Online In Another World

It was odd crawling by miniature furniture–couches, tables, and even paintings decorated the walls of the minuscule lair, though all scaled down to be proportional to the rodent humanoid.

As he pushed onward, watching the tiny creature scamper away, he felt a portion of the floor he crawled over "push in" beneath his elbow.

"--Huh?"

A "click" met his ears, causing him to pause momentarily before something caught the corner of his eye, coming from his right: a false portion of the crimson wall to his right opened up, revealing a swinging ax that sailed right towards his head.

"What the–?!"

As he reacted in surprise, he raised his hand out of pure reflex, shielding his face but instead causing the knife-sized ax to smack against his palm, cutting into his skin as blood dripped down his hand.

"Ghh–!" He winced.

It was a shock to him that such a tiny, almost cute place housed brutal traps, but it only served to take away any restraint he had as he realized the danger of the scaled-down area now.

If that's how you want to play, then…! He thought.

Clenching his fist shut as crimson fluid painted his own palm, he pushed past the pain and quickly crawled forward, taking the rodent-like humanoid by surprise as it had stopped to watch the young Dragonheart.

In his fast-paced chase, or as fast as anybody could go while having to use their elbows to pull their body forward in a cramped space, he once more found himself encountering a false plating on the floor, this time, triggered by his knee.

Crap…! He realized.

Within that split-second, he glanced around, having to figure out where the dormant trap had been slumbering. He was limited in his ability to look around; mostly set to just what was in front of him and his peripherals as turning wasn't exactly an easy task in the cramped corridor.

Another "click" mets his ears, finding the source of the trap to originate from a spot on the wall to his left.

There! He found it.

Just then, tiny arrows shot out, numbering a half dozen as they aimed for his left eye. There was nothing to truly shield himself with, though it was better to avoid having his eye impaled than anything, so he used his own forearm to take the minuscule arrows.

It hurt, but it was nothing he couldn't brush off as he now moved with a certain frustration guiding him, rapidly crawling through the small space in chase of the key-carrying dwarf.

"Give me that damn key!" He yelled out.

There was no longer any care taken for the wellbeing of the lengthy home he crawled through, smashing the tiny tables and crushing the furniture inside the doll-like manor. He embodied a destructive beast, rampaging through the miniature area like a monster as he gave chase to the creature.

"Give it…here!" Emilio strained.

As he reached out again, he nearly managed to grab onto the fleeing creature, though again, he felt his arm hit a trap tile–causing him to pause as he glanced up towards the ceiling his head was already practically pressing up against.

Again…?! He realized.

This time, a false portion of the ceiling slid away before pebbles that would be considered boulders for the rodent dropped down, smacking against the young Dragonheart.

"Ow, ow, ow…!"

It was annoying, at best, though it did cause him to instinctively shield himself against the fast-rolling rocks. The rapid, small bursts of pain prompted him to lunge forward out of anger, crawling faster as he closed in on the key-holding rat.

"--I'm done asking nicely!" He yelled.

Thrusting his hand forward, he watched the minuscule humanoid glance back as fear grew in its eyes, reaching towards the creature before snatching its entire body into his grip.

"Gotcha!"

Successfully catching the weirdly-shaped creature, he brought it closer to his face, getting a look at the tiny humanoid.

"Just what the heck even are you?" He asked in a mutter.

It had rat-like teeth and was heavily clad in gray fur, though it had a human shape to its body with long, curved claws.

A rat? A human? A demi-human?...I don't think so, he thought.

Just as he reached for the key from the trembling creature, which wore raggedy, leather garments, he found himself rejected by the small, but sharp claws of the creature. It swept at his index finger and thumb, leaving a set of tiny eviscerations on his skin.

"Gah–!"

Though he nearly dropped the fiendish creature, he kept his grip around it, snatching the key before tossing the tiny thing across the room.

"Little bastard!" Emilio huffed.

After retrieving the black key, he looked at his two afflicted fingers, finding a small, acute pain from the cuts, though it was nothing that was going to impede him.

Alright, time for the hard part…He thought.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be an exit waiting at the end of the small-scale corridor, instead leaving him to awkwardly crawl backwards through the cramped space. While he wasn't in a rush to catch a critter this time, he took extra care not to trigger any dormant boobytraps, lest he wanted to find himself covered in more cuts.

After a few minutes, he managed to crawl back out through the miniature door, leading him into the crimson-chalk corridor before he rose back to his feet.

"...Phew…"

He exhaled, finding his body relieved at being able to fully stretch out after being stuck in the claustrophobic area.

Standing there for a moment, he regained his breath before heading through the spiraling corridor, returning to the room with many doors. The thin, slender stand of clear glass still held the all-black cube, to which he took the key and carefully slid it into the leftmost keyhole on the object.

"Alright, here goes…one of four," he muttered.

It naturally fit into the lock, sliding in not just partway, but allowing the entire shape of the black key to be slid into the cube.

To his surprise, the enigmatic object took the key from his own grip, completely bringing it into the lock into a perfect fit as an internal mechanism within the cube triggered.

"Okay…three to go," he said, watching the object for a moment.

For a moment, he looked around at the other three doors that likely led to the remaining needed keys, deciding which way to go next–once again, he chose to follow whim.

The next room he decided to confront had a metal door serving as its entryway; it was made of a thick platinum with a reflective sleekness to its material.

Next key–come on, he readied himself.

It took a strenuous effort to open the heavy-duty door, having to pry the handle to the other side, though he realized why he was having an issue with it: the blood that ran through his veins didn't feel as hot as usual.

My Dragonheart System–is it suppressed down here? He questioned

Usually, normal locks wouldn't be any more difficult than prying open a jar of pickles, though he had to sweat to open the titanium door.

It's worrying, but…if all of these rooms are a similar difficulty to that first one, I guess I won't have to worry, he thought.

After exhaling, he finally opened the dense door, finding a peculiar passage awaiting him: unlike a normal corridor, it had a steep, sharp decline with walls and flooring made of smooth, reflective metal.

It wasn't something that could be marched down, even carefully; it was steep enough to be used as a chute, or otherwise known to the young Dragonheart:

A…slide? He realized.

There was no way to tell where it led, as it went deep enough to allow shadows to linger. Even as reckless as he could be at times, he didn't like the idea of the mysterious slide, however, it seemed fate had other plans for his cautious self–

FWOOSH

"Wh-wha–!"

An inexplicable force of wind manifested itself as his back like a pair of hands pressing forth, causing him to stumble forward.

Before he could grasp onto anything, he slipped forward, landing on his rear before rapidly descending the metallic slide. It was disorientating; quickly he was plunged into darkness, seeing nothing but feeling himself descend quickly down the slippery slope.

It swerved, causing him to sharply turn in directions, though he couldn't see this at all, only feeling it as the high-velocity winds brushed past his ears while descending.

"Ghh–!" He gritted his teeth.

He was fearful of whatever abrupt drop might await him at the end, though there was no way of predicting what that would come before suddenly, he felt himself slide down a small ramp before launching from the bottom of the enigmatic chute.

Without any prior warning, he found himself dumped into an unknown chamber. He flailed momentarily, left like a fish out of water without the magic he'd grown so used to relying on.

"Nngh…!"

Dropping onto the ground, he winced as his entire body then ached from the high-speed fall. For a minute, he laid there on his back, catching his breath as he felt his bones flashing with pain.

This isn't…normal, he thought.