Chapter 274: Ding!

Behind him, Luna sighed, “We’re definitely not done with this place.”

Bastet tilted her head, eyes narrowing. “The usurper… must be the one who stole the Count’s throne.”

Kaiden looked down at the gauntlet again.

Somewhere ahead… was something it wanted to drink from.

Blood.

Of the usurper.

“Is this ‘The Heart’ the monsters talked about before?” Aria asked.

“Only time will tell…” Nyx replied with a weak sigh.

*Trrk!*

The ground lurched beneath their feet with a slow, reluctant groan as if the room itself had grown weary of pretending.

A loud tear echoed from the walls.

Then the floor began to tilt.

The gold-stacked tables, the elegant display cases, even the grand chandelier above… they all started moving downward as though gravity had decided on a new direction.

“No!” Luna screamed, eyes wide in horror.

The loot goblin’s heart skipped ten entire heartbeats.

Several opulent goblets and necklaces she hadn’t yet gotten to were beginning to fade. The ruby-studded scepter she’d been eyeing blinked once, then dissolved into motes of red light.

“Grab it all! NOW!” she barked while already diving toward the nearest pile.

The girls followed her lead immediately.

Nyx shoved a mound of coins into her bag by utilizing her full telekinetic arsenal. “Don’t stop even to think! Just keep shoveling, no matter the item!”

Bastet dove behind a velvet curtain and emerged with a beautiful tiara hoisted over her head as her tail flicked behind her perky butt in panic. “I can’t leave without this! It matches my hair perfectly!”

Aria was frantically tossing items into the bag she removed from her back and hoisted in front of her chest for better efficiency. “Come on, come on!”

But just as Luna unhooked an intricate chain of bloodstones and popped open her bag for the next haul, her hands froze.

“…No. No. No, no, NO!”

The items inside her bag—the ones she’d secured already—were vanishing. The ring she had grabbed was now gone. Even the pearl-chased goblet that had made it in first was flickering out of existence.

With dawning horror, she let out a guttural, soul-deep curse.

“Piece of shit!”

Kaiden, still standing by the dais with the gauntlet on his arm, couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

He watched, amused, as his girlfriends scrambled through vanishing riches, desperately pawing at glittering loot that dissolved into mist between their fingers.

Kaiden smiled as he glanced at the gauntlet, speaking quietly.

“The message did say the sons looted everything but you.”

He rotated his wrist, feeling the plain weight of the iron glove.

“That must mean this was all an illusion. Just flair. One final little charade so you’d be properly introduced, maybe.”

The gauntlet didn’t respond.

It sat motionless on his hand.

Silent and utterly unremarkable.

Behind him, Luna collapsed onto her knees in front of a completely empty treasure chest.

The floor finished tilting, now revealing a staircase beneath the illusion. A spiral descent carved in crimson and stone.

The real path forward.

But the transformation of the dungeon wasn’t done just yet.

A wave of dizziness struck the group as the environment shifted around them, giving them the feeling of being blinked into a different place entirely. The temperature dropped, the light dimmed, and a sudden wave of stench—blood, ash, and rot—rolled over them.

The ornate treasure hall was no more.

They now stood in what looked like the aftermath of a massacre.

The walls were cracked and blackened. Torches flickered weakly in half-melted sconces. The scent of ozone and scorched mana hung thick in the air, and the stone beneath their boots was stained with blood. A lot of it.

Across the chamber, just emerging from a narrow side tunnel, were familiar figures.

Vaelira’s squad.

And they looked like hell.

Diaz was shirtless, blood streaked across his chest in long cuts, one shoulder heavily bandaged with makeshift wrappings. His signature twin daggers were stained black and red. He didn’t look surprised to see them. But he looked tired. Tired enough to seem like a man who’d just sprinted through death and back.

Jack and Sasha seemed exhausted but only bruised otherwise. Leon, meanwhile, was the worst for wear out of them all. Whether it was due to the parasite that found its way into his body or not, Kaiden didn’t know, but the man looked as if he’d just aged a dozen years.

Vaelira herself stood at the front of the group with her skirt torn at the hem, a deep gash along her thigh, and her usual composed sneer replaced with a grim, silent glare.

The moment she saw Kaiden’s group materialize, her eyes widened—just for a fraction of a second. Not in surprise.

In realization.

“You solved it…” she whispered in disbelief. It was evident that the woman understood what was going on and felt greatly conflicted about it.

Kaiden nodded slowly. “We did. What happened on your side?”

Vaelira straightened her spine despite her tired state. “It wasn’t quite a puzzle on our end.”

Vaelira’s eyes narrowed as her gaze moved to Kaiden’s gauntlet and lingered there.

Then she added coldly.

“War happened on our end. Once again, lady luck decided to favor you… How shocking.”

Sarcasm oozed from her tone.

Kaiden could’ve responded by saying that they faced quite a number of monsters on their end as well, but he didn’t feel it was worth it. He’d wasted far too much energy in his life on this woman already.

A sudden DING! echoed through his mind.

[You’ve solved the Riddle of Veylin!]

[XP Gained: 20,000!]

The message lit up across every party member’s mind.

Even those who went the other direction saw it, though their XP gains were significantly lower.

But Kaiden barely had time to register the numbers before another prompt followed.

[Bottleneck Reached!]

[To level up, complete the requirements!]

Something deep within was awakening. He could sense it.

The pieces were in place. His class was on the verge of changing.

No more having access only to the most basic of abilities.

This was it.

The first real evolution.

Kaiden’s lips curved into a slow, hungry smile as his grip tightened.

It was finally time.