Rosaline continued to tread through the absolute darkness with Eugene guarding her rear. She remained vigilant, watching for any signs of the strange instability that had afflicted Malloch and Charlwind.
The moment Charlwind had sliced his own hand until it bled was something she hadn't anticipated. Many in the group seemed to be growing increasingly irritable, or at the very least, exhibiting bizarre facial expressions and behaviors.
Then there was the blue blood she had seen leaking from Malloch. Though Rosaline didn't fully understand its significance, she knew it couldn't be anything good.
Eugene suddenly whipped around, hearing a faint noise behind him. His flashlight swept across the path, but the beam struggled to pierce the gloom, revealing nothing. "I... I thought I heard Ellie."
He continued to scan the area, his eyes wide with desperate hope.
"There's no one there," Rosaline said, her voice steady. "I didn't hear a thing."
"But I really heard it, Grey Hood! It was Ellie's voice!" Eugene insisted, his face contorted with panic. But seeing Rosaline's unwavering silence, he began to doubt himself. "I feel like she's close... she's going to be okay, right?"
"Thinking about the worst-case scenario isn't a bad thing, provided you're doing it to plan a countermeasure. Otherwise, it just erodes your spirit for nothing," the Hunter girl remarked.
"I'm telling you, I heard her!" Eugene shouted, only for Rosaline to suddenly clamp her hand over his mouth.
Rosaline's eyes, now a piercing crimson, locked onto his. Those eyes, resembling a blood-red moon, served as a grim omen of a night filled with slaughter and death.
"Do... not... shout," Rosaline spoke slowly, her voice sharp and frigid. Even without her skills active, her raw killing intent was palpable. "Don't make me say it twice."
"Y-yes..." Eugene managed to stammer. Rosaline released him, but his heart was pounding so hard he thought it might burst from his chest.
'Who is this woman, really? The Professor said she was just an assistant... but she has to be a High-Rank Hunter. That killing intent just now... it was far too intense to be normal!'
"...Let's keep moving." Rosaline turned back, letting out a quiet sigh. She hated doing that, but in a crisis, fear was often more effective than understanding. 'Am I picking up bad habits from Reagan?'
Despite his terror, Eugene knew she was the only one he could rely on. He followed closely behind her, watching as she periodically dropped glow sticks to mark their trail.
Sququelch...
"Grey Hood! I... I stepped on something!" Eugene jumped, freezing in place. He didn't dare move an inch.
Rosaline turned immediately, shining her light at his feet.
"Let me see," she said, crouching down as the boy lifted his boot. Beneath the unsightly, viscous liquid, a crushed remnant of something was stuck to his sole.
Rosaline frowned curiously, summoning a sampling kit from her inventory. Using a pair of tweezers, she carefully peeled a flat, translucent fragment from the tread of his boot and slipped it into a specimen tube.
"What is that?" Eugene asked.
"I'm not sure, but the Professor might know." Rosaline looked at the fragment; it resembled the segmented shell of an organism, though it had been crushed so thin only a wisp of tissue remained.
She swept her flashlight around the area again, as did Eugene, but they found nothing but loose, loamy soil that emitted a pungent, acrid odor.
"I don't see anything else," Eugene noted.
"No, something is here. For now... it's best we don't let whatever lives here 'notice' us," she replied, her instincts on high alert. Whether it was a creature, or something that used to be a creature, it was unpredictable.
Eugene stiffened at her words. "So... no fire, right?"
"You should know by now—this pungent smell could be some kind of gas. If you use fire or create a stray spark, this whole place might explode," Rosaline answered, standing back up. "Avoid using metallic items as well, if possible."
"Right. I understand. I'll be careful," Eugene nodded fervently, his face tight with stress.
"By the way, what is your skill?" Rosaline asked.
"My skills are focused on dungeon exploration," Eugene said, looking slightly sheepish. "Tracking, stalking... that sort of thing. Er..."
Rosaline crossed her arms, watching him in silence.
The boy elaborated, "I can't explore in total darkness yet because my level isn't high enough. I also can't detect De-vons with stealth abilities higher than my own skill level. That's why I came here—to grind my level and my skills..."
"...With your current level, can you track people?"
"Yes, but I need an item belonging to that person with a high level of 'Intimacy' or personal connection, because my skill level is so low. The more personal the item, the better the result. I tried to track Ellie earlier, but her handkerchief didn't give me anything."
Eugene grit his teeth. It ate at him that he hadn't been able to grab her when they fell, and that he was too weak to find her now.
"A highly personal item..." Rosaline reached into her inventory and pulled out a single knife made entirely of metal.
"This knife was conjured from the Professor's own skill," she explained, handing it to Eugene. "Do you think you can track him with this?"
Eugene looked at Rosaline before taking the knife. He closed his eyes. "[Skill: Resonance Compass]."
When Eugene opened his eyes, a strange image appeared in his left pupil—a holographic grid. Beside his ear, a blue holographic device materialized, extending a lens over one of his eyes. Holographic gloves formed over his hands.
"It drains quite a bit of mana," Eugene admitted awkwardly, clearly not used to people seeing him activate his skills.
"I can handle the mana," Rosaline said.
Professor Charlwind's knife spun in Eugene's hand before stopping. The lens began processing data. "The skill starts by analyzing the item and isolating the owner's signature. Then, it sends out waves to compare and search."
Eugene crouched down, pressing his holographic palms to the earth. "This wave looks specifically for the signature found on the knife. I hope we find the Professor... and I hope this 400-meter radius doesn't wake 'something' up."
"...Just keep praying," Rosaline replied. She knew the risk, but the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became. "We have to find everyone as quickly as possible."
After a few moments, Eugene pushed himself up. "I think... I found the Professor."
Charlwind opened his eyes to find a faint orange light glowing nearby.
His heart was thumping in his chest, a reassuring sign that he was still alive. He had expected to survive the fall, but he hadn't anticipated the sheer depth of this sunless void.
However, what surprised the 78-year-old man most was the sight of the black-cloaked young man sitting on his haunches nearby, staff in hand.
"It's you," Charlwind said, surprised. "That wind earlier... was that your doing?"
During the fall, he had felt a sudden gust of wind cushion his descent. He had assumed someone in the group possessed wind magic. He hadn't expected to lose consciousness at all, which suggested that something about this place was interference.
Alka didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he spoke calmly, "Of your group, Grey Hood is the most reliable. But you... you are the most expert. I hope you can shed some light on what is happening and lead me out of here."
"You're using the wrong word, Mr. Alka. It should be 'us,'" Charlwind said, his tone uncharacteristically cheerful given the circumstances.
Alka said nothing, merely nodding toward a certain direction.
Not far away lay a body. It was Malloch, lying still, his body covered in horrific blisters from molten glass and severe burns. Even a cursory glance told them he was in critical condition.
"My earpiece is broken, and I assume yours is too. I've heard you're a Gate Dungeon expert, and judging by your reactions, you're clearly a field man, not some lab rat who stays behind a desk."
Charlwind smiled. "Go on."
"Grey Hood saw something on Malloch earlier. I did a quick check... his blood has turned blue," Alka said.
"And that's why you chose to help me before Grey Hood, who was right there?" Charlwind guessed. "Interesting choice. An... impressive choice."
Alka remained silent. He noticed that the Professor's narrow eyes were not calm; they flickered with a distinct trace of displeasure.
To Alka, while Grey Hood was clearly the most talented and Charlwind was undoubtedly the expert, the Professor was also the most dangerous person present. He trusted his instincts—instincts that had kept him alive this long.
If he had to compare the rampaging Malloch to this man... if their roles were reversed, he feared the results would be truly horrific.
"Hmm, blue blood, you say? If we dissected him, we might find an answer. There are several cases where red blood can turn blue," Charlwind said, a smile still fixed on his face. "In that case, shall we begin? Before you or I start doing anything even more... unusual."
A reptilian grin spread across the Professor's face. It made the hair on the back of Alka's neck stand up, confirming his suspicion: he had been right to be afraid.