Elisse stepped carefully over a puddle, her boots making a slight squish noise. "You know… I thought this was a D-rank dungeon."
"It is," Tobias replied. "The meter confirmed it. Low energy signature, no magical distortions, safe for a moderately experienced party."
He paused, then deadpanned. "Clearly the meter's drunk."
They walked a little further, stepping cautiously around the puddles.
The silence grew heavier, the only sounds being their footsteps and the occasional unsettling drip of water from the ceiling.
Then the ground rumbled.
Not a little tremble.
No, this was the kind of rumble that made your soul question its life choices.
Zayn stumbled back instinctively, hands glowing with golden soul energy.
"Back!" Tobias barked.
The puddles vanished.
Just — poof — gone. One moment they were there, the next, it was just dry stone.
And then—
CRACK-BOOM-SHHHHHHRK
The floor exploded.
Not literally, but it felt like it.
