The ruins had gone quiet again, but not with peace — it was the quiet that followed a predator's breath, not its absence.
Bright sat beside the dying campfire, staring at the shard Adam had sealed in a reinforced vial. Even caged, the faint black-red pulse throbbed softly, as if mocking them.
No one spoke. Link kept his head buried in his arms, Duncan stood watch near the shattered archway, and Adam — who usually had something to say — only stared at the vial as though he wished it would disappear.
When Bright finally broke the silence, his voice was low.
"Are you sure? That thing… wasn't the boss?"
Adam looked up, dark circles under his eyes. "Absolutely. Whatever we killed was connected to something much larger. Its energy pattern was too refined, too stable. Crawlers don't evolve like that naturally."
"Then what the hell was it?" Duncan asked, his tone calm but strained.
"A projection," Adam replied. "Like a hand extended through the mist. And if that's true—"
The ground answered him.
A deep, bone-rattling BA-THUMP rolled through the air. Dust fell from the ceiling of their ruined shelter. The fire flickered out instantly, smothered by the tremor.
They froze. The heartbeat was unmistakable — the same one they'd heard when the crawler had died. Only now, it was closer.
Link cursed under his breath. "It's tracking us?"
"Not us," Adam said grimly. "It's marking its territory."
Roegan's Camp
Several kilometers away, Roegan jerked awake in his sleeping roll, hand instantly gripping the hilt of his blade.
The heartbeat rattled the floor beneath him.
He didn't need anyone to say it — every soldier in the camp had already felt it. The air itself vibrated like a living drum.
"Everyone up!" Roegan barked. "Form lines! Weapons ready!"
Lanterns flared. Men and women scrambled into formation, eyes wide and pale in the dim glow.
One of the scouts — a sharp-eyed girl named Neith — ran up, panting. "Captain, it came from the lower ruins! I think it's the same direction Bright's group went."
Roegan's stomach sank. Bright.
He'd sent them there to scout the perimeter for crawler nests, not to pick a fight with something strong enough to shake the entire damn floor.
A heavy-set soldier, Harlan, spat. "Could be the Dungeon Boss."
Roegan looked toward the darkness stretching beyond the stone walls. "No," he muttered. "If that were the boss, we wouldn't be hearing it from this far away. The air itself would be crushing us."
Then came another tremor — lighter, but accompanied by something worse. Whispers.
Voices carried through the fog, faint and indistinguishable, but laced with a rhythm that mirrored the heartbeat.
Harlan stiffened. "You hear that?"
Roegan nodded. "Stay sharp. Whatever that thing is, it's awake now."
Back with Bright's Group
The tremors had faded again, but the dread they left behind didn't.
Bright couldn't shake the sensation that they were being watched. Every time the fog swirled, it felt like a thousand unseen eyes flickered in the dark.
He turned to Duncan, who was still guarding the entrance. "Do you think we should tell the Captain?"
Duncan shook his head. "Not yet. We don't even know what we're dealing with. If we cause panic, half the company will scatter."
Link stood. "Scatter sounds pretty damn good right now."
"Sit down," Duncan growled.
"Why? So we can wait for that thing to find us?"
Adam sighed, rubbing his temple. "We're low on energy, half our rations are crawler meat — which, by the way, is laced with toxins — and the fog's getting denser by the hour. We can't keep hiding in a ruin like rats."
Bright hesitated, then said quietly, "Maybe we don't hide. Maybe we move toward the source."
All three turned to stare at him.
"Toward it?" Link echoed. "You've lost it."
Bright met his gaze evenly. "We can't escape unless we beat the Dungeon Boss, right? That's what the headquarters said. The only way out of the Shroud is through it. So what choice do we have?"
Duncan crossed his arms. "You're suggesting suicide."
"Not suicide," Bright said. "Preparation." He nodded toward the vial. "That thing gave us information. It means the real boss can project its power. Maybe we can track those projections — figure out how far its reach goes."
Adam rubbed his chin. "It's risky… but he's not wrong. If we can identify where its control ends, we can find a safe zone to regroup."
Link groaned. "You people and your logic. Fine. But if something eats me, I'm haunting you."
Meanwhile — Silas' Group
Far from both camps, Silas Drey crouched in the shadows of a half-collapsed plaza, Besia beside him, her blade reflecting the dim shimmer of the mist.
They'd heard the tremor too.
Besia glanced at him. "The ground moved."
Silas smiled faintly. "Means something strong died."
"You think it's them?"
"Maybe," he said. "Maybe not. Either way, it's a good time to hunt."
He motioned to his crew — six men, all hardened and eager. "We move quietly. If whatever that was drew crawlers away from this zone, we can claim the cores they left behind. The others are busy panicking."
One of his men chuckled. "You really think we can get enough cores before the Captain taxes us again?"
Silas' eyes gleamed faintly under the hood. "I think we'll get enough to not need the Captain."
He stood, his cloak blending into the fog. "Keep your eyes open. Something big just shifted in this Shroud, and I intend to use it."
Besia frowned as she followed. "You mean use them."
Silas didn't answer — but the faint smirk on his lips said everything.
Back with Bright's Group (Later)
They walked in silence through the broken avenues of the ruined city, every sound amplified by the dense mist. The old buildings leaned inward, their black stone slick with damp.
Every few steps, Bright's Danger Sense flared faintly — not enough to signal direct attack, but enough to warn that something unseen was always nearby.
His heartbeat aligned with the faint, distant thrum beneath the ground.
Adam noticed the tension in his jaw. "Still sensing danger?"
Bright nodded. "It's everywhere. Like the whole Shroud is alive."
Link shivered. "Can we not say things like that?"
"Maybe he's right," Duncan muttered. "This place was made to trap souls. You can feel it."
They passed the corpse of a crawler half-eaten by others — its blood had dried into black resin. The smell made Link gag.
"Adam," Bright asked quietly, "that poison you mentioned. The one from the crawler meat. How bad is it?"
Adam frowned. "It's not lethal immediately. But it's building up in our system. Slows reaction time, weakens muscles. The slight increase in physique from consuming cores is being countered by the toxin."
Link stared. "So we're getting stronger… and weaker?"
"Exactly," Adam said. "It's like this Shroud is letting us grow — but making sure it controls the rate."
Bright looked at the fog again. The shadows moved, distant but deliberate. "Then it's not just alive," he murmured. "It's aware."
Another faint tremor rippled beneath their feet.
The heartbeat… was closer again.