After getting hit by Raive and Khamish, the monster shot up from underground, almost like a startled mouse. It was in so much pain and panic that it failed to stay vigilant.
The moment it raised its "head," the two girls moved.
"Freezing Wave!"
"Go!"
Shymine quickly froze the ground along with the monster’s entire body. In an instant, it was locked in place by the ice.
Then Therese’s mana blades came slashing down, spinning like a rotating wheel, each blade striking the target’s head at least once.
By the time her attack passed through, a vertical cut already ran straight through the monster’s head.
That would’ve been fatal if the enemy had been human or animal, but the thing before them was a plant taking on a semi-humanoid shape. There was no way it would die from that alone.
"There should be a core somewhere in the middle of its body—destroy that!" Raive shouted.
And he wasn’t just spouting nonsense.
Back when he’d died at Hazel’s hand, even as his head spun through the air, he’d noticed it—how the monster had been cut to pieces, and how a green gem the size of a fist had come tumbling out of its body.
From years of reading novels, playing games, and watching movies, he knew immediately that the gem had to be the monster’s core.
And monsters with cores usually didn’t die unless that core was completely destroyed or severed from the body.
"Leave it to me!" Thankfully, Shymine was already prepared.
She waved her hand, summoning a scythe carved from ice. Then, like a toothpick skewering food, it plunged into the monster, hoisting it out of the ground and flinging it into the air.
The monster separated from the scythe mid-arc, spinning as it slowed at the peak of its rise before beginning to fall. Shymine tracked it closely, then set the scythe spinning like a top.
"Ice Scythe—triple slash!"
The instant the monster met the blade, its body was sliced clean into three sections. And in the gap between the upper and middle sections, right around where its chest would be, a green orb came into view.
Whether by accident or design, it had already been cut in half.
The plant monster crashed onto the icy ground, sending shards scattering in every direction. Then its body began dissolving into black smoke, as if its entire form were evaporating on the spot.
Only the green orb remained, now split cleanly in two.
"Enemy elimination confirmed!" Shymine called out, announcing it to the group.
Raive, naturally, didn’t let his guard down.
The enemy could strike from underground, after all, and there was no telling if more were closing in. They couldn’t afford to just stand around.
"Alright, good!" He smiled. "Everyone, sound off!" Then he waited to confirm.
"I’m good, no problems." Khamish responded.
"Same here. Not a scratch on me." Therese added.
"A bit drained from using my ability, but otherwise fine." Shymine chimed in.
After hearing everyone’s status, Raive nodded and reported his own.
"No injuries, and I’m not tired either. So as soon as Shymine’s ready, we push forward!"
"Yes!"
With the order given, Raive finally let out a breath of relief.
With nothing left to do for the moment, he wandered toward the back, where Hershey and Hazel were waiting.
"Great teamwork." Hazel praised as soon as he got close enough. "But with the strength you’ve all shown... I doubt it’s enough to clear a red-grade dungeon."
"You think?"
Honestly, Raive felt the exact same way.
He and Khamish lacked firepower. Therese could hold her own in a fight, but her heart wasn’t strong enough for prolonged combat. Of the four of them, only Shymine was genuinely "useful"...
And even she barely registered in Hazel’s eyes.
She wasn’t looking down on them, exactly—she was simply stating things as they were.
An opinion that, however blunt it sounded, Raive happened to share.
"Well, that’s where you come in." Raive grinned. "Just like we planned—while we keep pushing forward, we’ll be counting on your support, Hazel."
Right.
Though Raive had no intention of putting her on the front lines, he still expected her to cover them from the back. There were two reasons for this.
The first was to let her gauge everyone’s strength for herself.
The second was simply to conserve her power as much as possible for the boss fight ahead.
Raive wasn’t optimistic enough to believe they could take down a red dungeon’s boss on their own. Hazel’s strength would be essential—there was no doubt about that.
Until then, she needed to stay in reserve.
About two minutes later, once Shymine had caught her breath, they pressed onward.
Of course, none of them had any idea where the boss or the exit actually was. Even Raive’s "precognition" was useless to him in his current state.
So for now, they stuck to a simple plan—keep moving forward.
Naturally, as they advanced, further battles proved unavoidable.
The enemies were always the same, though: underground, root-like monsters disguised as flower beds from above.
However...
"These things... just how many are there?" Khamish couldn’t help but grumble.
Five hours had passed since they’d entered the red dungeon, yet they still hadn’t reached the end. They hadn’t even spotted a single landmark.
Fatigue from constant walking and near-nonstop fighting was starting to creep in. If they kept this up, exhaustion would eventually catch up to them—and mistakes would follow.
Against enemies this strong, even one mistake could prove fatal.
Raive frowned.
Just as he was about to respond, though...
"H-Hey, brother..." Hershey tugged at his shirt, pointing ahead. "Look. The ground over there—it’s all torn up."
"Huh?"
Following her finger, Raive saw it too, and something about it felt off.
"We... should be the only ones here, right?" He couldn’t help but ask.
After all, what lay ahead of them were unmistakable signs of a battle against those plant monsters—clean, efficient, leaving nothing behind but overturned earth where a monster had once lain in wait.
"Wait..."
But the longer he stared at it, the more something nagged at him.
His heart skipped a beat as unease spread through his chest.
Without a word to the others, he broke into a run—sprinting at full speed toward the marks they’d spotted. The moment they arrived, Raive knew something had gone terribly wrong.
"This hole... this place..." He whispered, his voice thick with shock.
"Wasn’t this where we fought the very first monster?"
He asked the question everyone was already dreading, though the words felt like they physically hurt to say.