Chapter 15: Dungeon (2)

The students walked towards the archway and Lila appeared at Ethan’s side.

"Seems we’re going to be separated for a while," she said, "try not to cause too much of a commotion while I’m gone."

Ethan looked at her. "I wasn’t planning to. Not yet anyway..."

His plan was simple: stay at the back with Professor Crane, avoid direct combat as much as possible— only taking action when necessary.

’Since we’re supposed to demonstrate control, I’ll raise just one corpse and fall back. That should be enough.’ He thought.

Lila spoke again in a teasing tone. "Try not to miss me too much..."

Ethan deadpanned. "Why are you always like this?"

"Teasing you has it’s perks." She laughed and continued moving.

As they walked towards the archway, they began stepping through. It looked like anyone who passed through would would still be seen at the other side but when Ethan walked through, reality warped and withing seconds, he was inside the Dungeon.

The upper layer of the Dungeon was a network of wide, uneven tunnels with veins of the same faint blue light as the entrance.

The air was cooler here laced with the heavysmell of stone and something faintly metallic. Professor Crane walked at the front of the group with two other instructors walking at the sides.

Ethan and Nora were kept closest to her— it was standard protocol for restricted ability users.

Nora walked to Ethan’s side and spoke, her tone flat. "Necromancer."

Ethan turned and gave her a flat look. "I have a name you know..."

She looked at him for a moment before speaking again, completely ignoring what he said earlier. "Don’t get in my way."

Ethan faced forward and kept walking without giving an answer.

’I was planning on staying as far from you as possible anyway..."

Seeing that he would not reply, Nora gave distance between them and kept moving.

They had been moving for less than ten minutes when Ethan’s system appeared in his eyes.

```

[Ding!]

[Multiple life signatures detected]

[Species: Beowolf]

[Classification: Slave]

[Rank: E]

```

In front of them, a pack of creatures that looked like wolves emerged. They had a lean build, glowing red eyes and skin that fell away in some places. Some of the beasts were foaming from their mouths and growling

Professor Crane then spoke, her voice loud enough for each group to hear. "Low rank Slaves ahead. Be careful."

The group all took battle stances, and Ethan watched, eager to see what would happen.

However, when he exhaled, his breath turned to mist in front of him followed by a sudden drop in temperature he knew all too well.

"Shit."

**CHING**

Within seconds, ice erupted from the ground and spread across the floor, impaling two Beowolves mid-leap. One of them tried to veer aside and took a spear of frost through the shoulder.

Aria walked forward, her expression as casual as ever. She raised one hand, and a wide arc of freezing air slammed the remaining three into the wall hard enough to crack bone. One still twitched, trying to stand when she finished it with an ice shard through the skull.

She looked at the bodies like she just killed cockroaches, and went back to her group.

Ethan scoffed and mumbled. "Show off."

The entire engagement lasted less than twenty seconds.

Silence followed, broken only by the soft crackle of the ice as they dissolved.

Several students stared in awe, even the instructors looked mildly impressed as Aria finally made it to her group, looking like she just finished a warm up exercise.

Ethan looked at the bodies.

The corpses were a mess. Some were impaled, others were covered in frost, and the rest had limbs bent at useless angles.

Whatever structural integrity they had possessed was mostly gone, and he felt a mildly annoyed.

’Sheesh, would it kill you to go a little easy on you next time?’

Crane spoke, her voice cutting through his thoughts.

"Shaw. You’re not engaging."

Ethan glanced at the ruined Beowolves, then at her.

"I would have loved to, but the corpses are all useless now," he said, gesturing to the bodies. "Someone may have gone slightly overboard."

A few students turned toward him, and Aria’s eyes narrowed but she said nothing.

Ethan was entirely unbothered by this. ’What are you feeling smug for? It’s just a bunch of low ranks anyway...’

For all he knew, he was pissed. He wanted to raise one body, show how much control he had over it, and dismiss it as soon as possible.

And now because of Aria, he was going to have to find another one. And who knew how long that would take...

Before Crane could respond, another Beowolf burst from a narrow tunnel behind the group and lunged straight at Ethan.

He shifted his weight to move as the monster lunged, but before he could—

**BAM**

Nora activated Blood Craft without visible effort, and a thin sharp lance of the Beowolf’s own blood tore out from its chest and punched through the base of its skull. The body dropped mid-air and slid across the stone, leaving a trail of blood as it landed in front of Ethan’s feet.

Nora looked at Ethan, something like annoyance in her voice.

"You’re in my way."

She said, and stepped past him without waiting for a reply.

Ethan exhaled through his nose and crouched beside the corpse. Most of Aria’s kills were too damaged to be worth the energy.

The one Nora had dropped however, was cleaner.

It was a hole through its chest and head. He had raised corpses that were in worse conditions...

However, just as he was about to attempt raising it, Death Sense picked up something...

A stronger, denser trace tugged at the edge of his vision. It was deeper along a side tunnel that a group had entered just now.

He focused on the tunnel....

It was not like anything he had sensed before. It was heavier, stronger, and felt very, very close...

Ethan narrowed his eyes... and peered deeper into the passage.

Something else was down there...