There at the mouth of the cave lay two massive carcasses, each belonging to a different creature, positioned as though they had been deliberately placed to serve as grotesque gates guarding the entrance.
Despite being dead for what had to be countless years, the skeletal remains of both beasts resembled terrifying demons. Even stripped down to nothing but bone, they radiated an overwhelming sense of dread.
One resembled a gigantic lizard. Its jagged, eerie teeth were each the size of a human being, its enormous eye sockets hollow and devoid of anything. One arm was completely missing, while the remaining one ended in dagger-like claws that looked capable of ripping apart steel.
The other belonged to an entirely different species, and after staring at it for only a few seconds, Kyle felt his throat grow dry.
It appeared to have walked on all fours during its lifetime. Its head was missing completely, torn clean off and leaving behind a shattered neck of splintered bone. Along its back stretched two enormous webs of bone, resembling mighty wings that had long since rotted away, leaving only their skeletal frames behind.
Whatever creatures had perished here...
They had certainly been monsters beyond imagination.
And as the group passed between the towering remains...
Kyle could feel his skin crawl with both disgust and fear. Even after death, the lingering aura clinging to the carcasses was enough to suffocate the air itself. Though greatly weakened with time, it still carried enough pressure to make his instincts scream at him to run.
After walking through the opening formed by the two colossal corpses, the cave became noticeably brighter.
Yellow gemstones embedded along the jagged cave walls emitted a warm glow, illuminating the interior well enough for everyone to clearly see what lay within.
There were five other people inside the cave besides Dwight and themselves.
Every single one of them was bruised, bloodied, and battered beyond belief.
One man was missing a leg, an arm, and even an eye, yet somehow he still clung desperately to life.
Kyle shivered.
’Just... what have these people been through?’
More importantly...
How long had they been trapped in this place?
A woman among the five slowly rose from where she sat, a man standing up beside her as the two approached Kyle’s group.
Reed stepped forward to represent them and greeted her immediately.
"Thank you for bringing us into your... cave."
The woman frowned, her exhausted eyes slowly drifting across each member of the cohort before she shook her head.
"Don’t thank me just yet."
Immediately, the expressions of the cohort turned solemn.
Reed shot Dwight a brief glance before facing the woman once more. Swallowing hard, he spoke carefully.
"We were hunting some beasts near a destroyed mountain and somehow ended up appearing here. We have no idea where we are or what’s happening."
The woman remained silent for several long seconds, appearing almost completely disinterested before finally replying.
"This place is a secret region of the First Floor. A place where, instead of the usual Deviants, there are only Tainted monsters." She paused briefly before continuing. "It’s useful for growing stronger... however..." Her gaze darkened. "Getting out of here is an entirely different matter."
"Getting out?" Rita asked. "What do you mean by getting out is different?"
"To leave this place..." Lena answered quietly.
"We’ll have to defeat a Dread."
The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere inside the cave grew unbearably heavy.
The ranks of monsters found within the Tower were:
Deviant.
Tainted.
Dread.
Calamity.
Ruin.
Void Sovereign.
Kyle felt his hands turn cold.
A Dread was two entire ranks above a Deviant and one full rank above a Tainted.
If, at his current strength, fighting a Tainted was already pushing him to his limits...
Against a Dread...
He wouldn’t even survive a few seconds.
Yet Kyle slowly clenched his fist.
’If I can devour more souls... if I can build a stronger legion... then maybe... just maybe... I’ll be able to fight a Dread and survive this hell.’
Lena silently watched the group process everything before clicking her tongue impatiently.
"To make it back to the human world, you and your cohort will have to train and work harder over the next few weeks," she said, looking directly at Reed.
Then she turned toward Karciel.
"Take two of the newcomers. Dwight, do the same. I’ll stick with the last one. Train them and prepare them for the attack."
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
There were many things he disliked.
Being separated by complete strangers ranked very high on that list.
Still...
Judging by how long these people had survived inside this nightmare, resisting them now would only make things worse.
For now...
He simply needed to remain quiet.
And wait.
Several moments later, the cohort had been divided into three smaller groups.
Reed remained with Lena.
Thors and Steronick followed Dwight.
While Kyle and Rita were assigned to Karciel.
After the split, Karciel led the two of them out of the cave.
Dwight also departed with his own group, disappearing in the opposite direction.
Kyle felt his chest tighten.
’Something is wrong.’
The thought surfaced immediately, but he kept it to himself.
According to Karciel, he was taking them to another cave where other survivors were staying.
A place where they could supposedly rest for the night before beginning their training.
Kyle assumed Dwight had given his group the exact same explanation.
Even so...
His instincts refused to calm down.
Every step forward only made the uneasiness inside him grow stronger.
Beside him, Rita lightly nudged his arm, drawing his attention. She brushed a few loose strands of hair away from her face before speaking.
"If we don’t make it back... would you have any regrets?"
Kyle blinked.
’Why ask something like that all of a sudden?’
Instead of answering immediately, he looked past her toward Karciel’s back as the man continued walking ahead.
After thinking for a few moments, he finally replied.
"I have a sister outside the Tower..." Kyle said plainly. "I’d regret not making it back to pay her university tuition."
Rita covered her mouth as a small giggle escaped her.
"I didn’t picture you as the big-brother type."
She smiled faintly.
"That’s... actually nice."
Kyle simply shrugged.
"Yeah."
After a brief pause, he asked,
"What about you? Any regrets?"
Rita let out a long sigh.
"I also have a sister..." she murmured. "But what I feel toward her... isn’t the same kind of care you have for yours."
She fell silent.
Another sigh escaped her lips.
Then—
Buff!
Buff!
Karciel suddenly came to a stop.
Both Kyle and Rita instinctively halted several feet behind him.
At first, confusion filled the air.
Kyle opened his mouth to ask what was wrong...
Only for the words to die in his throat.
His expression instantly hardened.
In that single moment...
He understood exactly what was about to happen.
Rita realized it too.
Both of her hands tightened around her staff.
"This should be far enough..." Karciel said calmly.
Then...
He slowly turned around.
A smug grin spread across his cracked, cold lips.
"After all..."
"This is where I buried the others."