Chapter 31 - 29: The Uninvited Expedition
The damp, suffocating air of the passage hung motionless, thick with the scent of wet granite, ancient rot, and ozone. Victor halted mid-stride, extending a single gloved hand behind him. The party froze instantly Kael’s hand drifting toward his broadsword, Elena easing into a subtle casting stance, and Lyra fading into the gloom like a smudge of spilled ink.
Victor closed his eyes, activating Fate-Shattering Perception.
The world dissolved into a monochrome canvas woven with glowing threads of energy. He pushed his sensory radius forward, letting his consciousness thread through the cracked subterranean stone. Two hundred meters ahead, bright specks of mana flared in the dark.
Thirteen presences.
Victor analyzed their spiritual signatures with clinical precision: one Tier 1, seven Tier 2s, four Tier 3s, and a massive, suffocating core ,a Tier 6 warrior.
Victor opened his eyes, a cold, sharp thread of unease coiling in his chest.
This shouldn’t be happening, Victor thought. According to the original story, this dungeon was supposed to remain sealed, forgotten, and entirely untouched for another five years until Lucas stumbled upon it by complete accident. There shouldn’t be an expedition here certainly not an organized strike team with a Tier 6 powerhouse.
Had his actions already altered the timeline so drastically? Was the butterfly effect already spiraling out of control?
For a dark moment, Victor considered total eradication. Ambush them in the narrow chokepoints ahead, flood the passages with dark mana, and slaughter them all. But he quickly discarded the impulse. Engaging a Tier 6 combatant in enclosed ruins was an unnecessary risk. Furthermore, a team of this caliber carried all the hallmarks of an elite asset group backed by a major noble house, a top-tier guild, or a shadowy syndicate. Wiping them out blindly could draw a target onto his back.
No, Victor decided, a dark smirk curling his lips. They aren’t an obstacle. They are free labor.
He would let them trigger traps, exhaust their spellcasters, and fight the dungeon’s guardians. His group would simply walk in their wake.
Ahead, the sensory signatures split. The main group, guided by the Tier 6 warrior, pressed deeper into the cavern system, leaving two Tier 3 guards behind to secure their rear.
Victor waited. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen. He gave the main body enough time to put multiple turns and stone barriers between themselves and their rear watch.
He turned to Lyra, his voice dropping to an almost imperceptible whisper."Silent execution."
Lyra vanished, her movement utterly devoid of sound. Victor stepped forward into the darkness, cloaked in a faint, light-bending shroud of dark mana.
The two Tier 3 guards stood at the intersection, scanning the dark tunnel. They were alert, but they were looking for mindless beasts, not apex predators.
Lyra materialized behind the left guard. A flash of dark, silver-lined mana struck the base of his skull a precise, silent strike to his nervous system. He crumpled without a sound, and Lyra caught his body, easing him down softly.
Simultaneously, the second guard sensed the shift and spun around, opening his mouth to scream.
Before sound could leave his throat, Victor was already there. A thick cloud of pitch-black mana materialized around the guard’s head, choking his air intake and crushing his vocal cords. Victor caught the man by his throat, surging dark mana into his pathways to paralyze his muscles.
Victor slammed the guard against the stone wall, releasing a controlled burst of his Tier 4 aura.
The pressure hit the guard like an anvil. Terror flooded his eyes as he trembled violently under the absolute weight of a superior predator.
"I am going to ask you questions," Victor whispered, his voice cold and echoing directly in the guard’s mind. "If you try to scream, lie, or hesitate, I will flood your bloodstream with dark mana and rot your internal organs. Who hired your group?"
"An anonymous cilent!" the guard choked out, his voice a pathetic thread. "We don’t know the real employer! Even the captain... even the Tier 6... he only takes orders through sealed letters from a middleman!"
"What were your exact instructions?"
"To secure the treasures of this dungeon" the guard stammered, tears of terror carving clean lines through the soot on his cheeks. "We were ordered to conquer this newly found dungeon! That’s all I know!"
Victor stared into the guard’s eyes, using his perception to confirm the man wasn’t lying.
The guard didn’t know the name of the object hidden within that vault, but Victor did. They were after the Tears of Ancient Dragons.
A razor-sharp realization settled over Victor. Was this a butterfly effect. This was supposed to be completely unknown dungeon at this point in time.
How?
Victor’s mind spiraled through the possibilities. Had his recent actions rippled far enough outward to cause an unknown variable to stumble upon this ancient record? Was it a statistical anomaly someone else discovering the dungeon independently?
Without more evidence, it was impossible to prove. But the thought made his skin prickle with deadly focus.
"Lyra," Victor commanded quietly. "Bind them both. Drain their mana pools and hide them.Leave them alive."
Ten minutes later, Victor’s group resumed their advance, trailing the main expedition. The trail left behind by the Tier 6 warrior was painted in violence smashed stone constructs, deactivated pressure plates, severed magical tripwires, and the smoking corpses of subterranean beasts. Scorch marks streaked the walls, and the sharp tang of spilled blood perfumed the air.
Victor walked calmly through the carnage, deliberately letting the expedition do the dangerous work.
However, as they effortlessly navigated a treacherous maze of jagged stone without triggering a single trap, the silence within his own group broke.
Kael stopped dead in his tracks, his hand resting tightly on the hilt of his broadsword. He turned around, his jaw locked with suspicion as he stared at Victor. "How are you doing this?
We’re supposed to be in an unmapped dungeon."
"The ambient mana in dungeons flows like water, Kael," Victor answered seamlessly, his expression impassive. "Traps distort the flow living beings disrupt it. I simply read the currents. If you wish to lead us blindly into a pit of spears to prove a point about mapping, feel free."
"That’s absolute bullshit, and you know it" Kael snapped, taking a step forward.
"Kael, that’s enough," Elena interrupted, stepping between them. Her voice was calm, but her sharp eyes fixed on Victor with intense scrutiny. "Victor’s methods may be secretive, but his direction has kept us uninjured and completely undetected. Questioning our guide while we are tailing a Tier 6 threat is tactically foolish."
Kael gritted his teeth, glaring at Victor for a heavy moment before backing down. "Fine. But I’m watching you."
Victor ignored the threat, but as he turned back, his perception caught another anomaly.
Lyra stood silently in the shadows, her eyes fixed on Elena.
A sudden tremor of corrupted mana rippled beneath her skin. Faint black veins briefly pulsed along her neck as raw jealousy surged through her core.
Why does she keep looking at Master?
For a fleeting moment, Lyra’s fingers tightened around the hilt of her rapier.
She could make Elena stop.
The thought appeared naturally, almost instinctively.
But Lyra suppressed it.No.if she acted against Elena without Victor’s permission, he might become displeased with her.She couldn’t risk that.She would endure it.For now. Lyra slowly loosened her grip, forcing the corrupted mana back beneath her skin. Her expression returned to its usual calm, as though nothing had happened.
Victor glanced in her direction for only a moment before turning away.
He hadn’t noticed the change.
Lyra followed silently as he continued deeper into the dungeon.
For now, obedience was more important than jealousy.
Suddenly, the deep bedrock beneath their feet groaned.
Through Fate-Shattering Perception, Victor felt a massive pulse of concentrated mana explode deep within the cavern system ahead. Seconds later, the distant, thundering booms of high-tier combat echoed through the stone walls steel shattering against ancient armor, powerful spells detonating, and heavy, brutal impacts.
"We wait here," Victor instructed smoothly. "Let them finish their fight."
When the sounds of battle finally subsided into silence, Victor led his group forward, creeping along the high, shadowed ridges overlooking the central chamber.
The scale of the chamber was breathtaking a colossal, vaulted amphitheater carved directly into the core of the mountain. Ancient, glowing runes lined the walls, casting a dim twilight over the scene. At the far end stood a gigantic stone gate etched with intricate, primordial formations.
Below them, the remnants of the expedition were gathered near the edge of the floor. They were battered several Tier 2s were dead, the Tier 3s were heavily wounded, and even the Tier 6 warrior was breathing heavily, his armor scorched and dented from fighting the guardians.
Driven by impatience, the Tier 6 warrior gripped his heavy broadsword and marched directly toward the sealed stone gate.
The moment his boot crossed the carved perimeter line, the entire dungeon answered.
The ancient formations along the walls exploded with a blinding, golden luminescence. The ambient mana in the room snapped taut, crushing down on everyone present with unbearable weight. The mercenaries collapsed to their knees, gasping for breath.
From the high, vaulted ceiling, a deep, resonant voice echoed across the hall a voice carrying the cold, unyielding power of an ancient era.
"Those who seek the inheritance must prove their worth."
Victor leaned back into the shadows of the ridge, his cold eyes fixed on the glowing gate and the trapped expedition below.
The first trial had begun.