House of Mirage

Panting rapidly, I could sense that my stamina was depleted by around 70%...but hey, at least I managed to beat all those wraiths. For all 10 of them from earlier, including the succeeding 29 I had to fight, there were no drops from the wraiths.

Yes, exactly! What do you mean I have no drops when I beat my ass to kill all of them?! I mean sure, I didn't necessarily hit them with my skill, but I made a great tactic! Screw this game for not recognizing it!

...and as much as I would love to continue ranting, I can't waste any more time doing nonsense when I see a structure from the distance.

This is...odd, given how I've explored this area with the weird stump, plentiful times, and haven't seen a mere glimpse of it. It's a peculiar sight and the sudden resonant voice ringing in my head draws me further to the mysterious place.

It's dangerous...I can't let it get into my head...

"Come, come to me..." A gentle, childlike, and hypnotic voice rings in my head, calling me forward. It places me in a trance, and I am left helplessly drawn to this voice of unknown origin.

What am I doing? Why am I going closer?

Unable to satiate my curiosity by standing still, I take a step forward and arm myself with my spear...I know I can't fall for such tricks, but I don't even know how to clear this dungeon. This voice, and that structure...it is the only thing that can give me a clue to this dungeon's end.

I shouldn't be moving like this, I shouldn't be...

"Come, faster...faster! Before they catch me!" The voice cowers in fear, and I move rapidly, unable to understand why there are now tears flowing down my face.

The voice haunts me, and my only hope is to seek it...I have to come closer, closer to it so that I can find clarity.

"You're here, come inside this wretched house...free me..." The voice says dully, as its reach on my mind slowly retracts the moment I see the house in plain sight...this was the structure I saw earlier.

A small hut in the middle of an eerie forest...a hut that looked like it was abandoned. The roof was but a tattered collection of straw and twigs, barely clinging to its wooden frame...and the door was hanging off its hinges, creaking mournfully.

Yet...something about the misleading entrance decorated with green flowers was inviting. 

With a clearer mind, away from the clutches of the voice, I can now act as I wish...and my choice isn't as different from what the voice called me to do. I want to go inside the house and clear this dungeon.

I walk forward, seeing the desolate interior of the hut...it was hollow, except for one little thing that occupied the space at the center.

It was a ball. A black ball at the center had an ominous feel to it.

"Did you come to save me?" The voice resounds again, her voice sounding cheerful and lively. In turn, the ball melts and slowly becomes another shape...however, something about this was odd. I can't quite put a name to it, but I can tell it's bad news.

"I did," I answer back, looking for clues on how to proceed with this.

"You did?" The voice asks, this time, reverberating in the room several times louder. The hut shakes, as the black sludge turns into the shape...of a wraith! But not just any wraith, it was smaller than the average wraith! Almost like that of a child!

"Hahaha...you're too late! Too late!" The pitch of the voice changes into that of a monster...and in response to this change, the wraith glows red and looks at the roof in a dazed state. "Several minutes...turn into hours...and hours, into days...and now...I've spent my years waiting for someone to save me..."

A flash of memories crosses my mind...memories I have no memory of. Children were carelessly laughing and playing in a scenic village, until everything was ravaged into ashes.

...from the distance, a group of white comes to take away all the bruised children.

Is one of them the wraith in front of me?

The wraith speaks out in a melancholic tone, making me raise my guard up and hold my spear tightly. "You're too late...too late...I've become a monster," The wraith says in a rugged tone, looking at me in the eyes. 

"I miss my friends...but they won't play with me now..." The wraith continues, laughing eerily. "So I'll make you my friend...we'll play here forever..." The wraith says, suddenly prowling on me and then hitting me with its spectral claws.

I dodge, trying to exit the hut so that I can lure it to the forest where I set up campfires...but it's blocked! An invisible wall is stopping me from exiting the place!

I get tackled by the wraith when it catches me off guard, making me fall to the ground and causing the floor to creak. The wraith only shrieks, annoyed by the creaking noises. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" The wraith screams, and I'm forced to cover my ears...but its body momentarily becomes solid.

I found its weakness! If I cause more noise, I might defeat it!

I grab my spear and make creaking noises to pierce the immobilized wraith. I aim for its weak spot: its head, but I miss and hit its left shoulder again.

It turns back into its ghastly form after taking the pierce, trying to pierce me with my claws.

I step back to the side while the wraith has an internal crisis, I then stomp my foot on the ground and hit my body on the walls. The wraith notices my intentions and summons a beam of light, trying to hit my head.

I duck and use my head to hit the floor. The succession of loud noises makes the wraith wail. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" The wraith screamed, and I had to tolerate the noises again...not minding the bloody mess on my forehead.

I launch forward, piercing the wraith when it's in its solid form, and hit its head...only to hit the other shoulder with my spear.

Again, it tries to hit me with its claws. 

The attack hit my chest due to my confused and disoriented state, ripping my clothes which were already self-repairing as soon as I got hit. Overall, since the pros and the good players say this dungeon is easy, it must be because the 'boss' is annoyed by any loud sound, making the fight relatively simple. The only annoying things in this dungeon were the other wraith mobs.

...and minutes after making loud noises, the wraith cocoons into a ball again. Shadows are protecting the main body, but I step closer to the wraith, thinking the battle is over.

But tears were strolling down my face, and I couldn't understand what was happening.

"Again?" I ask myself, feeling confused by this unusual sensation. I then try to make another loud sound, but the wraith quickly interrupts me. "Please...stop...don't kill me..." The wraith calls out weakly, as it looks at me from afar.

I stop moving throughout and stand in front of the ball, just standing...I especially stop any other thoughts of moving when I can see what the wraith looked like under its ghastly cloak.

It was a child, with pale grey skin and a grotesque yet horrifying look on its face...it was a monster, a humanoid monster.

"Don't kill me...don't..." It begs, and I only look in front of me with horror...it's a monster, yes, but it's also a child...and the dialogue from this boss only further suggests that the boss is a child.

"I won't," I respond and turn my back on the ball, planning to leave...I can't possibly do anything to hurt a child.

Only to feel my back pierced by multiple spikes.

The spear falls down the ground, and I lose my grip on it.

I cough out blood, losing balance and falling down the floor. I look around, seeing the wraith laugh at me from the side. "Kekeke...you're an idiot! An idiot!" The wraith says, coming closer.

I'm going to die...I really am. I'm going to suffer a huge death penalty and...

Potentially lose my slime egg?

...my family?

I can't do that...

I protect the bag closer to me and hold it tightly, gritting my teeth at the wraith. The wraith notices and grins. "What kind of toy do you have in your bag? I'm going to find out! It'll be my toy now!" The wraith says, and I only crawl further to the door, desperate to leave the place as soon as I can.

"You can't leave! You can't!" The wraith laughs, piercing my leg with another spike...but I can't leave this egg. I can't. 

But I'm helpless...and the wraith knew I was. I grabbed my bag and saw the egg.

It looked surprised and horrified. "A monster egg! It's a monster egg! Hahaha! I'm going to eat it and become stronger!" It says, making my eyes widen...this wraith, who took the form of a child and acted like one was going to be that cruel?

"Don't..." I respond, almost losing consciousness, but the wraith only laughs and takes the egg with its spectral hand. Slowly, it smells the egg and mocks me, finding enjoyment in my misery.

...I can't let it end like this. I have to do something, I have to...

And just when I was about to eat the egg, did I think of something.

As a last-ditch effort, I banged my bloodied head on the door and caused a huge sound, making the wraith screech and drop the egg. "You!" The wraith screams, panicking.

I don't do anything else aside from making loud sounds...I use my head to bang the door, and my body to hit the floor. The wraith looked at me with horror falling down the ground and trying to reach me.

"N-no...no! You can't do this! You're going to kill the both of us!" It says, trying to move closer to me, but my relentless thumps only made it immobile. "Stop it!" It continued, but I didn't care. 

My vision was turning hazy...and the blood falling didn't seem to stop...but that didn't bother me. I grab my spear and roll my back on the floor just so I can aim at the spear despite my hazy mind.

I'm still killing this wraith one way or another.

"Stop! I don't want to die! I don't want to-!" The wraith panics as I try to pierce its head, but I only stay relentless, hitting and thumping...until finally, it starts to wear down its energy.

From spectral form to solid...and back again.

A few more strikes, it says its final plea. "Please! I don't want to! I-"

...and then after a lucky hit to its head, the voice stops completely, it collapses on the ground and dissipates its body slowly. I crawl and get my things...I'm going to grab my spear, and then my egg...

...but now that I have, they're all bloodied...but I'll clean them up later...I'll-

"...was I really a bad child? Do I...deserve this?" The voice asks, cutting me off from my thoughts. It looks up at me as it meets its dying fate. I look down on it cruelly, as I've been fooled by this wraith into giving it mercy...only for it to stab me in the back.

I didn't want to say anything, especially to a monster who did that to me, but it was waiting for my answer patiently.

"No," I answer softly, still believing that any child doesn't deserve the fate of...whatever happened to this wraith.

The wraith only laughs softly, looking up at the ceiling with a solemn gaze, tears flowing down its face. "If only...I met you sooner..." The wraith says, before finally passing to the afterlife.

...and maybe I'll meet it too, because I'm a crawl forward from the door, but I couldn't move.

I passed out before I could reach the entrance...my last memory being the sounds of something cracking.