The Butcher Zombie

Noah watched closely as his monsters entered the scene against the adventurers. The only one he hadn't seen yet was the Demon Rat, which was probably lurking somewhere in the dungeon's underground tunnels.

As Noah suspected, the battle wasn't lasting long. These adventurers were clearly more experienced than the previous ones.Daren had already knocked down and destroyed the skeleton with ease.Rafael was freeing himself from the webs that held him, while the Mutant Spider struggled, pinned against the wall with several arrows lodged in its body.

Melissa and Elisa had dealt with the two zombies without difficulty. Melissa used an enchantment to amplify Elisa's next spell, which obliterated both enemies at once.

After the brief fight, the group gathered to check if anyone needed healing, but everyone was unharmed.

Then the ground began to move strangely.

A muffled sound, like rustling from the depths, preceded the moment a dog-sized creature leapt from underground. A rat, with sharp teeth and eyes glowing red like embers, flew straight for Daren's neck.

Daren reacted quickly. He twisted his body and slammed his shield against the creature, trying to throw it away.But it wasn't as effective as he had hoped.The moment the shield collided with the rat, Daren felt a solid impact, as if hitting a rock.

"That monster is strong..." he muttered, frowning.

Hearing this, Melissa activated one of her support enchantments:

"Assess."

Her eyes widened as she read the information that appeared before her.

"It's a Demon Rat... I've never seen records of this kind of creature, but..." — her voice faltered — "it's level 3!"

There was a moment of silence. Everyone exchanged looks.

"But that doesn't make sense," Rafael said, surprised. "In a Class D dungeon, level 3 monsters shouldn't appear so early..."

"I agree," Melissa replied, still eyeing the creature suspiciously. "All the monsters we've faced so far were level 2. Maybe this rat mutated somehow, something related to the dungeon's evolution itself. But... if that's true, the guild should already be aware."

Noah, watching everything through the dungeon's eyes, remained silent for a moment.The girl's words echoed in his mind: "the guild should already know."

Then, like a lightning strike in his memory, the image of that scarlet-haired woman invaded his thoughts.

The group formed up to face the Demon Rat.

The creature was fast and cunning — it attacked swiftly, and when it realized it couldn't deal fatal damage, it dived back underground, disappearing like a living shadow. Seconds later, it emerged from another point in the room, launching another fierce assault.

Time passed, and tension only rose.Arrows sliced through the air.Spells flashed on the battlefield.Shouts and orders were exchanged amid the chaos.

After a series of well-coordinated strikes, the creature finally hit the ground with a dull thud.Before it could escape again, Daren charged with sword raised and, with a yell, plunged the blade straight into the monster's body.

The Demon Rat shuddered, then went still.

For a moment, silence hung heavily in the air.Everyone was panting, sweat on their faces, shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

"What an annoying little creature..." Elisa complained, trying to fix her wild hair, which looked like it had been through a hurricane. "Kept attacking and running away. I should have just blown this whole room up."

Daren sighed deeply and nodded, sheathing his sword.

"Let's rest a bit. Once everyone's okay, we move on."

Melissa, though tired, began chanting her healing spell. A soft light enveloped the group as small wounds and scratches slowly closed.Noah was surprised at how much the Demon Rat had resisted during the fight.

"Seems it can really give the adventurers trouble, being a level 3 monster..." he muttered to himself, intrigued. "What then would a level 4 monster do?"

The thought made him anxious. He could hardly wait to see the Butcher Zombie in action — the only remaining monster in that dungeon section, and the one who, by his calculations, should end this incursion.

He glanced at the squirrel watching everything from atop a stone beam."Nutsensei isn't fit for combat..." he thought, dismissing the idea with a sigh.

A few minutes passed.

After catching their breath, the group resumed walking through the dark corridors until they came upon a colossal door ahead. Everyone's eyes narrowed as they saw it.

"Daren, be careful... don't forget last time," Rafael warned.

Daren silently nodded. He approached the door, took a deep breath, and pushed the heavy ancient wooden panels with both hands, already readying himself for combat.

What he found, however, was a vast and silent empty hall.

The rest of the group entered formation, guards up, eyes sweeping every corner of the vastness. Their footsteps echoed against the walls, betraying the chamber's size.

Then, a dull thud.

Everyone instinctively turned around — the huge door they had passed through was now closed.

With the door shut, the group took a few steps forward before stopping abruptly. Ahead, in the center of that huge room, a viscous sound broke the silence.

Splorch... Schlak... Krreeh...

As if a mass of flesh was writhing, something began to rise before them. The group remained frozen, as if tension had paralyzed their bodies. The stench of rotten meat filled the air, nauseating and suffocating.

Elisa brought her hand to her mouth, on the verge of vomiting.

Slowly, everyone turned toward the sound and then saw it.

It was horrible.

A two-meter-tall creature, made up of stitched-together pieces of various bodies, rose slowly. Its head was half human, half pig. One arm held a huge cleaver dripping with thick black goo, like old blood.

Melissa activated her ability.

"It's... a Butcher Zombie..." she murmured. "I've never heard of this kind. Could be some kind of special mutation..."

She paused for a moment, eyes wide.

"It's level 4."

Everyone turned to her in shock.

"Didn't you say this dungeon was Class D?" Elisa asked, trying to stay calm but with a trembling voice.

"I speculated," Melissa replied, panting. "Based on the monsters we've faced so far, everything pointed to a Class D dungeon... but this one's different."

Daren took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Level 4 monsters... sometimes develop intelligence. Not much, but enough to think... and even talk. It's like dealing with a child... a murderous one."

The creature seemed to understand the fear on their faces. A grotesque smile, full of crooked sharp teeth, appeared on its deformed face, as if it was genuinely happy to see them there.

Elisa's face went pale. Rafael held his bow with trembling hands. Daren tried to keep his stance, but the sweat on his forehead betrayed him. Melissa stayed further back, wide-eyed and breathing unevenly.

The Butcher Zombie opened its deformed mouth.

And, to everyone's surprise, it spoke.

"M-much... meat... to slice..."

The smile widened even more, a muffled laugh escaping through its rotten teeth as it took a step toward the group.

A grotesque crack accompanied the movement, as if the bones of its many victims creaked inside its own body. The group instinctively took half a step back, each feeling the suffocating pressure of this abnormal enemy.

Daren was the first to advance, raising his shield firmly."Don't let it get close! Rafael, cover! Elisa, distract it with magic!"

Melissa positioned herself behind, ready to strengthen the group. She chanted a quick spell —"Protective Aura!"A faint glow surrounded Daren's body, and he felt the weight of tension ease for a moment.

The zombie roared.

And charged like a beast.

Daren intercepted, blocking the cleaver strike with his shield but was thrown back like a rag doll.

Rafael fired arrows as fast as he could. Three hit the monster but only sank into its putrid flesh. Elisa extended her hands, and the wind began to swirl around her like a dance of invisible blades.

"Cutting Storm!"

Wind spears pierced the zombie's torso. It faltered for a second... but then smiled. One of the holes in its chest started closing.

The zombie seemed to understand. Its eyes slowly turned to Melissa, who was chanting a new spell.She froze.

It ran at her, ignoring all attacks. Rafael shouted, Elisa cast another blast, but nothing stopped it. Melissa instinctively raised her hands — and then the cleaver came down.

Silence.

Melissa's body had been split in two by the butcher zombie. Her entrails spread across the darkened floor, and even in death, her half-open eyes shed a single tear. It was as if her soul, still present for a moment, mourned leaving her friends behind.

Time stopped.

The entire group froze, paralyzed by the grotesque scene before them. Reality weighed like an anvil on their chests.

Elisa, a few meters away, felt her legs weaken. She dropped to her knees, eyes wide with pure horror.

"Melissa... N-NO... NOOO!!"Her scream cut through the hall like a sharp blade.

Her long black hair rose, swirling as if a storm had formed around her. The air grew dense, vibrant, electric. An invisible aura, charged with pure rage, gathered around the mage.

"Ancient winds... heed my command..."Her voice sounded deep, reverberating with supernatural power.

The ground trembled. A huge sphere of swirling air formed before her, compressed, roaring like a bottled hurricane.

With a primal scream, Elisa cast the spell.

The sphere flew in a straight line, devastating everything in its path, tearing through the air with a deafening roar. The zombie barely had time to react — it was hit head-on. Its monstrous body was thrown with such force that it crashed through the entire hall, smashed into the great stone door, which exploded into debris, and flew out of the room like a runaway projectile.

The impact was brutal.

The room fell silent again.