Kane's knees buckled. The crimson haze finally vanished from his eyes, and all strength drained from his body at once. He fell forward—only to be caught by small arms that clung to him desperately.
"Brother!" Reina cried, hugging him tightly as if her embrace alone could keep him from slipping away.
His head rested against her shoulder, his breath ragged but steady. The battlefield fell silent.
The berserk toys, the rabbit, even the battered robot—all stood frozen, their unnatural fury dispersing as though her tears had extinguished the fire inside them. Elysia's shimmering light spell dimmed, her voice soft but urgent:
"He's… stable. Thank the heavens."
The others slowly gathered around, their faces pale. They had seen Kane unleash his wrath before, but this… this was different. This wasn't just strength. It was destruction without thought. The raw embodiment of grief, rage, and sorrow unleashed in a storm.
And it terrified them.
A system chime echoed across the cavern.
[Emergency Quest Completed: Calm the Warlord's Rage]
Condition Achieved: Anchor Strengthened – Rage subdued through emotional resonance.]
The blue light of the system spread, illuminating Kane's unconscious form in Reina's arms. One by one, notifications appeared before the team.
Emergency Quest Rewards
Title Unlocked: Anchor of Blood
Your bond to your sibling transcends rage. When protecting your Anchor, you gain 20% resistance to mental corruption and berserk states. Your Anchor gains an aura that can soothe and stabilize your fury.
Unique Passive: Resonance of Bonds
When fighting alongside your Anchor, all stats increase by 10%. If the Anchor is in danger, your body instinctively acts to shield them, regardless of status effects.
Reward Item: Fragment of Soulsteel
A mysterious material formed from stabilizing the Warlord's soul through emotional chains. Can be forged into a weapon or armor with unique resonance to its wielder's spirit.
Experience Gained: 5,000 EXP (Distributed to all current dungeon members)
As the glow faded, silence lingered.
No one spoke at first. They all stared at Kane—at the way his unconscious body instinctively curled toward Reina, even now, as if shielding her in his sleep.
Finally, Lena whispered, voice trembling, "If… if he ever loses himself again, and Reina isn't there to reach him…"
Her words went unfinished. No one needed them to be. They had all felt it: the sheer destructive force of Kane's berserk state. Enough to level battlefields. Enough to turn allies to ash.
Reina hugged him tighter, her small face buried against his chest.
"I won't let him be alone," she said softly, her childish determination shaking every heart around her. "I'll always bring him back."
And for the first time since the chaos began, the entire team believed her.
The silence stretched long after Reina's soft vow. Finally, Maya exhaled, her spear lowering.
"That… wasn't just dangerous," she said, shaking her head. "That was a catastrophe waiting to happen. If Reina hadn't been here, if she hadn't calmed him…"
Selene, her arms crossed tightly, added in a low voice, "He would have leveled us. All of us."
Even Elysia's normally calm presence seemed tense. "The Warlord's profession… it is a double-edged blade. His fury grants him power unlike anything else, but his soul walks the line of shattering. That rage… it is grief weaponized."
The group stood in uneasy silence, each of them recalling the image of Kane's unstoppable rampage, the ground quaking beneath his every strike. His destructive aura had been so suffocating, so absolute, that even veteran warriors like Lena had felt like prey.
"But," Amara said, glancing toward Reina, who still clung to her brother's unconscious form, "he also shielded her. Even in the height of his fury, his instinct to protect her was stronger than his rage. That means something. That means… he can still be reached."
Elysia nodded, though her eyes were grim. "It means she is his anchor. His bond to her is what holds the storm at bay."
A new system notification appeared for all:
[Floor 6 Cleared: Dual Boss Arena Conquered]
[Dungeon Collapse Imminent – Rewards will be distributed once the party leader recovers.]
[Exit Protocol Available – Teleportation Circle Active.]
The ground beneath their feet rumbled as cracks began to form along the floor. A glowing circle manifested at the heart of the chamber, its runes pulsating with urgency.
Maya swore under her breath. "We need to move. Now."
Carefully, Lena lifted Kane from Reina's lap. The girl clung for a moment before Elysia reassured her, "He will not be taken from you. Come."
One by one, they stepped into the teleportation circle. A flash of blue light engulfed them, and the suffocating weight of the dungeon's atmosphere vanished.
They reappeared on the mountainside clearing where Kane had ordered one of the fighters and a scout drone to remain before their descent.
The waiting fighter nearly dropped his weapon when he saw them. "You're… back already?!" His eyes darted to the exhausted group, to Reina clutching Kane's hand. "What happened to him?"
Lena shook her head sharply. "Not here. Not now. We'll explain everything when we're back on the island."
The fighter frowned but nodded, knowing better than to press further. Still, he muttered under his breath, "Three hours. You were gone barely three hours."
Everyone froze.
"…What?" Maya asked, her tone sharp.
The fighter gestured vaguely toward the horizon. "You went in at midday. It's just past afternoon now. Not even evening yet."
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Nadia murmured, "Three hours outside… but inside…"
"Three days," Elysia finished grimly. "The dungeon's flow of time was altered. Accelerated. That explains why the hunger, the exhaustion, the passage of day and night felt real to us. It was real—but in there."
The revelation weighed heavy on all of them. They had spent three days surviving battle after battle, living every moment. Yet in the outside world, only hours had slipped by.
Reina, however, didn't seem to care. She tugged gently at Kane's arm. "He'll wake up, right?"
Elysia placed a steady hand on her shoulder. "Yes, little one. He is only resting now. He will wake."
As the team settled on the clearing's edge, preparing for the trip back to the island, the fighter they had left behind spoke again.
"While you were gone… I leveled up. Twice." He held up two pieces of equipment, their faint glow betraying their rarity. "And I found these. Both fit my fighting style perfectly."
Maya gave a faint smile despite her fatigue. "Good. We'll need every edge."
The group gathered close, surrounding Kane as if their combined presence alone could shield him. The collapse of the dungeon behind them sent a faint tremor through the mountainside, the portal vanishing into nothingness.
For now, they had survived. But the memory of Kane's berserk rampage lingered in each of their minds like a shadow.
And the unspoken truth was clear: the Warlord's fury was not just a weapon. It was a threat.
And they would need to prepare for the day when even Reina's embrace might not be enough.
The group began their trek back to the coast, moving through the shadowed treeline. The dungeon behind them had collapsed into nothing but a faint scorch-marked crater, its ominous energy gone as though it had never existed.
Kane remained unconscious, carried carefully in Lena's strong arms. His head rested against her shoulder, his breathing steady but shallow. Every so often, she would adjust his position, tucking his arm closer to his body or brushing away strands of hair matted by sweat.
Reina walked at her side, clutching Kane's hand with both of her tiny ones. Her wide, tear-reddened eyes never strayed from his face.
Maya trailed close behind, her spear slung across her back. More than once, she caught herself staring at Kane's battered figure. The bruises along his jaw, the bloodied tear in his armor, the faint strain in his clenched fists—every wound seemed to echo something deeper inside her chest.
Neither she nor Lena said anything aloud, but both carried the same unspoken realization: they cared. More than comrades should.
It wasn't duty. It wasn't simply loyalty to their leader.
It was something they couldn't quite name—an anchor pulling them toward him, just as Reina was his anchor to reality.
When Reina stumbled on a root, Lena bent instantly, steadying her without breaking stride. "Careful," she murmured. Her voice was unusually soft.
Reina nodded, then pressed her cheek against her brother's limp hand. "He's strong… but he always gets hurt for me…"
Maya's throat tightened at the child's words. She wanted to say something comforting, but the words tangled in her chest. Instead, she walked closer, brushing her hand lightly across Reina's hair. "That's who he is. But he'll wake up soon. You'll see."
The girl gave her a small smile, though her grip on Kane's hand didn't loosen.
The silence of the forest wrapped around them, broken only by the crunch of boots and the faint whirring of the scout drone overhead. Every member of the team was tense, but Lena and Maya bore something heavier than battle-weariness.
When they glanced at Kane—the man who had faced down horrors, who had shielded a falling boulder with his body even in the middle of madness—they felt the stirrings of something they weren't ready to voice.
Affection? Love? Or perhaps something far more dangerous in a world like this?
Neither of them knew. But both understood this truth:
If he ever broke completely… they wouldn't run. They couldn't.
They would be there. For him.
Always.
And so the group continued their march to the docks, with Reina at the front clinging to hope, and Lena and Maya behind her carrying something unspoken but powerful—something that tethered them just as strongly to Kane as Reina's tiny hands did.