“What the hell?! Kaldrik! What are you doing?!” Zayzal roared, shooting a glare at the handsome silver-grey-haired man.

“Tch.” Kaldrik clicked his tongue and walked forward, trying not to step on all the rat corpses. “The better question is, what do you think you’re doing?”

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. The echoing chamber, previously filled with the sounds of frenetic combat, was now dominated by the wary breathing of the adventurers.

“Kaldrik... we just went through hell. Why this? Why now?” Sera’s voice, usually calm, was filled with an edge of disbelief. They had just fought a battle to the death together. Where was the comradery?! The brotherhood?!

‘This bastard!’ She ground her teeth, glaring at him as if her eyes could kill. ‘What a spineless coward! I should’ve known not to trust a lanky mage who only knows how to sit at the back!’

Kaldrik smirked, a confident, almost arrogant expression on his face. “You think I came this far, helped you all, just to watch you take what could potentially be the most valuable item in this dungeon? I don’t think so.”

Zayzal's grip on his weapons tightened, and a feral growl rumbled in his throat. “You’re going to betray us over a chest?”

Kaldrik glanced at the chest, stopped on the blue crystal, and then back at Zayzal with an unwavering gaze. His smirk widened. “Yes.”

Anders stood up with some effort and stepped forward, trying to defuse the situation. “Kaldrik, we can discuss this. We’re more than willing to share the loot. We are a team, after all.”

A cold laugh escaped Kaldrik’s lips. “Team? This was just a means to an end. And the end is right there.” He pointed at the chest.

Sera, still exhausted from the previous battle, pushed herself up as she gripped her axe and shield. “You really think you can take on all three of us?”

Kaldrik's eyes glinted dangerously. "I don’t need to defeat all three of you. Just him," he said, pointing at Zayzal.

“Enough talk!” Zayzal shouted, charging at Kaldrik with a burst of power. Kaldrik raised his eyebrows that the man still had enough energy to move so quickly, but he wasn’t worried. Stomping on the ground, he sent out a wave of frost, freezing the ground and causing Zayzal to lose his footing.

Caught off guard by the use of a new element, Zayzal slipped around, trying to keep his balance, but Kaldrik didn’t give him the chance to do so. A fist-sized fireball exploded onto his chest, sending him sprawling back.

“Zayzal!” Anders and Sera yelled as they charged at Kaldrik.

Anders and Sera lunged at Kaldrik simultaneously. Sera aimed a cleaving strike to the mage's side while Anders sought to disrupt any casting Kaldrik might attempt with a long thrust.

But the mage's smirk never left his face. With another gesture, he sent an arc of flames spiraling towards them, causing Sera’s axe to miss its mark and Anders to be pushed to the side.

It was evident that Kaldrik had more tricks up his sleeve than they'd ever imagined. As Sera readied herself for another strike, a chunk of ice hit her directly in the face, forcing her to stagger back. Meanwhile, Anders used the momentary distraction to dash around Kaldrik, aiming to strike him from behind.

But Kaldrik was faster and, with a flick of his wrist, shot a flurry of fireballs that sent Anders sprawling toward the treasure chest.

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"Grab it, Anders!" Zayzal managed to yell, gathering his strength for another charge.

Just as Anders's fingers brushed the chest's ornate latch, opening it, Kaldrik clicked his tongue in annoyance. Darkness emanated from him, sweeping towards the torches like ravenous smoke, smothering their flames. The room plunged into an inky blackness, their vision limited to mere feet in front of them.

Panicking, Anders opened and grabbed at the chest’s contents, not seeing what he was gathering. He just quickly stashed whatever he could grab into his clothes, hoping that there was at least something valuable.

Sera could sense the magic building up, even in the darkness. "Watch out!" she shouted.

But it was too late. Coldness snaked around Anders' legs, rooting him in place. Then, a fireball, its light illuminating the room briefly, shot straight toward him. As the flames licked his feet, tendrils of darkness tightened around his legs, pulling him downwards.

The chest was thrown from his grasp, the sound of its treasures scattering loudly across the stone floor. Before Anders could react further, a spear of ice pierced through the darkness, impaling him through the gut.

Zayzal’s eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, so he could see what just happened and roared in anguish. He charged towards Kaldrik again with bloodshot eyes, not caring that he was trying to kill another human.

Sera’s eyes were also somewhat used to this level of darkness, and she noticed that Anders was bleeding out fast. Without emergency treatment, he likely wouldn’t survive long. "Zayzal! We need to go! NOW! Anders is more important than some shitty loot!"

Gathering her mana, Sera formed a barrier around herself, Zayzal, and the fallen Anders, protecting them from any immediate attacks. She rushed over to them, pushing past her exhaustion, and hurriedly tossed the dying man over her shoulder. "Move!" she commanded.

Zayzal's red-rimmed eyes met Sera's, a world of emotion shared in that brief moment. But the message was clear - escape now, fight another day.

They sprinted down the corridor, leaving the echoing darkness behind them. Each step Sera took was heavy, burdened not just by Anders' weight but the weight of guilt, regret, and anger.

They could hear Kaldrik's footsteps behind them, interspersed with the hiss of magic and the occasional explosion, indicating he was still giving chase.

Suddenly, Sera felt a crack in her barrier. She was only able to regenerate a little bit of mana during that brief time after they killed the rat boss, and the mage knew that. But Sera wasn’t going to let anything happen to them.

‘We’re going to make it out of here!’ Drawing from reserves she didn't know she had, she pushed back, reinforcing the barrier.

"Keep going, Zayzal! I'll keep him off as long as I can!" Sera shouted, gritting her teeth against the strain.

Zayzal, even in the dim visibility, found the familiar pathways they'd used before, dodging traps and pitfalls that littered the dungeon. Every now and then, he would glance back, ensuring Sera and Anders were still with him. The sight of Anders' pale face and limp form fueled his drive forward. However, his hate for Kaldrik intensified with each step.

As they neared one of the larger rooms in the dungeon, where the kobold camps resided, Kaldrik’s pace began to slow. Realizing they had a significant lead and he probably wasn’t going to catch them, he stopped. His body might’ve been enhanced due to the influx of mana, but he wasn’t a physical fighter like Sera or Zayzal, nor did he have the ability to dodge traps like they did.

‘Although it’s a shame that I can’t get rid of them, it doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in their corpses, after all.’ With a sly smirk, he returned to the dungeon boss' room.

When he entered, a few more rats had already spawned. He flicked his fingers, sending a burst of flames toward the new enemies and reigniting the torches he had previously snuffed.

He walked deeper into the room, taking a glance at all the loot on the ground. Not far away, there was a small staff adorned with a red crystal at the top, which caught his attention.

‘Oh? That’ll be useful.’ He smiled and picked it up. He ignored the rest of the loot for now and focused on the blue crystal. ‘Now, this is what I really wanted. I didn’t think I’d find a dungeon as amazing as this so soon, but with this, I can speed up my plans.’

The rats, the layout, the traps… everything about this dungeon was perfect for his needs.

He grasped the blue crystal and searched for a good place to hide it. He had no intention of destroying it. ‘That would be such a waste!’

After finding a nice place to hide it, behind a few broken stones in the corner, he gathered the loot. His smirk grew as he looked around the room.

‘It’s time to start the first phase of my plan: Take over Central Europe!’ He let out a crafty chuckle that echoed in the empty room.