Blake and Peak are walking to the secret entrance to the Dungeon of Terror and Starvation. Blake puts his hand up to his ear. An earpiece is there. It was given to him by Sarah; she said it would allow all of the vassals to communicate with one another. Noise starts to come out of the earpiece.

  [Peak: Yo! This is so cool! I love being able to talk to you guys without actually being there. It’s chilly, so you can say it’s “cool!”]

  [Harpstein: Peak. I like that you are in good spirits, but please refrain from using the earpiece unless it’s needed.]

  Harpstein was not with them. He and Azarath were waiting outside the Dungeon, waiting for the signal to go in. Selene was waiting behind the dungeon, unimpressed. She just looked at a giant back door. She chimes in on her earpiece.

  [Selene: When are we going to be going in? I want to get this over with.]

  Blake hears Selenes' comment.

  [Blake: Don’t worry, after all, we are finally at the tunnel entrance.]

  Blake and Peak look to see a door connecting underground.

  [Blake: We are all good on our end.]

  [Harpstein: Got it! Operation Rescue Pax is a go!]

  Blake and Peak immediately run into the tunnel. Peak runs ahead. At the same time, Blake uses his shadows to see what is in front of them. Blake sees multiple guards, whom he takes out using shadow manipulation. One of the guards ends up dodging; however, Blake emerges from his shadow and slits his throat with his axe. Peak jumps down on another guard and knocks him out with one punch. Another guard charges at Peak from behind. Peak quickly turns around and webs him to a wall.

  [Peak: Hasta la vista baby!]

  Blake emerges from Peak's shadow.

  [Blake: For a normal person, you can see in this pitch-black tunnel pretty well.]

  [Peak: Pitch black? It just seems like a normal tunnel for me.]

  *Blake: He is telling the truth. Does Peak have a form of night vision? Noted.*

  Peak just looks confused at Blake.

  [Peak: You can’t see?]

  Blake sighs.

  [Blake: I can. Shadow manipulation grants me a limited night vision. I can see through any darkness or shadow within a specific range.]

  Peak just shrugs as they continue forward.

  They keep walking through the tunnel. The guards have curiously stopped appearing. Blake is going to keep continuing forward until Peak feels a chill down his spine. Peak gets goosebumps as he grabs Blake and jumps into the air.

  『Danger Sense』

  A huge slash slices through the area where they were standing. The sides of the tunnel are cut into pieces. Peak quickly throws Blake to the side and shoots a web into the darkness. Blake looks up.

  *Blake: What the hell just happened? Where is Peak looking?*

  Blake stares in the direction Peak is looking, but it is too dark for him to see fully. Blake uses his God Eye to see the person. They resemble demons with their blue skin and horns; however, they also have fangs and what appear to be claws.

  [Blake: No way! You shouldn’t be here!]

  『The Tyrant of the Strongest Dungeon- Leo』

  Leo walks closer to them. He looks at the web on his hand and rips it off. Peak looks at Blake.

  [Peak: This guy seems like trouble!]

  Leo stops moving.

  [Leo: During my entire time as warden, there has never been even one escapee. I won’t let that change. Not now! None of you will get past me!]

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  Blake slowly stands to his feet.

  *Blake: This is not what I was told! I need to contact the others!*

  Blake tries to activate his earpiece.

  [Blake: Something is wrong! Everyone pull back!]

  Peak is still staring down at Leo, waiting for his move. Peak looks at Pax.

  [Peak: Not to worry you, but it seems that our earpieces aren’t working anymore.]

  Blake starts sweating.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Azarath bursts through the door with his flight. He starts to beat down all of the guards with his super speed. Harpstein stays on the side, ready to help him out. Azarath quickly starts to fly into the buildings and destroy them.

  All of the front guards have been defeated, and Azarath lands on the ground in front of Harpstein. All of the buildings and towers around them are crumbling.

  [Azarath: You think this is enough damage to lure out Leo?]

  Harpstein nods.

  [Harpstein: Hopefully. I will contact Blake to let him know we are almost done.]

  Harpstein uses his earpiece and tries to call out to Blake a few times. No response.

  *Harpstein: Something is seriously wrong!*

  Azarath is a little confused.

  [Azarath: If anything, I can just destroy more buildings and start to make my way inside. We will find Pax, naturally!]

  Harpstein looks at Azarath.

  [Harpstein: Yeah, let’s just stick to the-]

  Harpstein's eyes open in horror as he drops his spear between the two of them.

  『Scream』

  The shockwave knocks both Harpstein and Azarath away. Azarath gets up and looks at the spot where he and Harpstein were standing. A giant crater is there. Before Azarath can say anything, Harpstein yells [Jump!]. Azarath jumps out of the way as the ground where he once stood gets crushed under the weight of something invisible. A man starts to walk into view. Harpstein and Azarath both get into a fighting stance. The man has unkempt hair and has bags under his eyes.

  『Sadness of the Apocalypse- Tragedy, Dolor』

  [Dolor: It saddens me that I was not able to take you guys out with that first attack.]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Selene opens the back door. Inside, there is a garden, a huge one. Filled to the brim with various plants and flowers. Selene was taken aback. The roof was made of glass, and you can clearly see the night sky.

  *Selene: A giant green room?*

  [???: ...]

  Selene hears some mumbling, and she immediately turns around. She sees an extremely small and frail man kneeling against some flowers. He is wearing a doctor's coat, and his eyes are so sunken in that they appear to be black holes. Selene winces upon seeing this creature. She draws Adam and aims it at the thing's head.

  *Selene: Is that a guard? I will err on the side of caution.*

  Selene shoots a fire bullet, which goes cleanly through the thing's head. It fell to the ground in the flower field it was looking at. Selene turns around to make her leave.

  [???: Are you my next experiment?]

  Selene quickly draws Adam again as a vine is sent directly at her. Selene dodges the vine with a jump and lands. She sees the man standing. The field around him is drained of life.

  [Selene: Who the hell are you?!?]

  The man looks at her.

  [I am your doctor…]

  『Doctor of the Apocalypse- Famine, Orion』

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Peak jumps at Leo. Leo sends a slash at Peak, who dodges. Peak flips around for a drop kick.

  『Spiderlimb Strike』

  Leo effortlessly grabs Peak's leg out of the sky and goes to counter; however, Blake appears. He throws his flail at Leo, who is forced to let go of Peak to dodge. Peak jumps to Blake's side.

  [Peak: This guy is really strong! Any ideas?]

  *Blake: Shit! What is going on here! How is Leo here? Would they have needed prior knowledge? A leak?*

  Leo smiles.

  [Leo: So, who is going to fight me first? The man or the beastfolk?]

  Peak looks confused and looks at Blake.

  [Peak: Oh. I know he was raised by a dragon for a bit and looks like a lizard, but Blake is fully human!

  Leo narrows his eyes.

  [Leo: I don’t mean him. I mean you.]

  Peak blinks twice.

  [Peak: Oh no! You got it wrong! I'm a specialist with spider abilities!]

  Leo stands tall.

  [Leo: My nose is sensitive to smells. Beastfolk have a very unique scent, which allows us to tell who is one of us. You are coated in that scent. So I ask you. Why do you pretend to be human?]

  Peak looks at him, super confused.

  [Peak: Because I am one!!!]

  Meanwhile, Blake is still thinking.

  *Blake: If there was an information leak, then Leo was sent here to fight us. I don’t know if he can take two of us in a fight. That probably means they are only accounting for Leo fighting one of us.*

  [Blake: Leo, who would you prefer to fight?]

  Leo thinks for a second.

  [Leo: Give me the beastfolk.]

  *Blake: Easy. He is telling the truth. He was sent here to deal with Peak. That means…*

  [Blake: Peak, we will be sticking to our original plan. You run ahead to go save Pax.]

  [Peak: Will you be fine fighting him?]

  Blake laughs.

  [Blake: Don’t underestimate me. I'm stronger than I look.]

  Peak just nods and webs ahead. Leo jumps up to cut his webs when tongues wrap around his body and drag him back to the ground. Leo looks at Blake, who is making a hand sign.

  『Toad』

  Leo quickly cuts the tongues and slices the toads into pieces. When he looks up, Peak is already long gone.

  [Leo: Shit!]

  Blake smiles.

  [Blake: It seems like you are stuck fighting me instead!]

  Leo starts to growl as his size grows and fur starts to grow all over his body. It stops, and he looks like a hybrid of a lion and a demon.

  [Leo: You are going to regret this!]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Peak is webbing through the tunnel until he eventually reaches the entrance. Peak bursts through the door and comes across the holding cells. There are five levels—three layers of cells on each level. Peak stops in the middle and examines all the cells he needs to check on this level. He sighs. A chill goes through Peak's body, his danger sense activated again. Peak quickly moves his head to the side as a knife flies past it. Peak was not fast enough, as the knife made a small cut on the side of his neck.

  Peak quickly turns around to see the person who knew the knife. He sees a woman with long, icy colored hair. She is slim with slight muscles, and she is wearing a military outfit adorned with various knife artifacts. The scariest thing about her to Peak was her eyes. Her cold, emotionless eyes. Even though they seem empty, Peak can tell because Pax has the same eyes. These are the eyes of someone who has murdered innocent people.

  [???: I can’t allow you to go any further. You will need to be disposed of.]

  [Peak: Wow! I haven’t felt this unwelcome since I went to a family reunion! Can I get the honor of knowing my welcome party? I think I need to file a complaint.]

  The woman brandishes a knife in her hand and gets into a stance.

  [I will let you know my name before you die. I am…

  『Loneliness of the Apocalypse- Solitude, Echo』