A heavy grinding sound rumbled through the dungeon as the passage to the second floor opened — a spiral staircase carved into the earth, narrow and ancient. Moss clung to the walls like veins of rot. Every step down pulsed with damp, suffocating air. The deeper they went, the more their surroundings felt… alive.
Zalthor took point again, eyes sharp and body tense. Lucien followed behind him with Elowyn, Zyra covering their rear. The silence between them was thick, broken only by the occasional drop of water echoing in the dark. Somewhere behind and to the side, out of sight, Nizara walked alone. Always alone.
"Second floor," he thought. "If the first tested our strength… this one will test our fear"
They reached the bottom. The chamber opened into a hauntingly vast cavern — stalactites hung like fangs from the ceiling, and rivers of glowing blue Aether carved through the stone like veins. The ground was uneven, littered with the remains of past challengers. Skulls, cracked weapons, shattered armor. Everything was bathed in a dim azure glow, but even so, it felt like stepping into the belly of a beast.
Lucien stepped forward cautiously. "This place… feels different."
"It's cursed," Elowyn murmured. "I can feel the Aether warping."
"Doesn't matter," Zalthor replied, unsheathing both of his short blades. "We push forward. The deeper we go, the stronger the monsters. We clear this floor. We move to the next."
Suddenly, a shriek pierced the air — not human, not beast. Just raw madness.
From the shadows, a creature slithered forward, unlike anything they'd seen. A humanoid shape, but twisted beyond reason. Bone jutted out from its back like jagged wings, its face a mass of twitching eyes and fanged mouths. It dragged a rusted chain behind it, soaked in dark liquid.
"Dungeon Wraith," Lucien whispered grimly.
"No," Zalthor said. "It's worse."
A dozen more followed it.
Then came the whispering.
Not from the monsters — from the walls, the ceiling, the very stone around them.
Zyra flared her hands, igniting both palms. "They're trying to mess with our minds!"
"Stay together!" Zalthor ordered, but the moment he said it, a blast of shadowy mist exploded around them. Aether interference — the floor was warping their senses.
Each member of Squad Z was pulled into isolated corners of the chamber, the terrain shifting like a nightmare.
Nizara found himself alone again — but this time, truly alone.
He stood in front of an ancient gate, stone-carved and sealed by runes. Around him, three Dungeon Wraiths crept out from the walls. Their bodies clicked with every movement, like broken glass crawling across stone.
"Of course," he muttered. "They send the freaks to me."
He didn't hesitate.
The first charged — fast and erratic. Nizara vanished mid-lunge, reappearing above its head.
"Storm Edge: Severance."
His blade cut clean through its neck, but the monster kept moving. It had no heart to stop. He ducked under its retaliation and slid between the second and third ones, slashing both their legs in a blink.
One got behind him — he spun just in time, barely blocking with the flat of his blade. It grabbed his shoulder with an inhuman grip, and he snarled.
Electricity burst from him in a violent surge.
"Touch me again and I'll erase your existence."
He jammed his blade into the creature's gut and released a massive burst of lightning, disintegrating it from within.
Somewhere across the chamber, Zyra was fighting for her life. Surrounded by four Wraiths, she twisted and ducked, using her flame to create barriers. "Burn, you creepy—!"
She launched a fireball that exploded mid-air, creating a shockwave. "Where the hell are you guys?!"
Elowyn was in another corridor, back pressed against the wall. She'd summoned a dome of Aqua Aether around herself, protecting from shadow spears launched by two floating creatures. Her hands trembled, but she held firm.
"I have to stay focused… If I fall here, we lose everything."
Lucien, meanwhile, was locked in combat with a beast twice his size — a boulder-skinned brute with multiple limbs and a mouth filled with grinding teeth. He ducked a fist and retaliated with an upward strike, creating a wall of stone that launched the beast into the air.
"Eat gravel."
He raised both hands. A spike erupted from the ceiling and impaled the creature mid-air.
Zalthor, always calm, moved like smoke through his enemies. He used the shadows around him as both weapon and armor, striking from impossible angles and vanishing before they could react.
One by one, Squad Z began regrouping. Zalthor found Zyra first, then Elowyn. Lucien arrived battered but breathing. Together, they fought through the chaos, pushing forward inch by inch.
Only Nizara remained unseen.
Deep in the forgotten section of the dungeon, he stood before a tall door made of silver. Runes glowed faintly, and he could sense something — a pull, something powerful waiting beyond it.
"This floor's boss… it's close."
The rest of Squad Z was nearing the same chamber, from different paths. As they reunited in the center of the floor, the ground beneath them cracked open.
A creature unlike any they'd faced rose from below — a towering amalgamation of bone, darkness, and corrupted light. It had wings of obsidian feathers and a mask sewn from faces. A Dungeon Revenant — the Guardian of this floor.
Zalthor stood at the front. "Formation. This is the final test before the third floor."
Zyra's flames roared to life. "Let's burn it down."
Lucien cracked his neck. "I'm tired of stone monsters. Let's break this one too."
The Revenant raised its arms — dozens of skeletal arms erupted from its back, grabbing at the air and forming a spear of pure black Aether. It hurled it toward them.
"Scatter!"
The team split, each taking a side. The battlefield was massive, the air humming with pressure.
From the shadows, Nizara watched.
He stepped forward.
"Let's see if you're strong enough to deserve the Artifacts of Light."
And with that thought, the final battle of the second floor began.