Floor 2 was different.
Kai felt it in the air first—thicker, older, like breathing in centuries. The corridors opened wider here, ceilings high enough to vanish into shadow. And the walls. Every surface carved with patterns so deep they had to mean something. Spirals, yes, endless spirals, but also shapes. Figures that might have been people reaching for something. Animals that didn't exist anymore. Things he couldn't name.
Ran's voice bounced off it all.
"Okay, so someone definitely had too much time on their hands." He ran his fingers along a carving. "Like, imagine your job is just... this. All day. Chisel, chisel, chisel. 'Boss, can I carve something else?' 'No, more spirals.'"
Kai said nothing.
"I'd quit. First day. 'Sorry, not dying of boredom in a dark hole. Find another spiral guy.'"
Kai kept walking.
"You ever think about that? Like, who built this place? Why? What were they thinking?" Ran gestured at the walls. "This isn't just random scratching. Someone had a plan."
"Maybe."
"Maybe? Look at it. It's everywhere. Same patterns. Same—" Ran stopped. Pointed. "See that? That's not a spiral. That's something else."
Kai looked. Among the endless spirals, one carving stood out. A figure. Human-shaped, arms raised toward something above. Crude. Ancient. But deliberate.
"Huh." Ran stared at it. "Wonder what that means."
Kai didn't have an answer. He kept walking.
Ran caught up. "You're not curious at all?"
"Curious doesn't keep me alive."
"Yeah, but it makes the walking less boring." Ran grinned. "Come on, throw me a bone. What do you think it means?"
"I think we need to find the stairs."
"You're impossible."
Kai said nothing. But he noticed—Ran had seen something he missed. The figure among the spirals. The detail in the chaos.
He sees things I don't. That's useful.
They passed a side chamber—dark mouth opening off the main path. Ran slowed. Peered inside. His body went still, listening. Then relaxed.
"Empty. Probably was a nest though. Smells like rat piss." He looked at Kai. "You'd have walked right past."
"I'd have heard nothing and kept moving."
"Yeah, but now you know it's empty. No surprises later." He tapped his head. "Information is survival."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Curiosity gets people killed."
"See? That's why we work." Ran was already walking again. "You keep us alive. I keep us from going crazy."
Ran's laughter echoed ahead. Kai followed it.
---
They rounded a corner and the rats hit them.
Three of them. Bigger than Floor 1's—shoulders thick with muscle, fur matted dark, eyes reflecting the glimlight like small moons. They'd been feeding on something. The something was just bones now. And these three hungry things were looking for more.
Ran stopped dead.
Kai didn't.
He was moving before thought—dagger out, legs driving, straight at the lead rat. It lunged. He twisted, felt air where its teeth should have been, and drove his blade up under its jaw. The rat dropped.
The second rat turned. Kai ducked under its swipe—
And Ran was there. Short blade finding throat. The rat gurgled. Twitched. Went still.
The third rat froze. Looked at Kai. Looked at Ran. Decided this was a mistake.
Kai didn't give it time to run.
---
Silence.
Ran stood over his kill, chest heaving. He stared at Kai like he'd never seen him before.
"Okay." Breath. "That was..." He shook his head. "You didn't even think. You just moved."
Kai wiped his dagger on the rat's fur. "Neither did you. Second one. Good hit."
"Yeah, but I watched you first. You went in and I thought, 'Well, guess I'm doing this now.'" Ran laughed, but it came out shaky. "Not exactly heroic."
"Still alive."
"Fair point."
Ran looked at the bodies. Three rats. Three kills. Seconds start to finish.
"You always like that?"
Kai shrugged. "Don't know. Don't remember."
"Right. Same." Ran crouched, checked his blade. "But most people freeze. First fight especially. I saw it with Marek's group. Guy just... stood there. Rat tore him up."
Kai said nothing.
"You didn't freeze back on Floor 1 either. With the rock. I saw the corpse, remember? Messy but dead." Ran looked at him. "Weird, right?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe." Ran stood. Grinned, but it didn't feel like joking. "Guess we're both weird then."
The blue light bloomed.
[Dagger Proficiency (Lv. 3)]
Damage with daggers increased by 12%.
[Party Combat (Lv. 1)]
When fighting alongside an ally, your coordination improves slightly.
Ran blinked. "Party combat? The System's calling us a party now."
"Guess so."
"Huh." Ran looked at the notifications. Then at Kai. "Two each. Not bad for first time."
Kai said nothing. But something shifted. The System recognized them together. Tracked it. Rewarded it.
Together is faster than alone.
---
They found a small alcove and stopped. The kind of place where you could put your back to stone and see anyone coming.
Ran pulled out bread—grey, hard, older than yesterday. Kai chewed glim moss. Bitter. Slimy. Edible. They ate in silence for once.
Kai watched him. Thought about the fight. About something Ran had mentioned back on Floor 1.
"This safe zone," Kai said. "Floor 6. Cooked food. How do you know it's real?"
Ran swallowed. Looked at him. The grin didn't come.
"Met someone. Back on Floor 1. While I was still with Marek's group."
Kai waited.
"Old guy. Really old. Came down the stairs from higher up." Ran's voice changed—quieter, like he was still figuring out how to feel about it. "Looked like hell. Skin all scarred up like someone went at him with a knife. One eye just... white. Dead. Moved like every step hurt."
Kai felt something tighten in his chest. Someone had been up there. High up. And come back down.
"He said he'd seen Floor 6 on his way down. Village. People living there. Shelters. Food. Real food, not this"—he held up the bread—"garbage."
"Village?"
"That's what he said. People who stopped climbing. Just... stayed. Built stuff. Survived together."
Kai thought about it. People meant safety. Answers. Maybe even—
"Why'd he keep going? Past Floor 1?"
Ran shrugged. "Said it gets worse the higher you go. Said if I wanted to live, I should go down too. Guess he meant it."
"But you're going up."
"Yeah." Ran met his eyes. "Going down means stopping. Finding a hole and waiting to die." He looked away. "Not interested."
Kai thought about that. Someone climbed high enough to see Floor 6. High enough to get those scars, that dead eye, that pain in every step. And then he turned around. Chose to go down. Chose to stop.
What did he see up there?
But Ran had heard the same warning. Seen the same broken man. And still chose up.
Stupid. Brave. Maybe both.
"What happened to him?" Kai asked.
"Dunno. Kept going. Down the stairs, past where we were. Last I saw, he was heading into the dark toward whatever's below Floor 1." Ran paused. "Probably still going. Probably won't stop until he hits bottom."
Silence stretched between them.
Ran broke it first. Stood. Brushed off. The grin came back, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Come on. Floor 3's waiting. Gotta keep moving if we want that cooked food."
---
They walked again. Quieter now.
Ran's stories had stopped. He moved with his head down, watching the stone, thinking about something Kai couldn't see. The old man's words clung to both of them.
Kai thought about the stairs. About up. About what waited in the dark.
Someone came from above. Survived. Chose to go down past Floor 1.
That means above is survivable.
It also means above is bad enough to make someone quit.
They reached a stairwell. Worn stone steps spiraling up into darkness. Same as before. Same as always.
Ran stopped. Looked up.
"Floor 3." He glanced at Kai. "You ready?"
Kai looked at the stairs. Thought about the old man. Thought about down. Thought about up.
"No."
He climbed anyway.
Ran laughed—real this time, warm—and followed.
---
The stairs ended.
Floor 3 opened before them. Darker than below. Colder. The air tasted wrong—thick and stale, like something had died in it long ago and never left.
The corridor stretched ahead, waiting.
Ran started talking again. Jokes about the dark. Plans for Floor 6. What they'd eat first when they found real food.
