Kael kept walking, refusing to let the conversation slow the group down. Every extra second in these tunnels was another chance for sothing to wake.
"Who the fuck are you to tell us what to do? You’re not even one of-"
The man started, anger flaring like a match. It wasn’t about the door anymore. It was about ego. About a "new guy" having authority. Kael felt the mont shift, the way tension in a group changed when soone decided to challenge the wrong person in front of the leader.
"QUIET!" The boss howled.
The shout snapped through the tunnel and made several heads jerk. Kael flinched inwardly, not outwardly. Loud noises in tunnels were invitations. He watched the mini-map out of habit, half expecting dormant dots behind doors to brighten. Nothing moved yet, but that didn’t an nothing heard.
But that wasn’t his biggest worry. The boss reacted too strongly.
Kael was about to frown, but that would have exposed his thinking. He realized it there, and it was dangerous.
The boss wasn’t a fool, nor were the rest of the Sun clan.
They must have all figured it out. Kael never joined them. Kael wasn’t part of the Sun Clan, and that notification before, where he thought they just didn’t notice his na or must have skimd through it, they probably didn’t.
Or one of them must have realized and told the rest.
They were using Kael.
They never considered him part of them.
The realization hit clean and cold. It didn’t even hurt. It just rearranged the world. Kael had been operating on a thin assumption that utility might buy him a sliver of respect. That assumption was dead now. Utility didn’t buy respect. It bought exploitation. He wasn’t a mber. He was equipped.
That simple fact made Kael imdiately change his entire plan right there and then.
He had intended to share the loot, after all, he wanted the Rune from the boss. And no one here had use for it. He would help them kill the boss and take the rune for himself while allowing them to get the rest of the materials.
But now. Things are different. Things have changed, and so has his small amount of pity for these people disappeared.
He never considered anyone an ally before, but now he knew he was among enemies.
"We will do what Kael suggested. There is no point in poking a beehive. Kael, keep leading the way," the boss said. An attempt at trying to camouflage the blunder from the minion earlier.
Kael heard the tone. The boss was smoothing it over. Not for Kael’s sake, but for the group’s cohesion. Leaders hated visible cracks. Cracks turned into fractures, and fractures turned into mutiny. The boss needed Kael’s "nose" functioning and trusted, even if he didn’t trust Kael as a person.
"Sure," Kael acted naturally as if he didn’t notice and continued moving.
He kept his steps steady, his posture loose. Inside, his mind tightened like a fist. He began cataloging faces again, not as allies, but as potential threats. Who stood closest to him? Who watched his hands.
Who whispered. Who seed eager. Who seed cautious. Kael didn’t need to hate them. He just needed to rember that they were not his people.
Soon, they arrived at the end of the path. Where the massive dungeon gate opened up for them.
The slope down was familiar to Kael in a way he didn’t like. The fluorescent moss on the ceiling cast that sick green-blue light that made everything look like it belonged underwater. The air changed too, heavier, damp with rot and old blood. The ground bore gigantic claw marks that looked like the stone itself had been raked open repeatedly.
The open dungeon’s mouth felt like the opened jaws of a beast waiting to consu anyone and everyone who got close.
And right there at the mouth was the group that went ahead of them.
The Snakes were gathered in a loose semicircle, weapons out but not raised, bodies positioned like they were ready to retreat rather than charge. Petrov stood at the front with that casual arrogance he wore like armor, but Kael saw the hesitation in the way his stance wasn’t fully committed toward the entrance.
"Looks like you guys didn’t go in first."
The boss’s voice carried just enough mockery to make it sound like a jab, but Kael recognized it as a probe. He wanted to see if Petrov would reveal fear.
"We needed to wait for you guys, lest you co and claim we’ve been fighting for longer than five minutes," Petrov said.
That was a lie.
The Snakes recognized the danger the mont they got close to the dungeon’s entrance.
There was a giant monster inside, and they had no idea of the inner layout of the dungeon. They needed a fool to go in first, and it was better to let the Sun Clan be the fool.
Kael watched Petrov’s smile and understood it perfectly. Petrov didn’t want a five-minute advantage. He wanted a living shield. Soone else to trigger the boss’s wake-up, soone else to learn the first attack pattern with their flesh.
The boss turned to Kael.
And Kael nodded.
He nodded because refusing would draw attention. He nodded because going first was already decided the mont the boss said, "Kael, lead the way."
"We’ll go in first, then," the boss said.
"Oh, be my guest," Petrov said, smiling.
Kael led the way down the slope and held a finger to his mouth, signaling everyone to be quiet.
The quiet was more than courtesy. It was survival. The moss light made the bodies behind him look like silhouettes, and the cavern swallowed sound in strange ways. A whisper could vanish. A boot scrape could echo like thunder.
Kael kept his breathing controlled, not because he needed air, but because habit still mattered, and loud breaths were still noise.
This was the biggest challenge in Kael’s tower climb yet. And he already had no way to back down.
It was do or die trying.
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