“Looks like it was on purpose,” Suri murmured as their footsteps echoed through the narrow tunnels. Her tone was thoughtful, but her eyes were sharp, scanning the dark. “The Great Bees have a weak point on their backs?”

  Kana nodded. “Right. The joint where their wings connect—it’s thinner than the rest of their armor.”

  Suri continued, piecing the battlefield together in her mind. “After the initial assault, when the swarm pulled back to bring the dead bodies back to that deep tunnel, the main force struck. They expected it. Hit them with different magic skills—fire, frost, lightning. Halved the swarm in a single volley.”

  Lett’s fists tremble. Her eyes were raw, streaked from crying, though her tears had already dried. “They’ll pay.” Her voice cracked like stone under pressure.

  Opel shifted, rolling his bruised shoulder with a grimace. The puncture wound he’d taken was already closing, knitting back under the faint shimmer of clerical healing. “Ban might still be alive. Tanks are hard to kill.”

  He forced a grin, pointing at his injury. “Look—already better.”

  Kana didn’t answer. She knew better. She had felt Ban’s body as they slipped away from her [High Awareness]. His chest hadn’t risen. Not breathing any longer. But speaking that truth now might result in Lett's mental breakdown. She filed the thought away, locking it deep. Survive first. Grieve later.

  The group froze. A faint hum of wings zipped through the air.

  Boris raised his torch, light spilling across the tunnel. A shadow darted into the glow—a Great Bee, smaller than the others, its chitin dull, wings moving in erratic patterns.

  “That’s a Builder Great Bee,” Asha whispered. “Rare to see one. They’re weak, but they’re the ones that lay down magi—”

  [Fireball]

  The spell roared past them. It struck the Builder squarely, engulfing it in flames. The insect screeched once before collapsing in a twitching heap.

  Lett lowered her smoking hand, her voice sharp and brittle. “These monsters don’t get to live as well.”

  “Lett.” Asha laid a steady hand on her shoulder, her tone firm but not unkind. “I understand. But if you're not being careful, we’ll have another swarm on us. If Bann’s still alive, he’ll never see you again if you’re reckless now.”

  Lett’s jaw tightened. She sucked in a long, trembling breath. “…Sorry.”

  Suri tilted her head, squinting into the dark ahead. “No movement. But I’ve marked the path behind us. If we turn back, we can find our way.”

  Kana’s hand brushed the bow at her side, her voice calm but decisive. “No. We keep moving forward. Going back means crossing paths with the main force—and that’s far more dangerous.”

  The torchlight flickered against the tunnel walls as they pressed on, their silence heavier than the stone above them.

  ….

  Their group took a break and sat on the uneven stone of the cave.

  “Your skill can see what is happening back in that area, right?” Lett said as she locked her eyes on Suri,”..Can you please tell me if Bann is still alive? Or my whole party?”

  “Willie and Lauren are heavily injured but alive.” Suri said, “But Bann. I can’t see his body anywhere.”

  Lett didn’t say anything, just whimpered. Because the dead bodies were food. Food for the Great Queen Bee.

  “Strange.” Suri said,”The main force is helping them.”

  “Looks like our role is a bait.” Opel said,”They are not as bad as I thought since they did not end their life.”

  “I don’t think the Kergastel House will do that.” Kana said,”But we can make a formal complaint. Purposely putting someone as sacrifice or bait is not allowed according to the kingdom’s law.”

  Asha smirked, “Kana, I don’t think you tried to make a formal complaint letter to the king before.”

  “It will never arrive at the hands of the king.” Opel said, “They would probably burn it as soon as you deliver it to the castle.”

  “Unless. You are close to King J.” Asha chuckled,”I don’t think anyone in this room has ever seen the shadow of the king.”

  “This is unfair treatment.” Kana said.

  “How about Duke Stark?” Boris suggested, voice low but carrying an odd kind of hope.

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  Asha’s head snapped toward him. “You know Duke Stark personally?” Surprise flickered across her face.

  Suri let out a short, dry grunt. “We know him a bit. Personally.” She folded her arms, “His son is our friend.”

  Asha tilted her head, lips pursed. “You can try with the Duke. But I doubt it will matter.” She gestured vaguely at the stone around them, at the weight of the dungeon pressing in. “This kind of scenario has happened before. Probably more times than we want to admit. And nobody knows. Or simply pretending not to know.”

  “Because the coin made everyone turn a blind eye to it,” Kana muttered.

  The words hung in the stale air, heavier than stone. She wasn’t entirely sure where they came from—half instinct, half memory that wasn’t hers. But it felt true.

  Asha studied her for a beat longer than was comfortable. Then, softly, she said, “Right… that’s one way to perfectly describe it.”

  …..

  Raydon stood at the center of the battlefield. Of the battlefield before.

  The cavern reeked of venom, smoke, and fresh iron. Blood soaked the rock, slick in the torchlight. Too much blood. Not monster blood—dungeon corpses dissolved to mist. This was human. Dungeon Scrappers.

  They hadn’t just bought time. They’d bought annihilation—seventy percent of the swarm broken under their sacrifice. Raydon told himself it was worth it, but the wet glisten of the stone whispered otherwise.

  He exhaled sharply. That was when Wor-en appeared. The man’s cloak was disheveled, his eyes raw, as if clawed at by sleeplessness.

  “Did you see them?” Wor-en asked, voice low, almost trembling. “Three in masks. ”

  Raydon frowned. “Masks?” Then he remembered. Yes there were three strange dungeon scrappers who wore dog, cat, and bear masks. He pointed toward a tent where healers worked feverishly over the groaning few who had survived. “No. Just those dungeon scrappers. Why?”

  Wor-en’s face paled. He swallowed hard. “I think… they were my students.” His gaze dragged toward the tunnels, as though he could already see corpses hidden in the dark.

  Raydon stiffened. Then his voice cracked like steel, loud enough that nearby adventurers glanced over. “Students? What are they doing here?!”

  Silence. Wor-en had no answer—only guilt that spoke louder than words.

  Raydon cursed under his breath. His mind was already racing, tallying consequences. If the academy learned of this… their raid’s name would rot. Investors would scatter. Nobles would demand heads. Or maybe even the king himself.

  “They might still be alive,” Wor-en said, but even his tone carried doubt. “They’re capable. They’ll hide until the danger passes.”

  Raydon scanned the black mouths of the tunnels. For a moment, he thought he heard wings, faint, echoing deeper inside. Perhaps it was his imagination. Perhaps not.

  His face hardened. “Then we don’t leave it to chance. Change of plan.”

  He raised his voice, each word dropping like a blade.

  “We will find them.” He hesitated,”They will be alive. They should be.”

  The cavern fell quieter than before. And somewhere in those twisting tunnels, the sound of buzzing stirred again.

  ..

  It wasn’t a swarm of those iron-plated Great Bee Guards this time. No, these were Great Bee Foragers—smaller, quicker, four or five of them buzzing out from the tunnels. Smaller, yes, but their venom stingers could still fell a man in a blink. It was their fourth encounter with such a group.

  Opel moved first, slamming his mace against his shield. The clang rolled through the chamber like thunder, drawing the monsters toward him. They streaked down with a screeching hum that shook the air.

  Asha reacted in a heartbeat before the first stinger would have pierced Opel. She shouted her command word and thrust forward. [Ice Wall]. Frost burst into being with a sharp crack, jagged blue-white stone sealing itself between prey and predator. The first Great Bee Forager slammed into it so hard the impact echoed. Venom splashed across the frozen surface, hissing and steaming, burning through cracks.

  The ice shattered.

  “Now!” Opel roared, stepping into the blow, his shield quivering under the impact as he shoved the first Great Bee Forager back.

  Suri’s staff blurred in the dark, her illusion flaring. Not the weak phantoms from before—this time the shadows bent, twisted, hardened. Her conjured short spear shot forward and connected, driving into the exposed back of another Great Bee Forager. The illusion cracked with the impact, dissipating like smoke, but the monster faltered. Wounded. But still Alive. The damage was minimal.

  Boris’s eyes flashed. His [Giant Spear] swung wide and pinned another Forager to the wall, the stone cracking with the force. The monster shrieked and flailed, wings beating hard enough to stir the air into a choking storm of dust.

  Kana leapt. Her dagger gleamed as she landed atop another Great Bee Forager, driving her blade toward its weak point. Her new skill lit the target for her—small glowing threads of vulnerability across the carapace, faint as starlight. She struck one, felt the blade slide, but not deep enough.

  The Forager buckled wildly, wings cutting at her face. She ripped her blade free, twisted, and struck again—this time to the joint of its wing. The monster screamed, its flight faltering.

  They moved from target to target, whittling the Great Bee Foragers down. The air reeked of acid and burned frost, of buzzing wings and shouts. When the last one collapsed into dust, silence returned with a crushing weight.

  Kana’s breaths came ragged. Boris lowered his spear, the point trembling. Opel’s shield dripped with venom, steaming holes already pitting the metal.

  And Bett—Bett just stood there, staff dangling at her side, eyes wide, face pale. She hadn’t moved once. She stared at the empty space where the monsters had been, as if expecting them to reform and finish the job.

  Kana opened her mouth, but Suri froze, head cocked. Her hand lifted, finger pressed to her lips.

  Then she hissed, voice sharp. “No way!”

  Kana’s stomach dropped.

  “They’re searching for us,” Suri whispered, her face pale in the torchlight. “Wor-en. He found out about us. The main force is spreading through the tunnels.”

  Kana’s heartbeat thundered in her ears.

  “We’re in deep trouble,” Boris muttered, his voice rough. His grip on the spear trembled—not from fatigue, but some kind of fear. “I think he knows now.”