The air inside the dungeon was always wrong.It was heavy, as if each breath carried the weight of another person's fear. Cold, damp tendrils of air curled along the floor, wrapping around ankles like invisible chains. Rayan adjusted the grip on his rusted sword — the same one he'd been using for years — and glanced at the flickering light crystal attached to the front of his jacket. It was barely bright enough to illuminate the jagged stone walls, their surfaces slick with something that shimmered in the light… something that was probably better left unidentified.
He'd been in dozens of raids like this before, but this one felt different. Not because of the dungeon rank — officially, it was a low C-rank gate — but because of the way his stomach twisted every time the shadows shifted in the corners of his vision.
The party moved slowly, their footsteps echoing in uneven rhythms. At the front was Kane, the tank, broad-shouldered and armored like he thought they were walking into a war zone. Behind him, Liora, the team's healer, whispered under her breath — not a prayer, but the slow syllables of an enchantment that kept their skin warm in the damp cold. Derek, the archer, kept his bow at the ready, eyes darting along the walls for movement.
Rayan was near the back, where the weakest hunters were usually placed. He knew exactly what that meant — it was both a place of safety and the place most likely to be abandoned if things went bad. He'd been left behind before.
And somewhere in that cold, damp corridor, he thought of Serin.
The memory came uninvited — the warmth of her smile against the endless winters of his life. She used to tease him about his weapon, calling it "The Relic" because of how worn down it was."You swing that thing like it's part of you," she'd said once, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "One day, it might even save your life… or mine."
That day had never come for her.
A flicker in the darkness pulled Rayan back to the present.
"Movement up ahead," Kane muttered, raising a fist. The party froze.
Out of the shadows stepped three goblins — hunched, their green skin glistening with a thin sheen of dungeon mist. Low rank monsters. Weak. But their eyes had a strange brightness, like they knew something the hunters didn't.
Kane didn't even hesitate. He stepped forward, shield raised, and smashed the first goblin into the wall. Derek's arrow pinned the second before it could even snarl. The third rushed toward Rayan, jagged dagger raised.
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.
The goblin leapt.
Rayan sidestepped clumsily, swinging. The blade connected, but only just — slicing into the creature's side. It shrieked, lunged again, and he barely raised his weapon in time to block. The impact jarred his wrists, but he pushed forward, driving the goblin back until it collapsed.
Not pretty. Not graceful. But alive.
"That's the slowest kill I've ever seen," Kane called back, grinning. "Maybe we should get you a chair so you can take your time."
The others chuckled. Rayan said nothing. It was better that way.
They pressed deeper into the dungeon. The ceiling arched higher here, the walls widening into a cavern filled with stalactites that dripped in slow, rhythmic beats. Liora's light spell cast shifting shadows across the jagged formations, and for a moment, Rayan swore he saw something move — something big.
"Did you see that?" he asked quietly.
"See what?" Derek's voice was flat, distracted.
"Never mind."
They passed through the cavern without incident, though the feeling of being watched never left.
Hours blurred together. They fought through more goblins, a pair of skeletal wolves, and a low-tier stone golem that nearly crushed Derek before Kane intercepted the blow. Sweat mixed with the dungeon's damp air, leaving everyone breathing hard.
When the final monster of the corridor fell, Kane lowered his shield. "That's it. Boss chamber next. We clear it, we're done."
The group murmured their relief, but Rayan couldn't shake the unease curling in his chest. Boss chambers were predictable in C-rank dungeons — you knew the layout, the type of monster, even the loot range. But nothing about this place had felt predictable. The air was getting colder the deeper they went, and the shadows clung tighter to the walls.
The boss chamber was exactly where it should be — a massive stone archway carved with runes older than human civilization. The door was already open, revealing a large, circular room lit by glowing crystals. At its center stood the boss — a hulking orc with deep red eyes and a bone axe bigger than Rayan's torso.
The fight was brutal, but fast. Kane held the orc's attention while Derek peppered it with arrows and Liora kept the team standing. Rayan joined the melee, striking whenever an opening appeared, each blow reminding him that he was still the weakest link.
When the orc finally collapsed, the crystals dimmed. Silence filled the chamber.
"That's it," Kane said, lowering his shield. "We're done."
The relief in his voice was genuine. Even Rayan felt it — the tension in his shoulders loosening for the first time since they'd entered.
But then Liora spoke.
"What's that?"
She was pointing to the far wall, where a section of stone looked… wrong. The texture was too smooth, too deliberate.
The group approached. Embedded in the wall was another door — smaller than the main gate, carved with intricate patterns that seemed to shift in the light. There were no hinges. No handle. Just a perfect, seamless surface, like it had been cut from the world itself.
"I've never seen anything like that in a C-rank," Derek said, frowning.
"It's probably nothing," Kane replied. But his voice lacked conviction.
Rayan stepped closer, feeling an almost magnetic pull toward the door. His chest tightened, and for reasons he couldn't explain, Serin's face flashed in his mind again.
"We should open it," he said before he could stop himself.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"That's… not standard protocol," Liora said slowly. "Hidden doors usually mean higher-tier monsters. Way above our rank."
Kane studied the door for a long moment. "Or higher-tier loot."
There was a pause — the kind where greed and fear wrestled in silence.
"Fine," Kane said at last. "We open it. Then we're out."
Rayan's heart pounded. He didn't know why, but something told him that beyond this door was the moment his life would change forever.