The ground beneath them cracked again.
A stillness settled across the chamber—dense, final, like the world itself was holding its breath. The stone floor pulsed faintly, the green runes flickering one by one, until even the torches in the corners of the maze guttered low.
[The Warden has arrived.]
The system's voice echoed like a whisper too close to the ear—subtle, but inescapable.
Jin tensed, blade already unsheathed and steady in his grip. The quiet wasn't natural. It wasn't the calm before a storm. It was something deeper—like the air itself had been chained down.
Then—
Clink.
A single sound. Metallic. Close.
Jisoo's head snapped toward it. "Did you—"
Clink-clink.
The noise multiplied.
Yujin's wings partially flared out, not in aggression, but instinct.
Chains.
They didn't descend from the ceiling or rise from the earth. They formed mid-air—black iron links coiling from nothing, spiraling like smoke until they snapped forward with sudden force.
"Move!" Jin barked.
