Chapter 47: Mission Cannot Fail
Hana tossed another broken piece of purple crystal into their makeshift fire. The crystal crackled as it burned, casting a violet glow across their temporary hideout—a small alcove they’d reinforced with scavenged debris and whatever they could drag from the surrounding area.
"Still nothing?" Susan asked, looking up from her ration pack.
Hana shook her head. "We’ve been searching for nearly eight hours. No exit, no pathway leading up, not even a sign of other dungeon sections."
Gary tore into a protein bar, chewing mechanically. "Maybe that’s why this section hasn’t been properly mapped. Hunters come in, can’t find their way out, and..." He let the implication hang in the air.
"That’s assuming they even made it past the spider matriarch," Lucas added quietly, adjusting his glasses. "Most teams wouldn’t have survived that encounter."
Joe prodded at the glowing crystals with the tip of his dagger. "We wouldn’t have either if the kid hadn’t done his... thing."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Mary broke it first, her eyes focused on cleaning her blade.
"Speaking of which, how long has Fin been gone?" she asked, not looking up.
"Almost two hours," Hana checked her wristband, which still somehow kept time despite the dungeon’s interference with other equipment. "He should be back soon."
Lucas pulled out a small notebook where he’d been documenting their movements. "Based on our exploration pattern, we’ve covered approximately sixty percent of this sublevel. If there’s an exit, it’s either well-hidden or in the remaining forty percent."
"Or it doesn’t exist," Susan muttered.