"That wasn't its main body," Bruce muttered, fists clenching. "Just a fragment… a scout."

The implication was heavy.

If a mere splinter of its soul could do this, then the true Invader was on an entirely different level.

Bruce looked around the ruined dungeon, jaw tightening.

"…I need to get stronger. Fast."

His eyes hardened.

"What if the boss beast had been just a little stronger when it possessed it?"

The thought lingered.

And for the first time since coming to Velmora,

Bruce felt urgency.

He let out a slow breath, the heat-scarred dungeon still faintly steaming around him. "Where's the location of this dungeon's rune stone?" he asked quietly.

[Move to the other end,] Vaelith replied at once. [The point where the possessed beast emerged.]

Bruce turned and moved without hesitation, boots crunching softly against scorched stone. The further he walked, the quieter the dungeon became, as if even the echoes had been burned away. Soon, at the far end of the ravaged space, he spotted it, a green gemstone embedded in a fractured pedestal. It was smaller than a labyrinth core, duller, lacking the grandeur of a true dungeon heart.

No beam of light erupted.

No grand announcement echoed.

Instead, the gemstone pulsed once, and a faint countdown rune began to form across its surface.

Self-destruction.

Bruce wouldn't be lying if he said he wasn't hoping this was a labyrinth...

Bruce sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "…Figures."

Then he tilted his head slightly and spoke inwardly, almost casually. "Axiom. I have food for you."

A low, distant growl echoed in his mind, curious, wary, unmistakably lupine.

'Food?'

Bruce couldn't help the faint smile that tugged at his lips. "Yes. Food. There's a dungeon waiting for you to devour."

The response was immediate.

Excitement surged through the bond, raw and instinctive, like a starving beast catching the scent of blood. The air around Bruce rippled faintly as Axiom answered the call.

He opened his palm.

Space folded.

Axiom appeared, its bucket-sized, diamond-shaped core rotating slowly, runes glimmering across its facets. It hovered for a heartbeat, then shot forward eagerly, merging with the green dungeon stone in a flash of pale light.

The moment contact was made, the entire space shook.

Mana surged violently as the dungeon's remaining structure was seized and consumed, the self-destruction runes unraveling and dissolving as Axiom asserted dominance. The walls groaned, spatial layers peeling apart and folding inward as the dungeon was stripped down to its essence.

Bruce remained still, unperturbed. Vaelith had already assured him it was safe.

Still, he couldn't help but sigh regretfully. "Apart from this ruin stone… I really gained nothing from this dungeon."

His gaze flicked to the scorched wasteland around him.

"If I want resources from beasts, I really need to stop spamming Vitality Collapse," he muttered. "That skill is just… too destructive."

A notification flickered briefly before his eyes.

[Your subordinate Axiom is devouring an A-Ranked Mantis Dungeon.]

The space trembled one last time.

Then,

The world shifted.

Bruce felt the familiar sensation of spatial transition wash over him, gentle and controlled. When his vision cleared, he found himself standing within Axiom's Abyssal Wolf Nest, the cold, mana-rich air of the labyrinth enveloping him instantly.

The contrast was jarring.

Where the mantis dungeon had been lifeless and scorched, this place pulsed with quiet vitality. Snow-dusted stone, towering trees infused with mana, distant howls echoing faintly through the expanse.

A figure approached.

Bruce's clone stepped forward, identical in every detail, and bowed respectfully.

"Are you done?" Bruce asked simply.

The clone nodded once.

"Good," Bruce replied. "Handle the cleanup on the outside. I don't want traces of that dungeon lingering longer than necessary."

The clone bowed again and dissolved into motes of light, already moving to execute the order.

Bruce turned his attention inward. "Axiom. Show me your current status."

The response came smoothly.

The labyrinth responded.

He didn't need to read every detail to understand what had happened. The three regions, snow, forest, and mountain, had all been repopulated. New beasts roamed the land, each one bound by absolute loyalty to him. The ecosystem had stabilized faster than expected, the newly absorbed dungeon space seamlessly integrated into Axiom's domain.

Bruce nodded slowly.

"…Good job."

Another subtle sensation brushed against him.

Shadow wolves.

A fresh stock had been formed within the labyrinth, replacing the ones that had died protecting him earlier. He felt their presence, silent, patient, waiting within the shadows.

Bruce's expression grew thoughtful.

His battle against the mantises and the Invader had made one thing painfully clear.

He couldn't afford to fight alone.

The shadow wolves weren't just expendable shields. Their timing, positioning, and absolute loyalty had saved his life. Against enemies that could steal force, momentum, even intent, having bodies willing to die without hesitation was invaluable.

"…I should always have shadow wolves with me," he said quietly. "Their abilities are too useful."

His gaze hardened slightly.

Especially now.

Because even though the dungeon was gone,

Even though the Invader's fragment had been destroyed,

Bruce knew one thing for certain.

That Cthulhu-like being had feared Soul Shatter.

Not the explosion.

Not the heat.

Not the force.

It feared what his Heal could do to souls.

And that meant the next time they met,

The real body would be ready.

Bruce clenched his fist slowly.

"I really do need to get stronger," he murmured.

The labyrinth remained silent.

But somewhere far beyond Velmora,

Something remembered his name.

....

In a place far removed from Velmora, so distant that even the concept of its existence could not reach there, darkness reigned without form or boundary.

There was no sky.

No ground.

Only an endless void saturated with slow-moving currents of red and black energy, thick and oppressive, as if reality itself had congealed.

Within that abyss, something stirred.

A presence the size of a miniature planet drifted silently through the void, its colossal form wrapped in writhing shadows. Monstrous red-black aura bled endlessly from it, corroding the space around it, leaving behind fractures that healed only because even the void feared remaining broken for too long.

Then,

Its eyes opened.

Two beady orbs of deep crimson ignited in the darkness, glowing ominously as awareness returned. The surrounding aura surged violently, waves of pressure rolling outward like the wake of an awakening god.

At the center of that immense mass, countless tentacles coiled and uncoiled within a cavernous maw. They shifted and writhed in slow, unnatural rhythms, scraping against one another with a wet, grating sound.

The being inhaled.

The void trembled.

When it spoke, its voice was hoarse and distorted, like a smoker's rasp amplified to a cosmic scale, each word layered with echoes that did not belong to a single throat.

A faint crack ran through the sound, not from weakness, but from restrained fury.

"Interesting…"

The word drifted outward, carrying with it cold amusement and something far darker.

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