Level Up Or Die Trying:100 levels of Hell

Cave Defense

Chapter 6

I ran as fast as my legs could carry, dragging Dave with me. We kept going until we reached the end of the cave. The exit was so narrow the stone scrapped my shoulders as I squeezed in. Rock tore at what was left of my hoodie, and by the time I stumbled back into the dark, it swallowed me whole. Behind me, Dave’s breathing echoed through the cave like something stalking us.

“How far back does it go?” I whispered before I could stop myself. The Howlers already knew we were here, but something about the darkness demanded quiet.

“Maybe thirty feet,” Dave murmured. His voice came from somewhere to my left. “Then it fans out but only one can fit through the exit at a time.”

I turned toward the exit again, and I could see the alien sky stretched in purple and green streaks, auroras twisting between two moons. As I watched, a Howler’s head slid into view, blocking the color. Then another. Then a cluster of them. Their clicking language bounced against the rock.

“They can’t rush us,” I said, the realization hitting hard. “We can fight them one by one.”

“That's if they come in at all,” Dave muttered, stepping beside me. I could feel his heat in the cold cave. “Sometimes they wait. The last time I was here? They let me stay in here for four hours before I got so thirsty I had to leave.”

I checked the countdown glowing faintly in the corner of my vision.

2:37:21 until dawn.

A Howler shoved its head through the opening. In the moonlight, I saw its mangled skull and sunken eyes, the way its stitched skin looked like sharp needles. It inhaled sharply and tried to push its body in but the cave exit betrayed it.

Rock ground against its shoulders as it snarled and thrashed, wedging itself even tighter, it's claws scraping stone in blind desperation.

“Now!” Dave barreled forward, empty-handed—he’d lost his weapon during the chase. He grabbed the nearest rock and smashed it into the creature’s skull. The sound echoed out sharp and wet.

The Howler yelped but couldn’t escape, stuck by its own stupid aggression.

Dave kept hammering and each time gave a sickening crack until the creature slumped against the rock.

“Help me,” he grunted.

We pulled the corpse deeper into the cave. The flesh was slick, like it was sweating something that wasn’t sweat. I didn’t want to think about it. We dragged it back ten feet and dropped it.

The exit was clear again for maybe three seconds then a smaller Howler pushed through, leaner and much faster. I grabbed the nearest rock and swung. My arm trembled as my body still remembered being bitten even if the wound was gone and the blow slid off its shoulder.

It snapped at me, it's jaws inches away from my hand.

“Alex!” Dave slammed his rock into the side of its head. Together we smashed it down. Two brutal minutes later, the cave went quiet again.

We dragged the second corpse back and tossed it beside the first.

“How long can we do this?” I panted. My hands were coated in blood and whatever soaked their skin. The smell was rancid and burned my throat.

“No idea,” Dave murmured. “Never made it this far.”

The third Howler came. Then the fourth. Each one forced halfway through, snarling with that awful clicking sound. Each one we trapped and killed until the pile of bodies behind us grew, a grotesque hill of stitched flesh.

By the time we killed the tenth one , my arms shook uncontrollably. My back screamed and sweat ran down my face despite the freezing air.

Then the eleventh Howler appeared but it didn’t attack.

It just stared at us with it's head tilted, and it's eyes reflecting the moonlight clicking slowly.

“Are they figuring it out?” I asked as the Howler backed away. The silence that followed was tense, and suffocating.

Then came the digging.

Claws raked the stone above the exit before moving to the sides.

“They’ve never done that,” Dave whispered, his voice was going flat with something worse than fear. “They’ve never...why are they doing that?”

The answer came up on a screen above us.

Reality Corruption: 1%

“I think it's because I’m here,” I muttered. “Two players means harder difficulty.”

The digging grew louder and dust rained from the ceiling. Pebbles bounced off my hair and shoulders as my heartbeat thundered in my ears. How long before they break through?

“We can’t stay here,” Dave said.

“There’s nowhere to go. That beast is still in this cave.”

“So are we going to die here or die out there?” His laugh sounded broken.

My mind cycled through game logic. Every level had a solution including this one and the rule was simple. Survive until dawn.

My gaze shifted to the corpses behind us.

“We can use the bodies.”

Dave blinked at me through the darkness. “What?”

“We’ve killed ten. The more we stack at the exit, the narrower it gets. If they widen the opening, we reinforce it.”

Dave exhaled hard. “That’s either genius or insane.”

“It's worth a shot.”

We worked fast, dragging the corpse and stacking it. Then we killed the next Howler trying to force through. Drag corpse. Stack it higher.

I know the Howlers outside dug faster when the ceiling cracked and dust fell in thin streams but we kept going.

At some point, I stopped feeling my arms as we worked, the wall grew and the exit shrank. I think that pissed the Howlers because by the next second, the ceiling gave way and a Howler dropped straight into the cave, landing behind our barricade in total darkness.

I swung blindly and missed. Of course.

Claws tore across my ribs—shallow but hot and sharp. I stumbled back and fell over a corpse. Before I could get up, the Howler pounced. Its weight crushed my chest as it jaws opened above my face until Dave rammed into it like a linebacker. They slammed into the wall with a crack and the Howler went limp.

“You okay?” Dave gasped.

“Yeah,” I croaked, pressing my ribs. “You?”

“Shoulder’s dislocated.” His breathing hitched. “Again.”

We patched the ceiling hole with more bodies.

The barricade reached almost to the cave roof.

While the timer showed 1:17:43 until dawn.

I sank against the wall, trembling. My hands were raw and my shoulders burned. Sweat dripped off my jaw. The cave smelled like rot and metal.

Across the dark, I heard Dave checking the barricade. His breaths were ragged and uneven.

“Dave,” I said quietly. “Your shoulder...”

“It'll reset when I die.”

He said it like it was normal. Like it wasn’t horrifying.

Forty-nine deaths.

Forty-nine resets.

And he was still here.

“Why do you keep trying?” I whispered. “Why not just… let it happen?”

He was silent long enough that I almost apologized.

“Because my little sister thinks I just have the flu.” His voice cracked. “And if I die for real in here, she’ll spend the rest of her life wondering why I never came home. I can’t do that to her.”

My throat tightened as I pictured Amy texting me, calling me, cursing me out for ignoring her. If I died here permanently, she’d never know. She’d wonder forever.

“My sister’s name is Amy,” I said. “She makes this lemon chicken thing I like. I bet she’s probably panicking right now.”

“Really?” Dave asked softly.

“Yeah.”

We sat together in the dark—two exhausted men leaning against cold cave walls—talking about the people waiting for us.

Outside, the Howlers kept scraping but the wall held them off just long enough because the digging slowed down.

0:43:12 until dawn.

The clicking outside just stopped.

“They’re giving up,” Dave breathed. “Holy...Alex, they’re actually giving up.”

We watched the sky lighten through gaps in the barricade. Purple fading to gray. A pale wash of dawn threatening over the horizon.

“We’re gonna make it,” I whispered. “We’re actually...”

Then the screen disappeared and appeared with LEVEL 1 COMPLETE

Light filled the cave not from outside, but from floating system screens erupting midair.

Performance Rating: B

Survival Bonus: +150 XP

Cooperation Bonus: +50 XP

Enemies Defeated: 34

Respawn Token Earned: 1

I felt warmth spread through my chest. A soft glow rippled under my skin before fading.

Respawn Tokens: 1

Level: 2

Dave stared at his own screens, shaking.

“I did it.” His voice broke. “After forty-nine tries… I finally did it.”

Then he covered his face and quietly sobbed.

I didn’t say anything, I just sat next to him in the dark while the system loaded Level 2.

And waited for the next nightmare.