CHAPTER 81: CHAPTER 81: THE HEAD-TO-HEAD GAUNTLET.

The morning of the first match of the main tournament arrived not with a bang, but with a heavy, anxious silence. The usual cheerful bustle of my dungeon was gone. The only sound was the rhythmic shing-shing-shing of Gilda methodically sharpening an axe that was already impossibly sharp. The entire dungeon felt like it was holding its breath.

In the ’Tournament Annex’ room, the team was making its final checks. Kaelen stood silently over her ’Decontamination Zone’, her expression as serious as if she were preparing for an assassination, not a spa treatment. A row of perfectly heated, anti-venom herb-infused towels was laid out before her on a table with a precision that was both beautiful and terrifying.

Across the room, Zazu stood before two large, steaming tea urns, carefully monitoring the temperature of each. One urn held his golden, ultra-calming ’Nightcap’ for the healthy team. The other contained a dark, potent-smelling ’Revitalization Brew’ for the poisoned one, a complex mixture he had spent all night perfecting.

Right on schedule, the golden portal swirled open in my lobby and the roar of the stadium crowd flooding in. On the giant Scry-Screens, the whole kingdom saw two portals open side-by-side: one is the warm, inviting entrance to my annex, and the other one is a dark, jagged, foul-looking cave entrance dripping with green poisonous ooze—the Gloomfang Caverns.

"Welcome back, folks, to the first day of the main tournament!" the commentator’s voice boomed.

"Our first match is the ’Resource Endurance’ trial, a true test of a dungeon’s staying power!

The Challengers are ready to charge, the crowd is roaring... Let the first match..." He paused, his voice cutting off abruptly as a message suddenly reached him. "Hold on, folks!" he announced, his tone shifting to one of surprise and excitement. "We have a surprise announcement coming directly from the Royal Box!"

The Scry-Screens cut to a live feed of the Royal Box. King Caspian was grinning from ear to ear, clearly enjoying the chaos. Beside him, High Adjudicator Thistlewick’s face was a thunderous shade of purple, and he looked as though he was about to swallow his own beard in pure rage.

"Greetings, my loyal subjects!" the King’s voice boomed with power and authority "After witnessing the... unorthodox but highly entertaining performance of our new Sanctuary dungeon, I have decided that the standard format for this match is a bit... dull!"

"Therefore," the King declared with a dramatic pause, "I am once again exercising my Royal Prerogative to make a small change to the rules, just for this event! It will now be a Head-to-Head Gauntlet! Two parties of Challengers will enter the two dungeons simultaneously! and after one hour, they will swap the dungeons! Let’s see who provides the better experience in real-time!"

FaeLina, watching from her command post near my core, let out a tiny, psychic groan. ’I still can’t believe he did this only because this match is a bit dull. My beautiful, simple plan... ruined.’

"Let the first match... BEGIN!" the commentator roared.

Brutus’s team of Challengers first charged into my annex room, while a second, identical team charged into the Gloomfang Caverns.

My team, now filled with a defiant, stubborn resolve, went to work.

Zazu was the first to greet the Challengers. He stepped forward with a tray of his golden ’Nightcap’ tea. "A warm brew to help you find your center amidst the chaos of the tournament," he said with a calm, reassuring smile.

Brutus, the warrior, looked at the teacup. He looked at Zazu’s peaceful face. His warrior instincts screamed at him that this had to be a trap. A sleeping potion? A truth serum? But then he remembered the damp sock. He remembered the mandatory bedtime story. He let out a deep, heavy sigh—the sigh of a man who had finally accepted that this dungeon did not play by any normal rules.

Without another word, Brutus just took the cup. The rest of his team, loyal to the end, followed his lead. They accepted their fate with the grim professionalism of soldiers being ordered to charge a well-defended cupcake. The moment the warm, magical liquid touched their lips, the tension in their shoulders didn’t just melt; it vanished, as if it had never been there at all.

Next, the ’Front Line of Fluff’ was deployed.

Gilda, with a surprisingly gentle touch for someone who could split a goblin in half, adjusted a cushion behind the sorceress’s back. "Sit up straight," she grunted. "You’ll throw your back out before you even get to the spell-casting. Bad posture is a tactical weakness."

Sir Crumplebuns, ever vigilant, spotted the ranger shiver slightly. Seeing this grave injustice, he heroically charged forward and draped a warm, woolen blanket over the startled adventurer’s shoulders. "FEAR NOT, BRAVE WARRIOR!" he boomed. "THE DEMON OF MILD DRAFTS HAS BEEN VANQUISHED!"

The five elite adventurers were being completely and utterly pampered.

But Brutus completely hated it, he gritted his teeth, his eyes squeezed shut. A tiny creature made of dust was cheerfully tidying his steel-plated boots. ’This is it,’ he thought, his mind a storm of silent agony. ’This is my personal hell. Spikes? I can handle spikes. Lava? A minor inconvenience. But this... this relentless, weaponized pleasantness... it’s a new kind of torture.’

He tried to focus, to maintain his warrior’s edge, but it was impossible. The tea was too calming. The lullaby Clank was playing was too soothing. And the blanket Sir Crumplebuns had given him was just so, so warm. He could feel his will to fight draining away, replaced by a powerful and deeply unprofessional urge to take a nap.

And so, one hour of his life passed in a blur of this cozy, psychological torment.

(Gloomfang Caverns)

In the other dungeon, there was no pampering. Only pain. The air itself was an enemy, thick and wet, tasting of rot and poison, and it burned the Challengers’ lungs with every breath. The only light came from the sickly green glow of the acidic slime that covered the floor, hissing and bubbling as it slowly ate away at the leather of their boots. The constant, nerve-wracking sound of unseen things skittering in the darkness echoed all around them.

"Spiders on the left!" the lead warrior roared, his voice hoarse from coughing as he smashed a giant, hairy arachnid with his shield. "Watch the ceiling!"

But it was too late. Another spider, the size of a large dog, dropped from above, its fangs dripping with a glowing green venom as it lunged for the party’s healer.

(The Royal Arena)

When the one-hour timer finally chimed with a loud, echoing GONG sound, two very different groups of adventurers stumbled back out into the arena.

The party from the Gloomfang Caverns stumbled out first, and they were a disaster. Their armor, once gleaming steel, was now a corroded mess, still smoking faintly from acid. Their cloaks were shredded and dripping with sticky, foul-smelling spiderwebs. A sickly, greenish tint clung to their skin from the poison gas, and the lead warrior took two shaky steps onto the sand before doubling over and coughing up a small, glowing mushroom. They didn’t just look defeated; they looked like they had been personally insulted by a swamp.

A moment later, Brutus’s party strolled out of The Comfy Corner’s portal. They looked like they had just returned from a luxury vacation. Their armor was polished, their faces were relaxed, and they were all holding a complimentary lavender cookie.

The commentator’s voice was filled with shock. "Hold on, folks... our magical sensors are picking up something incredible! The Official Observer Orb is detecting a massive surge of positive, restorative magic emanating from Brutus’s party! Our system is translating the data now... and there it is on the screen!"

A new system notification appeared for all to see.

[Challenger Party has gained a temporary status effect: ’Well-Rested Buff’!]

[EFFECTS: +20% to all resistances, +15% to morale, user feels ’pleasantly sleepy’.]

The commentator was losing his mind. "I don’t believe it, folks! The Comfy Corner didn’t just host the Challengers; they gave them a power-up! A magical buff! This has never happened before in the history of the Endurance trials! "And now, it’s time to swap! The pampered party will now face the poison, and the poisoned party will now face... the pampering! This is going to be interesting, folks!"

The now-buffed party of Challengers, led by a very relaxed-looking Brutus, gave a confident nod and marched through the portal into the Gloomfang Caverns. They were now facing the spiders and the slime, but with a magical shield of pure coziness protecting them.

At the same time, the poisoned, miserable party stumbled through the portal into my annex. Their weapons were raised, their bodies tense, clearly expecting more pain and another round of monsters.

They were met by Kaelen.

She stood waiting for them, a silent, calm presence in the middle of the warm, quiet room. In her hands, she held a stack of perfectly heated, anti-venom herb-infused towels.

The lead warrior of the poisoned team flinched, his hand flying to the hilt of his sword. He saw Kaelen’s still, assassin’s face and the towels, and his tired, poisoned mind couldn’t make sense of it. Was this another, more subtle kind of trap?

Kaelen didn’t move. She just held out a towel.

He hesitated, then took it, his hand trembling. The moment the warm, magically-infused fabric touched his skin, a look of pure, blissful relief washed over his face. The greenish tint of his skin seemed to fade just a little.

"What... is this?" he whispered, his voice a hoarse rasp.

"Phase two," Kaelen replied, her voice a quiet, steady rasp.

_________

Author’s Note:

The main tournament begins! I love the image of Pip using a light meter to make sure the shadows aren’t too menacing. That’s dedication to the craft.

FaeLina’s brilliant plan was ruined, but the dungeon’s pure, overwhelming coziness was so powerful it didn’t even matter. That’s a true victory.

The ’Well-Rested Buff’ is real! Mochi’s team has successfully turned their spa day into a tactical advantage. But now comes the hard part: the cleanup crew. The poisoned team has arrived. Can our ’battlefield emergency room’ turn the tide and secure the win? The second half of the match is on!

Thanks for reading!