“Clear!” Mike shouted as soon as he finished slaying the last undead troll in the large hall.

“Clear…”

“Clear…”

Many shouts from the clearing team repeated as they rearranged themself in formation.

“All clear!” Primous declared as Ann, Theodore and the rest of the team began to look around.

“Secure the doors, check the hall for traps, collect the gems, and rest a bit!” Theodore quickly gave commands to the guards who hurried to do their duties under the pale blue light that the algae in the stone walls emitted.

“Just how long should we keep descending?” Octavia asked as she put her bag down and sat on it to rest she looked at the exit door she was 99% sure there was a stair behind like all the ones she had crossed before. This was already the 50th floor! They were practically deep under the volcano mountain.

“Stop fucking whining!” Ann scolded as she hurried to inspect the murals on the walls and began to draw something in her notebook with quick and precise sketches. This was something every elite dungeon explorer knew must be done. Most of the time these drawings and figures on the dungeon’s wall contained a lot of useful information.

“I am just worried about my kids!” Octavia said in a low voice, glancing at Theodore with envy. Her brother was their mother’s spoiled kid. She never scolded him.

“I am worried about my kids too!” Theodore replied in a genuinely worried tone. “But they are already adults, they should manage to survive on their own!” he added.

“It is just that this place is too treacherous… I have never been in a dungeon like this!” Octavia said. “What with all these drawings of demons on the walls? Weren’t demonic signs in dungeons bad luck?”

“They are…” Ann said absent-mindedly as she began deciphering the symbols on the walls. She was the only one who understood ancient pictographs to some extent thanks to an encounter with a devilishly handsome man who taught her the basics. “These ones are not about demonic worshiping though, quite the opposite… It seems like they were fighting some demon and the walls contain the records of their victory. The demons seemed to have come from a hole in the sky and the people fought them and won after some great flame appeared in the sky turning them into deities…” She said, wondering about the pictogram on the men’s heads. She was not sure if that was what it meant. Could it mean players? No, the symbol of a player was something else.

“Then what turned them into zombies…” Octavia asked.

“No idea… We have to go to the next floor to continue the story,” Ann said. “But there was something very dangerous locked inside here, as the doors are locked from the outside, and not from the inside! We better be careful!”

“... Ah mother…. There is a boss here… Of course, it is dangerous!” Octavia said, making a point.

“Idiot! No wonder you married that low man with your superficial thoughts!” Primous smeared.

“What do you mean? What does my husband have to do with this?” Octavia flared. Primous always liked to poke at her and her husband! “He never liked him!”

“Stop arguing! And Primous is right… The most dangerous thing in dungeons like this is not always the boss… Dark and evil things might be sealed somewhere!” Ann explained. “Didn’t Victor encounter something like this a while back?” she asked Theodore.

“Yes, the players' academy in Vein City found a low-ranking dungeon for the students for their first experience, but some idiot seemed to have triggered a mechanism and released a high-ranking demon inside!” Theodore explained to Octavia. “It changed the dungeons' ranking immediately!”

“Oh… Your son survived?” Octavia asked. She was not really privy to Theodore's family matters. After she left the family, she became an outsider.

“Yes!” Theodore nodded. “He is very gifted!”

“Seriously, don't believe him!” Patrick who finished collecting the gems interjected. “That guy just stayed in the back and let the girls fight for him! If it were not for that lass Zoe finding that holy weapon and defeating the demon they would have all died!”

“...” Theodore just glared at Partick. He couldn’t argue with that. He read the secret reports… The ones the public had no access to.

“Escaping danger when many died is also a gift though!” Ann said, supporting Victor and making everyone a little shocked as she confirmed their guess. Victor was really grandma's boy!

“Exactly!” Theodore nodded, making everyone sigh as they carried on with their tasks.

“Have you rested enough?” Ann said as she stood up after making sure she had inspected the entire mural.

“Yes!” Everyone nodded.

“Let’s go to the next floor…”

“I understand…” Theodore said as he slowly walked toward the door, planning to inspect it for traps, but suddenly.

BANG… BANG…

Someone began banging on the door from the other side, making Theodore jump back in alert.

Everyone paused what they were doing and prepared their weapons.

Bang

Bang.. Bang…. The hits were getting harder and harder… It was like how a cheating man would bang on a locked door, wanting to escape before his wife got the shotgun.

Ann gestured to one of the men to take a look…

He sighed, silently cursing why it had to be him, as he slowly approached the door, removing the metallic bar that closed it. Then he jumped back as he pulled at it.

The door slowly opened and from behind a slime monster ran inside in a hurry then, giving everyone a fantastic look, it turned around, shut the door, and barred it again before turning around again.

"What the hell is that...." some exclaimed.

“MOM!” the slime yelled and began to cry as he ran toward them. What was this? Some kind of a mimic?

Everyone prepared for battle.

“Stop!” Ann said realizing something as Octavia ran to the slime and began cleaning him up… it was her son. Zed!

What the hell happened to him?

BANG
BANG

Before anyone could ask a question, the door started to be banged again. This time it was clear that it was not a human, as the entire metallic door frame shook, and from behind they could hear the howling of some kind of a monster.

“IT IS AN UNDEAD CYCLOPS! DON’T LET IT COME!” Zed howled in his mother’s embrace.

“Let me handle it!” Mike said, shooting Zed a disgusted glare as he slowly walked toward the door, standing right before it without opening it.

He raised his hand and touched the door while closing his eyes as the door was assaulted from behind.

Slowly he became familiar with the pattern that the Cyclops used.

Waiting until right when the next attack was about to come, Mike took a breath, then punished the door using his Void punch skill at precisely the same moment the cyclops attacked from the back.

BAM!

The door shook… No, it was as if the space itself shook!

Then everything went silent!

The Cyclops was clearly dead.

…

 

“Lady Iris, What do you think?” George asked as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her. She was sitting at her father’s desk flipping through a pile of files.

“Other than him being mean to his siblings, there is nothing… Still, his reaction back then was just too sus…” Iris replied as she flipped through the files. They contained Max’s actions for the last few days, especially after he heard about their father’s plan to awaken all his descendants.

“Exactly!” George nodded. , looking fondly at Iris. Of all of Theodore's awakened offspring, she was the most suitable one for management roles so naturally, her father left her in charge of the operation here as a test of sorts.

“Did Rex leave the infirmary?” she asked. Her father gave her the mission to keep an eye on him. He already explained what he did to Lara before!

“... Not yet… Lady Lara seemed to have hit him harder than we guessed…” Geroge sighed. Theodore had already told him Lara's power was due to her bloodline upgrade, but it was really surprising to witness it again and again.

"Oh..." Iris paused. “He deserved it for picking a fight with her… She is his damn little sister! I am still not sure if he is really an idiot, or if someone is still controlling him!“ Iris sighed. She only met Rex once before, and she was not sure about his character other than what she read in the files.

From her experience, a person's real character can differ a lot from what people might see on the outside. Victor, for example, might appear as a huge pervert, but as he was the one who saved her before, she knew that he was a good and caring brother! He even helped Lara when no one else noticed!

“From my experience, it could be either!” George sighed. “When he was a kid, Rex was very competitive, and had the tendency of getting his ass handed to him by Lady Alice and Young Master Mike… He might be still holding a grudge…” George shrugged.

“How about Max? What was he like as a kid?” she asked.

“... As toxic as a snake…” George said, keeping his voice down.

“Oh…” Iris didn’t expect that answer. George seemed to really not like Max.

“More than once he tried to frame Lady Alice and young master Mike by making them break the family rules,” George sighed. “The last time he did it, he almost got them! Fortunately, Master Theodore figured out his ploy in time and sent him away to join the ruins exploration team as soon as he finished his awakening ceremony… They say rough environments straighten people up!”

“... He doesn’t seem to be straight enough for me…” Iris said relaxing in her seat. Although Max’s file didn’t contain anything bad, it was just too clean.

Ever since he returned from the expedition team one year ago. Every report about them was how diligent and thorough he was. He never got into a fight and never abused the family’s power. He didn’t even have his own team. Something most of the other heirs had one way or another!

It was like he was acting extra cautious to not break any rules.

“If you feel the same…” George nodded as if reading her mind. “You seem interested in Roy,” he asked, changing the subject.

“Um…He is a good guy!” she nodded. “Ever since I saw him, I felt that I should help him… When I am with him, I really feel we are a family!” she explained. “Does that sound strange?” she asked, frowning a little.

“Not really,” George said. He also likes Roy. He read his file, how he worked hard to earn the money to help his mother send his sisters to school and help his sickly little sister. Such a guy deserved to be respected!

“Hopefully, when Father returns we can move on with the ritual…” she sighed.

“Yes," George sighed.

“How is the situation on the island?” Iris asked in a worried tone, noticing George's reaction.

“Still no news!” he said. “The emergency elder hall had been activated per the protocol and they have already taken control. Still, we will have to wait for another 48 hours for them to make an official announcement.”

“Oh…” she sighed.

“Don’t worry, mistress Ann is way more powerful than anyone knows. And there are hidden guardians on the island! Everything will be fine!” he said, reassuring her.

“I hope so…” she said.

…

 

At the same time, deep in the dungeon…

“How the hell did you get here? Where are the others who were with you?” Ann asked as she inspected the decayed Cyclops' corpse that the guards retrieved from behind the door. It was as if it was made out of solid gold, decaying very hard gold if that made any sense!
Mike’s punch shattered its body from the inside, turning it into a goo that seeped from its orifices, yet its outer skin was still intact, a testament to how sturdy it was.

Zed, who calmed down, had already gulped down two water bottles and was ready to talk!

“Ah… It was all Alice’s fault!” he said, making Mike look at him with very sharp eyes.

“What do you mean?” Theodore asked in an intimidating tone. He didn’t like anyone shifting the blame to his kids.

“Ah… Well, it all started last night…” Zed began to explain. “We found this temple in the forest…”

“Weren’t you stationed on the beach?” Theodore asked.

“Ahh… We finished taking care of the monsters early, Alice and Zoe wanted to go deeper…” Zed explained, pointing out that it was Alice’s idea.

“Oh…” Theodore said as Octavia glared at him. “Continue then, what happened at the temple?”

“Ah yes… It was a strange temple with many murals of strange fox people, but other than that, I didn't notice anything interesting, so we decided to spend the night there as it was safe and Alice wanted to study that place!”

“And?” Ann asked, giving the murals a look and then turning again to face Zed, with a frown.

“Ah… We had a quick meal then went to sleep… “ Zed explained. “I woke up to Alice shouting as the temple shook, then something grabbed me and dragged me into the ground that turned into some kind of a quicksand… The next thing I knew was that I was in this strange dungeon.”

“And that thing started following you after that?” Octavia asked.

“Ah… I explored a little first, calling for Zola and the others… I might have alerted it somehow…” he said. “After I encountered it and broke my sword trying to injure it, I started running.”

“How long have you been escaping from it?” Theodore asked.

“About 9 to 10 hours…”

“You survived that for nine hours?” Everyone looked at Zed with suspicious gazes.

“Ah! I wasn’t running all the time, it seemed to like eating everything in its way, so any other monsters that appeared served as a distraction as I ran away and hid, but it always found me again!” he clarified!

“I see…” Ann said.

“Maybe we should hurry up!” Theodore suggested in a worried tone.

“...” Ann hesitated. “Fine! Since this cyclops had probably already cleared most of the way, we can hasten our descent a bit… But never let your guard down…” she added, giving Zed a glance, before looking at the murals again. Just to make sure...

This entire place seemed to be made as a prison to trap something. The Dragon boss clearly.

The temple that Zed encountered might have been an offerings site. Giving offerings was one of the best ways to empower a seal… It could also be something else…

No matter what, she needed to go down to check on Zoe and Alice… Hopefully, they were fine. Those girls were the future of the family!