The blue glow of the portal pulsed brighter as Kane and his team stepped into the cavern. Weapons ready, hearts pounding, they advanced as one.
The moment Kane crossed the threshold, his vision exploded in light.
It was blinding—white and endless—like the world itself had been stripped away. His stomach lurched, as if he were falling without end, and a low hum echoed in his bones.
Then, with a hard snap, the world slammed back into focus.
Stone walls. Damp air. The faint stench of rot.
Kane stumbled forward, catching himself on his blade. His team materialized around him one by one—Lena, Maya, the four fighters, even the mage. All of them shaken, but intact.
Except—
"Reina?!"
Kane spun around, heart hammering. His little sister wasn't there. The toys that never left her side were gone too.
"No, no, no…" His breath came sharp, ragged. He tore across the chamber, eyes scanning every corner. Nothing. Only shadows and faint echoes.
His blood roared in his ears. Not her. Not again.
Before he could spiral further, a system prompt appeared in burning blue:
[Dungeon Parameters Established]Floors: 6Party Distribution: RandomizedNotice: One individual has been placed on Floor 3.
The words stabbed into Kane's chest.
Floor 3. Alone. That could only mean one thing.
Reina.
He surged forward, fists clenched, every instinct demanding he tear the dungeon apart until he reached her. But Lena grabbed his arm.
"Kane, wait!" she barked.
Maya stepped in too, her voice urgent. "Charging blind will get you killed before you even reach her! You know that."
"I can't leave her—!" Kane's voice cracked, raw with panic.
"You won't," Maya pressed. "But you won't save her if you rush like a fool. We move smart. Together."
The fighters nodded grimly. Even the mage stood firm, staff steady despite the tension.
Before Kane could argue, another system chime echoed through the chamber:
[Kill Confirmed]Hostile Eliminated.+30 EXP.+25 Coins.Loot Obtained: Wolf Fang x2
Kane froze. His eyes widened.
A kill? A loot drop? And Reina wasn't with them…
That could only mean—
"She's alive," Lena whispered, awe flickering in her voice. "She's fighting."
Kane's chest heaved, torn between fear and disbelief. Slowly, his death grip on his blade loosened.
The system message had calmed what words could not.
Reina was still in this fight.
Somewhere deeper in the dungeon, in a chamber lit by eerie blue torches, a small figure sat nestled inside the armored arms of her toy guardian—a soldier-shaped doll now grown to the size of an average human. Its cold, featureless face scanned the shadows, rifle leveled.
Beside it, the rabbit and the robot prowled like predators, crimson eyes glowing as they tore through wolf-mutants with savage efficiency.
Each kill sent sparks of light into Reina's status window. The girl clutched her blanket, her small voice whispering, "B-Big brother will come… he promised."
The toys tightened formation around her, unyielding.
Reina was not alone.
The dungeon had split them, but it had also made a fatal mistake.
It had given the toys a battlefield.
The echo of the system notification still lingered in Kane's mind. Reina was alive—fighting in her own way. That alone steadied his heart, but it did not ease the urgency pressing on his chest.
"Move," Kane ordered, his voice cold and clipped now. "We clear this floor fast. No delays."
His team nodded in unison.
The first floor stretched like a twisted ruin of stone passages and broken halls, faint torchlight flickering across walls marked with claw gouges. Every shadow seemed to crawl with menace. Kane led at the front, Lena and Maya flanking the twins while the four fighters and mage took the rear guard.
They scavenged what little they found—rusted blades, scraps of armor, and strange herbs sprouting from cracks in the walls. Anything useful was stored away, though most of it looked like relics from another world.
Then the sound came.
Chitter. Snarl.
From the darkness ahead, five hunched shapes emerged—skin green and mottled, eyes gleaming with hunger. Goblins. Their crude knives dripped with black filth, and their crooked fangs flashed in the torchlight.
"First contact," Kane muttered, summoning his axe with a flash of steel. "Form up."
The goblins shrieked and lunged.
The four fighters surged forward, steel clashing with rusted iron. Kane's axe swept wide, cleaving one goblin in two, while Lena darted in with a precise thrust, dropping another. Maya's twin blades carved through a third with ruthless efficiency.
The last two goblins hissed and tried to circle—only to find themselves staring at the twins.
For a heartbeat, fear flickered across the sisters' faces. Then something stirred inside them. Their hands burned with new light.
[Profession Quest Completed: Apprentice Mage]Profession: Mage (Tier I) Unlocked.New Skill Obtained: Fire Bolt.
The sisters' voices overlapped, shaky but determined: "Fire Bolt!"
Twin bursts of flame streaked through the dungeon air. They struck the goblins square in the chest, igniting flesh and sending the monsters thrashing to the ground. The twins gasped at the sight of their first successful spell.
The system confirmed it:
+120 EXP+45 CoinsLoot Obtained: Goblin Hide x2, Rusted Knife
Kane allowed himself the faintest of smiles. "Good. You're mages now. Hold on to that power—we'll need it."
The group pressed onward, the tension ratcheting higher with every step. Finally, they reached a wide set of stone stairs descending deeper into the dungeon. Carvings of beasts and corpses lined the walls, and the air grew heavy with malice.
But as they approached the stairs, the stone trembled.
A low growl reverberated through the chamber.
From the darkness ahead, a massive figure emerged—its skin gray and cracked, its body towering twice the size of a man. Rusted chains hung from its wrists, and in one hand it gripped a club the size of a tree trunk. Its single eye glared with murderous light.
[Floor Guardian Detected – Hobgoblin Warden | Level 12]
Kane's grip tightened around his axe. "Guardian…"
The fighters stiffened, and the twins instinctively clutched each other's hands, their newly ignited mana flickering at their fingertips.
"This isn't optional," Kane growled. "We kill it, or we die here."
The Hobgoblin roared, slamming its club into the ground. The floor cracked beneath the force.
The battle for Floor 1 had begun.
Far below, Reina huddled in the protective arms of the soldier-toy. The rabbit and robot prowled the chamber's edges, mauling every goblin or wolf that dared step near.
Reina's small hands gripped her blanket tight, eyes wide with fear.
"I… I'll wait here," she whispered. "Papa said… big brother said… wait, and he'll come."
The toys stood like statues of wrath, unyielding and ever-watchful.
The little girl would not move. She would wait in that single spot until Kane found her.
The dungeon, for all its cruelty, would have to go through the toys first.