Zouma ran without looking back. His breathing was heavy, his steps uneven, and his boots pounded against the damp stone as several goblins chased him through the corridor. They were small, but fast, and the stone spears in their hands glinted under the shaking beam of the flashlight in his grip. Ana was still tucked under his arm by force.
"If you don't let me go, we're going to die."
Zouma kept running for a few more steps before finally stopping. He glanced at her calm face, cursed under his breath, and set her down. Ana immediately dusted off her pants and straightened her clothes, looking more offended by his touch than by the monsters behind them.
"I want payment in advance," she said.
Zouma froze. "What?"
"This job does not match the agreement. There are far more monsters than expected, the Gate disappeared, and I was nearly used as bait."
Her tone was so flat it sounded like she was reading out an invoice. Zouma looked at the goblins drawing closer, then at Ana, then hurriedly pulled out his wallet and shoved it into her hand.
"Take it. It's all yours. And if you can get me out of this dungeon..." He swallowed. "...I'll give you even more."
Ana opened it, checked the contents, and closed it again. "All right."
She said it as casually as if she were accepting an extra shift, not bargaining for survival. Zouma barely had time to feel relieved before three goblins emerged from the passage ahead. The first screamed, the second raised its spear, and the third leapt straight at them.
Zouma started to move, but Ana was faster.
She shot forward, and her dagger flashed three times in one breath. The first goblin dropped without its head. The second twisted halfway around before its throat split open. The third managed to land, then collapsed to its knees as its head slid off a moment later. Three heads rolled across the damp stone.
Zouma could only stare. "Three..."
Ana licked the blood from her dagger and turned back to him. "Which way?"
He blinked. "...What?"
"The exit. How do we get out of here?"
Zouma opened his mouth, then shut it again. For the first time since meeting her, doubt clearly showed on his face.
"I... don't know."
Ana said nothing.
"But there's a possibility," Zouma added quickly. "If this dungeon has already changed, then its center has to be that camp. The aura there... it wasn't from an ordinary goblin. If the creature inside that camp dies, there's a high chance an exit—or a new Gate—will appear."
Ana looked into the tunnel, nodded once, and started walking.
"Wait," Zouma called. "You're going in just like that?"
"Yes."
"But we haven't—"
"What?"
She only looked back slightly, but that calm gaze was enough to make Zouma fall silent. There was almost no fear in her eyes, and people like that were usually the most dangerous.
In the end, he clicked his tongue and followed.
The dungeon felt different now. After the collapse of their group, it had grown unnaturally quiet. Their footsteps echoed softly, joined only by dripping water and the occasional distant sound Zouma did not want to identify. He looked back several times, but each time saw nothing. Even so, the hairs on the back of his neck kept rising.
The camp gradually came back into view: a rough wooden fence, bones hanging from it, and human skulls mounted on the tips like decorations. The closer they got, the heavier the air became.
Ana stopped.
It was subtle, but Zouma noticed the slight shift in her expression. Not fear—just recognition. She had clearly felt it too. The aura inside the camp was much heavier than before, as though whatever lived there already knew they were coming.
Zouma's throat went dry. He had entered many dungeons and seen monsters bigger, stronger, and stranger than this, but something about that pressure made every instinct in him scream to turn back.
Ana, however, simply looked at the half-open gate and walked in.
Zouma stared at her back, then at the dark passage behind him. He could wait outside and let her handle it—or follow her in. Waiting was safer. If she succeeded, he could take advantage of the result. If she failed, he could still run.
He took half a step back.
Then stopped.
A small sound came from behind a rock.
Zouma spun around.
Nothing.
Then came another sound from the side.
A scrape. Small footsteps.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
"To hell with this."
He ran into the camp after Ana.
The ground inside was darker than the rest of the dungeon, wet and sticky as if it had soaked up blood for years. Zouma hesitated at the entrance, glanced around, and lit a small flame in his palm. The camp remained silent. Ana continued toward the center with her dagger drawn, her steps light but cautious, and after a few seconds Zouma muttered a curse and hurried after her. He had no intention of being left alone.
The moment he reached her side, he felt it.
The pressure was no longer everywhere.
It was straight ahead.
At the largest hut at the far end of the camp.
Its door stood half open, and something inside was staring back at them.
Zouma raised his fire, letting the light reach deeper into the darkness.
Then his breath caught.
There, on a crude throne of bone, skin, and skulls, sat a monster far larger than any normal goblin. Its shoulders were broad, its skin dark green, its fangs protruding from its mouth. A primitive crown of human bones rested on its head.
The monster smiled.
And in its right hand, it held a head.
Mikoto's head.
That messy hair. Those half-closed eyes. That same lazy expression, frozen forever. Blood dripped from the severed neck.
For a moment, the dungeon seemed to go completely silent.
Zouma's face froze. "...Impossible."
Ana said nothing. She only stared at the head as her fingers slowly tightened around her dagger. The cold, expressionless look in her eyes shifted—not into panic or fear, but into anger.
"Sir..."
The word came out like a whisper.
The large goblin let out a low, rough laugh, then deliberately raised the head higher to make sure they saw it clearly.
"Don't rush in," Zouma said quickly. "That monster's aura—"
Ana stepped forward. Her dagger spun in her hand.
"Give it back."
The goblin's grin widened.
Then it threw Mikoto's head onto the ground. It rolled across the dirt and came to a stop near Ana's feet.
Zouma held his breath, waiting for her to break.
She didn't.
That was even more frightening.
No tears. No shouting. Only a colder, deadlier fury.
The goblin rose from its throne. It stood nearly twice the height of a normal goblin, with thick muscles under scarred green skin. A bone bow hung on its back, and a massive stone axe rested at its waist, its edge blackened with dried blood.
More goblins began to emerge from the shadows, climbing onto fences and rooftops, crawling from cracks in the ground until the camp was surrounded by grinning faces.
"That's the boss," Zouma muttered.
Ana did not answer.
She lowered her stance—
and vanished.
Zouma could barely follow her movement. One moment she was standing still, the next her dagger was already at the goblin's throat.
CLANG!
The boss raised its axe just in time to block. Sparks flew. Ana landed, pivoted, and attacked again from the side. Her dagger only grazed its cheek, drawing a thin line of dark green blood.
The monster's smile widened.
Ana attacked again.
And again.
Each strike was fast, clean, and merciless, no longer just aiming to wound but to tear the creature apart piece by piece. The large goblin swung its axe in a brutal arc, but Ana ducked and the blade shattered a wooden post behind her. Before the debris even finished falling, she had already leapt onto its shoulder and driven her dagger into its left eye.
GRAAAARGH!
The monster roared, slamming her away with one hand. Ana blocked partially, but was still thrown hard across the ground.
"Move!"
Zouma fired a stream of flames into the goblin's back. Fire swallowed its body. The smaller goblins shrieked and pulled away.
For a brief moment, Zouma thought it was enough.
Then the massive figure stepped out of the flames.
Its left eye was ruined. Its back was charred.
But it was still standing.
And now it was angry.
The goblin drew its bone bow and fired three arrows at once.
Ana twisted aside just in time. One arrow missed her cheek by an inch, one she cut out of the air, and the third buried itself deep in her shoulder. Her body wavered.
For the first time, her expression changed.
Not fear.
Irritation.
She ripped the arrow out without hesitation, letting blood pour from the wound before tossing it aside.
Zouma stared. "...Monster."
Ana didn't even look at him. "If you're just going to stand there, don't get in my way."
Zouma laughed shortly, more from nerves than amusement. "I'm starting to like the way you talk."
He raised both hands and released the rest of his mana. Fire burst outward in a ring, forcing the smaller goblins to retreat.
"Kill the boss!" he shouted. "If it dies, the rest will be easier!"
Ana was already moving.
This time even faster.
Her daggers hammered against the stone axe, cut tendons in its arm, opened its thigh, and drove into its ribs. Green blood sprayed. For the first time, the large goblin actually stepped back.
Zouma rushed in from the side and slammed a blast of fire into its chest.
BOOM!
The monster was hurled backward and smashed through its own throne.
The camp erupted into chaos.
Fire. Blood. Screams. Burning wood. Arrows cutting through the air.
Zouma burned two goblins that tried to leap on him from behind. Ana cut one goblin's leg off and kicked another hard enough to crush its throat.
But there were too many of them.
One goblin leapt onto Zouma's back and bit into his neck. He roared and slammed himself into a post until it was crushed, but two arrows buried themselves in his thigh at the same time. He dropped to one knee.
Ana glanced his way for just a moment.
It was enough.
The large goblin was already in front of her.
Its stone axe crashed down.
Ana crossed both daggers above her head to block.
CRAAK!
The ground beneath her feet split apart. Her arms trembled violently under the weight.
Its strength was absurd.
Ana kicked its knee, forcing it off balance, then rolled away just before the axe smashed into the ground. Dust and broken stone flew everywhere.
She got up again, breathing harder now. Blood still ran from her shoulder, and her left arm had begun to shake faintly from the strain. The goblin boss was wounded too—one eye gone, one arm cut all over—but its smile still had not disappeared.
Zouma tried to stand and failed. His legs were too damaged. All he could do was pant from the ground and watch.
"Quickly... fall back..."
Ana didn't hear him. Her gaze was fixed only on Mikoto's head lying behind the monster.
She stepped forward again, a dagger in each hand.
The goblin lowered its body, ready to pounce, while the smaller ones shrieked around them like a twisted chorus.
Then both of them moved at once.
Ana thrust for its heart.
But the monster twisted, and its axe came down not toward her body, but toward the ground.
BRAK!
The earth beneath her feet shattered. Ana lost her balance, and in the next instant the goblin's left hand clamped around her throat in midair.
Zouma's eyes widened. "No!"
Ana slashed once, grazing its arm, but the grip was too strong. The air was cut off from her lungs.
The goblin lifted her higher.
Then, slowly—deliberately cruelly—it raised its stone axe toward her neck.
Zouma tried to get up.
Failed.
Ana gritted her teeth and glared at the descending blade.
And the axe began to move.