Poem

Upon entering the hall and looking around, Finn assumed that this must be the final hall in the dungeon.

If the other halls looked like carved spaces inside a cave, this hall would be a temple for worshiping a god.

The walls were carved with beautiful paintings, the floor was granite tiles, and there was a red carpet leading from the entrance to a massive at least ten-meter stone door with ancient carvings depicting an ancient god on it.

This time there were three golems, but they weren't standing like all the other ones. They were on their knees, bowing their heads to the humongous stone door while holding something.

Two of those golems had iron armor and plated helmets that protected their core. They had iron swords tied to their waist and a shield on their back.

Both looked a lot scarier than the previous golems, but they were nothing compared to the golem between them, who was positioned slightly closer to the door like it was their superior.

It wore armor in a deep black color with wavy patterns on it, and with the enclosed helmet, there were no gaps between the golem's armor and its stone body.

The armor was decorated with red metal stripes, making it not only extremely scary looking but ironically pretty fashionable as well.

The golem had two black scabbards tied to its waist that had two one-handed swords in them.

'Vibranium armor? It has the ability to emit vibrations, thereby shaking off weapon strikes that would otherwise harm the armor or its wearer.'

Finn thought, remembering the information about the black metal that he had seen in the blacksmithing books in his previous life.

It was one of the best metals for crafting armor and also one of the most expensive, but the golem had an entire set made out of it.

The room had stone torches that burned with a deep red flame, illuminating the room and making the atmosphere eerie.

In the center of the room was an altar that resembled a stone table used for live sacrifices, with something carved into it.

"I'm scared. This room is really creepy…"

Mia tugged on Leo's shirt while shivering.

He held her shaking hand and confidently looked at her.

"Don't worry, I will protect you!"

Everyone else looked at those two with a disbelieving gaze.

They were all in the middle of a dungeon, and these two were flirting without a care in the world.

After walking to the sacrificial altar, they discovered what this room's puzzle was.

It was a short poem that only had the ending visible, with the beginning scratched out, making it unreadable.

The short poem also had four words missing.

[He flies through the starry ---,

His heart is cold for he had to ---,

Through the cloudy, dark ---,

His own children died in his ---.]

"Huh? This is a lot more difficult than the other rooms..."

Finn grimaced at the thought that they might have to guess four words since the number of words he could think of to put in these places was pretty large.

'If only there was a hint…'

James cut him off before he could finish his thought by shouting from the direction of the golems.

"Guys come here!"

They all arrived near the kneeling golems and saw that each of the two golems with iron armor was holding two stone plates.

Finn took all four, and on each one was a word.

The first one had "night," the second one had "sky," the third one had "fight," and the last one had "lie" written on it.

"This is it! We just have to place these in the correct order to complete the poem!"

Finn happily shouted while running back to the poem, but it was easier said than done.

They all quickly deduced that the first and third verses were missing either the word "night" or "sky," and the second and fourth verses had the word "lie" or "fight" missing.

"Hmm… He flies through the starry sky, or he flies through the starry night… I mean, either one could work."

Finn kept trying to figure the puzzle out, but he kept failing to put the words in the correct places.

He then looked at the black golem and a worried sigh left his lips.

Finn knew this golem wasn't supposed to be in a rank E dungeon, so the fact that it was here could only mean one thing.

'Unique monster.'

A unique monster was a monster that worked like the dungeon boss's bodyguard, and it protected the treasury of a dungeon that hasn't been cleared yet.

The two golems wearing iron armor were the dungeon's bosses, and the black golem was their bodyguard.

After completing the dungeon, the player would receive the first clear reward, and the unique monster would vanish forever.

Another thing to keep in mind is that one cannot loot a unique monster because its body and equipment disappear once the dungeon is completed, even if it is in the player's inventory.

Unique monsters were pretty rare to find in a dungeon. For example, the Kobold cave dungeon that Finn had completed didn't have a unique monster.

So there was no guarantee that the dungeon would have a first-clear reward, but if it did, it would always be guarded by a unique monster.

Some players might have considered stealing the armor from the golem and dying to bring it outside, but that wouldn't work because dying in a dungeon meant losing all loot gained from it.

In other words, the difficulty got higher, but the reward was usually worth it, so Finn continued thinking about the poem.

Fifteen minutes later, they created their final version.

[He flies through the starry sky,

His heart is cold for he had to lie,

Through the cloudy, dark night,

His own children died in his fight.]

"This has to be correct since it does work the other way around, but it sounds kind of weird when you try to say it out loud."

Everyone nodded because this was the final guess, which they had all agreed on and were going with.

Finn placed his hand on the stone altar and recited it out loud.

One second, then ten seconds, but still nothing.

Finn started thinking that he might have said it too quietly, but thirty seconds later, the poem finally started showing a reaction.

The words began to shine, and the poem soon vanished, leaving a blank altar.

Nobody knew if what they had guessed was correct, so they looked at the closed door with anticipation.

CRACK

They heard a loud cracking sound, and the two golems in iron armor stood up.

When they saw Finn's group, they began stabbing their swords into the ground, making a thumping noise.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

A rhythmical sound could have been heard throughout the dungeon, and Finn was still unsure if they were congratulating them or telling them to prepare for a fight.

KRIIII

The loud noises stopped when two metals scraped against each other and made a screeching sound.

The third golem wearing the black armor slowly stood up, and his armor made horrible sounds like he hadn't moved for at least a century.

Without turning around, he moved his head like he was cracking his neck, even though he didn't have any bones, and pulled out his two long black swords.

The two golems stopped thumping their swords and started shaking.

Finn wasn't sure if golems could feel fear before, but seeing those two golems tremble gave him the answer.

SWISH CRACK

With one swift motion, the black armored golem decapitated the other two golems and stepped on their heads, crushing them and ending their lives.

He then looked at Finn and his group, who were now warily looking at the overpowered golem, who was a lot stronger than them.

But the golem didn't fight them.

Instead, he put his swords back into their scabbards that he had around his waist, and with a nod, he turned into light particles, disappearing forever.

[You have completed the final puzzle and received 1000 exp]

The dungeon that was just moments ago filled with loud thumping was now silent as everyone in Finn's group was too shocked to speak.

"…We did it."

The silence was broken with a whisper from Finn that everyone could hear in the deafening silence.

"LET'S GO!"

"We did it! We won!"

"Good job everyone!"

"Hmm."

Everyone but Sophie celebrated with a laugh and a wide smile.

When the black golem got up, everyone felt their heartbeat speed up and their nerves tense up, but now it was all over.

Leo embraced Mia in joy, whose face turned bright red. James was high-fiving Finn, and even the stone-faced Sophie had a satisfied expression on her face.

Finn tried to hug Sophie, hoping that the joyful atmosphere would soften her up a bit, but the only thing he received was a punch in the gut.

"Don't get carried away."

After punching Finn, she started walking towards the huge door, acting like she didn't just rearrange his insides.

"KUGH! Baby steps, Finn… It's all about baby steps…"

Finn mumbled to himself as he lied on the ground while holding his stomach, and James was shaking his head next to him.

"You never learn, do you?"

"You have to take every chance you get!"

When James saw how fired up his friend was, he became speechless.

He looked at Sophie and thought that she was beautiful, but she wasn't his type, so he didn't understand Finn's conviction.

James did, after all, prefer women to be older than him and more mature so that they would take care of him.

Preferably single mothers that can teach him all kinds of things.

Leo put Mia down after realizing he had unknowingly picked her up while being ecstatic about everything working out, and with a blush, they both followed Sophie.

James assisted Finn in getting up, and then they all made their way to the large door.

With a slight push from Sophie, the huge door opened, revealing the dungeon's treasury and the first clear reward.