The Safe Room did not last.
Elara learned that before the System bothered to tell her.
The warmth faded first—so subtly she almost didn't notice. The soft pressure in her chest, the gentle easing of pain, began to thin, like a blanket being slowly pulled away. The light dimmed by a fraction. Enough to feel, not enough to panic over.
Her phone vibrated once.
SAFE ROOM DURATION EXCEEDED
Continued occupation will result in diminishing returns.
"Of course it will," Elara muttered.
"You get that too?" Dani asked through the channel.
Elara stiffened. "You're still connected?"
"We're all still connected," Jonah said. "Channel didn't drop. It doesn't look like it will."
"Yeah," Dani said. "It didn't cut us off. I think it wants us talking."
"That's creepy," Marcus said immediately.
Jonah exhaled slowly. "Everything here is intentional. Even the things we think are kindness."
Rin laughed softly. "Wow. You sound fun at parties."
"I sound alive," Jonah replied.
Elara pushed herself to her feet, rolling her shoulders experimentally. They still ached, but she could move. Whatever the Safe Room did, it wasn't healing—just stabilizing.
"Does anyone know what happens when you leave?" Marcus asked.
"Monsters," Dani said. "Hallways. Rooms that don't stay the same."
"Encouraging," Rin said.
Elara walked to the door. The etched lines pulsed faintly now, slower than before, like a tired heartbeat.
"If the room's expiring," she said quietly, "we shouldn't all leave at once. We don't even know if we're… near each other."
"We're not," Jonah said. "I tested that. Tried walking toward a voice I heard earlier. Didn't find anything. Space here doesn't map clean."
That made Elara's stomach twist.
"So we're alone," Marcus said.
"No," Jonah corrected. "We're isolated. There's a difference."
The door slid open without ceremony.
Cold air rushed in.
Elara stepped out first.
The corridor beyond was different than before—wider, the ceiling ribbed like exposed bones. The stone underfoot was dry, but stained with dark streaks that made her avoid stepping on them instinctively.
The Safe Room door slid shut behind her.
She didn't turn back.
"Okay," she whispered. "I'm out."
Static crackled on the line.
"I'm moving too," Dani said. "Left corridor. Smells awful."
"Staying put for thirty seconds," Jonah said. "Listening."
"Yeah, same," Marcus added quickly.
Rin hummed. "Guess it's you and me, Elara. First out."
Elara didn't respond. She moved slowly, phone raised to light the way, every sense stretched tight.
The dungeon felt… awake now.
She hadn't noticed it before, but the walls weren't still. Not moving—not exactly—but subtly reactive. Sound carried strangely, sometimes echoing, sometimes swallowed whole.
She rounded a corner—
—and nearly walked straight into it.
It was pressed flat against the wall, so still it might have been part of the stone itself.
Until it wasn't.
The thing peeled itself free with a wet sound, unfolding like a nightmare insect. It was taller than her—long-limbed, with too many joints bending the wrong way. Its body was plated in dark, overlapping segments like burned armor, each plate etched with faint red veins that pulsed slowly.
Its head was narrow, triangular, with a ring of small, grinding mandibles where a mouth should be.
No eyes.
Again.
"Oh no," Elara breathed.
The creature's limbs flexed.
It moved.
Fast.
"Elara!" Rin shouted. "Something just triggered—I just got a proximity alert and visual feed." A pause, then, "Hold on—yeah, I can see it on my screen. Oh yuck, what is that thing?"
The thing lunged.
Elara threw herself sideways, barely avoiding the strike as one blade-like limb slammed into the stone where her head had been. Sparks flew. The impact rang.
She scrambled to her feet, heart slamming against her ribs.
"I've got another one!" she gasped.
"What does it look like?" Jonah demanded.
Rin chimed in then, "You can see too. Just check the feed."
"Oh. You're right." Marcus said.
"Tall—plated—too many legs—no eyes!" Elara clarified anyway.
"Armor type," Jonah said instantly. "Don't stab the front. Find gaps."
"Gaps?" Elara shouted as the creature pivoted, mandibles clicking rapidly.
She ducked as another limb sliced through the air. Pain flared as something grazed her arm—hot, sharp. Blood welled instantly.
She cried out.
The creature reacted.
It lunged toward the sound.
Elara stumbled back, realization hitting hard. "It tracks noise!"
"Then stop screaming," Rin said, voice tight but controlled.
Easy for her to say.
Elara clamped her mouth shut, breath coming in shallow gasps. She forced herself to move quietly, slow and deliberate despite the terror screaming in her head.
Her eyes flicked over the creature's body.
Between the plates—there.
A narrow seam along its side, where the armor didn't quite meet.
She waited.
The creature twitched, searching, mandibles grinding.
Elara moved.
She surged forward in a sudden burst, driving her stone shard into the seam with everything she had.
The resistance was harder this time—gritty, like cutting into cartilage and bone. The creature shrieked, a piercing metallic sound that rattled her teeth, thrashing violently.
She yanked the shard free and struck again.
And again.
A blade-limb clipped her shoulder, spinning her sideways. She slammed into the wall, vision blurring.
"Don't let it pin you!" Jonah shouted.
Elara screamed—couldn't help it—as the creature reared back for another strike.
Something inside her shifted.
The fear didn't disappear.
It went quiet.
Everything slowed.
She saw the limb coming. Calculated the angle. Twisted just enough to avoid the worst of it. Pain flared—but distant, muted.
She drove the shard upward into the seam one final time.
The creature convulsed violently, limbs spasming, mandibles grinding uselessly before it collapsed in on itself with a heavy, ringing thud.
Elara dropped to her knees.
Her breath came in shaky bursts. Her arm burned. Her shoulder throbbed. Blood dripped steadily onto the stone.
"I—" She swallowed hard. "It's down."
Silence on the channel.
Then—
"Holy shit," Marcus whispered.
Rin let out a low breath. "You're kind of terrifying, Elara."
Jonah didn't sound relieved.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"Yeah," Elara said honestly. "But I'm still standing."
Her phone buzzed.
Combat stress adaptation detected.
Pain response delay initiated.
New data available: Neutralized Entity File unlocked.
She frowned. "Uh… guys?"
"What?" Dani asked.
"I think it just changed something in me."
No one replied immediately.
Then Jonah spoke, quietly. "Yeah. It does that."
Elara leaned back against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting, staring at the dissolving remains of the creature as they broke apart into dark fragments and faded away.
She pressed a shaking hand to her chest.
This dungeon didn't teach with rules.
It taught with consequences.
And she was learning fast.
* * *
MONSTER ENCOUNTER LOG — ENTRY 002
Designation: Unknown (Provisional: Platescourge)
Encounter Location: Ribbed Corridor — Sublevel Unknown
Threat Level: Moderate (Solo Participant)
Description:
Tall, multi-limbed humanoid-insect morphology
Overlapping armored plates with visible seam gaps
No visual organs detected
Mandibular grinding apparatus