The hum beneath Arios's boots did not stop.
It didn't intensify either. It stayed steady, low, persistent, like a reminder that the dungeon was still active and watching. The circular room remained unchanged for several breaths after he stepped onto the platform. No light flared. No announcement echoed. No mechanism revealed itself immediately.
Arios stood still, shoulders squared, sword resting loosely in his grip.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
That, more than anything else, made him uneasy.
He stepped off the platform and circled the room once, inspecting the walls. The stone here was smoother than in previous sections, less fractured. Faint mana veins ran beneath the surface, thin and orderly, unlike the chaotic flows in earlier chambers.
"This isn't a checkpoint," he muttered. "It's a buffer."
The realization settled slowly.
The dungeon wasn't giving him a reward. It was giving him time.
Time to breathe. Time to reset. Time to let exhaustion catch up.
