VIRGIN DESTROYER 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

The air was sharp, biting at my skin as we plummeted, the sheer force of the wind pressing against my chest and stealing the breath from my lungs. It wasn’t just falling—it was being swallowed by the dark, dragged into an abyss where the only certainty was that the bottom had to be somewhere.

Joren’s screaming barely registered over the roaring in my ears. I wanted to scream too, but my throat locked up, my body bracing for the inevitable.

And then—

Impact.

The water was like hitting stone.

It crashed over me, swallowing me whole in an instant, the icy shock slamming through my body like a thousand needles piercing my skin all at once. My mind screamed for air, for warmth, but there was none. There was only the deafening rush of the current, pulling me under, twisting me, spinning me like a piece of driftwood caught in a storm.

I flailed, my arms reaching for anything, my lungs burning, my head pounding as I tried to figure out which way was up, but the river didn’t care. It dragged me deeper, faster, tossing me into the unknown, a force so strong it felt like the water itself was alive.

Pain.

A brutal, sudden impact against the side of my head, sharp and jarring, my vision flashing white.

Something—or someone—had slammed into me.

I barely had time to register what had happened before I felt clawing hands, grasping wildly.

Joren.

That fucking idiot.

His body tangled with mine, his frantic kicking and thrashing knocking the last bit of air from my lungs. I twisted, trying to shove him off, but the river rolled us over, forcing us down, deeper.

I was going to drown.I felt sharp yank at my collar.

A hand. A grip like iron, holding me up, pulling me toward the surface.

Alric.

Through the rushing water, through the suffocating weight pressing in on all sides, I heard his voice, roaring over the chaos.

“HOLD TOGETHER! DON’T SPLIT UP!”

Joren’s hands clawed at me again, this time grabbing for my shoulders, his grip desperate and clumsy, his legs kicking wildly against the current.

I could barely breathe. We were barely keeping afloat.

But for a moment—just a moment—it worked.

The three of us, locked together, fighting against the current, struggling just to keep our heads above water.

The crash.

Something slammed into my back.

The force knocked me forward, my chest slamming against jagged stone. I gasped, choking on water, pain blooming through my ribs as we were suddenly stopped—caught—pinned against something solid.

The river kept raging past us, shoving against our bodies like it was trying to rip us free.

But we were stuck.

A rock. A ledge. A jagged outcropping that had snared us just before the river could take us further.

I coughed, gasping, my entire body trembling from the cold, from the force of it all.

Alric was already moving, his hands scrambling against the wet stone, climbing up.

“GigaChad420! Climb—now!”

I reached blindly, fingers scraping against the slick rock, trying to find a grip, trying to haul myself up.

Joren, still panting, shoved past me, scrambling up first like a goddamn rat.

I didn’t even have the strength to tell him to go fuck himself.

I just climbed.

My arms burned, my legs weak, but I pulled myself onto solid ground.

And when I finally collapsed, chest heaving, lungs aching, my fingers digging into the cold, wet stone beneath me—

I realized something.

It was pitch black.

No sky. No moon. No stars.

Only the sound of the river still raging behind us.

A deep, heavy silence settled over everything.

A cave.

Alric knelt beside me, his breathing heavy, his hair soaked, his expression unreadable in the darkness.

Joren lay on his back, still coughing up water.

None of us spoke.

Because none of us knew where the hell we were.

Joren groaned, pushing himself up onto shaky legs. He ran a hand through his soaked hair, still coughing, before looking at me with a smirk.

“GigaChad420, huh? Hell of a nickname you picked, man.”

He stretched his arms, rolling his shoulders like we hadn’t just nearly drowned. Then his grin widened.

“I think I’ll call you… Sir GigaDipshit.”

I exhaled slowly, forcing my aching body to move as I pushed myself upright.

Alric was still on his knees, his breath uneven. I reached down and pulled him up.

Joren, of course, wouldn’t shut the fuck up.

“Man, this is hilarious. An NPC and a Level 1 player in the same party. Amazing. This is peak gameplay.”

He snorted, shaking his head as if this whole situation was some kind of joke. Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, his fingers moved through the air.

“Hold on, lemme add you.”

A soft chime echoed in my ears.

I blinked.

A glowing blue window appeared in front of me, floating just at eye level. The first interface I had ever seen.

Joren has invited you to a party.

[ACCEPT] | [DECLINE]

I exhaled sharply, hesitating only for a second before I tapped [ACCEPT].

The screen flickered.

PARTY:

• Joren (Lv.14)

• Alric Nightwell (NPC)

• Lucas (Lv.1)

I stared at the list.

So this was how the system saw us.

Joren—a player, Level 14.

Me—a fucking Level 1.

Alric—just labeled as “NPC.”

Not that it was surprising, but seeing it laid out so plainly sent a weird feeling through my chest. I glanced at Alric, who was busy brushing water off his clothes, completely unaware that his name had just been added to some system window he couldn’t even see.

I turned to Joren instead, ignoring whatever bullshit remark he was about to throw my way.

“Wait. You can add NPCs to a party?”

Joren scoffed. “Uh, yeah? You thought this was some janky single-player RPG? Dude, NPCs are integral to the system. Some of them are stronger than players. The AI is nuts.”

I frowned. “But—”

He rolled his eyes. “Bro. You’re Level 1. You don’t even have the map unlocked, so you don’t know shit.”

I stayed quiet.

“Didn’t you do the first quests? The wolves?” Joren gave me a baffled look, like I was some kind of rare idiot specimen. “You’re supposed to hit Level 2, unlock the map, and get your friends list. Like, literally the first ten minutes of the game.”

I ignored the jab and cut straight to what mattered.

“Alright. Explain it to me. How exactly does the system work with unlocking things?”

Joren blinked, then let out a laugh. “Oh my god, you really don’t know? Dude.” He dragged a wet hand down his face, sighing like he was about to give a kindergarten lesson. “Fine. Listen up, noob.”

He stretched his arms behind his head, adopting the lazy confidence of someone who loved hearing himself talk.

“Until Level 6, you get tutorial quests that integrate all the interface systems. It’s meant to teach dumbasses like you how shit works. It starts basic—you kill a few wolves, get Level 2, unlock the map and your friends list.”

He gestured vaguely. “Then you get quests that introduce you to the economy—trading, bartering, selling loot. Around Level 4 or 5, you start unlocking the general questline, world lore, guild info, land ownership, politics, and the whole ecosystem. Basically, it’s drip-fed to prevent newbies from getting overwhelmed.”

I nodded, absorbing the information.

So that’s why, back when I checked my map I hadn’t seen any real terrain—just the words “Shadow Land” floating in empty space.

I hadn’t unlocked anything yet.

The system was smart—it fed players information gradually, making sure they learned the game step by step. A proper tutorial, disguised as early-level quests.

Great system.

Just not for me.

Because I wasn’t leveling.

And if I couldn’t reach Level 2, I was locked out of the basics indefinitely. No map. No further questline. No access to the bigger picture.

I was playing with a blindfold on.

I was fucked.

“GigaChad420.”

Alric’s voice cut through my thoughts, calm but firm. “We should check it out. They might chase us.”

I exhaled sharply, pushing the thoughts aside. Right. No time for this now.

We didn’t get far.

Maybe ten meters into the cave before we hit something—a wall.

No. Not a wall. A gate.

Massive stone doors, carved straight into the rock, towering over us like they’d been here for centuries. Cracked, weathered, covered in strange markings—but still standing, still closed.

And then—

Ding.

A blue screen flickered into my vision.

[Dungeon Discovered: Unnamed Ruin]

Recommended Level: 10+

Entry Conditions: None

Status: Unmapped

I stared at it, my stomach twisting.

A dungeon.

My first dungeon.

I turned to Joren, but he was already grimacing at the doors, arms crossed, looking like he just found out his favorite loot cave got nerfed.

“Oh, this is just fantastic,” he muttered.

“What?”

He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his wet hair. “It’s a system dungeon. Recognized. Unmapped. Which means no one’s been in this one before.” He tapped his temple, probably scrolling through his own interface. “No guides, no data, no way to know what’s inside until we step in.”

I swallowed hard.

Unmapped.

That meant no walkthroughs. No community notes. No safety net.

And worse?

Recommended Level: 10+.

I was Level 1.

I wasn’t even supposed to be here.

“And?” I asked, keeping my voice even.

Joren stared at me. Then at the screen. Then back at me.

“And it says Level 10+, dumbass. What do you think that means?” He threw up his hands. “We don’t know what’s in there. We have no weapons, no gear, no food. This is a fucking death trap.”

I clenched my jaw. He wasn’t wrong.

But before I could say anything, Alric stepped forward.

He ran a hand along the stone, tracing the worn carvings with his fingertips, eyes narrowed. He didn’t see the system notification, but he understood what this was.

“This place is old,” he murmured. “Older than the mines. Older than the kingdom, maybe. Ruins like these…” He exhaled, shaking his head. “They’re always filled with history. Secrets. Dangers.”

Not system dungeons. Not level requirements.

To him, this was just a forgotten part of his world.

I gritted my teeth.

Then—

A sound.Like stone shifting against stone. Joren shut the hell up.

Alric took a step back.And then— The gate started to open.