The Irons moved cautiously through the dungeon's winding tunnels. Their armored leader, a bulky woman with a scar running down her face, raised her hand. "Fucking Xinyue! Xinyue! Always that bitch...they might as well suck her pussy if they fear and adore her so much."

"Leader! She is such a fucking bitch, acting all high and mighty! You should put her in place." the hunters responded, their voices echoing faintly against the thickly grown trees.

"I plan to… but there's no point in me personally challenging her. We should show that our guild is better than their Sirius." They were talking among themselves, but suddenly, a heavy silence fell over them, oppressive and unnatural. It felt as if the air itself had grown thick, holding its breath.

"Did anyone hear that?" one of the hunters whispered nervously, gripping her spear.

"What? What did you hear?" the leader snapped. "Tell me!."

But even as he spoke, a faint hum began to resonate through the dungeon. It was low at first, almost imperceptible, like distant wind brushing against stone. Then it grew louder, a vibration that seeped into their bones.

"What… is that sound?" another hunter asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't like this," muttered a younger member. "It feels… like there's something inside my head."

Suddenly, a blinding light cut through the corridor ahead.

All the hunters froze. The light wasn't like anything natural—pure, cold, and unrelenting. It shimmered, almost liquid, and then resolved into a figure hovering a few meters above the ground. Wings spread wide, glowing with an ethereal luminescence.

It was like an angel. It looked as if they were about to face the judgment itself.

Its face was obscured by light, yet a voice, soft but carrying a bone-chilling echo and multiple voices, spoke.

"Where… is she? Where… is she?"

The hunters looked at each other, fear breaking through their discipline.

"Who… who are you?!" the leader bellowed, raising her sword.

The angel tilted its head slowly, observing them. Its wings shimmered, casting strange shadows on the walls.

"Do… you know where she is?" it asked again, each word drawn out, almost musical, almost torturous.

"W-We don't know anyone! We're just passing through!" a hunter cried, backing away.

A cold wind erupted from the angel's wings. All the surrounding trees shivered. Stone dust fell like snow.

"Trash."

Before anyone could react further, the angel moved. Not a step, not a run—but a blink, a shift in reality itself. Its sword-like feathers extended, sharp as razors.

The first hunter was sliced in half mid-cry. Blood sprayed, pooling on the stone floor.

"W-What?!" someone shouted, staring in horror.

"What the actual fuck! Fall back and get into your positions!" the leader tried to command, but her voice faltered as the angel's gaze shifted to her.

The air warped around it. A single swing of those impossibly fast, glowing feathers obliterated the first line of hunters. Limbs, armor, and weapons dissolved into mist before they even touched the ground.

"R-Run!" a voice screamed, but the words were swallowed by the humming of the angel's wings.

The Irons guild scattered everywhere, but the angel's presence dominated the whole area.

"Where… is she?" the angel repeated, its voice eerily calm. "I can feel her… presence."

Another hunter's head was cleaved cleanly from her body. Her scream ended as a single echo, leaving nothing but silence.

"Run away!" the scarred leader shouted, desperation rising. "Fuck this!"

The angel laughed then. Not a human laugh. Something hollow, resonant, as though the dungeon itself joined in with how much it echoed.

"You… cannot hide from me." the angel's voice rang through every hook and corner simultaneously, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

The remaining hunters panicked, trying to flee. Some dove into caves, but the angel's presence bent space itself. No hiding spots were safe.

One by one, they were struck. Blades of light ripped through walls and stone alike, cutting paths of destruction, separating survivors from each other.

"Leader…!" one hunter screamed, clutching at the scarred leader's leg. But the angel's gaze fell on them, cold and unyielding.

A single motion, almost a nod, and the leader's torso exploded in a flash of white light. The others didn't even have time to scream before the explosion consumed them.

The dungeon was silent again. Stone dust hung in the air. The Irons guild had ceased to exist. Not a body remained, not a single drop of blood on the floor, everything was evaporated. The echo of the angel's voice lingered faintly, as though whispering from every corner of the dungeon:

"Where… is she…?"

***

Kyouka's eyes scanned the land ahead, her senses sharp. She had activated her Huntress Domain, letting her instincts trace even the faintest disturbance in the environment. Every broken branch, every splash of blood, every overturned stone spoke to her.

"Nina came through here," she murmured, stepping cautiously over a pile of torn moss. "Look… these marks. Sliced clean through and damaged the trees, like the work of a greatsword. Who else we know hold a greatsword strong enough to create a destruction like this? "

One of the Valkyries peered over her shoulder. "It could be monsters right?"

Kyouka nodded. "Yes. That's why this isn't alone enough. It could have been anyone… or anything. I need to follow the trail further."

The other Valkyries spread out, their eyes searching every corner, every path, for signs of struggle, of conflict, of a trail that could lead them to Nina. Broken weapons, scorched earth, claw marks—they noted everything.

Then a piercing shout rang out. A woman's voice, strong and desperate, echoed through the tunnels.

"Gyahhhh!"

The Valkyries froze for a heartbeat.

"That's… a woman's voice," one of them whispered. "It is Masa?"

"Did she get attacked by something?" Kyouka muttered, her voice tight. "Let's move! She might need our help."

They sprinted through the dungeon corridors, leaping over fallen stones and ducking under jagged stalactites. The voice grew louder, more desperate, more strained.

Finally, they emerged into a clearing—and froze.

Before them stretched the edge of a massive cliff. The land below was a living nightmare.

Thousands of monsters, some hulking and grotesque, others small and vicious, clashed in a brutal frenzy. The corpses of countless creatures were scattered across the battlefield, some half-eaten, some crushed. The air itself seemed to tremble under the sounds of growls, roars, and the clash of claws and teeth.

"This… this is…" one Valkyrie whispered, her voice trembling. "I've never seen anything like this."

Kyouka's eyes narrowed. "All of them… gathered in one place. But why?"

"It's… the stampede," muttered another, staring at the scene below in horror. "Every monster of this floor… fighting here. And the dead… look at the dead…this is what would have come for us."

The Valkyries instinctively took a step back from the cliff's edge, their instincts screaming that even a single misstep could send them plummeting into a hell where bones wouldn't last.

One of the younger Valkyries, her voice barely audible, asked hesitantly, "D-Do you think… Nina was caught in that?"

A senior Valkyrie, a woman who had fought through countless dungeons, frowned. "What is this place…? How… how could this have formed?"

Kyouka's gaze swept across the area. "No… no way we missed this…"

A voice muttered from the back, low and uncertain. "This… this wasn't here before. There used to be a huge mountain here. No way… this must be unexplored land."

Everyone turned, eyes narrowing in disbelief. "Mountain?"

"Yes," the woman repeated firmly. "No records mention this, It's almost as if the mountain that was here disappeared. And if the mountain disappeared… something reshaped the land entirely. Probably a landslide?"

They all exchanged uneasy glances. The thought was terrifying, yet somehow, it made a grim kind of sense. How could such a vast battlefield have gone unnoticed?

Kyouka's eyes darkened. "If all these monsters… were released… into the city…"

A shiver ran through the group. Some Valkyries turned pale, others tightened their grips on their weapons. The thought of the carnage was almost unbearable.

Kyouka's mind raced. Her family… the people she loved… all of them in danger if this were unleashed. "Maybe… maybe we should leave this country," she whispered to herself, voice almost lost in the wind that carried the distant roars from the battlefield below. "We're fighting a losing battle."

The ground trembled beneath their feet.

"Earthquake?" one Valkyrie asked, stepping back instinctively.

Before anyone could respond, the dungeon erupted in a violent explosion. Rocks, dust, and debris shot into the air like fireworks, and the sound was deafening.

The Valkyries stumbled back, shielding their eyes. Kyouka's heart pounded. "What's going on?"

No one had an answer. The only thing visible was a pillar of ice, impossibly massive, rising from the center of the battlefield behind them. It stretched so high it seemed to pierce the tallest trees, mountains of ice stacked atop one another in impossible formation.

"W-What… who could—" one Valkyrie began, but she couldn't finish.

Kyouka's breath caught. Only one person she knew could do something so absurd… so colossal. Her lips moved silently as she muttered the name:

"Lan Xinyue…"