Beneath the Ruins

Hesperia's stomach lurched as she fell through the rift.

The world twisted around her, colors bleeding together like a shattered screen.

Then—

Impact.

She hit the ground hard, the breath slamming from her lungs. Stone. Cold. Unfamiliar.

A second later, a sharp crack sounded as Mara landed beside her, rolling to absorb the impact.

More bodies followed—Ren, groaning from his injuries. The young boy, gasping in shock. Then Denzel, landing in a low crouch, blade already drawn.

The air was thick, charged with static energy. Not quite the same as the ruins they had left behind.

They weren't in the same dungeon anymore.

Hesperia pushed herself up, taking in their surroundings.

The walls were still stone, but different—older, smoother, marked with faint, glowing carvings. The air smelled of damp earth and something metallic.

Dim blue lights flickered along the edges of the chamber, half-buried in the rock. Not torches. Not magic.

Technology.

A deep unease settled in her chest.

"This isn't normal," Mara muttered, brushing dust from her jacket.

Denzel stood slowly, scanning the chamber. "Where the hell are we?"

No one had an answer.

Hesperia exhaled sharply, brushing her fingers over the rough stone floor.

It felt wrong.

Like it wasn't supposed to exist anymore—but had been unearthed by accident.

Or by force.

Ren coughed, wincing as he shifted. "That… wasn't a normal teleport."

"Obviously," Mara muttered.

The boy frowned. "Then what was it?"

No one spoke.

Denzel finally straightened, his expression unreadable. "Doesn't matter. We need to move before something finds us."

Hesperia agreed.

The rift hadn't taken them to safety. It had taken them somewhere the System didn't want them to be.

And that meant they weren't alone.

They moved cautiously, stepping through the ancient corridors. The walls were covered in more of those strange markings, glowing faintly beneath centuries of dust.

They weren't like the runes from the dungeon above.

These were something else.

Mara ran a hand along the carvings. "This… doesn't look like Player-made stuff."

"It isn't," Denzel muttered. "It's older."

Hesperia studied the symbols, heart pounding.

Because something about them felt familiar.

Not in a way she could explain. Not a memory. More like an instinct.

Like she had seen something like this before.

She pressed her fingers against the markings.

For a split second—

Something flickered in her vision.

[Data Error – Corrupted Entry Detected.]

[Reconstructing Lost Fragment…]

Her breath caught.

But before she could process it—

The ground trembled.

A distant grinding sound echoed through the halls.

Something was waking up.

Denzel immediately reacted. "Weapons out. We're not alone."

A sharp, mechanical whir cut through the silence.

Hesperia's stomach dropped.

She knew that sound.

Not an Adaptive Killer.

Something worse.

A shadow shifted at the far end of the corridor.

It was tall—twice the size of a normal Player, its body twisted and unnatural.

A fusion of stone, metal, and something organic, like it had been pieced together from different dungeon materials.

But the worst part?

It wasn't fully solid.

Its form flickered—glitching in and out of focus, like the System itself couldn't fully stabilize it.

Hesperia's breath hitched.

She had seen Adaptive Killers evolve before.

But this…

This wasn't an adaptation.

It was an experiment.

A prototype.

Something the System had been building in secret.

And now?

It had found them.

The creature moved.

Not fast. Not yet.

It was studying them. Learning.

Denzel reacted first—he raised his blade, stepping forward. "Formation. Stay together."

Mara cursed under her breath. "Great. Another nightmare."

The boy clutched his dagger tightly, shaking.

Hesperia's mind raced.

If this thing was still unstable, then maybe—

The creature lunged.

It didn't attack like the Adaptive Killers.

It didn't strike directly.

It glitched forward.

One second, it was across the room.

The next, it was right in front of them.

Mara barely had time to react before it swung.

She dodged, but not fast enough.

The creature's arm scraped her side, leaving a trail of distorted air where it passed.

Mara staggered back, gasping.

Her armor wasn't damaged.

Her body wasn't damaged.

But for a split second—

She flickered.

Like she had almost been erased.

Hesperia's blood ran cold.

This thing wasn't just an enemy.

It was testing how to delete them.

And if it figured it out—

They wouldn't come back.