Chapter 42: First Chamber

On of the instructors handed Nora something. It looked like a timer that was the size of her palm.

Once she took it, the instructor spoke again:

"To pass, please ensure that you are able to clear at least two chambers. You can clear more than that. It gives you bonus scores during evaluation but it is not complusory." He looked at their faces again. "You have two hours. Move."

The air changed the moment they fully crossed the dungeon threshold...

It was denser, colder, and carried the smell of dust and ozone. The light from outside thinned and slowly receded, as something like a tear in space sat there.

Curious, Lila walked over and placed her hand on it. When she did, it felt like she placed a hand a wall. Like a invisible force was keeping her hand from passing through.

"Oh wow." She turned. "Ethan, come see, it’s like we’re trapped here."

Ethan looked towards her. "This is a stable dungeon as far as I know. Maybe they’re using some kind of tech to seal the opening or something."

He turned. "Let’s get moving. The clock’s ticking."

Ethan’s shadow extended and Iron Golem rose, its heavy frame filling the space in their center.

Bef came out a moment later, and the moment Ethan gave it a command, it rushed forward as it ran deeper into the cave.

Ethan activated Death Link and after scouting the area through Bef’s eyes, they began walking...

"New priority," Ethan said quietly as they advanced. "We take every Aetherite node we can reach."

Marcus’ words echoed in his mind. So far, they had two options for a strong score: push and clear three chambers, or stack Aetherite recovery high enough that two chambers still outpace the average.

"Marcus told me that Aetherite volume helps with scores, and we were just told that clearing three chambers gives us a decent chances at scoring high marks. We push for both is possible."

Lila glanced at him. "You’re that confident about what Marcus told you?"

"Marcus isn’t to be trusted, that I know. But if what he’s saying is true, we might have a decent chance for top spot."

Nora’s mouth curved into a sly smile. "Who knew you were interested in taking first place..."

Ethan shrugged. "What? You didn’t seriously think I’d just settled for last did you?"

They walked for a while before the stone around them began to change.

It was subtle at first — tiny cracks in the walls, a pothole underneath that spread the closer they got, and the blue veins pulsing brighter along the walls.

Bef, who was running ahead of them stopped and gave a low growl sound and Ethan felt the warning through the link and halted the golem.

"Stop..."

The moment they did, a section of the left wall ahead shivered. Dust sifted down, then a slab of stone the size of a door panel simply slipped and collapsed inward with a grinding sound, opening a dark cave that was not there earlier.

Lila raised an eyebrow. "That’s new. No one mentioned that the walls just... opened."

Ethan turned to her. "Huh?"

"I’ve heard stories from every other group that went before us. No one mentioned something like this happening."

Ethan thought for a moment. "Well, things may have changed last minute. Professor Crane did mention once that dungeons never had on structural shape for long..."

He studied the new opening, then the continued through the main path. He sent Bef back towards the new opening and its vision through Death Link— no immediate threat in the fresh branch. That was fine.

Place’s empty," he said. "Let’s keep moving. We start gathering Aetherite at the first node we see..."

The girls nodded, and they kept moving...they moved.

***

After walking for a while, they finally reached the first chamber....

The corridor widened into a rough round cavern with its ceiling lost in darkness. The floor was broken by low ridges and shallow depressions and the moment they stepped inside, Bef found three beast signatures...

```

You have encountered Stone Golems.

Rank: D

```

"I see something. " Ethan said. "Every one ready. Bef, find the next exit. Nora, bind the first one that charges towards you and Lila will finish it off."

The moment Ethan said that, ones of the beasts charged towards Ethan and the other one charged towards Lila and Nora.

The Iron Golem charged forward and slammed a fist into its chest, busting out from the other side.

The beast shuddered once and went still, and the iron golem immediately charged forward to the next one...

On the other side, Lila’s flame erupted and formed into a lance. She tossed it, sending it into the beast’s sides causing it to stumble backwards towards Nora’s waiting threads.

The moment it was within range, her blood needles erupted, shooting into the beast and pinning it in place in a instant.

The beast struggled to break free, and Lila used this opportunity to throw a fireball towards the beast, completely burning it to a crisp.

They didn’t wait. They charged towards the third beast that already assumed a fighting stance and the moment the iron golem launched itself in the air, Nora used blood threads to hold it’s legs in place.

Lila threw another fireball, and the beast descended with its crushing weight.

**BOOM**

When the dust cleared, they were met with a sight of glowing light at the far end of the cave...

"Aetherite in sight " Nora said, already moving toward a a cluster of the mineral.

Ethan looked towards their direction. "Recover it, we keep moving."

While they were doing it, Bef circled Ethan and faced a direction to their left. He instantly understood that the wolf had already found exit.

Ethan checked the system in a brief glance and nodded.

His Death Energy pool was still high. If they kept up like this, he wouldn’t need to worry too much about it.

"Time?" he asked.

Nora checked the device. "Six minutes in."

Ethan’s eyebrows lifted with brief surprise. It was better than he imagined. "We’re doing well." He nodded toward the exit tunnel Bef found. "Second chamber path is already in sight. We ignore collapse branches unless we finish early or the main line is blocked."

Nora sealed the recovered Aetherite into her pouch and rose. "Previous groups stopped at two and scored well. If the dungeon is destabilizing, three chambers may cost more time and yield less."

Ethan thought in silence for a brief moment. "If anything like that happens, we adjust."

Lila flexed her fingers and the sparks of flame around them faded. "Alright. This is good. We’re doing good. This is easier than I thought."

Ethan looked at her. "Don’t jinx it."

They regrouped and Bef took the lead as Ethan activated Death Link again...

One chamber down.

First batch of Aetherite was secured—

Wait.

Ethan stopped dead, causing the girls to stop behind him.

When Lila looked at him, she had a concerned look on her face.

"Ethan? What’s wrong?"

Ethan however didn’t answer. His face was frozen as a cold wave of realization hit him. He slowly turned his head towards the three corpses laying behind them..

’I...didn’t raise the corpses...’