The scratching became louder.
Then faster.
Etzel tightened his grip on the hatchet.
“I’m beginning to regret saying the dungeon noticed us.”
Sivenne shifted her stance.
“Why?”
“Because apparently it took that personally.”
The first creature appeared at the end of the corridor.
Then another.
Three.
Five.
Etzel stopped counting at nine.
Maerin didn’t.
“Ten.”
Her voice remained calm.
That worried Etzel more than shouting would have.
Two poison-spitters crowded behind several Burrow Skitters. Wall-climbers crawled above them, hooked limbs scraping against stone.
The corridor wasn’t wide enough for all of them to attack at once.
Maerin saw it too.
“We hold here.”
Her hand dropped.
Claimed Ground.
A pale boundary spread across the narrow passage.
“Don’t let them reach the chamber.”
Sivenne moved beside the edge of Maerin’s territory.
“That sounds manageable.”
Etzel stared at the approaching mass.
“You have a disturbing definition of manageable.”
The first Skitter crossed the boundary.
Its front legs buckled.
Sivenne struck.
One.
The second climbed over the first corpse.
DK’s sword came down.
Two.
The third tried to squeeze past.
Etzel stepped forward.
He didn’t attack the shell.
Not anymore.
He waited for the creature to turn around the corpse blocking its path.
The joint opened.
His hatchet entered.
Three.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION │
│ > Level Progression gained. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
“Above!” Tessa shouted.
A wall-climber dropped.
DK’s shield caught it in midair.
The impact threw it against the wall.
Etzel moved before it recovered.
One strike to the limb.
Another beneath the head.
Dead.
A green glow appeared behind the creatures.
Etzel saw the poison-spitter inhale.
“Maerin!”
“I see it.”
Her fingers closed.
The Ground changed.
A Skitter suddenly slid sideways.
Directly into the poison-spitter’s line.
The creature fired.
Green liquid struck its own ally.
The Skitter screamed.
Sivenne laughed.
“That was beautiful.”
“Focus.”
“I can appreciate art and kill things at the same time.”
She proved it.
The next wall-climber dropped.
Her weapon met it before its feet touched the ground.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION │
│ > Level Progression gained. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel’s breathing accelerated.
Not fear.
Work.
The creatures weren’t individually dangerous enough.
Together, they were pressure.
Constant pressure.
Another Skitter.
Another.
Another.
DK held the center.
His shield turned the corridor into a wall.
Creatures struck silver metal and stopped.
Sivenne killed anything that exposed itself.
Maerin controlled their footing.
Tessa watched everyone.
And Etzel—
Etzel watched everything else.
A wall-climber disappeared from sight.
“Right ceiling!”
Sivenne ducked.
The creature passed above her.
Etzel stepped into its landing path.
Hatchet.
Miss.
The creature twisted.
Etzel corrected.
Second strike.
Hit.
Not enough.
It lunged.
Tessa moved toward him.
“No.”
Etzel stepped aside instead.
The wall-climber passed him.
Straight into DK’s gauntleted hand.
DK caught it by the throat.
A moment later, it hit the ground hard enough to stop moving.
Etzel stared.
“I had that.”
“No.”
“You could pretend.”
“No.”
“Your emotional development needs work.”
DK turned back toward the corridor.
“I have been told.”
Etzel almost asked by whom.
Then another Skitter attacked.
No time.
They fought.
And fought.
Until suddenly—
there was nothing left to fight.
Silence crashed into the corridor.
Etzel stood with his hatchet hanging beside him.
His chest rose and fell.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Tessa leaned against the wall.
Sivenne rolled her neck.
Maerin remained standing in the center of her Ground.
DK looked almost unchanged.
Etzel hated him a little for that.
“How many?”
“Ten,” Maerin said.
“All ten?”
“All ten.”
Etzel looked behind them.
Nobody seriously injured.
Good.
Then he looked down.
Core fragments.
A section of hardened carapace.
Something that looked like a mineral deposit.
And farther back—
a faint crystalline glow.
Etzel blinked.
“Wait.”
Sivenne followed his gaze.
Her smile returned.
“Oh.”
Etzel pointed around them.
“More creatures means more progression.”
“Yes.”
He pointed at the loot.
“And more of that.”
“Yes.”
Etzel slowly nodded.
“So…”
Maerin looked at him.
“No.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“I know.”
Sivenne picked up a core fragment.
“I think he’s realizing why Hunters tolerate terrible working conditions.”
Etzel looked around at the loot again.
“More monsters might actually be good.”
The corpse beside his boot began sinking into the floor.
Etzel watched it disappear.
His smile weakened.
“…Within reason.”
They gathered what they could before the bodies vanished.
The crystalline object turned out to be another Vein Crystal.
Sivenne tossed it once in her palm.
“Your first dungeon might actually pay pretty well.”
Etzel smiled.
“Finally. Someone appreciates my financial planning.”
Maerin looked at him.
“When did you register?”
Etzel’s smile remained.
His eyes moved to her.
“Register for what?”
Silence.
Sivenne slowly lowered the crystal.
Tessa looked at Etzel.
Maerin stared at him.
Etzel looked between the three of them.
“I feel like I’ve given the wrong answer.”
Sivenne spoke first.
“You’re joking.”
“If I were joking, that would’ve been funnier.”
Maerin’s expression changed.
“Your Hunter registration.”
“My nonexistent Hunter registration?”
Sivenne covered her face with one hand.
Etzel pointed at her.
“That reaction is making me nervous.”
“You entered a dungeon without being registered?”
“Technically, I entered a dungeon without knowing I needed to be registered.”
“That is not better.”
“It feels slightly better.”
Maerin held out the Vein Crystal.
“You can’t legally sell this.”
Etzel looked at the crystal.
Then at Maerin.
Then back at the crystal.
“What?”
“Dungeon materials and recognized monster materials go through the official Hunter system.”
“Why?”
“Taxation. Traceability. Illegal hunting. Dangerous materials. Contamination control.”
She shrugged slightly.
“Pick one.”
Etzel stared at the crystal.
“So this is worth money.”
“Yes.”
“But I can’t sell it.”
“Not legally.”
Etzel took the crystal.
Held up.
Studied it.
“I’m not poor.”
Sivenne’s mouth twitched.
Etzel continued.
“All my money is just currently shaped like rocks.”
Tessa laughed.
Even Maerin almost smiled.
Etzel placed the crystal carefully into the loot pouch.
“So what happens to my share?”
“You keep it,” Maerin said. “Register later. Sell it then.”
Good.
That worked.
He wasn’t registering now.
Not while doing so would raise questions he had absolutely no intention of answering.
His family still believed he was spending his time doing things significantly less dangerous than entering abnormal dungeons with three girls and an amnesiac Dark Knight.
Etzel intended to preserve that comforting misunderstanding.
For now.
“So I save everything.”
“Yes.”
Etzel nodded.
“I can work with that.”
Sivenne glanced at the loot pouch.
“You’ll have a decent little stockpile if this keeps happening.”
Etzel looked toward the dark corridor.
Scratching echoed somewhere deeper inside.
“Considering what I apparently have to do to earn it, I’d better.”
They moved again.
The dungeon didn’t give them much time.
Two creatures appeared in the next passage.
Then three more.
The fights were short.
Efficient.
Etzel saw another notification.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION │
│ > Level Progression gained. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
He frowned at it.
Sivenne noticed.
“What?”
“How much progression are you getting from these?”
“Almost none.”
Etzel looked at her.
“Almost none?”
“They’re weak.”
“They don’t feel weak from this side.”
“They would if you were Level Sixteen.”
Etzel stopped.
“You’re Level Sixteen?”
Sivenne looked over her shoulder.
“Yes.”
Etzel turned toward Maerin.
“Seventeen.”
Tessa smiled before he even asked.
“Fifteen.”
Etzel looked at all three.
Then pointed at himself.
“Four.”
Sivenne nodded solemnly.
“We noticed.”
Etzel stared at her.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They continued walking.
Etzel’s eyes moved between them.
Something didn’t fit.
Tessa was Level Fifteen.
Sivenne was Level Sixteen.
Maerin was Level Seventeen.
But—
“Wait.”
Maerin glanced back.
Etzel pointed toward Tessa.
“She’s Level Fifteen and D Rank.”
Tessa nodded.
Then Etzel pointed at Sivenne.
“Level Sixteen. C Rank.”
Finally Maerin.
“Seventeen. C.”
“Yes.”
Etzel frowned.
“So Level doesn’t determine Rank.”
“No,” Maerin said.
That answered something he had been wondering about since entering the dungeon.
“Then what does?”
“Different progression.”
Sivenne walked backward for several steps.
“Normal creatures are mostly useful for Level progression. Elites, Epics and Bosses are what matter for Rank progression.”
Etzel processed that.
“So if I killed a thousand weak creatures…”
“You could gain Levels,” Maerin said.
“But barely move my Rank.”
“Exactly.”
Etzel looked at Tessa.
“And you?”
Tessa sighed.
“I’m close to C.”
“How close?”
She gave him a small, irritated smile.
“Close enough that it’s annoying.”
Etzel nodded.
“I understand that measurement perfectly.”
Sivenne turned around again.
“The stronger the difference between you and what you kill, the less useful it becomes anyway.”
That explained the notifications.
For Etzel, these creatures mattered.
For them?
Barely.
He looked toward DK.
That raised several other questions.
Questions he would ask later.
Preferably somewhere that wasn’t trying to eat the dead.
They reached the previous chamber.
The bodies from the last fight were already gone.
Only fragments remained.
Etzel stopped.
The wall veins were brighter.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
He walked toward one.
Didn’t touch it.
Another pulse traveled through the stone.
The floor felt warmer through his boots.
Etzel looked back.
“Maerin.”
She stopped.
Etzel pointed at the empty places where the corpses had been.
“Ten creatures attacked us because the spawn cycle accelerated.”
“Yes.”
“We killed them.”
“Yes.”
“The dungeon absorbed them.”
Maerin’s expression tightened.
Etzel looked at the glowing veins.
“And now there’s more energy in the walls.”
Nobody spoke.
Etzel continued.
“What happens if the faster spawn cycle is being powered by what it takes from the bodies?”
Tessa looked at the floor.
Sivenne’s smile disappeared.
Maerin answered slowly.
“Then every creature we kill…”
Etzel finished it.
“…helps it make more.”
Silence.
DK looked down.
Etzel felt something through the Soul Link.
Not surprise.
That bothered him.
“DK?”
“I do not know.”
“You felt something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
DK looked at the glowing veins.
“Agreement.”
Etzel’s stomach tightened.
“With me?”
“With what you said.”
That was worse.
Maerin looked back toward the path they had taken.
“We check the exit.”
Sivenne immediately nodded.
No argument.
That told Etzel everything he needed to know.
They turned around.
They had gone less than a hundred meters when Maerin stopped.
Etzel heard the creatures immediately.
Ahead.
Between them and the way back.
Sivenne whispered:
“That’s new.”
Six shapes emerged.
Maerin’s expression hardened.
“Very.”
Etzel lifted his hatchet.
“I preferred the version where the dungeon only hated us from one direction.”
The creatures attacked.
This fight wasn’t difficult.
That was the problem.
Nothing about the individual enemies was remarkable.
Etzel had already learned their movements.
Sivenne knew exactly where to strike.
Maerin knew how they reacted to her Ground.
DK could kill them almost casually.
Tessa knew when to intervene.
But everyone was slower.
Not much.
A fraction.
Sivenne’s breathing was heavier.
Tessa flexed one hand after taking another consequence.
Maerin’s Claim took an extra second to settle.
Etzel’s palms hurt.
The hatchet handle rubbed against skin that was already raw.
Another Skitter came.
Etzel struck.
Another.
DK killed it.
Wall-climber.
Sivenne.
Poison.
Maerin shifted.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The danger wasn’t strength.
It was repetition.
Etzel understood that now.
A powerful enemy could kill you.
Enough weak enemies could make sure you were exhausted when the powerful one finally arrived.
The sixth creature died.
Nobody celebrated.
Core fragments hit the floor.
A piece of carapace rolled toward Sivenne.
She bent down.
“Leave it,” Etzel said.
She stopped.
Slowly looked at him.
“You?”
Etzel breathed heavily.
“I know.”
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
“Character development.”
Sivenne straightened.
Etzel looked at the corpses.
They were already sinking.
“We know what happens next. We don’t waste time.”
Maerin nodded.
“Move.”
For once, Etzel walked away from money.
It hurt more than the fight.
The route back should have been simple.
Two chambers.
Three corridors.
One downward slope that would now become upward.
Then the entrance passage.
Maerin had marked the route.
Etzel had watched her do it.
They passed the first marker.
Then the second.
Then Etzel slowed.
Something was wrong.
He looked at the wall.
A long crack ran through the stone.
He remembered it.
They had passed it earlier.
But—
“Stop.”
Everyone did.
Etzel walked toward the crack.
Maerin joined him.
“What?”
“This was on the other side.”
She looked at him.
Etzel pointed.
“The crack. When we came through here, it was on our left.”
Maerin studied the corridor.
Sivenne looked back.
“Did we turn somewhere?”
“No,” Maerin said.
Tessa looked at the walls.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
They continued.
More carefully now.
Maerin checked every marker.
Every junction.
The System still showed the exit.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 312m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel stared at the number.
Good.
Something concrete.
They walked.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 287m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Good.
Another corridor.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 263m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Closer.
They passed beneath a low stone arch.
Entered a chamber.
Etzel stopped.
No.
Sivenne stopped beside him.
“No way.”
It was the same chamber.
The same broken column.
The same mineral vein splitting into three branches.
The same bloodless scrape DK’s shield had left against one wall.
Maerin turned slowly.
“Impossible.”
Etzel looked around.
“Apparently the dungeon disagrees.”
Tessa stepped closer to Maerin.
“Maybe the corridor curved?”
“It didn’t.”
DK was staring at the floor again.
Etzel looked at the System.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 241m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Still closer.
“Maybe the System knows a different route.”
Maerin didn’t look convinced.
But there was nothing else to follow.
They moved.
Another corridor.
Another turn.
The exit marker dropped.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 219m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Then:
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 194m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel began to hope.
That was probably his mistake.
They turned one more corner.
The System flickered.
Etzel stopped walking.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 319m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
His stomach sank.
“Maerin.”
Everyone stopped.
Etzel pointed at the display.
She saw it.
Nobody spoke.
From beneath the floor—
THUMP.
The pale veins brightened.
Then another.
THUMP.
A System message appeared.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ WARNING: │
│ Spawn Cycle Accelerated. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sivenne tightened her grip on her weapon.
A second message formed beneath it.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM STATUS │
│ Dungeon Route Recalculation. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel stared.
Then the exit marker changed.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │ │ EXIT — 401m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sivenne’s voice was quieter now.
“Did the exit just move?”
Etzel stared into the corridor ahead.
For once, he didn’t have a joke.
“No.”
A beat.
“I think we did.”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter