Chapter 128: The Sahns.
Nobody said anything for a moment. The team simply stood panting amid the settling dust, golden buffs slowly fading.
Morra, who had remained largely on the sidelines during the final exchange, rose gracefully and approached the slowly fading corpse of the massive creature.
She crossed the clearing without hurrying and stopped beside the creature’s head, which was already beginning to fade at the edges, the wooden body losing cohesion as the dungeon processed its death.
She knelt beside its head, placed one hand gently against the creature’s jaw, and closed her eyes. "It’s okay," she whispered softly. "You’re free now."
Kurt watched her. He’d seen Morra amused. He’d seen her calculating. He’d seen her with a scythe in her hand and an exit strategy forming behind her eyes.
But he’d never seen her look like that before. The tender side of Morra that held a quiet compassion beneath her usual aloof demeanor. It surprised him more than the level-ups had.
As the corpse fully dissolved into particles of light, revealing the gleaming monster core left behind, the system chimed again.
[DUNGEON BOSS DEFEATED: SLY-RAK]
[Reward: +30 Points]
[Available Points: 78]
Everyone took a collective breather, catching their breath and trading grins. Sam dropped to one knee, breathing hard but smiling, and Jerry groaned from the ground, asking, "did... we win?"
"Yeah," Kurt said. "You were instrumental."
"Rahk’sahn su’len... thar’kesh na’al." Zoro suddenly spoke up in his native language, a rapid string of words that sounded grateful yet solemn. However, none of the team understood a syllable.
[Notice: Unknown language detected. Would you like this dialogue translated into your primary language?]
Kurt blinked, genuinely shocked. "Wait, you can do that?"
[Affirmative. Would you like translation? Y/N]
He sighed. "Yeah, sure—translate it."
The system complied instantly, and Zoro’s words came through clearly: "You fought with honor. My people will remember this day."
Kurt turned to the group. "I can translate," he said. "Give me a second."
Lizzie stared at him. "How?" Then she tensed her jaw. "And can you teach me?"
"Sorry, love. It’s a me thing," he said.
"Hmm." Eli’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
Afterwards, Zoro spoke at length, and Kurt relayed it in pieces.
Because of the translation breakthrough, communication opened up, and the team gathered closer as they made their way back toward Zoro’s village.
Along the path, light-hearted banter flowed freely. Lizzy recounted their swamp adventure in exaggerated detail, complete with sound effects for every explosion.
Eli listened with a polite smile, occasionally correcting minor facts in his dry tone and Jerry had the nerve to mock Kurt about his dramatic one-liner before his punch.
Meanwhile, Sam checked on Cassandra and Zoro with quiet concern, and even Morra offered a rare small smile at Lizzy’s antics.
As they arrived at the village, the people emerged from the black-barked forest in groups—first the masked ones, then the others, then the elders with their dense overlapping patterns, and they all remained silent...
Suddenly, the village erupted in celebration. News of the Sly-rak’s defeat had already spread, and they greeted them with open arms, music, and an enormous feast.
Long tables carved from the black-barked tree held roasted meats, fresh fruits, colorful stews, and barrels of sweet fermented drinks.
Torches lit the central square as night fell, and villagers danced and sang around a massive bonfire. Laughter rang out everywhere.
The music came from instruments made of hollowed wood and stretched hide, producing rhythms unfamiliar but hypnotic.
Children tugged at the team’s sleeves, offering flower crowns woven with luminescent petals and handmade trinkets.
Jerry accepted one, grinning like an idiot, and Sam wore hers without complaint. Even Cassandra allowed a small girl to place one on her head before walking away quickly.
Zoro, now fully at ease among his people, began to explain their story in his native tongue. The system translated smoothly for Kurt who proceeded to relay the key points aloud.
"You see," Zoro said, his voice steady, "my people are called the Sahns, and we have a deep, spiritual connection to this land. But so did the Sly-rak."
He took off his bone mask and placed it on the face of a child. "The Sly-rak had not always been what we fought today. The Sahns had lived alongside it for generations."
Sam leaned forward slightly. "You lived peacefully with it?"
Zoro nodded. "It was a Guardian then... a creature grown from the land itself, tied to the same cycle the Sahns were tied to."
"Indeed. The Sly-rak is a powerful monster that only gets violent when it senses its dungeon is being threatened." Eli’s voice came from beside Lizzie where he sat, speaking their language.
This made Lizzie turn to face him. "Wait, you can speak their language too?" Then she turned towards the rest without waiting for an answer. "Can anyone else speak it!?"
"I’ve had three centuries to study," Eli said mildly. "You can say, I’ve picked up a thing here and there.."
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You just happened to know an obscure dungeon-native dialect?"
"You’re one to talk," Lizzie said to Kurt. Then she faced Zoro again, leaned in with her hands beside her mouth as she whispered, "sorry... please continue."
Zoro nodded, continued, and Kurt resumed translating. "Where the land took in more life energy than it could process, the Sly-rak absorbed the excess and kept the balance."
Kurt relayed this, and Cassandra spoke up. "Interesting. The dungeon evolved its own ecosystem balancing mechanism."
Zoro nodded when Kurt translated, his gaze shifted between Eli, Morra and Kurt. "The Sahns called it Reth’vas. The Steady Hunger. But then the balance was broken."
Kurt paused translating. "What broke it?" he asked through the System.
"An energy. It seeped into the land over years." Zoro’s expression darkened. "The Sly-rak absorbed it the way it absorbed everything. But this energy was different. Poisoned."
Sam’s face fell. "It corrupted the Guardian."
"Yes." Zoro looked at the fire. "For generations, it kept the savanna thriving. But whatever that energy was, it twisted it, evolved it beyond its purpose."
Jerry leaned forward. "So it went crazy?"
"It stopped distinguishing between excess energy and living things," Zoro said quietly. "And began hunting the very people it had been made to protect."
"How many did you lose?" Kurt asked.
The translation came back quiet. "Too many to count now. We stopped counting after the third season." Zoro’s voice was hollow. "In your time... perhaps three years. Maybe more."
Kurt relayed this to the group and nobody made a sound.
Morra, standing apart from them, had been listening to all of it. "Whatever corrupted it," she said, not to anyone specific, "it came in from outside the dungeon’s natural boundary."
Kurt looked at her. "You think someone sent it?"
She met his eyes. "I think nothing that precise happens by coincidence."
Zoro’s gaze shifted to the ground. "Killing it was tragic... but necessary. That is why we sought for outsiders like you. We needed strength we no longer possessed." He concluded.
Morra nodded quietly from the side, her earlier gesture toward the corpse now making perfect sense.
And just like that, the victory didn’t feel as complete anymore.
