"It's a damn crystal!" Paul's voice cracked through the cavern like a whip.
Everyone's eyes snapped toward Ronin—still on one knee, fingers trembling as they clutched the fist-sized, faintly glowing crystal he'd just torn from the goblin's corpse. Blood was still pooling beneath it, sticky and dark, but none of them were looking at the body. Their attention was locked on the glittering prize in Ronin's hand.
Paul's eyes were wide, manic even, envy smeared all over his desperate face. The rule was simple: you kill, you keep. But crystals like that? They weren't just loot—they were power. Status. Life-changing.
Paul stormed forward. "Hand it over." His voice was rough and cracked, like his greed was squeezing it out of his throat. "You don't even need it. You nearly died just killing that one goblin."
Ronin just stared. He didn't have the energy to argue. Hell, he barely had the energy to breathe. His nose still dripped blood, shoulder throbbing from the club strike. But his grip on the crystal didn't loosen. Not an inch.
Before Paul could get any closer, Leroy stepped forward and planted himself between them. He wasn't shouting—just staring Paul down with eyes hard as steel.
"Back off," Leroy said. Calm. Cold. "He killed it. The crystal's his."
Paul froze. His jaw clenched, then he scoffed and turned away, muttering something under his breath as he sat down and faced the cavern wall.
Ronin blinked at Leroy. About damn time someone played by the damn rules. Maybe you ain't just a spear-twirling, pretty-boy hardass after all, he thought. Not that he said a word out loud. He was too tired for more snark.
The silence that followed was dense and heavy, like the cavern itself was holding its breath. Twenty long minutes passed. No one moved. No one spoke. Not until the timid guy—whose name Ronin still hadn't learned—finally broke the silence with a hesitant voice.
"Um… where's… the other girl?"
Ronin's blood froze just a little. He looked around.
Paul. Leroy. Timid guy. Fire girl.
…Who was the other girl again?
He couldn't even remember her name, just that she was there. Quiet. Faded into the background so much that her absence hadn't even registered.
Leroy stood, shaking off the stillness. "Break's over," he said. "We move. And keep an eye out. We're finding her before we head back."
They all got to their feet, still sluggish, still stunned. Ronin pocketed the crystal, feeling a flicker of pride underneath the pain and exhaustion. The first damn thing he'd earned in all his dives.
The tunnel ahead narrowed again, twisting like a serpent's throat, but now torches lined the walls—unlit but ready. Fire girl, likely grateful to not waste her mana, walked beside one and lazily lit it with a spark from her fingertips. One torch caught the next, and soon the path was dimly aglow in flickering orange.
They walked in silence. No formation, just an aimless march. Everyone too spooked to pretend at coordination.
Timid guy tripped over something hard and let out a yelp. Everyone tensed—until they saw it was just a stray rock. He waved them off, face red, clearly mortified. Ronin didn't laugh. No one did.
They walked five more minutes. Just enough time to think maybe things were back to normal—whatever the hell that meant down here.
Then Leroy gasped.
He'd stopped cold at the mouth of a new chamber. The rest quickly caught up and peered over his shoulder.
What they saw stopped every breath.
The girl—the one they'd forgotten—lay sprawled on the stone floor. Or at least, most of her. Blood had painted the ground in long, dark streaks. Her limbs were twisted unnaturally, her torso torn open like paper. What was left of her face was barely recognizable.
Ronin stared. He felt nothing. Not horror. Not sadness. Just… numb.
Timid guy trembled. "W-We should leave. Report this. We're not ready for this kind of gate—"
"We're not leaving!" Paul snapped, whirling to face him. "You serious right now? We just found her like this and you want to run? We need to know what did this!"
"You're wrong," Fire girl said, arms crossed and face pale. "We don't know what did that. Whatever it was, we don't want it finding us next."
Leroy raised a hand, silencing them both.
"…We're pulling out," he said, voice low. "This gate's too risky. We'll report the girl. Let the real hunters handle this one."
Paul cursed but said nothing else.
They turned around, retracing their steps back the way they came. But they hadn't gone far when Leroy froze again.
"Why'd we stop?" Paul asked impatiently.
Leroy held up a hand, eyes fixed on something in the shadows ahead.
"…Someone's here."
Ronin followed his gaze—and saw it.
A figure. Half-wrapped in darkness. Tall. Humanoid, but wrong. Shoulders too wide. Arms too long. Not moving. Not breathing.
"Who the hell are you?" Leroy barked.
No answer.
Paul stepped forward. "I said—"
SHLIK.
Blood exploded. Paul's body crumpled to the ground.
His head hit the stone with a dull thunk, several feet away.
No one saw it happen.
Leroy didn't hesitate. "Run."
They ran.
Ronin's lungs screamed. His legs felt like lead. Behind them, he heard nothing—but that was somehow worse. Even the timid guy's frantic "Is it still following us?!" felt too loud in the vacuum of terror.
After what felt like ten minutes of pure sprinting, Leroy skidded to a stop and yanked them into a small side cave barely wide enough for the four of them.
They collapsed inside, panting, broken.
Paul was gone. The other girl was gone.
Only Ronin, Leroy, fire girl, and timid guy remained.
The silence returned. But now it wasn't peaceful.
It was the kind of silence that tasted like blood and fear.