Chapter 32

Holanghee hurled her spear straight at the Thief Zombie, but with so many monsters crowding the place, it struck another creature instead. In that moment, the Thief Zombie slipped right out the door.

“Hey, isn’t that one of those super low spawn rate types?!”

Noquia pointed at the fleeing Thief Zombie in disbelief, while Father vaulted out a side window to avoid the swarming monsters and shouted.

“My door!”

They decided to leave the Thief Zombie to Father, who was already obsessed with chasing it down. The rest focused on keeping the horde from overrunning the house. But the monsters were pushing in from both the door and the windows, splitting their defense in two.

“This isn’t working. Let’s head upstairs.”

After some thought, Theo chose to abandon the first floor. If they lured all the monsters up the staircase, they could funnel them together and deal with them more efficiently. Everyone nodded and began backing up the stairs.

Once the four of them reached the second floor, they formed a spear wall at the top of the stairs and jabbed down at the climbing monsters without restraint. The ones in the front tried to back away to avoid the spears, but the ones behind kept pushing forward, unaware of the danger ahead. The result was a mess of monsters being skewered one after another.

Then came the heavy thudding of footsteps. Boom, boom. Followed by a troll stomping over the pile of corpses and charging up the stairs. It planted itself before them and roared with such force that their skin tingled from the vibrations.

Everyone swallowed hard, spears trembling as they aimed at the troll. But the creature clasped both hands together, raised them high, and smashed down at their weapons.

Holanghee’s and Blaine’s spears shattered instantly. The two froze in panic, clutching the broken shafts. The troll swung again, this time splintering Theo’s spear. Only Noquia still had hers. The three quickly fumbled with their inventories to craft new weapons, but before they could finish, a sharp crack rang out—Noquia’s spear broke too.

The troll drooled as it stared at the now unarmed group, bellowing before charging like a wild boar. The four barely managed to dive in different directions, and the troll smashed through the wall instead. Enraged, it howled and swung its arms wildly, thrashing everything around.

While the troll vented its rage on the walls, the group hurriedly forged new spears. Surrounding the creature, they braced themselves for a proper fight. The troll huffed, spun around, and eyed each of them in turn, as if deciding who to crush first.

Finally, it fixed its gaze on Noquia, hunching its back and inflating its chest. Everyone was sure it would charge her. But the troll suddenly relaxed, growled in frustration a few more times, then turned away. Without another glance, it stomped down the stairs. The rest of the monsters followed obediently behind it.

The four of them stared blankly at the vanishing backs of the monsters, then glanced at one another before turning their eyes to the window. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise.

When they went down to the first floor, the place was a wreck. The door was gone, the stone-reinforced outer wall was ruined, and the only thing left untouched was the treasure they had carefully tucked away in the corner. They swallowed their sighs and started cleaning up while waiting for Father to return.

After who knew how long, Father finally came back from chasing the Thief Zombie. She looked like a lost soul, her hands empty as she muttered, “We’re screwed.”

Father hadn’t managed to recover the door from the Thief Zombie. Everyone’s faces went pale. Without the door, how were they supposed to survive another wave of monsters? Still, they had already found the treasure—they couldn’t just give up so easily.

The third and final night allowed them to set up wooden barricades. They decided to put everything into making the most of that.

First, they repaired the collapsed stone wall with what little stone remained. Then, using the leather Father had hunted for, they expanded their inventories and set out to gather wood. Since all the nearby trees had already been stripped bare, they had to go much farther out.

The distance was so great that even the travel time felt wasteful. Only after pushing deep into the wilderness did they find a proper grove. They worked in perfect unison, so focused that they didn’t even waste a second chatting.

Over and over, they filled their inventories to the brim and trekked back and forth between the grove and the house.

By the time the sun was setting, they’d filled their inventories one last time and hurried back home. Then they began building and setting up the barricades.

The first line of defense was in front of the house. The second was at the staircase. The third was the second floor.

At the front, they stacked barricades thick around the door—the only entrance. On the first floor, they blocked every path except the one leading to the stairs. They did the same on the second floor. Every piece of spare wood was piled at the front of the house, ready for repairs. They might have three defensive lines, but they all agreed to treat the front as their final fortress.

For good measure, they also crafted several spears, in case another troll or werewolf showed up.

When they finished planting torches all around the barricades, the place had turned into an iron fortress, sealed so tight not even an ant could crawl in.

With everything ready, they waited in silence. Somewhere out there in the pitch-black darkness, the monsters were gathering.

After some time, a roar echoed from far away, followed by strange, overlapping cries.

Theo tensed, staring into the shadows. Soon, pairs of glowing eyes began to flicker into view, spreading across the night like wildfire. Among them was one enormous eye—so massive it couldn’t belong to anything else but a cyclops.

Thump. Thump. The ground trembled as the cyclops moved, and the other monsters followed in formation.

Theo took a deep breath and raised his bow. There might be more cyclopes lurking in the rear, but the one leading had to fall before it reached the barricades.

He drew the string tight, holding his breath. This was a Survival Dungeon—there was no auto-targeting to save him. But his release was steady, without the slightest hesitation. The arrow tore through the night with a sharp whistle, striking the cyclops directly in its eye.

The beast howled in agony, thrashing wildly as it yanked out the arrow and clutched its eye. Theo calmly drew another. The next arrow slipped past the monster’s fingers and buried itself in the same eye.

The cyclops shrieked in an unnatural tone and dropped to its knees. The monsters behind it faltered, shuffling uncertainly. But the cyclops ripped out the second arrow, hurled it away, and roared furiously before charging forward.

Theo clicked his tongue and loosed three arrows in rapid succession. The cyclops toppled at last, motionless on the ground.

Holanghee, who had been holding her breath while watching, muttered, “That’s some dead-on accuracy…”

“Honestly, if he had enough arrows, I think he could clear this dungeon alone…” Noquia added. Father just nodded silently, while Blaine wore the expression of someone watching a legend.

Theo flexed his hand and checked his quiver. Ten arrows left. It had taken five perfect shots to bring down the cyclops without a single miss. “Five arrows for a cyclops,” he murmured under his breath, before drawing again.

This time his target was a werewolf. Two arrows later, the beast fell.

Theo nocked another and looked ahead. Among the lesser monsters, only one troll remained. Two arrows dropped it as well.

With the heavy hitters falling one after another, the weaker monsters panicked, milling about in confusion. But soon enough, as if following a script, they surged at the barricades again.

The monsters crashed against the defenses like a rising tide, impaling themselves and collapsing like dominoes. But the barricades began to splinter under the relentless assault. The group scrambled, repairing the barricades and cutting down monsters in a blur of frantic motion. Their final night had begun—a siege battle that felt endless.

While chaos raged at the front, the inside of the house remained quiet. In that eerie stillness, the treasure Theo and Blaine had brought back began to change.

The red, egg-like object inside the iron cage slowly crumbled, losing its shape until it collapsed into a molten puddle. It spread across the floor, sizzling as sparks flicked from it, burning through the cage and searing the wood beneath.

The liquid oozed outward, consuming everything like lava. Soon, small flames bloomed. The fire spread greedily across the wooden floor, swelling larger and larger.

Outside, no one noticed. They were too caught up fighting at the barricades to realize the house was on fire. But it didn’t take long for the signs to reach them.

Father suddenly felt the area around her grow brighter, though she dismissed it as her imagination with the monsters pressing in. A moment later, however, a strange heat licked at her back, and ash began drifting through the air before her eyes.

She turned—and screamed. “Uuuaaaagh!”

Everyone froze at Father’s thunderous cry, whipping their heads toward her. She stood staring blankly behind them, and their gazes followed hers.

There, their house was burning.