The ambush near the river sector should have ended in less than a minute.
Serena realized that much when the fifth Obsidian Circle member collapsed into the grass with his throat split open before he could even stabilize his barrier skill properly.
The eastern side of the dungeon looked calmer compared to the western forest routes, but the atmosphere had become just as dangerous over the last few days. Tall grasslands stretched alongside the riverbanks while broken ruins divided the terrain into narrow crossings that made ambushes easy to set up.
Serena's squad moved through those ruins wearing Hollow Dogs insignias openly across their coats. The patrol they targeted never questioned it initially. One of the Obsidian Circle operators even lowered his guard for half a second after noticing the insignias approaching through the grass. That hesitation killed him.
The fight exploded immediately afterward. Dren intercepted the rear guard before the man could activate a communication skill while Serena drove straight through the center of the formation. Her blade carved across another operator's shoulder before one of her squad members slammed a shockwave skill into the ground nearby.
The patrol collapsed under the pressure almost instantly. It wasn't a fair fight from the start.
Only two enemy operators remained standing after the first exchange and one of them was heavily injured. The other retreating backward while trying to drag his companion away from the ruins.
"Leave one alive," Serena ordered while stepping over a fallen body.
That had always been part of the plan. Survivors spread fear better than corpses, but just as they were "struggling" to kill the last survivors, the injured member near the river suddenly froze mid-step. His eyes locked onto Dren, squinting at the mask covering his face through the blood dripping down from a nasty gash.
Recognition flashed across the man's expression immediately.
"You're not the hollow dogs, you're the—"
Dren moved the instant he heard the shift in tone but it was too late. The injured member lunged desperately during the clash and grabbed the side of Dren's mask. The fabric tore violently as both of them hit the ground. For one brief moment, the battlefield went still.
The surviving operator stared directly at Dren's exposed face and Serena immediately understood how badly things had just gone. Their disguise had collapsed and the patrol no longer saw Hollow Dogs operatives attacking them. They saw independent contractors pretending to be Hollow Dogs.
"Kill him!" Serena snapped instantly.
The surviving member shoved Dren backward before sprinting toward the outer riverbank.
"It's not the Hollow Dogs!" he shouted toward his companion. "They're faking the insignias!"
The second survivor didn't waste any time, he forced energy into a flare signal despite the wound across his chest. Red light burst upward into the sky above the river sector before Serena's squad finally cut him down but the signal still launched.
Everything started falling apart after that. Dren nearly caught the fleeing survivor near the edge of the plains before movement erupted through the tall grass ahead.
The reinforcements had arrived but it was the Hollow Dogs operators that responded to the flare signal. The surviving Obsidian Circle operator stumbled toward them immediately.
"They're imposters!" he shouted while pointing toward Serena's squad emerging from the ruins. "They're not ours and they're not yours either!"
The arriving Hollow Dogs members slowed briefly after hearing that and their eyes shifted toward the battlefield. Dead Obsidian Circle operators and attackers wearing Hollow Dogs insignias. One survivor screaming about disguises and third parties.
Nobody trusted anyone enough anymore to stop and sort through the explanation calmly, the events of the day had already reached their ears. One of the Hollow Dogs operators raised his weapon toward Serena's squad almost immediately.
"They're trying to shift blame," another muttered.
That was all it took. Skills detonated across the plains seconds later and the battlefield descended into complete chaos.
Serena cut down the first Hollow Dogs operator rushing toward her while another slammed a reinforced projectile through the ruined stone archway behind them. Her squad tried pulling back toward the forest sectors, but the confusion destroyed any chance of a clean retreat.
Nobody knew whom to trust anymore. The surviving Obsidian Circle operator kept shouting that a third party was involved while the Hollow Dogs reinforcements accused him of panicking after an ambush. Neither side listened properly once combat started.
The retreat became ugly almost immediately afterward. One of Serena's squad members took a direct hit across the shoulder while falling back through the grasslands. Another nearly lost control of a defensive skill after multiple impacts shattered the outer reinforcement layers around his body.
Dren stayed behind briefly to slow pursuit while the others escaped toward the western forest routes. Serena still remembered the moment she looked back and realized he wasn't following anymore.
She almost turned around but more skill signatures erupted farther across the plains beyond the river. More people responding to the flare signal. Staying longer would have trapped everyone there.
By the time Serena's group finally escaped into the western forest sectors, another large battle had already broken out near the eastern riverbanks between both factions responding to the flare signal. The war kept escalating whether the truth surfaced or not.
That memory stayed fresh in Serena's mind by the time she finally returned to the ruined watchtower near dawn. Riven stood near the broken stone foundation overlooking the valley below while distant flashes from ongoing battles illuminated sections of the plains beyond the forest.
He noticed the missing squad member immediately. Serena could tell from the way his gaze moved across the group before briefly settling on the empty space beside her.
The surviving members looked exhausted enough that nobody spoke right away. Blood stained sections of their armor while dirt and dried grass clung to their clothes from the retreat through the eastern sectors.
Serena eventually removed the Hollow Dogs insignia from her coat and tossed it onto the ruined stone beside him.
"We were exposed."
Silence settled across the ruins afterward. One of the wounded squad members dropped heavily against the broken wall nearby while pressing a hand against the injury along his ribs.
"We were doing fine until the last fight," he muttered bitterly. "But everything went to hell once the mask was torn off and they triggered a flare."
Riven listened quietly while Serena explained what happened. Far across the plains, another explosion illuminated the artificial night briefly before fading again into the distance. Riven looked toward the battlefield for several seconds after she finished speaking.
"Did you expect this to happen?" Serena asked eventually.
"In tasks like this, expecting mistakes is the right way to go," he replied calmly.
One of the injured squad members clenched his jaw immediately.
"We lost one of us."
"And if you stayed longer," Riven said while looking toward him, "you would've lost everyone. Everyone here knew the risks before getting into this."
The man looked away afterward without responding because nobody there could deny it. Serena stepped beside Riven near the edge of the ruined structure while smoke continued rising across sections of the grasslands below.
"At least one faction knows somebody else is involved now," she said quietly.
"It won't matter at this point."
"You still think this war keeps going after that?"
Riven's eyes remained fixed toward the distant battlefield.
"Too many people have already died for either side to stop now," he said. "Even if the Obsidian Circle realizes somebody manipulated the situation, they still can't back down without looking weak."
Serena stayed silent because she understood the problem too.
The dungeon war had already escalated beyond reason. Patrol teams hunted each other constantly through the plains and forests. Supply routes collapsed daily. Independent operators vanished between shifting territorial lines while both factions kept throwing more people into the conflict trying to gain control over the dungeon. Nobody trusted anyone anymore.
And once loss and fear reached that point, explanations stopped mattering as much as retaliation.
Far beyond the ruins, another explosion lit the horizon near the eastern sectors.
The war was growing beyond everyone's control by the minute.