The tunnel swallowed Kade like a throat lined in damp stone and rot. It narrowed fast, the ceiling low enough to force a crouch and the walls slick with algae in long, veined streaks. Cold water pooled around her boots and dragged heat from the bones. She had moved to the head of the group, carved a path forward, and tried not to think too hard about what they were crawling through. The stink was the kind that stuck in the throat. A mixture of salt, rot, rust, and something sweet in a way that promised infection.

  Behind her, Stone muttered something and caught herself on the wall. The tunnel’s floor dipped, forcing them to move one at a time along the edge. Kade glanced back.

  "How’s the leg?"

  Stone gave a tight smile and angled her face slightly away, jaw clenched like she was trying not to taste the air. "Holding. Just sore."

  Kade shifted her satchel and passed it back. "Give me half of your load."

  "You need your hands free," Stone said. "You’re on point."

  "Magic bag, remember. I need you upright more," Kade said quietly so Levi wouldn't hear. "Give."

  Stone relented. The transfer was awkward in the tight space, their packs brushing stone and iron moldings. A slosh echoed behind them as Myers eased into the bend, face creased in a mock grin despite the tunnel’s sour air.

  "You know what would really round this out?" he said. "Sewer gator. Big bastard. Nasty attitude. Probably already sizing us up from the next junction."

  "Is it hungry, too?" Milo asked from the back. "Because I’ve got some choice cuts. Starting with my patience."

  "No, no," Myers said, grinning. "It only eats the nervous ones. Makes the meat soft."

  Levi coughed behind them, his hands trembled in what Kade could only assume was terror of the dark, cramped spaces, or just the general horror movie feeling that was everywhere.

  "Is this really the best time for jokes?" he asked.

  "No, but it’s the only time I’ve got," Myers replied. "Besides, if you laugh, your body produces fewer stress hormones. That’s science."

  Kade said nothing, but tried to hide the slight smile on her lips. The walls had narrowed again. The ceiling brushed the back of her pack, and even crouching didn’t stop the occasional thud of a helmet or shoulder scraping low stone. She moved slow, boots finding purchase in shallow ruts worn into the floor like erosion had been at war with time and won.

  Eventually, the tunnel widened just enough for them to stand. Barely. The space opened into a hatch-lipped corridor ringed by rusted maintenance signs and broken pipes. One section of the wall bore faded graffiti, a smuggler’s symbol etched in crude lines that resembled a compass crossed with a dagger.

  Levi stepped carefully beside her, eyes wide behind wire frames fogged with humidity. "This smell," he said, "I don’t suppose it ever improves?"

  "Bet it gets worse before it doesn’t," Kade said.

  He nodded to the dark behind them. "Do you think the others made it out? I mean, on the other side of the chamber. If they didn’t find a drain."

  "They did," Kade cut in. "They had to. These tunnels aren’t an accident. Whoever built this place wanted movement underground. Drainage, maintenance, escape. We’ll meet up further down."

  Myers crouched beside a broken lantern, fingers trailing the rusted base. "That puzzle room left little room for argument. Doesn’t matter what side we dropped onto. There wasn’t a door out. Just drains."

  Stone stepped beside him, her limp almost gone but still favoring the healed leg. She glanced at the ceiling. "Unless we answered it wrong. Maybe that was the punishment."

  "Feels excessive," Milo muttered.

  Kade didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. The smell in the air had shifted again. Damp stone gave way to something deeper. It was a mixture of salt and a hint of things not meant to be breathed.

  "I smell sulfur," Kade said. "Given where we're at, I'm not shocked, but this could also be something more dangerous than just waste."

  "Gas leak, maybe?" Myers responded.

  "Not sure. Either way, if anyone feels lightheaded, call it out," Kade said, continuing on.

  The corridor opened into a broader tunnel system, ankle-deep in brackish water that glimmered under the weak light of bioluminescent fungi strung along the walls like half-dead lanterns. The passage forked in three directions, each one choked in shadows and echoes.

  Kade paused.

  Left path dipped lower, water moving fast in a steady ripple. Center corridor was the most direct, but her gut didn’t like the stillness. On the right, she heard distant sounds. Faint. A rhythmic clatter, maybe voices, maybe pipes. It could’ve been a hundred things. Or it could’ve been the other half of her team.

  Myers tilted his head. "You hear that?"

  "No," Milo said. "And I’m fine with that."

  "I do," Stone added. "Maybe."

  Levi adjusted his glasses, studying a battered compass he’d pulled from a pouch. The needle jittered back and forth as if it couldn’t decide where north lived.

  "The compass doesn’t like it here," he said.

  "No one does," Kade said. "Right tunnel. If there're voices, its the others or something worse pretending to be them."

  They entered a new passage. The water here was still and warm, clinging to their legs like it didn’t want to let go. A low groan echoed somewhere ahead, stone flexing under pressure or something heavier moving behind the walls.

  Then the walkway shifted beneath them. One second it was there. The next, a crunch, a jolt and then stone breaking free in long, cracking slabs. The world tilted. Kade dropped low without thinking. Her foot slipped for a moment until her Deck Fighter ability kicked in to help her steady herself.

  She slid forward a half step, adjusted her weight, and caught balance on a collapsing ledge like she’d rehearsed it in drydock. Behind her, Myers cursed, Stone shouted. Milo grabbed Levi’s belt and hauled him backward from the break. Water surged over their boots, and the section behind them dropped with a splash and a dull groan.

  No one spoke until the sound faded.

  "Well," Myers said, "guess that gator’s out of luck."

  They moved slower as every step forward came with a test of footing. Until they reached a point where the walls had started to sweat gas, and the air turned sharp and sour. Kade caught it first. A change in the air's taste, sharp and sweet like rot sealed in plastic.

  "Gas!" she said. "Move, now!"

  No one questioned the order. They sprinted through the next corridor, feet splashing through the rising water as something hissed behind them. Methane maybe, or something worse. The tunnel narrowed again, the air clearing just in time for them to hit the next problem.

  Rats. Not the usual kind.

  The first came from a side grate, fangs bared, eyes glowing with a low green sheen like its blood was radioactive. The second came from the ceiling. The third crawled straight out of the water.

  Milo stepped into the first, blade cutting low in a tight arc. Stone pivoted and caught the second mid-leap with a flare of holy light that left the thing twitching on the stone. The third slammed into Levi.

  He went down in a splash, arms flailing, coat half over his face. The rat sank teeth into his calf before Myers stabbed it with a downswing from his sword. The blow slammed the creature into the wall, stone cracking as chunks of rat scattered down the tunnel.

  Levi sat up, panting. "It bit me."

  "You’re lucky it didn’t drag you into the wall," Myers said, flicking gore from his blade.

  "No, I mean. It bit me. I’ve got a debuff." He held up one hand. "Infection. Disease. It’s spreading!"

  Stone stepped forward without comment, her hand already raised. A soft pulse of light followed, not bright but focused. The glow passed from her palm to his shoulder, and the tension eased from his posture like something tight had snapped.

  "It’s gone," he said quietly. "Thank you."

  Stone didn’t answer. She looked tired again, with that hollow-eyed focus Kade had seen in casters who’d burned too much mana too fast.

  They moved on.

  The tunnel spat them out into a low, slanted chamber that felt like it had once meant something. The stonework had shifted here. Not in shape, but in purpose. Arches framed the edges of the room, curving in elegant ribs that resembled the inside of a drowned cathedral. Barnacles clustered in patches across the walls, fed by salt mist and centuries of moisture. Rusted metal brackets jutted from the stone where lanterns had once hung. Their bases were blackened and fused to the rock by time and corrosion.

  Kade moved forward, cutlass low but ready, her eyes adjusting to the pale blue shimmer of fungal light overhead. The rest fanned out, cautious but moving with a little more urgency now. The floor sloped up slightly, dry at the edges, and for the first time since the collapse, there was no standing water underfoot.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  A relief carved into the far wall caught her attention.

  It stretched across the width of the stone like a battle scene on the side of a sarcophagus. Half-worn by age and damp, but the detail clung stubbornly to the surface. Figures stood along the base of a spiral tower, short capes fluttering, their weapons locked with the twisted limbs of something massive and coiled. It vaguely looked to Kade like a Kraken, but not exactly. The proportions were wrong, the limbs wrong. A creature with no clear face, its body emerging from the sea like the spine of a continent.

  At its center, a lighthouse keeper with a long coat, raised lantern, and something like a harpoon in his other hand stood mid-thrust. The harpoon vanished into the creature’s flank. The monster’s limbs curled around the base of the tower.

  It wasn’t victory. It was the middle of something. A moment frozen on the edge of being overwhelmed with the outcome of the winner up for grabs.

  Kade stepped closer, eyes narrowing at the carving. "Final boss teaser maybe?" she asked out loud. "Some flavor text before the main event. Either the keeper or the monster’s waiting at the end."

  Myers sidled up beside her, studying the stone. "Can’t tell who won."

  "They didn’t," Stone said behind them. "Look at the base. The sea’s already swallowed half the tower. The monster’s still rising."

  "Cheery," Myers replied.

  Levi stood back, just at the edge of the glow, his arms folded across his chest. "Still, this... suggests we’re headed the right way, doesn’t it? If someone put this here to warn or prepare, it means the path continues forward."

  Kade didn’t disagree. However, It just felt too easy. A carved mural to prove progress. A breadcrumb shaped like a prophecy. But the architecture didn’t lie, and there weren’t a lot of better options.

  She turned to check the perimeter. Crates had collapsed in the far corner, softened to pulp by years of saturation. A few were stamped with maritime freight sigils, some unfamiliar. A rusted pipe vented a soft, steady hiss from the east wall, but no gas flowed. Just air.

  Then something else joined it.

  Low at first. Almost behind her own thoughts. A blend of sound and echo, like hearing someone speak through water, their voice stolen and repeated through too many mouths. Chanting. Or something close to it. Not words she could recognize, but rhythm. The suggestion of ceremony.

  She turned her head to pinpoint the source. The sound slipped between walls and ripples, impossible to track. When she looked at the others, they’d heard it too.

  No one spoke for several seconds.

  Milo broke the silence first. "Just the dungeon messing with us, right?"

  "Hope so," Myers said, but his voice was flat.

  Kade didn’t answer. Her eyes caught something else near the far wall, just past a break in the carved tile. A faint mark had been scratched into the stone with practiced intent. Small and faded. Just a triangle split by a vertical line. A signal commonly used by the SMC Marine Corps.

  "Scout tag," Milo said, stepping up beside her.

  "Mercer," Kade said. It wasn’t a question.

  He nodded. "Has to be. Scouts always mark for follow-up teams. Even if they think no one’s coming."

  "So they made it. Or at least some of them did," Stone said.

  Kade ran her fingers along the groove of the mark. The cut had been clean once, likely carved with a steady hand and a sharp blade not long ago. But already, slime from the walls had begun to creep into the lines, the filth of the sewer working to erase it like the place resented being navigated.

  "We’re behind," she said. "They’re somewhere ahead. Keep moving."

  They left the carving behind and pressed deeper into the corridor that yawned at the far side of the chamber. The chanting faded into the background, or maybe it just sank into the walls again. Either way, no one was relieved. It just meant the next part was starting.

  The corridor narrowed before it widened again, the scent of salt thickening as brine-slicked air pushed through a breach in the stone. Kade angled forward with the others close behind, boots scraping across corroded iron grates and damp stone. Water pooled shallow at the center, still carrying the ghost of tide.

  She spotted the movement first. Mercer was crouched near the base of a rusted bulkhead, one hand on her crossbow and the other raised in a silent signal. Briggs stood beside her with his axe resting on one shoulder. Beyond them, the remainder of the second squad was accounted for.

  Kade’s pace quickened.

  Lance sat propped against a fallen pipe with his arm in a makeshift sling, jaw tight. The remains of his shield leaned beside him, split almost clean through. Colt loomed just behind, warhammer slung in one hand like he wasn’t sure where to put it. They looked like survivors, not victors.

  Briggs spotted her first. "Well, I’ll be damned. Thought we’d lost you in that drowning hourglass."

  "You heard me shout?" Kade asked.

  "Like a damn foghorn. We found the grate a minute later. Got everyone down before water filled up the room or the spikes got us." He paused, then added with something close to relief, "It’s good to see you."

  Kade nodded once, then turned to Lance. "How bad?"

  "Broken," Stone said, already stepping forward. "Hold still."

  She knelt beside him, laid her hand over the arm, and let the magic work. Pale light flowed into the limb. Lance hissed once, then held still. Bone realigned under the surface with a sickening crunch.

  Myers and Levi both grimaced at the sound.

  When she stepped back, Lance flexed the fingers experimentally. "Better than new," he said, standing. Briggs handed back what was left of his shield.

  "You sure?" Kade asked.

  "I can hold a line," Lance said. "Might not like it, but I’ll hold it."

  Kade turned her attention to the door. It dominated the far wall, not wood or simple stone, but a thick pressure seal with dual locking levers set into bronze brackets on either side. Carvings had been worn into the surrounding arch, some still glowing faintly with a cold, ambient light. Ancient glyphs warned in no language she recognized.

  Briggs gestured to the door. "We’ve been trying, but it won’t move. Either locked from the other side or it’s just seized from rust."

  "It’s both," Mercer said, standing. "Guts are jammed, and it’s heavy as hell. Needs coordination to pull both sides at once. We tried forcing one alone. Doesn’t work."

  Kade stepped up to inspect the levers. The corrosion was real. Metal warped from pressure and rust. But her eyepatch showed they weren't magical. Which meant they were mechanical, so it stood to reason that brute force had a chance.

  "Briggs, Milo, left side. Colt, Mercer, right. Pull clean, steady. Don’t stop until you hear the lock engage."

  The teams got into place. The tension in the room ratcheted tighter, as if the dungeon itself had paused to watch.

  "Ready?" Kade called.

  Briggs grunted. "Let’s see what breaks first."

  "Go."

  They pulled.

  For a second, nothing happened. The metal resisted as if it had fused into the wall. Then, a grinding shriek cut through the chamber as the levers gave a fraction, rusted teeth dragging over ancient gearwork.

  [Warning] The grinding of ancient machinery has echoed through the deep. Nearby denizens have taken notice.

  The text flared across Kade’s vision.

  Myers made a face. "Well, that’s subtle."

  "Louder than an airstrike," Mercer said, not stopping.

  The levers moved another inch. A sharp clang echoed from within the doorframe.

  Lance moved forward to anchor the hallway. "Eyes on," he said.

  The first skeleton stepped out of the shadows, followed by seven more.

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 7 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 7 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 10 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Navigator | Level: 7 | Status: Hostile | Class: Ranger

  Robin drew her rapier. "Eight. That’s not bad."

  Myers flipped his long knife into a reverse grip. "We’ve seen worse."

  Lance locked his shield against his forearm, positioned low. The first skeleton lunged. Lance caught it square, then twisted. His weight held. Robin stepped in and opened the thing from hip to collar. Bone scattered across the stone. Myers darted past her, blade flicking under the next skeleton’s guard to sever a leg at the knee. The thing collapsed, and he finished it with a strike to the skull.

  Briggs cursed. "Lever’s slipping!"

  Milo braced harder, boots skidding on the floor. "Need more weight."

  Kade turned. "Levi. Get off your ass and help."

  Levi startled as if he hadn’t heard her, then scrambled to the lever. He wedged in beside Milo, hands trembling on the corroded grip.

  "Hold it," Kade snapped. "I don't think we get second chances on this one."

  Something slipped past Lance’s flank. A leaner skeleton, spear angled high. It moved faster than the others, more aware. It was the navigator. Stone backed up a step, still holding her focus.

  Kade stepped in front of her, caught the spear with her cutlass, and turned it. The shaft cracked in half. The skeleton surged anyway, swinging low with a clumsy haymaker that caught her across the cheek. Her vision blurred.

  She stomped forward, driving her boot into its knee. The joint gave. The skeleton dropped low. Kade didn’t hesitate. Her cutlass punched upward, burying into the skull with a crack.

  "Hold that formation!" she barked, blood trailing from the cut across her face.

  More skeletons poured in.

  [Warning] The grinding of ancient machinery has echoed through the deep. Additional nearby denizens have taken notice.

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 7 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Sailor | Level: 9 | Status: Hostile | Class: Swashbuckler

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Marine | Level: 10 Rare | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Navigator | Level: 7 | Status: Hostile | Class: Ranger

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Navigator | Level: 8 | Status: Hostile | Class: Ranger

  [Analyze] Reef-Cursed Navigator | Level: 9 | Status: Hostile | Class: Ranger

  Myers hissed. "That’s more than eight."

  "They brought friends," Robin said, already cutting through another.

  Among the new wave, one stood taller. A full head above the others, draped in rusted chainmail and wielding a hammer longer than Kade’s torso. It moved with deadly intent, as if rage still haunted the bones.

  Lance braced. The hammer came down.

  The shield exploded on contact.

  He stumbled backward, arm jerking under the impact. Kade caught the motion out of the corner of her eye, but couldn’t reach him. Robin lunged first, slashing at the knee. The big skeleton staggered. Myers spun around its blind side and hacked through the elbow, taking the weapon arm off completely.

  The hammer hit the floor with a dull clang. Robin reversed her grip and ran the skeleton through. The bones came apart in a tumble.

  Behind Kade, the lever groaned again. Briggs shouted.

  "Slipping again!"

  "Put your back into it!" Kade barked.

  She turned just in time to intercept another, barely catching its blade with hers.

  Behind her, Stone hesitated.

  "Mana be damned! Fry them," Kade ordered. "Now."

  Stone raised her hand. Light flared again, brighter this time. A beam of holy energy tore through the center rank of skeletons, burning three to ash. The rest staggered, blinded or disoriented.

  "Locked!" Briggs called. "We’re in!"

  "Go, go, go! Move it or lose it!" Kade yelled.

  The squad broke formation and sprinted through the widening gap as the pressure door rolled slowly open.

  Lance was last across except for Kade, dragging what little remained of his shield. Which was barely more than the arm strap. Levi nearly tripped, but Myers yanked him through. Stone cleared with a single breath left.

  Kade turned back to the hall. The skeletons surged.

  She struck one lever with the flat of her cutlass and then darted through the opening.

  The door groaned, then slammed shut with a final metal scream.

  Something thudded against it from the other side.

  One skeleton made it through. Myers caught it mid-motion, blade sliding up under its chin and twisting. The bones collapsed at his feet.

  The chamber beyond the door was dry. A landing, circular and open, marked by a crumbling railing and a hallway that led deeper into the stone. Faint blue light flickered ahead. There were two exits. One narrow, winding corridor headed off into the dark. And a set of broad double doors to the left, wrapped in carved sigils and faint, ghostly light.

  From beyond those doors came the sound of movement. Chains dragging along with chanting. Something heavy pacing across stone. Whispers that didn't match any voice they'd heard.

  Kade stared at the doors.

  Stone glanced at the narrow hall. "That probably leads back to the puzzle room."

  "Which means," Kade said, "we failed whatever test it was."

  Stone gave a slight nod. "Looks that way."

  Ahead, the double doors seemed to hum. Not with power, but as if the dungeon was vibrating with anticipation.

  The others regrouped. Weapons checked, wounds dressed.

  Levi stood back from the group, his eyes fixed too long on the doors.

  Kade watched him, silent.

  You're the one who is going to screw us over, she thought.

  She didn’t need evidence. She’d seen the look before. Right before someone made an awful choice that got other people killed.