The captain's hand rested against the deeper gate.
The air had already thickened.
Liora's voice cut sharply through the chamber.
"We agreed."
The captain did not answer.
His fingers pressed harder into the stone.
The surface pulsed once.
Cain felt it.
A vibration that did not travel through air.
It moved through bone.
The captain's shoulders tensed.
Rei stepped forward.
"Captain."
Still no response.
The man's breathing slowed unnaturally.
His eyes lost focus.
A faint dark pattern crawled across the stone beneath his palm.
Then—
The gate opened.
Not slowly.
Not dramatically.
It split down the center in a violent crack.
The chamber shook.
The official exit gate behind them slammed shut with a thunderous echo.
Rei turned.
"Hey—"
The exit rune dimmed.
Locked.
Aera tried her guild card immediately.
No response.
"Teleport won't activate inside boss domain," she said, voice tightening.
From beyond the deeper gate—
Something moved.
Not one step.
Not two.
Many.
The captain staggered backward.
Blood spilled from his mouth in a thin line.
He looked at his own hands as if they did not belong to him.
Then he collapsed.
Dead before he hit the ground.
Silence lasted half a second.
Then the sound came.
Claws scraping stone.
Heavy bodies moving over one another.
From the darkness beyond the gate, red eyes lit the corridor.
One pair.
Five.
Ten.
Dozens.
The adventurer party froze.
One of them whispered, "That's not possible."
The first wave rushed out.
High-ranked demonlings.
Larger than before.
Faster.
Rei moved first.
He cut down the leading one.
Two more leapt over its corpse.
Liora's wind sliced across three at once.
Cain activated Mana Blade immediately.
His strike cut deeper than ever before.
But more poured out.
And more.
And more.
Aera's breathing became uneven.
"Too many."
The adventurers regrouped quickly.
Their shield bearer stepped forward.
The remaining frontliner locked position.
They were professionals.
They adapted fast.
But the flow did not stop.
Demonlings climbed over one another.
Some were armored.
Some had horns.
Some crawled on all fours.
This was not a floor extension.
This was a hoard.
Rei activated Mana Burst and cleaved through two at once.
One claw raked across his ribs.
He didn't fall.
But blood spread across his side.
Cain's shadow stretched unnaturally.
The cat form detached fully and darted across the chamber, weaving between legs, distracting, misdirecting.
It leapt onto one demonling's face.
The creature shrieked and tore at empty air as Cain decapitated it.
The adventurer caster launched fire into the corridor.
The flames illuminated the depth beyond the gate.
It did not end.
The corridor was packed.
Wall to wall.
Demon bodies moving forward like a living tide.
One of the adventurers shouted, "Retreat to the back wall!"
They formed a defensive semicircle.
Blades clashed.
Mana burst.
Stone cracked.
Minutes passed.
Then something changed.
A heavier step echoed from within the mass.
The smaller demonlings parted.
A larger figure stepped through.
Three meters tall.
Blackened hide.
Four curved horns.
Eyes burning gold.
The true second gate boss.
It did not roar.
It simply advanced.
The adventurer shield bearer braced.
The demon struck once.
The shield shattered.
The man behind it collapsed instantly.
Dead.
The formation broke.
Panic seeped in.
"Hold!" Liora shouted.
Rei rushed forward recklessly, Mana Burst flaring again.
He struck the creature's thigh.
The blade cut.
But not deep enough.
The demon backhanded him across the chamber.
He hit stone hard and did not rise immediately.
Aera screamed his name.
Cain stepped forward.
He did not think.
He moved.
Quick Step.
Strike.
Mana Blade flared.
The cut landed across the demon's arm.
It bled.
Dark.
Thick.
But the wound closed slowly before his eyes.
The hoard pressed closer.
The adventurer frontliner was overwhelmed.
Claws pierced through armor.
He fell beneath bodies.
Liora's mana output spiked.
Wind compressed violently, shredding a cluster.
But for every one that fell, two climbed over.
Aera used Stabilize repeatedly.
Her mana was draining too fast.
Cain felt it then.
The pressure.
Not from outside.
From inside.
Something at the base of his spine tightening.
The shadow beneath him darkened.
The cat form froze mid-leap.
For a split second, Cain saw it.
Not the demon.
Not the hoard.
A thread.
Thin.
Dark.
Running from the deeper corridor into the captain's corpse.
Control.
The demon boss stepped forward again.
The adventurer caster was impaled through the chest.
Blood sprayed across the stone.
Rei tried to stand.
Failed.
Liora's breathing grew ragged.
They were losing.
Not slowly.
Completely.
The demon boss raised its arm to strike down toward Aera.
Cain moved in front of her.
The claw pierced through his shoulder.
Pain exploded through his body.
He did not fall.
The shadow at his feet surged upward violently.
Not spreading outward.
Rising.
The demon's claw tore free.
Cain dropped to one knee.
The hoard closed in.
His vision blurred.
The pressure inside snapped.
For a moment—
Everything went quiet.
Then—
The shadow swallowed him.
And the fight truly began.
---