Kael stood alone amidst the smoldering bodies, faint wisps of smoke curling upward from the monsters he had reduced to blackened heaps.
The residual crackle of electrical energy drifted lazily from the metal seams of his gauntlets, slowly dissolving into the damp air of the dungeon.
The fight had ended in seconds—swift, brutal, and efficient, the way Kael preferred it.
Thirteen low-grade monsters cleared, he thought, surveying the aftermath.
His eyes settled on the nearest corpse: a goblin whose skin was still faintly steaming but whose body was largely intact—charred around the edges, perhaps, but sellable. Twenty credits apiece, more or less… that comes to two hundred and sixty credits.
He completed the math instinctively, the calculation so familiar it barely registered.
Over half of yesterday's haul, not even counting the mana crystals.
A small, satisfied smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth beneath the mask concealing his expression.
This is why dungeons are treasure troves.
Without hesitation, he lifted a hand and activated the dimensional pocket of his storage ring.
One by one, the goblin corpses vanished into the pocket space with soft flashes of pale light.
The tunnel ahead stretched into a twisting throat of darkness. The walls were slick with moisture, reflecting the faint light of Kael's gauntlets.
The air carried the heavy smell of wet stone and freshly spilled green blood—a metallic tang unique to dungeon creatures.
His footsteps were light, deliberate, not so much heard as felt in the subtle shift of weight.
His eyes were sharp, flicking from shadow to crevice, constantly measuring the angles of attack.
Kael let his senses expand outward, pushing past sight alone. He strained for the faintest tremor in the air—any sign of fighting, movement, or conversation.
Yet he detected nothing.
Not Max's heavy, armor-laden strides.
Not Marvin's near-invisible slashes.
The common rocky-tunnel dungeon was notorious for its labyrinthine build; their positions could be buried behind layers of jagged stone, sound swallowed whole before it traveled more than a few meters.
Marvin won't make noise regardless, Kael reasoned silently. Assassins are ghosts by nature.
Max, on the other hand—Max was a tank, a walking slab of muscle and steel.
If anything, the absence of his clanking armor was suspicious.
He's probably busy clearing his own corner of the dungeon.
And then there was Lena—combat medic,. Kael considered her the most crucial of the three.
She should be making noise, he mused.
Healers are simply refined brutes, after all.
He stepped forward again, but a faint sound brushed against his ear—so soft he might have missed it if he hadn't been listening for danger.
Footsteps. Not far.
Coming from a narrow side passage buried in shadow.
Something approached. A beast? A stray monster? Or… someone from the team?
Kael inhaled, slow and steady, grounding his focus.
With a fluid, almost predatory grace, he shifted toward the side passage.
His body language changed—shoulders lowering, gait sharpening—his hands curving into claw-like positions.
Not the stance of a warrior. The stance of a silent killer.
With each step he advanced, the approaching footsteps grew louder, closer.
Then, with a sudden burst of speed, he pivoted around the corner, claws poised to obliterate the throat of whatever threat lay ahead—
—and halted, claws suspended just centimeters from soft skin.
Lena.
The healer froze, eyes widening, before a delayed shriek burst out of her mouth.
"Ahhh!"
She stumbled backward several meters, automatically slipping into a defensive stance, her hands glowing faintly with condensed Aether.
Kael blinked at her, entirely unimpressed.
"Are you for real? If I actually wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have stopped mid-attack. So why the defensive stance?
Lena's face flushed with a mix of shock, indignation, and embarrassment. "You—you jerk! Kael, you should be apologizing! You scared the life out of me!"
"Oh." His response was flat, emotionless—a verbal shrug.
Lena's frustration boiled over.
With a sharp growl she stomped her left foot.
The earth cracked beneath the impact, forming a shallow crater.
She brushed past him with an exaggerated hmph, cheeks still red.
They walked together through the tunnel, her irritation slowly melting into absent-minded humming.
It was a simple tune—something children might sing while playing in the village streets. Kael simply walked, silent as ever
Then, to Lena's surprise, Kael spoke. "Hey, Lena. In team battles, do you stay at the back or fight in the front?"
She stopped in her tracks, stunned. Kael—the cold, quiet jerk—was starting a conversation?.
Her expression sharpened. "You… don't think I'm a drag, do you?" Her voice dropped. "So you—?"
Kael didn't even slow down. "Only an idiot or an ignorant person would underestimate a medic."
His tone was calm, matter-of-fact. "Aether is raw physical energy. To turn something meant for destruction or protection into healing requires mastery. High mastery and high physical energy. Meaning medics in essence are just refined brutes with better control."
As if summoned to prove his point, a goblin burst from the shadows, shrieking wildly. Its crude stone spear aimed directly at Lena's head.
Lena didn't flinch.
Her fist met the goblin's face in a brutal arc.
The upper half of the creature exploded into crimson and green mist, splattering the stones behind it.
Kael's lips twitched beneath his mask. "Like I said." He gestured lazily toward the mangled remains.
Lena brushed her hair back with a smug flick. "Hmm." She stepped over the half-corpse and turned to Kael.
"Got a spare storage ring? I lost mine in the last haul. I was supposed to share with Marvin but—well…"
Kael didn't ask for details. He simply reached into his jacket, pulled out a spare ring, and tossed it.
Lena snatched it mid-air with practiced ease, a radiant smile blooming on her face.
"Thanks!" She stored the ruined goblin with a flash of light and continued walking.
As they proceeded deeper, the occasional goblin darted out from alcoves or side tunnels, only to be dispatched effortlessly—sometimes by Kael's crackling gauntlets, other times by Lena's deceptively powerful fists.
Then Kael abruptly halted.
His ears caught something—a harsher noise than usual. Metal against metal.
A grating screech that echoed faintly down one of the branching tunnels. He turned his head sharply.
Lena followed his gaze. "That sounds like—"
They moved swiftly toward the noise.
What they found was a grim tableau.
Marvin stood alone in the center of a wide chamber, his short silhouette sharp and controlled, His expression was blank. He was engaged with a single massive Hobgoblin—easily a foot taller than any man, bigger than the usual goblins, it's skin took a darker green texture.
The creature wore crude, thick leather armor and wielded a rusty iron sword that screeched each time it clashed with Marvin's daggers.
Marvin danced around the monster with precise, lethal footwork. He was fast blindingly so but the Hobgoblin's armor absorbed most of his clean strikes. Each time his daggers flashed, they scraped off the tougher hide, failing to penetrate deeply.
Kael watched with faint amusement. "Need a hand, prick?" He infused the words with subtle mockery.
The hobgoblin's eyes flicked toward Kael for less than a heartbeat.
It was all the distraction the Marvin needed.
Its posture faltered.
And that was all Marvin needed.
His daggers snapped forward in a blur one sinking deep beneath the Hobgoblin's unarmored armpit, the other slashing across its thick throat.
The monster choked, stumbling as blood gushed from the ruptured arteries. Its sword clattered to the ground before the creature collapsed with a thunderous thud.
Marvin straightened, chest rising and falling only slightly. He wiped green blood off his blade with controlled annoyance.
He turned toward Kael, venom burning behind his normally expressionless eyes. "I had it under control, red eyes" he hissed.
"Stay out of my way."
Kael didn't bother replying.
He simply stepped over the Hobgoblin's corpse and continued deeper into the passage, leaving Marvin seething.
Lena hurried to Marvin's side, her hands glowing faintly as she checked him for injuries despite his pride, he didn't refuse her help.
And Kael walked ahead, silent and calculating, the dungeon's darkness swallowing him once more.