I was about to reject the quest when a gigantic roar echoed through the hedge maze, freezing me in place.
"A monster?" I whispered, alarmed. The roar was so loud it reached my ears with startling clarity, louder than even the rhino or boar I'd encountered earlier.
I gave it some serious thought.
Normally, I would have rejected the quest and tried to find a way out of the maze, but in this situation, hiding seemed like the best choice.
"Shit!"
The roar sounded closer now, and panic set in.
I couldn't afford to be caught out in the open, especially not by something that powerful.
"Okay, think, Michael," I muttered to myself. "What's the safest option here?"
The answer was obvious.
With no weapon in hand and still naked except for a pair of sandals and simple pants, climbing down into the well seemed like the most pragmatic decision.
At least it would get me out of sight.
I really don't want to die...
Atleast, till I loss my virginity.
Taking a deep breath, I accepted the quest and grabbed onto the iron rungs.
They felt cold and slightly damp under my fingers as I began to descend into the well.
The roar echoed again, even closer this time, urging me to move faster.
"What kind of bloody place is this?"
My heart pounded as I climbed down, each rung taking me further into the darkness below.
The further I went, the cooler the air became, providing a slight relief from the adrenaline-fueled heat coursing through my body.
I focused on the rungs, trying to ignore the increasingly distant roars and the ever-growing darkness around me.
The iron rungs seemed stable enough, though they creaked ominously with each step.
I discovered I had reached the bottom when my foot met water instead of the next rung.
Some experimental probing revealed it was ankle deep, enough to submerge my sandals in the icy cold.
The bottom of the well was flat, but as it turned out, just as slippery as the walls.
My feet slipped, and I barely avoided hitting my head on the side of the well by hanging onto the rungs.
I ended up sprawled at the bottom, with dirty water soaking my new pants along with blood and dirts.
Panting slightly, I paused to catch my breath and assess my situation.
"Fantastic."
I couldn't hear the roar anymore, which was a small relief, but it also meant I had no idea where the monster was nor where I am.
I looked around, trying to orient myself in the gloom.
From my low perspective, I noticed a slightly darker circle in the wall of the already dark well.
I reached out and found it was a hole, big enough to crawl through. I wasn't sure if it was the source of the well's water or a drainage tunnel.
"No way," I said. "I'm not crawling in there."
(Reject quest [Well's Dark secrets]?)
Should I decline it?
But what about that monster?
What if it was lured to me by my scent? Monsters are known to be drawn to humans, right?
It makes sense—they enjoy hunting us. If that creature caught my scent and came after me, I wouldn't be surprised at all...
"Forget it."
I glanced up at the bright circle of sky, then back at the dark tunnel.
With a groan, I started feeling around the pitch-black hole with my hands.
***
I slowly crawled into the damp tunnel, a circular pipe made of wet and slimy bricks.
It was wide enough for me to push myself along, but tight enough that I was pressed against the clammy sides.
The darkness swallowed me as I moved away from the little light at the bottom of the well.
As I edged down the tunnel, touch was the only sense I could use to navigate.
With the constant smell of wet rot, I wished my nose was as useless as my eyes.
"This is not what I planned to do, but I had no choice."
If it turned out to be a dead end, I'd have to shimmy backward since the tunnel was too tight to turn around.
"Admittedly, my plans for the day were pretty loose, but a gigantic monster isn't something you just casually fit into the schedule."
Talking to myself didn't help much, but any distraction was welcome to fight off the creeping claustrophobia.
The well had seemed gloomy, but the tunnel's darkness was even worse. I felt panic's icy fingers crawl over my skin as the tunnel seemed to close in on me.
I knew it wasn't really getting smaller, but my rational mind was powerless in the cold, wet darkness.
My nerves were fraying.
I was ready to start pushing my way back and risk the monster when my hand landed on slimy, wet wood instead of slimy, wet brick.
There was still no light, so I felt around with my hands.
I had reached the end of the tunnel, but had no idea what kind of space it opened into.
I felt like it was an open space, but in complete darkness, it could have just been my imagination.
My hands felt a platform made of wooden planks.
It was wet and a bit slimy, but it felt solid under my hands.
It felt really disgusting to me...
But...
All is well if I can stay well...
The surface was rough, like sandpaper, with some kind of long-lasting adhesive used to apply sand or something similar to improve traction on the wet planks.
I had seen something like this on hiking trails.
As I felt around while crawling out of the tunnel, I realized the planks were arranged to form a walkway about a meter and a half wide.
It felt like there was enough room to stand, but even with the sand coating I didn't trust the slick wooden path in the dark.
I continued forward as I had in the tunnel, hands exploring in place of my eyes.
Just a short way down the path I found a vertical metal rod sticking out the walkway, at the edge to my left.
My hands traced the length of the small rod, feeling its smooth metal surface.
It had a sturdy grip, textured to prevent slipping, and a button near the top.
'What is this?'
Accidently, I clicked on the button and light lit up.
As the metal rod lit up, I discovered the hard way that I had been holding the front of it pointed directly into my face.
I screamed as light blasted into my eyes, dropping the lamp from his hands.
It clattered away as I fell back onto the wooden pathway, moaning with hands over my eyes.
"The fuck is this?," he croaked, waiting to recover.
After my eyes recovered from the blinding light, I cautiously removed my hands and blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision. Gradually, shapes and colors began to come into focus again.
As I looked around, I finally understood what the metal rod was. It was a simple but metallic torch. Relief flooded through me, and I let out a shaky breath.
"Ohhh, It's just a torch..." I muttered to myself, feeling a wave of embarrassment wash over me. "I nearly thought I had triggered a bomb."
With trembling hands, I reached out and picked up the torch from where it had fallen.
I inspected it carefully, now able to see it clearly in the dim light. It was a sturdy piece of equipment, well-made and reliable.
Atleast, I got a torch or I would have lost my path by now.
Feeling more confident now that I knew what it was, I clicked the button again to switch it off and on again, this time pointing the torch away from my face.
A beam of light illuminated the pathway ahead, casting long shadows on the wooden planks.
The light was largely obscured, but compared to complete darkness, even some shadowy outlines were bliss.
It was at least enough to recognise that I was in a natural cavern.
It didn't have the conveniently smooth floors of a video game cave, which was presumably why someone had put in the walkway, raised on thick wooden posts.
The walkway was only about an arm's length above the cave floor, so I understood quickly.
I followed the walkway cautiously, taking care with each step.
'Man, why do I feel like I'm in some kind of horror escape game?'
The sand coating had worn away in many places, leaving patches of slick wood from years of exposure to the damp cavern.
The cave turned out to be a natural tunnel, roughly hewn, through which the walkway followed.
I proceeded slowly and carefully until it came to an end at a brick wall, set into the side of the cave.
In the middle of the wall was a hefty metal door with a big wheel set into it, resembling a bulkhead door on a submarine.
Both door and wheel were rusty and appeared not to have been opened in quite some time.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Setting down the torch, I grabbed the wheel with both hands and pulled, but it didn't budge.
"Oh, come on."
I yanked on it harder and harder, bracing my feets against the door as I hauled sideways with all my strength.
I felt a little give, then a little more, each accompanied by an unwilling metal groan.
Finally, the wheel jerked loose, and I could turn the reluctant mechanism with heavy jerks.
Panting from the exertion, I shouldered open the door.
Like the wheel, it resisted, and I had to shove it open in fits and starts.
My feets grew sore as I repeatedly rammed it into the door.
Weak, lame...
I felt those words in my inner heart...
Finally, with a shriek, the door gave way, and I stumbled through the opening.
(Congratulations, host! Quest: [Well's Dark secrets] has been completed!)
(Objective complete: Explore the well 1/1.)
(Reward: A new body will be granted to the host after they kill the first human of this world.)
(Bonus quest objective (don't die) still ongoing!)
"Hey, System! This isn't fair. I finished the quest, but now I have to do another one just to get the reward. And why do I have to kill someone for it?"