"Don't move too far," Caria warned from somewhere else. "This place warps distance. She could be three steps away or twenty."

Sophia let out a slow breath. "And it's already cutting off mana sense."

Rhys tightened his grip on Runius. The blade felt heavier, grounded — the only real thing in an unreal space.

He took a step.

Immediately, the floor changed — soft sand becoming smooth stone without warning.

Aria cursed. "Okay, that's just rude."

Caria's voice echoed from the void, steady and focused. "Remember the rules. Trust your body. Trust your instincts. Do not trust your senses."

Sophia added, calm but firm, "Rhys, lead. We'll follow."

"Alright," Rhys said. "Stay close. Grab the cloak of the person in front."

Hands found fabric.

Caria holding Sophia.

Sophia holding Aria.

Aria gripping Rhys.

A human chain.

Rhys inhaled. "Moving."

He stepped forward—

A faint rustle snapped through the white.

Something small. Something fast.

Rhys reacted instinctively, swinging Runius in a sharp arc.

CLANG!

His blade hit something metal-like — sparks scattering unseen.

"Contact!" Aria shouted.

"Where?!" Sophia asked, tense.

"No idea," Rhys muttered. "I barely felt it coming."

Another sound — a low skittering, like claws dragging lightly over stone.

Caria's voice sharpened. "Common mobs. Probably Mist Crawlers. They stalk from all angles."

Rhys lowered his stance. "Stay close. They'll go for weak points."

A hiss cut through the fog — then a shape lunged from the side.

Rhys didn't see it.

He felt it.

His blade swung out and struck something soft, sending a small creature tumbling back with a shriek.

Aria grimaced. "Those things are tiny, but fast."

Sophia swung her staff blindly and hit something with a dull thump. "Got one!"

"Don't get cocky," Caria warned. "They hunt in groups."

A flurry of movement scattered around them — scratching, skittering, light pattering on stone.

Dozens.

Rhys clenched his jaw. "Alright, incoming."

He swung again — not aiming, just trusting his body.

A shriek. A thud.

Aria kicked something away with a grunt. "These pests move like— like rats if rats were made of teeth and hate."

Caria stabbed forward with a dagger she'd drawn. "Keep pushing! Don't let them surround us!"

Sophia struck low, hearing another shriek. "How many of these are there?!"

"Enough to waste our time if we stop," Rhys said. "We're moving."

He pushed forward, not fast, but steady.

Each few steps, another crawler lunged.

A claw swipe here.

A bite attempt there.

They weren't deadly — but annoying, relentless, and precise.

Perfect for a dungeon built to ruin focus.

Rhys cut one down, its small body rolling away into the fog. "They're thinning."

Aria snorted. "Hope so. I'm about to start swinging wildly."

"Please don't," Sophia said flatly.

"Just being honest."

Finally, after several minutes of steady, blind fighting, the fog thinned slightly — enough to see vague shadows ahead.

A wall.

A doorway.

A passage deeper into the dungeon.

Caria let out a breath. "That's the floor exit. First floor complete."

"Good," Rhys said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Because I'm already sick of biting fog-gremlins."

Aria kicked one of the fallen crawlers aside. "Ugh. Let's move before more spawn."

Sophia nodded. "Two floors left."

The mist parted just enough for them to slip into the next area.

Rhys rested his hand on Runius as they stepped through the opening.

"Alright," he muttered. "Floor two. Let's deal with whatever this one throws at us."

They walked forward, the white fading into a dim blue haze.

The dim blue haze settled over them like a curtain, thicker than normal fog but thinner than the white wall of the first floor. Shapes were easier to make out now — their own silhouettes, the faint outline of the path, and rough stone walls stretching ahead in uneven formations.

Aria exhaled. "Okay… this is already less horrible."

Caria shook her head. "Don't relax. This floor is known for illusions."

Sophia frowned. "Illusions? As in… what? Fake enemies?"

"No," Caria replied. "Fake everything. Light, sound, direction. Even time feels off here."

Rhys tested the floor with his boot. Solid. Cold. Real enough.

"Any monsters?" he asked.

Caria nodded. "Mist Drifters. Weak individually, but hard to track. They mimic footsteps and voices."

Aria muttered, "Great. Fog that talks back."

They moved deeper.

The blue mist swirled slowly around their ankles, not enough to hide everything but enough to make distance look wrong — walls closer or farther than they truly were.

Rhys led steadily, blade lowered.

No chain link this time — they could see, even if vaguely.

But after ten steps, something felt off.

Aria's voice echoed strangely. "Is it me… or does the path look longer now?"

"It didn't stretch," Caria said. "Your depth perception is being tricked."

Sophia pointed. "Look at the floor lines. They're bending."

Rhys narrowed his eyes. "They're not bending. The mist is shifting the light."

He stepped forward—

"Rhys."

The call came from behind him.

He turned slightly. "Yeah?"

Sophia stared at him. "I didn't say anything."

A second voice echoed… also sounding like Sophia.

"Rhys… this way."

Aria raised her staff like she might smack the fog itself. "Nope. Absolutely not. Not following any creepy fake voices."

Caria frowned. "Stay in formation. Just move straight. The illusions get worse if you try to follow them."

They continued.

The whispers didn't stop.

"Rhys…""Come back…""Wrong way…""Here…"

Each word came from a different direction — some far, some close, some unnervingly near.

Rhys ignored all of it.

A faint scuttle broke through the ambient noise.

Mist Drifters.

/omething/ small crawled along the ceiling.

The moment Rhys looked up—

A shadow dropped.

He barely ducked as a pale, lizard-like creature snapped where his neck had been.

Aria reacted fast, slamming it aside with the blunt end of her weapon. "Hey! No surprise lizard attacks!"

More movement skittered along the walls.

Caria didn't hesitate. "Eyes forward. Fight only what comes close!"

Rhys intercepted another drifter, cutting through its slender body. It vanished instantly into mist, dissolving like smoke.

Sophia finished off a second one. "They vanish after death. Illusion-based mana constructs."

"Doesn't make them any less annoying," Aria grumbled, kicking another away.

They kept moving, the corridor twisting.

At one point, Rhys turned a corner only to find the same corridor he'd just walked.

A loop.

"Damn it," he muttered. "Caria?"

She closed her eyes, breathing slowly. "Follow the coldest air. Illusions can't change temperature."

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