They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World

The dark, winding tunnels of the seventh floor felt a little less suffocating now that we were moving as a group again.

Up ahead, Scarlet took the lead this time.

Her vibrant red fox ears twitched constantly, her nose flared as she sifted through the overpowering stench of pulverized stone and sulfur to track Edric and other’s scent.

Garf and Mira flanked her, their weapons drawn, keeping a vigilant watch on the shadows.

I took the rear, though I wasn’t walking alone.

Tessa had her arm securely linked through mine, her shoulder pressed warmly against my side.

The frantic, terrified trembling that had gripped her in the rubble had stopped, replaced by a quiet, determined grip on my sleeve.

I glanced down at her as we walked, the soft glow of my Light Orb catching the dried tear streaks on her dust-covered cheeks.

"How are you feeling now?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

Tessa looked up at me. A soft, incredibly genuine smile spread across her face.

"Of course I’m fine," she murmured.

Then, she leaned in just a fraction closer, her arm tightening around mine.

And a playful, unexpected smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Are you?"

My brain completely short-circuited.

The phantom sensation of her lips pressed desperately against mine rushed back with zero warning.

A sudden, intense heat flooded up my neck and settled firmly in my cheeks. I violently flinched, pulling my head back and letting out a loud, awkward cough into my free hand.

"Of-of course I am," I stammered, my eyes instantly snapping forward to stare intensely at Garf’s broad back.

Damn these teenage hormones, I cursed myself internally, my heart hammering an erratic rhythm.

A sharp, irritated hiss echoed from the front of the formation.

Scarlet shot a withering glare over her shoulder, her green eyes narrowed into slits and her tail lashing the air.

"Can you guys stop being like that? In front of everyone?"

Mira looked between Scarlet’s scowl and my flushed face. And threw her head back and let out a bright, teasing giggle.

"Oh? What’s this?" She purred, playfully nudging Scarlet’s shoulder with her bow. "Is someone a little jealous?"

Scarlet let out a feral, defensive growl, though a highly visible blush instantly spread across her pale cheeks.

She violently turned her head back to the dark tunnel.

"I am not jealous! It’s just... gross. That’s all. Keep your focus on the dungeon!"

Mira just laughed harder, and even Garf let out a deep, rumbling chuckle.

I took a slow, deep breath, forcing the heat out of my face and grounding myself back in reality. I looked down at Tessa, who was currently hiding a quiet giggle behind her free hand.

So she really got over it, I thought, a profound sense of relief washing over me.

Taking a human life—even an assassin’s—usually broke people.

I had been terrified the dungeon had permanently scarred her. But seeing her smile, seeing her tease me... she was stronger than I gave her credit for.

"I smell blood," Scarlet suddenly announced, her playful annoyance vanishing in a heartbeat. "A lot of it. Just ahead."

We hurried our pace, rounding a jagged bend in the cavern.

The corridor opened up into a wide, heavily damaged intersection, and the metallic stench of fresh blood hit us like a physical wall.

"Yenna!" Mira screamed, completely abandoning her bow.

She sprinted across the stone floor, sliding to her knees in the dirt.

Yenna was lying flat on her back, her face alarmingly pale, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. Kneeling directly beside her, his hands coated in blood, was Edric.

The rest of us quickly closed the distance. The scene was a mess.

There were few bisected, decapitated corpses wearing the same black cloaks as the assassins we had fought, but the amount of blood pooling beneath Edric’s tattered armor was staggering.

Garf planted his war axe in the dirt, looking down at the swordsman with a heavy frown. "Gods, Edric. You look like you’re half a step into the grave. You forget how to block?"

"What the hell happened here?" I demanded, my hand dropping to Oathstorm’s hilt as my eyes scanned the dark corners of the intersection for more threats.

Mira looked up from Yenna’s pale face, her brow furrowing in deep confusion. She looked around the cavern, then back to Edric.

"Wait. Where is Rolf? Isn’t he with you two?"

Edric slowly looked up, his dark eyes exhausted and hollow. He opened his mouth to explain.

"That bastard..."

We all looked down. Yenna’s eyes were half-open, burning with a feverish, unadulterated hatred.

"Rolf," Yenna wheezed, her hands twitching uselessly at her sides. "He’s... a snake. He led them right to us."

The words hung in the damp, blood-soaked air, heavy and suffocating.

For a long moment, the only sound in the cavern was the erratic dripping of blood from Edric’s tattered armor and Yenna’s ragged breathing.

Then, piece by piece, she forced out the rest of the story. She told us how Rolf had flawlessly played the coward, how he had waited for her to turn her back, and how he had driven a poisoned dagger straight into her spine just to use her as a hostage against Edric.

The reactions around me hit like shockwaves.

Mira physically recoiled. Her hands flying to her mouth in absolute, horrified disbelief.

"No," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Rolf? The guy who trips over his own shadow? You’re saying he coordinated all of this?"

Beside her, Garf didn’t say a word. The massive tank just stood there, his jaw locked so tight I could actually hear his teeth grinding together.

He gripped the haft of his war axe until his thick knuckles turned bone-white, a terrifying, silent rage rolling off his massive frame.

Tessa let out a soft, choked gasp. Her grip on my arm tightened painfully, nails digging into my sleeve.

The realization that the man she had been laughing with just an hour ago was a master-tier executioner sent a fresh, violent shudder through her entire body.

"I knew his scent was wrong," Scarlet snarled, her upper lip curling to bare her fangs.

"I should have ripped his throat out the moment he ’tripped’ into you, Jin."

Mira shook her head violently, breaking out of her stupor.

She dropped to her knees beside Edric and immediately pulled a glowing, high-grade cleansing potion from her spatial ring. She carefully lifted Yenna’s head, pressing the glass vial to her bloodstained lips.

"Drink. Slowly," Mira ordered, her voice trembling with suppressed fury.

As the potion washed down Yenna’s throat, the dark, sluggish color of the paralytic began to fade from her veins. With a pained groan, Yenna managed to push herself up onto her elbows, though she was still visibly shaking.

"What do we do now?" Mira asked, looking up at Edric.

Edric slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"We hunt him down," He said, his dark eyes entirely devoid of mercy. "We can’t let him go. He’s heading deeper into the dungeon to rendezvous with their main force. Whatever ritual or collapse they’re planning down here, Rolf just accelerated the timetable."

"He’s right," I spoke up, my voice cutting through the gloom. "I also overheard him calling someone on communication crystal. When he went to ’relieve himself."

Every eye in the cavern snapped toward me.

Yenna’s head jerked in my direction, her eyes widening.

"You... you overheard him?" she hissed, her fiery temper instantly flaring despite her weakened state. "When?! Why the hell didn’t you tell us?!"

I didn’t flinch at her anger. I just looked down at her calmly.

"Think about it, Yenna," I said, my voice completely flat.

"If I... A kid you literally just met second time, pointed at your innocent looking friend and told you he was secretly a manipulator coordinating a hit on your party... would you have believed me?"

Yenna opened her mouth to yell, but the words died in her throat.

"He played you all flawlessly for months. You wouldn’t have drawn your swords on him. You would have defended him."

Mira slowly lowered her gaze to the bloody dirt, biting her lip. Garf let out a heavy, defeated sigh, his broad shoulders slumping.

They knew I was right.

"Besides," I added, softening my tone just a fraction, "I only figured it out right before we got ambushed. I was literally reaching for Edric’s shoulder to warn him when the floor blew up beneath us."

Yenna closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the stone wall with a bitter, self-deprecating laugh.

"Gods. We’re idiots. We were completely blind."

"We can whine about who was blind and who knew what later," Edric interrupted, his voice sharp and commanding.

He reached down, picking up his sword from the dirt and sliding it into his scabbard with a sharp clack.

He looked at the dark, descending corridor ahead of us, his expression hardening into cold steel.

"First, get on your feet," Edric ordered. "Let’s go. We have something far more important to do than stand around bleeding."