The entrance to ashwood dungeon yawned before them as if it was a mouth
Fifty students. Fifteen teams. All staring at what seemed to be nothing.
Professor Vance stood at the entrance, essence crystal in hand. It pulsed with dull red light.
"Rules are simple. Reach the second floor. Collect crystals. Return alive." She planted the crystal in the ground. "This beacon marks the safe zone. If you're dying, run back here. We'll extract you."
"What if we can't run?" someone asked.
"Then you're dead." She stepped aside. "Teams enter one at a time. Thirty second intervals. Team Seven you're third."
Jayden adjusted his pack. Three days of supplies. Healing potions. His father's blade at his hip.
Marcus cracked his knuckles. Stone gauntlets already manifested.
Cinna looked like she might throw up.
"Breathe," Jayden said.
"I'm breathing."
"Good. Keep doing that."
Team One entered. Then Team Two Elena's team. She glanced back at Jayden once, expression unreadable.
Then she vanished into the dark.
"Team Seven. Go."
They stepped inside.
The dungeon swallowed all light.
Jayden's eyes adjusted slowly. Bioluminescent moss clung to stone walls, casting everything in sickly green.
"Stay close," he whispered. "Marcus, front. Cinna, middle. I'll watch our backs."
They moved in formation. The corridor sloped downward. Water dripped somewhere.
His eye pulsed. Stealth mode active.
**[Essence signatures detected: 47 meters ahead. Classification: Unknown.]**
"Contact," Jayden murmured. "Fifty meters."
Marcus raised his fists. "What kind?"
"Don't know yet."
They crept forward. The corridor opened into a cavern. Crystals jutted from the walls, glowing faintly.
And prowling between them shadow wolves.
Four of them. Eyes like burning coals. Each the size of a horse.
**[SHADOW WOLF Rank: D]**
**[Speed: 8.5 units. Power: 7.2 units. Pack tactics: Active.]**
Jayden's eye fed him data.
"D rank. Four total. They hunt in packs."
"Can we take them?" Marcus asked.
"We have to."
The lead wolf's head snapped toward them.
It howled.
The pack charged.
"Marcus, left two! Cinna, stay back!"
Jayden drew his blade, shadow manifestation rippling along the steel. His eye flashed red for a split second.
**[First wolf: Leaping attack. Impact point: Center mass. 0.6 seconds.]**
He sidestepped. The wolf sailed past, claws missing by inches.
Marcus caught the second wolf head on. Stone met shadow. The impact boomed through the cavern.
"Got this one!" Marcus grappled it, his enhanced strength keeping the snapping jaws at bay.
The third wolf circled behind Jayden.
Omni caught it.
**[Rear attack. 0.4 seconds.]**
Jayden spun, shadow blade extending. He caught the wolf across its flank. It yelped, essence bleeding black mist.
The fourth wolf went for Cinna.
"No!" Jayden moved.
Too far.
The wolf pounced.
Green light erupted.
Cinna's healing magic formed a barrier. The wolf's claws scraped against solid light.
"I'm okay!" she shouted.
Jayden's first wolf recovered, lunging again. He read its trajectory, ducked low, drove his blade upward.
It pierced through shadow flesh. The wolf dissolved into mist.
**[PASSIVE GROWTH ACTIVATED]**
**[Speed: 11.4 → 11.7 units]**
Marcus crushed his wolf's skull between stone fists. It scattered.
Two left.
They backed away, growling. Then fled deeper into the dungeon.
"Let them go," Jayden said.
Marcus breathed hard. "That was "
"Basic monsters." Jayden scanned the cavern. "If those were D rank, the second floor's gonna be hell."
Cinna approached, hands still glowing. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah." Marcus flexed his gauntlets. "Your barrier saved your life."
"I didn't know I could do that."
"Survival instinct." Jayden pointed at the crystals. "Grab what we came for. Then we move."
They collected six essence crystals. Each pulsed with concentrated power.
"How many teams are down here?" Cinna asked.
"Fifteen. But they spread out." Jayden consulted his map. "Second floor entrance should be northeast. Twenty minutes if we move fast."
They pressed forward.
The tunnels twisted. Branched. They passed two other teams fighting stone golems. Didn't stop to help.
Jayden's eye tracked everything. Essence signatures. Structural weaknesses. Danger zones.
They found the stairwell leading down.
"Second floor," Marcus muttered.
Jayden felt it before he saw it. The essence here was *thick*. Oppressive.
Wrong.
"Something's off," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"The essence concentration. It shouldn't be this high for C rank."
They descended anyway.
The second floor opened into a massive chamber. Crystals covered the ceiling like stars. And prowling below
"Oh shit," Marcus breathed.
Essence beasts. Dozens of them.
Shadow wolves. Stone golems. Things Jayden didn't recognize serpents made of living crystal, birds with razor feathers.
All C rank or higher.
"This isn't right," Cinna whispered. "The briefing said light resistance "
A roar shook the chamber.
Something moved in the back. Massive. Essence radiating like a furnace.
Jayden's eye pulsed red. Full mode. He couldn't help it.
**[ANALYZING…]**
**[UNKNOWN ENTITY]**
**[Essence output: Critical. Estimated rank: B RANK OR HIGHER]**
**[WARNING: RETREAT IMMEDIATELY]**
"Run," Jayden said.
"What?"
"RUN!"
The entity emerged from the shadows.
A wolf. But wrong. Twisted. Its body was three times larger than normal, made of pure darkness with red eyes that burned like dying stars. Essence crackled around it like lightning.
**[CORRUPTED ALPHA SHADOW WOLF]**
**[Rank: B]**
**[Speed: 19.3 units. Power: 23.7 units.]**
**[Status: HOSTILE]**
It locked eyes with Jayden.
And charged.
"GO!"
They ran.
The wolf's roar followed them. The entire chamber shook. Lesser beasts scattered.
Jayden pushed his speed to maximum. His eye tracked the wolf's approach.
Too fast. Way too fast.
"Split up!" he shouted. "Head for different exits!"
"But "
"NOW!"
Marcus veered left. Cinna right. Jayden went straight.
The wolf chose Jayden.
*Of course it did.*
He ran harder than he'd ever run. His lungs burned. Legs screamed.
The wolf gained.
Jayden's eye showed him the math.
**[Distance: 23 meters. Closing speed: 8 meters per second. Intercept: 2.8 seconds.]**
Not enough time to reach the exit.
He spun mid run. Drew his blade. Shadow manifestation flared.
The wolf was a wall of darkness and teeth.
Jayden's eye flashed crimson.
**[ANALYSIS: Zero probability of survival in direct combat. Recommendation: ]**
The data cut off.
The wolf's jaws opened.
And everything went white.
**End of Chapter 8**