Chapter 105: [STAY CLOSE TO ME]

They had been walking for about twenty minutes.

Each step echoed too loudly, water rippling outward with every bootfall, the sound bouncing off walls that remained unseen.

The drone lights above them flickered against the black water, tracing their reflections like restless fireflies.

“Nothing?” Kairo’s voice rumbled low, a steady anchor in the suffocating dark.

Eli shook his head. His throat felt dry. “…Still nothing.”

His frown deepened as his gut twisted tighter.

’That doesn’t make sense. Dungeons are supposed to have monsters—but everything’s just…empty…’

“How is that possible?” Mio’s exhale slipped out in a sigh, but there was an edge to it, faint tension threading through his casual tone. His sharp eyes narrowed as they swept over the black surface of the water. “Is it possible this dungeon’s empty? Like the A-Class that turned S-Class last time?”

“That’s a possibility.” Kairo’s answer was calm, clipped.

His black eyes were fixed straight ahead, unflinching. “But we should still keep going. If the gate is pulsing, there’s a boss somewhere. It could be that this dungeon is only housing the boss.”

He glanced briefly at each of them. “So keep your eyes wide open.”

“I’m already keeping them wide open,” Zaira muttered under her breath, her hand flexing against the hilt of her weapon. “And it’s not helping. This place is starting to feel like the inside of a coffin.”

Her voice carried bravado, but Eli didn’t miss the way her eyes flicked nervously to the shadows between drone lights.

’That’s quite a thing to say.’

Mel—usually quick with a quip—was dead quiet. He kept pace beside Zaira, lips pressed into a thin line, water dripping steadily from his coat.

The silence from him was louder than his whining ever could’ve been.

Eli swallowed, keeping his own silence. Unless someone asked him directly, he didn’t dare speak. His senses hadn’t flared once since they stepped in. No red sparks of warning. No tug in his chest that screamed danger.

And yet—

His skin crawled. The back of his neck prickled like icy fingers had brushed over it.

’This isn’t right. I don’t feel danger, but I do. I don’t know what’s off… but something is. It’s like my body knows before my ability does.’

But was that actually possible?

The drip-drip of water somewhere distant only made it worse. The sound seemed to mock them, each note a reminder that something was alive down here. Something waiting.

Kairo didn’t slow his steps. His grip around Eli remained steady, carrying him as if he weighed nothing at all, his stride as certain as a predator stalking through its own territory.

But Eli couldn’t shake it.

The dark here wasn’t just dark—it was thick. Like tar. Like a curtain that didn’t want to be pulled back.

And the further they went, the stronger the feeling grew.

A pressure in the air. A weight pushing down on his chest.

Wrong.

All of it felt wrong.

“You’re tense.”

The whisper came so close to his ear that Eli nearly jolted. He blinked up, squinting through the dark, but Kairo’s face was there—sharpened by the faint gleam of drone light, unreadable as always.

Eli’s throat bobbed. He bit his bottom lip, fighting the urge to brush it off, but Kairo had told him once already—he hated liars.

“…I’m… yeah. I’m tense.”

Kairo’s black eyes didn’t waver. “Why?”

The word cut quiet but heavy.

Eli exhaled, shaky. His voice dropped to a whisper, almost embarrassed to even say it aloud. “I just… I have a bad feeling. I don’t feel danger, but… that’s what’s giving me a bad feeling. Like—if my ability isn’t warning me, that’s worse than if it was.”

His chest tightened, and he ducked his head. “If that makes sense.”

’Listening to myself, it doesn’t make sense at all. God, I hope he understood.’

For a long, heavy moment, Kairo said nothing. The silence thickened between them, pressing against Eli’s ribs harder than the dark around them.

Then—

“Truthfully,” Kairo murmured, calm and blunt as always, “it does not make sense.”

’I knew it.’ Eli’s heart sank, a frown tugging at his lips.

But before frustration could boil over, Kairo continued. His tone shifted, quieter, softer—but just as sharp. “However… if you want to stop for a moment, we will. To look around. To make sure nothing escapes our sight. We could.”

The words hit Eli’s chest harder than he expected. He blinked up, caught off guard.

’Oh… he’s actually listening to my concerns? Even though I didn’t even make sense?’

Eli blinked rapidly, caught between relief and confusion. His heart swelled oddly—because for once, someone wasn’t brushing him off, wasn’t dismissing his fumbling words.

Kairo didn’t even wait for his response. He stopped moving in one decisive step, boots halting against the shallow water. His gaze cut forward, sharp as steel, his jaw tightening before he gave a single nod.

“Hold position.”

The words cracked like a whip, and the dungeon seemed to listen.

Immediately, the three members of Twilight stilled, their earlier banter vanishing in an instant. The sudden silence pressed down, only broken by the steady drip-drip-drip of unseen water echoing in the dark.

Zaira squinted into the void, her hand hovering near her weapon. “What is it?”

Kairo didn’t turn, his voice steady but edged like a blade. “At this point, we should search. There may be something we are not seeing—or are being led to overlook. Use your flashlights.”

Mio clicked his tongue but obeyed, reaching for his gear. Zaira and Mel followed, beams of light slicing jagged across the cavern walls, reflecting off rippling black water. The illumination only deepened the shadows, showing jagged stone, dripping stalactites, and a whole lot of nothing.

Kairo continued, his tone a low rumble. “There’s no good in waiting around for monsters to show themselves. Perhaps…” His black eyes narrowed, sharp and calculating. “…the monsters want us to find them.”

The implication chilled Eli’s blood. ’They want us to find them?’

That did make sense though.

Zaira exhaled, forcing a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Alright, Captain. As you command.”

Then Kairo shifted, turning to Eli. The movement was so abrupt Eli nearly flinched.

“As for you,” Kairo said, his gaze locking on him with quiet weight, “I’ll put you down. You’ll look around as well.”

Before Eli could argue, Kairo leaned, lowering him carefully until Eli’s boots splashed against the shallow water. The moment his feet hit, the cold seeped up through his soles, making him shiver.

But Kairo didn’t step away. His hand lingered briefly on Eli’s shoulder, grounding him, firm but not unkind. His black eyes met Eli’s, unwavering.

“Stay close to me.”

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