The shriek of the creatures scraped across the chamber like rusted blades dragged over stone.
Kyūsei flinched instinctively, one hand flying to his ear. The sound wasn't merely loud—it seemed to crawl into his skull, scratching at thoughts, stirring fear from places he didn't know existed.
The six monsters moved with twitching, unnatural jerks.
Tall and thin, their limbs bent wrong at the joints. Black hide clung tightly over visible bone. Their fingers ended in long crystal claws that reflected the red light of the chamber. Smooth faces had no eyes, no nose, no mouth—
Until they split open vertically.
Rows of jagged teeth unfolded from each face like blooming flowers made of knives.
Kyūsei nearly gagged.
"Nope," he whispered. "Absolutely not."
Kazuto stood in front of him, sword angled low.
"Good instinct."
The creatures spread into a half-circle, surrounding them.
The black crystal at the center of the room pulsed again.
Thump.
With each beat, the monsters twitched harder.
Kyūsei swallowed.
"What are they?"
Kazuto's gaze never left the enemies.
"Something that shouldn't exist in a beginner dungeon."
"That's not a name."
"Then call them bad news."
One creature lunged.
It crossed ten meters in a blink.
Kazuto moved at the same instant.
Steel flashed.
The monster's arm spun through the air, severed at the shoulder.
Black fluid sprayed across the floor, hissing where it touched stone.
The creature didn't scream.
It only kept charging.
Kazuto's eyes narrowed.
"Annoying."
He pivoted, stepped inside its reach, and drove his blade upward through its skull.
The body collapsed.
Then immediately convulsed.
The severed arm skittered across the floor like a spider, claws scraping toward Kyūsei.
He yelped and blasted it backward with wind.
It hit a pillar and kept twitching.
"Why is the arm alive?!" he shouted.
"Because your life lacks peace!"
Three more creatures attacked together.
Kazuto cursed under his breath and met them head-on.
His sword became a silver blur.
One throat opened.
A leg came off another.
He ducked beneath claws, spun, and kicked a third into the wall hard enough to crack stone.
Kyūsei watched in stunned disbelief.
Kazuto had always seemed strong.
This was different.
This was dominance.
Fast.
Precise.
Merciless.
Yet even as he fought, Kazuto shouted back:
"Don't just stare! Move!"
Two remaining creatures rushed Kyūsei.
Fear froze him for half a heartbeat—
Then training kicked in.
He stepped sideways instead of backward.
The first swipe missed his face by inches.
He thrust both palms forward.
A gust of compressed wind slammed into the creature's chest, staggering it.
Kyūsei grabbed for fire next.
Heat surged wildly through his core.
He punched forward.
Flames erupted in a crooked blast, engulfing the monster's upper body.
It staggered burning, clawing at itself.
The second creature leapt.
Kyūsei barely raised his rented sword in time.
Claws struck metal.
The impact numbed both arms instantly.
He was thrown backward, sliding across stone.
The creature pounced again.
Then stopped.
Its head slowly separated from its neck.
Kazuto landed beside the corpse, flicking black blood from his blade.
"You're improving," he said.
Kyūsei gasped from the floor.
"I nearly died!"
"Correct. Improvement."
They regrouped near the chamber wall.
Only two creatures remained now, circling carefully.
The severed-limb corpses still twitched.
The black crystal continued pulsing.
Thump.
Kazuto looked toward it briefly.
"That thing is controlling them."
"Then break it!"
"I would love to."
"Then why aren't you?!"
"Because the moment we entered, it linked to the room."
As if to prove him right, red runes flared brighter across the floor.
Stone chains rose from cracks around the crystal.
"Destroy it wrong," Kazuto said, "and the chamber might collapse."
Kyūsei stared.
"How do you know all this?"
Kazuto grinned.
"I read."
"You do not."
"Fair."
The two remaining creatures attacked again.
This time Kazuto met one while Kyūsei faced the other.
The eyeless thing lunged low.
Kyūsei jumped back.
Too slow.
Claws raked across his side.
Pain burst hot and immediate.
He hissed through clenched teeth and stumbled.
Blood soaked his shirt.
The creature came again.
No time.
No calm.
No plan.
Kyūsei reached inward desperately—
Fire.
Wind.
And beneath them…
That cold abyss.
He touched it by accident.
Everything went silent.
For one terrifying second, the world dimmed around the edges.
The monster froze mid-step.
Its body trembled.
Then thin black cracks spread across its hide.
Kazuto's head snapped toward him.
"Kyūsei!"
The moment shattered.
Sound returned violently.
Kyūsei gasped.
The creature collapsed into ash.
No flames.
No blade.
Just gone.
The chamber fell still.
Even the other monster hesitated.
Kazuto killed it instantly.
Then he turned.
Not joking.
Not smiling.
"What did you just do?"
Kyūsei shook.
"I—I don't know."
He looked at his own hands.
They felt colder than stone.
The black crystal at the room's center pulsed faster.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Cracks raced across its surface.
Kazuto swore.
"Back up!"
They retreated as the crystal split open.
Dark smoke poured from inside, rising into the ceiling like ink in water.
The room trembled.
The pedestal shattered.
And from within the smoke, something stepped out.
It was humanoid.
Tall.
Wrapped in ragged shadow.
Its face hidden behind a mask of smooth black crystal.
Two red lights glowed where eyes should be.
It carried no weapon.
It needed none.
Kyūsei's instincts screamed at him to run.
Kazuto exhaled sharply.
"…Now this is impossible."
"What is it?"
"Something from a much deeper dungeon."
The masked being tilted its head toward Kyūsei.
Then pointed.
The air exploded.
Kazuto shoved Kyūsei aside an instant before a shockwave obliterated the wall behind them.
Stone fragments rained down.
Kazuto slid backward, boots grinding trenches into the floor.
He laughed once.
"Okay."
His mana surged.
Wind spiraled around his sword.
The chamber brightened blue.
Kyūsei had never felt power like it.
Kazuto's eyes sharpened.
"You stay alive."
Then he vanished.
The battle became impossible to follow.
Kazuto crossed the room in a blur, blade carving arcs of silver light.
The masked being blocked barehanded, crystal skin ringing like metal.
Each clash sent shockwaves cracking pillars.
Kazuto slashed its shoulder.
Dark smoke spilled instead of blood.
The being punched him through a stone column.
Kyūsei shouted.
Kazuto burst from rubble grinning wildly.
"There you are!"
He slammed his palm to the floor.
A circle of glowing runes spread outward.
Stone spears erupted beneath the enemy.
The being floated upward unnaturally, avoiding them.
Kazuto clicked his tongue.
"Show-off."
Kyūsei staggered to cover, clutching his bleeding side.
He was useless here.
Too weak to help.
Too weak again.
The old shame rose in him—
Then he remembered Hansuke.
You better live properly this time.
Kyūsei forced himself upright.
He looked at the chamber.
The red runes.
The broken pedestal.
The chains around the crystal remains.
Control system.
Seal system.
Something held this creature.
Maybe something could bind it again.
"Kazuto!" he yelled.
"Busy!"
"The chains! They reacted to the crystal!"
Kazuto dodged a killing strike by a hair.
"Then do something smart with that information!"
"Very encouraging!"
Kyūsei ran to the shattered pedestal.
Fragments of black crystal lay scattered.
The runes still glowed faintly beneath them.
He placed both hands on the stone.
Nothing.
Then he focused inward.
Wind.
Fire.
And deeper…
That abyss.
"No," he whispered.
But he needed power.
He touched it again.
Cold rushed through his veins.
The runes blazed black.
The entire chamber shook.
Chains of shadow burst from the floor and wrapped around the masked being mid-strike.
It snarled for the first time—a horrible metallic scream.
Kazuto didn't hesitate.
He leapt high, both hands on his sword.
"Nice timing!"
He brought the blade down with all his weight.
A storm of compressed wind gathered along the edge.
The strike split the mask in two.
Light burst from the crack.
The being shattered like glass.
Silence.
Then the room began collapsing.
Kazuto landed, grabbed Kyūsei by the collar, and dragged him at full speed.
"We are leaving!"
They sprinted through tunnels as ceilings caved behind them.
Kyūsei bounced off walls, half-carried, half-thrown.
"This is not dignified!"
"No one asked!"
They burst from the dungeon entrance just as a roar thundered inside.
Dust exploded outward.
Adventurers outside screamed and scattered.
The mountain trembled.
Then settled.
Kazuto dropped Kyūsei onto the grass.
Both lay panting under the sky.
After a long moment, Kyūsei laughed weakly.
"We survived."
Kazuto stared upward.
"Barely."
Then he turned his head.
"What was that black power?"
Kyūsei's smile faded.
"I don't know."
Kazuto studied him.
For once, no joke came.
Only concern.
Far behind them, inside the damaged dungeon, something deep below opened its eyes.