The cave was dry, dark, and sand filled my shoes with every step, rubbing against my ankles. Nothing was different from the other times I'd been here.

  Everything was the same. Nothing out of the ordinary.

  I'd cleared this dungeon a few times already—yet now the entire space felt strange. Scary, even.

  All thanks to one comment dropped by this shitty dwarf next to me, shivering like he was about to freeze to death even though it was boiling hot in here.

  Our steps echoed through the cave. The light from the entrance behind us slowly started to die, leaving us unable to see even a step ahead.

  "Lumen."

  I spoke clearly and snapped my fingers. A bright white sphere formed out of nothingness, floating in front of us.

  "Kyaaaa!!"

  Austin screamed like a little girl, stumbled back, and plummeted onto the rough sand ass-first.

  I flinched too—then immediately twirled around and gred at him, biting down on my lip just to keep my volume down.

  "What the fuck was that for, you little shit? Why did you just scream like a little girl, you fucker?"

  I asked after taking a very, very deep breath, desperately trying to keep my composure and not just bash his skull in.

  "Oh shut your bitch ass up, mate," he snapped back. "You can't just suddenly do something like that and expect me not to be spooked!"

  He brushed sand off his dusty clothes, swirling debris into the air.

  "It was just a lumen..."

  I managed to get out between coughs as the cloud of dirt tried to invade my lungs.

  "It's literally just a ball of light. There's nothing scary about this."

  I pointed at the glowing orb hovering beside me, then stretched out my hand to help him up.

  But before he could even get fully back on his feet—

  An ear-crushing shriek ripped through the entire cave system.

  I barely turned before four massive bck wings swallowed my vision, and a foul, reeking mouth—lined with razor teeth—came straight for my face.

  "Fuck!"

  I dodged by a hair, whipping out my wand in record time.

  "Magic missile!"

  The purple sphere shot forward and burned a gaping hole through the beast's body.

  Its crippled corpse crashed to the ground right in front of Austin's chunky feet.

  "You have sin a Foulwing — Level 6."

  The system announced it like always—calm, robotic—while my heart hammered even faster.

  Slowly, I lifted my gaze to Austin.

  The second he saw my face, his expression dropped.

  He already knew what it meant.

  "The horde heard us..."

  I swallowed hard. The rumbling had already started—dust drizzling from the ceiling.

  "I hope you aren't afraid of bugs," I muttered.

  The sound was getting closer.

  Skittering.

  Scraping.

  A wave of spider-, ant-, and scorpion-like things rushed toward us, their too-many legs dragging over the sand.

  I shivered, forced down the disgust, and started forming the spell in my head.

  "I'm warning you," I said low, "this is gonna be disgusting."

  The temperature dropped before I even finished speaking. Frost crawled outward across the floor like a living thing.

  "Frost field!"

  In an instant, every inch of the cave was coated in a thin yer of ice—floor, walls, ceiling—slick and gssy. Monsters clinging overhead lost their grip and fell, smashing into the swarm below and sliding across the frozen ground in a pile-up of legs and chitin.

  "That should buy us time!"

  But I was already building my next spell. Every second not used was a wasted second.

  Frost Field was strong, but it wasn't gonna solve everything, especially in a pce like this.

  Austin seemed to get that too. He stepped up beside me, raising his rocky staff high.

  "Don't think I'm gonna let you have all the glory!"

  He smmed the staff into the ground, cracking the ice underneath.

  "Cragfall!"

  He shouted, forming stactites on the ceiling before letting them drop onto the horde.

  The pointy cones pierced a few of the monsters—but it didn't mean much compared to the swarm still trying to push past the corpses.

  "Great job, bro!"

  I praised, raising my wand and pointing it at the swarm in a menacing way. I just... held it there for a couple seconds.

  I wanted to aura farm too from time to time.

  "Snowfall!"

  I cast it, unwavering—my voice completely devoid of warmth.

  For a second, nothing happened.

  Austin looked at me in confusion. With good reason. Snowfall wasn't exactly an intimidating name for a spell.

  But then it started to snow.

  Nothing dramatic at first. Just soft fkes drifting down like it was some cozy winter postcard.

  "And what is this supposed to do now?"

  Austin asked, one brow raised while his arms dangled at his sides.

  Then—

  BOOM.

  A shockwave ripped through the tunnel, strong enough to ruffle his hair and beard.

  Then another.

  And another.

  Every time a snowfke touched a monster's body, it detonated—small explosions turning bugs into chunks and bsting everything nearby to pieces.

  "What kind of spell is this?!"

  Austin shouted over the shockwaves, trying not to get blown off his feet.

  "It's a major spell," I answered, way too calm for what was happening. "Evolved from Snowball once it hit level fifteen..."

  Blood and body parts shot past us as the front line of crawlers got outright erased by tiny fkes.

  "It sts ten seconds," I added, "and it's expensive as hell. So I don't really use it."

  The explosions started to die down.

  But to my surprise...

  The swarm wasn't done.

  The Frost Field was already melting too, giving the bugs their grip back as they began to crawl forward again—fast.

  And worst of all...

  My mana was almost gone.

  Maybe twenty percent left. And the fatigue was already creeping in like a weight behind my eyes.

  For a moment my gaze flickered between Austin and the horde.

  I couldn't hide it.

  I had to tell him the situation had just turned really bad.

  "Uhm... Austin."

  I hesitated.

  His face turned toward me, still weirdly calm—like he wasn't even processing the fact we were about to get eaten alive.

  "What is it...?"

  He asked, gripping his stone staff lightly.

  He looked so unconcerned it made this harder.

  I took a deep breath and forced my tone to go stern.

  "Dude... I fucked up. I thought Snowfall would take care of these things, but—"

  I scratched the back of my head as guilt washed over me.

  "As you can see... they're still skittering."

  I swallowed.

  "And I'm out of mana."

  The second the words left my mouth, the dwarf just... dropped his staff.

  "I'm sorry," I muttered.