The Dark Forest swallowed sound.
Tall ancient trees rose like silent pillars, their thick canopies interlocking so tightly that only thin beams of afternoon sunlight managed to pierce through. The ground was soft with layers of moss and rotting leaves. Twisted roots snaked across the earth like the veins of some buried giant. The air hung heavy with the scent of damp soil, crushed greenery, and the faint metallic tang of monster blood.
Ren wiped his combat knife clean on a broad leaf before storing it away in a brief flicker of blue light. Around them lay the cooling bodies of the creatures they had already cut down.
Most of the corpses belonged to brown-furred wolves. Unlike the larger forest wolves deeper inside, these were smaller and leaner, with a single dull grey stone embedded in the center of their foreheads. The stones still pulsed faintly with residual mana. Beside them lay several horned rabbits — larger than ordinary rabbits, with short brown fur and a single curved horn growing from the center of their heads.
Lyra crouched beside one of the wolf corpses and carefully extracted the small stone from its forehead. The moment it left the body, the faint glow faded.
"Wolf Magic Stone," she murmured. "Low grade, but still sellable."
She moved to the next body and pulled free a pair of sharp claws, then repeated the process with the horned rabbits, collecting both the glowing rabbit magic stones and the curved horns.
Ren watched her work for a moment before activating Appraisal on the collected materials.
[Loot Acquired]
• Wolf Magic Stone ×6
• Wolf Claws ×12
• Rabbit Magic Stone ×8
• Rabbit Horn ×8
A rough estimate formed in his mind. If sold at a proper guild or merchant stall, the entire batch would fetch around ten gold coins. Not a large sum compared to dungeon boss rewards, but steady and reliable.
Lyra finished gathering everything and handed the materials to him. Blue light flickered as Ren stored them all inside the system inventory.
"That makes thirty-nine kills," she said quietly, standing up and brushing dirt from her knees.
A soft blue window appeared in Ren's vision.
[Monster Kill Count: 39 / 300]
[Time Remaining: 3 Days 21 Hours]
Still far from the target.
They resumed walking without another word. The deeper they moved, the more the forest changed. Birdsong faded. The undergrowth grew denser. Even the wind seemed reluctant to travel further. Ren's military habits remained sharp. He constantly scanned the trees, noting possible ambush points, escape routes, and shifts in the terrain. Lyra walked slightly behind and to his left, close enough that their shoulders nearly brushed whenever the path narrowed.
After several more minutes, she finally spoke.
"You need to be careful with dungeons from now on."
Ren glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
Lyra's crimson eyes were serious. The usual caution in her expression had deepened into something closer to warning.
"Every dungeon requires the difficulty to be set before entering," she explained. "There are several stages."
She lifted one finger.
"Normal. The weakest setting. Monsters are weaker, their drop rates decrease, and the experience you gain is much lower. Most beginners start here because it is safer."
A second finger.
"Challenging. One step higher. Monsters grow stronger, drops improve slightly, and experience increases. It is the choice for those who want better rewards without taking too much risk."
A third finger.
"Hard. This is the level most experienced adventurers prefer. Monsters become significantly stronger. Drop rates rise. Experience is much better. The danger is real, but manageable for a competent party."
Then she paused. Her expression cooled.
"And Hell."
She lowered her hand.
"Almost no one chooses Hell mode. The difficulty is far too high. Even well-prepared parties risk being wiped out completely. The monsters become vicious, their coordination improves, and their resistance to both physical and magical attacks increases sharply. And if you somehow manage to clear a dungeon on Hell difficulty… the dungeon closes permanently."
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Permanently?"
Lyra nodded. "Yes. Once sealed, it never opens again. All the regular hunting, materials, and steady income that dungeon once provided disappear forever. For most adventurers, losing a reliable dungeon is a serious blow to their long-term earnings. That is why people avoid Hell mode no matter how good the immediate rewards look."
She looked at him directly.
"When you entered the Twin-Faced Ogre dungeon, you never selected a difficulty. The system defaults to Hell if nothing is chosen. That is why the monsters were so strong… and why the dungeon sealed permanently after you cleared it."
Ren was silent for a few seconds. The memory of that brutal four-hour fight returned briefly — the four-armed ogre, the collapsing pillars, the moment the grenade detonated against its neck.
"…So that is what happened."
"Yes," Lyra said. "Clearing a Hell-difficulty dungeon on your first attempt is extremely rare. Especially for a newly registered adventurer. That is why so many people noticed you so quickly. The guild, the nobles, even the royal family… they all took interest."
She glanced ahead toward the denser section of the forest where the light grew dimmer.
"This time we have guild cards under the names Ner and Arly. We can choose the difficulty properly. We should take Hard mode. Strong enough for good rewards and experience, but without the risk of destroying a future source of income."
Ren gave a short nod. "Hard it is."
They continued walking. The path gradually became less defined, as though fewer living things had passed this way in recent years. Eventually the trees thinned, and the entrance revealed itself.
It was not a stone gate or a man-made structure. Two massive ancient trees had grown together over centuries, their trunks twisting into a natural arch wide enough for a carriage to pass through. Thick black vines hung from the upper branches like torn curtains. A faint green mist drifted out from the darkness beyond, carrying the heavy scent of decay and concentrated mana. The air around the entrance felt colder.
Blue text appeared before Ren's eyes the moment they stepped close.
[Open-World Dungeon Detected]
[Name: Hollowroot Domain]
[Guild Card Detected: Ner / Arly]
[Please Select Difficulty]
→ Normal
→ Challenging
→ Hard
→ Hell
Ren studied the options for a moment, then looked at Lyra. She gave a small, firm nod.
He selected **Hard**.
The green mist around the entrance pulsed once, as if acknowledging the choice. The temperature dropped another degree.
[Difficulty Confirmed: Hard]
[Monster Strength: Elevated]
[Drop Rate: Standard+]
[Experience Gain: Increased]
[Permanent Closure Risk: Low]
Ren turned fully toward her.
"Ready?"
Lyra stepped closer. Her shoulder lightly brushed against his arm. Her silver tail curled slightly behind her — a subtle, almost unconscious sign of tension she tried to hide. Even so, there was no hesitation in her eyes.
"Yes."
Together, they stepped through the natural arch.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the atmosphere changed completely. The light dimmed further. The mist thickened. Distant growls echoed from deeper within the trees, low and resonant. The forest inside the dungeon felt older, heavier, and far more hostile than the outer woods they had just left.
Ren raised his suppressed Beretta. Lyra's wand glowed with a soft blue light as wind mana gathered around her.
The real hunt had begun.
Far away, in the capital of Valdoria, morning light was already spilling across the city.
Princess Seraphina stood near the tall windows of her private chambers within the Royal Knight and Mage Academy. Soft golden sunlight filtered through the glass, illuminating the polished stone floor. A hooded figure knelt a respectful distance behind her, still slightly dusty and tired from hard riding through the night.
"Report," she said without turning.
The spy lowered his head. "A two-member adventurer party registered at the town under the names Ner and Arly. The man is human. The woman is a wolf beastwoman with silver hair and crimson eyes. They entered the town without identification papers and paid the temporary entry fee in silver. Local witnesses confirm that the woman's appearance closely matches the description of the missing silver wolf slave."
Seraphina's fingers paused against the rim of her teacup.
"And?" she asked coldly. "Where are they now?"
The spy hesitated for only a moment. "I… do not know, Princess. I obtained the information last evening and returned immediately to report. I rode through the night."
The atmosphere in the room grew heavier.
Seraphina slowly turned. Her expression remained elegant, but her eyes had become sharp and dangerous.
"You suspected they might be the ones we are searching for," she said, her voice quiet yet cutting, "and yet you left the town without leaving anyone to observe them?"
The spy's shoulders tensed. "Princess, I—"
"You were unprofessional." Her words were calm, but each one carried weight. "If you had even the slightest suspicion, you should have immediately assigned another agent to watch them while you returned. That is the basic standard of intelligence work. By riding back alone the same night, you created a gap. They could have left the town in any direction by now. That town is still a full month's travel from the border by the fastest horse. They have plenty of ground to disappear into."
The spy pressed his forehead lower. "I accept full responsibility."
Seraphina stared at him for several long seconds. Then she exhaled softly, reining in her anger.
"You will return at once," she ordered. "This time you will take one additional spy with you. The two of you will locate them, confirm their identities, and follow from a distance. Do not approach. Do not engage. I want continuous observation — where they go, what they do, and whether they display any unusual strength or equipment. Report only when you have something solid."
"Yes, Princess."
"Leave."
The spy rose, bowed deeply, and quickly exited the chamber.
Once the door closed, Seraphina turned back toward the window. Morning light continued to pour into the room, but her expression remained cold.
"A silver wolf and a man who closed a Hell-difficulty dungeon on his first day…" she murmured. "If it truly is them, then even a single night's delay may already be costly."
Outside, the morning wind moved across the capital, carrying with it the quiet tension of unfinished business.
Inside the Hollowroot Domain, the first real monsters of the dungeon stirred in the mist.