Usually, dungeon portals were a seamless entrance. Every time Lev had stepped into one, he remembered crossing it without any resistance or other sensations.

  That couldn't have been further from the truth now.

  None of them had noticed how the dungeon gobbled up ambient mana, too taken aback by the Night Hunter's appearance. It was wounded and struggling, and the moment of realization had been overtaken by the desire to put it down.

  He was paying the price for carelessness. Space tore off chunks of his armor, slowly but surely reaching his body. Darkness threatened to consume him. It seeped into his body, almost cutting it open from the inside.

  Then it all halted, and his back slammed into solid ground.

  The shock was enough to jolt him to his senses. Immediately, he stopped powering all enchantments and converted-

  Shit, the shadow mana converter is still in the bubble-

  He stared in shock, unable to locate a dungeon portal anywhere around him in the clearing. Even worse, as he hastily carved out the pure mana concealment runes and absorbed his aura back into his body, several presences noticed him.

  Dropping his mana expenditure to the absolute lowest, he started running away from the presences with only his physical strength. The moment the stealth runes were finished carving, they came alive, finally hiding his aura and mana as he flew straight up.

  That was close, he thought with a muted sigh. I hope they can't pinpoint my location with the active enchantments. Running isn't exactly difficult, but lightning imbuement will broadcast my position-

  Lev's bubble suddenly appeared below him, in the exact spot he had. Melvine materialized on the ground next to it, greatsword raised and eyes focused. She lowered her mana usage after finding nothing in the vicinity, though she almost jumped in surprise when Lev landed behind her.

  "Inside, now," he whispered, converting mana into shadow mana. A strong third-threshold monster was about to reach them, and it burst into the open just as the bubble vanished and ascended.

  [Scaled Draco - ????]

  "… Safe," Lev breathed out, triple-checking that the sound wards were working. "That was close. How can a dungeon monster force its hand out of the portal?"

  He already had an inkling, which was confirmed by Melvine.

  "The dungeon was on the cusp of overflowing. I planned to suggest we dive in immediately. Couldn't realize in time that you weren't flying at the monster, but to save me from something. Your Perception really is anomalous."

  "No notifications?" he asked.

  "None," she confirmed. "We are near the edges of the dungeon, and yet, there are so many third-threshold monsters nearby. If Drakys knew of this place, he would never let us come to this region. And now we're in a dungeon instance right before a dungeon break, meaning it's the worst possible instance to be trapped in."

  "Where are the rest?"

  "I told them to run."

  "Seriously? There's no way they will stay back-"

  As if hearing his words, two teams and Aryan suddenly appeared on the ground. Fortunately, they were already holding their aura back, expecting Lev and Melvine to have at least cleared the area for them.

  That wasn't the case. The long, spindly lizard almost devoured them, stopped at the last moment by the combined assault of three warriors. Viktor's barrier shield, the one Lev had created for him, flew from his hands and smashed into the lizard's snout. Zack rushed to the side of its head in a burst of speed, his body smoking from the overuse of fire.

  His fist landed like a cannonball, producing a sound just as loud from the impact. Even the mighty foe jerked to the side and let out a trill of pain. Its eyes refocused in a blink, but before it could roll over to get Aryan and Elias off its head, barrier ropes rushed downwards.

  They curved around its body, brimming with lightning. The swordsman and rogue immediately jumped off, and the ranged combatants also held back to not hurt them by accident.

  Time, however, was running out. Many creatures just as strong as the lizard were rushing towards them, so instead of trying to kill it, he deployed his first new creation.

  A large net flew out of his bubble. It was infused with a metric ton of lightning, enchanted to guide the element into the large spikes scattered between, similar to weights in a cast net.

  With his ropes immobilizing it for a precious few moments, Lev manipulated the large net to cover most of its body. The spikes, enchanted with sharpness and weight increase, dropped like tiny spears on its body, digging deep enough into its scales to find purchase.

  The tactic bought them enough time for everyone to jump into the invisible bubble. In the distance, he could see a four-winged monster flying towards them, just as the ground underneath started rumbling. Yet, the stunned monster was such an easy target. A single sweep of Stargazer's enlarged blade, and it would bleed to death eventually.

  With a regretful exhale, he turned the bubble completely invisible again and shot off, directly away from the approaching monsters. It turned out to be a good idea, too, for the next monster that erupted from the ground was something that paralyzed them all with fear.

  [Veil Hunter - ????]

  It was much the same as the Night Hunter until size was involved. The one below them towered over its surroundings, standing eight meters tall with its thin, sickly limbs that audibly tightened like coils.

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  A few tense seconds passed. Shieldwalls and walls remained active, then they gently lowered back into the bubble when the Hunter gave up, swimming back into the ground. Till the very end, one baleful eye scanned the skies, looking for them until the closing ground blocked its sight again.

  "You idiot," Isabella sent them all, though it didn't take a genius to figure out who the words were directed to. "The fuck were you thinking!?"

  "The same thing as everyone else, most likely," Lev answered, unbothered. "The hunter came in with us. Be prepared, for it might be able to see through the shadow mana enchantments."

  "Impossible," Aryan immediately countered. "Even I can't feel the bubble, and it's powered by my element."

  "Yeah, but there's also a lot of pure mana going into the other enchantments. We don't know its exact capabilities. Only that the creature is a ticking time bomb now."

  "Ticking time bomb?" Kora questioned. "You mean grenades?"

  "Something like that," Lev chuckled, the sound strained. "So, analysis? And you can speak out loud. The sound wards are active."

  "We're fucked," Elias threw out first.

  "No, we ain't," Lisa rolled her eyes. "Kora, can you use your regeneration buffs at low intensity?"

  She didn't question it and complied. Lev realized a moment later what Lisa was aiming for, arriving at the same conclusion.

  "We can't use them at full intensity. Both our auras and the mana costs are too noticeable right now," Lisa concluded with a thoughtful frown. "Which means we have to wait for Lev's mana to regenerate completely if the hunter decides to attack."

  "It's cut off from moonlight," Zack added. "If it decides to attack us, we will be at a massive advantage, which it is undoubtedly aware of. The monster will likely try to kill other inhabitants of the dungeon while looking for opportunities to ambush us."

  "I'll keep watch," Aryan nodded.

  "The real question is if that Veil Hunter was the dungeon boss," Melvine said, wary. "Between the two hunters, that one will easily eradicate us all if we're not careful."

  "Not necessarily," Lev added after a bout of silence. "I mean, yes, but also, it's a third-threshold monster. With that big a level difference between the two hunters, if the Night Hunter continues to level up, it might be just as strong at the cusp of evolution. Now that we're stuck with it, letting it grow is the worst-case scenario."

  "So… we hunt?" Viktor guessed, bemused.

  "We hunt," Lev replied with a grin. "Come on, we came here to get stronger. I don't think we can find a better place to do that."

  "Lev," Isabella started with a sigh. "The monsters at the edges are above level 500. How strong do you think the boss is?"

  "I don't know," he shrugged. "It's not like we have the choice to just sit here. There's no portal to escape through. We either kill everything or remain stuck forever. And if that Veil Hunter was the boss, then I'm pretty sure we can take it down with some preparations."

  "Preparations," Isabella echoed. "What kind?"

  "Crafting."

  ****

  Six hours passed in silence as they remained in the bubble. Lev made it descend back in the clearing after making sure that there were no monsters nearby. In the distance, he could see a giant wall of stone and dirt, not dissimilar to the mountains they had seen outside the dungeon.

  His preparations were limited to the three types of constructs he knew would be effective. One of them was the net, and he created several different variations for different scenarios. The second was related to creating a lightning zone, and the final one was a last-ditch construct that he would rather not use.

  Aryan was still scouting. Only his skills were reliable enough not to attract the whole dungeon, and for once, Lev also kept a tight leash on his aura. Stargazer's regeneration was used to keep his armor's concealments constantly active. It was much slower than his own regeneration, which he didn't want to tap into.

  "Say," Isabella mused suddenly. "Why are we so calm? This should be a death trap."

  "Death trap for most people. We're not most people."

  "Someone's got a big head."

  "Someone beat your whole team's ass by himself," Lev sent back jokingly, shaking his head. "Besides, it's not even me who inspires the most confidence here."

  "I'm listening too, you know?" Melvine added. "Aryan's returning. He just sent out a faint pulse of shadow mana."

  "Finally," Elias got up, stretching. "I was somehow getting bored in what seems to be a Titanium dungeon."

  "That, or an Irinite dungeon. What do you expect the boss's level to be?"

  "Six hundred, if I had to guess," Rena added. "Or maybe the Veil Hunter was actually the boss. How's your mana looking?"

  "Just above half," Lev replied. "Good enough."

  "Alright," Isabella spoke out loud. "Let's see what we're dealing with."

  After picking up Aryan, who couldn't detect any monsters in the vicinity, the bubble ascended. It moved straight ahead, where he could see the mountain peak. Lev didn't go too high up, remaining somewhat near the trees not to stand out in the clear sky.

  When they finally reached the peak and passed over it, they all sucked in a deep breath.

  In front of them was a sprawling landscape of beauty and wonder. Mountains of green touched the skies with their peaks as waterfalls shrouded them with mist, obscuring a good deal of their surface.

  Lakes could be seen far below them, for most of the mountains were smaller than the peak they were present on. If anything, their entrance point seemed like the highest point in the dungeon, and it revealed everything about it in stark clarity.

  It also showed them the real boss of the dungeon, one so far in the distance yet still so easily noticeable.

  [Plasma's Might - ????]

  The good thing was that it wasn't a fourth-threshold monster, or even a peak third-threshold monster like the hound.

  The very bad thing was that the stag was a blood monster. Its body was a healthy shade of white, and its fur had a reddish tint. The even worse thing was that its antlers were a deep shade of crimson, and their composition twitched as if they were made of liquid, flowing blood.

  And above all, the most worrying detail was the Identify result. They knew for a fact that monsters didn't ever display such titles, and that option didn't even become available without matching extraordinary titles. There was a reason why each Exalted had their own fancy titles. If they let the public use their identification skills on them, they would see results like Galvanic Sniper or Runic Warlord.

  For a monster to have such a title, Lev was extremely worried. That implied some sort of intelligence to choose a title to display, and if the being had the cunning similar to humans, then there was nothing they could do to protect themselves.

  Not wanting to risk detection due to the direct line of sight, he lowered the bubble and hid behind the mountain peak they had appeared on. No one spoke— they didn't even try to communicate mentally.

  Instead, they racked their brains. Ideas were no doubt brought up in my shapes and flavors, yet Lev's attention was occupied by a completely different line of thought.

  Can I kill it in a single hit with enough preparation?

  The thought held merit, for going near that creature meant certain death. He didn't really expect to be able to win and clear the dungeon anymore, and the only combatant who had a slight bit of hope against the stag was Melvine. Her element was fantastic against liquids, and while freezing blood took more effort than water, courtesy of the drastically higher mana costs involved, it would still be effective.

  Unfortunately for her, blood monsters also possessed abominable physical strength. Even if she froze blood, nothing would stop the monster from plowing through her debuffs and ripping her to shreds.

  Lev, lost in thought, unconsciously looked at Elias.

  Maybe we really are fucked.

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