Whoosh! A strong breeze swiftly erupted from in between the grand doors of the dungeon entrance. As the two doors steadily parted the room violently shook, causing the thousands of years of built-up dust and debris to plummet from the ceiling. 

“Why is there so much god damn fucking dust!” a man decked out in light leather armour foolishly complained.

The two men standing next to the man who just spoke facepalmed themselves at the sheer stupidity of his words, “I don’t know, maybe it’s because this tomb is thousands of years old.” the man standing on the left sarcastically explained.

“You really are a dumbass Gary, you never fail to amaze me.” the one on the right commented.

The intense rumbling continued for several minutes until the two doors completely opened, presenting the interior of what was supposed to be an ancient tomb.

“Holy mother of god.” the women who led the party gasped.

The tomb meant to be thousands of years old was lustrously sparkling as if not a single day had passed since its creation. Dazzling pillars of polished marble stretched from the ground to the decorated ceiling. Accompanying the pillars were vibrantly red banners embroidered with golden patterns and the crest of an unknown family.

Gary avariciously drooled, We hit the jackpot this time.

The group cautiously entered the tomb whilst in a tactical formation. Their hearts pounded and beads of sweat rolled down their faces as they carefully made their way down the hall. This tomb was way too suspicious for a squad of small-fry like them. Yet blinded by their insatiable greed, they continued. 

“Halt.” The man designated as thief raised his arm signalling the group to come to a standstill. 

Gary, who was in the middle of the formation nervously peered over, “What is it?” 

“It is a motion sensor trap...a high-quality one at that.” the man giddily explained as his hands skillfully moved. “These things go for high prices in the market.” 

Clink! The trap was fully disarmed in a matter of seconds and then gently extracted. The thief then put his arm down and gestured to the group to continue moving forward. 

“Everyone be careful, I have a bad feeling about this place.” the leader warned. 

They nodded in affirmation as the leader was never wrong when it came to her intuition—so they took her words seriously. The group then finally reached the end of the hallway and discovered an intersection which branched into three other halls. 

“What do we do?” the man designated as mage asked.

The leader turned around in response and smirked, “We play a game of eeny meeny miny moe.”

After a quick game of eeny meeny miny moe, they decided to take the path on the left side. 

“I know it’s not my place to say this, but why aren’t there any monsters?” the man in plated armour inquired. “Places with a mana density as high as this generally have monsters at least level eight lurking around.” 

Gary retorted, “Just forget about that, a place as grand as this is bound to make us richer than any kingdom on the continent.”. 

As soon as they mentioned the lack of monsters a bone-chilling aura suddenly erupted from further down the hallway. Their heart rates immediately jumped and they unconsciously quivered—a few of them even went weak in the knees.

“This bloodlust...” the leader unconsciously stepped back. “We need to get the hell out of here.” 

Tap tap tap! The group immediately began sprinting for their lives. They knew that if this monster caught up to them, it would spell their doom. At the same time, the monster broke out into a charge almost three times faster than their sprinting speed. As it closed in on them, the bloodlust it emitted became greater and greater.

With his heart pounding like a hammer, the thief complained, I didn’t sign up for this.

“WE ARE NEARLY AT THE INTERSECTION HURRY UP!” the leader yelled.

The group reached the intersection in a matter of minutes only for their hopes to be thoroughly shattered. The hall which they came from a few minutes prior had entirely disappeared as if it was just a figment of their imagination.

“SCREW IT JUST TAKE A LEFT TURN!” The leader frantically ordered. 

“GGGGGRRRRROOOOOWWWWRRRRR!!!” the monster let out an ear splitting roar.

Gary reflexively covered his ears and glanced behind himself only to spot a pitch-black feline type beast the size of a bus approaching him. With horns protruding next to its ears, razor-sharp claws, and the bloody eyes of a demon, it pounced upon him.

His life flashed before his eyes, God I’m sorry for being greedy all the time please forgive me. 

The monster then swiftly grabbed him, “SOMEONE HELP ME!” he shrieked with tears overflowing from his eyes.

No matter how hard he resisted, in the face of overwhelming power, he just was a bug next to a giant. Crunch! Instead of tearing off his limbs, the monster decided to slowly grind them down while they were still attached—turning them into an indistinguishable pulp. First, it was his left leg, next—it was his right leg, then it was his left arm and finally his right arm. 

His comrades stared in horror as his limbs were systemically crushed. Gary nightmarishly screamed throughout the whole process before the monster finally put an end to his misery by crushing his skull. His body slightly twitched before going completely limp. All that remained was his torso squirting blood—everything else was either pulp or bone fragments.

“G-G-Gary is dead…” the thief wailed.

The leader who was also violently trembling nudged the thief and yelled, “WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” 

The group had no clue as to where this hall would lead them to, but anywhere was better than where they currently were. They desperately sprinted down the hall wishing that the monster would forget them, but much to their dismay, the monster continued its pursuit faster than before.

“CAST A BARRIER QUICK!” the leader ordered. 

The mana within the mage began to flow like raging waves as he poured it all into a last-ditch barrier spell. It hastily formed a transparent yellow shield right as the monster pounced to grab another member of the group. However, the monster effortlessly shattered the low-level barrier meant to stop it and cleanly sliced the legs off the fleeing mage. 

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” he tumbled onto the cold floor while shrieking. 

Blood squirted out in sync with his pulse quickly forming a large pool where his two legs once were. The mage held his two severed legs and stared into the crimson eyes of the monster with a petrified expression.

“No...no...NOOO GET AWAY FRO-” his cry was cut short by the swipe of a claw which sliced off his head.

The group kept running as his head plopped to the ground and rolled away. They refused to look back as they knew it would only hinder their escape.

“GET TO THE ROOM!” one of them yelled as he pointed at a set of open doors. 

They hurried in a frenzy hoping they could make it through the door before they lost another. The group simultaneously dived through the doors and narrowly escaped the claws of the monster. A series of thud’s echoed throughout the pitch-black room the moment they landed. 

Without even giving them a second to catch their breath, the doors suddenly slammed shut obscuring the little amount of light they had. They braced for the doors to be barged through by the monster—however, contrary to their expectations, nothing happened. 

“Huff...Huff did we lose anyone else?” the leader wheezed.

Her question was followed by bitter silence. An ominous sense of foreboding suddenly pricked her conscience. 

“Hello? Is anyone there?” she yelled while flailing her arms around in hope that they would touch a comrade.

Left alone in the dark with nothing but her voice caused her heart to sink. She desperately called out for her comrades and held onto a glimmer of hope that they were still alive. Her face paled and limbs grew weak as her efforts yielded no results. I don't want to die, she collapsed onto the cold-hard floor.

The tiny bit of hope she clung to extinguished like the flame of a candle. I might as well die now before something else gets me, she thought, unsheathing her knife and putting it against her throat. The blade intensely shook in her hands as she contemplated whether to go through with it or not. 

Just as she was about to reach a conclusion, a familiar voice interrupted, “Hello is anyone there?” 

She shot up from the ground and ran towards the voice, “I’M OVER HERE!” she yelled in relief.

“Hurry quickly I’m stuck in these bloody chains.” the voice sourly complained.

Arriving in several seconds the chained man cast a low-level illumination spell revealing his tattered body. She involuntarily stepped back the moment she saw the state he was in.

“Quickly!” he urged.

She moved swiftly and began individually unlocking the mechanism which tied her comrade down. How did he become like this in just a few minutes, she wondered.

A large smile formed on the ensnared man as a series of clicks gradually slackened the chains. “Nearly done.” she nodded. 

A final loud click reverberated freeing the chained main. “Thank you.” he lifted himself up.

“Alright, let’s get out-” her voice was unexpectedly interrupted. 

“Thank you for being such a fool. You were so out of mind you couldn’t even recognize a weak transformation spell.” her face instantly darkened. 

The man’s appearance immediately began to transform. His face transfigured and formed into a handsome and imposing one. His blonde hair faded to pitch black and his skin paled. The pleasant brown which filled his irises dyed crimson red and his two pupils formed vertical crescents. The short stature he once had grew to an imposing height and top it off, two dark horns grew out of his forehead. His transformation was complete.“Whe-whe-where is the real Frank?” she stuttered, crumbling to the floor.

 “Oh him? He was pretty nutritious.” a large devilish grin formed on his face, “As for the rest, they just weakened the already weakened seal to the point where you could just undo it with your hands.”

“I wonder how long I was sealed down here? Hundreds? No, thousands of years?” he put his hand to his chin. “Ahh who cares! I’m finally free!” he rejoiced. 

“J-JUST WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?” she screamed and shuffled backwards. “A d-demon?” 

His eyes sharpened with murderous intent, “Don’t compare an Alvine like myself to an inferior race like demons.”

Her pupils visibly trembled. This can’t be possible, they were sealed 2000 years ago.

He crouched forward and grabbed her by the chin, “Anyway, since you helped me out let me reward you.” he stated in a pitying voice.

Her pupils constricted and she froze in place. “Yelhven vist Alvine.” he muttered.

Malevolent mana flowed through her body destroying her cells and reconstructing them. “AHHHHHHH” she shrieked as she was ripped apart from the inside.

Her excruciating screams went on for hours until the transformation was finally complete. Soaked in black liquid, she stood up in her new form and kneeled before the man.

“Welcome to the Alvine race.” he sinisterly congratulated and peered into her crescent shaped pupils. “The time has come for our return.”