The Weakest Hunter Ascends

Circle of Flames 1

One of the casualties of the day was Greg, Bill's close friend. Though the choice to explore the deep sections of the double dungeon had been decided by a democratic majority vote, Kim had completely scrubbed that reality from his memory, his rationality entirely consumed by raw, panicked grief.

Mr. Sterling looked directly at the blade leveled at his chest, his voice steady.

"I will walk to the platform on my own accord. Lower your weapon."

Naturally, Kim refused to drop his guard.

"How can I trust you, old man? Stop wasting our time and start moving."

Sterling let out a soft, defeated sigh, turning his back to march toward the central stone platform. Kim kept the tip of his sword tracing the veteran's spine, trailing close behind him.

Arthur bit his lower lip hard as he watched the two men walk away.

This isn't Mr. Sterling's fault, he thought bitterly.

More than half the room had thrown their hands up for this payout. Blaming the commander the second a high-risk gamble turned bloody was pure, unadulterated cowardice.

But there's nothing I can do...

Arthur simply lacked the physical leverage to override Kim. Kim was an aggressive, high-damage D-Rank combatant at the absolute peak of his fitness, while Arthur was the literal bottom of the E-Rank barrel. The disparity in raw martial parameters was too staggering to ignore, and worse, Arthur was currently down a leg.

If he tried to mount a physical defense right now, he would fail instantly, likely dragging Julie down into a secondary disaster while she was entirely focused on keeping his vascular wall from collapsing.

"Damn it."

Arthur squeezed his eyes shut, a heavy wave of frustration washing over him. He had never loathed his own powerlessness as intensely as he did in this exact moment.

Meanwhile, Sterling ascended the stone steps, his boots striking the center of the geometric platform.

The moment his weight settled, a sharp crackle echoed through the room, and a single, brilliant crimson flame erupted along the outer edge of the stone ring.

The remaining survivors nervously swallowed, keeping their eyes glued to the phenomenon as they waited for a secondary trigger.

But nothing happened.

A single red brazier burned brightly in the dim light, and the room returned to a dead silence.

"...?"

Minutes ticked by without a single mechanical shift.

Kim blinked, his chest heaving as his focus cracked, thoroughly bewildered by the lack of feedback. He snapped his head around, glaring across the flagstones toward Arthur.

"Hey! Arthur! What the hell is this? This wasn't the trigger?"

Arthur shook his head, his brow furrowing through the dried blood on his face.

"Even I don't..."

He had clinically assumed that the Third Commandment, "Prove your faith," simply required a literal sacrificial offering to cross the threshold. If the platform didn't immediately execute Sterling, then his core hypothesis was wrong.

It's not a blood sacrifice?

The realization brought a sudden spark of relief to Arthur's chest. If the mechanic didn't demand a literal corpse, it meant Sterling could still walk out of this sanctuary alive.

Arthur gritted his teeth, pouring what little baseline durability he had left into hoisting his torso off the ground.

Seeing him struggle, two of the surviving rookies immediately stepped out of the huddle, looping Arthur's arms over their shoulders to help him stabilize his balance.

"Take me closer to the platform," Arthur rasped. "I need to look at the geometry."

"Arthur, your vitals are completely redlining..." one of the rookies muttered, but they didn't break their grip.

Julie pushed herself off the flagstones to trail closely behind them, her face completely drained of color. Her mana core was almost entirely depleted after expending so much energy to close his arterial bleeding, but her efforts had successfully halted the hemorrhage, reducing Arthur's localized pain to a dull, manageable ache.

I need to solve this fast.

Looking at Julie's shallow breathing, Kim's volatile anger, and the hollow expressions of the remaining vanguard, Arthur knew their timer was running dangerously short.

The rookies managed to haul Arthur to the base of the steps.

"Alright, let's step onto the perimeter."

The two men flinched slightly, but their trust in Arthur's sensory instincts overrode their fear. They carried him over the threshold, their boots hitting the platform simultaneously.

Instantly, three distinct crimson flames ignited along the stone edge, roaring to life in perfect synchronicity.

Arthur's eyes flashed with recognition.

The fire tracks proximity.

Mr. Sterling, Arthur, and the two rookies helping him carry the weight—four individuals stood within the boundary, and exactly four red braziers were now burning.

The lances of light were spaced out mathematically, forming the rough blueprint of a perfect outer circle.

If the geometry holds, we need two more points to complete the array.

It was a total-party checkpoint.

Every single living survivor needed to ascend the steps for the final phase to initialize.

Arthur turned his head, locking eyes with Sterling.

"If we hold our ground here, is there any chance an Association vanguard intercepts this Rift before our extraction timer clears?"

Sterling gave a slow, somber shake of his head.

"Today is the seventh day since this anomaly stabilized. The structural parameters of the dungeon will override the portal long before backup can clear the first floor."

"Because it was classified as a low-level D-Rank, the city center left it unmonitored for too long," Arthur muttered.

"That's standard bureaucracy for you," Sterling replied grimly.

A Rift left uncleared past its seventh day would experience a total structural collapse, allowing the interior entities to cross the threshold and bleed directly into the modern world.

Arthur looked back toward the center of the cathedral.

The colossal stone deity sat upon its towering throne, staring down at them with a cold, overbearing arrogance.

If a creature of that magnitude breaks containment...

The civilian casualties would be historic. And any high-ranking corporate guild attempting to secure the zone from the outside would be systematically slaughtered by the guardian statues before they could even decode the rules.

They couldn't afford to sit on their hands.

Arthur cast his gaze back toward the perimeter, calling out to the remaining two.

"Julie! Kim! Get up here right now!"

Julie didn't hesitate, scrambling up the stone steps first.

Kim lingered for a volatile second, his knuckles white around his weapon, before cursing under his breath and following her across the threshold.

The final two crimson lances erupted into life, completing a perfect, blazing ring around the survivors.

And then, the cathedral shifted.

"What the hell?!"

"What is that?!"

The survivors gasped as a secondary chain reaction rippled across the platform.

Here it comes.

From the outermost lip of the altar, a series of tiny, spectral blue flames began to float vertically into the air, drawing an independent, tightly packed ring outside the crimson fire.

Arthur's eyes darted across the array, his analytical mind automatically computing the configuration.

Thirty-four... thirty-five... thirty-six.

Exactly thirty-six blue embers flickered in the air, spaced out at identical intervals.

Six red flames tracking our life signs. Thirty-six blue flames encircling the perimeter. What's the mathematical significance?

Before he could run the calculation, a loud, metallic echo detonated through the quiet cavern.

CLANG!

Without warning, the massive stone double-doors at the far end of the hallway swung wide open, revealing the path back to the entry portal.

The group flinched violently, their hearts hammering.

"The exit...!"

Every muscle in their bodies screamed at them to bolt toward that open doorway, but the vivid image of the young choir singer getting crushed into paste pinned their boots to the platform.

If someone tried to make a break for it first, who knew what defense mechanism would trigger?

Every eye in the circle turned to Arthur, silently demanding an explanation.

But Arthur kept his jaw clenched, his eyes locked on the ancient geometry.

"..."

He couldn't confirm the variable yet. He had no way of knowing if the open doors were a psychological trap, or if the system was genuinely permitting their retreat after they successfully initialized the total-party alignment.

Before anyone could break the silence, a low, grating sound echoed against the masonry.