Supporting Oujin, who was clutching his side in pain as he ran, I shouted.

“Miku, keep watch on our rear!”

“He's chasing us! This time he's running... but I don’t think he’s serious...?”

“If he were serious, he’d have caught up to us already.”

The difference in physical ability was that vast. Even in that brief skirmish, I had been forced to understand it painfully well.

His strength, his speed, even the intelligence he used to toy with his prey—everything about him was beyond reason. It made me question all the common sense I had cultivated in my past life.

Behind us, echoing from the depths of the darkness, came the sound of footsteps. They rang out like those of an armored knight.

Just what is he? Even thinking back to my days in Blythe, I had never seen such a monster. I hadn’t even heard rumors of one.

The fact that he had such a human-like appearance also gnawed at me. Was he truly a monster, or was he something else entirely...?

As if to cut off my thoughts, Void spat out.

“Doesn’t matter! Just find the stairs leading up! They have to be somewhere! If we're lucky, we’ll run into the instructors searching for us! Most of them are useless, but if the War Maiden is there, we might still have a chance to turn this around!”

His voice still carried strength, but Void himself was covered in blood, limping as he ran. His knee wobbled slightly, and his balance faltered.

“...Tch.”

“Void!”

But he immediately gritted his teeth and righted himself.

“Idiot! Don’t stop! This ain't the time to be worrying about someone else, you damn brat!”

If I stopped, so would Oujin, who I was supporting. He couldn’t run on his own anymore.

Void roughly shoved my back, forcing me forward.

“Run, damn it!”

“Shut up! Then you keep up, too! Don’t trip like some fool!”

“Heh. Like hell I will, you little punk.”

But soon enough, we hit a dead end.

We had caught up to the tail end of our classmates.

“What the hell!? Why are you all still here!?”

Pushing through the crowd, Seneca appeared.

“We found the stairs leading up, but there’s an iron door blocking the way! It won’t open!”

“What!?”

Of course. That’s right.

Lily had mentioned it. The instructors had only cleared the dungeon up to the third floor. The fourth floor and beyond were still unknown territory, so just in case, they had installed iron doors, the same as at the dungeon’s entrance.

It’s still closed. That means Lily and the others haven’t reached the third floor yet.

“He’s coming!! He’s close!!”

Miku screamed.

The students were already in a panic. They crowded against the iron door leading to the upper floors, hammering on it and screaming in desperation.

“Damn it, shit!”

Void slammed his right gauntlet against the wall in frustration. His left gauntlet had been destroyed, leaving only the blade. Even the blade on his right gauntlet, which he had used to punch the monster, had been crushed at the tip.

Seneca paled again, covering her mouth with both hands as she trembled.

At this point, no amount of leadership could change the situation. No matter how skilled the commander, this was beyond control.

Miku had her rapier raised, but the tip wavered. She couldn’t focus. Her stance betrayed her fear—like Seneca, she was no longer in a state to fight.

The screams of our classmates echoed through the dungeon.

“Help us! Someone, open this door!”

“Hey, open up! Is anyone there!?”

“Instructors! Please!”

“Everyone, back up! I’ll use my sword—”

Bang! Bang! The sound of steel striking iron rang out.

It was useless. The door was thicker than a shield.

“I-It’s over... we’re finished...”

“I don’t want to die! I fought so hard to make it this far! This can’t be how it ends!”

“I... I just want to go home...”

“Don’t give up! Keep pounding on it!”

But the door showed no sign of opening. There was no hint of anyone on the other side, either.

Desperately, we kept hammering. The heavy sound of metal echoed endlessly.

Ah, why is it...?

Why is my own breathing so loud? It drowns out the voices of my classmates.

I scanned my surroundings.

Void was covered in blood. Every step he took left a trail of red droplets.

Even so, he still tried to move forward—only to slip in his own blood and fall on his backside. He couldn’t get back up. As he tried to drag himself up against the wall, he left a smeared trail of red before finally collapsing.

Oujin was at his limit, too. The moment he let go of my shoulder, he slumped against the wall, sinking to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth. His breathing was labored—his internal organs might have been damaged.

My gladius had been shattered. My spare stiletto was still intact, but it wouldn’t be enough anymore.

Even in this desperate situation, my mind sharpened.

Almost unconsciously, I replayed our brief encounter with the monster in my head. Over and over, I reviewed it, sorting through the information, grasping at any possible thread. Searching for hope in the depths of this despair.

Ah, that’s right. There was one thing I wanted to try.

A new frontier for Blythe. No—perhaps this was, in a sense, the very essence of being “formless.”

It felt like I could hear my past self—Blythe—speaking to me.

—Open your eyes, Eremi Oldingham. This is not your time to die.