The group walked together along the dungeon strip. It felt strange seeing Sameer and Triste with joy gleaming across their faces. To them, salvation had finally arrived.
They had faced daunting horrors, watched friends and allies die, endured unbearable pain, and survived on whatever they could find to eat. They had suffered for so long, and now it had finally paid off, they believed they would escape the dungeon’s terror.
The four students felt a quiet sense of guilt.
“Just so you know, we’re students,” Edric said, not wanting to give them false hope.
The two merely shrugged. The fact that they were sent by the army was proof enough of their capability.
The smiles etched on their faces were eerily unnerving. Regardless of rank, the army had deemed the Nyxarion Cavern a place of serious concern and dispatched super-powered heroes to rescue them.
“Let’s head to the rendezvous point. The others will be thrilled to hear about you,” Sameer said brightly.
The four exchanged glances. Deep down, they had no plans of leaving the death-trap dungeon not after learning something they were supposed to be aware of since the beginning.
They decided to keep that truth to themselves. Hopefully, Sergeant Lupin and James had a plan… assuming they were even aware of the anomaly.
They continued along the cavern while Sameer and Triste eagerly shared more about themselves and the remaining survivors.
Their captain was a lieutenant and a Grade-A adventurer whose squad had been trapped at the beginning of the anomaly. She alone survived.
Sameer and Triste were both Grade-B adventurers from different cohorts, each the sole survivor of their respective teams.
The remaining two survivors were Grade-B and double-star Grade-C adventurers from the same cohort.
Amid the discussion, Wolfton slowly opened his eyes.
“About time you woke up, champ,” Jin teased.
They paused to let Wolfton recover. While resting, they explained everything that had happened since he collapsed and introduced Sameer and Triste to him.
He had lost consciousness because he had advanced into the Aura Stage. However, having only reached the novice sub-stage, his energy was unstable, fluctuating and leaking uncontrollably.
Wolfton clenched his fists, trembling with excitement. Even if only slightly, he had closed the gap between himself and Raven. All that remained was learning to control the power within him.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Soon, the seven resumed moving. Staying in one place for too long was dangerous; it could easily attract monsters.
As they advanced, the cavern began to tremble at steady intervals. Icicles rattled from the ceiling, and loose rocks fell around them.
At first, they feared the dungeon was about to split them apart again, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
There was no spatial distortion, only rhythmic quakes.
They pressed forward to understand what was happening.
The deeper they went, the stronger the tremors became, accompanied by the sound of violent impacts and collapsing debris.
“…There’s a battle ahead,” Sameer said.
Someone was fighting, and judging by the force shaking the cavern, it was no ordinary clash.
Sameer and Triste hesitated. Aurelia noticed immediately.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
“With battles on this scale,” Triste replied, “we usually avoid the epicenter at all costs. It’s most likely a monster-versus-monster fight.”
“It could be an inter-species or intra-species conflict. Like outside ecosystems, predator-prey relationships exist here too. But unlike the outside world, monsters here are limited in number.”
“Respawns take time, and beasts fight constantly to grow stronger and avoid becoming prey.”
The explanation made sense, but Wolfton and Edric still felt compelled to investigate.
“What if it’s not monsters fighting each other,” Wolfton said, “but a stickman battling a monster? They could be locked in a life-or-death fight. We could help them — just like you helped us.”
The two survivors exchanged looks. He had a point.
“…Alright. Let’s check it out.”
“Finally!” Edric grinned maniacally. “I was going to drag you all there myself.”
They advanced through the tunnel until it opened into a massive chamber.
And the air froze.
A colossal wyvern stood at its center, an ice-blue monstrosity forged from living frost.
Crystal teeth.
Bladed claws.
Wings like shattered glaciers stretching across the cavern.
Iridescent blue fire burned inside its hollow eye sockets. Each breath spilled freezing vapor that crawled across the ground like mist seeking prey.
The creature roared.
The cavern answered.
Stone trembled. Icicles shattered from the ceiling.
Its tail lashed sideways
*BOOM
Carving a deep scar into the cavern wall and sending debris exploding outward.
Something shot through the dust.
Fast.
Too fast.
A green figure burst free like an arrow released from a drawn bow, wind spiraling violently around her body.
Helga.
She didn’t land.
She hovered.
Air bent to her will.
“Sky Sunder!”
The ceiling darkened instantly.
Clouds spiraled into existence above the wyvern, rotating faster and faster until lightning screamed through the vortex. Wind pressure crashed downward as the storm collapsed onto the beast’s back.
Thunder detonated.
The chamber shook as if struck by a falling mountain.
The wyvern roared in fury.
Blue light surged through its throat and eyes, gathering into a blinding core before erupting outward in a torrent of freezing radiance that devoured everything in its path.
Helga moved.
Not away, but around.
Wind coiled beneath her feet, twisting her body midair as she slipped past the icy breath by inches, frost trailing behind her like shattered glass.
Silence fell for half a second.
“Wow… who is she? Someone from your cohort?” Jin asked, stunned.
“No,” Triste replied, equally shocked. “We’ve never seen her before.”
Her magic power was extraordinary, strong enough to go toe-to-toe with a wyvern, a Mystic Beast of at least Mythic class.
Yet she belonged to neither group.
Who exactly was she… and what was she doing here?
.
