The record didn't do it justice. The paper spoke of obsidian armor and shadow-forged spikes, but it didn't mention the smell—a thick, cloying stench of stagnant rot and bitter almonds.
"What in the hell is that thing?!"
The hunter's voice cracked. He was staring up at the ceiling of the cavern.
"That," the captain said, his knuckles white around the hilt of his claymore, "is the real Kironis Stinger."
"What about the beetle-things at the entrance?"
"Drones. Chaff." The captain didn't look away from the twelve eyes tracking them from the dark. "This is the predator."
The creature didn't roar like a lion; it let out a sound like a thousand dry reeds snapping at once. It skittered across the stone ceiling, claws gouging deep furrows into the rock.
Then, it leaned forward.
"Acid! Move!"
A stream of iridescent green liquid hissed through the air. One hunter, a younger man with a heavy shield, tried to catch it on the metal. The steel didn't just melt; it vanished.
The liquid hit his shoulder, and the scream he let out was short, ending as his throat simply dissolved into a steaming puddle.
"Left flank, draw its eyes! Front line, the second it drops, you hit it!"
"Roger!"
A B-ranker with a speed-buff flickered, appearing in a blur of motion behind the beast's head. He swung. The blade hit the chitinous plate and shattered into a dozen useless shards. The Stinger's tail didn't even seem to aim; it just snapped back, a segmented blur of black bone. It punched through the hunter's chest, lifting him off the wall like a specimen pinned to a board. He coughed once, a spray of red hitting the beast's shell, and then went limp.
"Down to eight!" someone yelled. "The armor's too thick!"
"The eyes!" the captain roared. "Go for the eyes!"
Rei stepped forward, her hands already frosting. She didn't shout a spell; she just breathed out, and twenty jagged crystalline spikes manifested in the air. With a sharp gesture, she sent them whistling upward.
Whoop.
Four of the spikes found their mark, sinking deep into the cluster of glowing red orbs. The beast shrieked, a vibration so violent it brought dust and pebbles raining from the cavern roof.
It dropped.
The impact shook the floor. The Stinger didn't wait to recover; it spun its tail in a low arc, a scythe of black bone. One hunter was too slow; his head was taken clean off, his body standing for a heartbeat before collapsing. Another caught the edge of the tail across his forearm. The limb hit the ground with a heavy thud, followed by the man's agonizing howl.
"Machine-gun fire!" a hunter warned as the beast began spitting rapid-fire bursts of acid. It was a chaotic, desperate scramble. Every strike the hunters landed was a dull thud against stone.
The captain stood back, chest heaving. He watched the creature's throat. Every time it prepared a burst of acid, a faint, sickly purple light pulsed beneath the neck plates.
"The throat," he whispered. "Rei! Freeze the floor! Now!"
The girl slammed her palms into the dirt. A wave of frost raced outward, turning the stone into a sheet of slick, blue glass. The Kironis tried to lung, but its hooked claws found no purchase. It skidded, its heavy torso crashing onto its side, exposing the pale, vibrating skin of its neck.
"Now!"
The captain leapt. He didn't use a skill; he just put every gram of his weight into the downward thrust. The beast fired a volley of shadow spikes in a blind panic. One grazed the captain's shoulder, tearing through the meat and dumping venom into his blood, but he didn't stop.
SHHHK.
The blade sank to the hilt in the purple glow.
The creature convulsed. Purple ichor, hot and corrosive, sprayed the captain's face. He rolled away, clutching his shoulder as the violet light in the beast's throat began to flicker wildly, expanding.
"Get back! It's blowing!"
The explosion was silent—a wave of violet mist that leveled the remaining stalagmites. When it cleared, the Kironis was a hollowed-out shell of cracked obsidian.
The gate outside shimmered and dissolved as they limped out into the Akasaka sun.
They carried their dead and held the man with the missing arm. They had won, but no one was cheering.
Renji sat on the floor of his squat, watching the blue light of the interface.
[Daily Quest Completed.]
[Reward Unlocked: D-Rank Dungeon Key.]
The key that materialized in his hand felt cold. It felt heavy with the promise of more blood.
[Dungeon: Trial]
[Target: Grave-Fanged Strider]
[Time Limit: 00:22:04]
He didn't hesitate. He turned the key in the empty air, and the room was swallowed by a swirling blue vortex.
He stepped through.
The cavern was different—dry, smelling of dust and ancient, forgotten graves. He didn't have to wait long. From the shadows came the chattering of teeth. Goblins. Dozens of them, green-skinned and wretched, clutching rusty cleavers.
"Standard fodder," Renji muttered.
The first one lunged. He didn't even draw his dagger yet. He caught the wrist, heard the bone snap, and drove his palm into the thing's throat. He moved through them like a reaper, his motions clean, economical. He kicked a chest in, crushed a skull against the stone. By the time he drew the shadow-fused blade, the room was a carpet of green limbs.
[Vitality: 90%]
[Time Remaining: 00:17:00]
The ground groaned.
From a pit in the center of the chamber, the Strider emerged. It was a tower of jagged bone and grey, leathery flesh, standing twice his height. Its head was a split maw of needle-teeth, dripping a dark, bioluminescent fluid.
"So that's you."
The Strider moved with a jarring, hitching gait. It lunged. Renji rolled, the stone behind him shattering as the beast's claws struck.
He sprang up, slashing at the leg. The blade sparked against the bone armor.
[Vitality: 42%]
[Time Remaining: 11:00]
A tail, heavy and tipped with a bone club caught him in the ribs. Renji hit the wall with a crack that echoed in his lungs. He slid down, coughing a dark smear of blood onto the floor.
He stayed on one knee, his vision blurring at the edges. The Strider was charging again, its claws glowing with a pale, necrotic rot.
"Tch."
He slammed his palm into the blood-soaked dirt. "Up."
[Skill Activated: Bone Grasp – Level 2.]
The skeletons of the fallen goblins didn't rise as soldiers; they rose as a trap. Hundreds of small, white hands erupted from the ground, lashing around the Strider's ankles. The beast roared, its momentum snapping, stumbling as the bone-grip tightened.
Renji forced himself up. His ribs screamed.
[Vitality: 9%]
[Time Remaining: 00:03:27]
The beast broke a leg free, its tail whipping around to crush him. Renji didn't dodge. He watched the chest. There, behind the ribs, a faint pulse of the same bioluminescent fluid was visible.
"One strike," he wheezed.
He ran. Not away, but directly into the reach of the monster.