Chapter 112: Team Raid 2

Both Rockraptors advanced with quick, deliberate strides, heavy feet striking the rocky ground as they closed in on their respective targets. One fixed its attention on Mark, the other locked onto Derek. Rather than charging in mindlessly, the creatures seemed to have instinctively split their focus, deliberately preventing the two humans from concentrating their combined effort against a single opponent.

Their approach came slow enough to look genuinely calculated, yet every movement still carried an unmistakable, threatening weight behind it. Jagged scales caught the faint light filtering down through the ravine, revealing the rough, stone like plating armoring their bodies. Massive heads swayed slightly as they studied the humans standing before them, jaws cracking open just enough to expose the sharp teeth waiting within.

Derek cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing faintly against his crystalline armor. His green eyes stayed locked firmly on the Rockraptor closing in on him, a confident smile spreading across his face.

"Come on, then. Let’s see exactly how tough you really are."

He lunged forward without a flicker of hesitation, armored arms positioned to shield his upper body. For a brief moment, he looked ready to seize the initiative and strike first. But the instant he closed into range, the Rockraptor snapped its jaws toward him with startling, genuinely alarming speed.

Derek abandoned the offensive instantly, throwing both arms up defensively instead.

The creature’s jaws slammed against his diamond hard armor with a heavy, jarring clack. The sheer force of the bite sent him skidding backward across the rocky ground, boots carving fresh grooves into the stone as he fought to keep his balance. Despite the tremendous power behind the strike, his armor held firm, its green crystalline surface not so much as cracking.

Derek gritted his teeth hard.

"Whoa! You’re a lot stronger than you look!"

The Rockraptor snapped again, aiming to catch his arm between its jaws this time. Derek twisted his forearm at the last possible second, deflecting the strike away from his body before driving his other armored fist squarely into the side of the creature’s snout.

The blow landed with a heavy, dull thud.

The Rockraptor barely flinched, though it was enough to force its head aside, buying Derek just enough breathing room to reposition himself properly.

"Alright, fine, I get it," Derek muttered. "You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you."

Meanwhile, Mark glanced briefly at his bracers before redirecting his full focus toward the Rockraptor closing in on him.

The creature lowered its massive head and lunged.

Mark sidestepped sharply right, letting the snapping jaws tear through empty air where he’d stood only a split second earlier. Before he could settle into a stable stance, the predator twisted its entire body, attempting a second bite from the opposite angle.

He shifted left instantly.

Its teeth clamped shut just short of his flesh, and the creature pressed forward relentlessly, refusing to give him any real room to maneuver. Mark tracked its movements carefully, studying the rhythm behind each attack, the way it leaned on its sheer bulk to maintain constant pressure.

The Rockraptor suddenly thrust its head forward again, faster this time.

Mark leaned back hard, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws before driving his foot upward in a sharp, brutal kick straight into the creature’s lower jaw.

A sharp crack split the air.

The force of the strike sent the Rockraptor’s entire head swinging violently sideways, blood spraying from its torn gumline. Its massive body staggered, struggling to recover its footing, and Mark seized the brief opening to pull clear of its immediate striking range.

He landed firmly, eyes tracking the creature as it shook its bloodied head.

"That’s one opening," he murmured.

The Rockraptor let out a furious growl, claws tearing fresh gouges into the stone as it lunged again, desperate to reclaim the advantage.

Mark moved faster this time.

He cut toward the creature’s left flank, slipping cleanly past its snapping jaws before drawing his fist back hard. His punch connected squarely against the predator’s side with tremendous force, knocking it off balance entirely and sending its heavy body rolling violently sideways across the uneven ground.

The Rockraptor let out a sharp, rattling shriek as it crashed down hard.

Unluckily for the creature, its momentum carried it directly into one of the jagged crystal shards still jutting up from the earth. Its skull struck the sharpened point dead center, the impact ending the fight instantly, dark blood pooling fast beneath the motionless body.

Mark stopped a short distance off, watching the creature finally go still.

He let out a breath, wiping sweat from his forehead. The fight hadn’t lasted especially long, but the constant repositioning and sudden directional shifts had demanded more out of him than he would have liked to admit. His enhanced physical conditioning had kept him just barely ahead of the Rockraptor’s speed, though he stayed fully aware that stronger opponents further ahead could punish even the smallest misstep without mercy.

He turned toward Derek.

His roommate had already wrapped up his own fight. The second Rockraptor lay motionless nearby, Derek standing beside it, casually brushing both hands together as though he’d simply dusted off his palms after some minor chore.

Mark stared at him for a moment before chuckling.

"You’re acting like you just finished tidying your room, not fighting off a prehistoric monster."

Derek glanced over, raising an eyebrow.

"What can I say? I take my responsibilities seriously."

"Since when exactly?"

"Since the moment it occurred to me I might actually have to drag your unconscious ass out of here if you got yourself hurt."

Mark snorted.

"Dream on. I had mine completely handled."

"Sure you did," Derek replied, clearly amused. "That’s exactly why I can see you sweating from all the way over here."

Mark glanced briefly at his own forehead before looking away.

"That’s called exercise. You should genuinely try it sometime."

Derek laughed, then turned his attention toward the path stretching ahead, expression gradually settling into something more serious as he studied the dark passage winding between the towering rock formations.

"Feels like this is just the beginning, honestly," he said. "The deeper we push, the rougher things are probably going to get. We need to stay sharp and not underestimate anything we run into."

Mark followed his gaze.

The path ahead vanished into a gloomy stretch of terrain where the rocky walls climbed higher and the vegetation grew noticeably denser. The faint green glow of scattered moss offered little real comfort, and the occasional rustle drifting out of the shadows made it clear the dungeon still held plenty of creatures neither of them had encountered yet.

Derek kept going.

"This is an age we genuinely don’t know much about firsthand. Whatever we’ve picked up from history books, museums, simulations, none of it might be enough to actually prepare us for whatever’s waiting out here. We can’t assume we understand these things just because they look familiar on paper."

Mark nodded slightly.

"Fair point. I’d really rather not learn that lesson the hard way."

"Exactly. I’m pretty attached to keeping both my arms where they currently are."

"Then maybe stop offering them up to hungry dinosaurs."

Derek shot him a flat, unimpressed look.

"Hilarious."

Despite the light exchange, both of them understood exactly how serious their situation actually was. They’d managed to take down the Rockraptors, sure, but that success didn’t guarantee every encounter ahead would prove equally manageable. The dungeon had already shown it could produce opponents with dramatically different physical capabilities, and neither of them had any real idea just how much more dangerous the deeper sections might turn out to be.

Derek took a few steps forward before stopping again.

"There’s something else I’ve been chewing on," he said. "The amount of raw energy I can feel radiating around us is honestly massive. Can’t say for certain, but my gut says this might actually be an Elite Dungeon, one carrying both Basic and Elite tier creatures mixed together."

Mark turned sharply toward him.

"An Elite Dungeon?"

"That’s my read on it, at least. Whatever we’ve run into so far might only represent the lower rungs of its internal hierarchy. If the dungeon actually escalates in difficulty the deeper you go, the real threats could still be waiting somewhere further ahead."

He glanced down toward the fallen Rockraptors.

"Those two were already noticeably tougher than the ordinary raptors we handled earlier. If whatever’s next steps up another full level from them, we’re going to need to be a lot more careful about how we approach it."

Mark weighed the possibility seriously.

The unusual concentration of energy saturating the dungeon was genuinely hard to ignore at this point. Even without a precise classification to go on, he could feel clearly enough that this environment ran fundamentally different from anywhere ordinary. The heavy atmosphere, the relentlessly hostile creatures, the strange shifts in terrain, all of it suggested this place, the Fossil Reach, had been built from the ground up specifically to test anyone unlucky enough to wander in.

Derek crossed his arms.

"We might make it through fine if we stay careful and keep working together. But if we run into something High Tier, things could turn ugly fast. Neither of us should assume we can handle something like that completely on our own."

Mark shrugged lightly.

"Honestly, the classification itself doesn’t bother me much."

Derek turned toward him, visibly puzzled.

"Seriously? It doesn’t?"

"Not really. All I actually want is to get back to school in time to meet up with Hermione and study properly for the test. If I’m late again, I’m probably staring down even more detention, and honestly, I’d rather not add another mark to that growing collection."

For a long moment, Derek just stared at him.

Then he burst out laughing.

"You’re stuck inside a prehistoric dungeon crawling with massive predators, and you’re genuinely worried about detention right now?"

Mark shot him a mildly irritated look.

"Have you ever actually sat through one of Rakolowo’s lectures for hours straight? Honestly, I’d rather fight another dinosaur than go through that again."

"Fair enough," Derek admitted, still chuckling. "Though getting eaten by one of these things sounds marginally worse, personally."

"Only marginally."

Derek shook his head, genuinely amused by his roommate’s casual attitude. Somehow, Mark’s offhand concern over homework and punishment made the whole situation feel just a little less crushing. It was hard staying completely terrified when the guy standing right beside you treated near certain disaster like nothing more than an inconvenient interruption to his study schedule.

Still, Derek genuinely respected the confidence behind it.

Mark wasn’t ignoring the danger, not even close. He’d already proven he could read his opponents clearly and react fast under real pressure. His casual remarks seemed more like a way of keeping his mind locked on the actual objective, rather than letting fear take the wheel entirely.

Derek turned forward again.

"Alright, let’s get moving before you start stressing about homework out loud again."

"Too late. Already started."

They pressed forward along the path, keeping careful distance from the fallen Rockraptors’ bodies. The terrain gradually shifted the deeper they went. The narrow rocky passage widened out, revealing a gloomy landscape that seemed to stretch well beyond the edges of their immediate surroundings.

The atmosphere grew noticeably darker, shadows pooling thick beneath the towering rock formations overhead. The surrounding walls looked increasingly weathered, scattered vegetation growing visibly less vibrant than before. Thick roots twisted across the ground in tangled knots, broken stone formations and the skeletal remains of ancient trees littering the path ahead.

Nothing about this particular stretch felt remotely welcoming.

The entire region carried the oppressive, weighted atmosphere of some ruined world where danger had simply become the natural order of things. Every shadow looked capable of hiding a predator, every unfamiliar sound keeping both of them locked tight in constant, wary alertness.

Eventually, the rocky terrain gave way to a sprawling network of river vaults and overgrown groves.

Water cut through the lower sections of the dungeon, slicing across their path before vanishing beneath enormous stone arches. Some channels ran shallow enough to reveal their rocky beds clearly, while others sank deep and dark, their surfaces disturbed by strong currents rushing between the surrounding rock formations.

The air turned noticeably cooler near the water.

Moisture beaded steadily across the nearby stones, thick clusters of faintly glowing moss spreading across the surrounding walls. Beyond the river channels, dense groves of massive ferns and ancient, towering trees formed tangled, shadowed corridors that obscured whatever waited further ahead entirely.

Mark paused briefly, studying the shifting scenery.

"This place just keeps changing on us."

Derek nodded.

"Yeah. First the ravine, then those rocky passages, now these river vaults. Honestly feels like we’re moving through different stages of some game."

Mark glanced toward him.

"That’s exactly what I was thinking too. Scenery keeps shifting, and the enemies seem to get nastier the deeper we push. Like one of those role playing games where every new area throws stronger opponents at you."

"Except this time there’s no restart button waiting for us."

"Or a convenient save point."

"Or a healer standing near the entrance."

Mark sighed.

"Now you’ve got me genuinely missing video games."

Derek laughed softly, though his expression quickly sobered again.

"The comparison might actually be useful, though, honestly. If the dungeon really is broken into distinct stages, these shifts in scenery could be functioning as early warning signs. Maybe each new environment brings its own specific type of challenge along with it."

Mark turned the idea over while studying the river stretched ahead.

It sounded like a reasonable assumption. The shift from the rocky ravine into these flooded passages suggested this dungeon wasn’t simply some random jumble of disconnected environments. Its layout might genuinely be divided into distinct sections, each carrying its own set of creatures and hazards.

Still, neither of them could afford to lean on that assumption without real evidence backing it up.

The water itself might be hiding predators beneath its surface, the riverbanks could prove unstable underfoot, and the surrounding groves offered no shortage of perfect ambush points. Even if this whole dungeon played out like some structured game, the consequences of a wrong move here remained entirely, permanently real.

Derek gestured toward the nearest crossing point.

"We’ll probably need to cross the river to reach whatever’s next. Let’s check the banks first before either of us actually steps into the water."

Mark nodded.

"Agreed. Not exactly eager to find out what’s hiding underneath by sticking my foot in first."

They approached the river carefully, studying the surrounding stones and the pull of the current closely. Mark scanned for a shallow crossing point, while Derek kept watch over the vegetation lining the opposite bank.

The shift into this new environment had sharpened both their instincts considerably. Whatever waited for them next, they fully intended to approach it with far more caution than they’d shown during their earlier fights.

Then Derek’s expression shifted abruptly.

Something had caught his eye further ahead.

Mark caught the change in his roommate’s demeanor instantly. Whatever amusement had lingered on his own face vanished, his focus sharpening the instant he followed Derek’s line of sight, every sense locking onto the area stretching out beyond the river.

"What is it?" Mark asked quietly.

Derek didn’t answer right away.