Just as the massive Alpha wolf was about to charge and finish off the skeleton that had dared to turn its fallen packmates into undead puppets, the temperature inside the damp cave spiked exponentially.

​The beast paused, turning its heavy head toward the source of the blistering heat.

​The weakest of the intruders; the tiny human who had only been capable of stealthy sneak attacks; was now encased inside a semi-transparent red barrier.

The barrier radiated a terrifying, suffocating heat that rapidly dried the moss on the cavern walls.

​Before the Alpha’s yellow eyes, a small, condensed fireball formed in the air right beside the boy. It then locked onto the giant wolf and shot forward.

​Before the beast could even attempt to dodge, the small red fireball crossed the distance at a speed that almost looked like teleportation. It pierced cleanly through the Alpha’s skull, killing it instantly.

​The massive boss lost all control of its body and crashed to the stone floor.

As its final sliver of consciousness rapidly faded, pure horror painted its monstrous face. In its last moments, it saw dozens more of those small, lethal red fireballs forming around the supposedly "weak" human.

​The only thought the Alpha managed to muster before the darkness took it was:

​Unfair.

.....

​Night cursed himself. Seeing the Alpha shatter Death’s ribcage had snapped him out of his shock, making him realize how stupid he was for hesitating instead of activating the red talisman immediately.

​He hadn’t known exactly what it would do but in pure desperation, he crushed it the moment he saw the Alpha prepare to strike the injured Death again.

​Before activation, the Red Talisman had looked like a simple piece of paper with some mysterious symbols drawn on it.

It looked like a pretty safety charm you might gift to a loved one during a festive occasion.

​But the moment Night’s energy entered the paper, it burned to ash and a ridiculous amount of powerful mana was released. It immediately formed a red barrier around him.

​It was a strong offensive spell, just like Sara had promised but it came with a bonus defensive barrier to ensure the user survived while the spell was active.

​He felt a instinctual connection to the magic spell. He realized he could command the spell to attack any target he desired.

Focusing his rage on the Alpha he willed a small red fireball to form. It shot forward, executing the boss monster in a single strike as if its thick hide was made of wet paper.

​Sensing that the spell’s overwhelming power would only last for about thirty more seconds, Night didn’t waste a single moment.

He turned his attention to the eight wolves inside the cave that were planning to swarm his summons while they were distracted.

​Puff! Puff! Puff!

​The small fireballs materialized and launched with lethal precision. The wolves fell one after another with the exact same look of absolute horror plastered on their faces as their Alpha.

​With the cave clear, Night bolted outside and locked eyes on the thirteen wolves still lingering in the cavern.

​Thirteen small red fireballs formed in the air around him and shot forward with the exact same ruthless precision.

​Puff! Puff! Puff!

​All thirteen corpses collapsed to the ground with a heavy series of thuds.

​The battle was over.

​Night immediately spun around and sprinted back into the cave.

He saw Eve, Lilith, and Lucy gathered silently around Death’s fallen body.

​Fearing the absolute worst, he dashed to her side just as his thirty seconds ran out and the red barrier dissolved into harmless sparks.

​Looking down, his heart shattered.

Death was in a terrible state.

She only had her spine, skull, arms, and legs intact; her entire ribcage had been violently crushed in that lethal attack.

Worse, the vibrant blue flames that usually danced in her empty eye sockets were completely extinguished.

​He dropped to his knees.

Black fog formed on his palms as he desperately flooded Death’s shattered body with his remaining energy.

Slowly, the broken bone shards floated into the air and fused back together. Her ribcage repaired itself in seconds and physically, she looked exactly the same as before.

​But... the flames refused to burn in those lively eye sockets of hers.

​Seeing that she still wasn’t moving, Night broke down.

​He threw his small arms around her cold, skeletal neck and hugged her tightly. Tears welled up in his blue eyes and spilled down his cheeks as he lost his reason, genuinely believing that Death had been killed for good.

​No... why didn’t I use the red talisman earlier? he sobbed internally.

​Why did we even have to enter this stupid dungeon?

​Sniff... sniff...

​Just then, he heard Lucy’s annoyed teenage voice echo in the cave. "Tsk. Stop playing dead, you oversized bone-rack. Can’t you see he is actually crying?"

​As if she had just swallowed the immortal elixir of life, Death sprang completely to life. The blue flames in her eye sockets ignited, burning brighter and more furiously than Night had ever seen them. She immediately wrapped her bony arms around Night, hugging him back... perhaps a little tighter than usual.

​Looking up reason finally returned to Night’s grief-stricken mind. He saw that Death was perfectly fine and dandy.

​He looked at her weirdly as he slowly broke the hug.

​Was this her way of pranking me? he thought, wiping his eyes. Then he let out a tired sigh, figuring he probably deserved it for losing his cool and failing to use the talisman exactly when they had planned to.

​As he stood up, he saw Eve and Lilith standing there taking up their usual protective stances beside him.

​"I’ll take care of the corpses," Lucy announced, her shadows already slithering across the cavern floor.

​Night simply nodded, exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally and energeticaly sat down heavily beside Death.

Seeing that the situation was finally secure, Eve and Lilith sat down beside them as well.

​[Death’s POV]

​When she was thrown back like a ragdoll and smashed into the wall, she hadn’t felt an ounce of pain. And honestly, the concept of "death" didn’t cause her any fear.

​After dying, becoming a skeleton, and spending weeks playing dead while sleeping in the Morgue Refrigerator to avoid the torture of the scientists and their so-called "experiments," she had grown quite accustomed to the state. She didn’t feel pain.

She was just a skeleton, after all.

​When she saw Night rush over, frantically using his precious energy to heal her, she decided to stay limp and play dead just to lightly prank him. But then to her utter shock, he started hugging her and genuinely crying.

​She was completely torn.

Should she stop her act so her Master would stop crying or should she continue playing dead and enjoy the incredibly rare hugging session?

​This was the very first time Master had ever hugged her, after all.

​How could she possibly ruin a precious moment like this?

​Fufufufu, she laughed inwardly.

​But of course, that gluttonous mutt just had to ruin this for her, too.

​Not wanting to waste the golden opportunity, she immediately stopped playing dead and hugged him back, squeezing him just a little bit tight to savor the feeling.

​She had been slightly worried that he might be angry because of her morbid act, but seeing him look so relieved albeit with a very peculiar expression on his face, she calmed down.

​Then, she shifted her burning gaze to the black wolf. The exact same wolf that came between her and Night time and time again.

​Fumu... I’ll use you as my personal mount after I turn you into a skeleton like those stupid wolves, Death promised viciously.

​[Lucy’s POV]

​I feel hungry...

​As her sprawling shadows devoured the wolf corpses one after another, she finally started to feel better.

​Even though the corpses were technically being sent into the Nightmare Domain to be digested by Night’s skill, for some strange reason she felt the exact sensation of eating them herself.

​Such an interesting, intimate connection, she mused.

​She finished clearing out the corpses inside the cave, then trotted outside to start eating the ones scattered across the rocky terrain.

​Just for fun, she even actively chewed the meat a couple of times, even though it was completely unnecessary for her shadows to do so. It just made her feel like the food was actually going into her own stomach.

​As she ate, a deep worry gnawed at the back of her mind.

This dungeon is not a simple Level 5 dungeon.

​She had cleared Level 5 dungeons before. They had a maximum of maybe ten monsters inside and they were never coordinated into massive, tactical packs like this one.

Furthermore, early-level dungeon monsters were purposefully created to be completely mindless by the System acting as simple fodder for newbies to finish off and get stronger.

​This one is different, she realized grimly. It is either a highly specialized dungeon uniquely created by the System, or worse... this is an Invasion-type dungeon.

​If it was the first option, they could clear it safely by being overly cautious and taking their time. But if it was the latter, they had to locate the boss room, clear it as fast as physically possible and escape before the entities who actually created the dungeon managed to alter the rules from the outside.

​Also, if it truly was the second type, they had to inform the powerful people outside the moment they escaped.

​Because if Invasion dungeons were popping up this early in the timeline...

Its clear

Our planet doesn’t have much time left...

.

..

..

​Earth didn’t have much time left.