“Run.”

  Rin didn’t argue. She just went.

  Kai sprinted after her, boots slapping wet stone, breath burning his throat. Behind them, the chamber they’d trained in faded into green mist and dripping vines. He glanced back once. The spriggan he’d kept hanging was still there, limp, wrapped in his thin materialized chain like a rotten fruit.

  No point keeping it. No point feeding mana into a corpse. Kai released the Skill. The chain unraveled into pale mist mid-run and vanished. The spriggan dropped with a soft, stupid thud.

  Rin didn’t even look. She was locked on the noise ahead. Metal on stone. Shouts. Something crashing. Not only monsters this time. People. They pushed deeper.

  The corridors widened. Then widened again. The ceiling climbed higher until it felt like the dungeon was swallowing them whole. Trees grew inside the walls, thick trunks bursting through ancient stone like it was soft soil. Branches formed a canopy overhead, leaves glowing with that same calm green light.

  The drip-drip didn’t stop. It just got louder, like the dungeon was breathing through water. Rin glanced at the new scale of the place and made a small, stressed laugh.

  “This is getting stupid.”

  Kai nodded, eyes scanning. “Yeah.”

  He thought they would no longer be able to funnel the enemies. They turned a corner into a corridor so wide it could’ve been a plaza. Water ran in thin streams between cracks. Plants grew in the seams like the stone was alive.

  Kai swallowed. His illusion tugged at his face like a wet glove. The drain was constant now. Not huge, but always there. He had fire. He had to keep his mana for the fight. He had to stop wasting it on looking pretty. Then he thought about Rin’s.

  “Hey, how’s your mana?” he asked. “Do you have any mana Skill?”

  Rin snorted like he’d insulted her. “No.”

  Kai frowned. “Nothing?”

  “I took the Mastery Enchantment,” Rin said, as if that explained everything. “That’s it. No extra mana. No support pick. Just… that.”

  Kai exhaled through his nose.

  “Can you do us another lightning discharge like earlier?”

  Rin nodded once. “One. Maybe. If I don’t want to fall over after.”

  Kai felt a twist in his stomach. Not guilt. Math. Rin’s mana was low partly because he’d made her train. He’d kept asking for control, timing, repeats. That had a cost.

  Kai looked ahead. The noise was closer now. A scream cut off into a grunt. Metal rang again. He made a decision.

  “I’ll cover it,” Kai said.

  Rin blinked. “Cover what?”

  Kai touched the latch inside his chest.

  Time stopped.

  Mid-stride, Rin froze with one foot in the air. A droplet hung in front of her cheek like glass. The leaves above held their glow without flicker. The Presence was there, immediate and close.

  He saw the options like cards sliding in front of him. Two stood out. A simple Uncommon Skill that would increase his mana supply. Or an Uncommon Augment for his fire Mastery, one that would make his casts cheaper. Kai’s mind ran the numbers fast.

  Fire Mastery, eight. Illusion, three. If he added the magic Augment, three. That would put him at fourteen. He’d have three points left.

  Just enough to survive a bad surprise. Just enough to maybe fix the illusion problem later. Not enough for comfort.

  If I take the mana supply now and burn through it, the cost-reduction won’t matter, zero mana is still zero. But if I take the augment first and run myself dry, I can always grab the supply later.

  He stared at the Augment.

  [Uncommon] Augment: Efficient Spell.

  The Presence felt amused, in a way that wasn’t human.

  Kai didn’t relax. “Three points left. Confirm?”

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  Kai released his Blessing. But unlike previous times, he hadn’t remained in exactly the same place since time had stopped. His body should have been in mid-stride as he ran. So, just before time resumed, Kai felt himself being sucked in again, pulled to where he should have been. And time resumed, without his legs being ready for it. He stumbled. His foot hit a slippery patch. He lost his balance and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Rin grabbed him firmly by the shirt collar and pulled him upright without stopping. She didn't laugh or smile.

  “Hey,” she said, sharp. “You okay?”

  Kai coughed once. “Yeah.”

  The corridor opened again, and then the dungeon finally revealed where the noise was coming from. A massive doorway. Vines as thick as arms hung like curtains. Water streamed down the stone frame. The glow above was brighter here, more concentrated, like the dungeon had built a spotlight. Rin slowed, just enough to peek.

  Kai stepped beside her. The final chamber was enormous. Not just wide. Tall. Cathedral tall. Trees grew from the floor and climbed into the ceiling, but the real canopy wasn’t branches. It was a single plant mass. A living roof. At the very center of the ceiling, there was a bulbous knot of roots and thick vines, like a heart made of wood. Beneath it, a circular opening pulsed faintly as if it was breathing. And directly under that opening, in the middle of the room, sat the Matriarch. A woman’s body in bark and vine, adult proportions, arms long and strong, shoulders broad like a fighter’s. But her head was a wrinkled old face, eyes too small, mouth too thin, teeth like splinters. She stood inside a basin of living vegetation, a ring of moss and flowers and woven roots. There was water in it. Not much. Just enough to splash. Just enough to move. Above her, the ceiling plant shifted. A stream poured down from the bulbous. Not constant. Timed. Like feeding. The moment the water hit the Matriarch’s shoulders, it spread and hardened into a translucent shield, clinging to bark like a second skin. Kai’s brain clicked.

  He looked around fast. Two people were fighting on the far left side of the chamber, pinned near a broken pillar. Not nobles. Not knights. Not famous. Probably another Renewal’s duo. The first was a young woman with a spear, stance low, jaw clenched hard enough to crack stone. Her blue hair was shaved on one side and braided on the other, soaked from the dungeon’s rain. She moved like she’d trained for years. The second was a guy a step behind her, shorter, dark hair, with a battered crossbow and a satchel that looked too heavy for his frame. He had clever eyes and shaking hands. He was bleeding from the shoulder, trying to reload while staying alive. They weren’t winning. Spriggans swarmed them. Four, maybe five, darting and chirping, claws flashing.

  The spearwoman shoved one back and shouted, “Stay behind me.” The crossbow guy snapped, “I am behind you.”

  He fired. A bolt hit bark. A spriggan screeched and kept coming.

  Rin’s breath hitched. “That’s another duo.”

  “Yeah.”

  Rin’s fingers tightened on her chain. “We move.”

  Kai grabbed her wrist lightly. “Wait.”

  Rin glared. “No.”

  Kai pointed upward, quick. “Look.”

  Rin followed his finger. Her eyes widened. The ceiling plant pulsed again. Water poured. The Matriarch’s shield thickened. Then a vine whipped out of the basin like a spear and slammed into the floor near the spearwoman, sending water and moss flying. The spearwoman barely rolled away. The crossbow guy stumbled, caught himself, then swore loudly.

  Rin swallowed. “Okay. Yeah. Big.”

  Kai’s voice dropped. “I can handle the Matriarch’s attention. You clear the spriggans off them. Then we see.”

  “You,” Rin said, “handle that?”

  Kai met her eyes. “Just do it.”

  Rin hesitated, then nodded once. “Fine.”

  She ran left, low, fast, chain already moving. Kai stepped into the chamber. The Matriarch’s old face turned slowly. Her eyes locked on him. The air felt heavier. Not magic pressure. Predator pressure. Kai lifted both hands. A small fireball formed. Cheap and simple. He threw it. It hit the Matriarch’s water shield and hissed into steam. No burn. No damage. Just a brief fog. Kai didn’t flinch. He threw another, slightly stronger. The ceiling plant responded. Water poured down harder. The Matriarch’s shield refreshed, thicker, almost proud. She’s converting the room into her defense.

  Kai backed up and started moving around the basin. Not far. Not reckless. A slow arc. The Matriarch followed him with her head first, then her whole body pivoting inside the basin. Her feet didn’t leave the vegetation. She didn’t need to. A vine snapped toward him. Kai materialized a shield instantly, a simple flat slab. The vine hit it with a crack and bounced away. Kai’s arm jolted. Pain shot up his shoulder. He forced his face calm.

  “Again,” he muttered, and kept circling.

  Another jet of water fired from the basin, fast, like a punch. Kai braced the shield and took it. It slammed him back a step. Cold soaked his side. The shield held. Kai gritted his teeth and kept moving.

  He could see Rin in the corner of his vision. She was already on the spriggans, chain snapping, blade cutting with clean, efficient strikes. She wasn’t wasting lightning. Just steel and timing. The spearwoman stared at Rin like she couldn’t decide whether to be grateful or offended.

  The crossbow guy yelled, “Who are you?”

  Rin yelled back, “Busy.”

  Kai took another water hit. His boots slid. He recovered. The basin splashed more now. It was filling. He could hear it, the heavier slosh as water accumulated in the vegetation. The ceiling plant pulsed again. More water. More shield. Kai kept moving until he reached the far side of the basin.

  Opposite to Rin. Exactly where he wanted. The Matriarch’s attention stayed on him. Her old face twisted into something like a grin. Her vine arms lifted. Kai raised his materialized shield again. But the Matriarch stopped. She changed. The basin’s vegetation surged. A thick vine, thicker than the others, coiled like a snake and struck. Not at the shield. At Kai’s legs. It wrapped his ankle and yanked. Kai’s balance vanished. His shield flashed out of his hands.

  His body lifted off the floor like a rag doll. For a split second, he saw the ceiling plant above and the stream of water feeding the Matriarch’s shield like a heartbeat. Then the vine slammed him into a tree trunk. Hard. His vision burst white. And for a tiny moment, his illusion flickered. Kai hit the ground and slid through wet moss. He tried to breathe and couldn’t. Then he did. But it came with blood. Kai coughed, once, twice, red splattering the stone. Rin’s voice snapped across the chamber, sharp with sudden fear.

  “Kai!”

  The Matriarch’s old face tilted, pleased. And above, the mother plant pulsed again, as if the dungeon itself had decided the real fight had finally started.