“Note to self: modify hole so you can lie down in it,” Hazel groaned, cracking her back after pulling herself out of her makeshift spider hole shelter.

Although she could sleep in her shelter, it was not doing any favors for her spine. As soon as she woke up, it started aching like crazy, to the point where Hazel could hardly move for a few minutes, leaving her in an awkward and uncomfortable position.

It wasn’t the type of thing she wanted to experience every time she woke up in the morning…or whatever time it was in this dungeon. Which was another thing she found a bit annoying.

Even when Hazel slept in this dungeon, she didn’t know how much time had passed while unconscious. So, she would usually check the timer and see how long she was unconscious. And according to the panel that displayed her timer, she was asleep for around five hours.

Putting aside her complicated concept of time, Hazel worked out her plan for today; that being hunting. She was really close to reaching level ten and believed that she could likely get to that threshold today if she vigorously hunted today.

Of course, Hazel would need to stay away from large groups like with the Orcs last time. If she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, those monsters would’ve ripped her to shreds. Although she could use magic, she wasn’t invincible. Her fight with the Cyclops proved that.

Since it was just her, she needed to think ahead in a fight. Knowing and planning out the outcomes and results before rushing in like a moron. Then again, she tried to do that with the Orcs but didn’t account for their enhanced sense of smell.

If she had, the situation back then would’ve ended differently. Maybe, her element of surprise plan could’ve worked, but there was no point fretting over it now. All that mattered at the moment was getting to level ten.

Now that Hazel had a shelter, she could hide her belongings and not have to drag them around everywhere she went. That way, she could move a lot more freely without the extra weight inhibiting her.

So, instead of taking her bag, she left it in the hole and covered it up with the moss lid before leaving her campsite. Just in case she got lost, it would be safe for her to place some markers down so it would be easier to find her way back.

Thankfully, she had a dagger from one of the goblins she killed previously to use to mark the tree. She then walked over to one and carved a large X in the bark, thus engraving her first marker.

“Hopefully, the Fractured Monsters won’t figure this out and find my place…or me, in this case.”

Although the monsters in this world were too rabid and instinctual, they likely couldn’t think like they used to before the Fractured phenomenon. Still, that didn’t mean it was entirely impossible, so Hazel figured she needed to be cautious while she roamed through the forest again.

Thus, after setting her first marker, Hazel soon left her campsite, continuing her adventure to obtain some more XP.

…

It was the next day and Astrid along with her group started packing up their belongings, preparing to change locations due to their current spot being so close to an Orc Nest nearby. They still planned on raiding the nest since there was plenty of XP for her group to get, but they weren’t ready for that just yet.

First, they needed to work out a plan on how to handle the nest, which meant further reconnaissance of the nest. How many orcs were there, what were their levels, and much more. And since they were so close to their hideout, they needed to leave before the Orcs noticed their presence and attacked.

Orcs had a unique sense of smell, allowing them to sniff out both enemy and prey. And once they catch the scent of something, they will go after it like a pack of wild dogs. If the dark elves continued to stay in their current campsite, then they were in danger of the Orcs sniffing them out.

While packing up, Astrid looked around the site, trying to locate Dolk. After their conversation regarding his confession about her brother, they haven’t spoken since. And she needed to know if Dolk was willing to stick with her till the end.

He was desperate to keep her from returning home out of fear of Kollr’s declaration. However, he should know that it would take a lot more than that to stop Astrid. Not only that but now that she knew, Kollr lost the element of surprise, which meant no matter what heinous plan he was concocting, she was ready to face it.

And she would like to have Dolk be there with her when that happens, so he could see just how serious she was about facing her brother head-on. She couldn’t back down from this. Not when her Tribe was in danger of being taken over by a psychopath.

As Astrid continued to gather her things, one of her subordinates suddenly approached her, and it wasn’t Dolk.

“Yes, Liva?” She spoke to the other only female Dark elf in their group.

“Captain, there’s…something I need to tell you,” Liva said, looking nervous as she spoke to Astrid.

The captain looked at Liva with concern, not knowing what was wrong. “What is it?”

“It’s…about Dolk.”

Hearing about her right-hand man after their conversation from before, Astrid slowly grew worried. Putting down her belongings, she further questioned her subordinate. “What do you mean? Did he leave us?”

Even though Astrid was the one who suggested for Dolk to leave, a part of her was a little surprised that he might’ve done it. Especially after hearing him out about her brother and his situation.

Liva vigorously shook her head. “N-no, it’s not that! I just saw him a little while ago before coming to you.”

Astrid sighed deeply, feeling relieved that he was still here, though also feeling a bit guilty after making that ultimatum in the first place.

“Then what is it?” She questioned.

“Well…” Liva fidgeted her fingers. “Last night, when everyone was sleeping, I saw him leave the campsite for some reason. I didn’t follow him but waited to see when he would come back. But…”

“But what?”

“He didn’t return for several hours.”

Astrid furrowed her brow intensely. “And why am I only hearing about this now?”

“B-because I didn’t know what he was doing and wasn’t sure if it was anything serious. B-but it’s been on my mind for a while and I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. I’m sorry for now telling you sooner.” Liva bowed her head shamefully.

Astrid patted her on the shoulder gently. “It is fine, Liva. Thank you for telling me, though. I’ll be sure to get to the bottom of this, okay?”

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Liva raised her head, giving the captain a firm nod. “Understood.”

Astrid smiled. “Good. Now, resume your packing. We need to be leaving soon before the Orcs catch wind of us.”

“Yes, captain!”

After saluting the captain, Liva rushed back to her moss bag to continue packing her things for their departure. Meanwhile, Astrid pondered over this new information regarding one of her subordinates.

She tapped her chin rhythmically.

What was Dolk doing last night? Could it have something to do with what they talked about before? But if that were the case, why leave the campsite for a long time?

None of this made sense, and yet she had a strong feeling that this involved her conversation about Kollr and him threatening her. If it wasn’t that, then what other possible reason was there for Dolk to be doing this?

Which meant she needed to have another talk with him. And hopefully, it wasn’t anything serious happening.

Just then…

“Captain!” One of Astrid’s other subordinates called out to her, catching her attention immediately.

“What is it?” She said, briefly putting aside her questions for Dolk.

“Dolk is asking to speak with you, captain,” The dark elf stated, pointing behind him. “He’s currently out in the forest that way. He said it was important.”

Astrid cocked an eyebrow, a little surprised by this. She found it a little convenient that Dolk wished to talk to her after hearing what Liva told her previously. It was almost too convenient.

Putting the thought aside for now, she nodded at her subordinate. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll go see him. You continue with your packing.”

“Yes, captain!” The dark elf then left Astrid and returned to his station.

After he left, Astrid glanced in the direction where her subordinate stated where Dolk currently was, and strolled over there, leaving the campsite and her people behind while dealing with this situation.

As she made her way to Dolk, her mind continued to ponder about his actions and behavior. Especially about what Liva stated. Why did he leave the campsite when everyone was asleep, and why was he gone for so long?

It was one thing if he left for maybe thirty to forty minutes, but a couple of hours? What could he possibly be doing during that time? Even more so, why was he gone for so long while still on duty? None of this made any sense.

More importantly, why was Astrid getting such a bad feeling from this? She couldn’t tell why, but after hearing about Dolk’s long absence, there was this knot in her stomach that wasn’t going away, and it continued to get worse and worse as she made her way to him.

Her instincts were usually spot on when it came to her sensing danger, but she couldn’t make sense of Dolk’s action, or why she was feeling so anxious. It also didn’t help that every time she got further away from her campsite, the knot in her gut got even worse.

This feeling…this sense of danger…it almost felt like she was walking into a trap. But why? All she was doing was going to Dolk and talking to him. Or could it be that this talk…was the trap?

Astrid’s body tensed, realizing the possible danger she was about to run into. But was also hit with a wave of confusion. Just why were her instincts warning her of danger involving Dolk? Why would he even plan something that would harm her?

She just couldn’t make sense of her current situation right now. And a part of her was even afraid to.

It didn’t take long until Astrid finally made it to Dolk. Up ahead, she saw him with his back turned to her, but she could tell that he noticed her presence. His head slightly twitched when she got a little closer to him.

“Ah, you’re here, Astrid,” Dolk said, slowly turning around to face her. He softly smiled, looking at the captain.

For some reason, Astrid was a little disturbed by his grin, as if there was some dark motive behind it. Once again, she could feel the knot getting worse and worse, warning her of danger, and yet she couldn’t identify if it was Dolk or something else.

Before speaking, the captain inhaled softly, collecting herself. “Yeah, one of the dark elves said that you wanted to talk to me. So, what is it?”

“Right, that…” For a moment, Dolk’s expression looked grim, as if something was bothering him. Which in turn, also bothered Astrid too. “It’s about what we talked about last night.”

So, this whole thing was because of what happened with their previous conversation. And yet, why did Astrid feel even more anxious than before?

“Dolk, you aren’t trying to convince me to stay here for a month again, are you?” She gave her subordinate a knowing look. “I already told you that I need to face this head-on and nothing will stop me.”

“That’s because you don’t understand, Astrid,” Dolk said anxiously. “You don’t know what Kollr is capable of. What he’s planning.”

“What do you mean?” Astrid urged, getting more curious by the second. “What exactly is Kollr planning?”

Dolk hesitated to answer as if realizing that he said too much and was regretting it. But that only annoyed Astrid since whatever it was concerned her more.

“Dolk, I’m serious,” She said sternly. “If you’re hiding something else from me about Kollr, then you need to tell me. I need to know.”

Dolk shook his head fearfully. “No, you don’t. You don’t need to know anything; you just need to understand that going back home isn’t possible…”

Astrid’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “isn’t possible? What in the world are you talking about?”

It seemed that Dolk was hiding more information than she thought. A lot more, in fact.

“Dolk…”

“You can’t go back home, Astrid,” Dolk stated with a bold tone, catching Astrid off guard. “You just can’t…alright?”

“You’re not making any sense, Dolk. I have to go back home. That’s exactly why I’ve been so active with monster hunting.”

Dolk rubbed his head aggressively, losing more of his composure as the conversation persisted like this.

“Dammit…why can’t you just understand…?!” He snapped, looking more frustrated by the second.

Astrid was getting uncomfortable while watching this unfold. Why was he acting so hostile? What could he possibly know that could cause him to react like this?

“Dolk, why are you acting like this?”

“You don’t need to know…just listen,” he urged, his eyes looking more manic than before. “Going home and saving the Tribe is not on the table anymore; not with what Kollr plans to do, alright?”

“And what is Kollr’s plan? What does he plan to do that has you looking so scared?”

“Just promise me you’ll stay here alright?! And even when we return home, just promise that you stay away from the tribe and away from Kollr!”

Astrid paused, realizing that something was wrong with Dolk. Especially with his mental state. It looked like he was losing his mind over this. But, she knew that she couldn’t listen or even promise him what he asked her to do.

“You know I can’t walk away from this, Dolk. I can’t.”

Astrid had a duty to protect her tribe as both a future Tribal Chief and a member of the Greyvolk Legion. There was no possible way for her to just turn her back on her home and people, even at the request of one of her closest friends.

Hearing her answer, Dolk froze in place, completely dumbfounded by her answer, even though he should’ve known that would be how she would respond. Then he did some rather unsettling.

He laughed. At that moment after Astrid made her decision, Dolk reared his head back and laughed like a madman. It was such a sudden and disturbing sight that Astrid, for the first time since coming to this dungeon, felt afraid. And it was toward one of her people.

“Dolk…” Astrid softly called out to her friend, worried about his mental state.

Dolk sighed after his manic laugh and lowered his head dejectedly. “Ah, I knew you would say something like that. I knew it, and yet I tried to believe you would be different. That you would understand…”

His crazed-like mumbling disturbed Astrid even further, to the point where she took a step back from him, afraid of what he might do.

“You clearly still don’t understand your situation, Astrid…” Dolk raised his head to look at her, only to see that his eyes darkened menacingly. “And that is very problematic.”

Goosebumps marbled across Astrid's skin. Her instincts fired off warnings like crazy in her head. This situation was getting more precarious by the minute. She needed to leave, and fast…

But it was too late.

“And since you obviously won’t listen to reason,” Dolk stated, pulling out a dagger from his belt, immediately alarming Astrid. “You now leave me with no other choice.”

As Dolk raised the dagger, Astrid pulled out her own to defend herself. But instead of throwing it at her, the dark elf rouge hurled it in another direction; a tree.

Following the path of the dagger, the captain witnessed the blade dig into the bark of the tree along with something else. It looked like a vine running down the bark before getting severed by the dagger.

Her ears then picked up the sound of something being fired and her reflexes kicked in, whirling around to face it. With a swift strike, she deflected whatever was launched at her, sending it to the ground next to her feet.

When she looked down to see it, her eyes widened at the sight of the projectile. It was an arrow. Judging from where it was fired, it came from one of the trees.

Did Dolk set this up…

“A-agh?!”

As her mind was preoccupied with this, she didn’t notice a second arrow being launched, piercing through her leg with ease. A sharp pain radiated from the wound as she fell to her knee, grimacing from her injury.

When she looked up, Dolk was standing in front of her, looking down at her with a dark and menacing expression. One that lacked empathy and remorse, and was only filled with malice and cruelty.

It was when she saw this expression that she realized something…

“Remember, Astrid,” Dolk said calmly, his voice laced with venom. “You made me do this.”

This person, this dark elf…was no longer the Dolk Astrid once knew.