They kept moving, each step echoing through the narrow stone tunnel.
Seven shadows stretched long across the moss-covered walls, swaying with the group's uneven rhythm.
Under the faint light of glowing ore embedded in the walls, the shadows seemed to ripple, dancing to a vague rhythm between life and death.
They looked small, like tiny lost figures wandering through the belly of a sleeping stone giant, who could crush them at any moment with a single instinctive convulsion from deep underground.
Ren walked silently near the rear, keeping just enough distance not to fall behind, yet not close enough for anyone to notice him.
He didn't speak. Instead, his eyes were constantly moving, from the damp rock face on the left, to the cracks along the ground beneath them, then to the faint claw marks etched into the walls, like traces left by something long gone.
He didn't want to miss a single detail. Because part of him, though reason had denied it dozens of times.
Still couldn't silence the doubt threading through his thoughts. A tiny, invisible, stubborn seed clung to his mind.
"Something's wrong."
He had felt it the moment Diavel began speaking about the boss. The tone was too polished, too smooth, and the way the whole group seemed to already know what was coming... except him.
Ren knew these suspicions were fragile. He had no concrete proof.
And if he spoke up, he would likely be met with confused looks or silent refusal. But even after telling himself again and again that he was overthinking, the feeling never went away.
Like a tiny thorn stuck in the sole of his foot, never enough to make him fall, but always there, never letting him forget.
Ren curled his fingers slightly, feeling the rough skin under his glove.
He didn't know what awaited them up ahead. But right now, what unsettled him the most wasn't the boss itself.
It was the atmosphere.
It was too quiet. Not the natural silence of deep underground, but a compressed stillness, like the entire mine was holding its breath, waiting.
Even the soft drafts of wind slipping through the cracks seemed lost, carrying with them a strange chill that crept beneath Ren's armor and pierced straight to his spine.
Something was different. As if the group had just crossed an invisible threshold.
This wasn't just a regular boss hunt. It wasn't just a mission to split rewards. It was something deeper, darker, waiting for them in the shadows ahead.
Ren couldn't name it. But he could feel it.
A turning point.
It didn't come with a roar, nor a glowing red alert, nor a system message flashing in midair.
It came as a faint flutter in his heartbeat, a sudden tightening in his chest, like an invisible cord beginning to pull taut.
And he knew.
From this moment on, nothing would return to the way it was.
Under the dim glow of luminous stones embedded in the walls, Ren quietly scanned his surroundings.
The space remained the same, coarse, still, and cloaked in an atmosphere difficult to define. Half waiting, half hiding something.
He was just about to quicken his pace when he felt a faint movement near his ankle, something brushing past, almost leaving no trace.
Ren looked down. Beneath him was a small rock, no larger than his palm, slowly rolling to the side of the path before coming to a stop.
Nothing special. Not a trap, nor a system signal. Just a harmless stone... yet Ren felt his heart skip a beat.
He exhaled quietly, half mocking himself.
"Am I really so anxious that I'm imagining stones moving?"
He shook his head and hurried his steps to catch up with the group.
But just then, a thought flashed through his mind, freezing him mid-stride in the tunnel.
"Wait... that rock... it rolled?"
He turned, eyeing the path he had just walked. The ground was flat, no incline, no crack deep enough to create a slope. And no one had been walking close enough ahead to accidentally kick it.
Ren frowned. Maybe it was a slight tremor from far below? Or something... subtler?
He looked again at the now-still rock. It seemed insignificant, but part of him couldn't dismiss it.
Even the smallest anomaly could mark the beginning of something bigger.
And now, he wasn't sure if he was just overthinking...
Or the only one still paying attention.
But in that exact moment, a low, groaning sound rumbled from beneath the earth.
Like an ancient demon had just stirred after centuries of slumber.
Ren didn't even have time to react before the entire stone tunnel began to tremble violently.
The ground beneath his feet seemed to come alive, rippling with waves of motion spreading outward in every direction.
The glowing stones embedded along the walls shook loose, clattering to the floor, their light flickering as though caught in a sudden, invisible wind.
"An earthquake?" a panicked voice called out from the group ahead, only to be immediately swallowed by the deafening rumble of shifting earth and rock.
Ren braced himself, planting his feet firmly and lowering his center of gravity to maintain balance.
His heart pounded in his chest as a thick cloud of dust exploded around him, blinding his vision.
Ahead, Diavel raised a hand in command. "Hold your positions! Don't scatter!"
His voice still rang out strong, but beneath the tremors and crumbling stone, it sounded as if it were being pressed down by something greater, an invisible weight bearing down on them all.
Ren gritted his teeth, his eyes darting toward the small rock from earlier, the first sign of this event.
It wasn't random. Everything had already begun… long before anyone realized it.
And now, this tremor, it wasn't just a coincidence. It was the first greeting from the monster they were about to face.
Or worse… something that hadn't even been named yet.
Though the rumble still echoed in his ears, Diavel's voice cut sharply through the dust and the howling roar of earth like a sword slicing through chaos.
"It's the boss," he said, voice low but resolute. "Someone's attacking it. Maybe a party…"
Ren lifted his head, peering through the thick gray dust that clung like fog.
A party? Down here, in this mine?
He hadn't heard a single notice about a boss raid today, no call for cooperation, no warning signals.
And as far as he knew… the boss's location was kept secret, known only to a handful of high-level players.
Diavel was one of them.
So who was it? Why would they act alone?
Could it be a group of Beta testers who'd planned this in advance?
Diavel tightened his grip on his sword, his eyes sharp with focus. A flash of tension passed over his face—no longer his usual confidence, but something closer to concern.
"If they disrupt the boss's patrol loop… or trigger the wrong mechanic, this entire mine could collapse," he said quickly.
Behind them, the sound of shifting feet broke out. A few players began stepping back, panic spreading through the group.
"Hold formation!" Diavel barked, voice cold as steel. "This is not the time to split up. If you brought teleport crystals, check them now!"
Ren still hadn't said a word. His eyes were locked on the stone wall beside him. It had just trembled slightly, as if something inside had stirred.
No. This wasn't just an aftershock.
Something was approaching.
Not from ahead. Not from the path they came through.
But from… below.
Directly beneath them.
Ren remained still, eyes fixed on the cold wall beside him. Then… a chill crawled up his spine.
Not from the wind. Not from the dust.
But from the earth itself.
A soft crack echoed, no one else seemed to hear it, but Ren did. He crouched lower, one hand gently touching the stone floor… and felt it vibrating. Not a spreading tremor.
But a tremor from exactly where he was standing.
"Wait—!" he shouted in warning, but the words hadn't even left his mouth when.
BOOOOOOM!!
A deep roar erupted from the ground below, like the scream of a nameless entity rising from the depths of hell.
The ground split open.
Not in tiny cracks, but like a giant sheet of skin being torn apart by something beneath. Massive slabs of stone broke away.
The floor collapsed.
Screams rang out just as the glow of luminescent stones plummeted through the air.
Ren felt his body drop into the ink-black void, with nothing to grab onto.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
No end in sight.
Wind lashed at his face like a whip. All around him came shouts, the clash of metal against stone, the desperate cries of players calling out to each other in the chaos.
Everything shattered.
Then, just for the briefest moment..
BOOM!!
A brutal impact. Rocks scattered. Darkness swallowed everything.
…
The first thing Ren felt when he regained consciousness wasn't pain.
It was loneliness.
He could hear nothing but his own ragged, broken breathing. Diavel was nowhere in sight. No one was.
Only darkness, and something… waiting at the bottom.
The rubble covered him like a tomb built for the unfortunate.
Ren forced himself to sit up and checked his health bar.
'This is bad.'
HP: 55 / 525.