Chapter 103: Something Lives Below

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Something Lives Below

The figure remained seated on the throne, half-hidden by the darkness beyond the opened door. No one moved, and for several seconds, the only sound in the chamber came from the low hum of mana running through the walls. Arin could feel the abandoned dungeon waking around them, piece by piece, as old pathways of energy began carrying power again. Whatever sat ahead had been waiting for someone. Tara was the first to break the silence.

"What did he mean by another Dungeon Master finally came?" Her eyes moved from the figure to Arin, and then to the glowing marks across the door. "And why did it sound like he was talking about you?" Rayan looked at Arin next. "Yeah. That’s a pretty specific thing to say."

Dev raised his shield slightly, while Nisha kept her staff pointed toward the throne. The question hung between them because everyone had heard it clearly. Arin exhaled through his nose. "It’s part of the long story." Tara stared at him.

"You have a lot of those." "I know." "Are we ever going to hear the full one?" "Maybe when people stop trying to kill me long enough for me to tell it." Saira gave him a look.

"That might take years." The figure on the throne laughed again. "You brought companions." Its voice sounded male, but there was something wrong with the way it carried through the chamber. The sound came from the throne, the walls, and the floor at the same time.

Ayan stepped forward. "Identify yourself." The figure tilted its head. "A dragon giving commands inside a dungeon that does not belong to him." A pause followed, then another quiet laugh.

"Some things survive longer than expected." Ayan’s expression hardened. "You recognized what I am." "I recognize many things." Arin focused on the throne.

Dungeon Sense spread forward, touching the edges of the room and the mana moving beneath it. The moment his awareness reached the figure, something pushed back. Hard. Arin’s perception snapped away, and pain shot through his head. He took one step backward before Tara grabbed his arm and steadied him.

Arene’s voice came immediately. "Do not try that again." "What was that?" "Resistance." "From him?"

"I cannot confirm that the figure is a person." Arin looked toward the throne. That was not the answer he wanted. The figure leaned back. "Still impatient."

Arin’s grip tightened around his weapon. "You know me?" "No." "You said another Dungeon Master finally came." "Because another Dungeon Master finally came."

"That’s not an answer." "It is the only one you have earned." Saira clicked her tongue. "I already dislike him." The figure turned slightly toward her.

"A demon." Saira raised one eyebrow. "Congratulations." Then the figure looked toward Ayan. "A dragon." Its attention moved to Adnan.

"A Hero." Finally, it looked toward Tara, Rayan, Dev and Nisha. "And ordinary adventurers." Tara’s expression changed. "Hero?"

Adnan went still. Arin glanced at him. The room became noticeably quieter. Rayan looked at Adnan. "You’re a Hero?"

Adnan opened his mouth, then closed it again. "That is another long story." Arin looked at him. "Now you know how it feels." "This is not the time."

"Agreed." The figure chuckled. "Secrets everywhere." Arin ignored the comment. "What are you?"

The throne remained motionless. Then the figure stood. It was tall, taller than Arin expected, and wrapped in what looked like long robes made from shadows. The face remained hidden, not because of a hood, but because the darkness around its head refused to move with the light.

Arin immediately noticed something else. There were no footsteps. The figure moved away from the throne without making a sound. Its feet touched the stone, but nothing reacted beneath it. Dungeon Sense could feel the throne, the floor, the walls and the mana around them.

Not the figure. Arin’s stomach tightened. Arene noticed too. "It is not physically connected to the dungeon structure." "Then what is it?"

"I do not know." The figure stopped a few metres from them. "You came searching for what changed the dungeon above." Rayan lowered his sword slightly. "You know about that?"

"I caused part of it." Everyone tensed. Dev lifted his shield. Nisha’s staff began gathering mana. Arin stared at the figure.

"Part?" "The dungeon above presses down. This dungeon pushes upward. The territory between them has become unstable." The figure turned toward one of the walls. "Monsters feel pressure before humans understand it." "The displaced monsters," Adnan said.

"Yes." "The things killing them?" Arin asked. The figure became silent. That silence answered enough. Ayan moved between Arin and the throne room.

"Was that also you?" "No." Arin narrowed his eyes. "Then what was it?" The figure looked toward the floor.

"Something below." No one spoke. Arin remembered the corpses. Clean wounds. Magic stones untouched.

Monsters running upward in fear. "What lives below?" Tara asked. The figure turned toward her. "It should not." That answer was worse.

Arin took a slow breath. "Start explaining." The figure lifted one hand. The chamber changed. Light spread through the walls, revealing the rest of the throne room.

What Arin had thought was an empty chamber was actually filled with carvings. Thousands of them. Monster shapes. Humans. Dungeon structures.

And symbols representing Dungeon Masters. Several had been carved into the far wall in a long sequence. Arin stepped closer despite Arene’s warning. There were names beneath some of them. Most had been damaged.

Some had been deliberately scratched away. One symbol remained clear. A Dungeon Master Mark. Arin stared at it. The figure spoke behind him.

"This dungeon was abandoned long before the city above was built." "How long?" "Long enough." Arin almost complained, but the figure continued. "Its master died. The core entered dormancy. The halls emptied. The creatures either died, escaped, or consumed one another."

The darkness around the figure shifted. "Eventually, another dungeon grew nearby." "The Ravengard Dungeon." "That is what you call it now." Arin looked back.

"And nobody discovered this place?" "Some did." He remembered the skeletons in the corridors. "They died." "Most."

Tara frowned. "Most?" The figure looked at her. "Some reached the core." Arin’s expression changed. Arene spoke quietly.

"That may explain the phrase." "The last Dungeon Master." "Possibly." Arin faced the figure again. "A Dungeon Master came here before me."

"Yes." "Who?" The figure paused. "I do not remember his name." Arin did not believe that.

The figure must have noticed. "Names disappear faster than Authority." "What happened to him?" "He tried to claim the dungeon." Arene’s voice sharpened inside Arin’s mind.

"Listen carefully." Arin already was. The figure turned toward the black door behind the throne. "His Authority was stronger than yours. His understanding was greater. He reached the core and placed his hand upon it." "And?"

"He died." Nobody moved. Dev muttered something under his breath. Tara looked at Arin immediately. He noticed.

"I’m not touching anything." "Good." Saira smiled faintly. "She’s already controlling you better than Arene." Arene responded inside his head. "I heard that."

Arin ignored both of them. "Why did he die?" The figure walked toward the throne again. "Because the dungeon was no longer empty." Arin felt the air shift.

The temperature dropped. Then something struck the floor far beneath them. Boom. Everyone looked down. Dust fell from the ceiling.

A second impact followed. Boom. This one was stronger. Nisha tightened her grip on her staff. "What is that?"

The figure returned to the throne. "The reason the core was abandoned." Arin stared. "You said the master died." "Yes."

"Then what was the dungeon abandoned for?" The figure’s head tilted. "Those are not the same event." Arene went silent. Arin hated when she did that.

A third impact shook the chamber. Boom. This time, the walls trembled. Something underneath the floor dragged itself across stone. The sound lasted several seconds.

Heavy. Slow. Then stopped. Rayan looked toward the exit. "I think we’ve gathered enough intelligence."

"For once," Arin said, "I agree." The figure laughed. The black door behind them slammed shut. Everyone spun around.

Dev rushed toward it and shoved his shield against the stone. Nothing moved. Arin immediately tried Dungeon Manipulation. The wall resisted. Harder than before.

"Arene." "The dungeon is sealing itself." "Can I override it?" "Not with your current Authority." Arin’s jaw tightened.

The figure remained calm. "You cannot leave yet." Saira turned toward the throne. "Then open the door." "I cannot."

Ayan’s eyes narrowed. "Cannot?" The figure pointed downward. "The core is no longer listening." Another impact came from below. The floor cracked.

A thin line appeared near Arin’s feet. Then another. Mana leaked through the fractures. Dark mana. Not Dungeon Master Authority.

Not monster mana either. Something colder. Something old. Adnan took one step backward. "That doesn’t feel right."

The figure’s voice lost its amusement. "No." For the first time, it sounded afraid. Arin looked toward it. "You’ve been sitting here waiting for Dungeon Masters, but you’re afraid of whatever is below?"

The figure did not answer immediately. That told him enough. The floor shook again. This time, part of the stone collapsed. A black opening appeared in the center of the chamber.

Cold air rushed upward. Tara raised her bow. Rayan moved beside Dev. Ayan’s mana spread through the room. Arin stared into the hole.

Nothing. No eyes. No movement. Just darkness. Then a hand reached out.

Not human. Too long. Too thin. Six fingers gripped the broken edge of the floor. Everyone froze.

A second hand appeared. Then something below began pulling itself upward. The figure on the throne whispered one sentence. "It woke up." Arin tightened his grip on his weapon.

Arene’s voice came sharply inside his mind. "Arin, that thing is not registered as a dungeon monster." The creature’s head began rising from the darkness. And every light in the chamber went out.