Kaiden looked around and saw the same fear gripping his teammates. They had all kept backing up until they were on the outer ring, bracing their weapons defensively, eyes darting with unease, too terrified to launch an attack. Kaiden’s own heart pounded heavily in his chest, but as he watched his friends frozen by fear, something sparked inside him. Anger flared up, burning away the panic. I don’t fear you!

A notification appeared in his mind:

Mindforge has suppressed the Fear. Your power grows.

Instantly, Kaiden’s mind cleared, as if a tight hold had been lifted, freeing him from the paralyzing grip. His heart steadied, and his focus sharpened. However, there was no time to celebrate. The four remaining wolves lunged into attack, and without hesitation, Kaiden threw caution to the wind and charged at two of them himself, hoping the others could handle the remaining pair. One wolf snapped at him, locking its jaws onto the shield strapped to his forearm. Kaiden felt a hot pain as the second wolf clamped down on his calf, forcing a scream from his throat. Through the agony, Kaiden gritted his teeth and drove his sword down into the wolf latched onto his calf, plunging the blade repeatedly until it collapsed, finally lifeless. His leg was a bloody mess, but he pushed the pain aside, turning his attention to the wolf clamped onto his arm. With all his strength, he stabbed again and again until it, too, fell.

He looked up, panting, his leg burning as blood dripped down his calf. There’s one health potion left, he reminded himself, but he didn’t dare use it. He counted on his Regeneration to fix the wound. It should get a nice boost from such repeated use. Gritting his teeth, he turned toward the rest of the group.

One wolf was pressing Davick, who was holding it off with his shield. The other wolf was clawing at Coren, who was struggling to fend it off with his large sword. Tybalt hovered nervously behind Davick, his dual blades drawn, but he hadn’t cast a single spell, his fear still holding him back.

“Guys, snap out of it!” Kaiden shouted, desperation lacing his voice. He didn’t know if it would work, but he was ready to try anything.

Limping, he hurried toward Coren. The wolf attacking him, sensing Kaiden’s weakened state, turned its attention and rushed toward him instead. Kaiden gritted his teeth, gripping his sword tightly. He’d hold off every wolf himself if he had to—anything to buy his team enough time to break free from this nightmare.

The wolf pounced at Kaiden, its weight too much for him to handle on his weakened leg. He crashed to the ground, his sword clattering just out of reach. The wolf latched onto his shield arm, buying him a few seconds, and Kaiden cursed as he dragged his body, inch by inch, across the marble floor, wolf and all, toward his weapon. The wolf snarled, thrashing its head violently, trying to rip his arm free, pulling him back every few feet.

“Damn it!” Kaiden grunted. Then his eyes caught sight of the lich, and his heart plummeted—it had decided to act again. Its eyes flared with the telltale glow of its deadly beam attack.

"Snap out of it!" Kaiden yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping to break the fear gripping his teammates. Whether from his shout or because the spell was wearing off, he didn’t know, but suddenly they all snapped back to reality. As they shook off the haze of terror, Kaiden saw the beam charging toward them, its deadly glow intensifying.

"Incoming!" he shouted, but Davick, still struggling with a wolf on his shield, couldn’t shift his focus to see the beam coming. Coren, however, had looked up just in time to spot the danger—and Kaiden’s stomach twisted as he realized where it was aimed. Tybalt, no longer under the lich’s fear spell but clearly rattled, looked up and saw the beam heading toward him. Yet, he didn’t move. For the second time in the dungeon, he was frozen in place, not by magic but by his own shock.

“Tybalt!” Kaiden screamed, but Tybalt remained rooted in place. Just as the beam closed in, Coren rushed forward, pushing Tybalt out of the way. Kaiden watched in horror as Coren attempted to turn and dodge, but he wasn’t fast enough. He was caught directly in the path of the beam, his body instantly stiffening, turning to stone before his eyes.

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“No!” Kaiden shouted, his voice breaking as Coren’s petrified form stood frozen in place, unmoving but intact, giving him hope to undo the petrification somehow.

Finally, Kaiden’s hand closed around his sword. Fueled by anger and desperation, he plunged it into the wolf clamped onto his arm, finishing it off after a few strikes. Davick, who had just felled the final wolf, turned and saw Coren’s fate, his face twisting in shock and disbelief.

"What the—" Davick began, but Kaiden cut him off, shouting, "Look out!" Davick ducked just in time, narrowly dodging another beam as the Lich continued its assault.

Tybalt, pale and visibly shaken, was staring numbly at the place where Coren was frozen. Kaiden clenched his teeth, forcing himself to focus. He knew his Mindforge ability was keeping his mind sharp and clear amid the chaos. With the wolves dead, the lich began drifting slowly back to its usual spot on the opposite side of the cavern. The long journey across the vast space gave the team a few precious moments to regroup before it could reach its starting position.

They needed to end this now—before it summoned another wave if that was even possible, since they had already shattered its staff.

Kaiden’s breath hitched as he knelt beside Coren’s stone form, letting his injured leg rest. "I’ve got one health potion left,” he said quietly, his voice laced with desperation. “Do you think it’ll work on Coren?”

Davick shook his head grimly. “No, we’d need a potion or scroll specifically for petrification.”

Kaiden swallowed, glancing back at the lich. “What if killing the boss releases him?”

Davick’s eyes widened, and he nodded slowly, as if realizing the answer himself. “Yeah, that could work.”

“Then let’s hurry,” Kaiden urged.

“Leave this one to me. Catch up when you can,” Davick replied, already moving toward the boss.

Kaiden nodded, then turned to Tybalt, who stood staring at Coren’s statue-like form, still looking pale and shaken. “Come on, Tybalt! We need your magic!” he shouted.

Tybalt blinked, shaking off his daze. With a curt nod, he turned and headed off to join Davick. Kaiden clenched his teeth and forced himself to his feet, limping his way toward the Lich. He could only hope that the damage they’d already inflicted would make this the final push; he didn’t want to find out what was in store for them if they didn’t finish the Lich soon.

As Kaiden closed in, Davick and Tybalt had already made it to the lich’s starting location, awaiting its descent. Finally, the lich drifted back to its usual spot in the center of the chamber and let out another wail. This time, the pitch was different—deeper, almost like the sound of cracking stone. Kaiden’s heart froze as he felt a sudden tremor underfoot. The entire cavern began to rumble, and his eyes darted to the outer ring, where cracks were spidering across the stone. The inner ring was fine, but, the ground was crumbling all around the outer ring.

“No,” Kaiden whispered as he turned toward the Striker, watching in horror as the floor beneath Coren’s petrified form began to splinter and crack. He pushed forward, limping as fast as he could, his heart pounding as the ground continued to give way. He activated Healing Touch on himself quickly to give himself mobility back. The healing wasn’t instant, but he could feel his leg getting stronger as he hobbled faster and faster. He was only a few feet away from Coren when the entire outer ring broke apart, sending Coren’s statue plunging into the dark abyss.

Kaiden fell to his knees, one step away from where the outer ring used to be. He hadn’t even considered how close he was to plumetting as well. Only one image replayed in his mind: Coren’s stone form vanishing into the shadows below. His heart sank, a raw ache of loss mingling with the hollow sound of crumbling rock.

He couldn’t believe Coren was gone. A bitter curse escaped his lips as his mind cycled through all the ways he could’ve prevented it. If only he’d used their last health potion, or hadn’t been so stubborn about only relying on his Regeneration ability. He’d hoped to strengthen it, to level it up, but that decision had cost them dearly. He could’ve used his class ability much earlier. If he had healed himself earlier, he would’ve had enough time to drag Coren’s body safely into the inner ring, but he told himself he didn’t want the advantage of using a class that no one else had the good fortune of having. And that decision had cost Coren his life.

“This is my fault,” Kaiden whispered, a harsh wave of guilt tightening his throat. Tears began to well up as his fists clenched at his chest as he yelled, raw anger escaping—not directed at the dungeon, the lich, or even the abyss swallowing the broken stone, but at himself. He’d been careless. No matter how many times their instructors had hammered it in, he’d underestimated the dungeon and thought he could handle it. He learned a valuable lesson that day. Dungeons should never, ever be taken lightly.

The sound of his own shout faded, leaving only a hollow silence in its place, a silence that seemed to mock his loss.

Suddenly, a notification popped up in his mind, jarring him out of his grief:

Congratulations, You’ve completed Camp Thorne Dungeon.

Awarding rank based on performance...

Congratulations! You’ve attained Dungeoneer Rank E

He had got what he wanted—to complete the dungeon without relying on his class.

It was not worth it.