managed to make a small cut because the stinger came flying toward him again.

Mike jumped away and parried the stinger in mid-air.

He landed safely on the sandy ground.

System Message

Poison has no effect!

Mike had already suspected it — the poison was useless.

But!

He had one last idea.

He had to make the scorpion stab its own stinger into its armor.

Even if the poison didn't work, without its stinger, the scorpion would be nothing!

The scorpion became enraged. It kicked up sand left and right and finally charged at Mike.

Poison sprayed down everywhere, destroying the sand beneath it.

Then, the scorpion stopped a few meters in front of Mike and shot poison directly at him.

Mike dodged backward — and to the right.

The poison landed in front of him and sank into the sand.

Suddenly, Mike saw a huge shadow above him.

Before he looked up, he glanced at the scorpion — but it was gone.

Then he looked up and saw the scorpion falling straight toward him.

W-What? It must have jumped?!

Mike quickly dashed forward and rolled ahead.

The scorpion slammed into the sand. The sand exploded outward, creating a small sandstorm —

but it quickly settled.

And then…?

Mike saw it —

Upon landing, the scorpion's stinger must have pierced its own armor.

What luck!!!

Mike immediately jumped into the sandy crater and stabbed the scorpion several times.

Then he dragged the dagger across a long stretch, and the scorpion collapsed.

Dead —

Level Up

Level (7)

Mike collapsed from exhaustion.

He hadn't lost any health points, but his stamina was completely drained.

He couldn't move anymore.

I-I-I really need to level up stamina…

Then Mike closed his eyes.

The scorpion had already dissolved, and the portal to Stage 3 opened.

Lightning cracked down onto the sand, lifting it into the air, and the portal became fully formed.

Mike pulled himself up out of the crater.

Since it had gotten dark, the temperature dropped —

a possible chance for Tyla to wake up.

But she kept sleeping.

Mike stood up, staggering.

His whole body was weak.

He only managed to drag Tyla —

he didn't have enough strength to carry her.

Just before the portal, he somehow managed to lift her up again and fell into the portal with her —

The two of them lay there, and in the distance,

they saw a massive volcano.

Mike sighed.

"OH COME ON — more heat???"

———————

So, how did you like this chapter?

If you enjoyed it or have any suggestions for improvement, feel free to leave a review!

Here's a little explanation about the world of SSS Dungeon Awakening:

Mike has died and now finds himself in the so-called

"10 Worlds Dungeon."

There are 10 different worlds,

but Mike is not currently in World 3 –

he's actually in Stage 3 of World 1.

So:

World 1 – Stage 3

Each world contains 10 stages.

That means Mike has 7 more stages to go before he can leave World 1.

But don't worry –

each world is completely different!

Some say there are worlds with

only one single, extremely long stage…

Or even worlds with just one insanely difficult boss.

(…but you didn't hear that from me, alright?)

So one thing's for sure:

It will never be boring in the world of

SSS Dungeon Awakening!