Ren furrowed his brows, his face clearly showing confusion. Then, as if realizing something important, he suddenly turned to the miner with urgency in his voice.
"Did you... see two of my friends pass through here? They said they'd come back to find you."
Stephen's eyes widened slightly, then grew distant, as if he were searching through fragmented memories from the time he was lost in this dark mine.
Eventually, he shook his head helplessly. "I needed money, so I stayed behind to mine a bit more ore. I thought, with what I know of this place, I could catch up to you all in a few minutes."
A weary smile tugged at his lips, his gaze more contemplative. "I was too confident in the path I knew and decided to go through the collapsed area, there's a secret passage..."
"But just like its name, the collapse zone... it only took a slight tremor for the shortcut beams to come crashing down."
He sighed, sorrow painting his expression. "With no way back, I had to retrace my steps. But by then, the Kobolds had found me and started chasing me nonstop."
Ren listened carefully to every word, a growing unease coiling in his chest. His eyes lit up strangely at the mention of a secret path, but that spark quickly turned into anxiety.
"So... you didn't see them?" Ren asked again, his tone a bit rushed, though he tried to stay composed.
Stephen shook his head again, then looked up, eyes filled with quiet sorrow. "I didn't see anyone pass through. Just me. Maybe they took a different route, or they passed by without noticing me."
Ren fell silent for a moment, eyes scanning the surroundings.
The mine was deep and cold, and every small sound echoed many times over in the eerily still air.
A sense of foreboding crept over him, as if something unseen was lurking, hiding behind every shadow.
"I don't know where they went, but I'll find them." At last, Ren spoke, gripping his sword tighter as if to steady himself. "Thank you... If you hadn't pushed that Kobold off me, I might have been seriously hurt."
Stephen looked at him, eyes filled with a quiet understanding, as though he saw something in Ren that even Ren himself hadn't yet realized. "You're someone with ideals, adventurer. But sometimes... the cost of those ideals is something you can never get back."
Ren clenched his jaw, mind turning over that sentence. "Yes, but sometimes, looking away isn't the better choice. If we do nothing, all we'll have left is regret… An older brother of mine once said that."
Suddenly, the image of Klein and his group flashed through Ren's mind. He wondered how they were doing now, but he didn't have time to dwell on that.
"If you're going to look for them, you'll have to go deeper into the ruins," Stephen said, his voice low. "The terrain might've changed a bit after that last tremor, but if you follow the outer edge, it'll be safer."
"Understood. You can head back the way you came. I've cleared the wandering monsters, so it should be safe for a while, at least until they respawn," Ren replied, calm but resolute.
Stephen gazed at him, a moment of thought flickering in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but only sighed. "Good luck."
His words carried the weight of a vague warning, but he knew there was nothing he could say now to stop Ren's resolve.
"The ruins… they're even more dangerous than the abandoned zones, not because of the monsters, but the terrain," Stephen continued, voice thick with concern.
"It's said to have once held traces of ancient history, but due to seismic shifts, unstable tunnels formed. If you misstep, you could fall into deeper levels, places no one's ever explored. Be careful."
Ren stood still for a moment, his eyes unwavering. He nodded, staring straight into the dark depths of the mine, where shadows continued to loom.
There was nothing left to hold him back. He turned and strode forward, carrying both hope and fear in his chest, but stronger than ever before, believing he would find Yuna and Nautilus.
...
Darkness quietly wrapped around each of Ren's footsteps, the sound of his boots echoing through the narrow tunnels.
The faint light from the map interface illuminated the path ahead, areas previously unexplored now slowly emerged, bit by bit, with every step he took.
But… there were still no signs. No sounds, no hurried messages left behind.
Only cold stone walls, and a musty draft carrying the scent of damp earth and ore dust.
Ren paused, his eyes sweeping quickly across the map, then scanning the surroundings. Nothing.
A creeping unease stirred in his chest. They had been here, he was sure of it. But now… it was as if they had vanished into the earth.
Monsters began appearing more frequently, heavy footsteps and low growls echoed off the rocky walls, as though the darkness itself were spawning them.
From the maze-like tunnels, Kobolds, Cave Rats, and other small but vicious creatures began to emerge, wave after wave, groups lying in wait for a lost prey.
Ren drew his sword.
The clinking of steel echoed like a declaration of war.
These were no longer chance encounters, every turn was now an ambush, every narrow hallway a potential trap.
But he didn't back down.
Each slash, each dodge, every counterstrike was sharper and more forceful than before. Ren no longer avoided combat.
He was pushing straight into the heart of the monsters, as if only by cutting through their blood and bodies could he reach the place he needed to be.
Then, as if in response to all his silent efforts and built-up tension, a faint sound emerged from the path ahead, a soft rustle of movement, quiet but enough to put Ren instantly on alert.
He moved swiftly across the jagged terrain, breath heavy, fingers tightening around the sword's hilt.
Before him opened a vast space, a natural stone cavern, deep and dark, with towering ceilings and damp walls veiled in black moss.
Ren took one more step, and suddenly stopped.
Not from exhaustion. Not from hesitation.
But because… something was there, lurking in the shadows.
And it knew he had arrived.
Only now did Ren realize he had ventured too deep into the mine, far beyond the boundaries the miners had ever reached.
There were no more signs of human presence, no minecart tracks, no rotting wooden posts, no carvings or soot left behind. Only cold, damp stone, and a primal darkness untouched by time.
The silence was suffocating, swallowing each breath, each footstep.
Ren glanced quickly at the display corner: his HP bar was still more than half full. Not bad.
His hand moved to the sword hilt, slowly but firmly.
His eyes locked onto the darkness ahead, where the cave opened like the gaping throat of a slumbering beast. And perhaps, it was beginning to awaken.
The clash of metal, savage roars, and strained shouts echoed throughout the cavern, growing closer by the second.
Ren gripped his sword tighter, stepping deeper into the darkness, each footfall gliding silently over the damp stone floor.
Then, behind a large boulder, he halted, holding his breath to observe.
A fierce battle raged on under the flickering light of torches and the sparks of activated skills.
Dozens of Kobolds shrieked and charged like ravenous wolves, surrounding a group of players holding their ground in the chaos.
The sound of blades striking, cries of pain, and the furious screeches of monsters mixed together, making the scene overwhelming and stifling.
Ren squinted, searching for familiar figures within the chaos.
At last, through the flickering lights and clamor, he saw two familiar silhouettes.
Yuna and Nautilus.
Worry was etched across their frozen expressions, but their eyes still burned with resolve, clinging to each other amidst despair.
Nautilus stood in front of Yuna, his frame slight but unwavering like a stone wall. Sweat streamed down his face, but he didn't falter, not once.
He was no longer the timid, frightened boy from his first battle. Now, every slash, every step radiated focus and resolve.
Each strike carried the weight of sheer determination.
The Kobolds attacked with savage strength, stone axes, heavy clubs, and brutal pickaxes. These blows were far heavier than claws or fangs, just one could send a player flying out of the fray.
Yuna wasn't hiding behind him like someone needing protection. That girl, with her sharp short sword and piercing gaze, fought in her own way. Whenever a Kobold tried to flank from the rear or the sides, she was there, intercepting it swiftly. Not a single monster breached the tiny space where they fought to preserve hope.
Beside them, three other players were resisting fiercely. Their coordination wasn't perfect, but their intent was clear: they had no intention of fleeing.
Ren clenched his sword hilt. His chest rose and fell with each tense breath.
This was no longer a time for watching.
But then, in the blink of an eye, Ren froze.
Something… was off.
What had seemed like a solid defensive line was starting to show tiny fractures, barely noticeable at a glance.
The Kobolds' attack rhythm was too smooth, too synchronized... focused on the other three players… or rather, the pressure was easing on that side...
Then Ren realized, each retreat, each instinctive step taken by Nautilus and Yuna, was being subtly directed… like prey being drawn away from the herd.
They weren't falling back toward the formation.
They were being separated...bit by bit, toward a hidden corner of the cavern… where the torchlight couldn't reach, where even the sound of breathing was swallowed by darkness.
Ren's heart pounded. This wasn't a siege, it was a trap.
And if he waited even a few seconds longer…
It might already be too late.