Stone shattered below.
The creatures climbed fast.
Kayden dragged himself away from the ledge, arms shaking as he scrambled backward on hands and knees. His palms were slick with blood, skin torn raw from the fall. Every breath burned.
Below him, the pit writhed.
Pale limbs unfolded from the darkness—jointed wrong, bending at impossible angles. Eyes opened along slick flesh, blinking independently. Mouths split open where mouths shouldn't exist.
"Contact!" Rovan roared.
Mana detonated.
Fire crashed downward as the mage hurled a blazing sphere into the pit. The explosion lit the cavern in violent orange, shadows leaping across the walls. Screeches echoed as several monsters burned—but not all of them.
Some crawled through the flames.
"That's not normal!" the healer shouted. "They're resistant!"
The shield bearer planted himself at the edge, shield glowing as claws slammed against it. Metal rang like a bell.
Kayden couldn't move.
The text still burned in his vision.
[GATE RESONANCE: ACTIVE – PASSIVE MODE][SYNCHRONIZATION: 17%]
Accepted.
The dungeon hadn't rejected him.
It had welcomed him.
A pressure bloomed behind his eyes, like fingers pressing against his skull from the inside. The world dulled again—the same sensation as before, but deeper. Sharper.
The dungeon wasn't just reacting now.
It was listening.
—You are slow, the voice murmured. Not cruel. Not kind. Observational. —But you persist.—
Kayden clenched his jaw.
"Rovan!" the rogue yelled. "They're coming up the walls!"
More creatures pulled themselves free of the pit, skittering along stone with sickening speed.
Rovan clicked his tongue. "Fallback formation! We push left—NOW!"
Left.
The word struck Kayden like a hammer.
No—
His chest tightened violently, breath hitching as a surge of warning flooded him.
[PATH EVALUATION: LEFT – TERMINAL]
Kayden's head snapped up. "Don't go left!" he shouted, voice cracking. "It's a dead route!"
Rovan spun. "You don't give orders!"
The dungeon shifted.
Stone groaned.
The left corridor narrowed, walls grinding inward as if in anticipation.
[DUNGEON RESPONSE: IRREGULAR INPUT DETECTED]
Kayden staggered as the pressure spiked. Blood trickled from his nose.
He hadn't meant to do anything.
He hadn't pushed.
And yet—
The right corridor widened.
Just slightly.
A draft of air swept through, carrying the faintest echo of something distant.
The core.
Kayden gasped.
"Right," he said hoarsely. "Go right. Now."
The mage hesitated. The healer stared at the shifting walls, eyes wide.
Rovan swore under his breath.
Another monster leapt.
The shield bearer intercepted it, skidding back several feet. His shield cracked.
"Captain!" he barked. "We're getting overwhelmed!"
Rovan made a split-second decision. "Right path! Move!"
They ran.
The moment their boots crossed the threshold, the left corridor collapsed entirely, stone slamming shut with bone-crushing force. The monsters screeched, crushed or cut off entirely.
Silence followed.
Heavy. Stunned.
The squad slowed to a stop.
Only their breathing filled the passage.
The rogue turned slowly toward Kayden. His usual lazy expression was gone. "…Did you see that?"
Kayden wiped blood from his upper lip with a trembling hand. "I—I don't know how. I just—felt it."
The system text flickered again, softer this time.
[MINOR RULE ADJUSTMENT REGISTERED][AUTHORIZATION: CONDITIONAL]
Conditional.
Rovan stared at the sealed corridor, then at Kayden.
No mockery now.
No laughter.
"Say it again," he said quietly. "You felt the dungeon… what?"
Kayden swallowed. His heart pounded so hard it hurt.
"Like it didn't want us to die," he said. "Like it was waiting for someone to notice."
The words hung in the air.
The Gate Voice whispered again, closer now—almost approving.
—You stumble. You bleed. You fear.——But you listen.—
Ahead, the corridor stretched onward, pulsing faintly with unseen light.
Toward the core.
Toward something that had already decided Kayden Campbell was not worthless—
—but necessary.