Tomb of the Dead (5) - Gargoyle Puppets

Alex's butt hit the ground, and he sighed in relief after finally winning against the boss. It had been a close battle, and the fact that his strategy worked made his achievement feel even better.

"Gotcha! Now, what will it drop for me?"

The loot from the boss was random. Alex was the first-ever player to kill that boss, so he had no idea about its drops. He was the pioneer who was discovering the first dungeon by himself!

Then, notifications started to appear before his eyes, and when Alex read them, he could not contain his joy.

[First Kill Bonus]

[+50 Gold Coins]

[+1 Level]

[Skull of the Skeleton King (Rare) Dropped]

[Description: A powerful artifact that allows the player to summon skeletal minions to aid them in battle. The minions' strength and abilities improve with the player's level up to level 35.]

Alex knew that anyone who did things for the first time would gain bonuses, and he, being the first one to kill the boss, expected a hefty reward, but that? Fifty Gold Coins were a lot for that stage of the game. He also got a free level as well! It couldn't get much better than that.

'This Skull is rare… Haha, my luck is too good!'

The first reward already made Alex want to explore more of the dungeon and kill the remaining bosses to get all the first-kill rewards, as well as the first dungeon clear reward!

So, despite draining his mental energy after the battle, Alex kept going, leaving the boss's room through a door similar to the one he used to enter.

[Checkpoint Acquired]

[You can die 5 times. The sixth death will lead you out of the dungeon.]

A checkpoint after the boss, yet one finite. Alex would have to be careful during the next part of the dungeon and do his best to kill the next boss without dying too much. Would he be able to?

The moment he passed through the door to leave the boss's arena, the checkpoint notification was not the only one that appeared.

[Global Announcement]

[Tomb of the Dead, First Dungeon, unlocked for everyone.]

[Player Shadowborn killed the first boss!]

'Oh no. Now everyone will want to come here…'

Alex, who was happy before with the rewards, now got worried. Sure, there weren't that many players who were inside the city, and to enter the dungeon, they had to be at level 15, so Alex had quite some time before the players started to flood into the dungeon.

But the fact gave him an extra thing to think about, an extra layer of anxiety. He had to clear it before everyone else!

The corridor on the other side of the boss' arena looked similar to the one before, yet there were no monsters in sight. It was silent. The only sound Alex could hear was the soft scuttling of bugs crawling on the walls. An uneasy feeling washed over him, reminiscent of the one he experienced while exploring the cave with the guards on a previous mission.

After approximately ten minutes of walking in a straight line, three pathways emerged before Alex: one to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead.

'A labyrinth, classic... Which side should I choose?' he pondered.

The thought of selecting the wrong path worried Alex, especially now that he only had five lives before being forced to return to the beginning of the dungeon.

'Forward it is then!'

Alex continued moving forward, ignoring the other two paths. There was no specific reason for him to choose that one; it was a mere coin toss.

He walked for five minutes before coming to a halt as a massive double door appeared at the end of the hallway. It was made of stone, like everything else in the dungeon, yet it bore strange symbols—one on each side of the door and one at the top.

No matter what Alex tried, the door remained unmoved, giving him no hint of opening. He attacked it with his sword, his fists, pushed against it, and even attempted to use his blood on it, yet nothing happened.

With no choice but to retreat, Alex walked back to the area with the different paths and chose the one to the right. The hallway looked and felt the same, and at its end, there was a door. Not a double door like in the middle path, but a smaller one bearing a single symbol—the same one Alex had seen on the massive door.

'I see! Each path has a door leading to a boss, and after killing the bosses, the main door opens. I assume the end of the dungeon is there!' Alex thought.

He didn't know how many bosses were inside the dungeon, but as it was the first dungeon, he strongly guessed that after defeating two more bosses and opening the massive double door, the dungeon would come to an end.

So, he entered the room on the right path. It was double the size of the room where Alex faced the skeleton mage king, and there were numerous gargoyle statues inside.

'Creepy.'

The moment Alex took a few steps toward the center of the room, one of the statues started to move!

[Gargoyle Puppets (Dungeon Boss, LVL 15)]

It was a new boss for Alex to defeat, and he was ready for it!

*

The Eternal Realms player base could not stop talking about Shadowborn achievements! The first-ranked player and the first to kill a dungeon boss! What else could Shadowborn do? These were the types of news circulating on TV, websites, videos, and in the game's forum. Eternal Realms had become a sensation, with almost everyone playing and eager to discover who Shadowborn was!

Two men in suits sat on the highest floor of a massive apartment with a marble floor, signaling wealth.

"I want you to find out who Shadowborn is," the man in the black suit said.

The other, sitting cross-legged on a leather couch, smiled, "What if I told you I already know who he is?"

"Wait, what? Who?" the man in the black suit said as he got up from the couch.

"Alex Mercer."

"A-Alex Mercer? Isn't that the youth who pulled off those legendary heists? This is getting interesting…"