The ground split open without warning.
No tremor.
No alert.
Just a crimson glow erupting from the center of the plaza, followed by a roar that seemed to rise from the earth's core.
[UNIQUE MISSION: DUNGEON SEAL]
Objective: Penetrate the Underground Dungeon and defeat the Boss to seal the portal.
Warning: Dungeon is active. Competing teams detected: 5.
Rule: Only one team may seal the portal. All others… will be eliminated.
"Eliminated?" Rioyin frowned. "By who?"
"By the system," Samune said, pale. "Or by the other Captains."
Before Kikoshin could respond, the glow swallowed them whole.
The world dissolved into red light.
When they regained consciousness, they were in a labyrinth of black stone tunnels—damp, with walls covered in pulsing runes that throbbed like veins.
The air reeked of dried blood and rotting fungus.
"Where are we?" Miojo whispered, instinctively grabbing Kikoshin's arm.
He didn't notice. He was scanning the darkness.
"Underground. Deep. And we're not alone."
From the shadows, goblins emerged.
Not the small ones from the park.
These were taller, armored in bone, with red eyes. They carried rusted axes and growled in a guttural tongue.
"Delta Formation!" Kikoshin shouted.
Darius and Sumo took the front, shields improvised from metal plates torn from the walls.
Rioyin and Eli flanked the sides, knives drawn.
Miojo, Lucas, and Talia grouped in the center.
Samune and Nia assessed routes.
Mira stayed beside Kikoshin, silent.
The first goblin attacked.
Rioyin intercepted it with a brutal spin, driving his knife into its neck. Black blood splattered his face.
But another struck him in the back with an axe.
A rib cracked with a sickening crunch.
"Rioyin!" Sumo yelled.
"I'm still standing!" he roared, spinning and splitting the goblin's skull with a sharp blow. Bone shattered like glass.
Kikoshin charged into the fray.
He didn't draw his dagger right away.
First, he blocked an axe with his forearm, feeling the impact rattle his teeth.
Then, he grabbed the goblin by the throat, lifted it, and slammed it into the wall. Its skull burst against the stone.
Miojo ran to Rioyin, hands glowing.
"I don't need your help," he snapped.
"Your side is bleeding!" she insisted.
"Then I'll bleed. But don't treat me like a child."
Kikoshin watched them but didn't intervene.
He knew the tension between them was just a reflection of his own with Rioyin.
"More coming!" Eli shouted from the east tunnel.
This time, ten goblins advanced in formation.
"Focus fire on the leader!" Nia ordered.
Darius charged, opening a gap.
Sumo dropped two with a spinning kick.
Samune used a chain to entangle three others.
And Kikoshin…
cut through them like a blade.
Every move was precise:
—Block → spin → tendon cut → goblin falls → throat finisher.
—Stomach kick → knee to jaw → bone crunch → silence.
Black blood coated his hands, his clothes, his eyes.
When the last goblin fell, the tunnel fell silent…
except for the team's ragged breathing.
Miojo approached Kikoshin, a bandage in hand.
"You have a cut on your brow," she said softly.
He touched it. Red blood, not black.
"It's nothing."
"Let me heal it," she insisted.
He hesitated… then nodded.
Miojo stepped closer.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
Golden light bloomed from her palms, and the wound closed.
For a second, their eyes met.
She wanted to say something.
He didn't know what.
"Thanks," he said, stepping back.
She looked down, blushing.
He doesn't even notice, she thought.
But before the moment could linger, a distant scream echoed from deep within the labyrinth.
Not a goblin's.
A human's.
"Kill the Boss before the others do!" a male voice shouted.
"Team Viper!" Talia recognized.
"Not just them," Samune said, pointing to marks on the wall. "Five teams have passed through here. All heading to the same place."
"Then we run," Kikoshin said.
"Or we fight," Rioyin said, wiping his knife on his sleeve. "Because if we arrive last, there'll be no reward. Just corpses."
Kikoshin looked at him.
"We're not here to kill other Players."
"Oh, no?" Rioyin stepped closer, voice low and venomous. "Then tell me, Captain… what will you do when one of them tries to kill Miojo to weaken us?"
Miojo paled.
Kikoshin clenched his jaw.
"I'll stop them," he said. "But I won't be the first to spill human blood."
"That's your weakness," Rioyin spat. "And it'll get us all killed."
The silence that followed was heavier than any goblin.
Then, from the depths of the tunnel, a crimson light pulsed.
And a deep, ancient roar shook the walls.
[Dungeon Boss: Awakened]
[Remaining Teams: 6]
[Reward for Elimination: Access to the System Core]
Kikoshin looked at his team.
At Miojo, still trembling.
At Rioyin, eyes full of defiance.
At the others, covered in blood and sweat.
"Let's go," he said.
"But listen carefully:
We're not killers.
We're survivors."
And with that, Team SuYo stepped into the darkness,
knowing that at the end of the tunnel, they wouldn't just face a monster…
but five teams willing to kill for power.