For the past few hours, Taufik had only one focus, cataloging every boss monster within the first ten floors of the Realm Gate.
Now, he stood at the edge of the tenth floor's boss chamber.
And it was different.
The air here was thick, too thick. Every breath clung to his lungs like molded wood, like damp rot buried under centuries of silence. Even his skin felt it, the way one might sense a grave long forgotten.
The forest had gone quiet.
Unnaturally quiet.
No birdsong. No insect sprites. Not even the whisper of wind through the trees. Just a dead, heavy stillness that pressed down like a judgment.
Ahead lay a clearing ringed by massive, petrified trees, giants long dead, their bark split open like old scars.
Sickly green light pulsed faintly through their withered veins, casting an eerie glow over the ground. The soil beneath his boots throbbed with a rhythm, slow, deep, as though something enormous slumbered beneath the forest's skin.
Then he saw it.
