"Let's go!"
Though baffled at first, Victor instantly called out to everyone hurriedly before sprinting toward the boss chamber without wasting a moment.
Everyone in the team, having heard that desperate, spine-chilling roar echo through the dungeon, wore vigilant expressions as their eyes scanned every corner of their surroundings.
Their boots struck hard against the ground as they rushed toward the deeper underground chamber where the boss monster resided, their earlier exhaustion completely forgotten as a sense of urgency and unease tightened around their chests.
The roar they heard just now was not just filled with rage but pain and desperation, as if the boss monster had been facing something even more terrifying than itself.
By the time they reached the entrance of the boss chamber, their pace slowed almost unconsciously.
"W-What the…?!"
"How is this possible?!"
"What the hell happened here?!"
Everyone exclaimed in shock as they finally stepped inside.
What greeted them was not a battlefield in progress, but ruin.
At the center of the chamber lay the massive corpse of the boss monster.
It was an enormous, grotesque entity, its body once towering like a twisted giant formed of blackened flesh and layered abyssal chains fused into its skin.
Its torso was ripped wide open as if something had torn through it with overwhelming brute force, jagged ribs protruding outward while thick, tar-like blood pooled beneath it and continued to spread slowly across the cracked stone floor.
Its head was split in half vertically, with one side completely crushed beyond recognition.
Its multiple arms, each bound in heavy chains, were no longer attached properly, some hanging by strands of flesh while others were scattered far away, as if they had been ripped off and thrown aside like trash.
Gulp
Victor's eyes then landed on the remains of four Abyssal Chain Wardens on the side, each one in a similarly horrific state, their armored bodies completely dismantled, limbs severed and thrown across the battlefield.
Some were embedded into the walls while others lay twisted unnaturally on the ground, their chains broken and tangled, no longer carrying that suffocating presence they once had.
Every member of the team stood there, petrified by the strange scene before them, their blood running cold as they watched the eerie blue flames scattered everywhere, devouring everything in silence.
"What… the hell is this…?"
No one could answer Victor at that moment.
The once majestic boss chamber, which should have been the stage for an epic and desperate battle, now looked completely ruined.
The ground was shattered into uneven layers with deep claw marks and impact craters scattered everywhere, while a red dungeon gate stood ominously in the middle, as if urging them to leave the dungeon immediately.
"We came here within a few minutes after hearing the boss's cry… It's already over?… This doesn't make any sense…" one of the mages whispered, his voice trembling slightly.
"Stay alert! The boss's corpse hasn't fully disappeared yet… The one who killed it must still be here…"
Hearing Victor, everyone snapped back to their senses, quickly moving into formation one by one, ready to strike from all directions.
Everyone activated their detection skills, but no one found anything unusual which made them scared even more.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged archer slowly stepped forward and knelt down, brushing aside a thin layer of ash and dust, revealing something that made his expression stiffen.
"…This is… Victor… come here and take a look…"
Victor stepped closer, his gaze falling onto it as well.
His eyes locked onto the giant footprint of an unknown beast.
The archer spoke hurriedly in a low tone, his eyes still scanning the surroundings carefully.
"This doesn't seem like it was done by a human… some kind of beast came here… and killed everything before leaving instantly…"
Everyone's faces instantly turned grave as they listened.
The hooded young man muttered,
"N-No way… this is the boss of this dungeon… how can there be a beast more powerful reside here…?"
The archer didn't respond and simply gave a darkened look toward Victor, who nodded slightly at him before turning and shouting at everyone,
"Exit the dungeon immediately! Our mission has failed…"
Even though a few of the teammates looked like they wanted to say something, perhaps to question the sudden retreat or argue that they could still investigate further, the moment their eyes met Victor's, all words died in their throats.
The look in his eyes carried a level of seriousness and warning none of them had ever seen before, and without another word, they turned and began exiting through the red gate one by one, their movements quick yet cautious, not daring to waste even a second in that suffocating atmosphere.
Holt and Darius, however, did not move immediately.
Instead, they took positions on both sides of the chamber like unmoving walls, their shields raised and senses fully sharpened as they guarded the rear, their eyes scanning every shadow and flicker of those eerie blue flames, ready to react at the slightest disturbance.
The three mages and three healers stepped through the red gate and disappeared from sight, until eventually only four people remained inside the ruined boss chamber: Victor, Holt, Darius, and the middle-aged archer.
Victor's gaze quickly shifted, and with a hint of urgency in his voice, he called out,
"Ron! What are you doing? Move!"
The middle-aged archer, Ron, didn't respond immediately, his eyes still moving across the battlefield, carefully observing every detail as if trying to piece together an invisible puzzle, which only made Victor's expression harden further.
"This is clearly a dungeon invasion,"
Victor continued, his tone sharper now as he stepped closer.
"Something from outside has entered this dungeon… standing here even for a moment longer is risky."
Still, Ron didn't move as he slowly spoke, his voice low and filled with confusion.
"The footprints… they appear out of nowhere… right here, inside the boss chamber."
Victor frowned upon hearing that.
"There's no trail leading in… no signs of entry, no signs of exit…" Ron continued, his brows furrowed deeply as he pointed toward the massive footprint etched into the ground.
"It's as if that beast just… appeared out of thin air… and then vanished the same way."
Holt and Darius exchanged brief glances, their grips tightening on their shields.
"And those flames… they carry lunar properties… a divine attribute… but how did something like that get here without a trace…?"
Silence fell for a brief moment as the weight of those words settled in.
Victor stood still, his eyes fixed on the footprint as his thoughts raced, trying to make sense of everything, but after a few seconds, he let out a quiet breath and shook his head, as if forcing himself to discard the questions.
"Hey, wait—!"
Before Ron could react, Victor grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him toward the exit.
"There's nothing we can do here,"
Victor cut him off without hesitation, his voice steady but urgent.
"This is beyond us right now…"
Ron clenched his jaw but didn't resist further.
"We report this to the Awakener Association,"
Victor continued, not slowing his pace even for a second.
Behind them, Holt and Darius immediately fell in step, still guarding as they moved, and within moments, the four of them crossed the red gate, leaving behind the ruined chamber, the fading blue flames, and the unsettling mystery that lingered in the depths of the dungeon.
The moment the four of them stepped through the red gate, a brief flash of distorted light enveloped their vision, and in the next instant, they found themselves back at the dungeon's entrance portal.
Victor smiled with relief as they all made it out without a scratch, but that relief didn't last long.
"…!"
All of his teammates, including the six who exited before him, were surrounded by dozens of Tier 3 profession holders of the same guild as them, standing in a tight formation.
Their eyes were locked onto Victor and his team as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
At the center of this formation stood a man who immediately drew all attention.
A fat, bald man with a round face and small, gleaming eyes, his expensive-looking robes stretched slightly over his bulky frame.
On his face was a wide, almost welcoming smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Victor's expression changed the moment he saw him.
"…Uncle Baros… why are you here…?"