The air was thick with pulverized stone and the bitter tang of raw mana.

The Floor Guardian grunted, stone skin fracturing beneath Lev’s grip as he struggled to push the hand away. “Who are you?”

The human didn’t strain. He didn’t even lean. He simply stood utterly still and let a slow mocking smirk curl his lips. “Take a guess.”

For a brief moment, his eyes glimmered gold slitted like a serpent’s and faint scales rippled across his cheekbones before vanishing again.

The colossal Guardian froze with every instinct in its stone-cracked body screaming. Its deep rattling breath hitched. “The… Leviathan–?! Why are you wearing the pathetic shell of a human?!”

The human gave a casual shrug and released the golem. The massive body dropped to the ruined floor with a heavy dust-kicking thud.

“Well,” He said lightly, brushing imaginary dust from his flawless black clothes. He turned, hands sliding into his pockets, and glanced back over his shoulder. “I go by Lev now. And this,” he gestured to his human form, “is my preferred aesthetic.”

The Guardian’s eyes flared. “You abandoned your Dungeon?! And now you masquerade as a human?! The very species that has hunted you for millennia?! Absurd!”

Lev’s laugh echoed. It was sharp, cold, and utterly devoid of warmth. “My dungeon can handle itself. I can spawn clones at any time, anywhere.” He tilted his head, the smirk widening into a faint, predatory grin. “You didn’t even notice this one standing right here in front of you is not the real me, did you?”

He surveyed the devastation around them, a wasteland of shattered pillars and vaporized stone. “Floor 270? Huh. Not bad.”

The Guardian spat, cracks spreading across his chest. “You have gone mad! Why did you wipe out this entire floor, Leviathan?!”

Lev pointed a lazy, dismissive finger at him. “Good question. I was curious.” His tone shifted, becoming almost playful, like a predator circling a panicked fish. “Your floor’s been acting strange. How is it that the very monsters dedicated to my dungeon’s defense are playing nice with the humans who seek to plunder it?”

He tilted his head further, his golden eyes glowing with genuine, terrifying amusement. “You really should have kept me in the loop. I might have joined the fun.”

The Guardian snarled. Its voice thick with gravelly rage. “Insolent! You think humans are the only ones who want your death? Every other monster does too! They hunger for your power! To overthrow you! To usurp the throne you’ve occupied for too long!”

Lev clapped once, slow and amused. The sound was unnervingly loud in the shattered room. “I shall take that as a compliment.”

Then, he moved.

It was less a movement and more a teleportation of violence. The Guardian had zero time to react.

Lev’s hand pierced through the Guardian’s stone carapace and residual flesh as if they were wet tissue paper. His fingers wrapped around the painfully bright pulsating mana core nestled deep within the creature’s chest cavity.

Lev leaned in close, his voice soft, a dangerous, intimate whisper. “So tell me… is that why hybrids are popping up on Earth? Little experiments in usurpation? How cute.”

The Guardian let out a strained, gurgling sound, its claws desperately scrabbling at Lev’s arm. “This… this is against the rule–!”

Lev chuckled, a low, cold sound that vibrated in the Guardian’s crumbling body. “What rule?”

He leaned in closer, his golden eyes burning into the monster’s fading luminescence.

“I am the rule.”

With one sharp effortless twist, he crushed the core in his hand.

Raw, blinding light spilled through the cracks in the Guardian’s body. It tried to speak, but its essence was already dissolving. A final broken crunch of stone, and then it disintegrated into a plume of heavy odorless dust.

Lev sighed, shaking off the residual dust from his hand as if it were a trivial nuisance. He clicked his tongue. “Tch. And here I thought we were having such a stimulating chat.”

He offered a dangerous wide smile as the last traces of the Guardian’s energy vanished.

A faint deep tremor vibrated through the floor beneath him. It was a distant echo of fighting below.

The clone with its performance complete, tilted its head. It rolled its neck with a sharp echoing crack as if shedding an invisible skin. Then, its form began to melt. The perfect human shell dissolved. Its bones liquefying, flesh collapsing into a glistening pool of iridescent black fluid. The liquid slithered away soundlessly, vanishing through the cracks in the floor like a retreating shadow.

Far below, the real Lev licked his upper lip. A faint smirk curling beneath his mask. He watched with a detached air as the last colossal bug fell with a dull heavy thud.

“I think that’s the last of it, Captain,” one of the hunters said, lowering his weapon.

Uno gave a short curt nod as he scanned the scene. The stench of burned chitin, pulverized stone, and raw mana hung thick and acrid. The floor was a junkyard of smoking carcasses but the air was still.

These hunters weren’t amateurs. They knew the rhythm of battle, the stillness that followed true silence. When they said the dungeon had been truly pacified, Uno believed them.

“We’re going up,” Uno stated, sliding his blade back into its sheath.

Lev met his gaze. “Okay.”

Uno’s eyes lingered on him longer than he meant to. Lev hadn’t moved the entire time. His posture was loose, almost casual, like he was merely watching a play unfold. There wasn’t even a hint of discomfort in his stance, not a single trace of fear or adrenaline.

He’d seen plenty of people freeze during a fight. Fear was normal. Even among hunters, no one ever stayed that calm. Not with creatures like these. But Lev’s expression hadn’t wavered once. 

He brushed the thought away almost immediately. It’s ridiculous. Lev’s probably just desensitized from long exposure. He straightened, leading the way toward the upward stairwell. Lev naturally fell into place a few paces behind him.

After a few steps, Lev reached up and casually pulled down the mask covering the lower half of his face. He didn’t seem to care about the metallic thickness of the air. He twirled the mask between his fingers.

Lev pushed his tongue against his cheek, a quiet, playful gesture, and spoke.

“I’ve been exposed to dungeon monsters since I was very young,” he said, his tone entirely casual. “Back then, I was terrified. I used to cry myself sick. Everyone around me was the same. Helpless.”

He gave a short self-deprecating chuckle, letting it echo lightly in the stairwell. “So, I promised myself that one day, I’d face them with a brave face. Even if I was trembling inside.”

Uno slowed, glancing back with a small frown. “Why are you telling me this?”

Lev met his gaze, his lips curving into a smile of perfected sincerity. “I just felt like you should know,” he said. “Now that we’ve gotten closer, Captain.”

The last word was a subtle, almost teasing drop of honey.

Uno blinked, momentarily thrown off guard. The suspicion that had been brewing in his expression eased. “That’s why you take so many notes. It’ll help you later.”

Lev nearly laughed at the simplistic interpretation, but swallowed it. Instead, the corners of his eyes crinkled. 

“Of course, Captain.”

He tilted his head, watching the straight, rigid line of Uno’s back as they climbed. Did I look too relaxed earlier? He should be more careful. He wouldn’t want to spoil the game too early.

The stairs wound upward for what felt like an eternity, each level passed by shrouded in dust and silence.

When they finally reached the top floor, the hunters fanned out automatically. Their rune lights cut through the cracked walls and empty corners. 

It was empty. No movement. No core crystal. No traces of life.

Uno stepped forward, his boots crunching on the vast, pulverized debris that littered the floor. He scanned the room, his eyes narrowed, his frown deepening with every passing second. The faint glow of his wristband, a mana detection device, blinked once. There were no readings.

“Strange,” he muttered. “There should be traces of the Guardian here.”

Junha kicked a loose shard of concrete. “Did we go up to the wrong building?”

“No,” Uno said. His brow creased. “No. This is precisely where it should be.”

Lev stood behind him in silence. Of course there was nothing here. He already made sure of that.

The silence stretched until Uno sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We’ll do another sweep. Set up camp. No one leaves until I say so.”

The hunters moved efficiently, unpacking their gear. Lev drifted toward the window, pretending to inspect the cracked glass. Outside, the dungeon sprawled like a corpse field under dying light.

He glanced back at Uno. Lev suppressed the urge to prod him further. It was more amusing to watch the Captain perform useless tasks with such intense focus.

They found nothing. No remnants of the Guardian. No clues, no readings. In the end, both teams regrouped at the dungeon entrance.

Uno gave the order to close the portal. The mission was officially over.

Since it was late, they all decided to have dinner together at Kova’s family restaurant chain.

Exhausted but relieved, the hunters settled in. Kova’s voice boomed through the restaurant, “Everyone, enjoy your dinner! It’s all on the house!”

The room erupted in cheers. Everyone except Lev, who found the sudden burst of noise annoying yet amusing, and Uno, who remained quiet, his thoughts still preoccupied with the failed investigation.

Kova, radiating energy, walked toward their table, holding her phone aloft.

“Look who we have here!” She laughed, turning the screen toward Uno.

Uno frowned as she turned the screen toward him. Matthew’s face filled it.

“Why are you dragging my vice captain to a dungeon raid? Are you nuts?” Matthew’s voice was annoyed, though a hint of unseriousness undercut it. “You’ve got your own. Use them instead of stealing mine.”

Uno’s frown deepened. “He’s not ‘yours.’ He just happens to be on your team.”

Lev, listening in, raised a brow without looking at them.

Matthew scoffed on the phone. “Look at this guy. Didn’t you request to keep him off your team because he annoyed you?”

Kova’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O.’ Her eyes immediately swung to Lev.

Uno’s gaze shot up, snapping straight to Lev, who was obliviously drinking his strawberry juice.

Did he hear that? Uno thought. The surrounding noise from the other hunters made them oblivious to the conversation, but Lev was right beside him.

“Hey! Why did you stop talking? Is Lev with you? Let me talk to him–”

Annoyed and internally cursing, Uno abruptly ended the call. He handed the phone back to Kova, a sharp glare aimed at her.

“What?” she said, pouting. “I didn’t do anything wrong! It was Matthew!”

He wanted to say something to Lev, but his own phone rang. It was his mother. He cursed under his breath before answering, then turned to Lev.

“I’ll be right back. After this call, I’ll drive you home,” Uno said.

Lev simply shrugged.

The moment Uno stepped out, Kova slid into the seat beside Lev, grinning like she’d just discovered gossip worth gold.

So, Uno swings that way? She thought, a sly grin spreading across her face. Uno was notoriously emotionally distant. This was the first time she’d seen him so flustered over a single person.

“Hey, so you’re Matthew’s Vice-Captain, huh?” she said with a knowing smile.

Lev offered his practiced, kind smile. “Yes, that’s right.”

“And Uno brought you with him. Interesting.” She propped her chin on her hand, leaning in conspiratorially.

“He said this is part of my training,” Lev replied smoothly, not dropping the smile.

“Hm.” Kova nodded slowly.

There’s no way Uno would ever do that. He never had for any other junior Hunter. He’s clearly giving him special treatment. A very special one.

Kova grinned ear to ear. This was getting fascinating.

“By the way, Matthew’s throwing a birthday party in two days. I’ll see you there. I’m sure he’ll invite you.”

“I’m not sure he will.”

Kova winked. “Oh, I’m sure of it.” She pulled out her phone and lightly tapped it against Lev’s. The screens glowed. Kova’s contact information had been automatically exchanged to his.

“That’s my number. Let’s keep in touch.”

Not long after, Uno walked back in, rubbing his temple. “Let’s go.

Lev stood up instantly. Kova gave him a knowing goodbye wave.

The two headed to Uno’s car.