CHAPTER 17 — Dungeon core
The faint shimmer in the distance grew brighter with every cautious step they took.
Sam slowed his pace, his instincts sharpening like a drawn blade. The tunnels had grown narrower, twisting in strange angles as if deliberately hiding what lay ahead. The walls seemed to press closer, the air thick with dampness.
The soft dripping of water now echoed like a pulse — steady, rhythmic, almost alive, like the slow beat of a heart buried within the mountain.
Even Serena, who had been quietly humming to ease her nerves, had fallen silent. Her earlier laughter was gone—swallowed by the heavy quiet that hung between them. Every sound—their footsteps, their breathing, even the faint stir of air—seemed amplified, intrusive.
Then, finally, they reached it.
The light that is...
They emerged into a vast, circular chamber that took their breath away. The cavern walls pulsed faintly with veins of glowing crystal—blue and green waves that rippled outward as if the very cave was alive, inhaling and exhaling mana.
And at the center, floating serenely above a shallow pool of luminous water, was a football sized circular crystal.
Now Sam wasn't what one would call a gaming nerd but, every guy had that spirit in them. And looking at the circular crystal and the added knowledge that this was a dungeon, only one thought came to mind. And that is….
'Is that… a Dungeon Core?.'
Its glow was mesmerizing, yet unsettling. Beautiful in a way that was almost hypnotic.
Plop.
The sound made both of them flinch. The rhythmic dripping hadn't stopped. This time, Sam was close enough to trace its source—the long stalactites hanging from the cavern's ceiling, their sharp tips gleaming faintly of condensed water.
Serena's voice trembled softly.
"Sam… what is this place?"
He opened his mouth to answer, but froze.
Something shifted deeper within the chamber. A low growl rolled out from the shadows—deep and guttural. Then came the unmistakable sound of claws scraping stone.
From the darkness emerged a wolf—massive, almost twice the size of the ones they'd fought before, its fur was black and streaked with faint glowing lines that pulsed like veins of fire. Its eyes burned with feral intelligence.
And beside it… another figure stepped forward.
A goblin. But not like any they had seen.
It wore tattered dark robes, trinkets of bone and teeth dangling from its neck. Strange runes were carved across its sickly green-gray skin, each mark pulsing with the same unearthly glow as the core.
Its lips moved, whispering in a language that grated on the ears—raspy, broken, like wind through shattered glass.
Sam's gut twisted.
'A Goblin mage. no… Shaman.'
The mana that radiated from it and the wolf was suffocating—rivaling even the Goblin Leader he had barely survived.
The shaman raised its crooked bone staff, the tip crowned with a shard of glowing crystal. With a sharp crack, it struck the ground.
Instantly, the chamber came alive.
The crystals flickered. The mana surged like a storm, and the pool beneath the core began to tremble, sending rings of light rippling across its surface.
Sam stepped forward instinctively, placing himself between Serena and the encroaching threat.
His hand tightened around the rough handle of his cleaver.
This was unexpected. His wounds hadn't fully healed, and facing two enemies of this level at once was suicide—yet his stance didn't waver.
Serena's voice broke behind him.
"Sam…"
He didn't turn, just spoke quietly, steady.
"Stay behind me."
Before he could say more, the shaman's chant reached its peak. The staff slammed down again—
BOOM.
The cavern shook violently. Serena staggered, nearly losing her balance until Sam caught her. Above them, several stalactites cracked and fell, crashing against the ground with deafening force. Shards flew in every direction, but strangely—none came near the core. Not a single fragment disturbed the pool beneath it.
As the shaking subsided, Sam rose, only to find the wolf already mid-leap—its claws bared, its jaws wide.
"Serena, move!"
He shoved her aside, diving the opposite way as the beast's pounce struck the ground where they'd just been standing. Stone cracked under its weight.
The wolf growled, low and menacing, then turned its glowing eyes toward Serena.
Maybe because she was closer.
But sam didn't give it a chance. He swung the cleaver in a wide arc, the blade scraping against its thick hide. The attack barely did any damage—but it caught the wolf's attention, pulling its fury toward him.
Vaguely, he noted that the wolf seemed to have gotten bigger and now had faint marks on its fur similar to the ones on the goblin shaman.
The creature snarled and retaliated, its paw slicing through the air in a blur. Sam ducked beneath the swing and drove his fist into its jaw. The impact sent a burst of saliva flying, and for a moment, its head jerked upward but it retaliated by attempting to take a chump from the hand that hit it but Sam was already on the move.
He didn't have time to follow up. His senses screamed—a prickle along his skin alerted him of
The shaman chanting again.
He dashed forward, but the wolf was relentless, blocking his path with a sudden swipe.
Behind him, Serena could only watch—her heart hammering. Sam and the beast were moving too fast for her to follow; each motion blurred into the next. Her breath caught as she felt it too—that same crawling sensation over her skin, the air growing heavier.
Her eyes darted to the shaman.
It was chanting something while staring directly at her brother with an eerie look but as if sensing her gaze, turned to her.
Its lips curled into something that might've been a smile as it raised its staff. The glow around it intensified, its chanting growing faster—echoing strangely, as though coming from every direction at once.
The crystals lining the cavern walls—the same ones he had been using as a light source, began to blaze, their glow merging into one overwhelming brilliance.
And for the first time since entering the dungeon, Sam realized—
Something was wrong.