EXP Gained: 52
EXP Gained: 47
EXP Gained: 58
EXP Gained: 43
The numbers stacked quietly.
Lower.
Consistent.
So I was right.
These were low level.
Dust drifted through the corridor as I turned slowly toward the buried passage. The collapse had stopped — but not fully. Small pieces of stone still shifted. Pebbles tumbled down from the packed rubble. Cracks settled with quiet grinding sounds.
The dungeon wasn't done moving.
The path to the core was gone. Completely sealed.
For now.
I waited.
Focused.
Cold air—
Nothing.
No pull. No direction.
The breeze that had guided me before was gone, sealed behind the collapse.
I exhaled slowly.
If I wanted to reach the core… I'd have to find another way.
I moved back the way I came, passing through hallways I recognized.
Eventually, I reached the spot where I'd seen the Vireloch trapped by the spiral jutting from the ground. Its lifeless body still rested there, skin melted into the stone beneath it as if the dungeon had absorbed what remained.
I didn't stop.
I retraced my steps until the tunnel widened.
The junction.
Three paths.
I'd stood here before.
The same faint currents brushed against me again — warmth from one, rot from another, and the last… the one that had once carried the cold.
I stood there, weighing my options.
Part of me wanted to take the warm path. It felt safe. Comforting.
But I knew better.
That path wouldn't lead me where I needed to go.
My gaze shifted toward the corridor that reeked of death.
I sighed.
And stepped forward.
The deeper I moved, the heavier the feeling became. Dread pressed in on me, thickening with every step.
Pulse Tremor was useless this far down. Whatever was buried in this section of the dungeon continued to smother the vibrations before they could reach me.
Silence swallowed everything.
It wasn't just quiet.
It was the kind of silence that felt earned.
As if nothing that had ever walked this path had survived long enough to leave a sound behind.
Then I noticed a faint light ahead.
A flicker.
As I approached, drag marks came into view. They led to a body.
A monster I didn't recognize.
It was partially withered, but something on its head still glowed faintly, clinging to life as if it hadn't quite died yet.
Did it only die recently?
I knelt and examined it.
The withering hadn't fully taken hold — but it was unmistakably dead.
My gaze shifted back to the drag marks.
Did something drag it here?
Why?
I looked farther down the corridor.
More shapes.
Bodies.
At first, only silhouettes.
I stood and continued forward.
The deeper I went, the more corpses appeared. More drag marks too — overlapping now, tangled, as if many bodies had been hauled into this area over time.
The closer ones were more withered.
Some had degraded so badly that even if I'd known what they were, I wouldn't have been able to identify them anymore.
Something faint caught my eye in the ground.
I knelt again, pushing a dead monster aside.
There was a crack in the stone.
Inside it — a faint glimmer of purple light.
That looks like the stones…
I leaned closer.
It wasn't just light.
It was moving.
Flowing beneath the surface like a river of purple energy threading through the cracks in the dungeon floor.
I glanced back at the monster.
A thin strand of purple light connected its body to the crack, feeding into the flow beneath the ground.
It was faint.
But visible.
I stared, trying to understand what I was seeing.
Then memory surfaced.
The first Vireloch I fought in the forest.
How the land withered when it used its power.
How I'd felt drained when my fist stayed inside its body for too long.
A thought formed.
I let it settle.
…Is this draining the life out of them?
I looked around again — more carefully this time.
I moved to the other bodies, lifting them just enough to see beneath.
The same faint glow.
All of them connected.
All feeding into the same purple flow beneath the dungeon floor.
I followed the crack as far as it went, until it climbed the wall and faded into solid stone.
I pressed my hand against it and activated Pulse Tremor.
Nothing.
The sensation returned completely nullified — like I wasn't allowed to feel past the wall at all.
I stepped back slowly.
Taking everything in.
Footsteps echoed.
Not again.
I dove behind the corpse of a large monster, one that was only half-withered, flattening my mimic larva body low against the ground.
Purple lights approached from multiple directions.
Virelochs.
They shuffled into view, groaning softly at one another.
Low, rumbling sounds passed between them — broken, strained. They tapped the walls as they moved, claws scraping stone, pausing as if listening.
Checking.
Testing.
It sounded like a discussion.
Like they were deciding something.
Which bodies to take.
Whether it was safe.
Are they… communicating?
Three of them grabbed corpses and began dragging them down the hallway.
They didn't notice me.
I stayed still until they passed.
Then I followed.
Carefully.
I'd been caught once before.
I wasn't making that mistake again.
The winding hallways eventually opened into a wide chamber.
The purple light intensified.
I peeked around the corner—
And froze.
Countless bodies.
Some intact. Some partially withered. Others reduced almost to nothing but hollow shells.
All dead.
At the center stood a massive stone.
Jagged.
Broken, as if torn from something larger.
The purple light pouring from it was overwhelming.
I watched as the Virelochs dropped the bodies onto the pile.
The stone pulsed.
Hard.
A violent surge rippled through it — pressure bursting outward in a single crushing wave. The air tightened around me, dense and suffocating, like something invisible had slammed into my chest.
My vision wavered.
I had to look away.
When I forced myself to look back, streams of purple light tore free from the corpses, flying straight into the stone.
The withering accelerated instantly.
Bodies shriveled.
Collapsed.
Vanished.
Until only hollow shells remained.
Those already fully withered were picked up and thrown into a growing pile at the edge of the chamber.
The pile was enormous.
Then the ground rumbled.
I didn't need Pulse Tremor to feel it.
Something large entered the room.
Dragging something heavy.
A wagon.
The Virelochs began loading the withered remains onto it.
My eyes shifted to the creature pulling it.
Red glowing eyes.
The same as the Orrick.
The same as the Skirven.
Realization hit.
…So this is the origin.
The dungeon made them like that.
This dungeon is far worse than what I signed up for.
I wonder if Verren knows.
Once the wagon was full, the creature let out a deep roar and moved toward the chamber entrance.
I pulled back instantly, slipping around the corner.
The rumbling drew closer—
Then faded.
I peeked out, confused.
Where did it go?
The chamber was empty.
No Virelochs.
No wagon.
Nothing.
I checked every corner before stepping inside.
Some bodies remained — but far fewer than before.
I approached the stone.
The closer I got, the stronger the purple light became.
I scanned the chamber again.
Multiple exits.
I sighed.
…I hope I don't get lost.
Then my focus returned to the stone.
The purple glow pulsed once—
And my vision tunneled.
I didn't decide to move.
My hand moved anyway.
Slowly at first.
Like I was watching someone else control it.
Don't—
Too late.
Something in the pulse tightened around my mind. Not physical. Not visible. Just pressure. Subtle.
Commanding.
My fingers twitched.
Then stretched.
The air between us thickened, charged, dragging me forward inch by inch.
I tried to pull back.
My body didn't listen.
The stone pulsed again.
Harder.
My thoughts dulled at the edges.
My hand pressed against it.
Power exploded into me.
My senses fractured.
Up wasn't up.
Down wasn't down.
I staggered—
Then it came.
A voice.
Old.
Ragged.
Unimaginably vast.
"Who dares."
The words weren't spoken.
They were forced into me.
Pressure crushed inward, like something enormous had wrapped its hand around my mind and squeezed.
My skull felt ready to split.
My eyes snapped open.
My hand was stuck to the stone.
For a split second, I saw a human face—
Then it twisted.
Warped.
Skin stretched too tight over something shaped wrong. The eyes sank inward, then bulged again — pupils splitting and merging in wet, unnatural motion. The mouth opened wider than bone should allow.
And behind it—
Something else.
Something looking through the face.
A demonic visage with human remnants clinging to it like a disguise lunged into my vision.
I tore my hand free with a wet snap and stumbled back, scraping across the stone.
My breathing spiraled.
Too fast.
Too shallow.
Even though I didn't need to breathe.
What was that?
Who was that?
I forced myself to look around.
The chamber was still there.
Stone walls. Fractured ground. Cold air.
I was still here.
Nothing stood in front of me.
No face.
No body.
No movement.
Just silence.
I slowed my breathing anyway.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
The air felt colder now.
Heavier.
Then the voice came again.
Not loud.
Not shouted.
Just… present.
It didn't echo off the walls.
It echoed inside my skull — slow, dragging, like something ancient shifting.
A chill crawled through me — down a spine I didn't technically have, into limbs that suddenly felt fragile.
Small.
Observed.
The image of that warped face clung to my mind.
Not a monster.
Not fully human.
Something wearing both.
Poorly.
Watching.
Waiting.
And I understood it instinctively.
It hadn't lashed out.
It hadn't attacked.
It had simply…
Noticed me.
I swallowed.
I don't know what that is.
But whoever it is—
It's beyond dangerous.