Bright had never known silence could be so loud.
The Shroud's oppressive mist muffled every sound, swallowing footsteps, voices, even the clatter of weapons. Yet the quiet pressed on Bright's skull like a physical weight — a constant reminder that something unseen was always listening.
The group moved in tight formation, the cathedral spire shrinking behind them as gray gloom claimed the path ahead. Only fifteen or so remained able-bodied enough to march. The others… Bright tried not to look at the ones who limped or leaned too heavily against the walls, faces sunken, breathing uneven.
The poison is spreading again.
Duncan walked a few steps ahead, broad shoulders rising and falling with controlled breaths. His Bone Guard ability gave him resilience — but even he stumbled once, a small hitch nobody else caught.
Except Adam.
Bright noticed the boy's eyes linger, analyzing, calculating. Always calculating.
"We need a break," someone muttered behind them, but Roegan pressed forward without slowing.
"There's no safe ground here," the captain said. "We rest only when we've reached shelter."
Shelter. The word felt like a cruel joke in this nightmare city.
Bright quickened his pace until he reached Adam. "How long do the rations last?"
Adam's face was blank. Too blank.
"End of today," he replied. "After that… we improvise."
Improvise? Bright's stomach twisted. They had eaten Night Crawler flesh for days — bitter, fibrous meat that left a metallic aftertaste and barely slowed the poison corrupting their bodies.
"Is there nothing else we can do?" Bright whispered.
Adam's answer came after a beat too long.
"We survive," he said softly. "Whatever that requires."
Bright wanted to press further, but Roegan raised a fist — signaling halt.
Shapes twitched in the mist, scattering behind shattered windows and ruined balconies. The walls seemed alive with movement — scuttling, scraping, chittering too faint to pinpoint.
"They're watching us," Duncan muttered.
"No," Bright corrected quietly. His Danger Sense crawled with a cold, crawling dread. "Something bigger is watching through them."
A chill wrapped around his spine as the heartbeat thumped again — faint yet everywhere at once. The very fog pulsed with it.
Ba-dum.
The others flinched, hands flying to ears, but Bright heard something beneath the pulse — a whisper. Not words, but emotion.
Hunger.
Adam straightened like a puppet on strings, pupils dilating. Bright stepped subtly in front of him, pretending it was for formation.
Roegan motioned them forward. "Move. We don't give it time to build another ambush."
They pressed on, fear trailing them like their shadows.
Link cursed as he stumbled over scattered stone debris. "Shit—"
"Quiet," Duncan snapped. "Don't advertise our location."
"Where are we even going?" Link spat. "Roegan's leading us in circles!"
Roegan didn't turn. "We're heading toward the Maw's edge. There are high structures — possible vantage points, escape routes."
"Or feeding grounds for bigger monsters," Link muttered under his breath.
Bright couldn't blame him. Fear had dug claws into every mind — even Roegan's. The captain's grip on his sword never relaxed now. His gaze flicked constantly at the fog, as if expecting it to tear open again.
Besia walked near the rear, rarely speaking. Her eyes were cold — calculating like Adam's, but for different reasons. She didn't look afraid.
She looked betrayed.
Silas left them. Chose himself. Left her.
The Shroud preyed on isolation, and Bright saw fractures spreading through the group like cracks in glass.
When the path widened into a circular plaza, Roegan finally signaled a stop.
Ruins ringed the clearing: half-collapsed shops, toppled statues, a dry fountain cracked down the middle. Webs of dark veins pulsed across the floor — corruption spreading from the stone itself.
"We rest here," Roegan ordered. "Maintain perimeter."
Adam distributed food — small pieces, barely bites. Soldiers chewed slowly, trying to convince their bodies it was enough. Duncan took his reluctantly, expression tightening with each swallow.
Bright didn't eat.
"It tastes… different," Link said warily.
Adam shrugged. "Different part of the monster. Nutrient concentration fluctuates."
Bright's gut screamed that wasn't the truth. Something had changed. The meat was softer, stranger.
He caught Adam watching him — not with suspicion, but with expectation.
Eat. Pretend. Don't expose anything.
Bright placed the ration to his lips… then slipped it into his pocket when Adam turned away.
Roegan walked the perimeter alone, forcing strength into every step. He looked like a man held together by sheer defiance.
"We can't keep this up," Duncan murmured to Bright. "If the poison doesn't kill us, morale will."
Bright nodded. "We need a breakthrough."
Duncan managed a thin smile. "Good thing we have you."
A moment of warmth — human, fragile — glimmered between them… then shattered instantly as Bright's entire body seized.
Danger.
Blinding, shrieking Danger.
He spun—
A spike of black chitin erupted from the ground where Duncan stood.
Duncan reacted just in time — Bone Guard flared, armor of skeletal material bursting from his skin as he leapt back. The spike sliced through plating, ripping a spray of blood.
All around the plaza, the ground cracked open — dozens of spines jutting up like jagged teeth.
"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" Roegan roared.
Soldiers scrambled, screaming as more spikes shot up. One man fell too slow — skewered through the lung. His scream died wetly on his lips.
The fog split apart as new Crawlers swarmed from sewer holes and broken walls — not mindless this time. Their movements were coordinated, circling, driving survivors inward.
"This isn't an ambush," Bright yelled. "It's a test!"
Roegan slashed a Crawler in half. "Whatever it is, we kill our way out!"
But Bright understood now — this wasn't chaos.
It was strategy.
The heartbeat thundered again, shaking dust from the ruins.
Ba-dum.
And suddenly — every Crawler froze.
Their eyes snapped toward Bright.
The heartbeat quickened.
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
One word pulsed in Bright's skull, not spoken but forced:
You.
His knees buckled. A presence pressed against his mind — cold, ancient, curious.
It wants me.
Something deep within the fog stirred… shifting closer.
The Dungeon Boss — the true predator — made itself known.
Its aura tightened like a noose, crushing air from lungs. Soldiers choked, dropping weapons as panic surged.
Adam fell to his knees, clutching his head. "It's… it's inside…"
Roegan gritted his teeth, voice strained. "Do not— let it— in!"
But the Boss didn't need to break in. It simply knocked — over, and over, and over — each pulse an attempt to erase their identities and replace them with its hunger.
Bright forced himself upright — every muscle trembling.
He yelled across the bond of fear: "You can't have me!"
The presence paused… intrigued.
His Danger Sense surged — and he knew the Boss recognized him now.
A threat.
A challenge.
A prize.
The Crawlers broke from their trance all at once — attacking with feral speed.
Duncan intercepted the first, bone armor cracking as he tackled it away from Bright. "MOVE!"
Roegan dragged wounded soldiers into formation. "We retreat west!"
Link shouted, "West is blocked—!"
Roegan thrust a broken spear that direction — and the wall of fog recoiled.
"Not anymore! GO!"
They pushed as a unit — hacking, blocking, dragging each other through the chaos — until they burst into a narrower alley where the swarm thinned.
But the heartbeat followed.
Slow again.
Confident.
Ba-dum.
They stumbled through the mist, gasping, bleeding, half-blind.
Nobody spoke until they collapsed against the wall of a narrow corridor. Duncan tore chitin from his shoulder, grimacing.
Roegan fell to one knee, chest heaving. "It doesn't want to finish us. It wants to… wear us down. I'm fucking sick of this"
"Break us," Besia corrected coldly.
Bright stared at the fog. "We're not prey…"
He swallowed — because he knew he was lying .
The group rested in tense silence — except for Adam.
He sat alone, hunched over his pack, eyes fixed on the ground.
Bright approached him slowly. "You were right. We survive."
Adam looked up. Something hollow lurked behind his gaze.
"Survival always has a price," he whispered. "Some just… pay earlier than others."