Ethan kept up the explanation as they ran.

"Once this place is activated, a new raid portal will appear in every major city. Of course, every region has a similar dormant location. If one is activated elsewhere, the raid will open globally for all regions."

He paused, vaulting over a low ledge. "This raid isn't for gear drops. It's a challenge dungeon. You can run it solo or as a team. The faster you clear it, the more experience you get. Think of it as a competitive speed-run for leveling. But the reward isn't just XP. There's a points system. Points can be exchanged for gems…"

He looked back at the team. "This place is essentially the key that unlocks the gem socketing system for Ethereal."

He still had a pile of those beast cores from the Sea of Death in his pack, all automatically converted by the system into socketable gems.

"Wait, it unlocks gem socketing?" someone blurted out.

"At this stage, would that even matter?"

"Probably not. We haven't seen a single gem drop yet. It shouldn't affect the Fortress Wars balance."

The group was surprised. They hadn't realized this forgotten hole was tied to a core game system.

"Then why are we here? To stop them?" Victor brought the discussion back on point.

"Stop them?" Ethan chuckled dryly. He reached into his storage and pulled out a handful of glittering objects. "Take a look at these." He motioned for each of them to take one.

"Holy… a Tier 2 gem… 'Increases all damage dealt by 1%'…!" Leo exclaimed, holding up a purple stone.

"Mine's Tier 2 too. 'Reduces all damage taken by 0.5%,'" Williams said, inspecting a yellow one.

"Gimme that! Let's swap!" Leo snatched the yellow gem from Williams and shoved the purple one into his hand.

The others examined their own gems, trading around. There were gems for healing, defense, physical damage, magic damage. Ethan had pulled out one of each type. He didn't stop the trading, nor did he mention he had stacks of them back in his vault. Everyone understood Ethan's "inventory" was in a league of its own.

"Boss, then why are we here? Shouldn't we let them open it? I doubt there are more than a handful of these gems in the entire world right now. Once they activate it, we just find a Master Forger to socket our gear. Our power would skyrocket!" Evelyn asked, clutching a beautiful blue gem. She, Kiara, and Lyla were particularly taken with their stones, admiring them like jewelry rather than combat enhancements.

"Our goal isn't to stop them," Ethan said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "It's to beat them to the eighth level. Once inside, we destroy the Gem Inhibitor. When it shatters for the first time, it drops something special. A world-first, unique drop."

"What is it? Must be insane for you to go through all this trouble," Leeroy chimed in, ever the pragmatist. "Just getting down here cost us ten Shrinking Potions each. At eighty silver a pop, that's eight gold per person just for one layer. Ten of us? Eighty gold, gone." He winced visibly. The guy was notoriously frugal. The mental math—nearly 97k in real-world cash burned just on potions for a single descent—clearly pained him.

His miserly whining drew laughter from the others.

"Relax, you won't be footing the bill. Go see Celia for reimbursement later," Victor said with a grin. The Chase siblings weren't used to high-stakes ops like this. On regular guild runs, basics were covered, but special consumables came out of pocket. Ethan had told everyone to stock up before coming here for this very reason.

Leeroy's face immediately brightened at the mention of an expense account.

Ethan answered his original question. "The Inhibitor drops a 'Truce Edict.' How's that sound?"

"A Truce Edict?" Markham scoffed. "What's so great about that? You can buy those in the Guild Hall shop."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Ethan shot back. "The shop version only blocks new guild declarations. It's useless if you're already under attack, and if you use it preemptively, the enemy just waits it out. Total waste."

"Then what's this one do?" Markham persisted.

"This isn't a consumable. It has a cooldown. When activated, it nullifies all active declarations of war against your guild." Ethan paused for effect. "More importantly, for its duration, it renders every fortress, city, and holding under your guild's banner… completely invulnerable."

Silence fell over the team channel.

"Damn… that's insane," Markham finally breathed. "Get that, and we can hit anyone we want while they can't touch us. Sweet…"

"Pfft. Short-sighted as always," Leo cut in. "That's not what the Boss is thinking."

"Don't 'pfft' me! If you're so smart, you explain it!" The two resident loudmouths were at it again.

Ethan cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem… Leo's right this time. Getting it isn't about us using it. That would be a waste. With the Fortress Defense System blueprints I brought back, who could break our walls right now anyway?" He let the question hang. "What I want is to make sure no one else can get it. If a rival guild got their hands on this first, how are we supposed to 'persuade' them to see things our way?"

The true objective clicked into place for everyone. Their eyes lit up with predatory glee.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go deeper!"

During their conversation, they'd already reached the third layer via another fissure Ethan located, using more Shrinking Potions to descend. This one wasn't on a wall. He didn't pause at the third or fourth, leading them steadily downward.

Finally, at the fifth layer, Ethan landed and immediately shifted into Bear Form.

They stood in a vast, sprawling ruin. Jagged rock formations thrust from the ground like broken teeth, and the earth was carpeted with bleached, skeletal remains. A palpable chill, thick with necromantic energy, washed over them.

Crack.

One of the skeletons twitched. It slowly pushed itself up from the debris.

Then another. And another.

Countless dry bones reassembled and rose from the ground. They came in all sizes: short, stout frames that must have been dwarves in life; hulking forms clutching massive bone clubs, remnants of giants; and various quadrupedal shapes, beasts of some forgotten age, now unidentifiable in their skeletal state.

But regardless of their origin, they all shared one title floating above their bony heads: [Skeleton Champion].

They hadn't encountered a single monster on the upper layers. The fifth layer presented the first real threat: Skeleton Champions. The first four layers were supposedly populated by weaker Skeleton Grunts. Ethan knew this layout well. In the future, these very skeletons would be standard mobs in the experience speed-run raid.

The lore here spoke of an ancient battlefield where countless souls from myriad races perished in a cataclysmic war. Their bones remained, steeped in death and resentment. The moment they sensed the breath of the living, they stirred back to a facsimile of life, viewing all intruders as defilers of their eternal rest.

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