The descent from Floor 7 felt wrong. Floor 8 was completely empty. No goblins, no slimes, not even the small creatures that usually filled the floor. Their torches burned against silent stone walls while the sound of their boots echoed too loud in the absence of monsters.
Vex's brow furrowed as he scanned the ground. "Nothing. Not even tracks."
Lyra touched the wall with fingers lingering on the damp moss. "The mana flow here is twisted, like everything's been pulled deeper down."
Aldric scoffed, though his voice was tighter than before. "So they moved. Creatures migrate. That's hardly unusual."
Kael let out a low whistle. "Then where the hell are they hiding? Because this silence is creeping me out."
Marcus said nothing but his sword stayed unsheathed.
Eron trudged at the back with the other two porters while the weight of his pack ground into his shoulders and sweat dampened his collar. He kept quiet.
The skinny porter smirked at him. "Even the dungeon doesn't want you, country boy."
The bald one grunted. "Don't worry. Something'll eat him soon enough."
Eron's grip on the straps tightened. *If even the adventurers look nervous, this isn't normal.*
By Floor 9, the unease had gotten worse with bones scattered through the hallways. Some fresh, some old. And deep scratches gouged the stone. They weren't the marks of wolves or goblins but longer, heavier cuts like something had dragged claws as thick as swords along the walls.
Vex crouched over a cracked ribcage. "Not from this floor. I've never seen breaks this clean."
Lyra's lips pressed tight. "This is wrong. This floor's supposed to be manageable for Silver Ranks."
Aldric muttered, "Enough. We adapt and keep going," but even he avoided looking at the carcass.
The GrayWolf party moved slower with torches hissing faintly as they flared in the damp air, and the silence pressed closer the deeper they went.
The stairwell to Floor 10 opened into a cavern far larger than any they'd passed, with the ceiling stretching beyond their torchlight and disappearing into shadow. The floor was cracked and pitted while pools of dark water reflected their faint firelight. The smell of copper, musk, and wet fur hung heavy in the air.
Vex stiffened. "Something's here."
A low rumble rolled through the cavern and dust shook loose from the ceiling. Two glowing points appeared in the darkness, then another pair.
Eron froze with his chest locked tight. *Eyes... no, not eyes. Too far apart. Too big.*
The beast stepped forward and moved low and heavy with massive arms dragging across the stone as it walked. Every step rippled with muscle under thick, scaled hide while a jagged horn jutted from its head and its mouth was lined with fangs long enough to pierce steel. A tail longer than its body whipped once and cracked like thunder, sending sparks flying across the cavern floor while its claws scraped stone with each step, gouging deep trenches.
Lyra's breath hitched. "That's not in any records. Floors one through thirty-eight... there's nothing like this documented."
Aldric's face had drained of color. "Then it came from much deeper floors."
Marcus's jaw was set like stone. "Vex, front! Don't let it break through!"
The beast roared and the entire cavern shook. It lunged before Vex could properly brace and its massive arm swung, hammering into him. Vex was thrown into the wall with a scream as his armor crumpled from the impact.
Kael loosed an arrow and it snapped against the creature's hide. Another arrow buried shallow in its shoulder, only making it snarl louder.
Aldric roared an incantation and fire blasted from his staff in a surge of orange flame, striking the monster square in the chest. For an instant, fire lit the entire cavern. Then the beast stepped forward through the flames, completely unburned.
The bald porter shouted in panic. "We can't fight that thing!"
The skinny one's voice cracked with eyes wide. "We're dead. We're all dead!"
Marcus snarled while slashing his blade across the beast's leg but the cut was shallow, too shallow. The tail whipped and the skinny porter screamed. The sound cut off as his body slammed against the cavern wall and bone cracked. He crumpled and didn't move.
Eron's stomach lurched. *Dead. Just like that. Dead in a second.*
The beast roared again while advancing on the scattered party. The bald porter broke completely and dropped his pack while spinning to run. "I'm not dying here!"
"Hold the line!" Marcus bellowed. "Use the porters if you have to!"
The words hit Eron like ice water. *That's why they wanted three of us. We're bait. Nothing more.*
The bald porter grabbed him by the straps and shoved him forward toward the beast. "Take him instead!"
Eron stumbled and the ground tilted under his feet while the massive tail whipped through the air. Pain exploded across his ribs as the force slammed through him and the floor cracked beneath his body. Stone shattered and suddenly there was nothing beneath him.
He fell and the hole gaped wide, swallowing him into darkness. Air ripped past his ears as his pack tore away and rocks scraped his arms as he tumbled, spinning helplessly through the void. The fall didn't end but kept going. Down, down, deeper than any staircase, deeper than any map showed possible.
*Too far. This can't be possible.*
He opened his mouth to scream but the roar of rushing air drowned everything. Crystals embedded in the walls flared with faint blue light as he plummeted past them while caverns opened around him and vanished again as he fell even deeper.
His body slammed into water and the impact drove all air from his lungs. Cold darkness covered him and the freezing water crushed him from all sides. He thrashed with his chest burning while survival instinct forced his arms to move. He kicked, clawed, and struggled upward toward what he hoped was the surface.
At last his head broke through and he gasped, coughing and choking on the bitter taste of mineral-heavy water. The echoes of his ragged breathing carried far in the vast space around him.
He floated weakly and forced himself to paddle toward the edge while his fingers scraped stone. He dragged himself onto the slick surface and collapsed, coughing up water until his ribs screamed in pain.
He lay there and stared up at the jagged black ceiling far above where crystals glimmered faintly like distant stars, though their light was too dim to illuminate the far walls of this enormous space. He'd survived somehow.
But when he turned his head, his stomach dropped. The cavern stretched enormous, larger than anything he'd seen in the upper floors, with pools of black water spreading into rivers that vanished into dark tunnels. The air was heavy and damp while every sound was magnified.
Then he heard something else. A ripple crossed the far side of the underground lake and a shape moved in the darkness, too large to be natural with its outline swallowed in shadow. Two faint eyes glowed across the water, watching him.
Eron's breath hitched and his entire body froze eyes didn't blink while a low growl rolled through the cavern, so deep it vibrated in his bones.
He had no idea where he was but the terror on the adventurers' faces told him enough. He'd fallen to a floor no one had ever reached and now he was completely alone in it with something that had been waiting in the darkness.