The spiral staircase ended in a cloud of freezing dust.
Kaelen stepped off the final rung, his boots crunching on dry bones. The air down here smelled ancient—like copper coins and stagnant water. It was a sharp contrast to the rotting stench of the Abyss. This was a cleaner, more clinical kind of death.
"Dungeon Floor 1," Kaelen announced, his voice echoing in the narrow stone corridor. "No traps on the floor, but watch the walls. My father liked pressure plates."
Behind him, Vex dropped silently to the ground. She spun her serrated daggers, her yellow eyes glowing in the gloom.
"Nice place," she whispered, kicking a skull. "Little ominous. What are we killing?"
"Whatever moves," Kaelen said.
Seraphina stumbled down last. She was hugging her arms, shivering not just from the cold, but from the oppressive atmosphere. The [Soul Bond] hummed in the back of her mind, a constant reminder that her life was tethered to the man leading them into the dark.
"Kaelen," she whispered. "My mana is at 40%. I can't cast many spells."
"You don't need many," Kaelen replied without looking back. "You just need to not miss."
He stopped at a heavy iron door. Through the cracks, a pale blue light flickered.
"Engagement Protocol," Kaelen ordered, his tone shifting to that of a commander. "Vex, you take the left flank. Stay in stealth. Do not engage until I draw aggro. Seraphina, you stay ten meters back. Line of sight only. If anything gets close to you, scream."
"And you?" Vex asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I'm the bait."
Kaelen kicked the door open.
Inside was a burial chamber. Stone sarcophagi lined the walls. Floating in the center of the room were three entities made of tattered grey cloth and swirling dust.
[Dust Wraiths (Rank F+)]
[Trait: Physical Resistance (High).]
They screeched—a sound like tearing metal—and surged toward the intruder.
"Contact!" Kaelen shouted.
He didn't dodge. He stepped forward, raising his Mithril sword. He needed to test their damage output.
A Wraith lashed out with a claw made of condensed shadow. It struck Kaelen's chest.
Thud.
[-15 HP]
It hurt, cold seeping into his ribs, but it wasn't lethal. His [CON] stat, bolstered by the Abyss survival, tanked the hit.
"Vex! Do not attack!" Kaelen barked as the assassin prepared to lunge. "Physical immunity. Your daggers are useless unless you coat them in mana."
Vex cursed and aborted her jump, fading back into the shadows.
"Seraphina! Light Bolt! Center mass! Now!"
Seraphina froze. Her hands shook. The Wraiths were terrifying, their hollow eyes staring right at her.
"I... I can't aim! They're moving too fast!"
"They are moving in a straight line toward me!" Kaelen roared, parrying a shadow claw. "Shoot, or I let them pass!"
The threat cut through her panic. If Kaelen stepped aside, she was dead.
"Light Bolt!"
A sphere of golden light erupted from her palm. It flew wide, hitting a sarcophagus and exploding in a shower of stone chips.
"Miss," Kaelen stated coldly. He took another hit. [-12 HP]. "Adjust aim. Breathing is erratic. Steady your core. Fire again."
He was coaching her in the middle of combat. He treated the monsters not as threats, but as training dummies.
Seraphina grit her teeth. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes, but she forced herself to focus. She felt the [Soul Bond] pulsing—Kaelen's irritation flowing into her.
'Focus. Just hit the target.'
"Light Bolt!"
This time, the spell flew true. It slammed into the lead Wraith.
HISS!
The light burned through the shadow cloth. The Wraith shrieked and disintegrated into a pile of mundane dust.
[Ding!]
[Assist XP Shared.]
"Good," Kaelen grunted. "Two left. Vex, aim for the cores while she stuns them."
Now that the synergy was established, the fight turned into a slaughter. Seraphina blasted the Wraiths with light, stripping their physical immunity, and Vex finished them off with precise strikes to their mana cores.
Within thirty seconds, the room was silent.
"Messy," Kaelen critiqued, wiping dust from his armor. "But acceptable."
He walked to the center of the room. A chest sat there—the Dungeon Reward.
He kicked it open.
[Loot: 50 System Coins.]
[Loot: Old Key (Iron).]
"Coins?" Vex picked one up. It was heavy, minted with a skull. "Can I spend this at the tavern?"
"No," Kaelen snatched it. "You spend it at the Shop. Which we unlock at the end of this floor."
They pushed deeper.
Room after room fell. With each encounter, the hesitation in Seraphina's casting faded. She learned that Kaelen would hold the line, no matter what. He took hits so she didn't have to. It was a twisted form of protection, but it built trust.
Finally, they reached the Boss Chamber.
The doors were massive, carved with weeping angels.
"Boss room," Kaelen said, checking his stats. [HP: 65%]. "Vex, scout it."
Vex slipped through a crack in the masonry. She returned ten seconds later, looking pale.
"It's big," she reported. "Armor. Giant shield. And it's glowing purple."
"Crypt Warden," Kaelen identified. "Elite Construct. High defense. Weak to... nothing, really. We have to break it."
He looked at his team.
"This one hits hard. Seraphina, save your mana for a barrier. If it charges you, you shield up. Vex, you're on the hamstrings. I'll take the head."
"You're going to face-tank an Elite?" Vex asked skeptically. "You're barely standing."
"I have a new trick," Kaelen smirked. The [Abyssal Sun] mutation hummed in his veins.
He pushed the doors open.
The Crypt Warden stood in the center of the arena. It was ten feet tall, a suit of black iron animated by a swirling purple necrotic core. It held a tower shield and a mace the size of a man.
ROAR.
It didn't speak; it emitted a shockwave of sound.
"Go!" Kaelen commanded.
He sprinted straight at the boss.
The Warden raised its mace. It was slow, telegraphing the attack.
Kaelen slid under the swing. The mace smashed into the floor, cracking the stone.
"Now, Vex!"
Vex dropped from the ceiling, landing on the Warden's back. She stabbed her daggers into the neck joints.
Clang!
"Too thick!" she shouted. "I can't penetrate!"
The Warden reached back, grabbing Vex by her leather armor and throwing her across the room. She slammed into a pillar and crumpled.
"Vex!" Seraphina screamed.
"Focus!" Kaelen roared.
The Warden turned its attention to Kaelen. It raised its shield and charged. [Shield Bash].
There was no way to dodge. It was a wall of iron moving at 40 miles per hour.
Kaelen didn't try to dodge. He dropped his sword. He planted his feet.
He raised his right hand. Black flames ignited, sucking the light out of the room. The temperature dropped to freezing.
[Skill: Abyssal Sun (focused).]
"Burn," Kaelen whispered.
He punched the incoming shield.
BOOM.
It wasn't a collision of physics; it was a collision of concepts. The black fire didn't push the shield back; it ate the mana holding the metal together.
The shield rusted, crumbled, and disintegrated in seconds. Kaelen's fist continued forward, driven by the momentum of the charge, and punched directly through the Warden's chest plate.
He felt the cold, slimy texture of the Necrotic Core.
He grabbed it.
"Mine."
He ripped the core out.
The Warden froze mid-step. Its red eyes flickered. Then, the massive suit of armor collapsed into a heap of scrap metal, burying Kaelen up to his waist.
Silence filled the room.
"Did... did he just punch through a tank?" Vex groaned, pulling herself up from the floor.
Seraphina lowered her hands, the barrier spell fizzling out. She stared at the pile of armor.
Kaelen climbed out, dusting off his uniform. He held the purple core in his hand.
[Ding!]
[Floor Boss Defeated: Crypt Warden (Elite).]
[XP Gained: 2000.]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 9.]
[Objective Complete: Clear Floor 1.]
[System Reward: Unlocking 'Vance Estate Shop'...]
A pillar of blue light erupted in the center of the room. The debris vanished. A holographic terminal materialized.
"We did it," Seraphina breathed, a smile breaking through her exhaustion.
Kaelen walked to the terminal. "Let's see if it was worth the effort."
He placed his hand on the interface.
[Welcome, Heir Vance.]
[Current Currency: 150 SC (System Coins).]
[Shop Inventory (Level 1):]
[Health Potion (Rank F) - 10 SC
Mana Potion (Rank F) - 10 SC
Skill Book: Basic Stealth - 100 SC
Blueprint: Mana Well - 500 SC]
Kaelen scrolled down. It was standard junk. Useful, but nothing game-changing.
Until he hit the "Special" tab.
There was only one item listed.
[Item: The Registry of Traitors (Fragment 1)]
[Cost: 10,000 SC.]
Description: A list of names. People who accepted bribes to sabotage the Fissure Outpost five years ago.
Kaelen froze.
10,000 Coins. It was an impossible amount for a Level 9.
But the description...
"Kaelen?" Vex limped over. "Find anything good?"
Kaelen stared at the screen. His father hadn't just left him a dungeon to grind levels. He had left him a map to his killers.
"Yes," Kaelen said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I found the menu."
He closed the shop interface and turned to his team.
"We're going to need more coins," he declared. "We're going to farm this dungeon until it bleeds."