"Zhwoom" The whole team stepped into the teleportation circle as everyone vanished from the floor.


    Appearing on the next floor, Ray and the others stepped into an empty hallway that went deeper into the floor.


    "Emma," Ray called out and signaled. Doing so, Emma got to work as she understood what she had to do.


    Emma stepped forward and used her system as a blueish hue took over her eyes.


    "Traps," She muttered. Blinking once, she canceled her ability and spoke, "the whole hallway isced with traps so vicious that they couldpare to the trapsid by 5 Elina''s and still be more potent,"


    Hearing this, a tinge of fear shed through everyone''s eyes as they thought, "What will happen now?"


    "How many traps are there?" Ray asked.


    "About a dozen or so," Emma replied right after.


    Listening to Emma''s answer, it didn''t take long for Ray as he turned to everyone and spoke,


    "Okay guys, no need to be afraid. The traps are not too many in number. Therefore, we can easily avoid them," Saying this, he turned to Emma and continued,


    "Could you use your system to pinpoint the exact locations and the nature of the traps?"


    "Un.. Lemme try," She nodded and answered. Her expression was stern as she got to work.


    "Noah, I want you to create a minor spirit defense formation," Ray asked.


    "Here?" Confused, Noah asked. He couldn''t understand the reason for it.


    "Yes here! Why? You can''t do it? If so, then don''t bothering along next time," Ray criticized viciously. His change in temperament pissed Noah off as it was the first time Ray had spoken like that.


    "I can do that but it will take time," Keeping his anger in control, Noah replied asplied with Ray''s orders.


    On the other hand, the rest of the team just looked at their exchange in surprise.


    "I guess he is pretty pissed off," Ae thought as she looked at Ray standing there, twiddling his thumbs and biting his lips.


    "No.. It''s not anger. He is afraid?" She reconsidered her judgment as she noticed that what Ray showed were not signs of anger but rather depression and anxiety.


    "Is there any problem up ahead?" She thought as she tried to peer into the hallway.


    Doing so, she suddenly felt strange. She felt as if something was tugging at her consciousness and pulling her deeper down into an abyss, and just like that; her eyes got fixated to a certain point deep into the hallway.


    Although she couldn''t see anything, her mind went nk as she felt something stronger than her, influencing her consciousness and making her kneel in front of it.


    Slowly, Ae panicked as she felt the control of her body slipping away from her. Her thoughts started to be inconsistent while her limbs had long gone numb.


    "If…this.. Con…continues…to happen. I wi..will be done for," She thought with difficulty as she nced at Ray.


    Right now, Ray was looking at the ground as a high amount of tension umted in the air.


    "How… d..do.. I call him?" She questioned herself.


    After all, she couldn''t speak properly as most of her body wasn''t in her control. Hence, she used what she had control of and then called for help.


    With the will to save herself, she tried to do something. Therefore, to catch his attention; she started making incoherent noises from her mouth.


    Hoping to be saved, she started;


    "Rarr… Raaa…. Helppp….hpppp,"


    "Huh?" Everyone turned around in surprise as they saw Ae standing in her ce, her left eye looking deep into the corridor while the other looked at Ray.


    Her hand slowly lifted as she tried to motion something.


    "What happened Ae," Disappearing from his spot, Ray appeared besides her as he asked.


    He looked at her and noticed how strange she seemed. Her breathing felt too regr while her movements were stiff and robotic.


    "Don''t tell me," Ray muttered as he stood in front of her and blocked her connection to the hallway.


    Doing that, Ae''s one eye; that kept focusing on the hallway moved as it nced everywhere in a panic.


    Slowly, Ae''s thoughts returned as the control over her consciousness weakened slightly.


    However, it wasn''t enough and Ray knew it. Therefore, he turned around and peered into the hallway. His presence rose as an unimaginable pressure descended all over the ce.


    "Don''t you dare," Ray spoke in anger as an illusionary phantom appeared behind him.


    Just as the phantom appeared behind him, Ae moved. Her movements returned to her control as the entity exited her consciousness.


    "Ray!!!" Shouting in fear, Ae went forward and hugged Ray. Then, without care for anything, she broke down in his arms as she started sobbing.


    Seeing her like this, Ray just held her in his embrace and patted her lightly.


    "Don''t worry, all is fine," he consoled, his voice soft as it calmed Ae down.


    Looking at the others, he signaled them to continue what they were doing and spoke, "Don''t look into the hallway. Or else, I might not be able to save you," He warned.


    As everyone nodded and got to work, Ae stood in Ray''s embrace as she enjoyed the warmth andfort it provided.


    However, as the fear went away and her mind started working again, she got flustered as she finally realized the mess she was in.


    "I hugged him? And started sobbing in his arms?" She questioned herself.


    Right now, Ae had never felt much worse as she experienced the most overwhelming emotions she did in her life. To top it off, she internally felt happy about what happened.


    Feeling her sobbing stop, Ray nced downwards as he looked at her.


    Breaking the embrace, he started down as he looked deep into her eyes, and asked,


    "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice soft and affectionate as it warmed Ae''s heart.


    "Un.." Wells merely nodded as she tried to hide her face in between her hands as right now; her face was as red as it could get while her eyes were sparkling with joy.


    "Good. Now I want to ask you something, can I?" Ray asked as he continued, "What did you see back then? What was it like?"


    Listening to his question, memories shed in her mind as Ae felt a stifling pressure in her consciousness as she couldn''t remember anything but an eerieughter that continued to resound in her head.


    Holding her head in pain, she started crying again as she couldn''t think straight. The eerieughter messed with her head to the point that she couldn''t even breathe.


    Seeing her like this, Ray bent forward as he embraced her once again.


    As he did so, Ae calmed down once more as the eerieughter disappeared.


    "Sob… All I can think of is a burst ofughter. Sob… A burst of very eerieughter. It keeps on- sniff..- resounding in my head," Ae''s voice sounded amidst her sniffing sobs.


    "Okay. Don''t worry, I am here. I will fix everything. You just calm down," Ray consoled her again as he hugged her back.


    "Uhm… Ray! Thank you," Ae spoke as she continued, "Also, could you please loosen a bit? I can''t breathe," She tapped on his shoulder as he had identally hugged her too tight.


    "Ohh… Sorry," Ray said, letting go of her. He looked around as he spoke,


    "Gather around. I have something to tell you all,


    While everyone gathered, Ae felt at the top of the world. She couldn''t fathom how, but being with Ray; she felt all her problems magically disappear.


    "My prince charming," She held her chest as she thought; a foolish smile on her face as she kept on staring at him.


    "Hey, get back to reality. We are still in the dungeon. Do all this when you are out and your life isn''t in danger," Elina came by and nudged her as she straightened her up.


    "You are no fun," Pouting, Ae spoke in dissatisfaction as she calmed herself down and listened to Elina''s advice.


    "Sigh…Guys, there has been an issue when we were teleported to the next floor. Instead of going to the ninth floor, we have jumped to the tenth," Ray spoke as he sighed heavily.


    "What? Straight to the tenth?" Tim eximed in surprise as he started muttering, "Oh… so that''s why the atmosphere is so tense,"


    "Yeah… but that isn''t the issue," Ray said and added, "The problem is that it doesn''t seem like a coincidence at all. Everything here seems to be well prepared for us, to the point that even the traps are specifically designed to hinder us," Ray paused, not saying further as he couldn''t make himself speak of it.


    "You mean that we were brought here on purpose," Sirius said,pleting his words; he guessed the main issue.


    "Yes" Ray merely nodded as a grave look shone in his eyes as he looked at everyone and spoke,


    "Guys… the dungeon boss has readied itself for us,"


    Listening to his words, everyone gulped as they finally understood the gravity of the situation.


    ...


    A/N:- Enjoyy