No one spoke for a while. They were still processing the sudden attack, adrenaline slowly fading from their systems.
The remains of the Shadow Maws had vanished completely, leaving only faint scorch marks and black stains on the stone. But the tension they'd left behind lingered like smoke.
Kael was the first to move. He wiped the last traces of black blood from his dagger with a torn piece of cloth, then sheathed it carefully. He rolled his shoulder to ease the dull ache where the creature's claws had grazed him.
The wound had already stopped bleeding. Thanks to his Adaptive Regeneration and possibly his newly acquired Abyssal Endurance, the pain was fading fast, muscles knitting back together beneath the torn fabric.
Mira, still staring at the weapon at his belt, finally spoke. Her voice was quieter than before. "That dagger... It absorbed the Shadow Maw, not just killed it."
Kael didn't answer. He wasn't sure himself what had fully happened. The mechanics were unclear. But he knew one thing for certain, the dagger wasn't ordinary. It was growing stronger with each kill. Just like he was.
Reiner exhaled heavily, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. "We can't stay here. If those things were scouting ahead for a larger pack, more might come."
"Agreed," Luthen grunted, checking the edge of his axe for damage. "We should get moving now to put distance between us and whatever else is down here."
Sera nodded sharply, already slinging her bow across her back and checking her quiver. Oris remained silent, but he stood and readied his staff without complaint.
The group gathered their scattered gear quickly, efficiently. No one wanted to linger.
They moved deeper into the third floor.
The tunnels stretched long and winding, twisting unpredictably in ways that made Kael's sense of direction feel useless. Paths doubled back on themselves. Chambers opened into identical chambers. Nothing felt stable.
Unlike the previous floors, which had clear paths and structured chambers carved by time and erosion, this place felt different.
"The Shifting Labyrinth", that's what some challengers called it, according to the memories Kael had inherited.
Despite being an F-rank dungeon, this one had the potential to grow further. It sat at the very peak of its rank, teetering on the edge of evolving into a D-rank dungeon, something more dangerous for mere Primal Warriors.
The deeper they went, the more the dungeon itself seemed to change around them. Paths that should have led back to their starting point suddenly curved elsewhere. Dead ends appeared where passages had been moments before.
The walls seemed closer than they had been, pressing in gradually. The sound of footsteps echoed strangely through the tunnels, sometimes as if there were more than just six of them walking.
Sera broke the silence, voice tight. "I don't like this."
"No one does," Reiner muttered, eyes scanning the darkness ahead. "Stay close. Don't get separated."
Kael kept to the back of the group, his eyes constantly scanning the shadows. The air felt uncomfortable here, gloomy somehow. His keen instincts could feel something watching them, not one thing, but many. Invisible eyes in the darkness that observed their every move.
After nearly an hour of cautious travel, though time felt distorted here, so it might have been less or more, they reached a crossroads.
Three tunnels stretched before them, each leading into darkness.
The first was wide and sloped sharply downward. Its walls were marked with deep claw marks, some fresh enough that stone dust still drifted in the air. The scent of something rotten wafted up from below.
The second was narrow but navigable. Dim blue light glowed faintly from crystals embedded in the stone walls, providing just enough illumination to see by. The air here smelled cleaner, almost sterile.
The third... was different. It was silent, too silent in fact.
There was no echo or air current. The shadows inside were darker than they should be, as if light itself refused to enter. Something about it made every hair on Kael's arms rise, his instincts screaming danger.
Reiner didn't hesitate. "We take the second path."
No one argued. The first had clear signs of recent monster activity, large monsters, judging by those claw marks. The third... they all knew instinctively that something was wrong with it. Something worse than beasts.
Without another word, the group entered the blue-lit tunnel.
The moment they stepped inside, the temperature dropped noticeably. Their breath misted faintly in the suddenly cold air.
The glowing crystals gave off an eerie light that cast their surroundings in an unnatural blue hue. Unlike the previous tunnels, this one was smoother, its walls almost polished, as if it had been carved by something intelligent rather than formed through natural erosion.
Kael's steps were silent on the stone floor, but he could feel something beneath his boots. A faint, rhythmic vibration like a heartbeat.
He exhaled slowly, breath fogging. "This place is getting stranger by the minute."
"We need to move fast," Reiner said quietly, not looking back. "This floor plays tricks on you if you stay in one place too long. The labyrinth shifts. People get lost and some never find their way out."
Kael had already figured that much out. But he also felt something else. They weren't alone.
A faint rustling started behind them. Subtle at first, easy to dismiss as imagination. But it grew steadily louder. A moving presence at the very edge of their vision, always just out of clear sight.
Kael didn't look back immediately. He kept walking, his senses heightened to their peak. But he was listening attentively, observing the corner of his vision.
The others noticed too. Reiner's grip on his sword hilt tightened, knuckles white. Mira's fingers hovered near the pouch at her belt where she kept spell components. Luthen's entire stance grew tenser, weight balanced for sudden movement.
A faint sound of whispering could be heard, almost imperceptible. But it was there, dozens of voices speaking in languages that didn't quite make sense, words that slithered around the edges of meaning without ever becoming clear.
Sera spun suddenly, bow raised with an arrow already nocked. "Something's following us."
No one doubted her words. But the tension in the air was suffocating, pressing down on them like a physical weight.
Kael finally turned his head, looking back down the tunnel they'd come from.
For a brief moment, he saw something.
A warping shape.
Barely visible in the dim blue light. It clung to the walls, moving in unnatural, jerking motions, like a distorted reflection on rippling water. It had no distinct features. Just a mass of shifting darkness that seemed to absorb the crystal light rather than reflect it.
Their eyes met. Or at least, Kael felt the weight of its attention lock onto him.
And as fast as it had appeared, it was gone. Vanished as if it had never been there at all.
Mira whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "What was that...?"
ARRRRGGGHHH!
A loud shriek erupted from everywhere at once, definitely not human, but not quite animal either.
The tunnel exploded into chaos.
Creatures poured from the walls themselves, not breaking through, but 'emerging' from the stone as if it were liquid. Warping shadows breaking into sudden, violent movement.
They weren't beasts like the Shadow Maws. These were different. More ethereal, less solid.
Wraiths.
"High-level Feral Beast: Wraith"
Flickering, humanoid forms made of pure abyssal mist. Their bodies constantly shifted and distorted, never quite maintaining a single shape.
Glowing white eyes were the only solid thing about them, twin points of cold light that tracked movement with unnerving precision.
They didn't walk but floated, twisting unnaturally through the air as they lunged forward with clawed hands that seemed to pass through physical space.
Kael reacted instantly.
His dagger flashed, slicing through one of the creatures. The blade met no solid resistance, only mist and cold air. But the wraith screeched, recoiling as if the weapon had burned it. Black smoke rose from where the blade had passed through its form.
They weren't invincible.
"Stay together!" Reiner shouted, swinging his sword in a wide arc.
His blade was coated in a faint layer of pale aura, some technique Kael didn't recognize. The empowered steel tore through one of the wraiths, scattering it into dissipating wisps.
Luthen took the front position, his axe beginning to glow with a dull orange light. He cleaved through another wraith with a roar, the enchanted weapon passing through its form and leaving nothing behind.
Oris raised his staff high, and bright golden symbols flared to life in the air around him. The glowing runes repelled the creatures like an invisible barrier, forcing them back several feet.
But they kept coming. Wave after wave.
For every wraith that fell, two more emerged from the walls. They were endless.
Mira threw out a burst of fire, bright orange flames exploding outward. The wraiths shrieked and pulled back from the heat and light. "They're drawn to the crystals!" she shouted over the chaos. "They feed on the energy here! We can't fight them all!"
Kael's mind worked quickly, processing the information. If that was true... then staying here was suicide.
"Go!" Reiner ordered, already moving. "Run!"
They broke into a sprint, weapons still swinging to clear a path. The tunnel twisted unnaturally, at times, it felt like they were moving in circles, the same formations of crystals passing by twice. But they pushed forward, following Reiner's lead.
Kael didn't look back. He focused on the path ahead, on every shift in the terrain, every flicker of movement in his peripheral vision. The wraiths were fast, faster than the Shadow Maws, but they weren't as coordinated. They lashed out at random, driven by mindless hunger rather than strategy.
They could use that to their advantage.
Luthen roared as one of the creatures latched onto his back, its clawed hands sinking into his shoulder. Black frost spread from the contact, freezing his armor.
Sera fired an arrow without breaking stride, the projectile passed straight through the wraith's head, and it dispersed with a shriek. "Keep moving!"
A spot of light appeared ahead. Brighter than the blue crystal glow. A way out, finally.
Kael pushed forward, his enhanced speed kicking in. The others followed, their breath ragged, weapons still slashing at the creatures nipping at their heels like hunting dogs.
They burst through the tunnel's exit, stumbling into a vast cavern that opened up suddenly.
The wraiths didn't follow them out.
Kael spun, watching as the creatures hovered just at the threshold of the exit. Their forms flickered violently, as if they were being torn apart by invisible forces. They reached toward the group with translucent claws but couldn't cross.
Something was holding them back. An invisible barrier, or perhaps the wraiths simply couldn't exist outside the crystal tunnel's energy field.
Then, one by one, they vanished. Fading like morning mist under sunlight.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Reiner bent over, hands on his knees, panting hard. "What... the hell... was that?"
Mira wiped sweat from her brow with a shaking hand. "Wraiths. Energy-based creatures. They don't usually appear this high in any F-rank dungeon. They're supposed to be mid-D-rank threats at minimum."
"Everything's changing," Oris muttered, his eyes distant. Then his gaze shifted to Kael, lingering there. As if he suspected something.
Kael sheathed his dagger and scanned the new cavern they'd entered. This place was getting more dangerous by the hour.