Chapter 7: Collapse.

Arkhiel led the way.

The group moved cautiously through the halls of the dungeon. His steps were confident, as if he knew every inch of the place.

For Eldrick's team, the whole situation felt wrong.

They had agreed to a forced deal, marching to face the creature that had nearly annihilated them, and now they followed a young man with a distant gaze, moving through the dungeon as if it were his domain.

How could he be so calm?

And that wasn't the only thing that didn't add up.

Earlier, during a brief conversation, he had called Selene by another name, Celica. No one had commented on it at the time, but it hadn't gone unnoticed.

If that wasn't her real name, how many other lies had they been told? Who were these three people, truly?

Could they be trusted?

If they lied about something so simple as a name, what else were they hiding?

Eldrick and the others had always suspected something was off. Not only had they been rescued by a trio far more competent than they let on, but it was also clear now, they knew absolutely nothing about them. The trio had kept their identities vague, their faces always half-hidden.

And then there was the fact that Arkhiel had studied the creature alone, in total darkness, without being detected.

Eldrick glanced subtly at Mirell. Her expression said enough; she had noticed too.

Then, they felt it. A tremor in the ground.

The creature had sensed them and was closing in fast.

Arkhiel didn't hesitate. He conjured a white orb of light. He noticed the glances.

Eldrick's group froze in disbelief. He had cast magic without a circle, noble magic. But there was no time for questions.

The beast screamed in agony, thrashing as the brightness overwhelmed its senses.

"Positions!" Arkhiel commanded.

Everyone sprang into motion.

Erina began casting. The magic circle glowed with intricate arcane patterns.

Arkhiel crouched low and pressed a palm to the ground. A thick sheet of ice began to spread rapidly beneath the monster's feet.

Momentum betrayed it. The creature skidded.

Then Erina's spell was unleashed.

A condensed ball of flame shot through the air, exploding against the creature's left flank.

The impact released a wave of heat, thick steam flooding the corridor.

"Mirell, now!" Arkhiel shouted. "Before the steam blocks the gland!"

Mirell didn't hesitate. She held her breath, poured every ounce of mana into a single shot, and aimed for the creature's exposed neck. Just before the mist obscured her target, she fired.

The gland exploded.

The creature let out another scream, this one deafening.

The screech tore through the air, its frequency intensified by the tunnel's natural acoustics. The shockwave slammed into their ears.

Celica dropped to her knees, her sword buzzing in her hands. Eldrick felt his eardrums burn, and blood spilled from his left ear. Lina and Mirell were writhing on the floor. Darien barely stayed upright. Erina collapsed, unconscious.

Arkhiel used shade magic to block the sound from reaching his inner ears. He slid across the ice toward the creature, condensing the scalding steam around him as he moved. He had to avoid thermal shock to his body.

A crystalline spear of ice formed in his grip.

He plunged it into the exposed wound with all his strength.

The lance began to melt almost instantly.

The creature convulsed once, then went still.

Silence.

Only the group's ragged breaths and the distant drip of dungeon water broke it.

They had won.

"Is it... dead?" Lina asked softly, healing Celica's bleeding ears along with her own, with white magic.

Then the rocks began to crack.

Arkhiel looked up as the walls shuddered, and tiny stones rained from the ceiling.

"No… of course," he muttered. "That final scream... it resonated with the tunnel's natural frequency."

"What does that mean?" Eldrick asked, staggering, one hand pressed against his bleeding ear.

"It means this place is collapsing," Arkhiel said coldly. "It generated stationary waves. The walls are fracturing from within."

"Fall back!" Celica ordered, still dizzy. Lina helped her to her feet while Darien lifted Erina's unconscious body.

Mirell tried to run but stumbled again.

"Move!" Arkhiel shouted, casting a light ahead while leading the way.

Mirell tripped again. Arkhiel stepped back and caught her by the arm, gently but firmly.

"Stay against the wall," he said, eyes still ahead.

She nodded, eyes swimming from nausea. Her ears still rang.

Darien struggled under Erina's weight. Lina gripped Celica's hand tightly as they followed.

Arkhiel raised an ice wall to brace a buckling column. It wouldn't hold long, but a few seconds might be enough.

A boulder crashed down where Lina had stood moments before. She jumped just in time.

"Both corridors are collapsing!" Eldrick shouted in panic. "There's no way out!"

Arkhiel didn't stop.

"This way!" he pointed toward a narrow opening in a side wall.

No one hesitated.

They dashed toward the opening.

"Almost there!" Arkhiel's breathing had grown heavier. Everything would be simpler if he were alone.

"There!" he pointed to a chamber beyond, a wider, more stable cavity.

One by one, they slipped through the gap.

Darien was the last, diving through just as the ceiling collapsed behind him.

The entrance was sealed by tons of stones.

Silence.

Only panting.

Lina collapsed to her knees.

Mirell slumped against a cold wall and shut her eyes. Eldrick rested his forehead against the stone.

Darien carefully lowered Erina to the floor and gasped for breath.

"…I almost died buried under rocks," Celica murmured. "How humiliating."

The adrenaline slowly faded.

"What the hell was that?" Mirell's voice cut through the silence, laced with quiet fury.

Her weapon rested against the wall, but her body was tense, shaking.

No one answered.

"Don't screw with me!" she snarled. "I saw it. We all did. You didn't use a magic circle."

"You're a noble, aren't you?"

Celica raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.

"Or at least someone with connections deep enough to learn noble magic. That's why you hide your names."

Arkhiel said nothing. He had known this moment would come.

"Mirell…" Eldrick began, exhausted.

"No. Don't you dare silence me," she cut him off, her voice cracking with anger. "You nobles always think you get to decide for the rest of us. Who lives. Who dies. What's worth saving. What can be sacrificed. You threw us at that monster for your damn greed and think it's justified."

"And yet you're alive," Celica replied, her tone flat. She knew it was her fault, but she wouldn't admit it.

Mirell took a step towards her, but Lina quickly stepped between them.

"And what good is that if we're still trapped in here?" Mirell continued. "We didn't even extract the creature's magic core! We're worse off than before."

Silence returned. Lina and Arkhiel tended to everyone's wounds with white magic. Mirell still watched them with seething distrust.

Then Arkhiel felt it.

Something was off.

The creature they had just killed hadn't been that strong. Not strong enough for a hidden boss.

A vibration ran through the stone, not from a collapse. This was different.

A crack echoed through the chamber.

Everyone turned at once.

A smaller version of the monster, about the size of a large dog, emerged from a hole in the wall.

Its screeches weren't as powerful as its mother's, but still sharp and jarring.

The thing lunged for Celica.

She stepped forward, teeth clenched, and with one fluid motion, cleaved it clean in two.

Then came more screeches.

More of them were crawling out from cracks in the walls.