The tremor did not fade.
At first, Arios assumed it would informedly settle, the way dungeon structures often did after a localized collapse or energy discharge. Minor instability was expected when corrupted mana pools imploded. The stone would shudder, the flow would re-route, and the deeper systems would compensate.
This time, the vibration lingered.
It pulsed at irregular intervals, not rhythmic enough to be a natural reset, not chaotic enough to be a full-scale breach. Each pulse traveled through the ground like a distant heartbeat—slow, heavy, deliberate.
Arios stopped walking.
He closed his eyes and let his awareness expand, not outward, but inward, tuning himself to the dungeon's mana currents seeeping through the stone beneath his feet. What he felt made his brow tighten almost imperceptibly.
The dungeon was not correcting itself.
It was responding.
