Kai pushed the stone door open and stepped out of his temporary sanctuary. The corridor ahead felt narrower than before, and the temperature dropped even further. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He kept his hands raised, letting a thin layer of frost dance across his knuckles. The temple was changing the deeper he walked.

The featureless black stone gave way to intricate, moving murals carved directly into the walls.

He paused to look at the shifting images.

They depicted ancient, robed figures kneeling in worship beneath a sky full of bright stars.

The murals were surprisingly detailed, showing faces twisted in absolute adoration. Then the images shifted. The painted stars descended from the sky, opening mouths to swallow the worshippers’ souls as those painted faces morphed from adoration into silent agony.

’Whoever built this place had some serious mommy issues,’ Kai thought, stepping away from the weeping wall.

’I really need to stop looking at the decor.’

[Area Update: The Whispering Halls]

[Warning: High concentration of hallucinogenic mana detected]

[Mental fortitude is being constantly tested.]

Kai read the blue text and swiped it away. He barely had time to process the warning before the ceiling shifted.

Small worms dropped from the stone archways.

They looked like shooting stars, but their bodies writhed with hungry intent. Several of them landed on his shoulders and immediately tried to burrow into the minor cuts he sustained from the giant fight earlier.

[Enemy Identified: Star Parasite]

[Level: 15]

[Description: A minor celestial scavenger]

[It feeds on warm blood and burrows into open wounds to lay eggs.]

"Get off me," Kai yelled, swatting a glowing worm away from his cheek.

He ignited a wave of cold mana, freezing the parasites that clung to his coat.

They shattered like fragile glass when he brushed them off. But hundreds more were pouring out of the cracks in the walls, swarming over the floor like a river.

As the swarm closed in, the air grew stronger with strange noises. Kai heard a familiar voice crying out from the shadows ahead.

"Kai, please help me," Vesper called out, her voice trembling with pain.

"They are hurting me."

Kai froze for a split second, his heart leaped into his throat because the voice sounded perfectly real.

He took a step forward, but the rational part of his brain screamed at him to stop.

Vesper was safe on the surface, far away from this nightmare.

Then Sheila’s voice echoed through the corridor.

She laughed loudly, a mocking sound that bounced off the weeping runes.

"You always leave people behind, Kai. You are just a coward pretending to be a hero."

The voices multiplied.

He started hearing his own voice, echoing the exact words he spoke right before his past failures and near-deaths.

The hallucinations layered over each other, trying to break his focus and drive him insane.

’My brain is fucking with me,’ Kai thought, gripping his temples to block out the noise.

He forced his eyes open and focused his anger on the approaching swarm of parasites. He dropped his usual defensive tactics and opted for brutality.

Kai extended his hands, bypassing the air and forcing his freezing mana directly into the bodies of the glowing worms.

The water inside their disgusting little bodies flash-froze instantly.

Kai clenched his fists tight. Ice blades erupted from the insides of the parasites, tearing their bodies apart in gruesome little explosions.

Corrupted blood sprayed everywhere, painting the stone walls in glowing blue streaks. The swarm recoiled, but more worms kept spilling from the ceiling.

"You want a piece of me?" Kai shouted over the phantom laughter in his head.

"Come get it."

He slammed his palms flat against the stone floor.

A wave of zero energy rushed down the corridor, flash-freezing the entire swarm in a matter of seconds.

Swoosh.

The ice coated the walls and the ceiling, turning the hallway into a frozen tunnel. Kai stomped his boot down, sending a localized shockwave through the ice. The frozen corridor shattered into a million pieces, taking the entire swarm of parasites with it.

He stood up, breathing heavily. The phantom voices faded into a low, disappointed murmur.

Kai wiped a streak of glowing blue blood from his cheek, but he noticed something disturbing.

The temple stone was actively drinking the spilled monster blood. The blue liquid seeped into the cracks, and the weeping runes glowed a little brighter.

’I need to find a way down to the next level before this hallway decides to eat me too.’

He jogged down the cleared corridor until he found a small alcove. It looked like a dead end, but a pile of rags sitting in the corner caught his attention. He walked closer and realized it was the skeletal corpse of a previous adventurer.

The bones were yellowed with age, and the leather armor was rotting away.

The skeleton’s bony fingers were wrapped tightly around a leather-bound diary. The pages were crumbling, but Kai gently pulled the book free.

He opened it to the last legible entry, hoping to find a map or a list of weaknesses for the local monsters.

The handwriting was frantic, as if scribbled by a man losing his mind.

"The food ran out three days ago," the entry read.

"The voices never stop screaming. I tried to go back, but the doors vanished. The temple doesn’t kill you. It makes you wish it had."

Kai closed the diary and set it gently back onto the skeleton’s lap. He looked at the empty eye sockets of the dead adventurer and offered a small nod.

’Thank you for the sacrifice.’

He stepped out of the alcove, ready to continue his search for the stairs. Before he could take another step, the floor vibrated beneath his boots.

A deafening roar echoed up from the spiraling staircase located just a few yards ahead. The sound was a mix of a raging bull and a dying star.

[Boss Proximity Alert]

[Corrupted Minotaur Guardian has awakened.]

[Target Lock: You have been marked as fresh prey.]