Chapter 3: Labyrinth inside the volcano.

Visibility here was minimal, or rather, there was none at all. Daniel entered the tunnel, but he couldn't understand where he was going. The only thing that was clear was that the stone surface here was smooth, with no sharp protrusions cutting into his heels. He blindly walked forward, extending his arms to the sides.

He felt some sort of wall. Daniel decided to walk alongside it. Suddenly, the wall ended, and he sharply turned left. The ground beneath his feet also abruptly led him downwards instead of forward. Daniel felt the wall on his left again and began to walk alongside it, descending further. It was quiet in the tunnel, too quiet. The only sound he heard was his own steady breathing. He couldn't even hear his footsteps; they were so quiet.

For a moment, hope arose within Daniel, hope that maybe he would be able to descend easily. However, as soon as he thought about it, the wall disappeared from under his hands, and the smooth stone surface that had been leading him downwards suddenly became straight again.

He emerged from the tunnel into a vast space, resembling a hall made entirely of stone. It wasn't as dark here as before. Of course, it was difficult for Daniel to fully see everything around him, but at least he could see the stone surface he was walking on.

Daniel looked up to find the source of light. Everything inside him contracted at that moment. Right above him, hanging from above, was solidified magma, or rather not entirely solidified. Faint movements of magma could be seen, slowly descending as if it were sinking down. Perhaps it was just Daniel's imagination. After all, the magma was hanging about seven to eight hundred meters above him. It was more of a feeling that it was slowly descending.

'I need to get out of here quickly.'

Even though the magma wasn't dripping from above, Daniel couldn't figure out why or how it had temporarily frozen or if it was temporary at all. Perhaps at any moment, while he stood there, it could suddenly fall on him or start dripping.

Daniel hurriedly walked forward. And now he encountered a second problem. He thought he would immediately find another tunnel that would lead him downwards. There was indeed a tunnel here, but not just one. Around ten to twelve tunnels surrounded Daniel.

In that moment, all he could think about was that he didn't have time to check all the tunnels. Of course, due to the presence of magma, the temperature had slightly increased, but only slightly. It only slowed down the increase in his sense of cold. It currently stood at 67%. His health had also dropped to 87. All he could do now was hope for his luck. This didn't mean that Daniel would blindly choose a tunnel. No. He chose two tunnels.

Two, because he didn't have much time and could only check two tunnels. The first tunnel was directly opposite the tunnel he came out of. The second tunnel was in the center on the right. He chose it based on how he descended from above tunnel. He went straight in the tunnel, then turned right, and then started descending, turning left. Therefore, there was a possibility that this sharp right turn at the beginning was a hint from the system that Daniel also needed to go straight and right, but it all seemed very vague to him. At first, he decided to choose the most obvious option and go into the tunnel opposite. In terms of size, it was also the largest tunnel.

Daniel entered the tunnel, took a few steps, and immediately felt the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly. Everything inside Daniel tightened, his expression remained dark and impassive, although the black-haired boy was very tense. Something inside him screamed that he needed to turn around and run as far away from here as possible, but his mind told him that checking this tunnel was necessary and maybe this earthquake was related to something harmless and he was just overthinking it, maybe it was even a good sign.

He walked slowly, quietly, and finally the light hit his eyes. The ground beneath his feet, even the walls, shook even harder. But that didn't stop Daniel. He reached the end and stopped just in time. A little more and he would have fallen straight down, finding himself at the mercy of the air. There were no protrusions or ledges here. There were only clouds and an abyss. But the earthquake still didn't stop.

Daniel firmly clung to the tunnel wall to avoid accidentally losing his balance and falling down. He cautiously stuck his head out of the tunnel to understand the source of the earthquake. What he saw rattled him.

Quite a distance from the tunnel on a steep slope, two huge monsters the size of a nine-story building were jumping and fighting. The monsters outwardly resembled giant gorillas. Only one gorilla resembled a mountain, with sharp rocks sticking out from different sides instead of fur, and huge sturdy boulders instead of fists.

The other gorilla had lava flowing instead of fur, it flowed and covered its body, and its fists were not as huge as the stone gorilla's, but they still looked quite menacing and dangerous. If desired, the gorilla could crush Daniel with a single slap. Both had holes instead of eyes, from which darkness flowed.

The two gorillas fought each other on the steep slope like madmen. The lava gorilla looked very agile and fast. It dodged the powerful blows of the stone gorilla and threw lava balls, which it made using the lava on its body. However, the stone gorilla calmly hit the lava balls with its fists, causing them to completely evaporate. They grabbed each other and started headbutting each other. Both of their faces looked fierce and fearless.

"What the f..." Daniel quietly said with an impassive face.

Immediately, two windows appeared in front of him.

[Monster: Mountain Gorilla.]

[Rank: Disaster.]

[Monster: Magma Gorilla.]

[Rank: Disaster.]

"Rank?" Daniel quietly asked with an impassive face.

Once again, a panel appeared in front of Daniel.

[The strength of monsters varies. To determine the approximate strength of monsters, they have been divided into ranks.]

• Filth

• Threat

• Dread

• Monstrosity

• Disaster

• Horror

• Nightmare

• Hell spawn

• Apocalypse*

• Devil

{Author's note: The idea with "Apocalypse" is Vitany_Vera's idea; originally, instead of Apocalypse, there was "Sin," but I liked the idea with "Apocalypse" more. So, thank you to Vitany_Vera for the suggested idea.}

While Daniel was looking at the ranks, he suddenly realized that the earthquake had abruptly stopped. This was a very ominous sign. He quickly shifted his gaze from the ranks to the gorillas, both monsters staring intently at his head sticking out of the tunnel.

In that moment, Daniel finally realized that these two monsters could easily descend from the slopes and enter this tunnel. He also realized why this tunnel was so large - it was the lair of these two monsters.

The two monsters released each other and swiftly charged towards the tunnel.

Daniel immediately turned around and ran, without looking back, he just started running. Running. Running. Running. As fast as he could. The ground beneath his feet and the walls started shaking several times harder than before, causing Daniel to occasionally jump slightly due to the intensity of the tremors. He barely maintained his balance. The boy knew that if he accidentally fell, it would be the end. So, he focused all his concentration and attention on maintaining his balance while running.

The monsters forgot about their fight. Now, they were only interested in Daniel, whom they were chasing to crush. Their battle was not meant to have spectators. Especially not a human spectator. Both monsters only thought about how to quickly exterminate the parasite that interrupted their deadly fight.

They were closing in. Daniel could feel it. They were closing in on him very quickly. He felt it on the back of his neck, that they were just a little bit away from catching him. Daniel didn't know what they wanted to do with him - eat him or possibly tear off all his limbs, but he wasn't interested in finding out.

The magma gorilla, running behind the mountain, suddenly stopped and created a lava ball using the lava flowing through its body. The monster threw the ball from behind the mountain gorilla and it flew towards Daniel.

The mountain gorilla's hand also reached out towards Daniel, but at that moment, Daniel swiftly ran out of the tunnel and turned left. The lava ball hit the ground and missed Daniel, just like the hand of the mountain gorilla, which grasped nothing.

The mountain gorilla dashed out of the tunnel, followed by the magma gorilla. Their gazes turned to the left – that pitiful ant quickly ran into a small tunnel suitable for its size. Both gorillas were too big to fit into that tunnel.

The gorillas exchanged glances and then slowly decided to return to their previous battle spot. However, as a final act, the magma gorilla decided to create another lava ball and throw it into the tunnel where that pitiful human had fled. Even without the lava ball, that person wouldn't survive in that tunnel.