The morning silence was deceptive.
There was peace, for an instant, once again in this accursed landscape. The air was motionless. The sunlight golded the shattered fences. The rot had fallen to the smell of moist ground.
But deep within me, I knew — this was only just beginning.
The dungeon never let you catch your breath.
We walked for hours during the day, following the weaker threads of mana Seris still felt. The roads were cracked and overgrown with weeds, the fields with skeletons of scarecrows and hulks of old wagons.
Every step echoed across the emptiness, and the silence was almost too absolute.
"Seris," I shouted, never once taking my eyes from the ground ahead of me, "do you have any idea how far the source is?"
She relaxed a little, bracing her hand against her chestplate as she focused. "The mana is stronger now. Twisted. darker. It's not natural mana anymore. It's corrupted."
"Corrupted?"
She nodded, furrowing her brow. "Yes. It feels like something that shouldn't be. Not pure darkness — but death, refined."
That didn't sound too reassuring, exactly.
We made it at last to a hill where an old chapel stood — or what remained of one.
It was half-down, the roof caved in, and the bell tower leaned to one side. But the real thing that hit me was the black smoke crawling out of the cracks in the walls. It swirled like a smoke under water — alive, breathing.
"That's it," Seris said quietly. "The center of this floor."
As we arrived, the air became colder. My breath puffed out in pale mist even as the sun continued to blaze overhead.
As I pushed open the chapel door, a gust of icy mana hit me in the face like a wall.
Inside — everything was dead.
The pews were rotting. The altar was destroyed. And in the very center, beneath a broken cross, was a circle of glowing purple runes.
Seris drew near, examining them. "A summoning circle," she snarled. "Forbidden and ancient. It drains mana from the very dead itself."
"Meaning what?" I inquired.
"Meaning someone is using corpses to power this dungeon."
The moment she said that, the system flashed in my eyes — [Caution! Floor Boss Detected!]
The air trembled.
The runes blazed with new intensity.
And from the heart of that circle, something began to materialize.
At first, it was a shadow — elongated, long, and shapeless. But then it solidified: a standing, skeletal creature dressed in black robes, its head adorned with floating rings of purplish fire.
Its vacant eyes stared at us, and its voice resonated, chill and multivoiced — like a hundred corpses all speaking simultaneously.
"Welcome… strangers… to my sanctuary…"
Seris unsheathed her sword instantly, lightning flashing along the blade. "Yuta," she warned, "that's the floor boss."
The text of the game appeared before me:
[Floor Boss: Necromancer Arvane – Level 30]
Master of the dead. Weak to divine and lightning types.
A necromancer. That would explain the zombies.
The monster raised a skeletal hand, and the earth outside the chapel rent asunder. Dozens of undead warriors crawled up, their red eyes aglow once again.
I sighed. "Not these freaks again…"
Seris spun her sword and took a fighting position. "I'll handle them."
"Right," I nodded, backing up and eyeing the necromancer. "I'll handle their master."
I had hardly spoken when I activated my black jacket's shield.
The air rippled in front of me as a thin clear barrier covered my body.
Then — I took a deep breath, opened my system window with a pop, and activated the radiating skill icon.
Skill Activated: Forced Enforcement!
The effect was instantaneous.
A burst of raw power surged through my veins. My vision sharpened. Every sound was crisply audible — the fluttering of robes, the zapping of electricity, even the pulse of my heart like a drum.
The ground beneath me creaked under my feet as I clenched my fists.
Seris looked at me out of the corner of her eye, the hint of concern in her tone. "It only takes ten minutes," she reminded me.
"Ten minutes is sufficient," I retorted, my grin in place despite the pain already starting to kindle inside me. "Let's get on with it."
The necromancer raised his arms and began incantations in a language that was incomprehensible to me. Black runes hovered in mid-air, creating a kind of blockade before him.
"Flee, mortal," he spat, his voice twisting. "This world is for the dead!"
"Yeah?" I cracked my knuckles. "Then I'll evict you."
I sprang off the floor — the power launched me like a bullet.
My fist smashed into the glowing barrier. It shattered immediately. The recoil sent shock waves through the room.
Arvane stepped back, stumbling. "Impossible! That barrier—"
"Too slow!" I shouted, stamping on him, the bone cracking beneath my heel.
Outside the chapel, meanwhile, lightning flashed repeatedly as Seris sliced through crowds of dead.
With each blow of her sword, there was a flash of light like mini-sunbursts, evaporating the corpses.
I could hear her voice — steady but sharp — reminding herself with every stroke: "Two o'clock! Behind you! Slash — rotate!"
She was breathtaking and terrifying, her sword singing through the chaos.
I turned to the necromancer in the meantime. He was screaming now, building mana into a massive purplish orb between his hands.
"You think you can beat me, system's puppet!? I am immortal!"
"Eternal, is it?" I crouched slightly, raw power coiled in the muscles. "Let's test that theory."
The moment he threw the spell, I ran forward again — shield absorbing the impact, the shock resonating through the barrier but not shattering it.
Five minutes left.
I gritted my teeth, forcing aside the burning agony creeping up my arms. The Forced Enforcement skill was speeding up my body — I could feel my muscles tearing and mending each second.
I didn't care.
I grabbed the necromancer's robes and slammed him onto the ground. The ground cracked, and debris rained everywhere surrounding us.
"Not so high and mighty now, huh!?" I roared, raising my fist.
I punched him again.
And again.
And again.
Each strike broke the bone further, purple power spilling out of him like he was an exploding vessel.
"You dare… defy… the will of the dungeon!?!" he screamed, flailing about with his skeletal arms. "This world was mine!"
"It's not your world anymore!" I roared, slamming my knee into his chest.
The strike broke his ribcage.
Outside, Seris's lightning flashed across the sky. The last of the undead screamed before being consumed by ash.
I could feel the entire floor trembling. The mana holding this world together was collapsing.
The necromancer tried to raise his hand a last time, summoning a small dagger made of bone, but I caught his wrist in mid-air.
"End of the line."
And I punched straight through his skull.
There was a moment of silence.
Then —
[System Notice: Floor Boss Defeated!]
[Dungeon Floor 3 Cleared.]
[Reward: 300 Dungeon Coins + Level Up!]
The necromancer's body collapsed into dust, leaving nothing but a faint black crystal where his heart was. I stepped back, gasping, as the Forced Enforcement effect finally dissipated.
Pain struck me like a hammer. All nerves screamed. My vision became blurred.
"Damn—" I collapsed onto one knee, grabbing at my chest. "Feels like… my body's ripping in half…"
Seris bolted inside, her armor still glowing faintly from the remnants of her lightning. "Master!"
"Fine… mostly…" I gritted a smile, though I was hardly standing.
She knelt beside me, checking my pulse with an unexpectedly gentle hand. "Your mana stream is disrupted. You overstretched your body."
"I told you I could do it," I laughed through the pain.
Her expression softened for a moment. "You're irresponsible."
"Yeah," I whispered. "And it worked."
The black fog began to dissipate from the chapel, fragmenting into thin air. The runes lying on the ground weakened until they vanished completely. The light outside intensified — the undead no longer existed, having been erased from the world.
At last. Peace.
I gazed at the empty altar, gasping. "So that's it. The necromancer was what sustained this place alive… or, well, undead."
Seris nodded. "Every floor has a master — its source of curse. Defeat it, and the floor returns to normal."
"Good," I said, smiling. "Then let's gear up for the next one."
She gave me a half-hearted glare. "You're barely standing."
"Yeah, but we can't stay here forever."
Seris scowled. "You're impossible, Master Yuta."
I smiled. "And yet you still stay with me."
She walked away, attempting to hide a slight smile. "Because it's my job."
"Right."
The system window flashed once more in front of me:
Go to Floor 4?
[Yes] / [No]
I glanced at Seris. "You ready?"
She tightened her grip on her sword. "Always."
I hit "Yes."
The chapel floor fell away from us, light devouring the wreckage. Death's stench vanished, and was replaced by wind and heat as the world began to shift once more.
When I opened my eyes, we were in another space than our own — a huge and lit one. The fourth floor had begun.
But for that one moment before I could even register this new world, I looked at Seris — her serene eyes meeting mine — and couldn't help but wonder.
If this dungeon had been a dream, then she was the only reason I hadn't yet woken up screaming.