Instead of launching forward to fight, the air around the Terranid abruptly shimmered, glowing with a fierce, neon blue light. In the blink of an eye, the creature’s massive eight-foot frame disappeared entirely, flashing out of existence as it retreated back to wherever it had come from.

Uhtred, who had already crouched lower into a combat stance, slowly straightened his back.

With his eyebrows raised and his mouth still slightly open in disbelief, he turned his head to look back at Zara, total confusion written across his face.

The blue-eyed girl only stared back at him for a moment before she gave a casual shrug.

"It seems he was scared of you."

"Huh?" Uhtred muttered, barely believing the words even as he came to the exact same conclusion himself.

The moment the Terranid had figured out that both he and Zara were Pathfinders at levels 17 and 16, it had chosen to turn tail and run.

Uhtred had been genuinely eager to fight against a fully intelligent alien creature, a being that wasn’t from Earth and clearly possessed a deeper knowledge about how the multiverse and the System operated.

The damn Terranid was a Level 20, for crying out loud. Why had it been so skittish, to the point where it chose to flee from two lower-leveled humans?

"Don’t tell me that’s it..." Uhtred hissed under his breath, a heavy frown settling on his face.

He felt like he had primed his cosmic essence and pumped his adrenaline for absolutely nothing. It was like he had been waiting patiently for the final course of a grand meal, only for the plate to be snatched away right before his first bite.

Of course, with the "floor boss" fleeing, it meant he could now walk up and claim the floating dungeon core without any resistance, but it still left a bitter, unfinished taste in his mouth. It felt as though he hadn’t truly earned the victory.

He kept his eyes on the magic circle on the ground, waiting for a moment longer to see if the creature would return, but the neon blue lines had completely dimmed. It really seemed like the Level 20 opponent he was supposed to face had given him a free clear for the final floor. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

However, just as Uhtred let out a low curse under his breath and began to take his first step toward the floating dungeon core, the lines of the circle on the ground suddenly flared back to life, glowing with a bright, blinding light once more.

Uhtred stopped in his tracks, his grip tightening on his battleaxe as his eyes narrowed.

"Someone else is coming?"

The blinding glare of the magic circle intensified, filling the massive chamber with a fierce, pulsing light that forced Uhtred to shield his eyes for a split second.

As the radiance rapidly receded, a completely different figure materialized at the center of the formation.

This newcomer was much shorter and far more human-like than the blocky Terranid that had just fled.

Unlike a human, however, its skin was a pale grey that seemed entirely devoid of warmth.

Protruding cleanly from its forehead were two dark horns that curved sharply backward, giving the creature an appearance that mirrored the depictions of demons and fiends of ancient lore.

The alien blinked, glancing down at the glowing glyphs beneath its feet before scanning the wide expanse of the cavern.

"An earth attuned dungeon?" it muttered to itself, its voice raspy and laced with annoyance. "I’m not even earth attuned. Why in the twenty-one hells was I sent here?"

Uhtred did not wait to find out. His body instantly moved into a state of high vigilance. He crouched lower to the stone floor, his muscles locking into a primed combat stance as he aggressively cycled his cosmic essence.

He threw his focus entirely into his dual-casting, forcing his metal magic directly into the rigid structure of his star-metal battleaxe while simultaneously kicking his heat manipulation into gear.

The air within the immediate perimeter of his skin began to shimmer and warp, the temperature rising very slightly as the heat energy began to manifest. For the time being, Uhtred kept it stabilized at a low, controlled burn, waiting to see exactly what this newcomer was going to do.

Without anyone needing to tell him, Uhtred could intuitively feel that this entity was completely different from the skittish Terranid that had preceded it.

He locked his gaze onto the horned figure and triggered his biological inspect skill, bringing up the translucent text panel in his vision:

[Nivorian Frost Daemon - Level 21]

Level 21?!

That was even higher than the level of the floor itself!

The Nivorian Frost Daemon clearly felt the intrusive spark of Uhtred’s inspection wash over him, but he didn’t react defensively, nor did he show any signs of irritation. Instead, his eyes remained focused entirely on the large white crystal hovering above the center of the chamber.

He raised his pale grey hand and casually rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"Hmm, I guess it makes sense now," the Frost Daemon suddenly said, his eyes flitting over to Uhtred’s position. "Someone just left here, right?"

"...Yeah," Uhtred responded calmly. He kept his voice entirely flat and level, showing absolutely no trace of weakness, hesitation, or fear.

The Frost Daemon stared at him for a quiet beat. Then, the corners of his mouth peeled back, revealing a row of sharp teeth as he burst into a full-on, mocking cackle.

The harsh laughter bounced loudly off the high ceilings before the alien finally reined it in.

"I guess he didn’t want to face the penalties for losing to you two," the Frost Daemon said, shaking his horned head in amusement. "He would rather face a temporary ban and some light punishment from the System rather than the severe penalties he would face if he actually lost to you."

Uhtred’s eyes narrowed slightly at the explanation, but he remained silent, processing the information while keeping his elements primed.

"Well, in a way, it’s a sensible decision," the Frost Daemon continued smoothly. He stepped off the glowing magic circle, his bare feet making a faint scraping sound against the dungeon floor.

"If he wasn’t confident of winning against you two, then it was better to cut his losses right from the onset, before engaging at all and setting his fate in stone."

The Frost Daemon stopped walking, his cold gaze shifting between Uhtred and Zara.

"It’s rare enough that a dungeon quest will lead you to a fledgling world with a Pathfinder," the daemon remarked, the amusement fading from his voice. "Not to mention one that has two..."

The slow grin on his face suddenly turned incredibly cold. His arms dropped loosely to his sides, his posture shifting from a casual, relaxed stance, to that of an apex predator.

"Me though, I don’t mind taking on Pathfinders."

The moment the words left his lips, the ambient temperature within the immediate surroundings plummeted.

Thick, pale frost began to visibly creep across the grey skin of the daemon’s arms and chest, crackling loudly as it hardened. The alien took a slow breath, and the air it expelled came out in dense, freezing streams of white vapor.

He leveled a predatory glare straight at Uhtred, licking his lips menacingly.

"I am sure the System will reward me heavily with peculiar titles once I kill two Pathfinders!"