Erend stepped through the doorway and felt the world changed again, as though the Dungeon inhaled and breathed out a new reality around them.

Soft and green light blossomed around them, washing away the darkness and greyness. The plain of ash vanished beneath his feet.

They now stood on a vast meadow.

The Dungeon had changed.

A living field stretched in every direction in a rolling carpet of vibrant green grass swaying under a gentle wind. Wildflowers fluttered in scattered bursts of white and yellow.

The sky above shimmered with a deep blue glow, streaked by drifting ribbons of silver clouds that moved unnaturally slow, as if time inside this place moved differently from the outside.

Erend blinked.

"This is nothing like before," he murmured.

When he first entered this world alone so long ago, Level 1 had trapped him in a tight corridor of darkness, a harsh trial with nowhere to run and nowhere to breathe.

Walls pressed close around him and monsters crawled from every corner, and everything had been designed to crush him before he could even stand.

But this meadow was spacious, open, and almost peaceful. It was still a Dungeon, still a trial, but now it accommodated a large force like theirs. A battlefield made to fit eleven challengers instead of one.

Saeldir looked around with calculating eyes. "Naes on what you had explained, this world shifts based on expectation and numbers. Fascinating, but dangerous."

Aesa crouched, letting the grass slip through her fingers. "It looks harmless. I don't trust it."

Aerchon rested a hand on his sword. "What kind of Dungeon makes a place this pleasant? This feels wrong."

Relax, it always looks nicer before it tries to kill us. Just wait." Eccar said while stretching his arms behind his head.

Arty stayed beside Erend, her stance already guarded. "It's too open and quiet, though."

Aurdis turned slowly, eyes wide with a mix of wonder and caution. "It looks like a place in a dream but it doesn't feel like one."

King Gulben placed both hands behind his back, taking in the stretched horizon. "A beautiful battlefield is still a battlefield. Stay sharp."

Erend nodded. "Everyone, listen."

They turned their attention to him.

"Monsters will start appearing soon," he said. "They will look unfamiliar, but don't hesitate. Kill them the moment they show up. Their essence will merge with your bodies and strengthen you with every fight. This is the safest place to grow stronger. But remember that it is still dangerous."

A moment later they saw the changes. The wind shifted. The grass rustled. A deep rumble rolled under the earth.

Erend raised his chin. "They're coming."

The meadow cracked open in several places. Spirals of green light erupted upward, forming shapes from twisting masses of essence weaving themselves into bodies.

The first monster took shape. It was a towering creature nearly three meters tall. A horned beast with a thick hide like stone and eyes burning with emerald glow.

Its body resembled a bull carved from jade, veins of light running under its skin. When it stomped, the earth shook.

Three more appeared beside it. Sleek wolf-like creatures made of wind and translucent skin. Their bodies flickered, half-solid and half-streaming currents of air, their fangs flashing like glass.

Across the meadow, clusters of small humanoid creatures emerged. Goblins with grass-green skin and long blade-like claws. They hissed in groups, moving with jerky speed.

There were many of them. Not overwhelming, but enough.

Erend stepped forward, the grass parting under his boots.

"Spread out," he said. "Stay within sight of each other. And remember—" His fist ignited with red lightning, sparking across his knuckles."—every kill makes you stronger."

The monsters roared, and the meadow trembled as the first wave charged toward them.

—

Right now, suddenly Zerathul's consciousness was plunged and writhed in the collapsing darkness of Krono's inner realm, a storm of time-splintered light and shadow tearing endlessly around him.

His claws dug into nothingness, gripping the very fabric of this broken mindscape as Krono's unyielding resistance surged again.

The Time Dragon refused to break even when he knew that this was futile.

Fragments of time power pulsed around them like shards of glass drifting in slow orbit. Every second stretched and snapped, twisting into paradox knots that Zerathul had to tear through with brute force just to stay anchored.

Krono's voice rumbled from everywhere at once, strained but defiant.

"You… will not… have me!"

Zerathul snarled, his cracked form pulsing with dark Magic energy. His body still trembled from the last clash. Krono's will lashing at him like a beast defending its final breath in the physical and mental realm.

"You still resisting?!" Zerathul hissed, forcing his essence deeper, smothering Krono's essence. "I already devoured your future paths. Only your present remains and it is crumbling."

Krono's silhouette flickered into view, formed from fracturing golden energy. His wings were torn shadow, his scales split by lines that revealed swirling sights. Yet his eyes remained sharp and defiant.

"You underestimate… what you cannot control!"

Zerathul lunged, driving his corruption deeper, trying to uproot Krono's soul entirely.

Pain spiked through him because of Krono's temporal backlash twisting his own existence, collapsing and resetting his form in unstable cycles. He had endured it long, far too long.

He needed to finish this.

But as he pressed forward, Krono forced one last burst of resistance. An eruption of time-energy emerged and cast Zerathul backward into the void of consciousness.

The shockwave hurled memories, timelines, and visions in every direction like scattering feathers.

And in the chaos, one image froze in front of him.

Erend.

Standing tall. Holding his ground. Eyes burning with the kind of defiance that Zerathul despised.

Zerathul growled, the sight piercing through the storm like a blade.

Of course he knew the man's face. He was one of the system's hosts that resisted him. The man who became Dragonborn who had survived what should have killed him a thousand times over.

He was just a child compared to him. Yet he seemed to be favored by fate.

Krono's rumbling voice echoed faintly. "He… will stand against you."

Zerathul's lips curled into a cold, patient sneer. "Stand? Yes. Survive? I don't think so."

He reached out, touching the floating image. Erend's eyes burned at him as though they truly met across realities. That stubborn fire was irritating and pointless.

"He is powerful," Zerathul admitted quietly, voice edged like rusted steel. "That's because he is the system host. Dragonborn. Evolving far faster than he should."

Krono's form flickered again. "You fear him."

Zerathul snarled. "I fear nothing."

He tightened his grip, crushing the image until it shattered into glowing motes.

"He is still young and inexperienced. He is still learning to crawl in a game I mastered before his bloodline even existed."

Zerathul's corruption surged outward again, smothering Krono's fading strength.

"I already have my influence rooted in his sister. The girl will break soon. Then the boy will follow. Piece by piece. It will not be long."

Krono tried to speak, but Zerathul silenced him with another crushing wave, pinning the Time Dragon's soul deeper under his spreading corruption.

"All I require," Zerathul whispered, voice dripping confidence, "is patience. You, old dragon, are the only annoyance slowing my ascent."

He leaned closer, his fractured black eyes gleaming with hunger.

"But even you will fall eventually."

Darkness thickened, reality groaning under Zerathul's tightening grip.

"And once your power is mine… that man's system will be next."

—

Erend and Eccar stayed at the edge of the battlefield, watching the first clash unfold across the meadow.

They did not move to join. Not because they were unwilling but because they simply didn't need the essence of Level 1 anymore.

Their bodies already carried power that far surpassed what this opening stage could offer. So they observed, ensuring the others fought without being overwhelmed to make them used to this environment.

The jade bull roared and charged first, its massive hooves ripping chunks of earth with every step.

Aerchon met it head-on, his Magic sword sparking as the creature's hide deflected the first strike. He adjusted instantly, sliding aside to let its horns miss him by inches before he slashed across its flank. Green light spilled from the wound.

Saeldir raised both hands, weaving threads of illusion that twisted into spears of shimmering force. They shot toward the wolf-creatures, pinning one of them in the middle of its leap, scattering its essence into the wind.

Another lunged for him but Aesa intercepted it with a burst of frost. The wolf froze in the air, shattered, and dissolved into glowing particles that flowed straight into her skin.

Arty fought a cluster of goblins, her movements sharp and ruthless. Her blade of wind flashed in tight arcs with precise swings. The goblins screeched and fell one after another, their essence spiraling into her as she tightened her stance, feeding off the power.

Aurdis stayed behind King Gulben, supported with controlled bursts of Magic that struck only where he pointed.

The king moved steadily, striking down goblins in clean, decisive blows, each kill strengthening him as the meadow responded with pulsing waves of energy.

Erend glanced at Eccar. "They're adapting fast."

Eccar grinned. "I think they'll be ready for Level 10 in the next wave."

The meadow thrummed with power as another surge of monsters began forming in the distance. But the group already stood stronger than they were minutes ago.

And this was only the beginning.

—