The moment the Dungeon Behemoth charged, the tunnel erupted into chaos.
THOOM!
Its massive foot crashed into the stone floor.
The impact shook the entire passage.
Avdhoot reacted instantly.
"Spread out!"
The four students scattered.
A colossal claw slammed down where they had stood.
BOOM!
Stone fragments exploded across the tunnel.
Priya rolled beneath the falling debris and came up with flames already burning around her gauntlets.
"That thing is fast!"
Raivan's expression remained focused.
"Don't attack its armour."
The Behemoth turned toward them.
Its yellow eyes burned through the dust.
Then it charged again.
Priya stepped forward.
"Too late."
She drove both fists into the ground.
Flames erupted beneath her feet, launching her forward.
She twisted in mid-air and drove a flaming punch toward the creature's knee.
BOOM!
The impact echoed through the tunnel.
The Behemoth barely shifted.
Priya landed and stared at her gauntlet.
"…That didn't do anything."
The creature's leg moved.
Priya's eyes widened.
She jumped backward.
A massive claw swept through the space where her head had been.
WHOOOSH!
She landed hard.
Raivan moved immediately.
Cold mist spread around his blade.
He stepped forward and swung.
A crescent of compressed frost tore through the air.
CRACK!
The attack struck the Behemoth's chest.
Ice spread across its dark armour.
For a brief moment, the creature slowed.
Then—
The armour pulsed.
The frost shattered.
Raivan's eyes narrowed.
"It absorbed the mana."
Manaswini raised her staff.
"Then stop feeding it."
She slammed the staff against the ground.
"Gravity Snare."
The stone beneath the Behemoth darkened.
Mana pressure gathered around its legs.
The creature's movement slowed.
Only slightly.
But it was enough.
"Avdhoot!"
He was already moving.
He sprinted toward the creature.
Not faster than he should have been.
Not recklessly.
Just efficiently.
He watched its movements.
The way its shoulders shifted before each strike.
The slight delay between its weight transfer and its attacks.
The armour wasn't completely solid.
There.
Between the plates near the back of its knee.
A narrow joint.
Avdhoot changed direction.
The Behemoth swung toward him.
He dropped beneath the strike.
Its claw passed inches above his head.
Avdhoot slid across the stone floor and drove his dagger into the exposed joint.
STAB!
The blade pierced flesh.
Dark blood spilled across the ground.
The Behemoth roared.
Its leg buckled.
Avdhoot immediately pulled away.
"Joint!"
Raivan understood.
He moved toward the opposite leg.
Priya grinned.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
She charged.
The Behemoth swung at her.
Priya ducked.
Its fist smashed into the wall behind her.
CRASH!
She planted both feet.
Then punched the damaged joint.
BOOM!
The armour cracked.
Raivan's frost blade followed.
CRACK!
Ice spread through the exposed joint.
The Behemoth staggered.
But it didn't fall.
Instead—
It roared.
The sound was different this time.
Lower.
Deeper.
The entire tunnel vibrated.
Manaswini's eyes widened.
"Cover your ears!"
Too late.
The roar became a pulse.
A wave of distorted mana swept through the tunnel.
Avdhoot's fire sphere extinguished instantly.
Priya dropped to one knee.
Raivan's frost blade flickered.
Manaswini's inscriptions collapsed around her.
Avdhoot felt something strange in his mana channels.
For a moment—
They simply refused to respond.
His heart tightened.
Mana disruption.
The Behemoth charged.
"Move!"
They scattered blindly.
The monster smashed through the centre of the formation.
Stone pillars shattered.
The tunnel shook violently.
Priya slammed against the wall.
Raivan rolled across the floor.
Manaswini barely managed to raise a physical barrier before another impact sent her sliding backward.
Avdhoot forced himself upright.
His breathing was uneven.
The Behemoth turned toward them.
Its damaged knee was still bleeding.
But the wound was already beginning to close.
Avdhoot's eyes sharpened.
"It regenerates."
Raivan pushed himself upright.
"Then we don't give it time."
Manaswini looked toward the creature.
Her expression changed.
"Wait."
Avdhoot turned.
"What?"
She pointed toward the cracked armour around its chest.
"When it used that resonance…"
She narrowed her eyes.
"The armour opened slightly."
Raivan understood immediately.
"The resonance came from inside."
Manaswini nodded.
"Whatever produces that ability is inside its body."
Priya slowly stood.
"So we make it use the ability again?"
"No," Manaswini said.
"We force it to."
Avdhoot looked at the others.
A plan formed quickly.
"Raivan. Can you keep its legs frozen for a few seconds?"
Raivan glanced at the monster.
"Maybe three."
"That's enough."
Avdhoot turned toward Priya.
"Keep its attention."
Priya smiled.
"Finally."
Then he looked at Manaswini.
"When the armour opens, use your strongest binding inscription."
She nodded.
"And you?"
Avdhoot tightened his grip on his dagger.
"I'll find the core."
Raivan frowned.
"That's dangerous."
Avdhoot looked at him.
"So is everything we've done tonight."
Raivan stared for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Fine."
They moved.
Priya charged first.
Flames exploded around her gauntlets.
"HEY!"
The Behemoth turned.
She punched the ground.
A burst of fire erupted beneath its feet.
The monster roared and swung.
Priya dodged.
Again.
And again.
She wasn't trying to hurt it anymore.
She was controlling its attention.
"Come on!"
The Behemoth chased her through the chamber.
Raivan waited.
His breathing slowed.
Frost gathered around his blade.
The Behemoth raised its arm.
Priya deliberately moved closer.
"Now!"
Raivan struck.
A wave of frost raced across the floor.
It climbed the creature's damaged legs.
Ice locked around its joints.
The Behemoth stumbled.
It roared.
The strange resonance began building again.
Manaswini slammed her staff into the ground.
"Layered Bind!"
Three inscription circles appeared beneath the creature.
Stone chains erupted upward.
They wrapped around its legs and torso.
The Behemoth struggled.
Its armour opened slightly around the chest.
"Now!" Manaswini shouted.
Avdhoot moved.
He ran beneath the creature's arm.
Up its damaged leg.
Across the broken armour.
The Behemoth's claws snapped toward him.
He ducked.
The claws scraped across the stone.
Avdhoot reached the chest.
There.
Behind the cracked armour—
A faint pulsing light.
Not a heart.
Something different.
A condensed mana organ.
The source of its resonance.
Avdhoot raised his dagger.
The Behemoth broke one of the bindings.
Its arm swung toward him.
He had seconds.
He drove the dagger into the exposed core.
CRACK!
The light shattered.
The Behemoth froze.
Its roar died before it could leave its throat.
The enormous creature staggered.
Raivan's frost spread across its legs.
Priya struck its damaged knee one final time.
BOOM!
The Behemoth collapsed.
THUD!
The ground shook beneath them.
Silence followed.
For several seconds, none of them moved.
Then Priya dropped onto the floor.
"…I officially hate dungeons."
Raivan leaned against the wall.
"Agreed."
Manaswini sat down slowly.
Her breathing was heavy.
Avdhoot remained standing.
Barely.
His hand trembled around the dagger.
The creature had nearly killed them.
They had won.
But only because all four had done exactly what they were supposed to do.
No single attack had been enough.
No single person had been enough.
Avdhoot looked at the others.
Priya gave him a tired grin.
"Not bad, Brave Lion."
Raivan nodded.
"Acceptable."
Manaswini adjusted her glasses.
"That was dangerously inefficient."
Priya stared at her.
"We just killed a monster that was probably several levels above us."
"Exactly."
She paused.
"Which makes it inefficient."
Priya sighed.
"You're impossible."
A faint smile appeared on Avdhoot's face.
Then—
The ground beneath them began to glow.
Everyone fell silent.
Ancient lines slowly appeared beneath the Behemoth's corpse.
One circle.
Then another.
Then another.
The markings stretched across the entire chamber.
Manaswini stood immediately.
"Those weren't there before."
Raivan stepped closer.
"Could they have been hidden beneath the mana residue?"
"Possibly."
Manaswini crouched beside one of the markings.
Her expression changed.
"This isn't a normal dungeon inscription."
Avdhoot looked at her.
"What is it?"
She traced one symbol without touching it.
"I don't know."
The markings continued spreading.
Then—
CRACK.
A section of the cavern wall shifted.
Stone moved.
Dust poured from above.
Something enormous was being revealed behind the rock.
Priya slowly backed away.
"Please tell me that's not another monster."
The stone continued moving.
A massive doorway emerged from the darkness.
Its surface was covered in ancient inscriptions.
At its centre was a circular symbol.
Avdhoot stared at it.
Something about the symbol felt familiar.
Not because he had seen it before.
Because—
His mana reacted to it.
A faint pulse moved through his body.
He stepped closer.
"Avdhoot?"
He stopped.
The sensation disappeared.
He looked down at his hand.
Nothing.
Raivan noticed his expression.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
Manaswini studied the door.
"This wasn't created recently."
Raivan's eyes narrowed.
"How old?"
"I can't tell."
Priya looked at the enormous doorway.
"Then why would something like this be underneath an unregistered dungeon?"
No one answered.
A low vibration passed through the chamber.
The door remained sealed.
But for a brief moment—
One of the inscriptions glowed.
A single symbol.
Then vanished.
Avdhoot stared at the darkness behind the doorway.
The dungeon was no longer just a place filled with monsters.
There was something beneath it.
Something hidden.
Something that someone had gone to great lengths to seal away.
And somehow—
His mana had recognized it.
He tightened his grip around his dagger.
"We're not opening that tonight."
Raivan looked surprised.
"Agreed."
Manaswini nodded.
"We need to report this."
Priya glanced at the door one last time.
"Yeah."
She swallowed.
"Definitely not opening the creepy ancient door tonight."
Avdhoot looked toward the passage they had entered from.
"We leave."
The four students began walking back.
None of them noticed—
One of the ancient symbols on the doorway remained faintly illuminated after they left.
And somewhere deep beneath the stone—
Something answered.
A single pulse of mana.
Then silence.
[End of Chapter 30]