Maera looked at the remains of the shattered hobgoblin and the team around her. Her tired lips curved into a grin.

"Yeah…" she said softly. "We won. Finally."

But their victory was short-lived.

"GUYSSS!!!"

Everyone turned—Lirael came running, panic flooding her voice. She held a floating bag… a bag that was moving on its own.

At first, some students didn't understand, but Ron, Lia, Jax, and Selene immediately froze—recognizing it. It was her bag.

And inside that bag… was the joined crystal.

The moment they realized, the bag started to float higher, jerking violently. The blue crystal that had fallen from the hobgoblin's chest began to glow in response, lifting into the air as if pulled by some unseen force.

"Stop them from merging!" Maera shouted, her voice sharp.

She and Aurelian rushed toward the floating blue crystal, grabbing hold and trying to pull it back. At the same time, Ron, Lia, and Selene caught the bag, each pulling with all their strength.

But the joined crystal ripped through the bag's fabric like it was nothing, gleaming in midair before slowly drifting toward the blue one.

"Come on!!" Maera growled, her muscles straining as she and Aurelian fought to hold it back. But the blue crystal moved effortlessly, ignoring their resistance as if their strength meant nothing.

"Try to destroy it!" Maera yelled.

"NO!!" Lirael screamed back, panic in her eyes. "We don't know what will happen if we destroy them—it could be as bad as them joining!"

Ron shouted, "Can we even destroy them?!"

Maera's teeth clenched. Her arms trembled as the glow intensified.

Despite everyone's desperate efforts, the crystals continued to draw together—slow, unstoppable, deliberate.

And then—

BOOM!

A shockwave exploded outward as the two neared, throwing everyone to the ground. Dust and light filled the chamber. When the air cleared, a shimmering barrier surrounded the crystals, rippling like liquid glass.

Inside, the blue crystal floated toward a narrow gap in the joined one—as if it had always been meant to fit there.

No one could move. All they could do was watch.

And then—

THUD!

The crystals merged.

Red. Green. Blue. Their colors remained distinct, yet bound together seamlessly along sharp glowing lines, forming a spinning, dual-cone shape—like a perfect equilibrium of chaos.

It began to rotate faster and faster, humming with power, until—

SHHHHAAAAA!!!

An intense, pure white light erupted, filling the entire dungeon.

The students shielded their eyes, screams echoing in the brightness. The air itself seemed to vibrate—space bending, mana flaring uncontrollably.

And in that blinding radiance… something began to form.

As the blinding light faded, everyone squinted against the lingering glow.

Where the merged crystals had once spun violently, now hovered a shimmering white crystal, streaked faintly with red, blue, and green glints, shaped like a perfect dicone. It had stopped rotating—yet it pulsed with life, a steady hum filling the dungeon like a heartbeat.

Jax, still sitting on the ground with his guns hanging at his sides, sighed wearily.

"…What now?"

The moment the words left his mouth—

RUMBLE.

The floor trembled. Then the walls. Dust fell from the ceiling as cracks snaked through the stone.

Ron groaned, "You just had to say it…"

Jax blinked, confused. "What did I do?!"

But before anyone could answer, a new light shimmered in the far distance of the dungeon corridor.

It flickered… brighter and purer than the first.

And then—out of the haze—appeared another white crystal, almost identical but glowing with a sharper brilliance.

It hovered silently, humming in sync with the first one.

Maera's eyes widened.

Aurelian's grip on his sword tightened.

"Not again…!!!" he shouted.

The two crystals began to drift toward each other, drawn by some invisible force.

As they moved, the entire dungeon quaked—stone tiles cracking, stalactites breaking loose and shattering against the floor.

Students stumbled, panic rising in their voices.

"What's happening?!"

"Why is it shaking again?!"

"Are they trying to merge again!?"

Maera clenched her fists, stepping forward.

Her instincts screamed danger, but the sight of her classmates struggling pushed that thought aside.

She crouched, ready to leap toward the crystals.

"I don't care what happens," she hissed, eyes fierce. "I'm not letting it happen again!"

But just as she was about to jump—

ROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!

A deafening roar echoed from the tunnel they had entered from.

Everyone turned.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of goblins and wild boars poured into the chamber, eyes glowing faintly blue, their bodies twitching with strange energy. They were feral, attacking one another in confusion and frenzy.

Some turned toward the students, shrieking and charging madly.

"Damn it…!" Maera spat, landing back beside Aurelian and Ron. "They're being drawn here?!"

Aurelian raised his sword again, eyes darting between the monsters and the glowing crystals.

Selene, breathing heavily, tried to stand and prepare another rune circle.

The dungeon rumbled louder.

The two crystals floated closer—only a few meters apart now.

The light between them sparked violently.

The orange sky painted on the dungeon walls began to fracture—thin, glowing white cracks spreading like veins across the ceiling and floor.

With every tremor, another shard of light split open the air, humming with a sound that didn't belong in this world.

"Kreeeeeeeaaahhh!!"

The goblins—already frenzied—grew even wilder. Their movements turned erratic, unpredictable. They tore at one another, at the rampaging wild boars, at anything that moved. Blood splattered across the trembling ground as chaos consumed the entire boss chamber.

Maera crushed a goblin's skull under her heel, her claws dripping red, and spun toward the glowing cracks.

"What the hell is happening!?" she shouted, slashing down another creature that lunged from behind.

Selene, her body trembling and pale, was crouched low beside a jax who couldn't fight right now . She drew a single orange rune circle midair—small, efficient.

A flicker of light burst out, blasting a goblin that had gotten too close.

Her breathing was shallow, but she forced her voice out, "From what I can see… those two crystals—they are the dungeon's core!

But there shouldn't be two dungeon core in a single dungeon."

She pointed toward the center, where the merged dicone crystal spun faintly amid the growing cracks.

"..And maybe that's why they are merging and their merger… it's tearing the dungeon apart!"

Lirael, firing a blast of radiant light to push back another wave of beasts, shouted over the chaos, "If the dungeon collapses while we're still inside—we'll all be destroyed with it!"

That sentence alone froze several students mid-battle.

Panic spread like wildfire.

"What—destroyed?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"How do we get out?!"

Screams echoed across the collapsing chamber as chunks of glowing debris fell from above.

Members of Class Caelis tried desperately to remain composed, several of them pressing their hands together to focus.

Tranquil Veil—!

Iron Pulse—!

But the techniqurle faltered. Their mana wavered, their rhythm broken by fear. The air was too heavy, unstable—too full of that strange white energy bleeding from the cracks.

And for the first time since entering the dungeon… even Class Caelis felt their composure slipping.

The pressure.

The fear of death .

The dread of an ending they couldn't control.

Ron gritted his teeth, gripping his spear tighter. "This isn't good… if this keeps up, the entire structure's gonna collapse,shouldn't there be a exit after we defeated boss..?!"

Maera snarled, tearing down another goblin. "Then we better find one fast!"

The world around them shook again—louder this time.

And then… a low hum resonated from the two merging crystals.

The cracks in the sky flared white—

—before everything stopped moving for just a heartbeat.

A stillness so deep it felt unreal.

Then the ground split.

Ron's eye widened,

It's too late..!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

.

.

.

A blinding white light swallowed the entire boss chamber—

its brilliance so fierce that even the walls seemed to tremble under its radiance.

For a few long seconds, there was nothing but silence and the echo of power fading into the air.

Then, slowly… the light began to recede.

Dust floated through the air like faint silver mist.

Maera's lashes trembled as her eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry at first.

She coughed softly, her voice hoarse.

"…Am I… dead?"

Her own question lingered in the air—

but then, she felt it.

Her heartbeat.

Steady. Warm. Real.

"No…" she whispered, placing a trembling hand on her chest.

"I'm alive…"

A rush of emotion hit her all at once—relief, disbelief, and confusion mixing together.

Beside her, Ron groaned, rubbing his head, while Lia slowly pushed herself up from the cracked floor.

Their eyes darted around the ruined boss chamber until they froze on something above.

"Professor Zane…!!!?" they shouted in unison, voices filled with shock and relief.

Maera blinked, confused, and lifted her gaze toward where they were looking.

And then her breath caught.

Up above, high in the shattered ceiling of the boss chamber,

two dungeon cores hovered side by side—each radiating its own color, its own power—

and yet, they were being drawn together by some unseen force.

They trembled violently, ready to merge into something far more dangerous.

But there, standing between them, was a lone figure.

A man with a grey long coat fluttering in the residual mana storm,

one hand gripping each core as arcs of wild energy spiraled around him.

His expression was calm—almost serene—despite the raw chaos roaring around him.

The light from the cores bathed his face, revealing the unmistakable figure.

Their professor.

Zane Creed.

Maera's lips parted in disbelief.

"He's… holding them apart…?" she whispered.

Even through the surging mana, the realization struck her like thunder—

Zane wasn't just surviving the unstable cores…

He was controlling them.

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