A rather weird dream assaulted me on this particular night. A gorgeous woman in robes made of black fire. A rising sun burning away armies of undead and ghoulish monsters. The beauty of a tower that rose beyond the skies, an absolute behemoth of architecture that couldn't have been made by human hands. Visions flashed showing different areas, from a modest village to a large castle covered in darkness and shadow. Then there were the monsters, all shapes and sizes. Some I couldn't even name and others I hoped to never know their name.
As the visions flew by it came to abrupt halt as I looked upon the beautiful woman again, the flames on her kimono flickered violently. Her upper body moved before I could blink something touched my cheek. Hotter than anything I ever felt, yet it didn't burn. I watched in extreme shock as her black glossed lips left my cheek.
My eyes opened abruptly. I had no idea where I was but it definitely wasn't where I last laid my head.
Rising in shock at my newfound environment, I tried my best to get my bearings while keeping my hand against the wall as a guide.
Four stone walls, no windows and completely dark. Probably should've realized then that something was terribly wrong, besides the fact I couldn't find an actual door.
'I definitely didn't drink enough last night to be put in the hole. Isn't this shit supposed to have cushioned walls anyway, I'm not even wearing a straight jacket. Might be thinking of something else…...' On that same note I began patting myself down because I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face at this point.
Dark sweatpants, black sneakers and empty pockets. I was annoyed at the fact my shirt was gone as well.
Before I developed a real case of claustrophobia I started banging on the walls. "Anybody? Get me out of this damn box, I'm innocent!" I yelled in hopes that somebody would hear me and at least let me see sunlight.
Ace Lothbrook, twenty years old, around six feet in height, dark blonde hair and green eyes. No priors or any reason to be jailed. Though it was up for debate if the young man was developing a slight case of anger issues, waking up in a sealed off box could do that to someone.
'This is barbaric, it's the 21st damn century. What the hell could I have done to be stuck in here, best I can remember I fell asleep on my couch after binging an RPG. I was sure that serial killers and rapists get better initial treatment than this. Innocent before proven guilty, except for me I gue….' My panicked thoughts were interrupted when a light appeared in the room, odd that I walked around all four walls and there was no other room before.
The smell of it hit me first, burning coals. A separate room appeared with a forge that offered a smooth warmth, in the next moment a few torches along the wall lit.
My eyes burned from the unexpected light but it didn't stop me from observing the room. An armory mixed with a medieval forge suddenly appeared, as if it always existed and I just missed it.
'What kind of dungeons and dragons shit did I get thrown into?' I was admittedly shook, taking the usual steps of trying to wake up, pinching myself, stubbing my toe, imagining to wake up, etcetera.
Didn't work….
"Arm yourself" I jumped a few feet in the air in surprise, normally you'd look behind you after being spooked but the voice came from every direction. Something in the back of my mind focused greatly on the tone and the sound of the voice.
It surely wasn't human, too bland, too perfect, almost robotic or magical in a way.
But at the end of the day I was an American along with an ancestry originating from Scandinavia and Iceland. So when a random voice advised you to arm yourself I took that as a divine order.
The walls behind the forge were filled with all manner of steel and Iron weaponry. War hammers, halberds, glaives, great swords, and even a crossbow that I paid special attention to. Though something grabbed my attention before anything else, they floated in front of the forge.
Four weapons that all seemed to radiate a light green glow, after noticing that I looked back towards the wall to see if the other 'normal' looking weapons glowed the same and I just missed it, they didn't.
A rapier with a golden hilt and a series of intricate carvings adorned its thin blade. An ethereal-looking tablet on the ground named it 'Blessed Rapier'.
Next to it was an ebony longbow with a similarly colored quiver. It was off, just looking at it gave me a slight sense of unease. 'Envenomed Longbow'
Third came a spear, a basic steel shaft connected to a two-foot-long double-edged blade. Dark red animal fur separated the blade from the shaft giving it a more 'beastly' look. 'Blooded Spear'
Finally a set of daggers, which looked the most basic if it weren't for the chill they gave off. 'Chilled Daggers'
My video game knowledge seemed to give me an advantage here, it was almost a certainty I could only pick one.
Holy short range, poisoned ranged, midrange bleed, extremely close range frost.
My choice was simple, never shot a bow so that cut out the 'safer' and only other option. Finishing the debate I grabbed the spear. I didn't know what I would run into but what ever it was I felt more comfortable poking it at a decent distance.
Not a moment later all the other weapons faded away while a leather holster appeared crossing over my bare chest and around my back. 'This doesn't feel like the normal 'isekai' trope' an offhand observation that I didn't realize how true it was until much later.
I scoured the room and went over everything, procuring a set of leather armor which I was thankful for.
The next thing I saw was easily strapped to my waist, the crossbow I observed earlier along with a belt-like contraption that had a large pouch filled with at least a hundred steel bolts. This was the closest thing to a modern-day firearm so it was an obvious choice despite the low fire rate.
A dagger was added to the waistband and I really couldn't imagine carrying anything else
I was not in the best shape, in all honesty, six foot and about a hundred and fifty pounds, skinny but agile. Didn't think it would be smart to sacrifice my only strength while I already felt slightly encumbered.
When I stopped moving for a moment to observe the functionality of the crossbow a sound broke the silence of the armory.
I turned and noticed an hourglass embedded into the wall. After watching it for a few seconds I could tell there was maybe five minutes left of sand.
What did that mean? I had no idea, but something would happen.
I took that time to practice shooting a few bolts and attempting to improve how long it took me to reload.
In the last few seconds, I watched the grains fall with a baited breath along with a bead of sweat on my cheek that refused to fall until the last grain did.
Interestingly, the part of the wall that the hourglass sat on began fading away. A second later a torch-lit hallway was connected to the armory.
'Getting super dungeon vibes...' My slightly panicked thoughts were discarded. I walked through the doorway, quickly turning around to come face to face with a stone wall. I tested to make sure it was actually real before sighing.
"No turning back now, got to find a way out of here then figure out what the fuck is going on" I said to myself as I hardened whatever resolve I could muster and headed forward. Fragments of my dream gave me a rather grim idea of what I might be walking into, still I pressed on.
The hallway was pretty cramped, one step to either side and I'd touch the wall.
It wasn't long before the hallway connected to another, going with my gut I turned left. A few hundred feet later it split again, while I went right this time. This continued three more times until I reached a dead end and I realized I was in a maze.
The sound of clawed feet scraping against the stone floor was my only warning, I turned around with a fever and leveled the crossbow with a small modicum of skill.
The crosshair lined up perfectly, but the grotesque 'animal' in front of me caused me to freeze.
It was just a regular brown house rat if you disregarded the fact it was the size of a pit bull.
It let out a guttural hiss as I reflexively pulled the trigger, it landed true into the monster's shoulder. It jumped back from the blow, obviously not expecting a fight from an unimpressive human like me.
I thanked my past self for his genius decision, returned the crossbow to my waist and pointed my spear forward.
A small hallway like this is perfect for a spear in single combat, there's no way that rat will get to me without getting run through.
It seemed that the eighty-pound monstrosity didn't get that memo, proven as it let out another growl before charging me.
It was honestly pretty fast for its size, I was sure I couldn't outrun it even if I didn't have my back against the wall.
Speed didn't matter in this sense though, at least I figured it wouldn't.
Shockingly the rat jumped, from one side of the wall then onto the ceiling. Like a pinball, it used its momentum to catch me from above.
My reaction speed in that moment left a lot to be desired. I watched it pounce and barely had time to just lean back in hopes of it misjudging its landing.
It didn't, within half a second the rat knocked me to my back as it mounted me. I tried to get my hands to my dagger in hopes of at least killing it with me. It's putrid body on top of my own, it's teeth so close it's whiskers tickled my face.
It let out a jagged hiss before it began seizing, a second later I was covered in blood. Pure luck, my spear somehow made it through the monster rat's back and the enchantment saved me.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I tried my best to move the rodent's corpse off of me. Soon I managed it as I leaned against the wall and tried to calm my panicked breathing.
I barely noticed it through the shock, from the rat's body a few modes of light flew out and landed directly in my chest. A few seconds later the rat's body dissolved into the floor.
"Ok... I'm in a dungeon/maze in a fantasy world, giant monsters are always going to be a thing when you know enchanted weapons exist. At Least it isn't giant spiders...You've played tens of games that had this premise. Get your shit together Ace"
(A/N: Thank you for checking the story out, just a disclaimer that this is the first novel I've ever written. Either I got lucky and have something decent or it's complete dog water. Feel free to comment your opinions. Criticism is welcome)