Lev watched him with quiet satisfaction. For someone who never lost control, Uno was doing a terrible job of hiding how much this got to him. Lev could practically hear the quiet grind of his composure slipping. 

How adorable.

“Alright then,” Lev said with a smirk, tone teasing but soft. “I won’t leave your side.”

Uno didn’t respond at first. Something twisted in his chest. The words shouldn’t have pleased him, but they did. It was ridiculous and irritating. Yet for a heartbeat, something inside him eased, like tension unknotting on its own.

“Stop talking,” he said finally, keeping his voice low and firm. “Just follow me quietly.”

Amusement flickered in Lev’s eyes, but he didn’t push further. Uno kept his gaze ahead. That strange warmth lingering in Uno’s chest, he shoved it aside before it could take shape. He had more pressing matters to take care of.

***

After hours of searching, they still hadn’t found a single clue about why the dungeon portal had closed on its own. Their only working theory was that other monsters had turned on each other which was weak at best. Even that didn’t explain the eerie silence hanging over the entire floor.

Normally, by now, they should’ve run into a Floor Guardian. That would’ve made things simple. But Uno hadn’t received a single update from Kova’s team either, which meant they were just as lost.

Floor Guardians always stayed near the core of the dungeon. Sometimes buried deep underground, other times perched at its highest point. Since this dungeon looked like a shattered city, that could only mean one thing. 

The Floor Guardian was likely nesting at the tallest building.

“Everyone, we’re heading to the third building,” Uno ordered.

The hunters immediately moved, obeying without question. They gathered their gear and began making their way toward the looming structure in the distance.

Lev trailed behind. Uno hadn’t said why they were heading there, but Lev already knew. It was too predictable.

That won’t do. He should be the one to find the Floor Guardian first.

His gaze slid toward Uno. If he tried to slip away now, Uno would notice instantly.  The man’s focus hadn’t left him once since they’d entered.

Tsk.

As much as he enjoyed provoking Uno, this constant surveillance was deeply inconvenient. He needed a split second of perfect timing to use his ability without raising suspicion.

He sighed under his breath, a quiet smirk tugging at his lips.

If he’d known Uno would drag him into this mission, he would’ve planned ahead.

Then again, improvising was always more fun.

As soon as they entered the third building, the stench hit them like a wall.

Rot and decay hung thick in the air. The kind that clung to your throat and refused to leave. Another field of colossal bug corpses sprawled across the floor. Their bodies were warped and bloated. Their fluids were leaking into dark puddles.

Several hunters gagged immediately. One actually ran for the door.

Lev wrinkled his nose, unimpressed. Pathetic.

Still, he eyed the corpses with faint curiosity.

‘Should I use one and make it a puppet?’

It would be a convenient distraction. That would definitely make Uno stop babysitting him.

Before he could follow through, Uno appeared in front of him and handed him something. A sleek, matte-black respirator with angular filters and a faint mana pulse in its core.

“Use this,” Uno said. “It filters out the miasma.” Then, after a short pause… “Do you know how to put it on?”

Lev blinked at the device. His expression was perfectly neutral. He turned it in his hands, inspecting the straps, the latch and its vents. It was clearly some sort of breathing gear.

He tried to fit it over his face, but the straps tangled. The clasp snapped back, nearly smacking him. He caught it mid-air.

This stupid thing’s actively mocking him!

Uno’s brow twitched, his lips pressing together as if holding back a laugh. “You’re holding it upside down.”

Lev froze. He turned the mask the right way up, pretending that was his intention all along.

The hunters nearby exchanged looks over their shoulders. One elbowed another. Someone muffled a snort. No one had ever seen Uno tease anyone before, much less linger this close to someone while doing it.

The entire team looked one accidental touch away from combusting.

Uno finally sighed. “Here,” he said, stepping closer. “Let me.”

Before Lev could react, Uno’s gloved hands brushed against his jaw, adjusting the straps with an infuriating gentleness. His fingers hooked behind Lev’s neck as he secured the latch, his face close enough that Lev could feel the faint warmth of his breath. His shadow moved into Lev’s personal space.

Several hunters suddenly found the walls very interesting. One even turned away entirely, muttering something about “checking the perimeter.”

“There,” Uno murmured, tightening the final strap. “Try breathing.”

Lev exhaled just to prove a point. The mask hummed softly, filtering the air with a faint metallic taste.

He could feel the heat of the team’s collective stare, but Uno seemed completely unfazed by the public spectacle.

Uno leaned back slightly, looking satisfied. “Look at you glaring at me,” he said.

Lev narrowed his eyes above the mask’s rim. He was not glaring. He was conceptualizing new, fashionable, and exceedingly painful ways to make Uno regret existing.

Uno turned away before Lev could say anything, clearly pleased with himself.

Lev adjusted the mask with a bit too much force. His pride cracked audibly inside him. Great. 

He huffed through the respirator, sounding sharp and annoyed.

Fine, human. Enjoy your little victory.

Lev crouched beside one of the colossal corpses, pretending to study it like the others. His gloved fingers dipped into the dark fluid pooling beneath it. Without drawing attention, several thin streams of liquid slithered away, disappearing into the cracks of the floor. The room’s dim light hid the movement perfectly.

Lev straightened, wiping his hands on his pants as if disgusted though the faint curve at the corner of his mouth behind the face mask betrayed otherwise.

He casually drifted back to Uno’s side. The man was absorbed in his tablet, scanning data. When he glanced up, his gaze brushed over Lev briefly before dropping back to his screen.

“I’ll go up first,” Uno announced with a commanding voice. “The rest of you, follow after me.”

The hunters straightened immediately, their boots crunching on glass as they prepared to move.

Then Uno turned his head slightly, directing his next words at Lev without even looking. “You stay close to my back.”

Lev arched his brow but didn’t say anything.

The climb was slow. The stairwell wound upward in near darkness, their lights slicing through dust and shadow. The walls were streaked with grime, every step creaking like the building itself resented their presence.

Uno led the way with a weapon in one hand while holding a rune light in the other. The hunters followed in formation, their boots crunching on broken tiles. Lev trailed just behind him, quiet as ever as his gaze stayed on Uno’s broad back.

Something was changing in the air. It felt heavier and denser. The faint hum of mana grew louder with each floor, crawling across the walls like static.

Then it came…..low at first, almost like the sound of stone dragging against metal.

A growl. Deep and guttural, echoing through the stairwell.

The hunters froze mid-step.

Uno raised a hand, demanding absolute silence. He scanned the darkness above, his eyes narrowed. “Weapons ready,” he ordered. It was barely a whisper.

The sound came again, closer this time. Something big was moving.

One of the hunters aimed their rune light upward. The beam cut through the dark and caught the faint shimmer of chitin.

A colossal bug clung to the ceiling, its limbs twitching unnaturally as if trying to remember how to move. Its eyes flickered with a faint, eerie glow.

“Shit–!” someone blurted out, too loudly, cracking the silence.

The creature’s grotesque head snapped toward the noise.

Chaos erupted.

The thing lunged, crashing down the stairwell in a blur of legs and mandibles. The hunters scrambled backward with their blades flashing and runes flaring to life. Metal clashed against armor, the air filled with the hiss of mana and the stench of rot.

Lev barely had time to blink before Uno instinctively pushed him away to the safe spot.

“Stay put there!” Uno commanded him.

Lev just shrugged and watched Uno and the others in chaos with pure entertainment. He didn’t need protection but watching Uno so fiercely guard him, like some gallant knight before a helpless noble, was almost too funny.

Uno struck the monster with his blade. The monster reared back, shrieking, before collapsing in a heap of twitching limbs.

The hallway fell silent again, except for the ragged sound of breathing.

Uno turned to the hunters. “Anyone hurt?”

A few heads shook. Someone cursed softly.

The faint hum of mana didn’t fade. If anything, it pulsed stronger now, rippling beneath the floor.

Uno sheathed his blade, scanning the stairwell. “Stay sharp,” he said. “That wasn’t the only one.”

Lev smirked as he looked up the stairs. It would be boring if it was.

And so, the quiet didn’t last.

Barely a minute passed before the air trembled again. A deeper, sharper vibration this time. The walls quivered. Fine dust rained from the ceiling.

Uno lifted a hand, signaling everyone to halt. “Positions,” he murmured.

But before they could move, the sound hit not one growl this time, but many. It rolled through the corridor like thunder. Their rune lights flickered.

The hunters raised their weapons, ready for the wave.

Then the shadows moved.

From the far end of the hall, several colossal bugs emerged. Their shells scraped and torn. Their eyes glowed faintly as if lit by dying embers. The smell hit first. It was acrid and heavy, followed by the wet drag of their limbs scraping across the walls.

One of the creatures screeched and charged.

Hunters charged to meet them. Their runes flared bright blue and gold. Mana cracked through the air like lightning. The sound of metal striking chitin echoed off the walls.

Uno moved with ruthless precision without hesitation. His blade cut through one creature’s leg in a single clean arc, the hit spraying dark fluid across the floor.

Lev tilted his head lazily. Uno really was a sight to see. 

Uno’s blade cleaved through another colossal bug, its body collapsing in a mess of shattered chitin and sludge. He turned briefly to check on Lev, with his chest rising and falling with steady breaths.

Lev simply met his gaze and shrugged as if to say, ‘See? I told you I’d stay put.’

However elsewhere, something else had started to move.

Far above them, where the air was thick and damp, a small line of dark liquid crept across the floor like a living shadow. It slithered through cracks, past collapsed pillars and dead husks, until it reached the top of the building.

There, in the center, stood what looked like a statue. It was half-buried in rubble, its stone surface was webbed with cracks.

The liquid stopped at its base. Then, slowly, it rose. Splitting, stretching, twisting until it began to take shape. Fingers first, then arms, then a face.

The face of a human. Its eyes opened, faintly glowing in the dark.

He walked towards the statue and touched it. The statue opened its eyes like it was brought back to life. Without any second, a human grasped the Guardian’s neck and hoisted it effortlessly into the air.

“A human?!” the Floor Guardian choked out, struggling against the unbreakable grip.

How was this possible? How could someone awaken him without the resonant crystal, and how could a mere human hold him like a disposable doll?!

“Well,” the human drawled, tilting his head. “It’s been a while. How about a little chat?”