He had won, the broken stick jutted from the robot's back and its body hung lifeless.
He huffed and puffed, adrenaline wearing off and ache eating through his muscles. His lips curved slightly in a proud smirk.
'I survived.'
Ding✓
[You've completed the quest]
[You've achieved the main objective]
[You've received the reward for completing the main objective]
[+5 Strength, +5 Agility]
[You've achieved the bonus objective]
[+10 strength, +10 Agility, +10 Charisma]
Mark felt an empowering wave of energy course through him, soothing his muscles and strengthening them, he felt his mind get stronger, his limbs, torso, head and all part of him thrumming with the new energy. It was an euphoric feeling, one that he would love to get used to.
Once the feeling abated, he looked on to the robot, grinned and walked around it.
"Quite impressive, I wouldn't have imagined that a 21st technology would exist or be imitated here, but there's been super goblins and a magical girl that thinks she can tell me what to do, this isn't too strange, just a little surprising."
He moved to its front, the brown woody mass sticking out of it and scratching him. He then pressed on its head with two fingers, applying little pressure, the robot didn't budge.
Mark was in his exploration of the robot when the large bronze released a whirr and slowly began coming open. The automaton's death was its trigger.
The next room was revealed and it was even more unbelievable than the previous.
'A forest?'
Mark was trying to make sense of the picturesque greenery in front of him. Uneven plains of grass stood before him with trees ornamenting the serene atmosphere, and there was the glorious sun. The place looked too real, like a beautiful section of the outdoors was scissored and stuffed into a room, it was unreal.
"What challenges await me?" He said to himself.
He quickly moved about, absorbing back the littering Spider legs into his inventory.
Once he was done, he approached the other room, and as he did, his mind drifted to the cat guardian that had lured him here. Oh he had been a fool, either that or the Spirit Guardian trusted him enough to survive so far.
He stepped into the room, and immediately, the sweet cool breeze bathe him, soothing his nerves, it felt so good on his skin that he wished he could taste the sweetness.
'So real, everything feels so real.'
He could hear the distant melodies emanating from the trees to his left flank, the rough soil beneath his feet and the warmth of the sun.
Then there was a sting, he bent his hand around his back to feel it.
"Ohhh." He let out, looking at the warm red liquid on his hand. He had been cut by the robot, but it was just a shallow cut, nothing life-threatening nor bothersome, he only had to be careful not to get it infected.
Being the lazy man that Mark was, he thought to take a short rest at the foot of a tree before he went on. He got to one and then sat, leaning and relaxing beneath it.
He closed his eyes and let the soothing breeze blow away his pain.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard a slithery wicked voice and felt the breeze change, he opened his eyes and saw that nothing had changed.
He turned his head observing the landscape once again, the door he had come through diminished in size once he was inside, it had been a gigantic door of bronze but now it was just a little hovering door of white light.
"Hmmm…"
'Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks, or my worries.'
He beat away the thoughts, and went for a shut-eye.
"A foolish man delivered, meat and blood plentiful in him. A delightful meal shall he be."
A chill ran through Mark's spine, his breathing quickened and speckled sweat adorned his face. What was that?
It had felt real, much too real, and close.
He quickly got on his feet and began walking, at a fast pace.
Something was wrong with this place, he had suspected it since the beginning, it felt too good to be true, but that could just be the power of the gods he had thought.
How naive was that? It was a trial, one that he would need to cross to get the treasures of the temple– a god's treasures.
He quickened the movement of his legs, walking through depression and elevation, and then, in his moment of worry, the breeze halted and the serene blue sky bled to red instantly.
The grass below withered and crumbled to nothing with his feet over them. The trees changed shape, they weren't as thick, green and beautiful as they were some seconds ago, instead they appeared lanky and wicked with strange faces given to them as if they were animals.
Mark's chest beat stronger and stronger, almost bursting out of his chest.
"The thing thinks it can get away, we wouldn't put so much effort in getting a gift that's ours. There's no place for a strapped man to go."
The slithery, uneasy and evil feeling the voice emanated was enough to have any man freeze in their tracks, Mark almost did, but this wasn't the first time he had felt so close to despair, he wasn't giving up, and he had grown.
He ignored the voice, refusing to look back, with his eyes fixed only to the front, hopeful for another door that would take him out of there.
Then from below, a writhing dead plant caught his leg before he was aware of its presence. Its hold on him was strong as it coiled around both legs, obstinate on not letting go.
Then there was the cry of a great bird, however Mark was too focused on his leg that he ignored it. His hands went on the shoot trying to rip it apart, but it didn't cut even in the slightest.
"Withdraw…"
In the middle of his command, there was a strong tight grip on his shoulders and his legs lifted off the ground with the strange plant releasing him.
He looked up, and there he saw it.