The Silver Heart team walked out of the market at the dungeon's entrance and set off on the main road back to Blackcreek Town.
Dense woods lined both sides of the road, and the silhouette of the dungeon behind them gradually receded into the distance.
Kaylon gently tugged the reins, and the gray wolf beneath him immediately slowed its pace, its ears flattening back as a low whimper escaped its throat.
At the rear of the column, the team members followed in small groups, some chatting and laughing in low voices, while others let out tired yawns.
Several riderless gray wolves carried blood-stained plate armor and bulging sacks of loot, walking silently in the middle of the procession.
The reins tied to the saddle of the leading wolf dragged on the ground, making a soft rustling sound.
The Deputy Captain nudged his wolf closer to Kaylon and asked in a lowered voice.
“Captain, we lost quite a few brothers this time just to help those nobles clear the way to the tenth floor. Is it really worth it?”
Kaylon did not answer immediately, merely turning his head to sweep his gaze over the team.
The team members had already gathered together as they talked and laughed, discussing which tavern in town they would go to for some fun tonight.
His gaze slowly drifted past the crowd, landing on the few gray wolves with empty saddles at the very back of the line.
The blood on the wolves' fur had long since dried, forming dark brown crusts that clung tightly to their gray coats.
“Whether it was worth it or not, it's already in the past.” He slowly turned his head back, his tone flat. “Pick up the pace. We must make it back to town before nightfall.”
Hearing this, the team members' voices grew louder, and someone even began to hum a tune.
“The resources from the tenth floor are enough for us to live comfortably for a while.”
“The nobles eat the meat, and we drink the broth, but this broth doesn't taste bad at all!”
“I heard there's an eleventh floor below the tenth, and those nobles are already preparing to fight their way down.”
“Keep fighting? Do they not want their lives anymore?”
Kaylon listened to the chatter behind him but never chimed in.
He only reached into his breast pocket out of habit and touched the cold magic item. His fingertips brushed against it, but the device did not react at all.
Right at that moment, the ground suddenly shook violently.
This tremor was different from the ones that used to come from the dungeon. Now, even the main road they were on was bucking violently, as if controlled by an invisible force.
The gray wolves in the team pricked up their ears in unison. Some tucked their tails, while others lay flat on the ground, low, menacing growls rumbles in their throats.
One of the team members lost his grip on the reins and slid straight off his wolf's back, crashing heavily onto the ground.
“What's going on?” The Deputy Captain's voice instantly tensed, laced with an undeniable panic.
Kaylon pulled the reins tight, flipped down from his wolf, and dropped to one knee, pressing his palm firmly against the ground.
The shaking continued, each wave stronger than the last. The trees by the roadside swayed violently, their leaves cascading down like rain.
A low, rumbling boom echoed from the distance, feeling as if something was rolling and thrashing deep underground.
The magic item in his breast pocket suddenly grew scalding hot. Kaylon hastily pulled it out.
The item was radiating a blinding light.
It was no longer the faint flicker from two months ago; instead, it resembled a piece of red-hot iron, the crimson light so piercing that one could barely keep their eyes open.
“This is...” Kaylon stared intently at the item, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably as an ominous premonition rose in his heart.
Another tremor struck, even more violent than the last, nearly knocking both men and wolves off their feet.
Kaylon looked up. On the distant horizon, in the direction of the dungeon, something was slowly bulging upward.
It was neither a mountain nor a cloud, but the ground itself arching upward.
Like a massive abscess, it was slowly swelling out from the depths of the earth's crust.
“Captain! Look over there!” The Deputy Captain pointed in that direction, his voice cracking with terror.
Boom—
A deafening roar split the air. The earth seemed to be torn raw, as if something was struggling to break free from the deepest depths of the underground.
The rolling hills around the dungeon's entrance suddenly exploded, hurling shattered rock thousands of meters into the sky.
The scene resembled a volcanic eruption, but instead of magma, what spewed forth was a sky full of dust and shattered stone.
And a massive mountain range.
Wait, that was not a mountain.
It was a section of a grayish-black back, covered in heavy rock armor, slowly rising from the split ground.
This rock armor was not natural scales, but rather the fusion of underground mineral deposits and the beast's flesh over countless millennia.
A dark red glow seeped from the cracks in the stone armor, like a beating heart deep within the earth.
Crystal pillars jutted abruptly from its back, emitting a dim blue fluorescence in the gloomy light, looking like a massive, moving mineral vein.
Kaylon's pupils dilated as he stared unblinkingly at that section of the back.
The giant beast's body rose section by section from the rift, its muscles covered in rocky plate armor slowly stretching after a millennium of slumber.
An invisible pressure spread outward like a tidal wave, instantly enveloping the entire team.
The ground was no longer shaking erratically; instead, the entire land was being pushed outward in all directions.
Kaylon watched with his own eyes as a dense forest in the distance was forced upward by stone walls surging from beneath the earth.
Roots snapped, and soil flew everywhere. The entire forest resembled a flipped carpet, draped at an angle over the newly risen ridge.
A stream was forced to change its course, its water flooding into low-lying areas and quickly forming a small lake.
Ancient structures emerged from the void—half-collapsed towers, ruined walls, and giant stone monuments carved with Glay runes.
It was as if they had popped out from some folded space, forcefully squeezing themselves into this world!
Forests were pushed off mountains, flat lands swelled into hills, and rivers were forced to divert.
Even the market that originally stood at the dungeon's entrance was pushed further and further away by the newly born land.
The land of Ancient Glay was returning!
No matter what currently grew or existed on this land...
It would push aside all obstacles and reclaim its rightful, original place.
The giant beast's aura continued to climb. With every breath it took, the suffocating pressure grew a fraction heavier.
Kaylon could clearly feel his own heart racing.
This was not out of fear, but his body instinctively resisting an existence that stood above all else.
He looked down at the item in his hand.
It lit up once more. It was no longer the frantic, blinding glare from before, but steady and calm, like a beating heart—thump, thump.
It echoed the breathing of the giant beast.
As the final piece of Ancient Glay's land emerged from the void, the giant beast's body was finally fully exposed above ground.
It stood there quietly, like a silent mountain range.
The blue light emitted by the crystal pillars on its back suddenly flared brilliantly for an instant, then slowly dimmed back to its previous dark fluorescence.
The pressure reached its absolute peak; Kaylon could even hear his own bones creaking under the strain.
Its limbs were as thick as independent stone pillars, and with every step it took, the earth shuddered.
Its massive head rose from the rift—a flat head that resembled a squashed crocodile skull.
Seven cloudy amber eyes were arranged in an arc, their pupils as thin as needles and standing vertically.
It had no eyelids, and those eyeballs slowly rotated, scanning the land that had forgotten it for a thousand years.
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