Chapter 41: Doe
The slaughter had been almost routine by now.
By the end of that first day, they had carved through nearly a third of the chamber’s monstrous inhabitants.
What had once been terrifying encounters had transformed into calculated engagements. They understood the creatures’ attack patterns, their weaknesses, and the telltale signs that preceded each assault.
Their efforts yielded substantial rewards: pouches heavy with crafting materials that gleamed with potential, and over 150 mid-tier cores that pulsed with contained energy.
Mitch had spent the evening hours hunched over his workbench, the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of his hammer ringing through their temporary camp as he forged several additional throwing knives, each blade balanced to perfection.
Dawn brought more of the same systematic clearing, their coordination now seamless.
They had pushed halfway through this verdant maze when Mitch’s enhanced senses suddenly sharpened.
His mana perception detected something that made him pause mid-step, a faint but unmistakable tier-one presence, so weak it barely registered above the ambient magical energy of the dungeon itself.
"Wait," he whispered, raising his hand to halt Leya’s advance.
The signature emanated from a dense cluster of bushes pressed against the chamber’s moss-covered wall.
The location was masterfully concealed; a traveler could pass within arm’s reach and never notice the hidden alcove behind the interwoven branches. Even now, peering through the gaps in the foliage, Mitch almost missed it.
"What is it?" Leya asked, her hand instinctively moving to her weapon’s hilt.