The dungeon wasted no time.
The moment the welcome message faded, movement erupted from the darkness.
Dozens of creatures poured from tunnels carved into the stone walls.
They looked vaguely humanoid.
Too many arms.
Too many joints.
Their bodies resembled pale stone wrapped around glowing blue veins of mana.
The first monster shrieked.
The sound echoed through the chamber.
Then Jax disappeared.
Peacemaker flashed.
The creature split cleanly in half.
The rest followed.
Gryph launched into the air.
Fang erupted from the shadows like a living avalanche.
Lucy released a swarm that devoured everything in its path.
Shadow Soldiers formed ranks.
Grim and Steed lowered their heads and charged.
The battle lasted less than twenty seconds.
When the dust settled, pieces of monsters littered the cavern floor.
Silence returned.
Bunny blinked.
"...I think we're overqualified."
Nyxian kicked a severed arm.
"I don't know. That one almost looked dangerous."
"It died before it finished screaming."
"Details."
Jax ignored them.
Something felt wrong.
Interesting.
Jax extended a hand.
"Come Forth."
Nothing happened.
His smile disappeared.
He tried again.
The command carried authority.
Power.
Intent.
Nothing.
The corpses remained motionless.
For the first time in a long while, one of Jax's abilities had simply failed.
Zee noticed immediately.
"...Jax?"
He crouched beside one of the corpses.
Inspected it.
Studied it.
Nothing appeared wrong.
Nothing explained why it wouldn't work.
"I can't extract them."
That got everyone's attention.
Even Nyxian stopped joking.
"What do you mean can't?"
"I mean exactly that."
Jax pointed.
"Try."
Nyxian stepped forward.
Placed a hand on the corpse.
Closed her eyes.
A moment passed.
Then another.
She frowned.
"Nothing."
That was worse.
Jax could bypass normal rules.
Nyxian couldn't.
If both of them failed...
Something inside this dungeon was interfering.
Llandra's eyes narrowed.
"I don't like that."
Neither did Jax.
But there wasn't much he could do about it.
Not yet.
The cave stretched ahead.
The walls pulsed faintly with blue light.
The air felt warm.
Uncomfortably warm.
Like walking through the throat of a living creature.
The thought bothered him.
They continued forward.
And absolutely steamrolled everything.
Floor One barely qualified as resistance.
Creatures emerged.
Creatures died.
Shadows weren't even necessary.
The Vixens moved with frightening efficiency.
Llandra killed targets before they entered range.
Bunny shattered groups of enemies with single swings.
Zee's barriers turned surprise attacks into harmless inconveniences.
Nyxian's whips danced through the battlefield like executioners.
Jax mostly watched.
And occasionally solved problems.
At one point an entire wall exploded inward.
A massive creature emerged.
Thirty feet tall.
Covered in crystal growths.
The sort of monster that would normally serve as a floor boss.
It roared.
Raised its arms.
And immediately lost its head.
Peacemaker returned to Jax's hand.
The body collapsed.
Bunny stared.
"You know..."
"What?"
"I think you might be ruining adventuring."
Jax looked genuinely confused.
"How?"
The Vixens pointed at the corpse.
Collectively.
"Oh."
The survivors found them first.
Not the other way around.
The group had just entered what appeared to be a ruined underground camp when Llandra raised a hand.
Movement.
Ahead.
Jax signaled everyone to stop.
The shadows spread outward.
A moment later seven exhausted adventurers emerged from behind a barricade.
Weapons raised.
Faces hollow.
Armor damaged.
They looked terrible.
The instant they saw Fang.
Then Gryph.
Then Grim and Steed.
Then eighty Shadow Soldiers.
One of them fainted.
Completely unconscious.
Bunny blinked.
"...Did we do that?"
"I think so."
A bearded man stepped forward.
His sword trembled.
"What are you?"
Jax frowned.
"Adventurers."
The man looked behind Jax.
At the army.
Then back at Jax.
"No."
Fair.
A woman wearing damaged B-Rank insignia stepped forward.
Her eyes widened.
"The Vixens?"
Now it was Nyxian's turn to look confused.
"You know us?"
"Everybody knows you."
That was still weird.
The introductions began.
Slowly.
Awkwardly.
The surviving B-Rank party had four members left.
The C-Rank party had three.
Several were injured.
One had a shattered arm.
Another limped badly.
All looked exhausted.
Zee immediately moved to work.
Healing magic filled the cavern.
Relief spread across tired faces.
The survivors looked like people seeing hope for the first time in days.
Names started.
Stories started.
Backgrounds started.
Then Nyxian cut them off.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"We do not have time for this."
The cave rumbled.
As if agreeing.
Nyxian pointed upward.
"The mountain is moving toward a city."
That immediately changed the atmosphere.
Jax nodded.
"She's right."
Llandra agreed.
"Introductions later."
The B-Rank leader frowned.
"You know what's happening outside?"
"No."
Jax looked toward the deeper tunnels.
"But we're going to find out."
He glanced around.
Counted heads.
Adjusted plans.
Then he snapped his fingers.
"Formation Sierra."
The Vixens moved immediately.
The survivors didn't.
Bunny raised her hand.
"Which one is Sierra again?"
Zee stared at her.
"The support formation."
"Oh."
A pause.
"Right."
Formation Sierra expanded around the survivors.
Shadow Soldiers moved to the outer ring.
Fang took point.
Gryph scouted above.
Grim and Steed guarded the flanks.
Jax moved to the front.
Bunny positioned directly behind him.
Ready to intercept anything unexpected.
Llandra took rear security.
Watching every tunnel.
Every shadow.
Every possible ambush.
The survivors suddenly found themselves surrounded by enough protection to make an A-Rank fortress jealous.
One of the C-Rank adventurers swallowed.
"You people travel like this?"
Nyxian smiled.
"Usually with less screaming."
The man looked confused.
"We haven't screamed."
The dungeon immediately answered.
A roar echoed from somewhere deep below.
Massive.
Ancient.
Painful.
Every person in the cave froze.
The sound didn't feel hostile.
It felt miserable.
Like something suffering.
Like something begging.
Like something starving.
The roar continued.
And for just a moment—
Jax thought he heard words hidden inside it.
Not spoken.
Felt.
Hungry.
The entire dungeon trembled.
Stone cracked.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Then everything became still again.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then Jax pointed deeper into the cave.
"Yeah."
His grip tightened around Peacemaker.
"We need to move faster."
And for the first time since entering the dungeon—
Jax stopped thinking about rescuing adventurers.
And started thinking about whatever was waiting at the center of the mountain.