Reader Discretion Advised:
This chapter contains sensitive themes that may be distressing to some readers, including references to trauma and emotionally heavy subject matter. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Please take care while reading.
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His eyes boredly looked around the area as the town's population slowly, one by one, began to stir. Figures emerged from behind doors, alleys, and corners, shuffling toward the center of the town square. Without uttering a word, the townspeople—regardless of age, gender, or apparent deformity—lined up in synchronization. Their postures were stiff, movements robotic like an assembly summoned for ritual. The entire town square slowly brimmed with the dungeon's population, leaving not a patch of cobblestone untouched. And at the very front, standing still as a statue with unmistakable power, was the dungeon's boss, the little boy.
