As soon as Ethan’s eyes opened, his hand immediately moved toward the sword at his waist.
His fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt as he scanned his surroundings.
Nothing. For several seconds, there was nothing but bamboo.
Towering stalks surrounded him in every direction, their green bodies rising several dozen meters into the air before disappearing into a thick canopy.
The enormous leaves blocked most of the natural light, leaving the ground beneath them covered in a strange mixture of darkness and pale green illumination.
Ethan remained still. He didn’t rush forward, nor did he call out for anyone.
The first thing he had learned about the Bamboo Mirage Dungeon was simple: you survived by understanding where you were.
The dungeon had earned its name because of what happened the moment someone crossed its boundary.
Rather than allowing an expedition to enter normally, the dungeon immediately teleported everyone into different locations within a massive bamboo enclosure.
The enclosure itself stretched for several kilometers in every direction. There was no clear entrance, no obvious exit, and no guarantee that walking in a straight line would actually take someone anywhere.
The bamboo itself seemed to distort distance. A path that looked like it was only a few hundred meters long could stretch for kilometers, while a tree that appeared behind you could somehow end up in front of you.
Even the direction of the sky could become difficult to determine. But the confusion wasn’t the worst part—the creatures were.
The Bamboo Mirage Dungeon was heavily populated by snakes and other poisonous beasts that hid among the bamboo, beneath the soil, inside hollow trees, and sometimes even above the heads of those who wandered through.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
"Hmph."
The moment the sound left his mouth, the bamboo around him suddenly moved as dozens of shadows shot toward him.
Snakes—they had been hiding between the stalks, waiting for an opening.
Their bodies twisted through the air as their mouths opened wide, venomous fangs exposed as they aimed directly for Ethan’s flesh.
There wasn’t even a second of hesitation as Ethan drew his blade.
*Shing!*
His body moved—one slash, two, three, four, five.
The sword flashed through the air so quickly that the surrounding bamboo barely had time to sway from the wind created by his movements.
Five snakes fell from the sky, their bodies striking the ground one after another.
*Thud. Thud. Thud.*
Blood spread across the leaves as Ethan calmly shook the remaining crimson from his sword before returning it to its sheath.
Then the familiar notifications began ringing inside his mind.
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
Ethan’s expression remained calm.
The requirements for advancing his Blood Tyrant class were brutal—he had already understood that.
But something about the system’s wording had interested him. It didn’t seem to require him to kill members of a specific species, but rather members of a bloodline.
As long as the creature possessed enough common ancestry with the designated clan, it seemed to count.
That opened up far more possibilities than he had initially expected.
Ethan looked down at the dead snakes. "So it works."
He wiped the remaining blood from his blade and looked toward the sky.
A faint beam of light had appeared in the far distance, piercing through the bamboo canopy and stretching high enough to remain visible even from within the dense forest.
"Efficient."
The Maqaue clan had clearly prepared for the dungeon.
Because the Bamboo Mirage Dungeon could distort direction and scatter everyone across an enormous area, the clan had developed a way to reunite the expedition: the signal point.
Everyone had been instructed to move toward the beam so that no matter where they were teleported, they could use the light as a reference.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it gave everyone a common destination.
Ethan began walking as the bamboo swayed around him with every step deeper into the dungeon.
For the first few hundred meters, nothing happened.
Then—a faint rustling sound came from his left.
Ethan stopped and shifted his eyes. Nothing.
He continued walking, but three steps later, something shot from beneath the soil.
Ethan’s sword flashed, and a giant serpent fell apart before it could even reach his leg.
[You have slain a member of the Serpent Clan.]
[21/100 Serpent Clan members.]
Ethan paused. "Twenty-one already."
He looked around, realizing he had only traveled roughly a kilometer, yet the number of attacks had already become ridiculous.
Snakes, giant scorpions, poisonous insects, and even flying creatures had attempted to ambush him.
Almost every creature he encountered was around Tier 8 or Tier 7, and two had even reached Tier 6.
For an ordinary member of the expedition, encountering so many powerful creatures within such a short distance would have been catastrophic.
They wouldn’t just have to fight—they would have to preserve their stamina.
Poison was another issue, for even if someone survived an attack, a single venomous bite could slowly weaken them until they became incapable of fighting.
Ethan, however, was different.
His physical strength was already far beyond what someone of his apparent level should possess, and his combat instincts were equally monstrous.
The creatures simply weren’t enough to stop him.
But even he understood the danger: if he had been weaker, the Bamboo Mirage Dungeon would already have claimed his life, or at best, left him exhausted.
And in a place where danger could appear from anywhere, exhaustion was almost as dangerous as death.
Ethan continued toward the beam until he noticed something ahead—a corpse.
He slowed down to inspect the body, which belonged to a creature that had clearly been killed only moments ago.
Looking at the clean cut across its throat, Ethan frowned. Someone else was here.
His eyes shifted toward the path ahead, and that was when he saw them: a group of young men moving through the bamboo.
One of them sat comfortably atop a makeshift sedan carried on the shoulders of four humans, while ten Tudor clansmen walked around them carrying weapons in an organized formation.
The young Demi-Human on the sedan looked completely relaxed, his back laid flat against the seat as he stared lazily toward the beam of light in the distance.
"Ugh. These humans are always so slow." He glanced toward the carriers. "The beam is literally right there."
None of the humans responded as they simply continued walking, causing the young Demi-Human to click his tongue.
When he had initially awakened inside the dungeon, he had found himself surrounded by several human slaves and immediately ordered them to move ahead and scout the area.
Some obeyed, while others refused. There had been twelve humans against one, and naturally, the young man had been furious.
However, he swallowed his anger because he wasn’t stupid—even if he was stronger than ordinary humans, fighting twelve desperate slaves immediately after entering the dungeon wasn’t worth the risk.
Fortunately, he had encountered the Tudors soon afterward.
The Tudor clan was different. They were humans, but they had served the Demi-Human clans for more than a century.
Because of that loyalty, the Demi-Humans had granted them privileges that ordinary humans could never dream of.
They would never be treated as slaves—they were allowed to own weapons, trade, move freely within certain territories, and most importantly, capture other humans.
In exchange for their loyalty, the Tudors provided slaves, an arrangement that had continued for generations.
The young man had naturally taken advantage of it, and the Tudors immediately subdued the humans willing to obey while killing those who resisted.
Now, with ten armed Tudors around him, the young Demi-Human felt completely secure.
"At least I have a smooth ride." He smiled to himself as his thoughts drifted toward the beam of light.
He didn’t notice when the sedan stopped, but a few seconds passed before his brow furrowed.
"Hm?" Why had they stopped?
He slowly raised his head, and the expression on his face instantly froze.
The ten Tudor clansmen were lying on the ground—all of them motionless as blood poured from their throats.
The young man stared, his brain struggling to process what he was seeing: one moment they had been walking, and now they were dead.
He opened his mouth. "Wh—"
A flash of silver passed across his vision as a knife slid across his throat.
His eyes widened, and his body fell heavily from the sedan.
*Thud.*
The young man hit the ground, his life ending before he could even register the danger or understand what had happened.
And somewhere within the bamboo forest... someone quietly stepped away from the bodies.
His sword seemed to gleam against the light from wall shining onto him.
"Victoria...."’ Ethen’s voice resounded a gentle smile on his face as he sheathed his sword.
He wasn’t on the side of anyone here honestly, in fact if not for Victorias presence; he would have killed the human slaves too for even setting their eyes on him.
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