After passing through the spatial gate, followed by Kai, Liana, and his five accompanying shadows, Orion and the group did not find themselves in the midst of chaos or another battle. Instead, the scene unfolded before them to reveal a radically different panorama. The meticulously carved tunnels rich with crystals were gone. They now stood at the edge of a small plateau, enveloped by a cold breeze carrying a strange, damp odor.
Before them stretched a vast swamp, drowned in thick gray mist that coiled around everything like a shroud. Twisted trees with pale gray trunks, resembling mangroves but more deformed and wretched, sprouted from shallow, murky waters that seemed bottomless. The sky above was a featureless canvas of faded gray. The air still carried that stagnant, oppressive feeling characteristic of the tomb, but the mana here felt more neutral—not the dense purity of the mine nor the blatant corruption of the earlier floors. It was merely a stagnant, indifferent presence, saturated with the scent of natural decay: dead leaves and ancient mud. Yet, there was an unsettling undercurrent of discomfort. As the stairway exit faded behind them as though it had never existed, the trio paid it no mind—they were growing accustomed to this place's strangeness.
Bioluminescent fungi in faint pale blues and greens clung to tree trunks and scattered rocks, casting a ghostly glow that barely dispelled the darkness. Everything here seemed to be slowly dying—or perhaps had never truly been alive in the first place.
"Well… this is a refreshing change, isn't it?" Kai muttered, wiping dried monster blood from his face as his eyes cautiously scanned the sprawling swamp. "I'll take a swamp over giant crystal monsters any day."
"Don't rush to judgment," Liana replied, her golden eyes glowing with focus as she surveyed the area. The runic circlet on her head emitted a faint pulse. "This quiet… is more unnerving than noise."
No sooner had she spoken than something massive erupted from the nearby murky water. A colossal gray crocodile, its skin like weathered stone and eyes cold and hollow, snapped its jaws open to reveal rows of teeth sharp as shattered glass. It wasn't fully corrupted like the earlier beasts, but its feral aura dripped with the swamp's bleakness.
There was no time for shock. Kai reacted instantly, his golden spear igniting with blue-and-red stellar flames as he struck a forceful blow to the crocodile's head, forcing it to recoil. Liana traced a sharp glacial rune in the air and launched it, freezing part of the creature's hide and slowing its movements.
"Severus!" Orion commanded calmly. The wraith-like executioner shot forward like a shadow, its gleaming claws slicing through air and water before embedding lethally into the crocodile's thick neck. A muffled roar echoed, and the massive body collapsed into the water with a splash before vanishing beneath the murky surface.
"Well," Kai said, extinguishing his spear's flames. "That answers whether there are monsters here."
"At least this one wasn't fully corrupted," Liana noted. "But it's certainly not friendly."
Orion didn't comment but gestured toward a faint light flickering intermittently through the mist on the horizon. "There. My instincts say something lies ahead."
They advanced cautiously, navigating tangled roots and muddy ground. After half an hour, the outlines of a man-made structure emerged: a small settlement of simple wooden huts built on sturdy stilts above the water, connected by crude wooden and rope bridges. Faint smoke rose from some chimneys, and the lights Orion had spotted came from oil lamps or glowing fungi hung as lanterns.
As they approached, faces peered from windows or dark doorways—a mix of races, all weary, hardened, and suspicious. No formal guards, but every pair of eyes tracked them. A gaunt old man with leathery skin stretched over his bones and small twisted horns emerged from the largest hut and hobbled toward them, leaning on a gnarled wooden staff.
"Newcomers?" he rasped, his sharp, beady eyes scrutinizing them head to toe. "What do you want here in the 'Grey Sanctuary'?"
"We seek information and a safe place to rest temporarily," Orion replied calmly, assessing the situation. He withdrew a small green crystal from those collected in the mine and offered it. "In exchange for your hospitality."
The old man glanced at the crystal, then back at their faces. He sighed. "Crystals are worthless here except as light. But you may stay one night in the abandoned hut there." He pointed his staff toward a small, isolated hut on the settlement's edge. "Cause no trouble. The swamp is no playground."
"What about information?" Kai asked. "About this floor? The next one?"
The old man laughed dryly. "The Fourth Floor—we call it the 'Mist Beacon.' The monsters here… are different. More stealthy, some only emerge at night. This sanctuary is safe… sort of. We maintain it with our blood. As for the Fifth Floor?" He shook his head. "They say the entrance lies at the swamp's heart—a dangerous place few return from. Some whisper of an ancient guardian or the swamp itself devouring those who venture too close. No one knows for certain." Lowering his voice as if sharing a grimy secret, he added, "But keep killing those corrupted things… Some say it's the only way to keep the 'walls' strong or cleanse this sickened land before it swallows us all."
The trio thanked him and moved to the abandoned hut. It was simple, damp, but relatively dry and sheltered. Orion ordered his shadows to secure the perimeter invisibly. They finally sat, exhaustion weighing on them.
"'Cleanse the sickened land'? 'Keep the walls strong'?" Kai repeated, frowning. "This supports your theory, Orion—about the reward system. Feels like we're doing someone else's dirty work."
"The rank thresholds, the strange mana system, the rumors… Everything suggests this place isn't just a trial or treasure vault," Liana said, healing minor wounds on her arm with a faint rune. "It's designed for a purpose. We're—"
"Tools," Orion finished quietly, his eyes distant. "Pawns used to maintain some balance or weaken something else." He turned to Kai and Liana. "But we're not mere tools. We'll outgrow this place."
They spoke longer—of their growing strength, their life weapons, their resolve to press forward despite feeling trapped. Orion quietly asked Anarak in his mind if this place stirred any recognition, but Anarak replied only that he sensed a vague purpose here.
As they rested, distant sounds echoed from the swamp's depths—a muffled bestial roar, followed by a brief, horrifying human scream, then silence. A reminder that danger always lurked beyond the sanctuary's fragile borders.
"So, the swamp's heart is our next target," Kai said, stretching. "Just hope the gatekeeper isn't a bigger croc than the one we saw."
"We'll be ready," Liana said firmly. The trio stood, their brief respite over. They gazed into the thick mist shrouding the settlement, knowing their journey through the Mist Beacon had truly begun—and that the path to the Fifth Floor would be fraught with peril and secrets waiting to be uncovered in the heart of this desolate grey swamp.
They left the abandoned hut behind and cautiously advanced toward the swamp's edge. The ground beneath them was sticky and muddy, the twisted trees looming like skeletal fingers. The thick grey mist coiled around them, obscuring what lay beyond.
As they neared the murky water's edge, the oppressive silence deepened—no birdsong, no insect hum, only their strained breathing and water dripping from the trees.
When they reached the water, they paused. The vast swamp stretched before them, drowned in grey mist like an ocean of gloom. Something eerie and foreboding hung in the air—a heavy sense of anticipation.
"This place… it's different," Liana whispered, her golden eyes glowing intently. "I feel something… waiting for us."
Orion didn't reply but nodded in agreement. His instincts screamed of danger, though its source eluded him.
"Well, no turning back now," Kai said, tightening his grip on his spear. "Let's do this."
They began wading slowly into the swamp, their feet sinking into the muck. Just as they entered the shallows, something shifted—as if the swamp itself sensed their intent.
The murky grey water turned inky black, the mist thickening and darkening like a funeral shroud. The temperature spiked, and the air reeked of rot and death.
"What the hell?" Kai muttered, stepping back.
Bubbles surged from the black depths, followed by glowing red eyes beneath the surface. The water trembled, then erupted as hordes of corrupted crocodiles and twisted monstrosities surged forth—larger, fiercer, and more decayed than before, their hides rusted and scarred, emitting dark, corrupt energy.
The swamp, once quiet, had awakened, revealing its true nature: a nexus of corruption and death.
"Seems the swamp doesn't want us passing easily," Orion said coldly, his obsidian eyes blazing. "Prepare yourselves."
They plunged into battle—Orion's shadows darting like black blades, Kai's stellar flames erupting, Liana's runes freezing foes. But the horde was endless, the enemies stronger and more corrupted. The crocodiles lunged with glass-sharp teeth, while deformed beasts lashed out with rotting limbs, spewing dark energy.
The trio fought viciously, their synergy honed through countless trials. Orion's shadows severed limbs and throats with lethal precision. Kai's flames incinerated swathes of foes, explosions scattering monsters. Liana's ice immobilized enemies, creating openings for fatal strikes.
It was a desperate struggle, but they refused to yield. Slowly, the horde thinned. Corpses littered the blackened swamp, and at last, the final beast fell.
Silence returned. The inky water faded to grey, the mist thinning. The swamp, as if recovering from madness, stilled.
Then, ripples tore through the air at the battle's epicenter, forming a stable spatial gate—glowing with neutral grey light, identical to the one that had brought them to the Fourth Floor.
"So… this is it," Kai said, wiping sweat from his brow. "The Fifth Floor."
"We don't retreat now," Liana declared.
Orion nodded, resolve unwavering. Without hesitation, they stepped toward the gate, ready to face the horrors and secrets awaiting them in the next layer of The Forgotten's Graveyard.