The sound of a breaking neck echoed through the forest.
The Alpha's head slumped to the side at an unnatural angle. Hope exhaled deeply and loosened his grip on the scythe. He thought it was over.
He was wrong.
The rules of the Wild Dungeons began where logic ended.
The Alpha's body, lying on the ground, began to tremble. From the shattered neck, a black, tar-like substance burst forth, hardening like paste as it fused the bones back together. The creature's extinguished eyes flared open again.
This time, not yellow.
Blood red.
GRAAAA–GOOOM!
The creature rejected death.
Hope leapt backward."Impossible. The spinal connection is severed. The nervous system shouldn't respond."
"This thing isn't biological, Architect!" Deniz shouted, raising his shield. "This is pure survival instinct!"
The Alpha rose again, faster than before, more erratic. It wasn't wounded anymore.
It was furious.
It swung a massive claw and sent Deniz flying into the trees like a discarded toy.
Kai and Bianca landed on opposite sides of the creature. Kai was gasping for breath, his claws shattered. A deep gash ran down Bianca's leg.
"Normal weapons don't work," Kai spat, dropping his blood-soaked mask. "It's regenerating."
The Alpha turned toward him.
The hunger in its eyes froze the fox-man in place. The creature lowered itself, preparing to swallow Kai whole in one final strike.
Kai's vision darkened.
There was no other choice.
He reached behind his back and grabbed the hilt of the long sword wrapped in cloth.
"Don't do it, Kai!" Bianca shouted. For the first time, her voice cracked with fear. "It's not worth it!"
Kai didn't hear her. Death was already breathing down his neck.
A thorn jutted from the sword's hilt.
Kai pressed his palm into it.
Blood flowed into the blade.
The wrappings unraveled on their own. The metal beneath wasn't black.
It was alive. Crimson red.
The sword was breathing.
Kai's veins began to turn black. The light in his eyes faded.
"So… it's finally time," Kai whispered.
"STOP!"
Lypin's scream exploded inside Hope's mind.
"Hope! Stop him! That sword doesn't just drink blood… it devours lifespan! If he draws it, he'll lose half his life!"
Hope looked at Kai.
And analyzed.
Kai was a powerful variable. If he used the sword now, the Alpha would die.
But Kai would break.
Breaking a tool for a single-use solution… Hope thought.That's bad engineering.
In a blur faster than the wind, Hope slid to Kai's side.
Just as Kai began to draw the blade, Hope grabbed his wrist.
Kai stared at him with pitch-black eyes."Let go! We're going to die!"
"No," Hope said calmly. "Your death would be inefficient. I need you alive."
Hope tightened his grip and forcibly shoved the sword back into its sheath.
"Let go of it. There are still plenty of people who can fight. You don't need to play hero."
Kai froze.
The cursed pull of the sword shattered. The blackness retreated from his arm. He collapsed to the ground, gasping.
Hope turned toward the Alpha.
The creature was charging.
"Yaat!" Hope shouted. "Coordinates!"
From the bushes came Yaat's trembling but resolute voice.
"Ribcage! Where the black bones connect! It opens on the third second!"
"Lypin!"
Lypin gathered the last fragments of her strength and fired a beam of silvery light into the Alpha's eyes."FALL!"
The creature staggered. Its chest expanded as the black bones spread apart to breathe.
That point.
That second.
Hope gripped the scythe with both hands.
Not to cut.
But to reap.
He poured his soul into the weapon. Green flames turned the forest's darkness into daylight.
[LEVEL UP! New Skill Unlocked: Soul Reap]
Hope lunged forward.
The scythe didn't cut flesh.
It cut existence.
It entered through the Alpha's chest and exited its back.
There was no sound.
No explosion.
Only green light.
And then, absolute silence.
The Alpha froze.
Its red eyes dimmed.
A massive plume of pitch-black smoke poured from its body and was absorbed into Hope's scythe. The price of hundreds of souls.
The empty shell of the creature collapsed like a mountain of stone.
THUD.
The forest fell silent once more.
Hope lowered his scythe, breath ragged.
Deniz emerged from the trees, clutching his shoulder but alive. Lypin ran to Hope's side.
Kai sat on the ground, still shaking. He stared at the sword on his back, then at his own hand.
If Hope hadn't stopped him… he knew exactly what state he would be in now.
"Why?" Kai asked quietly. "If I'd drawn the sword, I would've killed it in one strike."
Hope turned to him.
"If you blow up the foundation to tear down a wall, you'll be buried under it too," Hope said. "That sword was eating you. And like I said… I need DPS. Besides, Bianca needs that DPS too."
Bianca helped Kai to his feet. Then she looked at Hope.
For the first time, there was genuine respect on her emotionless face.
Hope pointed at the Alpha's massive corpse. Its black bones shimmered like diamonds under the moonlight.
"I took its soul," Hope said. "The flesh and bones are useless to me. In dungeons, that's called loot."
Kai and Bianca stared.
"This…" Kai muttered. "This is a fortune. Even the bones alone are worth more than what the Baron promised."
"Then take it," Hope said, turning away. "That way, you won't need to kill us for money."
Kai opened his mouth, then closed it.
All his life as a thief, he had only learned how to take.
No one had ever given him anything.
Not even his life.
Two Hours Later. Campfire.
The group had set up camp by the river. With the vehicle destroyed, they had no choice but to stay the night.
Deniz stood watch. Lypin had fallen asleep wrapped in a blanket. Yaat stared into the flames, perhaps searching for a future disaster.
Hope sat by the fire, drawing shapes in the dirt with a stick.
The scythe's angle.The Alpha's speed.The energy cost of Kai's sword.
His mind was still crowded.
"You think too loudly."
Hope looked up.
Bianca sat beside him. Her revealing assassin outfit was gone, replaced by a loose cloak Kai had given her. A bottle of alcohol rested in her hand.
"Want some?" she asked.
Hope shook his head. "Alcohol slows reflexes. Reduces cognitive function by fifteen percent."
Bianca laughed. This time, it wasn't cold.
"That's exactly what I mean," she said, taking a drink. "You try too hard, kid."
Hope frowned. "I have to calculate to survive. One mistake… and everything collapses."
Bianca stretched her legs toward the fire.
"You saved Kai," she said. "You explained it with 'DPS,' but you're lying. You saved him because you didn't want him to die. That's not math, Hope. That's conscience."
"What does 'lying' mean?"
Bianca met his eyes and smiled.
"The fact that you're seriously asking that is hilarious." She looked up at the moon and took a deep breath. "You'll learn, kid… and you'll learn better than anyone."
Hope fell silent, staring at the drawings in the dirt.
"Girls," Bianca said, glancing at Lypin as she slept. "They don't like people who explain building statics. They like people who live. When you look at her, what do you see? A 'Starfallen energy source'? Or a girl whose smile warms the world?"
"She's… important," Hope said. "I need to protect her."
"Protecting and living aren't the same thing," Bianca replied, taking the stick from Hope's hand and tossing it into the fire.
"You can't solve everything with physics, angles, and formulas. Sometimes, instead of calculating where the wind blows from, you just let it hit your face. That's called flow."
Hope listened to the crackling fire.
"Flow," he repeated. "Chaos."
"No," Bianca said, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Life. If you try to control everything, you won't enjoy any of it. Kai was about to draw that sword because he was afraid. You're not afraid. You just analyze. That makes you strong… but also incomplete."
Bianca stood.
"You gave us that corpse. We can't kill you anymore. In fact… I think we owe you a life. Kai will never say it out loud, but that fox is honorable. If you ever need help, he'd charge into death for you without hesitation."
Hope looked at her. "Where are you going?"
"With you," Bianca said, winking. "At least to the next town. If we don't guard you until then, Baron Vexor will send someone else. And they won't be nearly as… fun."
Hope smiled.
For the first time, without calculating.
"Logical," he said.
"Still says 'logical,'" Bianca muttered as she walked to her tent. "Hopeless case."
Hope looked up at the night sky, at the stars.
Bianca might be right.
Maybe Lypin's smile was more than an energy source.
Maybe life wasn't a building.
Maybe it was a river.
And Hope was only just beginning to learn how to swim.