The night was silent save for the snores of those who came with the expedition.

No stars could be seen, a fog of grey was laid over us. It seemed to be the same one I first noticed when entering the dungeon, but it was thicker. Something that didn’t seem to bother my lucky companion.

“Where do you think all the wolves are?”

His name was Yarick, a [Brute] in one of the tank-focused teams. He himself was one of the tanks, if I had to guess based on his outfit. Plate around all the weak points, flexible joints to allow quick movements when necessary, and a big ass tower shield.

“They don’t pay me to think.”

And he ticked every single of the stereotypes when I thought of a brute.

“But it doesn’t make sense!” I ignored his unwillingness to speak. Worst case he would be my silent rubber duck to bounce my ideas to. “Let’s say there is a bigger and scarier monster inside. Do the wolves know? Do they care? Can they even make the connection that it would be stupid to go there?”

Everything I saw from the corrupted wolves pointed towards them being mindless. They didn’t always attack in groups, and even when they did there was no trace of strategy.

So, why were they not here out of all places? My friend thought that a grunt served as an adequate answer. I didn’t dispute it.

“Argh! I really doesn’t make any se-huh?”

My brows furrowed as I pointed a finger towards the three people that, all of a sudden, had decided to wake up at the exact same moment. They all turned to face the exact same direction, the summoning facility, and started walking at a too suspiciously equal pace.

“Hye!” Yarick shouted a mix of a salute and a warning that somehow sounded good. “Where are you going?”

“Guys!” I followed right after, trying my best to match the [Brute]‘s imposing tone.

The commotion was enough to make a few light sleepers open their eyes, but the three sleepwalkers continued without any care for our words.

They must have heard us. They should, at least.

We got up from our makeshift watch post. If words didn’t work, then actions had would.

We started walking. By the time we reached the middle of our camp, the three escapees had already set foot outside.

We would catch them in no time.

I extended one hand, barring the way to Yarick. My energy flared. As bright as I could. A mini sun.

“Yarick, wake everyone up, HURRY!” I needed his voice, his depth, to make sure everyone jumped into action.

Seven? No, nine.

Nine bright red spots appeared suddenly in my vision. Right in front of the three people. They were not there, which suggested they didn’t have ill-intentions, until they abruptly were.

Their shape defined as Yarick was yelling and cursing while clanging his sword against the tower shield. He didn’t doubt or question me, and I was glad he didn’t.

“Those are not corrupted or Ignis wolves!” I shouted for whomever ears were listening. “They are way bigger!”

I sent multiple stronger pulses to confirm why my [passive] Enemy sense was catching. Nine wolves, fanning out in a triangular shape. No howls, no unnecessary movements.

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No thirst for blood, I quickly understood. That’s why they didn’t show up.

The darkness had covered them from the eyes of Yarick. Their lack of thirst from my passive. And their organized movements from the range of my perception area.

Those were not normal wolves.

I hesitated to launch myself forward. Something in me, fear, froze my feet in their place. I could not face them alone. I would die.

In that moment of hesitation, it happened.

The wolf on the formation’s tip jumped. It pounced over one of the three people. It’s mouth opened and the canines sunk in that person’s neck. There was no attempt of defence. He just looked as the wolf attacked and plummeted to the ground after half his neck was gone.

He had died.

“Fuck!” I heard Yarick say.

It was the firs time I saw someone dying, that had never happened in earth. Not naturally, and neither as brutally as this. I should have retched on the ground. I should have cried. I should have reacted.

None of it happened.

The system, I wondered. Probably, there was something in it that messed with my ability to feel; that completely desensitized me.

Our squads were organizing, everyone was getting ready. I saw people lightning as spells began flaring. But it was too late.

The other two people had suffered similar fates. The wolves had attacked and killed them, and right after doing that, they had retreated.

My enemy sight stopped reporting them, only my pulses confirmed that they were going away as if nothing had happened.

Spells and arrows flied equally, chasing after the retreating monsters. Some impacting, the beasts stumbling and getting up a second after only to resume their escape. They didn’t retaliate.

All of us were awake, staring at the three corpses and struggling to understand what had happened. They just let the wolves attack. How?

“Everyone! Gather!”

The [Captain] was awake and ready to spring into action. He waited for everyone to be ready and awake, and then spoke again.

“What we have just seen can only be product of mind magic. Whatever’s in there,” he pointed to the building I had escaped from a few days ago, “is capable of controlling us.”

A few gasps escaped here and there, and even some curses and prayers to the Saints. Whatever mind magic was—and I already had a good idea after what had happened—was bad news.

“Mind magic only works if you are unprepared. But now we know. Remain alert, remain focused, remember who you are and what you came here for. Sleeping is, as you all have seen, an invitation to be controlled. We don’t know the exact nature of their control and if it can be broken. Thus, until we clear this mess out, no more sleeping.”

I had slept right before the expedition, which meant no sleeping for the whole duration would cut it close. My energy still recharged under this fog, as light still managed to seep through, albeit at a much lower rate. Things were getting more than messy.

However, that was not my only worry.

“What about the wolves?” I raised my voice a bit to be heard, which prompted all heads to turn towards me.

“They are just wolves, we will deal with them.”

That answer was wrong, really wrong. They were anything but just wolves.

“I don’t agree,” I openly said. Admittedly, I didn’t know if questioning authority was punished here. “They acted with a plan. They didn’t try to kill us all. They didn’t even fight back. They just killed the mind controlled people.”

“What are you saying?” He definitely was annoyed.

And I definitely didn’t care.

“I am saying, they are also mind controlled. Or do you think they appeared right in time to kill only the three absent minded ones? And intelligent enough to flee? I-”

“Enough!” He cut me before I could continue. “This is only a FF-rank expedition, there is no such monster inside. A machine malfunctioned and caused a few corruptions, we are here to kill them, destroy the machine, and return.”

“But tha-”

“I said enough.”

A strong forced pushed against my will. Some non-physical energy attempted to bend my will.

Ironic. I couldn’t talk, he wouldn’t let me, but I could still think freely. The [Captain] lecturing us about mind control as if he didn’t know he’s using it himself.

A machine that malfunctioned?

Only a FF-rank expedition?

No such monster.

This reeked of a cover-up job. Someone important whose name was at risk had paid for a highly illegal experiment. There were no records of any summoning happening, so how could they get an expedition to come?

I had just been presented the answer. A machine malfunctioned, causing wildlife to become corrupted. Those monsters killed the workers at the summoning site, and next thing you know this is a dungeon.

In reality, they had botched an experiment so hard that the experiment killed them. In the process, a few machines, tubes, and Saints know what had been punctured, broken, and left in an unknown state.

Hell had broken lose inside the summoning facility. They knew and they were hoping a local force of untrained civilians would solve the problem for them.

This is beyond fucked up.