Still, he decided he'd need to acquire more of that gear eventually. Not to sell, but to outfit his core team. In the Survivor Faction territories, the number of pitch-black dungeon areas was only going to increase. Having Dark Vision equipment would be a massive advantage.

Right now, his team was like a special ops squad equipped with night-vision goggles. Ethan doubted that anyone among the tens of thousands down here had similar gear. That was one of the key reasons he'd chosen this place.

They were reapers in the dark.

The enemy would have light sources, of course—like the firestarter in Markham's hand. But that just made them perfect targets. Especially with Lyla on their side. Without Dark Vision, her sniping would be severely hampered, requiring her to step into the light to aim. Now, however, she'd swapped out almost all her gear, keeping only her legendary bow, Frostbound Reverie. Her vision was now the clearest of them all, almost as good as being in daylight.

"Let's move," Ethan said. He didn't need the Dark Vision gear himself; he simply shifted into Panther Form. His vision sharpened instantly to normal clarity. He stood still for a moment, scanning the surroundings, dredging up memories from his past life to overlay on the current map. After orienting himself, he signaled the group and set off at a swift pace.

Guards would be back to fill the vacancy soon, but they'd grown used to Markham's periodic harassment raids. They'd become desensitized, writing him off as a lone psychopath who killed for fun, utterly unaware of the larger scheme below. They had no idea this was all part of Ethan's plan to lull them into a false sense of security.

"Boss, the entrance to the second level isn't this way, is it? I thought it was over there," Markham piped up after they'd been moving for a while. He'd been down here many times, running around chaotically, and had even found—and killed at—the second-level entrance. He knew his own limits, though; his burst-damage style had a long cooldown, making sustained fights a bad idea. He'd been soundly thrashed on the second level before and had to beat a hasty retreat.

"Stop talking and run faster! Boss is too fast, don't fall behind!" Leo, right behind him and nearly crashing into his back, grumbled. He was hauling his massive Cask and a staff.

"Ugh," Markham grumbled, offended at being snapped at after trying to help. His mouth, however, quickly shifted gears. "Look at you, lugging that shit barrel. You planning to act as a poop collector? I thought you were a Shield Tank, not a latrine cleaner."

Markham's tongue was as sharp as his sword. The same thought had crossed several minds, but he was the one who voiced it. A few stifled snorts and chuckles came from the group, and someone nearly tripped over their own feet.

"Damn you! This is a Cosmos Cask! It's my weapon, you jackass! Looking for a beating?" Leo fumed, his face reddening. The truth was, the moment he'd completed his Ascension Quest, his gear had transformed. His former Dark Gold shield had morphed into this barrel, and his Gold-tier short blade into the staff with its chain and hook. The two pieces could combine into a single complex weapon. His very first thought upon seeing the transformation had been exactly what Markham just said, which only infuriated him more. The combined setup did, admittedly, look suspiciously like a sanitation tool.

"You two, shut it and get over here, quietly!" Ethan's voice cut through the team channel, instantly silencing the bickering pair. His authority was absolute.

The group caught up to him where he stood before a rough stone wall. It was marred by a twisting, hairline fissure, as if damaged by age.

"Everyone have their Shrinking Potions?" Ethan had distributed comprehensive lists of essential potions and functional consumables to the team long ago. They were lifelines.

"Boss, you're not thinking of going down there, are you?" Markham asked, eyeing the crack.

Ethan nodded.

"Where does it lead?" Kiara Quinn peered into the darkness below, apprehension clear in her voice.

"Second level," Ethan stated simply, downed his potion, and jumped.

Lyla was nervous too—it was a dark, unknown void—but without a word or much hesitation, she followed him down.

The fall was short. After a moment of darkness, they landed on a small ledge where Ethan was already waiting. He pointed to another fissure below, indicating the next jump. After a few more precise, guided drops…

They landed, and their maps updated: Uncharted Catacombs – Second Level.

"Whoa…"

The group looked around. This wasn't near any wall; the tiny hole they'd emerged from was a crack in the second level's ceiling. Who would have guessed this fissure connected directly to the first level? No one in their right mind would drink a Shrinking Potion on the first level and just leap into a random crack. Moreover, Ethan's chosen angles and landing points were precise, each fall calculated to be just shy of the distance that would cause fall damage according to the system. A tiny bit higher, and it would have been lethal. Yet, he'd nailed it perfectly. No one took a single point of damage.

"Boss, that's insane," Leo muttered, giving a thumbs-up.

They had just bypassed all second-level entrance guards entirely. The enemy force of tens of thousands would have every conventional entrance covered. They'd never imagine an alternate route like this existed.

"Do we keep going down?" Victor asked.

Ethan nodded. "The second level's clear too. They're deeper. Hopefully, they haven't reached the seventh yet." He checked his bearings. "This way."

Victor pressed, "Is the seventh the final layer?"

"No, it's the second-to-last. But this specific passage only goes down to the eighth. Move, this way." Having confirmed the direction, Ethan urged them forward.

"So, what is this place exactly?" someone asked, noticing Ethan's apparent familiarity with the layout.

"This," Ethan explained as they moved, "is a dormant dungeon. Once activated, it becomes the highest-level raid available before you hit level sixty."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.