Elara didn't know how long she sat there.
Time in the dungeon didn't move like it should. Minutes stretched thin, then snapped back into place without warning. Her shoulder throbbed in dull pulses, the pain delayed just enough to feel unreal—like it belonged to someone else.
She pressed her back to the cold stone and focused on breathing.
In through her nose.
Out through her mouth.
Quiet.
The channel crackled.
"Elara," Jonah said carefully. "I'm going to ask you a few questions. Answer honestly."
She nodded before realizing he couldn't see her. "Okay."
"Are you dizzy?"
"No."
"Vision blurred?"
"Only when I stood up too fast."
"Bleeding badly?"
She glanced down. The cut along her arm had slowed to a steady ooze instead of a stream. "Not badly. I think."
"Good," Jonah said. "The pain delay thing—don't trust it. When it wears off, it'll hit harder."
"That's comforting," Rin muttered.
Elara managed a weak huff of laughter. "I'll brace myself."
The last of the Platescourge dissolved, the fragments sinking into the stone like they'd never existed. The corridor felt emptier for it—too empty. The silence pressed in, thick and watchful.
Her phone vibrated again.
Environmental response updated.
Her stomach tightened. "I don't like that wording."
"Yeah," Dani said. "Same. I just got something weird too."
"What kind of weird?" Marcus asked.
There was a pause. Static hissed.
"…My corridor changed," Dani said slowly. "The walls. They weren't cracked before. Now they are. Like something tried to claw out."
Elara's grip tightened on her phone. "You mean after my fight?"
"I think so."
Rin let out a low whistle. "So it watches us, and then it tweaks things."
"The dungeon learns," Jonah said quietly. "Adapts. We show it something works—it counters."
Elara swallowed. The idea sat heavy in her chest. "So next time… it won't be vulnerable in the same way."
"Probably not," Jonah agreed.
They moved again, each in their own isolated corridors, voices the only proof the others existed. Elara forced herself to stand, testing her balance. Her legs held. Her shoulder screamed in protest now, the delayed pain catching up all at once.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making a sound.
The corridor forked ahead—one path narrow and sloping downward, the other wider, marked by faint scratches along the walls. Signs of passage. Or struggle.
She chose the wider path.
"Movement ahead," she whispered.
"Sound?" Jonah asked.
"No. Just… air shifting."
Her phone buzzed softly.
Threat likelihood increased.
Elara rolled her eyes weakly. "You don't say."
She took another step—and froze.
A shape detached itself from the darkness ahead, smaller than the Platescourge but faster. It moved in jerks, stopping and starting like a broken video feed. Its body was thin, almost skeletal, stretched tight beneath translucent skin. Veins glowed faintly blue beneath the surface.
It tilted its head.
This one had eyes.
Too many of them.
"Contact," Elara whispered. "Different type."
Before anyone could respond, the creature spoke.
Not words.
A sound.
A warped echo of her own breathing, played back out of sync.
Elara's blood ran cold.
"Oh hell no," Rin breathed. "Echo type. I've got one too." Rin went silent after that, causing worry to spread among the group, but Elara didn't have time to worry for others now.
"I've seen these in playback fragments," Jonah said sharply. "Don't let it hear you clearly."
"They mimic to disorient."
The creature lunged.
Elara dodged instinctively, but it was faster than the others—its limbs snapping forward, claws grazing her ribs. Pain flared sharp and immediate this time.
She gasped.
The thing repeated the sound back at her—louder.
Her head rang. Panic surged.
Quiet. Be quiet.
She forced her breathing shallow, ducking behind a stone outcrop as the creature skittered past, confused. It paused, head twitching, eyes rolling independently as it searched for her.
Elara spotted a loose stone on the ground. Small. Jagged.
She picked it up and tossed it hard down the corridor.
The sound rang out.
The creature whirled and leapt after it, shrieking in fractured echoes.
Elara didn't hesitate.
She rushed forward and drove her shard down through the back of its neck—right where the skin thinned.
The creature spasmed violently, its voice warping into a dozen overlapping sounds before cutting off abruptly.
It collapsed.
Elara staggered back, breathing hard, pressing a hand to her side.
"Down," she whispered. "It's down."
Rin's voice suddenly sounded again, allowing relief to wash over everyone. They laughed, sharp and breathless. "Okay, yeah. I'm officially scared of you now. How the hell did you beat that thing? I had to run for my life. I gave 'em the slip." The grin in Rin's voice was almost palpable.
Jonah didn't laugh.
"Elara," he said quietly. "Marcus just went silent."
Marcus's voice was gone.
"What?" Elara said, heart stuttering.
The channel remained silent for a long, terrible moment.
Then the system chimed—soft, neutral.
Participant Status: TERMINATED
Cause of failure logged.
Dani let out a sob.
"No," she whispered. "He was just talking—he was—"
Static swallowed her words.
Elara slid down the wall, shaking.
They hadn't seen it.
Hadn't heard it.
Just a voice gone.
Her phone vibrated one last time.
Observer Note:
Mortality awareness increased.
Behavioral shift imminent.
Elara closed her eyes.
The dungeon had learned something new tonight.
So had she.
* * *
MONSTER ENCOUNTER LOG — ENTRY 003
Designation: Unknown (Provisional: Echo Stalker)
Encounter Location:
Adaptive Corridor — Sublevel Unknown
Threat Level:
High (Solo Participant)
Description:
Humanoid, skeletal morphology
Translucent dermal layer with visible bioluminescent vascular structures
Multiple independently mobile ocular organs
Elongated limbs with high-speed snap movement
Thin cervical structure vulnerable to penetration