Myles saw it clearly. That pulsing mass, buried beneath layers of torn flesh and broken limbs, throbbed with a rhythm that did not match the rest of the creature’s body.
It was steady and unmistakably alive compared to everything else that felt hollow and wrong on the creature’s form. That was it. That was definitely the heart.
Crimson energy flowed faintly around him. He could feel it brushing against his skin like a thin veil, and it grounded his thoughts instantly.
He did not need to look to know Lilian was still above them, holding the line against whatever unseen force tried to creep into their minds.
"The heart!" Myles shouted.
He did not explain further because he knew that he did not need to. He trusted them to see it, to understand and move at the right mont.
And he moved first.
His body shot forward without hesitation, cutting straight through the chaos of thrashing limbs.
The creature screeched again, but this ti the sound changed. It twisted into sothing sharper and more frantic. Myles felt a strange and unnatural sensation crawling into his awareness. The screech was filled with fear.
He did not know how he recognized it. Maybe it ca from the creature’s origin, from that unknown place Lilian called the Beyond, that now made the creature’s thought transferred to the surroundings from its screech.
But he felt it clearly. It was afraid of death.
Myles tightened his grip and pushed faster.
The remaining limbs lashed out wildly, trying to stop him, but they lacked coordination now. They moved out of desperation instead of control. He slipped past them, his body moving with precision as he closed the distance.
Behind him, the others followed without hesitation. Victor, Kade, George, Ethan, Samantha, Clara, and Daniel broke through the sa storm of limbs with sharp and focused movents.
The creature tried to rise. But it failed.
Its massive body trembled, unable to recover from the damage already inflicted. Its greatest weapon, the suffocating ntal pressure, no longer worked under Lilian’s protection.
Stripped of that advantage, it was nothing more than a massive and wounded beast. Now different from another monster they had faced up to this point.
They reached it. One after another, they drove their weapons into the pulsing mass and their blades and tips sank deep.
The surface resisted for a fraction of a second, then gave way.
A violent shudder ran through the creature’s entire body. Its countless eyes widened, blinking out of sync in a frenzy before freezing all at once.
The pulsing stopped.
A deep, hollow sound echoed through the arena as cracks spread across its body. Not like flesh that was tearing apart, but like sothing brittle breaking apart from within.
Its limbs collapsed. Its massive form sinking inward as if its structure could no longer hold itself together.
Then it fell to the ground.
The entire body caved in, folding and crumbling into itself before dissolving into dark particles that scattered across the air and vanished completely.
Silence filling the vast arena for a while.
A mont later, a translucent red window appeared before them.
[Objective Complete]
[Guardian of the 15th Floor Defeated]
[Reward: 50,000 EXP]
[Reward: A Rank Artifact (Each Participant)]
The light from the notifications reflected faintly in their eyes as they stood there, breathing heavily, staring at the empty space where the creature had once stood.
They remained still for a few seconds. The tension that had gripped their bodies during the fight began to fade, replaced by a strange mix of exhaustion and happiness.
Then, almost at the sa ti, their gazes shifted from the empty space where the creature had vanished... to each other.
Victor let out a low breath and shook his head slightly.
"Fifty thousand EXP..." he said, his voice rough but carrying a hint of disbelief. "Yeah... I’d say that was worth it."
"Worth it? That thing almost crushed us into paste with that madness beam or sothing." He sighed with a grin still ford on his face. "But yeah... I’m not complaining. Hahaha."
George gave a tired laugh, resting his hamr on the ground.
"If every floor boss gives this much, then I’m fine with it," Kade muttered. "As long as we don’t run into sothing worse than that."
Ethan let out a breath and lowered his pistols.
"Fifty thousand..." he repeated. "That’s insane."
Samantha nodded slightly, though her eyes were already shifting toward the notification.
"And not just EXP," she said. "There’s sothing else."
Their attention returned to the translucent red window still hovering in front of them.
[Reward: A Rank Artifact (Each Participant)]
"That," Victor said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "What kind of artifact are we talking about?"
"Only one way to find out," Kade replied.
One by one, they began to check their rewards.
Myles didn’t speak. He simply focused, calling the item into his hand.
A faint flicker of crimson light ford before solidifying into sothing small and cold against his palm. It was a black key.
It rested quietly in his hand. Its surface was smooth yet unnaturally dense, as if it had far more weight than it should.
There was an intricate rune engravings lined the lower half of the key.
Myles narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied it. "A key?"
He focused, and the system responded instantly and a translucent panel unfolded before him.
[Artifact: Void Vault Key - A-Rank]
[Type: Spatial Access Artifact]
[Description: A key forged from condensed Ether, linked to a sealed dinsional space known as the "Void Vault". It grants access to a private pocket dinsion where the owner may store items and take refuge. The space remains hidden from external detection unless forcibly breached.]
[Limitations: Only the owner and designated allies may enter. Entry requires activation of the key.]
Myles’ gaze sharpened slightly as he read through it.
A pocket dinsion. Not just storage... but a place to hide.
He tightened his grip around the key slightly, feeling the faint pulse of Ether flowing through it.
Behind him, the others reacted almost imdiately.
"A storage artifact?" Ethan said, clearly surprised. "No way..."
"Not just storage," Samantha added, her voice more focused now. "It says it’s a separate space."
Victor let out a low whistle. "This can beco a safe zone for us from now on."
Daniel let out a disbelieving breath, his tension finally easing.
"EXP and a personal dinsion..." he muttered. "Yeah... that fight was worth it."
Myles remained silent, his eyes still fixed on the black key in his hand. The faint glow of the runes reflected in his gaze as his thoughts moved forward.
Now... they had sothing amazing in their hands. A place to regroup, prepare. And most importantly a place no enemy could easily reach.
He closed his hand around the key, his expression steady.
The faint rustle of wings cut through the quiet.
A mont later, Lilian descended from above, her black feathers folding behind her as her feet touched the ground with effortless grace.
The crimson energy that had been surrounding them slowly faded along with her landing.
She looked at them and a small, almost smug smile ford on her lips.
"Hmph," she snorted casually. "Without , you wouldn’t have survived that."
Myles glanced at her, then let out a small sigh before a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah," he said simply. "That’s true."
Behind him, the others quickly followed, showing their gratitude.
Victor nodded once, firm and direct. "We owe you one."
Lilian’s smile deepened slightly, clearly satisfied with the response, though she didn’t push it further. Instead, she shifted her gaze toward the empty arena, where the last traces of the creature had already vanished completely.
"That thing..." Victor asked. "What exactly was it? And what was that attack? That pressure wasn’t normal."
The atmosphere changed. Lilian’s expression changed.
The faint smugness disappeared, replaced by sothing more composed and far more serious.
"Like I said," she began, her voice carrying a weight that imdiately drew everyone’s attention, "that thing ca from a place called the Beyond."
She paused for a brief mont, as if choosing her words carefully.
"The Beyond is..." she continued, her gaze distant for a fraction of a second, "a place filled with horrors. Not the kind you can fight with strength alone. Even beings from higher worlds wouldn’t dare enter it unprepared."
The group fell silent.
"There are things there," Lilian said, her voice heavy, "that can break your mind just as easily as they break your body. Sotis faster."
No one spoke. The mory of that suffocating pressure and unnatural presence clawing into their thoughts returned vividly.
Myles narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then what was that doing here?"
Lilian shook her head once. "It wasn’t. It was just an imitation that this dungeon created. Just a fragnt. A cheap copy."
Her gaze shifted slightly, as if examining sothing unseen.
"The real thing isn’t here," she continued. "If it was, there would be sothing worse than what you all felt earlier."
A brief silence followed.
"This place..." Lilian murmured, her brows drawing together slightly. "I think it was made after the Etherfall."
Her expression tightened just a little, sothing rare for her.
"But who made it and why they would create sothing that forces lower-world creatures to face things like that..."
She stopped. For a mont, her gaze turned distant again, as if she had reached a thought she couldn’t fully explain. Or perhaps sothing she chose not to.
The silence stretched.
Myles watched her for a second, then shook his head slightly.
"It doesn’t matter right now," he said. "We’re still alive and that’s enough for now. I think we have to move again."
"No," Lilian said. "I don’t know what will appear on the next floor. I think we should stop here."
—
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