The path to Floor 20 was longer than any of them expected.
The tunnel stretched endlessly, carved through layers of blackened rock that shimmered faintly under the glow of their lamps. It wasn't natural light—just the dungeon's system-generated reflection. Every few steps, the walls pulsed with faint traces of blue light, like veins beneath skin. The air was colder now, and each breath came out as mist.
No one spoke for a long while.
Arios walked ahead, sword in hand. He didn't look back, but he could hear their footsteps behind him—Lucy's light steps, Liza's steady pace, Pokner's quiet, deliberate rhythm. They'd already cleared seventeen floors of the exam. The only thing left was the final floor—the "core," where the mana source of the dungeon should be.
That was the official goal.
But everyone already knew there was more going on than the academy's exam.
