The blue light of the gate faded.
Yuna stepped forward.
The world rebuilt itself around her.
Stone streets stretched into the distance. Broken towers leaned against the dark sky. Cracked walls and collapsed houses filled the horizon.
An ancient city.
Silent.
Dust drifted through the air.
The survivors from Floor Three slowly appeared behind her.
Someone whispered,
“Where are we now?”
A faint voice answered inside their minds.
System message.
Floor four reached.
Dungeon type: Ruined City.
Objective: Destroy three gargoyle nests.
The message faded.
For several seconds nothing happened.
The streets remained still.
Then someone pointed upward.
“Hey.”
The rooftops were lined with statues.
Dozens of them.
Stone creatures crouched along towers and walls. Wings folded tightly against their backs.
Gargoyles.
They looked old.
Weathered by centuries of wind and rain.
One player laughed nervously.
“They're just statues.”
Another player walked closer to one perched on a broken fountain.
He reached out and tapped it with his sword.
The stone cracked.
A sharp sound echoed through the square.
The statue’s head turned.
Stone eyes opened.
The gargoyle screamed.
Its wings spread wide as pieces of rock shattered from its body.
More statues across the rooftops began to move.
Cracks raced through their stone skin.
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One by one the gargoyles awakened.
“MONSTERS!”
Players scattered as the creatures launched themselves into the air.
A gargoyle dove toward the street.
Yuna stepped forward.
Her blade cut upward.
The creature split in half before it reached the ground.
Stone fragments scattered across the street.
“Watch the rooftops,” she said quickly.
More gargoyles leapt from the towers.
Jin moved beside her.
His sword flashed once.
Another monster crashed into the pavement.
The survivors regrouped instinctively.
“Archers,” Yuna called out.
“Take the roofs.”
A man raised his bow.
“I can hit them from here.”
Arrows streaked upward.
Two gargoyles fell from the sky.
Others dove toward the group.
Steel clashed against stone wings.
The narrow streets forced everyone to stay close together.
A woman shouted,
“There’s more up there!”
She pointed toward the tallest tower in the square.
At the top of the structure sat a cluster of gargoyles.
Dozens of them.
Their bodies were gathered around a nest built from broken stone.
Yuna glanced upward.
“That's one of them.”
The gargoyle nests.
Destroy the nests.
Clear the floor.
Simple objective.
Dangerous execution.
Another player spoke.
“There are two more towers down that street.”
He pointed toward a collapsed gate further into the city.
“Probably more nests there.”
Yuna nodded.
“Then we move together.”
No one argued.
The group began advancing through the ruined streets.
The gargoyles followed them from above.
Every time they passed a new building, more statues awakened.
Stone wings filled the sky.
Jin cut down anything that got too close.
Lily stayed behind the fighters, healing anyone who took a hit.
“Hold still,” she told a wounded man.
“Just a second.”
Golden light sealed the cut on his arm.
The group pushed deeper into the city.
More climbers began following Yuna’s directions.
“Left alley,” she called.
“Stay under the walls.”
Players listened.
Someone muttered,
“Just follow the twin blade girl.”
Yuna pretended not to hear.
They reached the base of the first tower.
The gargoyle nest sat high above them.
Stone creatures crawled across the walls.
One climber looked up.
“I can climb that.”
“Be careful,” Lily said.
The man nodded.
He started scaling the cracked stones.
The rest of the group fought off the gargoyles circling above.
Yuna kept watching the climber.
Halfway up the tower, one of the statues moved.
A gargoyle opened its wings and lunged.
The man slipped.
For a moment he tried to grab the wall.
Then he fell.
The impact echoed through the street.
His body did not move.
Yuna froze.
A sharp pressure struck her mind.
Fragments burst through her thoughts.
A warm kitchen.
Someone laughing across a table.
A hand gripping a climbing rope.
A voice whispering,
“Just one more job.”
The echoes shattered.
System message.
Memory fragment recorded.
Current fragments: three.
Yuna inhaled sharply.
Pain pulsed behind her eyes.
Then another message appeared.
System message.
Memory resonance detected.
Spirit blades temporarily strengthened.
Her weapons vibrated softly.
A pale glow spread along their edges.
Yuna stared at them for a moment.
Then a gargoyle dropped toward her.
She moved.
Her blade cut across its chest.
The creature split apart instantly.
Stone armor that should have resisted the strike shattered like glass.
Yuna blinked.
The glow faded a few seconds later.
The power vanished.
The street filled with the sounds of battle again.
Jin glanced briefly toward her blades.
His expression did not change.
He said nothing.
Yuna pushed the strange sensation aside.
“Bring it down,” she called.
Two climbers climbed the tower together.
This time the others covered them.
Arrows and spells forced the gargoyles back.
The climbers reached the nest.
One of them smashed the stone structure with a hammer.
The nest collapsed.
The gargoyles in the sky suddenly shrieked.
Several of them turned to dust.
System message.
First gargoyle nest destroyed.
Two nests remaining.
The group advanced through the ruined streets again.
Fewer gargoyles attacked now.
The second nest fell quickly.
By the time they reached the third tower, the monsters were already weakening.
Jin climbed the final structure himself.
One powerful strike shattered the nest.
Stone fragments rained across the square.
The remaining gargoyles crumbled where they stood.
The city became quiet.
System message.
Floor four cleared.
A glowing doorway appeared at the end of the street.
Relief spread across the group.
Players lowered their weapons.
The survivors stepped through the gate.
