THUMP.
The sound came again.
Slow.
Heavy.
Closer.
Etzel stared into the descending corridor.
Beside him, DK raised his sword.
“I remember that sound.”
Etzel looked at him.
“What is it?”
Silence.
DK’s helmet turned slightly, as though he were searching through something that wasn’t there.
“I don’t know.”
“That is a disappointing follow-up.”
Another step echoed from below.
THUMP.
DK moved.
Not forward.
Back.
He placed himself between the corridor and the others.
Shield first.
Sword low.
“Stay behind me.”
Etzel looked at the broad armored back now blocking most of his view.
“That sounded annoyingly serious.”
“It is.”
Etzel’s smile faded.
Maerin moved immediately.
“Sivenne, right. Tessa, behind me.”
Nobody argued.
Etzel tightened his grip on his hatchet.
The pale veins running through the walls brightened.
THUMP.
Something entered the edge of the light.
First—
a spear.
Except it wasn’t a spear.
The weapon appeared to have grown directly from an arm.
Black stone narrowed into a long, jagged point.
Another step.
A leg appeared.
Two-legged.
Tall.
Humanoid.
But not human.
Its body was covered in overlapping plates of black mineral and bone. Pale veins ran between them, glowing with the same rhythm as the dungeon walls.
Its left arm was enormous.
Broad.
Flattened.
Almost shield-like.
Where a face should have been, there was only a smooth plate split by a thin vertical line of white light.
The creature stopped.
The System appeared.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TARGET DETECTED │
│ Name: Thronebound Warden │
│ Classification: Elite │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sivenne exhaled.
“Another Elite.”
Etzel looked at her.
“You said that like you were disappointed.”
“I’m deciding how worried I should be.”
The Warden lowered its spear-arm.
Maerin’s eyes narrowed.
“Very.”
The creature moved.
“Shield!” Maerin shouted.
DK was already there.
The spear struck.
BOOM.
The impact filled the corridor.
DK slid backward.
One step.
Then another.
His boots carved lines into the stone.
But he remained standing.
The Warden pulled its weapon back.
DK didn’t chase it.
He reset his shield.
Protected the space behind him.
Etzel noticed.
DK could have attacked.
He didn’t.
Maerin stepped forward.
“Don’t rush it.”
Etzel glanced at her.
“I was thinking that.”
Sivenne moved to the right.
“That’s new.”
“Everyone’s very supportive today.”
The Warden attacked again.
DK caught the strike.
This time Maerin was ready.
Her palm turned. Claimed Ground.
The pale boundary spread beneath the Warden.
Its right foot struck the controlled stone.
Slowed.
Not stopped.
Maerin frowned.
“Strong resistance.”
Sivenne was already moving.
She entered from the side.
Her weapon struck beneath the Warden’s raised shield-arm.
CLANG.
Black mineral stopped the blade.
The Warden twisted.
Its spear swept horizontally.
Sivenne ducked.
Barely.
She retreated.
“Very worried.”
Etzel watched.
The Warden attacked DK again.
Straight thrust.
Block.
Withdrawal.
Straight thrust.
Block.
Then—
sweep.
Sivenne watched too.
The creature turned toward her.
Thrust.
She moved late.
The spear point passed close enough to cut a line through her sleeve.
Tessa stepped forward.
“Sivenne!”
“I’m fine.”
The Warden attacked again.
Sivenne avoided it.
This time by more.
Etzel saw her eyes.
Focused.
Calculating.
The Last Answer.
First exchange. Question.
Second exchange. Correction.
The Warden raised its spear.
Sivenne smiled.
“Oh.”
Etzel recognized that expression.
She knew something now.
The spear came.
Sivenne didn’t retreat.
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She stepped inside the attack.
Turned.
The jagged point passed beside her ribs.
Her weapon struck the Warden’s elbow joint.
CRACK.
A small piece of black plate broke away.
Etzel grinned.
“There it is.”
Sivenne moved back.
“There what is?”
“Whatever expression you make when you’ve figured out how to hurt something.”
“I have an expression?”
“Yes.”
“Is it attractive?”
“This feels like the wrong time.”
“There’s never a wrong time.”
The Warden’s arm snapped toward her.
DK’s shield appeared between them.
BOOM.
Sivenne stumbled back.
DK remained in front of her.
“Focus.”
She looked at him.
“You’re worse than Maerin.”
“I heard that,” Maerin said.
“Good.”
The Warden attacked again.
The fight changed.
Not because the creature became faster.
Because the dungeon joined it.
A pulse moved through the wall.
Etzel saw it enter the Warden’s back.
The crack Sivenne had created glowed.
The damaged plate shifted.
Not healed.
Stabilized.
Another pulse.
The Warden’s posture corrected.
Etzel frowned.
“It’s doing it again.”
Maerin redirected her Ground.
“What?”
“The dungeon.”
Etzel watched another pulse travel through the veins.
“It’s not healing it.”
Sivenne blocked a strike.
“Could’ve fooled me!”
“No.”
Etzel moved sideways for a better angle.
The Warden’s damaged elbow was still damaged.
The crack remained.
But the energy around it held the joint together.
“It’s being maintained.”
Maerin understood immediately.
“The veins.”
“Yes.”
The Warden lunged.
DK caught the spear on his shield.
Maerin shifted the Ground.
The Warden’s rear foot sank slightly.
Sivenne struck.
Another plate cracked.
Tessa remained behind them, watching every impact.
Etzel watched the walls.
Five veins.
No.
Seven.
Several converged near the Warden.
One brightened.
Energy moved.
Etzel pointed.
“Left wall!”
Sivenne looked.
“The thick one!”
She changed direction.
The Warden turned after her.
DK slammed his shield into its spear-arm.
Not enough to hurt it.
Enough to delay it.
Sivenne reached the wall.
Her weapon came down.
CRACK.
The vein shattered.
Pale light spilled across the stone.
For half a second, the Warden stopped.
Etzel’s eyes widened.
“Yes.”
Then three other veins ignited.
Energy slammed into the Warden.
Its spear-arm moved faster than before.
Straight toward Sivenne.
Etzel’s stomach dropped.
“…Wrong one.”
Maerin’s Ground surged.
The spear shifted centimeters.
Enough.
Sivenne twisted aside.
The point missed her chest.
But the Warden’s shield-arm followed.
It hit her.
Tessa gasped.
Sivenne flew backward.
At the exact same instant, Tessa’s body jerked.
She dropped to one knee.
“Tessa!”
Etzel ran toward her.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
Sivenne rolled across the stone and stopped.
She coughed.
Then pushed herself upright.
“Still here.”
Etzel looked between them.
Tessa had taken part of it.
Not all.
Enough.
Her hand was shaking.
Her breathing had changed.
Etzel crouched beside her.
“You’re done after that.”
Tessa looked at him.
“Not yet.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion.”
Her expression hardened.
Neither was her answer.
“Not yet.”
Etzel stared at her for a second.
Then Maerin shouted.
“Etzel!”
He turned.
The Warden was advancing.
DK stood between it and them.
Shield raised.
He wasn’t winning.
He wasn’t trying to.
Every time the Warden moved toward someone else, DK blocked its path.
Every thrust meant for Maerin met his shield.
Every sweep toward Sivenne was interrupted.
He was buying them space.
Time.
Etzel looked back at Tessa.
“Stay behind me.”
Her eyebrow rose.
“You’re Level Four.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make me feel safer.”
“Honestly, it shouldn’t.”
She almost smiled.
Then Etzel turned back to the fight.
He had been wrong.
Fine.
Find out why.
The veins.
That was the key.
He had assumed the largest flow of energy mattered most.
It didn’t.
Etzel watched again.
The Warden stepped.
Wall veins pulsed afterward.
It attacked.
Several veins brightened afterward.
Damage.
Energy.
Maintenance.
But one—
Etzel froze.
There.
A thin branch on the left wall.
It glowed first.
Not after the Warden moved.
Before.
The Warden raised its spear.
The thin vein flashed.
Then the attack came.
Etzel’s eyes widened.
Again.
The vein flashed.
The Warden changed direction.
Before Maerin moved.
Before Sivenne attacked.
Before anything else.
“That one isn’t feeding it.”
Maerin glanced at him while maintaining her Ground.
“What?”
Etzel pointed.
“Left wall. Third branch.”
She followed his finger.
“That one?”
“It lights up before it moves.”
Sivenne blocked another strike.
“What does that mean?”
Etzel understood as he said it.
“It’s not feeding it.”
The thin vein flashed.
The Warden turned toward Sivenne.
“It’s commanding it.”
Maerin’s expression changed.
“Then break it.”
Sivenne started moving.
The Warden immediately turned.
Too fast.
Its spear-arm pulled back.
DK stepped into its path.
The spear struck his shield.
BOOM.
DK slid backward.
The Warden pushed.
DK’s boots scraped across the stone.
Sivenne ran.
The Warden tried to pull away.
DK drove his shoulder behind the shield.
Held it.
Sivenne glanced toward him.
“Two seconds?”
DK’s voice remained flat.
“Use them.”
The Warden struck the shield again.
One.
Sivenne reached the wall.
The thin vein flashed.
Two.
Her weapon came down.
CRACK.
The branch shattered.
The Warden froze.
Every pale line across its body flickered.
Then dimmed.
Its spear dropped several centimeters.
Maerin moved instantly. Claimed Ground.
The Warden’s feet locked against the stone.
This time—
it couldn’t resist.
Maerin smiled.
“Got you.”
The Warden pulled.
Nothing.
Sivenne turned.
The Warden raised its spear.
Same angle.
Same movement.
Same answer.
Sivenne stepped inside.
The spear missed.
Her weapon struck the damaged elbow.
CRACK.
The arm dropped.
Etzel moved.
The Warden’s knee joint was exposed.
He didn’t hesitate.
Hatchet.
Once.
The blade bounced.
Pain shot through his hands.
“Bad idea!”
Again.
This time into the crack.
The joint shifted.
Not broken.
Enough.
“Maerin!”
“I know.”
Her Ground twisted.
The damaged leg buckled.
The Warden dropped to one knee.
Sivenne was already there.
Her weapon entered the gap beneath the smooth faceplate.
Deep.
The Warden convulsed.
Its remaining arm rose.
Maerin clenched her fist.
The Ground held.
Sivenne drove the weapon farther.
The white line across the Warden’s face flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Gone.
The creature collapsed.
Silence.
Etzel stood over it.
Breathing hard.
DK lowered his shield.
Tessa remained upright behind them.
Barely.
The System chimed.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION │
│ > Meaningful combat contribution. │
│ > Level Progression gained. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Then:
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION │
│ > Rank Progression gained. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel looked at the message.
Still Level Four.
Close.
Very close.
But not yet.
Good.
He wanted Level Five to mean something.
Sivenne pulled her weapon free.
Maerin released her Ground.
Tessa suddenly exhaled.
Her eyes unfocused for a moment.
Etzel noticed.
“What?”
She blinked.
“Nothing.”
“That was definitely something.”
Tessa looked at him.
Then smiled.
“Closer.”
Etzel understood.
“C?”
She nodded.
Sivenne looked over.
“How close?”
Tessa’s smile widened slightly.
“Still annoyingly close.”
Etzel pointed at her.
“I respect the consistency.”
The Warden’s body began to soften.
Maerin immediately crouched.
“Harvest first.”
Etzel blinked.
“That sentence has never sounded so beautiful.”
Sivenne looked at him.
“You were just nearly impaled.”
“And now I’m being paid.”
“You can’t sell your share.”
Etzel’s happiness vanished.
“I had forgotten that for almost three seconds.”
They worked quickly.
The Warden’s outer plates didn’t disappear immediately.
Several could be removed.
The System identified them.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ITEM OBTAINED │
│ Name: Warden Plate Fragment │
│ Classification: Elite Material │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel carefully placed one into the loot pouch.
Another object came free from beneath the Warden’s chest plate.
A dark crystal threaded with pale light.
Maerin picked it up.
The System flickered.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ITEM OBTAINED │
│ Name: Command Vein Shard │
│ Classification: Uncommon Authority Mat.│
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sivenne leaned closer.
“That sounds expensive.”
Etzel’s eyes brightened.
Then narrowed.
“Still can’t sell it.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Physically, perhaps.”
He took another plate fragment.
“Financially, unclear.”
Tessa laughed weakly.
Maerin examined the shard.
The pale line inside it pulsed.
DK stepped closer.
Etzel felt the Soul Link react.
Not strongly.
But enough.
He looked at him.
“Again?”
DK stared at the shard.
“This is familiar.”
Etzel sighed.
“Everything awful is familiar to you.”
A pause.
“Apparently.”
Etzel looked at the shard.
“Can you tell us what it does?”
“No.”
“Excellent. Very productive.”
Maerin stored it.
“We study it outside.”
Etzel looked toward the corridor.
“If outside still exists.”
Nobody answered.
Not encouraging.
The Warden’s remaining body disappeared into the floor.
Energy rushed beneath them.
But this time, something else happened.
The wall behind the creature cracked.
Stone shifted.
A narrow passage opened.
Darkness waited beyond it.
Maerin stared.
“No.”
Etzel looked at her.
“No?”
“We are not taking the convenient path opened by the hostile dungeon.”
Etzel nodded.
“That is an extremely reasonable sentence.”
He checked the System.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAVIGATION │
│ EXIT — 512m │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Everyone stared at it.
Sivenne sighed.
“I hate this place.”
The veins around them pulsed.
Energy flowed into the newly opened passage.
Down.
Etzel watched it.
DK watched it too.
Maerin’s expression hardened.
They could keep trying to reach an exit that moved whenever they approached.
Or—
Etzel looked into the passage.
“We find out what controls the routes.”
Maerin looked at him.
“That is not the same thing as fighting it.”
“I know.”
“If we can create an exit, we leave.”
“Immediately.”
Sivenne raised a hand.
“What if there’s treasure?”
“No,” Maerin and Etzel said together.
Sivenne looked offended.
Tessa laughed.
Then winced.
Etzel noticed.
“You’re staying behind DK.”
“I can walk.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
Tessa looked ready to argue.
DK stepped beside her.
“I will protect you.”
Tessa looked up at him.
Then at Etzel.
“That was much more convincing.”
Etzel put a hand over his heart.
“Cruel.”
They entered the passage.
The descent was longer than Etzel expected.
And quieter.
That was the worst part.
No Skitters.
No wall-climbers.
No poison-spitters.
Nothing.
Only their footsteps.
And the pale energy flowing through the walls beside them.
Down.
Always down.
The air grew warmer.
The passage widened.
Then—
stopped.
Maerin raised one hand.
Everyone froze.
Ahead was an opening.
Not another corridor.
A chamber.
No.
Etzel stepped closer.
A cavern.
Enormous.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness.
Black roots thicker than trees twisted through the stone.
Pale veins ran across them.
All the energy they had watched flowing through the dungeon entered this place.
Etzel crouched near the edge.
Below them—
creatures.
Dozens.
Skitter shapes.
Larger forms.
Things Etzel had never seen before.
Twenty.
Maybe thirty.
All motionless.
Dormant.
Sivenne whispered:
“That’s bad.”
Etzel whispered back:
“Your tactical insight remains unmatched.”
Maerin pointed.
“Center.”
Etzel looked.
The roots converged there.
Around something resembling a throne.
Not built.
Grown.
Stone and black root had twisted together into a raised structure.
And upon it—
something sat.
Large.
Too large.
Its silhouette was hunched forward.
Long limbs.
A broad upper body covered in layered armor.
A crown-like structure of bone and black mineral rose from its head.
The System flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then stabilized.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TARGET DETECTED │
│ Name: Throneburrow Regent │
│ Classification: ??? │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Etzel waited.
Another line appeared.
Sivenne whispered:
“I preferred Elite.”
“For once, we completely agree.”
Maerin began backing away.
“Slowly.”
Nobody argued.
Etzel took one step.
Then stopped.
Something was wrong.
He looked at the dormant creatures.
None of the energy was going to them.
Every glowing vein passed beneath their bodies.
Past them.
Toward the center.
Toward the throne.
Etzel followed the flow.
“It’s not making more monsters.”
Maerin stopped.
“What?”
Etzel pointed.
“The energy.”
She looked.
Tessa followed the veins.
Sivenne’s expression changed.
Maerin whispered:
“Then what is it doing?”
Etzel stared at the throne.
At the enormous unmoving silhouette sitting upon it.
At every pulse disappearing beneath the structure.
“Saving.”
The Throneburrow Regent raised its head.
Etzel stopped breathing.
Below them—
one pair of eyes opened.
Then another.
Then ten.
Then all of them.
The System flashed.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM STATUS │
│ Local Spawn Network: FULL OVERRIDE │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
A second message appeared.
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SYSTEM STATUS │
│ Regent Authority Established. │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Thirty creatures turned toward them at once.
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