Chapter 25
The team retreats to a safer corridor and sets up a quick camp. Everyone is running low. Magic reserves feel thin, legs feel heavy, and even small cuts sting more than they should.
Sonny cooks with the same quiet routine he always uses. He doesn’t waste time. He lays ingredients out, heats a small pot, and works with efficient hands.
Thomas watches him. "You do this like it’s a mission."
Sonny glances up. “It is to me. We are all hungry."
Jess laughs weakly. "He means it."
Bull takes a sip of water and looks toward the portal again. "If floor four is just proof, we should go. No boss fight. One less class. One less problem."
Thomas chews slowly, still thinking. "It’s the test crypt and we aren’t pros. They want us to stop at the third floor. They even put teleporters on each floor. Doesn’t that feel like they expect things to go wrong?"
Jess points at him. "That’s why we follow the safety rules. If anything feels off, we leave."
Sonny’s voice stays level. "Floor four is optional. But an automatic pass is tempting. Bull’s right that it would be one less class to worry about."
Bull nods. "So we go."
Thomas looks at Sonny. "You’re the scout. What do you think."
Sonny pauses. He isn’t making the choice based on grades. He’s making it based on risk. "We go to the fourth floor and I will scout it out. We can make our decision based on what I find out," Sonny says. "But if we continue, we stay together. No splitting up."
Jess exhales. "I can get behind that. Gives us a more informed decision. Thank you." The team sits for a while finishing their meal, then packs up and steps through the portal.
The fourth floor is wrong immediately. The air is still. Not just quiet. Still. No scuttling. No distant growls. No echo of movement. It feels like the crypt is holding its breath.
Sonny is up and leaves for recon. He returns in just twenty minutes. That alone makes Jess tense.
"You’re back already?" she asks.
Sonny points down the corridor. "Boss room is that way,” he hesitates, “There are no monsters." The other three members have a look of confusion and shock on their face. Almost like Sonny made a mistake.
“What do you mean no monsters?” Jess inquires.
“There are none. I did not see, hear, or smell any. This floor is empty…” Sonny responds.
Bull lets out a short laugh, the kind people make when they are relieved and don’t want to admit it. "So we grab proof and leave. Easy."
Thomas shakes his head. "Easy doesn’t happen in a crypt, especially the deeper you go."
Sonny is pacing trying to think through this situation. "As long as the boss lives, monsters repopulate. Floors one through three were active. Floor four is empty. That means something changed."
Jess looks between them. "We should report this to AM. This is an anomaly."
Bull argues immediately. "Or we can get the proof and still report it. We’re already here."
Thomas hesitates. "If something has changed, shouldn’t we treat that like danger?"
Sonny doesn’t raise his voice. "We can treat it as dangerous by not splitting up and by staying ready to fight or retreat. Ultimately we should vote."
The group votes and the vote lands where Bull wants it. All but Jess are in favor of moving forward. They forge on as a group.
They move through empty corridors for nearly an hour. Their footsteps sound too loud. The only other noise is their breathing and the occasional drip of water somewhere far away.
As they move through the fourth floor toward the boss room, the tension starts to creep in. Jess tries to cut it with humor. “Okay, place your bets. What wiped out an entire floor of monsters.”
Bull smirks and chimes in. “Obviously ghosts. Or the crypt finally got tired of us winning.”
Thomas pitches in and jokes. “Maybe today is considered an off day on the fourth floor. Like a weekend or holiday.” Bull and Jess giggle.
Thomas chuckles and looks at Sonny. “You have any strange theories?” Sonny does not answer right away. He keeps walking, eyes scanning the corridor, mind clearly elsewhere.
Thomas slows his pace and walks beside him. “What’s going on in your head?”
Sonny exhales quietly, then speaks, more to himself than anyone else. “I don’t know everything about crypts. But I know monsters repopulate as long as the boss is alive.” That gets Thomas’s attention. “We cleared three floors,” Sonny continues. “All of them were active. This one is empty.” He finally looks at them. “Is it possible for a monster to mutate? Or level up? Kill other monsters. Get strong enough to kill the boss.”
Jess blinks. “That sounds insane.”
Bull shrugs. “Can’t say I’ve never heard of it.”
Thomas shakes his head. “I don’t know enough about crypts to say it’s impossible.”
Sonny gives a short nod. “Neither do I. And it sounds far fetched. But it’s the only explanation that fits so far.”
Jess frowns. “What if someone snuck in ahead of us.” She pauses, then shakes her head. “No. They would’ve had to clear floors one through three first.”
Bull crosses his arms. “What if the boss left his room?” Everyone looks at him. “And killed everything on the floor,” Bull adds. “I don’t know why it would do that. Or if it even can. But it would explain this situation.”
Sonny considers it. “That’s another likely scenario.” He slows and turns fully toward them. “If we run into the boss outside the chamber, we need a plan.”
Jess’s tone sharpens. “We’re not supposed to kill it.”
“Exactly,” Sonny says. “If we engage, we retreat.”
Bull nods. “Yeah that seems like our only option.”
Sonny’s voice remains its regular tone. “I can keep it busy while you three head back and use the portal on the third floor.” The corridor goes quiet.
Thomas swallows. “You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
Jess looks at Sonny for a long moment, then nods. “Okay.”
Bull grins, tense but determined. “Then let’s hope we don’t need that plan.”
They continue forward, every step heavier than the last. When they finally reach the boss chamber, the door is slightly ajar.
Jess stops. "Shouldn’t that be closed?"
Bull shifts his stance. "Maybe the last team opened it?"
Thomas steps forward. "No. We’re the second team this month. The first team didn’t even clear the third floor." Sonny’s gaze fixes on the gap in the door.
“Let’s get our proof and get out. We can report this all to AM.” Bull commands.
Sonny, Jess, and Bull go to grab proof they reached the boss room.
Thomas lets his curiosity get the better of him. He moves anyway from the group for a moment and pushes the door wider and steps into the room. He wants to see what a boss room entails.
"Thomas," Jess hisses as he enters the room.
Thomas freezes. The boss is on the floor. Dead. It’s massive, cracked apart like something destroyed it from the inside. A pool of blood and black fluid spreads under it.
Thomas’s voice shakes as he calls to the group. "Hey guys, the boss is dead."
Jess and Bull step into the room behind him, stunned. Sonny enters last. Thomas is making his way to the boss’s corpse.
Suddenly, a beam hits Thomas before anyone can speak. It is silent. No crackle. No trace of magic. Just a straight line of force that punches through his chest like he is paper. Thomas’s eyes widen. He drops lifeless.
