Ramon moved with precision, cutting down the remaining Arachnes. Their lower halves were covered in thick armor-like chitin, so he aimed for the more vulnerable upper body.
Emma's spells crackled through the air, supporting Ramon's attacks, while Silver picked off stragglers with sharp, well-placed arrows. Soon enough, the last of the monsters fell.
"Thanks for the quick thinking, Alve," Emma said, brushing her hair back.
"Not really," I replied. "It was you who shot the spell."
It was more luck than strategy, honestly. If that plan hadn't worked, we'd have been in serious trouble.
Ramon slid his sword back into its sheath and turned toward me. "Quick thinking is also a skill, Alve. To assess the situation and make the right call—that's not something everyone can do."
"…Oh."
While I was still processing that, Silver started collecting his reusable arrows from the Arachnes' corpses. The rest of us began to check the area for anything useful.
That's when the ground beneath us trembled.
_Crack._
The floor beneath my feet shifted. Pieces of stone splintered and crumbled.
"Uh… this isn't good," I muttered.
The ground gave way completely.
"_RIP to me, I guess…_"
Before anyone could react, we were all falling. I'm not sure when, but at some point during the fall, I blacked out.
---
"Alve… can you hear me?"
Emma's voice.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Emma, Lily, Ramon, and Silver were gathered around me.
"How long was I out?" I asked, my voice rough.
"Not long—maybe half an hour," Ramon replied.
I sat up, but a sharp pain shot through my right arm. I looked down and saw faint traces of healing magic lingering on my skin.
"You were injured pretty badly when we fell to this floor," Lily explained. "It took a while to heal you."
"I see… Thanks for patching me up."
I glanced down at my clothes. A formal suit. Not exactly dungeon gear. No armor, no protection. It's honestly a miracle I survived the fall at all.
Looking up at the jagged hole above us, I realized just how far we had fallen. Yeah… definitely a miracle.
"I think we should hurry up," Ramon said, standing up. "We're close now—probably two floors away from the dungeon core."
Skipping an entire floor? That was convenient, but…
"How are we getting back up when it's time to leave?" I asked.
Ramon didn't even hesitate. "We won't need to."
That… didn't sound reassuring. "Care to explain?"
Lily smiled. "Once a dungeon core is destroyed or extracted, the dungeon itself collapses. The whole thing functions like a living organism with its core at the center. Remove the core, and the dungeon ceases to exist."
"Huh… That's convenient."
That's also a pretty efficient game mechanic.