The chamber opened wide.

Stone arches stacked atop one another, rising in tiers like the ribs of a buried cathedral. Thick pillars supported vaulted ceilings, their surfaces slick with frost and age. At the center of the room sat a low stone platform, half-buried in ice and wax-dripped candles long since extinguished.

Jay lifted the lantern, light washing across the lower level.

Empty.

Ryn's gaze slid upward.

The lantern light didn't reach the upper arches.

But his eyes did.

Dark shapes crouched along the ledges above, nestled between the stone pillars and dark alcoves.

"Jay," Ryn said quietly. "Kill the light."

Jay stiffened. "What?"

"Now."

Jay shuttered the lantern just as a low sound rippled through the chamber.

A rumble.

The shadows moved.

Pale eyes ignited across the upper tiers—one pair, then another, then dozens.

Frost hounds.

Their bodies were lean and corded, fur crusted with ice, claws dug deep into the stone, leaving imprints each step they took.

Cold vapor leaked from their mouths, drifting downward like mist from a frozen lake.

Jay swallowed. "…They're above us."

One hound stepped forward onto the edge of the arch.

Paused.

Then jumped.

Ryn was already moving.

Unsheathing Snow from his belt, he moved in the shadows, just barely out of earshot of the wolves.

Then, two more hounds jumped down, as if acting like a scouting party while the rest stayed up on the arches.

The nearest hound turned its head.

Too late.

Ryn struck once.

Snow passed cleanly through its neck, the blade leaving behind a razor-thin line of frost before the body collapsed soundlessly onto the stone.

A perfect kill.

The remaining two froze.

Not in fear, but recalculation.

They sprang apart instantly, abandoning their formation, claws finding stone as they leapt backward toward the pillars.

Ryn didn't chase.

He straightened slowly, blade low, breath steady.

Jay stared, wide-eyed. "…It just—"

"Stay quiet," Ryn murmured.

One darted left, low and fast, claws skimming the stone. The other stayed back, waiting for an opening.

The charging hound lunged. Ryn stepped inside its reach and drove the blade upward, clean and precise. Frost bloomed across its throat as the body collapsed at his feet.

The last hound hesitated.

That was the mistake.

Ryn crossed the distance in two strides and ended it with a single downward cut. The blade passed through fur and bone without resistance.

Silence returned to the chamber.

"…They're weak," he realized.

Jay blinked. "Yeah…they look kinda weak."

He looked down at the bodies. The cuts had gone through too easily. No reinforced bones nor hardened hide that he expected from monsters up in the Isles where—

Whatever thought had been forming vanished as shapes detached from the arches above. This time, five hounds leapt down, snarling as they hit the floor and spread out around him.

The dungeon didn't give him time to finish the thought.

Two surged forward together this time, one high and one low, forcing Ryn to retreat instead of counter.

Claws snapped past his throat as he twisted aside, boots skidding across the frost-slick stone.

They were faster now.

Smarter.

Ryn didn't swing.

Another hound lunged from his blind side. Ryn ducked under it, letting the jaws snap shut on empty air as he slid between stone pillars, forcing the pack to adjust their spacing.

He kept moving, waiting for the right timing to present itself. And it did.

Two hounds pressed him again, their timing staggered just enough to prevent a clean counter. Ryn let the first pass, twisting his shoulders to avoid the bite, then dipped under the second as claws raked sparks from the stone where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.

For an instant, they overlapped.

That was all he needed.

Ryn stepped in and drove Snow forward in a single, decisive thrust. The blade pierced through the first hound and into the second behind it, frost erupting along the steel as both bodies went rigid.

They collapsed together.

The remaining three didn't hesitate now.

Ryn adjusted his stance.

The left hound lunged first, fast and shallow, meant to draw his blade. Ryn shifted his weight and let it pass, Snow barely moving as claws scraped sparks from the stone where his leg had been.

The second struck immediately after.

Ryn pivoted, parrying the snap of its jaws with the flat of the blade, frost flashing as he redirected its momentum into a pillar. Stone cracked as the hound hit hard and staggered.

The third took that moment.

It charged straight in, teeth bared, going for his center mass.

Ryn moved to intercept, but a fraction too late.

Claws raked across his side, tearing through cloth and skin in a burning line before he could fully turn. Pain flared sharp and immediate.

[HP: 136/150]

Ryn hissed and twisted away, boots skidding as he put distance between them.

Blood darkened the frost beneath him.

Jay sucked in a breath. "Ryn—!"

"I'm fine," Ryn snapped, even as his jaw clenched.

However, one of the hounds got impatient, as it charged before the other two could regroup. He stepped forward instead of back, swinging his blade in a tight arc, severing the hound mid-lunge.

Two left.

They retreated together, their eyes flicked to their fallen comrades before charging.

He waited.

The hound on the right committed first.

Ryn used his blade to parry its attack, flicking its maw upward. Its body was exposed, letting Ryn deliver an Essence-filled punch right into its stomach.

The impact was brutal.

The hound was launched across the hall, slamming into a nearby pillar hard enough to crack stone. The structure toppled, and the creature went limp beneath it.

One left.

The last hound lunged in desperation.

Ryn barely had to move.

With Aquila's guidance sharpening his perception, he read the trajectory and set his blade in place. The hound impaled itself on the thrust, momentum carrying it forward before it fell still.

It was over.

Ryn exhaled and dropped to one knee, resting his weight against the blade. The wound on his side burned, but it was manageable. What concerned him was his stamina.

Fighting so many hounds, back to back, without pause, was taking its toll.

And the dungeon hadn't let him rest yet.

Stone scraped violently overhead.

Ryn lifted his vision.

The final group made its move, jumping down toward the bottom floor to confront him.

Jay's breath hitched. "Ryn, there's too many—what do we do?!"

Ryn didn't answer right away.

His chest rose and fell once. Twice.

Seven.

If he had some kind of technique or some wide-area magic, this would be a piece of cake.

His jaw tightened.

Damn it.

The hounds advanced in a slow, tightening circle, forcing him back toward the center platform. Snow hummed uneasily at his side, frost pulsing sharper with each step.

Jay's voice cracked. "Ryn!"

"I know," Ryn said quietly.

Then, something clicked in his head. He did have something to deal with this pack.

Orion.

Ryn had always used it against a single enemy, using Orion's penetrating power to counter hard exterior shells. But he never thought to use it against a group.

However, there was one problem…They had to line up somehow.

"Jay! Distract them for a bit!"

Jay stared at him. "Distract—what does that—"

"NOW!"

The hounds were already moving, muscles coiling as they closed the distance. Jay didn't think, he just reacted. He ignited the lantern and raised it high, shouting:

"HEY! OVER HERE!"

The response was instant.

Seven heads snapped toward him in unison.

The pack broke formation.

They surged forward together, claws tearing across stone as they charged the loudest, brightest target in the room.

Jay yelped and scrambled back, barely keeping his footing. "RYN, I REALLY HOPE YOU HAVE A PLAN—"

"I do," Ryn said.

He stepped back deliberately, guiding his retreat toward the narrow gap between two pillars. The hounds followed instinctively, bodies compressing as the space tightened, their rush turning from a wide encirclement into a single, violent funnel.

The hounds lunged, all their maws collapsing on Jay's location. Jay raised his hand, bracing himself for the inevitable.

But it never came.

[Aquila – Burst Step]

[MP: 90/110]

Ryn burst sideways in a violent surge of speed, repositioning in a blink as the charging pack thundered past where he'd been standing.

He planted his foot, turned—

Seven bodies. One line.

[Orion.]

[MP: 65/110]

The arrow of light shimmered in the dark and launched. It pierced the first hound, then the next, then the next—Orion's force compounding as it punched straight through fur, bone, and frozen muscle.

Bodies collapsed in a staggered chain, hitting the floor one after another.

Silence followed.

Ryn stood there for a heartbeat, letting his breath catch up.

Jay lay sprawled nearby, staring at the fallen hounds, chest heaving.

"…You owe me. A nice, hot meal," he panted.

Ryn huffed out a breath, half pain, half relief.

"Yeah."

Then the chamber reacted.

A deep thrum rolled through the stone beneath their feet. Across the chamber, the far wall split down the middle.

Behind them—

The stairs began to move.

Jay spun around. "Wait—"

Stone slabs pressed upward from below, sliding into place with brutal finality. The passage they'd come from vanished as the ceiling sealed shut, cutting off the way back entirely.

The sound echoed through the chamber like a verdict.

Jay swallowed. "…It locked us in."

Ryn watched the last seam disappear, expression unreadable.

The dungeon wasn't giving them a choice anymore. It didn't care whether they were ready.

Only that they had to continue.

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