“An underground pyramid…”

  Romeo spoke at last, his voice carrying the careful weight of someone measuring the idea in his mind.

  Ace turned to him immediately.

  

  “You not okay with that?”

  Romeo’s expression snapped into offended disbelief—like he’d just been accused of something absurd.

  

  “What are you talking about? A pyramid is exactly the kind of place I’d be thrilled about. A cradle of ancient culture. A symbol of civilization. A masterpiece of beauty that everyone longs to behold.”

  He straightened his posture, chest out, as if he were delivering a grand lecture behind a microphone—despite the fact that they were standing in the middle of a forest, right in front of a massive tree with a door embedded in its trunk.

  

  “And we’ll get to be known as the ones who discovered it,”

  he continued, his tone swelling with pride.

  

  “You all know this… there’s only one pyramid in the entire world. The dwarves found it over two hundred years ago.”

  As he spoke, his hands moved as though he were conducting an invisible slideshow—projecting images only he could see.

  

  “Even though they turned it into a tourist site,”

  Romeo went on, shaking his head in genuine disapproval,

  

  “it’s always packed. Absolutely suffocating.”

  His eyes narrowed with the seriousness of someone recalling a personal tragedy.

  

  “I went once when I was a child,”

  he said,

  

  “and I wasn’t exactly impressed by the crowd.”

  He paused—just long enough—then the corner of his mouth lifted into the confident smirk of someone already picturing himself in an impeccable outfit, strolling with effortless elegance.

  

  “But this time,”

  he declared,

  

  “I’ll be walking through a pyramid like a VIP.”

  Romeo finished with absolute certainty.

  

  “So what’s there not to be okay about?”

  

  “Then why the hell did you take so long?”

  Sight cut in. His voice had that hungover edge—half grouchy, half desperate to wrap this up already. “Was there a monster in there? Or was it too complicated?”

  Earp answered instantly, wasting not a single word.

  

  “As for monsters, I dealt with what was necessary. But this dungeon… seems able to produce monsters very quickly. That part isn’t the real problem.”

  When he paused to take a breath, everyone looked like they were ready to finally exhale in relief—

  But no.

  

  “Because the problem is… this dungeon is alive,”

  Earp said.

  Valda’s brows knit together slightly. When she spoke, it was in the calm, matter-of-fact tone of an older sister who’d already read the manual cover to cover.

  

  “Dungeons are basically living things in the first place, aren’t they? They form an internal ecosystem to generate monsters, then they absorb monsters—or other living beings as energy.”

  Earp nodded as if he agreed. But the answer that followed made the air freeze for half a second.

  

  “Yes… but when I say it’s alive, I mean it can move.”

  

  “Hold on.”

  Romeo raised a hand like a student asking permission to speak in class.

  

  “Move… as in… it’s a walking pyramid?”

  

  “No,”

  Earp replied flatly.

  

  “It’s constantly shifting its internal structure.”

  Ace narrowed his eyes, staring at the miniature terrain-map Earp had built earlier.

  

  “So you took longer because you had to adjust to the changing layout.”

  

  “No,”

  Earp said again—just as fast.

  

  “It took a long time because I was trying to study the movement patterns and mechanisms inside… so that when you all go in, you’ll be able to walk through more smoothly. That’s why it took so long.”

  The moment he finished speaking, the model map in front of them… twitched.

  Just slightly—so slightly that if you weren’t paying attention, you could’ve blamed it on tired eyes.

  But right now, no one dared to tell themselves they were imagining things.

  

  “Is there anything we need to be especially careful about…?”

  Mary finally spoke. Her voice was gentle, but her eyes looked like she was bracing herself—trying to make peace with whatever answer was coming.

  Earp answered the same way as always: polite, even, direct.

  

  “Not particularly. But monsters… you’ll definitely run into some. Like I said, this dungeon produces monsters very quickly.”

  

  “Then what kind of monsters are we talking about?”

  Mary pressed on, sounding like she wanted the answer so she could prepare… or decide how fast she needed to run.

  

  “Mostly…”

  Earp paused for the tiniest beat.

  

  “Undead.”

  The moment the word left Earp’s mouth, the color drained from Mary’s face like someone had sucked half of it away.

  

  “U-undead…?”

  She murmured, so softly it felt like merely saying the word made the air turn colder.

  Sight—who’d been acting like he was just asking questions to shake off a hangover—added another one anyway.

  

  “Did you see a boss?”

  

  “There’s probably a boss,”

  Earp answered immediately.

  

  “I don’t know what it is yet, because I wasn’t focusing on that. But it’s likely undead as well.”

  Mary looked like she wanted to say something, but her throat seemed to lock up on her.

  

  “Heh… heh… heh.”

  Lily laughed in three perfect beats—the kind of laugh that meant she was flipping on her cool mode inside her own head.

  

  “Undead, huh…? I’m gonna blow them to dust!”

  And the instant she finished, she launched herself into the dungeon—so fast no one had the right to interrupt her chuunibyou fantasy for even a single second.

  

  “Hey wait! Hold on!”

  Ace shouted after her, but he couldn’t grab her in time. All he could do was whirl around and wave at the others.

  

  “Then you guys move it! Let’s go tour this pyramid!”

  The six of them sprinted after Lily, pounding down the stone stairs in a rush.

  They spilled into a vast, awe-inspiring hall—thick stone walls rising around them, ancient carvings faded by time. It looked like someone had once carved every line with devotion… and the world had eventually decided it didn’t care.

  Sight didn’t waste words. He walked straight up and pressed his face against the wall.

  

  “Judging by the smell… this thing’s about three… maybe four thousand years old.”

  Everyone turned to look at him at once… and chose not to ask follow-up questions.

  Because nobody was sure what kind of answer they’d get.

  Lily stood in the middle of the hall—no chanting, no dramatic laughter, no charging ahead.

  Ace frowned.

  

  “Why’d you stop here? Aren’t you going on?”

  

  “Well…”

  Lily’s voice went small—like someone who’d just realized the world wasn’t obligated to follow the script in her head.

  

  “There’s no way forward. It’s just a big room. I don’t see any doors or passages anywhere.”

  Ace looked around, and had to admit—painfully—that she was right.

  The hall was wide open… but there were no doors. No entrances. No corridors leading onward.

  It was as if the pyramid had deliberately let you reach this point just so you could feel proud of yourself—

  and then slapped you in the face with reality.

  

  “This way.”

  Earp’s voice came from a corner of the chamber that looked like it had nothing there at all. He was pointing down at the floor—at a spot where a hidden mechanism seemed to be tucked away like a secret.

  

  “This isn’t Floor 1 yet,”

  he said evenly.

  

  “It’s like… the very top of the pyramid is just an entrance hall.”

  Everyone followed him. And as they passed the point he indicated, it was still another wide hall—just like before.

  But this time, no daylight seeped in from outside.

  Only torchlight remained, hanging along the walls—bright enough to reveal their surroundings…

  …and bright enough to reveal something else, too.

  Something that was moving.

  A human-like shape staggered forward, hunched and twisted, as if its body had forgotten how joints were supposed to work. Old, dirty white cloth was wrapped around it, frayed and torn in places—exposing dark, dried flesh underneath. Hollow eye sockets stared out from a face with no eyes at all.

  Mummy.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  A mid-tier undead—something you didn’t often see in ordinary dungeons. “Mid-tier” was a polite label; in reality, you’d need at least a Rank B party to deal with one safely.

  

  “Starting with mummies, huh…”

  Ace couldn’t help blurting it out.

  

  “And there are a lot of them,”

  Sight added. The moment he finished, he shoved his flask back into his bag—like the part of his brain that still functioned had finally realized this wasn’t a job that should include alcohol.

  Countless mummies began to spread out, slowly forming a tightening ring around them.

  Mary immediately retreated behind Romeo—so close it looked like she was trying to fuse into his armor.

  

  “This is what I meant,”

  Earp said in that same flat tone—like he was reporting the weather.

  Valda swept her eyes over the undead horde, wearing the look of someone who’d encountered plenty of headaches in her life.

  

  “Undead don’t really stay dead,”

  she said.

  

  “Not unless you use holy element attacks.”

  She turned and ordered Ace at once.

  

  “Ace, switch the element on your sword. Set it to holy. Clear us a path so we can move forward.”

  

  “Sure,”

  Ace replied quickly… then froze for half a second.

  

  “…Wait. Where do I switch it?”

  Valda let out a sigh—the kind an older sister gives when she loves her little brother, but loves her giant hammer more.

  

  “Twist the dial on the blade, right at the crossguard. It has all seven elemental magic stones. I already built it for you. You can switch depending on the situation.”

  The instant she finished, a heavy silence dropped over them.

  Ace’s face slowly shifted into the expression of a man remembering something—really remembering something.

  The new sword Valda had forged for him…

  He’d forgotten to bring it.

  Because when he left his room, he’d grabbed a plain Bastard Sword instead—

  since it happened to be lying right in front of his bedroom door.

  

  “Um… Valda?”

  Ace instantly switched from party leader mode to good-boy mode. His voice turned polite and gentle so fast it was like he’d become a completely different person.

  

  “So, uh… I forgot to bring the sword you forged for me.”

  Valda went silent for a single heartbeat.

  Then her eyes slowly shifted into the version of “kind big-sister Valda” that no one ever wanted to meet.

  

  “…What did you just say?”

  Her voice was so soft.

  Soft in the way that made it terrifying.

  

  “When you asked me to forge it, I put my heart into it,”

  she continued, still smiling.

  

  “And you… forgot it?”

  The moment she finished, Valda lunged at Ace. Her hammer rose high—then slammed into the ground with full force!

  THUUUUM!

  Ace barely dodged in time, by a hair. But the shockwave from the hammer sent the surrounding mummies flying in a straight line—clearing a long, perfect path forward to the next door, like someone had staged it on purpose.

  Earp spotted the opening and immediately pointed.

  

  “Everyone go now!”

  But Ace didn’t need to be told. He was already sprinting—sprinting like a man who had just remembered that his life mattered. Valda followed silently, right on his heels—yet the invisible radius of her hammer roared behind him. The others rushed after them, just as fast.

  Beyond the door was a maze of stone staircases—one glance was enough to tell the designer had to be a sadist. Branching paths everywhere, hundreds of steps leading to countless floors and doors.

  And most importantly—

  It was moving constantly.

  One staircase would hold still, while another slid out of place.

  Sight whipped his head left and right.

  

  “So… how do we even go from here?”

  Earp stood there like someone who had already finished reading the blueprint.

  

  “Do you want to go fast,”

  he asked calmly,

  

  “or do you want to go slow?”

  

  “Fast!”

  Mary answered immediately.

  

  “Why would we go slow?!”

  Sight nodded, then turned to Ace.

  

  “What do you say, Ace…”

  And then he saw it.

  Ace was completely done for—collapsed on the ground, no questions needed about what had happened.

  Valda stood nearby, perfectly calm.

  A little too calm. The kind of calm that felt unnatural.

  Sight looked at the scene and made a lightning-fast decision.

  

  “Yeah… okay. We’re going with Mary. Fastest route. No debate.”

  

  “Understood,”

  Earp replied.

  

  “Then…”

  And he proceeded to demonstrate exactly what fast meant to him.

  He jumped straight into the middle of a gap—where there were no stairs at all.

  Looking down, he couldn’t even see a floor.

  It was like he’d leapt into a black hole that had a sign on it that said: Please, go ahead.

  Valda didn’t waste a second. She grabbed Ace by the body and tossed him in first, then jumped after him without the slightest hesitation.

  Sight and Lily followed right away—diving in after them like this was just another fun recreational activity for a Rank S party.

  That left Mary.

  She stood there pale as paper, trembling like the entire country’s winter wind had blasted her at once. Only now did it hit her that “fast” didn’t mean running—

  It meant jumping into a pitch-black void with no idea what was waiting below.

  Romeo stepped beside her and spoke in that smooth, refined tone he always had.

  

  “Let’s go, Mary.”

  

  “Nooooo! I’m not jumping!”

  She shook her head so hard it looked like her hair might fly off.

  Romeo let out a soft sigh—the sigh of a man who valued cleanliness, yet kept getting assigned chaos.

  

  “You’re the one who chose this route.”

  

  “Nooooooooooooooo!”

  And before the wailing could stretch any further, Romeo caught her and threw her down—as politely as any human being could possibly throw another person. Then he jumped in after her as well.

  Mary’s scream dragged on through the entire fall without a single break for air. She had no idea what was down there—only that it was dark… deep… and probably not a place humans were meant to casually drop into for fun.

  Unlike everyone else, who had jumped in after Earp with completely blank faces, as if this were a shortcut they used every day on the way home.

  But then…

  The falling bodies began to slow.

  As if some invisible resistance was holding them up. The deeper they dropped, the more it felt like they were being gently cradled—until, at last, everyone came to a stop in midair.

  No ground. Nothing to stand on.

  Yet they weren’t falling anymore—like the world had temporarily canceled gravity for the dungeon’s entertainment.

  Earp and the others were already by a wall, on a narrow walkway that still had something solid to step on. Earp tossed a rope out to Romeo and Mary, pulling them in the way you’d haul someone back from drowning.

  The moment Mary grabbed the rope, it looked like she was hugging her life with both arms. Romeo pulled her in with her, and together they made it onto the walkway.

  Once everyone was safely on their feet again, Earp explained in his calm, steady voice—like he was describing the most normal thing in the world.

  

  “Below, near the mechanism core, there’s a gravity resistance seal. The closer you get, the slower your body falls until you end up floating like that. I don’t know who built it, but the amount of magic in it is enormous.”

  He paused briefly—like he was giving everyone a moment to process—then continued.

  

  “We fell from Floor 1… and we’re on Floor 98 now. This pyramid has ninety-nine floors in total.”

  Mary—who had only just managed to stop screaming for half a breath—made the kind of face that said she wanted to start screaming again…

  But her throat had clearly exceeded its daily quota.

  Earp led the way onward, walking at a steady pace as if he were announcing the rules of a game.

  

  “From here on, there are no more shortcuts,”

  he said.

  

  “There will be a lot more monsters. We’ll have to clear them together first. This floor… it seems the mechanism will only open when the time comes.”

  Sight scowled—the exact expression of someone who thought he was speedrunning, only to discover the game had unskippable cutscenes.

  

  “So even if we wipe everything out,”

  he grumbled,

  

  “we still have to wait for the timer anyway?”

  

  “Yes,”

  Earp replied, short and clean.

  

  “But since this is Floor 98,”

  he continued,

  

  “the area is much wider than the first floor. Either way, please help tighten the perimeter.”

  The moment the phrase tighten the perimeter left his mouth, it was like someone flipped Lily’s cool mode switch.

  She released her spell seal and shouted the name of her magic in a voice clearly meant to echo through the entire pyramid.

  

  “Sign Spectrum!”

  Light detonated across the floor in an instant.

  The hall—so vast it stretched beyond sight—was exposed completely. And what stood in that flood of brightness made the idea of tightening the perimeter sound unintentionally hilarious.

  In front of them weren’t just two or three monsters.

  It was an army—high-tier monsters filling the entire space.

  Ancient Mummies. Sand Golems. Deathsting Scorpions. Sand Serpents. Anubis.

  And countless other shadows shifting in the distance—so many that it was impossible to tell how many there truly were.

  Even a Rank A adventurer wouldn’t be able to handle something like this easily. But this wasn’t a small wave.

  This was a vast, overwhelming number—as if the pyramid itself were deliberately saying:

  This place wasn’t built for sightseeing.

  It was built to make sure no one ever walked out alive.

  Mary stared at the scene ahead—an endless hall, a living sea of high-tier monsters packed like a breathing desert.

  She hated it.

  Hated it so much she almost wanted to turn around and go back to crying.

  But the situation offered her no such luxury.

  She drew a deep breath, gathered herself, and immediately raised her hands to begin a strengthening spell for her friends. Her chant poured out—rapid and long, firm with conviction—like someone who was usually gentle and composed, but could flip into absolute seriousness in a heartbeat when it mattered.

  

  “O Eternal Lord, steadfast upon the heavenly throne…

  The Everlasting One Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of all souls across every realm of the universe.

  Now I, Your devoted servant, bow my hands in supplication and plead for Your mercy.

  Grant Your sacred blessing to these brave warriors my companions who share life and death beside me upon this battlefield.

  Let but a fragment of Your merciful gaze fall upon me.

  Let but a speck of Your boundless grace be bestowed grace so infinite that no power of mine, however mighty, could ever begin to describe it when set beside Yours.

  Guide them beyond the peril of the wicked and the unholy.

  Open the path toward dawn and the radiance of true light, in accordance with the holy doctrine You have once bestowed…”

  She paused for the briefest beat—then spoke the spell’s name, clear and unmistakable.

  

  “Grace of the Infinite One.”

  This was the highest-tier buff spell—a blessing that boosted every aspect of a party member’s abilities to an overwhelming degree.

  Normally, it was a spell that required twelve high priests chanting for three days and three nights to empower an army. It was reserved for major wars, because its cost was brutal. And in most cases, the casters would lose nearly all of their divine power, needing as long as seven days to recover.

  But Mary…

  She could cast it alone—without the drawn-out ritual.

  And her power returned immediately the moment she finished, as if every rule in existence had made a special exception for her, and her alone.

  The instant the spell completed, every member of the party was coated in a golden aura from head to toe—bright and unmistakable, like someone truly was watching from above.

  As if this battle… had drawn the eyes of heaven itself.

  Earp silently returned his short knife to its sheath, then drew a wakizashi in its place. The short blade caught the torchlight, flashing as a razor-thin line. He steadied his breathing—like he was switching his entire body into work mode in a single instant.

  Valda lifted her hammer and, in the blink of an eye, activated a skill that increased both its size and weight. The mass of iron swelled until its shadow swallowed the sand beneath them—an instrument that looked less like a weapon for battle and more like something forged to break.

  Romeo stepped forward into the front line, activating Reflection and God Armor at the same time. Holy light layered over the party’s golden aura, condensing until it looked almost solid. Then he invoked another skill—calling forth a long spear and a massive shield. They formed in his hands with unwavering stability. Shield raised, stance set—his role as the vanguard was declared without him needing to say a single word.

  Sight closed his eyes for a brief moment, then triggered God Eyes and Sonar Range immediately. Something in his gaze changed—like he was reading the entire battlefield at once. Not seeing with sight alone, but tracking positions and measuring distances—every movement in darkness and in light.

  Lily released the seals on her seven elemental stones. Seven magic cores—seven colors—appeared and hovered around her in a perfect ring. Mana thickened the air around her, pressing down like the calm center of a storm that hadn’t erupted yet.

  Ace drew a deep breath and activated Lion Heart, stacking it on top of Mary’s buff and pushing his physical performance even higher. His muscles tightened; his posture became steadier in an instant.

  In that moment, all seven members of the Rank S party stood in their roles—each in the position that fit them best, crystal clear.

  And now…

  They were ready to fight.