Chapter 36: Deeper

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Deeper

The teo teams pushed on together, the junction behind them littered with wyrm carcasses, the passage ahead sloping gradually downward into thicker fog.

Kane’s group fell in loosely alongside Reeve’s, not quite merging into one unit, more like two currents running parallel down the same riverbed.

Jason kept walking.

He also kept watching.

A sliver of his Perception stayed fixed on Kane no matter what else demanded his attention, tracking the rhythm of his breathing, the loose, unhurried way he carried his sword, the faint, steady pulse still humming beneath his essence.

’Still there. Still exactly the same beat.’

’Nothing wrong with watching right?.’

---

The first real sign came without warning.

A wyrm broke from the fog ahead, and Jason’s spear was already rising to meet it when something in his chest lurched.

Hard.

His whole body flinched, half a step off rhythm, the world tilting sideways for one disorienting heartbeat.

Thrum.

Something deep in his blood stirred before his mind had caught up, a pull, insistent and wordless, pulled his focus toward the something else, like it mattered more than the claws currently swinging at his face.

’What-’

Claws raked across his shoulder before he fully recovered, shallow, stinging, entirely his own fault.

"Jason!" Skyler’s voice, sharp with warning.

He snapped back, spear driving through the creature’s throat on pure reflex, and stood there a second longer than necessary, chest heaving.

’That wasn’t nerves. That was something else entirely.’

He didn’t have time to chase the thought further. Another wyrm was already closing.

He pushed the sensation down, hard, walling it off behind sheer stubbornness, and didn’t let it happen again.

---

The waves kept coming after that, relentless, grinding.

F-Rank stragglers first, easy enough that Cassius handled two at once without breaking stride. Then the E-Rank ones, they had much tougher scales and much sharper instincts.

These beasts actually made Jason put in work for each kill. Then, further in, a scattering of D-Rank beasts, larger, meaner, horns thick as his forearm.

He didn’t touch those.

Kane and Reeve handled those between the two of them, efficient and unbothered.

They cut through any threats at the peak of or above E-Rank before Jason’s group even fully registered the threat.

He kept fighting his own share regardless, spear and lightning working in tandem, Cassius a steady presence at his shoulder more often than not, the two of them falling into an easy, wordless rhythm neither had planned but both seemed to trust.

"You’re not bad," Cassius said, between kills.

"You’re not terrible either."

"That’s pretty high praise."

"Don’t get used to it." Jason said, thrusting his spear into the eye of a beast charging him.

Cassius cut off the beast’s head, laughing manically as he and Jason pressed forward in the hoard.

---

Somewhere past the fifth or sixth wave, Jason noticed something about himself.

At every branching corridor, every fork in the maze, he found his feet already drifting toward one particular direction before his conscious mind had even weighed the options.

"You’re doing that thing again," Skyler said, catching him mid-drift for the third time.

"What thing."

"Picking a direction before I’ve even asked which way we’re going." She studied him, curious rather than suspicious. "Why this route?"

"I don’t know." He frowned, genuinely unsure how to explain it. "Something just feels different. Stronger. I can’t really describe it better than that."

"That’s not a real answer."

"It’s the only one I’ve got."

She let it go, though her eyes lingered on him a beat longer than usual.

The pull only sharpened the deeper they went, and the wyrms sharpened along with it, each new wave carrying visibly denser scales, thicker horns, a heavier, more oppressive weight to their presence, like walking down a ladder of pure blood concentration one rung at a time.

’There’s a hierarchy here. The stronger the density of the dragon bloodline, the nastier they get. And whatever force is attracting me wants me closer to the top of it.’

Somewhere beneath the fighting, a distant tremor rolled through the stone, faint but unmistakable, followed a moment later by a deep, rolling boom that rattled dust loose from the ceiling.

"That’s the boss," Reeve said grimly, glancing upward. "Has to be."

"Feels like it might even be close to B-Rank," Kane added, the first thing he’d volunteered all fight. "Titus’s team’s earning their pay today."

Another tremor followed, heavier this time, and Jason felt the pull in his chest twist sharply toward the source of it.

’That’s not a coincidence either.’

---

The next wave hit without warning, a sudden, violent surge of wyrms pouring out from three directions at once, and in the chaos of it, Cassius’s voice cut through, tighter than his usual easy tone.

"A little help!"

Jason turned in time to see him ringed in on all sides, three wyrms closing at once, his sword flashing bright with Wind essence but clearly not enough to cover every angle.

Jason didn’t think.

Lightning surged down his legs and through the spear in the same instant, Piercing Thunder detonating forward in a blinding burst of speed, the world tunneling down to a single narrow corridor of vision.

He crossed the distance in a heartbeat, spear punching clean through the nearest wyrm’s throat, the sheer velocity of the strike sending it crashing sideways into a second one.

The opening was enough.

Cassius pivoted through the gap, blade cutting the third wyrm down before it could recover, and the two of them fell into position back to back without a word needing to pass between them.

"Nice timing," Cassius said, breathing hard.

"Would’ve been rude to let you get eaten."

"Generous of you."

They held the line together, trading kills in a rhythm that felt less like coincidence and more like something clicking into place, and by the time the wave finally broke, Cassius clapped a hand against Jason’s shoulder, grinning despite the blood and sweat.

"Alright. You’ve officially earned my friendship."

"Didn’t realize I was applying for one."

"You weren’t. I applied fmfor you." Cassius wiped his blade clean, still catching his breath.

"Try to keep up. I’m delightful company."

Jason huffed something close to a laugh, and across the clearing, his Perception caught Kane’s gaze flicking briefly toward the two of them, assessing, unreadable, before sliding away just as fast.