The purple crystal dust from the Alpha Scuttler's explosion slowly settled. Team Seven stood frozen, their breaths heavy in the cold air. Orion Vex clutched his wounded arm, his face pale with pain. Aurelia val-Crest stared at the pile of dust in horror, as if she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.

Celia was the first to move. She hurried to Orion's side, her hands glowing with the soft green light of life magic. "Don't move, the wound is deep."

Darius val-Luminar finally found his voice again. He didn't inquire about Orion's condition. His eyes were fixed on Nihil, who was still leaning against the wall, catching his breath.

"What... was that just now?" Darius hissed, his voice a mix of anger and confusion. "What kind of magic did you use, Nihil? That wasn't elemental magic. That wasn't holy magic. Answer me!" He tried to reclaim control, to reassert his position as leader.

Nihil looked at him, his crimson eyes calm. "Resonance," he answered succinctly. "Their bodies are made of crystal. High-frequency vibrations will destroy them. It's physics, not magic."

"Physics?" sneered Aurelia, now standing beside Darius. "Don't insult our intelligence with meaningless terms! That was dark magic! I'm sure of it!"

"Whatever it was," Celia said bluntly, finishing up bandaging Orion's wound. "It saved our lives when your Light Spears were just bouncing off."

The direct rebuke from a commoner left Darius speechless, his face flushing with shame and anger. For the first time, his authority was openly questioned. The team dynamics had fractured.

"The mission isn't over yet," Darius said coldly, trying to change the subject. "The reports mentioned energy anomalies deeper inside. We need to keep moving."

He began walking down one of the two tunnels ahead of them, a choice based on the academy's standard map.

"The wrong tunnel," Nihil said from behind.

Darius stopped, whirling around with a scowl. "What did you say?"

Nihil pointed to the second tunnel, which appeared smaller and darker. "The air current is coming from there. And the faint vibrations from those crystals... the source is in that direction. The tunnel you chose is most likely a dead end or a smaller nest."

"And how do you know that, Kitchen Boy?" Orion sneered, though his voice lacked its usual confidence.

"I can feel it," Nihil replied.

This was a decisive moment. Follow their arrogant and proven wrong leader, or follow the mysterious anomaly that had just saved them.

Nihil didn't wait for an answer. He turned and began walking down the tunnel he had indicated.

"Nihil, wait!" Celia called out, quickly packing her equipment and rushing after him.

Orion glanced at his wounded arm, then at Darius, then at Nihil's retreating back. With a frustrated growl, he made his decision. He followed Nihil and Celia.

Darius and Aurelia now stood alone. Betrayed by logic and their own followers. With a face hardened by humiliation, Darius had no choice. He followed, his anger burning silently within.

They walked deeper. The purple crystals on the walls became more numerous, emitting enough light to illuminate their path. The air felt heavy, humming with unnatural energy.

After nearly an hour of walking, they arrived at a gigantic cavern.

The sight inside made them stand in horrified silence. In the center of the cavern stood a massive purple crystal, three times the height of a man, pulsating with a sickly light. This was the source of the energy anomaly. Around the base of the giant crystal lay the equipment of travelers—torn backpacks, broken swords, dented armor. Remnants of previous investigation teams and the missing merchants.

But there wasn't a single corpse.

Nihil stepped forward cautiously. He could feel the pull of the crystal, a silent and hungry invitation. He touched one of the smaller crystal veins on the floor. He closed his eyes, allowing his system to analyze.

[Data Analysis Complete...]

[Entity Name: Assimilative Parasite Crystal]

[Function: Absorbs life energy and organic matter from the surrounding area, then converts it into crystalline structures identical to itself for replication.]

[Warning: Traces of consciousness from previous victims detected trapped within the crystal matrix.]

Heze's mind processed the horrifying implications. "They weren't killed," he whispered, his voice loud enough for the others to hear.

"What do you mean?" Celia asked anxiously.

Nihil gazed at the pile of crystals around them. "The missing travelers... they didn't go anywhere." He pointed at the crystals. "They are these crystals."

Just as the horror of his words sank in, the massive Heart Crystal in the center of the cavern pulsed violently. DU-DUM.

Throughout the cavern, all the crystals on the walls began to shine in unison. And from the larger crystal formations, something began to take shape. The crystal surfaces cracked and shifted, forming terrifying silhouettes. Awkward humanoid shapes, with arms and legs made of jagged crystal shards. Where faces should have been, there was only smooth purple crystal.

The assimilated victims now rose again, reborn as eternal crystal soldiers, driven by a collective will to protect the heart of their nest.

"By the Light..." Aurelia whispered, her face pale as she watched the army of Crystal Golems begin to move towards them. There were dozens of them.

"Fall back! Return to the tunnel!" Darius shouted, his first instinct being to flee.

"Too late," Nihil said flatly. Behind them, the entrance to the tunnel they had come through was sealed by rapidly growing crystal walls. "We're trapped."

The Crystal Golems attacked. Their movements were slow and heavy, but each step made the cavern tremble. They lacked the speed of the Scuttlers, but they possessed extraordinary strength and endurance.

Orion, despite his injuries, roared and charged forward, his shield raised. The first strike from a golem slammed into his shield with a deafening KRAKK! sound, sending him staggering several steps back.

"They're too strong!" he yelled.

"Keep them from getting close!" Darius shouted. He began chanting a spell, firing a series of Light Spears at the approaching army. Unlike with the Scuttlers, his attacks were effective this time, able to destroy small portions of the golems' bodies. But for every golem he slowed, three others continued advancing. His mana drained rapidly.

Celia and Aurelia worked together, creating a light shield in front of them while Celia attempted to heal Orion's new wounds. Their team was slowly being pushed back, becoming more and more cornered.

Amid the chaos, Nihil did not attack the golems. His eyes were locked onto one target: the massive Heart Crystal that continued to pulse in the center of the cavern. That was its brain. Its heart. The source of its power. They would never win by fighting this army. They had to decapitate the snake.

"Darius!" Nihil shouted, his voice cutting through the battle noise.

"I'm busy!" Darius retorted, having just destroyed a crystal arm of a golem.

"Your scattered attacks are useless!" Nihil continued. "Focus all your remaining mana! Fire your strongest Light Spear! Aim for the top of that Heart Crystal! I need a crack!"

Darius glared at Nihil with rage. Being commanded by the Kitchen Boy in the middle of a battle was the ultimate insult. But he saw the truth in Nihil's words. He saw the endless army. He saw his diminishing mana.

"Damn you, Nocturne!" he growled. "If this fails, I'll make sure your corpse rots here!"

He shouted to the others, "PROTECT ME!"

Orion, Aurelia, and Celia formed a defensive triangle around Darius, desperately holding back the wave of golem attacks. Darius raised his hand, blinding holy light gathering in his palm, far more powerful than before.

"Aim a bit more to the left!" Nihil shouted. "There's a structural weakness there!"

Darius snarled but instinctively followed the instruction. "DIE!"

A pillar of pure light shot from his hand and struck the top of the Heart Crystal with a deafening explosion. The massive crystal trembled violently. A large crack like a spider web formed across its surface.

"Now!" thought Nihil.

He sprinted forward, passing through the defensive line, running straight toward the cracked Heart Crystal. The nearby golems tried to grab him, but Nihil's efficient movements allowed him to slip through.

He leaped and landed at the base of the crystal. He placed both palms on the vibrating surface.

This would drain everything.

[Using Void Grasp. Target: The Parasite's Energy Core within the Heart Crystal.]

[WARNING: TARGET POSSESSES STRONG EXISTENTIAL RESISTANCE!]

[Capacity: 20/25... 15/25... 10/25... 5/25...]

His energy drained like a tidal wave. The crystal fought back, flooding Nihil's mind with mental screams filled with suffering—the echoes of the trapped victims' consciousnesses. Heze's mind screamed in pain, but Nihil's cold Void instinct held back the wave. He was the emptiness. The screams meant nothing to him.

He pushed deeper. He wasn't just erasing energy. He was erasing the concept of the parasite itself.

As the parasite's energy was stripped away, the core of the massive crystal opened. Floating within was a small object in contrast—a thumbnail-sized stone that didn't reflect any light at all. Its color was pitch black, as if it were a tiny hole in reality itself.

Void Crystal.

Even as he channeled his power, one hand moved, snatching the black crystal and swiftly placing it into his pouch.

The process was complete.

With its energy core removed, the massive Heart Crystal let out a final, prolonged crackling sound. The light within it faded. It transformed into fragile ordinary glass, then shattered into pieces, collapsing into a pile of harmless shards.

Throughout the cavern, all the Crystal Golems ceased movement in unison. The light in their bodies dimmed. They froze for a moment before finally collapsing into piles of crystal dust.

Complete silence. The battle had ended.

Nihil stumbled back, his body trembling with exhaustion, but he had succeeded. He glanced into his pouch. He had obtained what he sought.

He looked up and met the gaze of the remaining team members, who stared at him with a mix of complex emotions. Orion's jaw hung open in shock. Celia wore a relieved smile. Aurelia's face was pale with disbelief.

And Darius, standing there with his dented armor and heavy breathing. The anger in his eyes had vanished, replaced by something else. Something deep, calculating, and... terrifying. Respect born from fear.

They had survived, not because of the nobility's strength or their holy magic. They had survived because of the very monster they were supposed to eliminate.

The journey back to the Academy of Dawn Light would feel very, very long.

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