CHAPTER 140: [CAN’T BE HEARD]

Kairo’s boots dragged heavy through the water, each step sending ripples across the flooded stone as he shifted Eli’s limp weight higher on his shoulder.

The young hunter wasn’t thrashing anymore.

No curses.

No snarls.

No clawing fists against his hold.

He was... still.

Too still.

Kairo’s black eyes flicked down at him. Eli’s wrists were bound tight across his chest, but it wasn’t the ropes that made unease coil in his gut.

It was the boy’s eyes. Wide. Yellow.

Staring straight through him—pupils blown wide, glassy, as if he were trapped watching something no one else could see.

’Is it because I tied him down? Or...’

Kairo’s jaw tightened. No. This wasn’t just restraint.

Something was off.

He didn’t like that look.

Didn’t like the sudden silence in him.

"Captain?!"

The voice tore through the cavern—raw, hoarse, but sharp enough to cut through the splash of water and the groan of shifting stone.

Mio.

’I’ll deal with him later.’

Kairo’s head snapped up, every muscle coiling like a drawn bow. "Mio! I’m here!" His voice cracked like steel, echoing down the cavern.

Silence.

Kairo’s brow furrowed. He hitched Eli higher and pivoted toward the sound, boots carving through the water. "Mio! Answer me!"

Nothing.

His teeth ground together. ’Don’t tell me—’

Did something happen? Then why the hell was he suddenly quiet?

But—

"Captain! CAPTAIN!"

This time it wasn’t just Mio.

Zaira’s voice cut in, jagged and desperate, overlapping with her vice-captain’s.

Kairo’s pulse steadied, narrowing to focus. He pushed forward faster, his steps sharp and sure. "I hear you! Tell me your position, I’m coming!"

No answer.

The cavern swallowed his words whole, spitting them back as warped echoes.

Kairo’s black eyes narrowed into slits. His aura hissed faint along his skin, a warning itch, responding to the pressure coiling tight in his chest.

’What the fuck?’

Cursing had become a constant since they’d stepped into this cursed place.

Problem after problem—like the dungeon itself wanted to chew them down piece by piece.

First the leeches. Then Mel. The phantoms. Mio. The octopus. Eli. And now—even when he finally heard his team—he couldn’t reach them.

Couldn’t connect.

Like something was cutting the lines between them.

His grip on Eli shifted unconsciously, hauling him closer, tighter, as though the boy might slip away if he didn’t hold on.

"Zaira! Mio!" His voice cracked sharper this time, all command, like the bark of orders on a battlefield. "ANSWER ME!"

Only silence came back.

Just the rush of water. The drip of stone. The shallow, uneven brush of Eli’s breath against his shoulder.

Kairo glanced at him again. The boy’s lashes trembled faintly, pupils still huge, still fixed on nothing. Staring at something Kairo couldn’t see. Something that wasn’t here.

A muscle ticked in his jaw.

’Where the hell are they? And what the fuck is going on with you?’

He kept moving, each step cutting harder through the water, his voice echoing into the black again, rough with anger. "Mio! Zaira!"

But the cavern only fed him silence.

And with every unanswered call, the frustration clawing through him grew sharper—erasing whatever dry amusement he’d had with Eli earlier.

All that was left was a weight in his chest and the steady bite of rage pushing him forward.

’I despise this feeling.’

The words ran sharp through Kairo’s mind, bitter as ash. He hated it—this gnawing edge of helplessness.

It pressed against his ribs, sank its claws into his lungs.

For the first time in a long time, he felt cornered.

Because without blood, he was crippled. And these monsters—they didn’t carry even a drop. No blood to cut, no blood to pull, nothing to fuel his blade.

His greatest weapon was being stripped from him, and the frustration roared in his chest like wildfire.

It was the first time he’d encountered prey like this. The first time his abilities felt like dead weight shackled to him instead of the sharpest edge.

And now... his team.

Somewhere in this drowned cavern, alive—but out of reach.

"Captain! Answer us, please!"

The call cut through the chamber, raw and desperate, the kind of plea only his hunters would make when the thread of survival was fraying thin.

He stopped, boots sinking heavy in the water, black eyes narrowing. His jaw locked. He wanted to roar back, to demand they hold on—but the reality stung. They couldn’t hear him.

’They’re shouting for me, and I can’t get through to them...’

But Kairo wasn’t going to break here. He wasn’t going to give up.

If they couldn’t hear him, fine. He could still hear them. That was enough. He’d follow their voices until he reached them—drag them back if he had to.

He shifted Eli’s limp weight on his shoulder, his black gaze flicking down.

The boy hadn’t made a sound since earlier. No thrashing. No cursing. No rebellion. Just silence—too quiet for someone usually so loud.

"Eli, are you..." The words caught before they left his throat. He wanted to ask if he was okay, but—

No. Not now. Not when one wrong word might spark another outburst, another fit of bloodlust.

He exhaled slow through his nose, a sigh dragging heavy from his chest.

First—Mio and Zaira. Then... the octopus.

His hand flexed at his side, the phantom weight of his lost obsidian blade heavy in his grip.

’Find them. Break whatever control it has on Eli. Then figure out how to kill the fucking thing and be done with it.’

His boots dragged forward again, cutting through the cold water, his shoulders squared.

He had no blood, no blade. His team was scattered, broken, and an SS-class monster was hiding in the dark, waiting.

But he would not stop.

He had to figure this out. Fast.

Every second wasted here was another chance for that thing to strike again. Another chance for Mio, Zaira, and Mel to vanish into the dark like they’d never existed.

"Captain! Eli! Where are you?!"

The voices tore through the cavern again—Mio’s hoarse, strained shout overlapping with Zaira’s sharper cry. They were close. Close enough that the words scraped at his chest like hooks.

Kairo’s jaw clenched. His boots dragged through the black water, shoulders squared as he shifted Eli higher on his back.

The boy was still bound, his silence eerie, but Kairo pushed the unease down. He couldn’t focus on that right now.

"I’m coming," he muttered, voice clipped, cutting through the cavern like steel.

He knew they couldn’t hear him—his words swallowed by whatever curse this place carried—but saying it anchored him.

Saying it reminded him that no matter what twisted tricks this dungeon pulled, he was still moving forward.

Still closing the distance.

He kept striding toward the sound, heavy steps echoing against stone, each one deliberate. His aura stirred faint, restless under his skin, the need to act gnawing at his ribs.

And then—

"Stop."