Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Double Dungeon (1)

The violet Gate that had appeared out of nowhere.

Inside the dungeon, the Heroes were debating what to do.

─So let's just smash through this one too!
─We need to be careful. Let's rest first and call for backup.

Another dungeon inside a dungeon.

Nobody had ever seen or heard of anything like this, so everyone had to be rattled.

Especially since it wasn't even a normal Gate emitting the usual blue glow—the suspicious violet light made it obvious to anyone that this was no ordinary Gate.

Zhuge Soyon spoke.

"A Gate with a different color... I've seen one before. That time it was a red Gate."

"Right. There's a high probability an Evil God is involved."

─Evil Gods... those beings with the unusual powers, you said?

"Yes."

─Then shouldn't we go in right now? Florian's red Gates went berserk instantly and monsters came pouring out!

Wang Sheng's outburst darkened everyone's expressions.

The Gate might go berserk any moment.

That wasn't information you could just shrug off.

Until now, the cautious faction had held sway, but this shifted the balance.

Everyone looked ready to charge in immediately.

Among the guild leaders, Murakami and Wang Sheng called for entry; Do Yeonha and Baekryeon called for standby.

Their party members followed their leaders' stances, but most privately wanted to enter the dungeon as soon as possible.

Do Yeonha said in a measured voice.

─...It's too dangerous. We don't know what's inside. These are beings that use strange powers—who knows what they've set up in there.
─Fuck! That's exactly why we have to go! If something goes wrong, millions could die—are our lives more important?
─The brat's right. Since when do Heroes fear death?
─Don't let zeal cloud your judgment. If we all die in there, who handles whatever comes next?

The S-rank Heroes' voices rose over one another.

They all had valid points, but none of them knew about Double Dungeons.

If we didn't enter, the Gate would go berserk.

Conversely, our mere entry would stabilize it.

A dungeon that forced Heroes to enter, then trapped them once inside.

What a vile hobby. I silently chewed out whoever made this.

"We're going in."

─What?
─Hell yes! Let's go!

My declaration drew mixed reactions.

Do Yeonha and Baekryeon looked unconvinced but didn't object further.

If we didn't go now, whatever was inside would spread uncontrollably.

If those things spilled across all of Africa, the entire continent could become a living hell.

A Double Dungeon went berserk quickly without entrants, but once someone entered, it stabilized like a normal dungeon—buying us time as long as we held on inside.

"I'll join you inside shortly. Please wait."

"Then I'll—"

Zhuge Soyon rose to follow me.

She couldn't come.

I had combat ability rivaling a high-rank Hero, but she was only smart—as a combatant, she was utterly useless.

If she entered the Double Dungeon with us, she'd be in serious danger.

I switched off the Communication Stone's microphone and whispered close to Zhuge Soyon's ear.

"Soyon, I have an important mission for you."

"An important... mission?"

"Yes. That Gate is dangerous. We might all die in there."

Zhuge Soyon's shoulders trembled visibly at the word "die."

"I-is it that dangerous?"

Death.

A word that should be familiar to any Hero, yet one that felt foreign to high-rank Heroes.

In a world where countless Gates appeared daily, monsters emerged, and just as many people died—there still weren't many threats to a party led by S-rank Heroes.

Zhuge Soyon looked at me with pleading eyes, as if hoping I wouldn't go in.

But she didn't say it.

She must have figured that if I was going, I had good reason.

"That dungeon is above S+-rank, below SS-rank. Think of it as S++-rank. Your role is crucial, Soyon. Call for backup. I need Lie Xiao and Edelin's help."

Lie Xiao went without saying, and Edelin owed me—she wouldn't ignore the call.

Between the two of them, they could assemble enough firepower to crack an S++-rank Gate.

"Okay...... you have to come back safe, alright? Promise me?"

"I will."

Zhuge Soyon extracted promise after promise that I'd prioritize safety before setting off.

I'd told her not to worry, but honestly, I wasn't confident.

Why had a Double Dungeon appeared here?

At this exact moment, right in front of me.

Until now, the Evil Gods had moved according to the predetermined story, unaware of my existence.

But that had changed.

After multiple interventions, they'd surely become aware of me by now.

Meaning—this was it.

A trap set by the Evil Gods.

A snare woven with malice and hatred, built for the sole purpose of killing me because I'd become an obstacle to their plans.

The beings who opened Gates and summoned monsters to throw this world into chaos.

The game's illustrious final bosses had gone to all this trouble—just to deal with one man.

To kill me.

This was a development that didn't exist in the game's story.

It wasn't that my actions had shifted the story's order—the Evil Gods had created an entirely new storyline.

Even I couldn't predict what was inside.

How to fight it, how to strategize—I had zero information.

Meanwhile, the Evil Gods had seen and heard far too much about me.

They undoubtedly had confidence that this time, they'd kill me.

But there was something they didn't know.

I'd already seen this world's ending, again and again.

Each time, I'd crafted new strategies and walked new paths.

This time would be no different.

Whatever the Evil Gods had prepared, I'd simply tear it all apart.

"Moving in."

I steeled my resolve and headed into the dungeon.

***

A vivid blue sky. A vast expanse of land.

The scenery resembled a wide-open savanna.

The theme was jarringly different from what you'd expect inside a pyramid, but Double Dungeons were always like this—so there was nothing strange about it.

What was truly strange was the dungeon itself.

What greeted us was a colossal tree.

"...What's that big?"

It stretched so high its top was invisible, and no amount of walking would take you to its other side—that was how thick it was.

Everyone was overwhelmed by the sheer scale.

It looked less like a tree and more like a small mountain.

"What kind of tree does this?"

"It's not just the tree."

Indeed.

Grass, flowers, pebbles.

Everything without exception was enormous.

The expedition took in the alien landscape, lost in wonder.

What shattered the atmosphere was a sharp-eyed someone's observation.

"Come to think of it, where's the Gate?"

The Gate.

The passage connecting the dungeon to our world.

In any dungeon, there was always a Gate at the entry point to exit through—that was common sense.

But here, no Gate was visible.

Of course not.

The only way to leave a Double Dungeon was to defeat it.

This was what made Double Dungeons so vicious.

"It's true."

"I can't see the exit."

The Gate was gone.

That fact alone set everyone trembling with anxiety.

People liked to say Heroes didn't fear death, but when actually facing it, very few could stay composed.

Trapped in a dungeon with no way out and no idea what waited inside.

That reality alone placed enormous stress on the Heroes.

"Where even are we......"

"Something's coming."

THOOM—! THOOM—!

Massive footsteps made everyone tense further.

Tremors this heavy meant something enormous was approaching.

"Everyone, battle stations—!"

At Baekryeon's shout, the expedition assumed combat formation.

Everyone braced for a giant monster's arrival.

What appeared was genuinely shocking in appearance.

A body covered in pure white fur, two long erect ears, bloodshot red eyes, stubby limbs.

That's right.

The creature's identity was—

─Eee-! Eee-!

A rabbit the size of a house.

"...A rabbit?"

"What is that. This has to be a joke."

The giant rabbit's appearance drew universally dumbfounded reactions.

The rabbit paid us no mind, chomped on nearby grass, and hopped off into the distance.

We stared blankly after the rabbit that had appeared in a flash and vanished just as quickly.

Not just the scenery—even the animals were huge.

Apparently, everything here being gigantic was the theme.

"Hmm."

First, I pulled out the Communication Stone to relay the situation outside.

But a problem arose.

CRACKLE— STATIC—

The magic wouldn't activate.

It wasn't a complex spell, so the creators must have developed countermeasures and applied them to this dungeon.

I could theoretically work around their countermeasures, but doing so would require modifying not just my stone but the one outside as well.

Contacting the outside was impossible.

We'd have to hope that Lie Xiao and Edelin would notice we weren't getting out and respond accordingly.

"Everyone, gather around. I'll brief you on the situation."

At my call, the Heroes clustered around me.

No matter how elite they were, a situation this unknown inevitably weakened their resolve.

I began the briefing in the most casual, 'this is nothing' tone I could manage.

"Our primary objective is survival. With no way of knowing what lurks inside, moving recklessly isn't wise. For now, holding out without casualties until reinforcements arrive is enough."

"To request proper support, shouldn't we survey the dungeon's size? This violet Gate makes it impossible to measure the dungeon's mana, so they might not know how much support to send."

"Communication magic doesn't work in here. Even if we surveyed, there's no way to relay the information—we can only hope they send reinforcements at their own judgment."

"Oh......"

The implication was simple.

This was no ordinary dungeon. One wrong move, and the only way out might be in a body bag.

"Damn, how did we end up in this......"

"Will we really make it out?"

Survival itself wasn't the major concern.

Double Dungeon or not, the basic properties of a dungeon still applied.

The monsters here wouldn't attack us first unless we posed a specific threat.

We just had to hunker down somewhere safe until Edelin and Lie Xiao arrived.

No.

That was far too optimistic.

Our opponents were Evil Gods—and this was a custom trap designed for me.

There was no way they'd served up a peacefully flowing dungeon.

The moment I thought that—

An enormous presence made itself felt.

THOOM—! THOOM—!

Footsteps far heavier than before.

The ground's shaking alone told me this was something vastly larger than the rabbit.

"O-over there!"

"No way!"

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD—!

The footsteps grew louder as they approached.

Wildebeest—animals resembling cattle with curved horns.

Dozens of wildebeest were charging toward us.

"What's going on? Are they heading to water or something?"

"No. Look behind them."

More precisely, the wildebeest weren't charging at us.

They were fleeing from something.

─GRAAAOGH—!

Lions.

The wildebeest were running from a pride of hunting lionesses.

Naturally, these were no ordinary lions either—absurdly enormous lions.

"Let's clear out of here."

Every Hero agreed wholeheartedly, nodding vigorously.

We bolted in the opposite direction.

But the situation didn't unfold as we'd hoped.

─Graoh?

One lioness's gaze locked onto us.

We were fucked. Eye contact.

While dungeon monsters generally didn't attack first, this one was anything but general.

Extreme aggression.

It would charge no matter what.

─GRAAAOGH!

One lioness broke off from the herd chase and diverted toward us.

Based on its pursuit speed against the wildebeest, outrunning it looked difficult. In for a penny, in for a pound.

"Everyone, prepare for combat. We cooperate with the wildebeest as much as possible and hunt the lions."