"…help…"
The whisper barely reached him, strangled and weak, but Jade's head snapped toward it instantly. His dual irises glimmered in the mist, cutting through the crimson haze.
The claw marks led straight into a cluster of boulders that jutted up like broken fangs. At first glance, they looked solid, impenetrable—but then he caught it. A crack, narrow enough for only a child to slip through. And inside, faint movement.
Lio.
Relief sparked through Jade's chest, sharp and fleeting—immediately crushed by the reality surrounding the rocks. Wolves.
At least a dozen of them prowled the perimeter, their claws carving lines into the black soil, muzzles wet with drool. Their glowing green eyes fixed on the crevice. One pawed furiously at the gap, snarling as though sheer persistence might break stone.
Lio had hidden well, but his sanctuary was fragile. The rocks trembled under every blow. They wouldn't last forever.
Jade's small hands curled into fists. Cold mist seeped out from his skin, wrapping the ground in creeping frost. His silvery-blue hair stirred in the dungeon's stale wind.
The wolves turned, nostrils flaring as they caught his scent. Growls deepened, the pack instinct shifting instantly—new prey, more accessible.
"Not prey," Jade whispered, voice calm. "Executioner."
The first wolf lunged. Jade met it head-on.
Ice surged up from the soil in a jagged spear, piercing straight through chest and throat. The monster gagged once before collapsing into frozen dust.
[EXP +290]
The pack roared as one. They swarmed.
Frost spiraled outward from Jade's feet, racing across the ground in a circle of rime. Every wolf that crossed it slowed, their legs stiffening, paws shattering ice as it crept upward. Jade raised both palms, and the mist crystallized into floating shards, sharp as blades.
He moved like water, like the cold given flesh. Each flick of his wrist loosed a shard. Each shard found a throat, an eye, a ribcage. Wolves fell one after another, howls rising and cutting short into silence.
[EXP +260]
[EXP +270]
[EXP +300]
Jade's eyes stayed fixed on the crack between the rocks, where a small pair of frightened eyes peeked out—Lio's, wide and shimmering in the fractured moonlight.
"Stay down," Jade said, soft but firm, though his gaze never left the enemies.
The last three wolves circled warily, foam dripping from their fangs. These ones were smarter, waiting for an opening. Jade tilted his head, hair falling across his face, and then he vanished.
Teleportation ripped him through space, reappearing behind the closest beast. Frost exploded from his hand, freezing it solid in an instant. He spun, flinging a lance of ice through the second.
The third barely had time to flinch before shadows surged up its legs, pulling it screaming into the earth.
Silence fell.
[EXP +280]
The mist shifted again, thinner, as though recognizing the slaughter.
Jade exhaled, tension leaving his shoulders only slightly. Then he turned toward the crevice.
"Lio," he called softly. "It's me. You can come out now."
...
...
Lio crawled out from the narrow crack, small body scraped and trembling, his hands raw from clawing at the rocks. His wide eyes locked on Jade, shimmering with tears that hadn't fallen yet.
"Jade…" His voice broke, low and hoarse.
The moment his feet cleared the stone, he stumbled forward and clung to Jade, burying his face against his shoulder. His body shook violently, sobs choking him even though he tried to hold them back.
"I–I'm sorry," he whispered, words spilling out in gasps. "I shouldn't have run… I shouldn't have been there… if I hadn't—" His throat tightened, guilt and terror tangled into every syllable. "I was a burden to you."
Jade's arms steadied him, cool and unshaking. He didn't offer comfort in flowery words, only quiet certainty: "You survived. That's what matters."
But Lio only trembled harder. "You shouldn't have had to come after me. I just made things worse."
Jade tilted his head, silvery-blue strands falling across his blindfold. His voice stayed calm, deliberate. "I came because you're important to Niamh, —and me". He continued, a faint blush crawling up his ears."Ahem,that's reason enough."He added.
The words broke whatever was left of Lio's restraint. He cried openly now, tears slipping hot against Jade's cool shoulder. For the first time in what felt like days of fear, he let it all go.
When he finally pulled back, his face was blotchy, streaked with dirt and salt. His voice was smaller, but steadier:
"You… you're not just my friend anymore, Jade." He swallowed, eyes shining. "You're my brother. Because only a brother would come for me like you did."
Jade blinked once, silently. Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded.
But Lio's gaze dropped, shame flickering through the gratitude. "…I'm older than you. I should be the one protecting you. And yet—" He glanced at the scattered dust of the wolves, then back at Jade, voice breaking. "It's you protecting me."
Jade placed a hand on his shoulder, grounding. "Strength doesn't care about age, Lio. But if it helps—then stay close to me, and we'll leave here together."
Lio bit his lip hard, then nodded, determination trembling under the weight of his sorrow.
...
The crimson mist thickened again as they walked, the dungeon refusing to grant them peace for long. Jade led, his small frame steady and sharp-eyed, every sense alive to the shifting world. Lio followed close, pressing one hand against the fabric of Jade's sleeve, as though afraid that if he let go, the dungeon itself might swallow him whole.
The deeper they went, the more the trees twisted. Their skeletal branches weren't just broken now—they stretched unnaturally, bending toward the center of the dungeon as if drawn to some great weight. The air grew heavier, vibrating faintly with the same resonance that had carried through the pack lord's howl.
Jade slowed. His irises shimmered faintly, scanning the unseen currents. The boss is close. It wants us to come to it.
The trail opened into a clearing. The soil here was different—scarred, charred black, with deep claw marks etched like runes into the earth. Bones littered the edges, some human, most not. And at the far side, half-hidden by coiled fog, lay the entrance to a cavern.
The howl came again, closer now. Deeper. The stones underfoot quivered, dust falling in soft rivulets from the cavern's maw.
Lio's grip on Jade's sleeve tightened. "That's… that's where it is, isn't it?"
Jade didn't answer immediately. His gaze was fixed on the cavern mouth, where faint green light pulsed like the glow of a heartbeat. At last, he nodded once. "Yes."
Lio's throat bobbed. "Jade, if—if it's too strong—"
Jade cut him off gently. "I came here for you. And I won't leave without you." His voice was calm, but there was an edge beneath it—a hunger sharpening the promise. And the system's reward is waiting in there.
A new sound bled into the clearing then. Not a howl, not claws on stone, but a low, guttural growl that vibrated in their very chests. The mist churned, recoiling from the cavern as something massive stirred within.
Two points of green fire appeared in the dark, glowing like lanterns. Then another pair. And another.
The ground shook as a massive shape stepped forward, fur bristling like black iron, fangs glistening with saliva that hissed when it hit the soil. Its shoulders scraped the cavern mouth as it emerged, each breath steaming white in the crimson haze.
Lio stumbled back, terror blanching his face. "Jade… that's not one wolf. That's—"
The beast stepped fully into the clearing, and the mist peeled back to reveal it: a monstrous alpha werewolf, towering three times Jade's height, its chest marked with glowing runes that pulsed with sickly green light. Behind it, smaller eyes glowed in the dark, dozens of them. The pack lord hadn't come alone.
Jade's lips parted, his dual irises flashing with cold light.
The dungeon trembled as the beast's roar split the clearing, shattering the silence like glass.
....