Chapter 99
Chapter 99: Surrounded on All Sides
Following that initial encounter, Min-jun crossed paths with packs of Cerberus on two additional occasions.
While they remained formidable adversaries, the familiarity gained from earlier combat allowed him to engage the beasts with far greater composure.
The engagement unfolded in a familiar sequence: mirroring his earlier tactics, Min-jun wore down the pack of Cerberus as thoroughly as his strength allowed, and whenever he approached his physical threshold, Rokan stepped in, cleanly wiping out whatever remained before applying restorative spells to Min-jun.
Even so, having devised a viable approach to confront them did not mean the process had become effortless.
Much like the opening skirmish against the Cerberus, the subsequent two clashes demanded that Min-jun push himself to the brink of collapse.
“We ought to pause here and catch our breath before advancing further.”
Having channeled restorative sorcery into Min-jun right after the conclusion of their third pack encounter, Rokan made this proposal.
He advised that Min-jun take some time to recover his stamina.
Although Rokan had refreshed Min-jun’s physical form with magic following every encounter, restorative arts were hardly an absolute remedy for pure fatigue.
Expending that immense volume of stamina had brought him to the verge of utter depletion on three separate occasions, making a genuine, prolonged pause essential.
“I can keep going. We should move forward.”
“It is obvious to my eyes that you are far from fine.”
In direct contrast to his stubborn words, exhaustion hung visibly across Min-jun’s features.
“…Fair enough.”
Looking somewhat embarrassed, Min-jun retrieved a picnic cloth from his subspace and settled onto the ground, prompting Rokan to pass him a bottle of water alongside a sandwich.
“Sasha prepared these early this morning. She mentioned that should hunger strike during our venture, I was to split them with you.”
Having received no prior hint of this before stepping into the Gate, Min-jun felt a surge of warmth at Sia’s thoughtful gesture.
“I will definitely express my gratitude to Sia once we return. Thank you for providing the meal.”
Side by side upon the fabric, the pair shared the meal and savored a pleasant respite for a short while.
Sharing a peaceful meal amid such a nightmarish landscape—with pools of Cerberus blood congealing nearby and rivers of molten rock churning just paces away—formed a bizarre, contrasting tableau.
When Min-jun had consumed roughly half of his portion, he spoke up.
“Lord Rokan. Do you happen to know how much further we must push to clear this Gate?”
Min-jun posed the inquiry to his companion.
Taking the time to settle down for a full meal amidst clearing a Gate typically hinted that a considerable distance remained ahead.
That specific logic prompted his question.
Contrary to expectations, Rokan provided an ambiguous reply.
“Offering a precise assessment right now proves rather difficult.”
Min-jun found himself confused.
Rokan possessed the sensory capability to discern even the most muted presence of distant monsters.
Consequently, he could not comprehend why Rokan would struggle to deliver a straightforward answer.
Noticing Min-jun’s bewildered state, Rokan calmly elaborated.
“At this moment, my senses detect no hostile entities anywhere near us. However, as you are well aware, the exit passage has yet to reveal itself—which signifies the Gate remains uncleared.”
“Pardon? If no monsters are detected and no gateway out manifests, does that mean—.”
“Cast aside your concerns. It does not indicate that we are trapped within this realm.”
Yet Rokan’s grim expression stirred an unsettling intuition within Min-jun.
Past experience had taught him that peculiar complications invariably arose under such circumstances.
“The matter is simply that an unbreached double dungeon still stands.”
Hearing the phrase double dungeon caused Min-jun’s expression to sink even deeper.
Double dungeons were exceedingly uncommon phenomena, and running into one at this exact junction was truly terrible luck.
Displaying a tired gaze, Min-jun addressed Rokan once more.
“Would this scenario resemble what took place at the Garden of the Dragon Sword?”
“The fundamental principle aligns, but the actual reality will prove entirely dissimilar.”
Even an entity of draconic power could not peer through dimensions to discern the exact contents of an unopened Gate, and that limitation applied just as severely to a double dungeon.
Merely noticing their presence posed a severe challenge, and when dealing with such an anomaly, even an ancient dragon would struggle to chart its interior from outside.
“That constitutes the full extent of what I can share at this stage. Once we stand before the double dungeon, I shall furnish you with further details.”
To think an uncharted double dungeon lay hidden within his very first venture into an S-rank zone.
With the knowledge of this concealed labyrinth weighing on his thoughts, Min-jun could barely stomach the rest of his food.
Eventually, their uneasy intermission drew to a close.
Rokan and Min-jun made their way toward the remaining double dungeon.
“We have arrived.”
Rokan gestured toward the portal of the double dungeon.
Bearing a grim, spire-like facade smothered in thorny vines that radiated an unsettling aura, it looked remarkably identical to……
“…a stronghold belonging to a Demon King.”
Given that the entire surrounding zone already mirrored a transplanted segment of the underworld, branding it the castle of a Demon King felt entirely appropriate.
Min-jun let out a troubled murmur.
“Judging strictly by its outer appearance, that description holds merit. Allow me to inspect it.”
Seeming unbothered by the grim aesthetic, Rokan placed his palm directly against the exterior surface to probe the structure’s inner layout.
While fully comprehending the double dungeon remained arduous even for a dragon, he still managed to harvest several key impressions.
After a brief pause, he shared his findings.
“I cannot perceive every detail, but the general framework inside is becoming clear. To start, this is a double dungeon constructed like a classical spire.”
Rokan stated.
A tower.
Essentially, a configuration where each ascending floor constitutes its own independent dungeon, requiring the challenger to conquer every level consecutively until reaching the summit or the deepest depths to conclude the conquest.
It represented an uncommon category of Gate, though Min-jun had tackled one or two throughout his career.
However, on those occasions, the entire Gate itself had been a spire; navigating an internal double dungeon structured like a tower within an active raid was unprecedented even for him.
“It appears to feature fewer tiers than standard tower-style Gates… yet that provides no justification to drop your guard.”
Wearing a vigilant countenance, Rokan maintained contact with the masonry as he pressed on.
“I register a repulsive demonic aura emanating from within, one that defies simple articulation. Such pervasive demonic energy could prove lethal to your constitution, so bear that peril in mind as we cross the threshold.”
“Understood.”
Troubles seemed to pile on endlessly.
He had started entertaining the thought that an S-rank zone might be far more manageable than anticipated, but this development shattered that illusion entirely.
He could only wonder what sort of terrors lay in wait beyond the threshold.
“If your preparations are complete, let us proceed inside.”
“I am ready. We can step in right now.”
Delaying their entry promised no meaningful advantage anyway.
Alongside Rokan, Min-jun stepped across the threshold into the spire.
Immediately upon crossing into the tower’s interior, Rokan examined the surroundings.
While registering the thick, cloying trace of that repulsive demonic aura, he began mapping the spatial architecture of the spire.
‘The baseline severity of this environment actually seems well-suited for Min-jun’s conditioning.’
By Rokan’s calculations, the overall challenge presented by this spire sat only slightly above their clashes with the Cerberus packs.
From a growth standpoint, it offered an ideal crucible.
Naturally, to an entity of Rokan’s stature, such threats were negligible; had he stood beside Min-jun to offer guidance, conquering the spire would have been a trivial matter.
Yet a catastrophic complication abruptly shattered that assumption.
“Min-jun…?”
Min-jun was nowhere in sight.
The two had unambiguously crossed the threshold simultaneously, yet the youth had vanished entirely, as though dissolving into thin air.
Given that not even his ancient draconic senses could locate the young man’s presence, Rokan briefly contemplated whether Min-jun had activated his Stealth technique immediately upon arrival out of sheer caution.
However, Rokan dismissed that thought without delay.
There was zero logical incentive for Min-jun to deploy Stealth under these immediate circumstances.
‘Could it possibly be…’
A sudden, grim realization dawned on Rokan.
No record of such an anomaly existed in the modern databases of Earth, yet in Pangaea, where his past had unfolded, rare occurrences of this kind were known to take place.
Certain spires were designed around a cruel mandate: upon crossing the threshold, comrades were forcibly partitioned into separate spaces, obligated to confront the trials entirely through their own isolated power.
Loath as he was to accept such a nightmare, Rokan rapidly cross-referenced the surrounding environmental cues and deployed sorcery to analyze the tower’s dimensional parameters in greater depth.
Weighing every piece of evidence, the dreadful hypothesis proved indisputable.
Arriving at that certainty forced a muffled groan past Rokan’s lips.
This spire was never calibrated to a standard an isolated Min-jun could realistically overcome.
The young hunter had strained every fiber of his being merely to survive the Cerberus encounters.
Stripped of Rokan’s direct intervention, Min-jun never would have survived those earlier hounds.
Simply put, without draconic backing, conquering this trial on his own was an insurmountable impossibility for him.
“Out of every conceivable twist, why must it be this…”
As his thoughts drifted toward the bleakest possible outcome, Rokan’s lips trembled, displaying a vulnerability wholly uncharacteristic of his stature.
He envisioned Min-jun meeting a grim demise within these walls despite fighting with everything he had, followed by Rokan stepping out into the world alone, bearing the crushing weight of his granddaughter’s fury for having recklessly led Min-jun into an S-rank hazard.
Under those circumstances, the bond he had so miraculously rebuilt with his granddaughter would crumble, leaving them estranged and unable to look each other in the eye.
“No. I will not accept that.”
Rokan firmly shook his head to banish the dark vision.
He reminded himself of the astonishing feats Min-jun had repeatedly accomplished up to this point.
This was the very same Min-jun who had successfully suppressed his granddaughter’s berserk state—a phenomenon witnessed only once across centuries—while locked away in a severed dimension.
Nor was that his sole miracle.
Subjected to life-or-death crises of comparable magnitude over and over, Min-jun had stubbornly defied death to return safely to their side.
He was bound to replicate that resilience here.
He simply had to.
Unable to foresee Min-jun’s fate with absolute certainty, the ancient dragon pressed his hands together, his anxious gaze searching the vacant space before him.
And so, he made an earnest plea.
“Please, let him prevail once more…”
Rokan whispered in a shaken, quiet cadence.
At this exact juncture, even an ancient dragon possessed no recourse beyond scouring the dimensional fabric for a fissure that might breach the isolated pocket where Min-jun was trapped.
The instant Min-jun’s awareness flickered back to life following a momentary blackout upon crossing the threshold, he spoke into the silence.
“Lord… Rokan?”
Taking in his immediate surroundings, Min-jun realized instantaneously that he stood utterly alone.
‘What happened?’
There was no question that he had crossed into the spire side by side with Rokan.
They had stepped in together, yet here he was…
Here he was, stranded entirely on his own, without the slightest clue as to what caused the separation.
He had never encountered reports describing a tower Gate configured like this, nor had Rokan provided any forewarning regarding such a phenomenon.
Though he initially tried to dismiss the reality of such an absurd crisis, the cold finality of his isolation settled over him like a crushing weight.
Min-jun’s blank expression twisted into a grimace of disbelief.
“Damn it all.”
This catastrophic scenario had completely bypassed his calculations.
The sheer absurdity of it struck him: an active A-rank Hunter left with no choice but to solo an uncharted double dungeon nestled inside an S-rank zone.
“…I’m completely trapped, surrounded on all sides.”
Min-jun was painfully aware of his limitations.
Ascending to the summit of this spire solely on his own merits, devoid of Rokan’s strength, was a prospect bordering on outright impossibility.
Darkness crept across his thoughts, while an involuntary tremble traveled down his limbs.
Even so, he refused to abandon whatever sliver of hope still lingered.
Facing a situation where surviving was the only acceptable outcome, indulging in despair was a luxury he could not afford.
Min-jun immediately began retrieving practical magical implements from his dimensional storage.
‘At the very least, having unrestricted access to my subspace is a massive relief.’
While that functionality was taken for granted by ordinary individuals, Min-jun had previously suffered through rare subspace sealing anomalies—crises standard hunters might not encounter across an entire career—multiple times before.
Shortly after Min-jun equipped his full array of gear, a distinct presence registered against his senses.
‘Could it be another pack of Cerberus?’
Under the present circumstances, that might actually serve as a stroke of luck for Min-jun.
Compared to unrecorded S-rank horrors he had never witnessed and possessed no strategies to counteract, the Cerberus represented beasts whose attack patterns and counter-tactics he had at least partially dissected during the previous battles.
Just as Min-jun tightened his grip around the Dragon Bone Sword, his mind racing through tactical possibilities, the entities behind the approaching presence fully stepped into view.
And the figures emerging into the light were none other than these.
“Well now, hello there, sweetheart.”
They were succubi, an insidious breed of demonkind notorious for preying upon the desires of mortal men.
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