Chapter 499: Apex Beast

The sound remained distant.

For the next hour, Bruce and the others continued moving through the Deepwood at a steady pace, maintaining the same cautious formation they had used since entering the deeper sections of the dungeon. They encountered several more beasts along the way, and each encounter was dealt with efficiently. None of the creatures posed any meaningful threat to the three of them, allowing them to continue accumulating kills without expending more energy than necessary.

Yet, throughout that entire hour, the deep note continued to echo through the forest.

It came at regular intervals from somewhere in the far northern reaches of the level. The sound was so low and resonant that Bruce could feel it faintly in his chest whenever it rolled through the trees, almost as though the entire forest itself were humming in response. Despite its volume, however, the source never seemed to draw any closer.

Bruce paid attention every time the sound appeared. He would slow his steps slightly, listen to the direction of the echo, and try to determine whether the creature was moving toward them or simply following some enormous territorial route through the northern section of the Deepwood. So far, there was no indication that it had any interest in them.

That uncertainty made Bruce more cautious rather than less.

A creature powerful enough to produce a powerful note with an aura that carried such a long distance was not something he wanted to encounter without understanding what it was capable of. Since it had shown no aggression toward them and remained far away, there was no reason to investigate.

Then, during the third hour of their hunt, the rhythm changed.

Bruce noticed it almost immediately.

The intervals between the deep notes became shorter. What had previously sounded like a slow, deliberate call began coming at increasingly rapid intervals. The sound itself also seemed different now. It no longer carried the same calm, territorial quality it had possessed earlier. There was an urgency to it, a disturbance that Bruce could not quite explain.

The notes came faster and faster.

Then they stopped completely.

Bruce raised one hand.

The gesture was enough. Kael and the third member of their party immediately stopped moving, their bodies becoming still as they waited for Bruce to determine what had changed.

Bruce remained silent and listened.

For several seconds, there was nothing.

The Deepwood seemed unnaturally quiet.

Then a sound came drifting through the trees from the same direction where the deep notes had originated.

It was higher-pitched than before, sharper and far less controlled. There was an unmistakable quality of distress in it, the sound of a creature that was either badly wounded or fighting for its life.

Bruce’s expression hardened.

Kael closed his eyes and activated his enhanced perception, concentrating on the distant disturbance. He remained still for several moments before finally opening his eyes.

"It’s the same creature," Kael said quietly. "It’s hurt. Something is attacking it."

The three of them exchanged glances.

Bruce’s thoughts immediately became more serious.

Based on the aura, The creature they had been hearing was apparently an apex beast of the first level, meaning it was already at the highest end of what a Level-One dungeon could naturally produce. Yet something was now attacking it badly enough to force it into distress.

That meant whatever was attacking it was either powerful enough to threaten an apex beast or unusual enough that Bruce could not safely estimate its strength.

Neither possibility was encouraging.

The three of them were E-rank hunters with considerably greater strength than the F-rank parties that normally operated in this dungeon. Their current equipment, accumulated experience, and reserves gave them roughly an eight-point safety margin over the average F-rank hunter. Under ordinary circumstances, that advantage allowed them to hunt confidently through the Deepwood.

But this was not an ordinary circumstance.

They had no idea what was attacking the apex beast. It could be a Level-Two creature that had somehow wandered into the dungeon. It could be an exceptionally powerful Level-One predator. It could even be something that did not fit neatly into the classifications Bruce currently understood.

Whatever it was, they were not equipped to fight it.

Bruce made his decision immediately.

"We leave," he said. "Back to the portal. Now. Whatever is happening up there, we don’t want to be nearby when it finishes."

Kael nodded without hesitation. "Agreed."

None of them needed further convincing.

They turned south and began making their way back toward the portal. Bruce deliberately kept them from running. Moving through a dungeon at full speed might seem like the fastest way to escape danger, but it could easily create another problem. Running generated more noise, attracted the attention of predators, and consumed reserves that might become essential if they encountered an ambush.

Instead, they maintained a fast walking pace while keeping their formation tight.

Bruce remained toward the rear, constantly monitoring their surroundings. He shaped a thin strand of ink and sent it trailing behind them, allowing the thread to extend through the space they had already crossed. Through it, he carefully monitored the area for any sign of movement.

Nothing followed them.

Behind them, the distressed cries gradually faded into the distance. Eventually, even those sounds disappeared completely.

Bruce did not know what had happened. But it was all good, he had to be careful so that his soul won’t be destroyed, if he got killed her with any mistake then it’s all over...

Perhaps the apex beast had been killed. Perhaps it had managed to escape its attacker. Perhaps the attacker itself had been driven away.

He could have turned around and investigated.

He had absolutely no intention of doing so.

Whatever had been powerful enough to attack an apex beast was not something he wanted to meet simply to satisfy his curiosity.

The journey back to the portal passed without incident. Eventually, the familiar distortion of space came into view between the trees, marking the boundary between the dungeon and the outside world.

The three hunters crossed through it one after another.

On the Xiltra side, the A-rank guard stationed near the portal immediately noticed something unusual in their expressions. Her eyes moved over the three of them before settling on Bruce.

"Trouble?"

Bruce briefly explained what had happened. "An apex in the deep north was being attacked by something we couldn’t identify. We left."

The guard remained silent for a moment.

Then her expression became more serious.

"That was the correct decision at your rank," she said. "The apex in the deep north is a Silver Vellum. It’s a large hoofed beast, and it produces the deep note you were probably hearing."

Bruce listened carefully.

"It’s a Level-One creature," she continued, "but it’s at the absolute top of Level One. They’re extremely rare, and they don’t usually have trouble with the other creatures in the Deepwood. For one to be attacked badly enough to make those distress calls..." She paused and looked toward the portal. "Something in the Deepwood isn’t behaving normally today."

"Should we report this?" Bruce asked.

"I’ll report it. That’s my job."

The guard pulled out a small recording device and made several notes regarding their encounter. Once she had finished, she looked back at them.

"Do not enter the Deepwood tomorrow. I’ll be closing the portal for at least twenty-four hours. An investigation team will need to inspect the level and determine what happened. Come back the day after tomorrow at the earliest."

"Understood."

The guard gave Bruce a firm nod.

"Good decision, Ackerman. A lot of parties would have gone looking."

Bruce glanced toward the portal.

"Many parties would be dead."

The guard did not disagree.

"Yes."

The three of them left the portal area and began walking back toward the Guild district.

For several minutes, none of them spoke.

Their hunt had ended earlier than expected, but Bruce did not consider the day a complete loss. They had spent nearly three hours hunting before the disturbance occurred, and the haul they had gathered during that time was still substantial. It was better than what an ordinary F-rank party could expect from a normal day in the dungeon, even if it fell short of the amount they had earned during yesterday’s complete Deepwood run.

They would still receive a respectable amount of Soul Points when they exchanged everything.

Nevertheless, Bruce could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The abnormal behavior of the apex beast was only the most obvious part of it. There was also the sudden change in the creature’s rhythm, the unexplained attacker, and now the Guild’s decision to close the entire portal for at least twenty-four hours.

Perhaps there was a perfectly natural explanation.

Dungeons had ecosystems. Their monsters moved according to territorial instincts, feeding patterns, reproduction cycles, and countless other factors that hunters did not always understand. Strange encounters could happen without having any greater significance.

But Bruce could not rule out the possibility that something else was happening.

He simply lacked enough information.

For now, he added the incident to the growing list of things he did not understand.

Level-One apex beast attacked.

Unknown creature responsible.

Deepwood portal temporarily closed.

Dungeon behaving abnormally.

None of those facts alone proved anything.

Together, however, they were enough to justify caution.