The guardians lurched forward.

The swamp quaked under their weight, twenty, maybe thirty of them, all bone and muck, stitched with pulsing red mana that made their bodies glow like dying embers.

They didn't move like beasts. They didn't move like men either. Their motions were jerky, marionette-like, pulled by strings only the dungeon itself could see.

Lucen's boots sank an inch into the muck as he squared his stance. The hunters behind him hesitated, their formation fractured before the fight even started.

"Stay close," Varik said, his voice even, unshaken. "If you scatter, you die."

That single line cut through their fear. The hunters snapped back into motion, weapons raised.

Lucen smirked faintly, hands already tingling with mana. 'He didn't even raise his voice. And yet they'll all listen. Always.'

The first guardian barreled in, its jagged arms raised like cleavers. Varik met it in a single step, blade flashing. The swing was clean, precise, the guardian's entire torso fell apart before it even hit the ground.

Lucen didn't let himself be outshone. He flung his hand outward, a whip of condensed light tore through three more guardians, carving them in half like butter. Their red cores hissed as they dissolved into the swamp.

Behind them, one of the younger hunters gasped. "That— that was an A-rank spell—"

"Shut up and swing," the silver-haired woman snapped, cleaving through a guardian herself. Her axe bit deep but didn't finish the thing. It shrieked, arm snapping toward her—

Lucen flicked his wrist. A needle-thin beam of mana punched clean through its skull. The guardian dropped instantly.

The woman glanced back at him, breathing hard. "…Thanks."

Lucen tilted his head, a lazy grin tugging his lips. "'Don't mention it. You looked like you needed the save.'"

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't argue.

Another wave surged forward. Ten this time, maybe more. They were relentless.

Varik moved through them like a storm. Every swing of his blade cut down another, his footing perfect even in the sludge, his face unreadable. Guardians toppled in halves around him, dissolving before they hit the water.

Lucen laughed under his breath. 'Man fights like gravity itself listens to him.'

Then three guardians broke past, rushing toward the cluster of hunters behind.

Lucen's eyes narrowed. He didn't think. He just moved.

He crouched, slammed a palm against the swamp. Mana erupted from his hand like a detonation, rippling outward in a perfect circle. The three guardians were caught mid-stride, lifted off their feet before being shredded to ash in the air.

The hunters staggered at the shockwave. Some fell, clutching their ears.

One of them shouted hoarsely, "What the fuck— that's not— that's not a level twenty-eight!"

Lucen straightened, rolling his shoulder with a smug half-smile. "'Guess my ID's bugged. You gonna file a complaint?'"

The kid shut up immediately.

Varik cut down the last guardian of that wave and glanced back briefly. Not approval. Not warning. Just that calm, unreadable look he always gave — as if to say: I'm keeping track.

Lucen met his eyes and grinned wider.

—

The core pulsed stronger now, red light throbbing like a heartbeat. The air thickened with every step closer. Hunters gasped and cursed under their breath. The swamp itself seemed to resist their advance, mud rising higher, tugging at boots like hands.

The silver-haired woman ground her axe against her shoulder and spat. "This is wrong. Crimson-class dungeons don't mutate like this."

Varik spoke calmly, as if noting the weather. "Doesn't matter. We finish it."

Lucen's gaze lingered on the core, sparks of white-blue mana dancing across his fingers. 'Finish it, huh? That thing's not just a battery. It's a heart. And it's beating faster.'

The next wave came harder. Guardians burst straight from the water this time, their bodies crackling with red sparks. They were faster, stronger, jerking forward in twitches too quick for the eye.

The hunters panicked. Their formation cracked instantly, axes and swords flailing.

One screamed as a guardian tore into his side, blood spraying.

Lucen's smirk vanished.

He stepped forward, one hand raised. Mana gathered fast, too fast, burning hot at his fingertips.

He unleashed it in a wide arc, a blade of light that carved through six guardians in one sweep, water erupting into steam where it passed.

The hunters froze. Silence fell for half a heartbeat as the bodies dissolved.

Then the injured man groaned, blood pouring from his side.

Lucen didn't hesitate. He crouched, pressed a glowing hand to the wound. Mana flowed, white and searing, knitting flesh together as the man gasped in pain.

The system flickered faintly:

[Healing Applied: +540 HP]

Lucen pulled his hand back, smirk returning. "'Don't bleed on my boots next time.'"

The man stared up at him, wide-eyed. "…You're… you're not level twenty-eight."

Lucen just winked and stood.

Varik's voice carried, calm as ever. "Eyes forward."

—

The guardians kept coming. Dozens, then more. The fight blurred into a rhythm, Varik's blade cutting precise arcs, Lucen's mana flaring in sudden explosions, the other hunters struggling desperately to keep pace.

The silver-haired woman fought like a demon, her axe cleaving chunks of swamp and bone alike. Sweat streaked her face, teeth grit in fury.

"You—" She swung, carving a guardian in half. "—are both— insane."

Lucen chuckled breathlessly, another blast tearing through a line of enemies. "'Took you this long to notice?'"

She snarled but didn't answer.

At last, the guardians began to thin. The swamp went quiet again, save for the ragged breathing of the hunters and the slow, heavy pulse of the core.

Lucen exhaled, rolling his shoulders. His clothes were damp with sweat, his mana still sparking faintly around his hands. His grin hadn't faded.

'Not bad for an afternoon stroll.'

Varik wiped his blade clean, eyes fixed on the spire. "Final push."

The hunters groaned. One muttered, "We won't survive another wave like that…"

Lucen tilted his head, eyes half-lidded. "'Then don't get in the way.'"

They stared at him, caught between fear and disbelief.

Varik stepped forward. "Stay back. We'll handle it."

Not I. We.

Lucen smirked faintly at that.

—

The two of them advanced side by side. The swamp seemed to recoil as they drew closer, the core's light flaring violently.

It screamed.

Not a sound, exactly. More like pressure, a shriek inside the skull, rattling bone and thought alike. The hunters behind cried out, clutching their heads.

Lucen just grinned wider. "'Finally, some personality.'"

The core cracked. From its surface, a final guardian emerged, no longer bone or muck, but pure light and shadow bound together, a towering figure with blades for arms.

Varik raised his sword. "Lucen."

Lucen's hands lit with white flame. "Yeah?"

"You take left."

Lucen's grin widened to a sharp edge. "'Gladly.'"

And together, they charged.

—

The swamp shook.

The guardian tore free of the core like a god dragging itself into the world. It was enormous, thirty feet tall, its body a lattice of obsidian bone bound by glowing red veins.

Its face was featureless except for a single vertical slit of white light where eyes should be, and its arms ended in scythe-like blades, curved and jagged as though forged to carve mountains in half.

The hunters staggered backward at the sight, weapons lowered despite themselves.

One whispered hoarsely, "That's… that's not a crimson-class monster. That's… that's—"

"Quiet," Varik said.

The word silenced them immediately.

He stepped forward, calm, steady, his boots sinking into the muck with the slow inevitability of someone who had already measured the battlefield and decided victory was his.

Lucen cracked his knuckles, a faint smile tugging at his lips as light flared across his fingertips. "'Finally, something worth my time.'"

The guardian screamed. Not with a mouth, with the sky itself. The air split like glass under pressure, a high-pitched shriek that made blood run from one hunter's ears.

Lucen laughed under his breath. 'Good voice. Shame I'm not impressed.'

The monster moved.

It blurred forward, impossibly fast for its size, the swamp exploding under its steps. One scythe-arm arced downward toward Varik like a guillotine.

Varik didn't flinch.

He raised his blade in a single, precise motion. Steel met crystal with a thunderclap that blasted mud and water in every direction.

The ground beneath Varik cratered, cracks spiderwebbing outward, but he did not move an inch. His eyes, calm and cold, never left the guardian.

Lucen smirked. "'You always did love being the wall.'"

He darted left, hand raised. Mana condensed in his palm, white-blue light spiraling tighter and tighter until it formed a lance nearly twice his height. He hurled it, the air shrieking as the spell ripped past Varik's shoulder.

It slammed into the guardian's chest. The explosion lit up the swamp in blinding light, shards of crystal armor scattering like shattered glass. The beast roared, the sound was lower this time, pained, angry.

The hunters behind them gawked.

"That— that was— that was high-tier—"

"From level twenty-eight?!"

Lucen didn't turn back. He just grinned wider, hair falling across his eyes as mana crackled along his arm. "'Keep counting. I'll give you a show.'"

The guardian swung its other arm, this time at Lucen. The blade carved through the air, the pressure alone sending ripples across the swamp.

Lucen slid back, water splashing around his boots. The blade missed him by a breath, but the force still sent a sting of heat across his cheek.

He chuckled. "'Close one. Almost had me.'"