As Verso stepped through the shimmering blue tear, the transition was like being dunked into a pot of lukewarm, stagnant soup.

The dungeon was thick with a humidity that felt heavy enough to drown in as the damp rotting air clung on to his skin.

Walking slightly, he felt the splash of murky water beneath his boots which made a sound that sent a fresh wave of irritation through his chest.

"Ugh, I already fucking hate it here."

He looked around the place and saw how The Whispering Swamp truly lived up to its name.

The place looked like a landscape plucked directly from a fever dream. Massive, gnarled mangrove trees with odd looking roots that rose out of the ground in weird places.

The water covering the floor was a murky, bruised purple, swirling with patches of oily film as if he was really in a bowl of soup.

And above the surface of water, a thin, sickly pinkish fog drifted between the mangrove trunks, obscuring anything further than thirty feet away.

"This entire place screams poison." Verso muttered, his voice muffled by the heavy atmosphere.

He took a few cautious steps forward toward Moon, who was already scanning the horizon with a look of intense concentration.

Just as Verso reached him, a familiar, cold mechanical voice chimed in the back of his mind.

[New Realm Detected!]

[Downloading Realm: The Whispering Swamp...]

Verso felt a small, satisfied smirk pull at his lips.

Despite the horrific scenery, the downloading notification was a silver lining. It meant that soon, he would have a permanent, safe version of this hellscape to farm at his leisure.

He turned to Moon, who was currently tapping his chin.

"Okay, where are we heading first? I would love to get this over with before I sink into the mud."

Moon turned, his red eyes gleaming with a manic light that was even more pronounced in the pinkish fog.

"I think we should head towards the centipedes first and get the ball rolling, right scum?"

With a sudden surge of mana, Moon manifested his weapon.

It was the same massive, two handed greatsword that looked like it had been carved from the dark steel like bones of a behemoth. The aura radiating from the steel was so intense that it seemed to push the pink fog back.

Verso looked at the blade curiously, this was the second time he was seeing this weapon but he was still taken aback by the pressure.

’I really wonder what beast soul is this a manifestation of... The pressure it gives off is insane.’

Not wanting to be left behind, Verso flicked his hand, summoning the Dark Scythe. The long, obsidian handle felt solid in his grip as the curved blade glinted with a lethal dark luster.

He had considered summoning the Nameless Skeleton — Little Bone was probably the perfect choice for a swamp like this.

Being made entirely of magical bones meant that the vicious poison of the creatures here meant absolutely nothing to him. However, Verso did not want to risk his most unique summon in this unknown dungeon.

Besides, there was a much more practical, personal reason for the scythe.

’It should be long enough to keep those centipedes away from me...’

A violent shiver raced down his spine at the mere thought of those multi legged nightmares.

Seeing that Verso was finally ready, Moon started trekking into the mangroves. The noble moved with a surprising amount of grace for someone carrying a sword that weighed as much as a car.

He traversed the gnarled roots and purple water in a way that suggested he knew exactly where he was going.

Seeing this familiarity in his movement, Verso followed closely, his eyes darting toward every ripple in the stagnant water.

After five minutes of moving through the swamp, Moon suddenly threw his hand out, signaling for a dead stop. They had reached a small clearing where the fog seemed slightly thinner.

In the center of the space was a scene that made Verso’s stomach do a slow, nauseous flip.

Multiple massive centipedes — each one as wide as a dog and as long as a large snake — were coiled around each other.

They were a dark brown in color and they were writhing together to form a massive, twitching ball of legs.

Verso stood frozen, his skin crawling.

He could hear the wet, rhythmic click clack of hundreds of tiny, armor plated legs scratching against one another.

’Ugh, fuck me. I hate this so much. Should I just blow them up? I should definitely sacrifice a Stone Golem and just level this entire fucking clearing.’

He gripped the handle of his scythe so hard his knuckles turned white. He reached for his summoning space, but he held himself back.

The golems were a valuable resource for him right now, and the drop rates in the physical world were notoriously low. Wasting a summon on a gamble for a single beast soul was a form of rookie mistake he could not afford to make.

"Are you ready, scum?"

Moon’s voice cut through the scratching sounds. Verso looked over to see an intense smile on the noble’s face.

"We’re going in!"

Before Verso could even formulate a sentence asking him about their strategy, Moon pulled his massive greatsword back over his shoulder.

With a roar that sounded more like a beast than a human, he launched the weapon.

But instead of swinging it, he threw it in the air like a guided missile as it spun once before burying itself directly into the center of the coiling centipede ball with a sickening sound.

’For a moment I forgot he was clinically insane.’ Verso thought, his jaw dropping.

Moon did not wait a single moment to see the damage. He just rushed forward, his boots splashing through the purple water as he charged the clearing without a shred of self preservation.

Upon the impact of the sword, the ball had exploded.

The centipedes hissed and clattered, their segments uncoiling as they scrambled in every direction to find the intruder.

Seeing this Verso clicked his tongue, his initial fear being overtaken by the sheer necessity of survival.

He couldn’t let Moon get swarmed and he certainly was not going to stand in the fog alone while giant bugs roamed the clearing.

’If a single one of them climbs me, I am burning this entire dungeon to the ground!’

Verso tightened his grip on the Dark Scythe, his eyes focusing on the nearest writhing target as he ran into the clearing.