*Tap.* *Tap.* *Tap.*

The sound of footsteps echoed softly through the stone corridor as the trio walked in silence. Well, it wasn’t completely silent—the dark tunnel was constantly filled with the sound of Serene’s endless babbling. She hadn’t kept her mouth shut from the very moment they began walking together as a trio.

Alen simply ignored her chatter and walked ahead. Now that she had found someone else to talk to, he didn’t have to worry about being the target of her antics.

Above them, the small, glowing sun floated steadily, illuminating the pitch-black cavern. Serene maintained the light with her magic. Because it was a low-level spell, it required very little upkeep of mana. Since her affinity for nature’s mana had been significantly boosted, she could recovered her reserves almost instantly. It acted like an unlimited source of light, drawing from an inexhaustible well of natural energy.

Still, even the smallest spells required a fraction of mental energy to maintain. Every spell cast by an Awakener took a mental toll on their mind; summoning a massive, high-tier attack could drain someone’s mental focus so severely that repeating the spell immediately would be impossible. Fortunately, keeping the small light sphere active was no burden for Serene. Now that she had ascended to C- rank, her mental fortitude was more than powerful enough to handle it. She could easily keep the spell active for two or three days straight without feeling the slightest bit of mental fatigue.

Alen kept his eyes fixed on the darkness ahead, guiding their path.

’Why the hell are there no monsters here?’

’We should be deep enough to encounter something by now.’

He cast a quick glance back at Zane, whose focus had shifted from Alen to Serene’s energetic storytelling.

’Did that cold bastard kill every single one of them on his way in? No, that’s impossible. The deeper monsters wouldn’t have migrated to the outer tunnels. Even if he cleared out a few rooms, the creatures in the deeper sections shouldn’t have just vanished.’

Alen’s grip tightened on his hilt. ’Something is definitely fishy here... I have to be careful.’

They continued moving forward, but the walls offered no clues as to why the dungeon felt completely abandoned. After a few more minutes of walking, the single corridor suddenly branched out, revealing five separate openings. Five identical tunnels led down entirely different paths.

’This is really annoying,’ Alen grumbled internally.

’How are we supposed to find the right path by just guessing? If we pick a tunnel and it turns out to be a dead end, we’ll waste hours. If the next one is wrong too, we’ll have to keep backtracking all the way to the start.’

’That will completely waste our time and energy. I just hope my luck holds out... Oh, luck... please bestow your godlike power upon me now.’

’Sigh... Let’s ask them if they can do anything about it. Maybe they might have some way to find the right correct path.’

Alen stopped at the intersection and turned back toward his companions.

"Do either of you have any idea how to find the correct way?"

Zane turned his cold eyes toward Alen. Alen didn’t look away, matching his gaze calmly. After a brief, silent staring contest, Zane finally broke the silence and raised his hand.

[Paradox Spiral Art: Shadow Detectives]

A few small creatures materialized from Zane’s shadow. They were barely the size of a fist, looking like tiny, shifting blobs of darkness. The moment they were summoned, they began jumping around the stone floor. After receiving Zane’s mental command, the shadow familiars split up, each one darting into a different tunnel to scout ahead. Because they were made entirely of pure darkness and possessed tiny physical frames, they were nearly impossible to detect—even for any high-level monsters that might be lurking in the deep. They would silently map out the routes and signal the correct path back to Zane.

Since the shadow detectives were mentally linked to him, Zane would instantly know which path was correct. With the scouts deployed, he casually turned his attention back to Serene.

Alen watched the tiny shadows disappear into the tunnels. His azure eyes shifted smoothly to Serene, who was standing close to the blonde boy.

A small, unreadable smile tugged at the corners of Alen’s lips. He let go of his sword hilt and calmly walked over to them.

Sensing his approach, both of them turned to look at him.

"What do you want?"

Zane asked, his voice dripping with immediate hostility.

Alen kept his soft smile.

"Nothing. I just wanted to talk to Serene about something."

He looked past Zane, his gaze landing on the blue-haired girl.

"Serene, can we talk for a moment?"

Serene blinked in surprise. She looked at Zane, who was glaring intensely at Alen, and then gave a small nod.

"Sure."

She took a couple of steps forward, moving away from Zane to stand directly in front of Alen.

The moment she stepped into his reach, the temperature in the air instantly plummeted.

A high-frequency, devastating vibration shattered the silence, focusing entirely on a single point. Before Serene could even process the sudden shift, a sharp, agonizing pop echoed inside her head, and streams of dark blood violently erupted from both of her ears.

Before she could even scream, Alen’s arm blurred. A fist heavily coated in thick, destructive mana shot straight toward her chest.

*BOOOOOOOOOM!*

Zane’s eyes widened in horror. He lunged forward to intercept, but he was a fraction of a second too late. The explosive impact of the mana-infused punch slammed into Serene, launching her petite body backward through the air like a broken doll. She crashed violently into the distant stone wall and crumpled to the ground, entirely motionless.

Zane stared at her form, his mind fracturing. Slowly, he turned his head back to Alen, his obsidian eyes turning completely bloodshot as a terrifying killing intent flooded the chamber.

"You bastard!!!! I’m going to kill you!"