Michael was right, as ten minutes later, something changed. It came without any sound or a visible source.

Adam felt it first through his mana sense, a sinister spike of something malicious moving through the jungle like a needle pulling black thread.

[Something strong is coming.]

Adam warned as Krishna stopped in his tracks and looked at his sword.

Something deep black was crawling up the blade from the cross guard toward the tip. It moved too evenly, too deliberately to be a coincidence.

’A curse?’

A thought popped up in his head as he tried to augment his swords with mana. Despite having done it a thousand times, the blade rejected it. No matter how much he tried, the blade pushed it back.

It took Krishna seconds to realize what had happened when he asked for help.

[Misha cleanse m-]

Before he could finish his word, something moved in the shadows. Without even registering it, he raised his hand instinctively, covering his face.

Tanggg!!

Steel clashed with steel as a rang reverberated in the surrounding area. Krishna looked down, finding his blade broken into pieces.

’What was that?’

Thinking, he turned left, finding an axe lying on the ground. Before he could process where it had come from, something else caught his attention.

Words felt like they were slowing down as he saw another axe moving right toward his chest. He knew he couldn’t dodge the attack, so Krishna, predicting its trajectory, tried to augment that part of the body.

Even that wasn’t enough.

Shatter!!

A golden barrier formed around him, absorbing some of the impact. When an axe lodged itself across his ribs.

Argh!!

Crying out in pain, Krishna clutched the wound. Golden radiance showered his body as Krishan struggled to process what had just happened.

"Fall back a step," Nyron said from his left, tossing a healing potion to him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I’m fine." Krishna tried arguing, pulling his backup short blade from his belt.

"No you are not... come here quickly..." Still blaming herself for Dirham and Daniel’s death, Misha called, worrying for the worst.

Knowing he was, in fact, not fine, Krishna moved back slightly while looking at the monsters that had managed to injure him, a feat that was unheard of in the academy.

The Warlords had been there all along.

They should have expected it. It was natural to hold your strongest back. Let the smaller bodies wear down the enemy first.

Adam understood it was the logical play, and whatever intelligence was directing this dungeon from behind understood logic very well.

Once again, he realized they hadn’t entered a simple dungeon.

[They are here....]

Felling them emerge through the trees, he inspected them. Each stood a full head taller than the warriors, their armor crude but layered thick enough to be a deterrence.

Carrying an axe in one hand, they picked the horn with the other and brought it closer to their lips.

booooooonggg!!

It was the Cry for the Battle. The sound wasn’t particularly loud. But it moved through the air at a frequency that bypassed the ears and reached somewhere deeper, somewhere closer to where the mana originates.

The goblins felt the increase in their strength, as the hunters felt their concentration stagger. Across the mind bridge, everyone felt others too, a simultaneous break in focus, half a second at most.

But... soon the other cried as well.

booooooonggg!!

Now, the break in focus was visible.

Being a mage, the first one to suffer was Michael, as his Wall of Flame dropped, without any sustenance.

Goblin mages appeared at the back of the formation, firing ’Dark Blast’ in the gap before anyone had fully recovered. Scouts materialized from Camouflage on the hunters’ blind sides, driving weapons into the backs of Calyra’s knees.

The archers who had been forced out of position by the Wall of Flame found their lines of sight clear again and opened up with Eagle Eye, targeting legs and shoulders.

The monsters were methodical, attacking in a way that wears one down rather than focusing on quick kills. And the Adult Goblins, which had been slowly losing ground, charged all at once.

The formation that the hunters had held for ten minutes collapsed in just fifteen seconds.

The warlords slow-walked and turned into a sprint as one dashed toward Nyron. While others moved somewhere else.

[Skill Iron Skin Lv. 3 has been activated.]

Rooooaarrr!!

Roaring, the warlord swung its heavy axe. The weapon cut air with a hiss as Nyron ducked down. Mana flared around his fists as he drove a punch into the goblin’s gut.

He could feel something moving inside its stomach, but the monster doubled down.

The warlords swung their axes, and Nyron raised his hand and stopped the blow midair. At the same time, he drove his other fist forward, which the monster caught, its grip tight and crushing.

Without pausing, Nyron twisted his body and jumped. His legs snapped up and struck the monster’s face. Blood flowed from its nose as the hit landed hard, but the monster endured it all.

Dropping its axe, it grabbed the leg. Letting his hand go from its clutches, he caught the second leg.

Nyron tried to pull back, but it was too late.

The monster lifted him and slammed him into the ground, the impact shaking the earth beneath them.

’Iron Skin’ endured the worst of the force, spreading impact across his hardened skin.

Before he could do anything, the warlords raised him again like a club and slammed.

And slammed again. And again. With another slam, the Iron Skin got deactivated, which the monsters noticed instantly.

Raising again, it slammed him on the ground. The impact made Nyron unconscious as the monster raised its legs. Augmenting its legs with mana, the warlord pounded on his head.

Rooooaarrr!!

Instead of Nyron, the monster cried in pain.

In place of the soft bone of the skull, his leg met with the pointy edge of a rock spike.

"Soren Quickly..." Maintaining the Earth Spike, Vaidya called for help.

Instead of making the finishing blow to a goblin, Soren activated the Rift Step and appeared in front of the monster. Grabbing Nyron, he counted as if his life depended on it.

’5...4...3..’

Before the 5 seconds ended, the warlord bent and grabbed the axe, lifting it, and swung it in a wide arc.

But the cooldown had finished.

Just a hair breadth between the blade and death, Soren activated his boots and appeared in front of Misha.

"I’m good... heal him..." Pointing toward his healed wounds, Krishna muttered and moved toward the warlords. Having his swords with divine blessing, he didn’t need to worry about the curse anymore.

Moving ahead, he glanced toward Michael and nodded his head.

The fire maniac was building something; he could feel it far across there. But the spell needed time to be built perfectly, the time they weren’t certain of yet.

’I will buy it...’

Creasing the wound left by the axe, he stared at the warlord and lifted his hand.

Dashing forward, Krishna swung his blade, releasing a crescent of glowing aura that cut through the air toward the warlord. The monster didn’t dodge as the armor took most of the force... but not all.

Green blood spilled through the cracks and ran down its chest.

Seeing the opening, the hunter doubled down and rushed forward. Then...

...something flickered in front of his eyes.

[You have reached the end of your time. Offer something to the dungeon.]

[Remaining time: 1 Minute]

A sudden notification appeared as his focus broke for a single moment. And that was enough.

Concentrating all its momentum, the warlord swung its axe in a brutal arc, slamming straight into the hunter’s jaws.

Before Krishna could process it, his jaw flew out in the distance.

Smirking, the warlord moved its hand and grabbed the skull, lifting its prey from the ground. Krishna flared his legs, tried breaking out of it, but it was all futile.

Crack!!

First, the eyes popped out of the skull before the skull caved in. The blood and brain matter flew everywhere, and the monster licked its hand.

Rooooarrrr!!

Crying, it pointed its axe toward the rest of them.