Virtual Space, Dungeon.
Jayden stared at the jagged ring of spikes that sealed them in, chest heaving, blade trembling slightly in his grip.
"It... caged us?" he muttered.
Amir didn't answer right away. His eyes were locked on the Skarnling.
The creature swayed in place, its obsidian shell cracked and steaming. The magma-like glow in its veins was flickering, intermittent—drained.
"No, we still have a chance," Amir said at last, lowering into a grounded stance. "It used up everything it had."
Jayden's jaw clenched. "So this is its last stand?"
Amir nodded once. "Let's make it count."
Across the stone-ringed arena, the Skarnling steadied itself. Even with its tremble, even with its labored breath, its mass remained intimidating. The shell over its body was still intact, its legs buried into the fractured floor for leverage.
It was still dangerous.
Amir took a slow breath and rushed forward, shield raised high. Stone cracked under his boots. The Skarnling reacted sluggishly, its carapace turning to face him—but it was too slow.
Clang!
His shield slammed into the creature's forelimb with a jarring impact. It rocked back a half-step, legs scraping against stone.
Jayden struck a moment later—fast, low, his body a blur as he skirted the edge of the spikes. One dagger slashed through a weak joint at the base of the Skarnling's leg—drawing a splash of black ichor.
The beast shrieked.
A tremor surged through the chamber as it reared up—desperate, clumsy. Its claw came down in a brutal hammering arc toward Amir.
Amir met the blow head-on. His shield screamed under the force, a chunk getting taken out of it, skidding him back two steps, knees bent.
But he held.
"Now!"
Jayden vaulted forward, leaping off the nearby stone wall. Both blades drove down in unison—crunching through a fractured segment at the Skarnling's shoulder.
The creature bucked violently, and Jayden was thrown clear, tumbling across the floor in a roll that ended hard against the stone wall.
Jayden slumped where he landed, unmoving—too still for comfort.
The Skarnling turned, its focus shifting toward the downed rogue.
Amir moved. "Did you think he was the only threat?"
He surged forward and drove his spear at the exposed crack Jayden had opened.
The tip punched through the shell—and kept going. A spray of black ichor erupted from the wound as the Skarnling screamed, its body convulsing.
Then it collapsed—one leg giving out completely. Its shell hit the stone with a deep thud, fissures spiderwebbing outward on impact.
Amir continued stabbing.
He braced and drove the spear deeper, pushing with all his might.
A deep, low hum reverberated through the chamber.
Amir's eyes widened.
"No—"
The creature's armor lit once more with molten veins, but brighter this time—fully reignited. Plates of reinforced shell slammed into place with a thunderous crack, fusing into a near-seamless barrier.
The spear ground against the carapace with a hideous screech. Then, it stopped. The tip could go no further.
The Skarnling rose.
Its bulk heaved up off the stone floor like a mountain come alive. One leg still dragged—but the rest had locked into a new, rigid stance.
Amir tried again, gritting his teeth and driving the spear forward.
Clang!
It was like stabbing solid iron. The shell didn't even dent.
Then the Skarnling's eyes locked on him—and the ground beneath Amir's feet began to tremble.
Crack!
A spike erupted from below. Amir leapt aside—barely avoiding it.
Another spike burst upward, targeting his landing spot.
Then another. And another.
Each one stabbed from the earth with surgical timing—one beat too slow to impale, but fast enough to keep him off-balance.
It was hunting.
"Fuck you—" Amir cursed, ducking a spray of shattered stone as another spike cracked open the floor just inches from his feet. He rolled, twisted, staggered forward—and still the Skarnling advanced.
A wall of pressure pressed down on him as more earthen spikes erupted around the arena's edge, cutting off retreat.
This time, it wasn't a cage.
It was a killing ground.
He tried to close the gap again, shield raised—but another tremor struck just as he moved. A spike ripped through the space to his leg.
Amir dove, but a chunk of his leg was still taken.
He hit the ground hard, skidding, his spear clattering from his grip.
His HP dropped—32.
The Skarnling's defensive shell still gleamed, unbroken.
Amir gritted his teeth and struggled to one knee, blood in his mouth. The shield trembled on his arm.
The creature approached, step by step, each one cracking the floor.
He rose again—just barely—and tried one more time, dragging his shield back up as the Skarnling loomed.
Thud.
A massive forelimb slammed into his guard. The force sent him flying backward.
He crashed into one of the surrounding spikes, the impact nearly knocking the breath from his lungs.
He fell hard to the stone floor, gasping. His health entered the single digits.
Jayden twitched, barely visible in the corner of Amir's eye.
The Skarnling hissed, molten light surging as its shell pulsed again.
It was charging another huge spike.
Amir tried to move—limbs heavy, vision swimming.
Then the hum stopped.
He blinked.
The molten glow had faded. Cracks splintered through the armor.
The defensive skill had run out.
The Skarnling slowed—more cautious, now that it was vulnerable.
It stared at Amir, studying his every flinch. It was focused on the wrong player.
Jayden rose from the darkness like a shadow reborn, one leg dragging slightly behind him. Both daggers gleamed in his fists.
With a snarl, he plunged them into the exposed seam at the Skarnling's lower back. Once. Twice. Again.
Black liquid erupted.
Jayden climbed its body, using his weapons to pull him up.
The creature shrieked.
It bucked, but Jayden was already on its back—slamming his daggers down into the base of the carapace again and again, black ichor spraying with each blow.
The Skarnling staggered, spine arching—
Then it collapsed.
A final impact shook the chamber as the creature slammed down, limbs twitching, molten light leaking from every crack.
It didn't rise again.
Jayden rolled off, hitting the floor in a crouch, panting.
"...Took you long enough," Amir muttered from where he knelt.
Jayden limped over, grinning through bloodied lips. "I was giving you the spotlight."
Amir let out a weak, exhausted breath—half a laugh, half a groan—and collapsed onto his back, staring at the stone ceiling.
The ring of spikes that had encircled the battlefield trembled—but didn't fall. Instead of crumbling, they remained tall and jagged, silent guards locking the two of them in with the corpse of the dead Skarnling.
Jayden flopped down beside Amir, arms spread wide.
"That was insane," he whispered, voice rough.
Amir didn't answer at first. He lay there, chest rising and falling with the slow cadence of survival, listening as his pulse settled—less a drumbeat, now, more like the echo of distant thunder.
It was only when the trembling in his limbs had dulled, when the air felt thin enough to breathe, that he finally blinked and summoned the system window with a thought.
Victory had never felt so close to death.
The rewards should reflect that.
A soft chime rang in his ears.
[Your party has killed one Rank 1 Level 15 Skarnling. EXP Gained.]
[Level Up: You have reached Level 7.]
[+1 to all base stats, +2 unassigned stat points.]
Amir stared at the numbers. Level 15.
That thing was Level 15.
They were barely half that. And yet… they won.
His eyes flicked to the quest log, a tightness in his throat.
[Quest Update: 31 → 32 / 32 Skarnlings killed.]
[Quest 'Dungeon Raid' Complete. Rewards Given.]
[EXP Gained, +5 reputation with nearby settlements → Plum Village, +1 unassigned stat point.]
[Level Up: You have reached Level 8.]
[+1 to all base stats, +2 unassigned stat points.]
Another pulse of light rippled across the edges of his vision. The cave seemed quieter than before—emptier. But somehow, it was more alive.
His body felt heavier now… and lighter at the same time. Muscles burned, but there was a new kind of warmth beneath the ache. A quiet, spreading heat, like standing under the sun after rain.
He didn't rise.
He just closed his eyes.
The air settled around him, like something had clicked into place. He hadn't realized anything was missing before.
He breathed in, slow and deep.
It was as if the air flowed through more than just his lungs.
His fingers brushed the stone beneath him. The cold sensation lingered longer than it should have, like the world was responding, echoing back. His skin tingled faintly, barely noticeable, but definitely there.
Jayden stirred beside him with a groan. "I'm either in heaven," he muttered, "or lying in a puddle of my own spine fluid."
Amir snorted quietly but didn't open his eyes.
"Hey, you alive?"
Amir nodded. "I think so."
"You looked like you were communing with the cave spirits there."
"Not far off."
Jayden grunted, sitting up with effort. "How much longer you gonna stay down?"
"Couple hours at least."
He meant it. There was no rush.
The silence wasn't silent anymore. There was rhythm to it, a constant drip of water echoing in the distance. The warmth weaved slowly through his body—meandering, patient, like a lazy river curling through sunlit rock.
Time didn't stop. It just stopped mattering.
For once, nothing demanded his strength.
His limbs were sore, his wounds still raw beneath his armor, but it didn't hurt the same way. The pain felt like it had purpose—an old language being rewritten, cell by cell.
Slowly, the heat receded, but the presence remained.
His body, which should've been on its last legs, never felt better.
He let his hand rest over his chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breath. Each inhale felt... cleaner. Each exhale, fuller. Even the cave floor beneath him no longer felt hard—just real, in a way he'd never experienced.
He was used to sleeping light, always braced for the next shift in a city that didn't care if he made it or not. But here, now, there were no expectations.
The ache of exhaustion was still there, but it no longer gnawed at him. Instead, it nestled around him like a blanket, something earned rather than endured.
Jayden mumbled something beside him, but it drifted past Amir like wind through grass. He was too deep inside the quiet now.
The world was still.
A thought passed through him, soft and idle. 'Maybe this is what peace feels like.'
It was unfamiliar to him, an orphan pushing for survival every day.
He simply wanted to enjoy the feeling.
A notification slipped into his awareness like a whistle in the wind.
He blinked once. And then let his eyes close again. Not now.
There would be time to figure out what it meant later.
For now… the stone was warm beneath him, the air was kind, and—for the first time in a long time—he didn't feel alone.
***
[You have awakened mana. You are now Rank 1.]