The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Trapped Beyond the Gate

Inside the dungeon, the transformation continued.

The shaking became violent enough to throw Ji Won off balance.

"Tae Ho!"

Ares immediately caught his arm and steadied him.

"Hold on."

"I-I can’t!"

Ji Won looked around in panic.

The cavern they had entered only moments ago was beginning to distort.

The stone walls stretched unnaturally, their surfaces bending as though the entire dungeon had been caught inside some enormous distortion. The blue crystals embedded throughout the walls flickered rapidly before going completely dark.

Then the ground disappeared.

Not cracked.

Not shattered.

It simply ceased to exist.

Ji Won’s eyes widened.

"What...?"

Ares remained still.

His senses expanded instinctively.

There was no ground beneath them.

No ceiling.

No walls.

For a single instant, the two of them were suspended within complete darkness.

Then the darkness broke.

FWOOM!

The world changed.

Ares opened his eyes.

The cavern was gone.

The stone walls were gone.

The blue crystals were gone.

Even the air was different.

He stood in the middle of an enormous landscape that stretched farther than his eyes could see.

There was no visible end.

No familiar dungeon corridor.

No narrow passage connecting one chamber to another.

Instead, a vast volcanic wilderness extended in every direction.

Towering black mountains rose across the distant horizon, their peaks disappearing into a thick crimson haze. Rivers of molten lava flowed through enormous valleys, while gigantic cliffs and rock formations stretched across the landscape like natural fortresses.

The ground beneath their feet was made of dark volcanic stone, broken into countless ridges and uneven formations.

Steam rose from several distant areas.

Occasionally, enormous pillars of fire erupted from the ground before disappearing back into the earth.

The entire environment felt like a completely different world.

Ji Won slowly turned around.

His face became pale.

"This..."

He couldn’t finish the sentence.

Ares looked toward the horizon.

There was no sign of the dungeon they had entered.

No sign of the Gate.

No sign of the hunting zone.

Nothing.

Only an immeasurable volcanic landscape.

Ji Won’s breathing became increasingly unstable.

"We’ve been transferred."

Ares looked toward him.

Ji Won swallowed hard.

"The Dungeon Shift..."

He stared at the enormous landscape.

"It didn’t just change the dungeon."

His voice trembled.

"It replaced it."

Ares remained silent.

Ji Won continued, trying to remember everything he had heard about the phenomenon.

"I’ve only heard about this from the news and other Awakeners."

He looked around nervously.

"When a Dungeon Shift reaches a certain stage, the dungeon can completely rewrite its environment."

He pointed toward the surrounding volcanic landscape.

"The original dungeon disappears, and everyone inside is transferred into a completely different environment."

Ares listened.

Ji Won’s expression became more serious.

"People have reported snowfields, deserts, forests, ruins..."

He looked toward the enormous mountains.

"But I’ve never heard of anything this large."

Ares glanced toward the distant horizon.

The landscape extended so far that even his enhanced vision couldn’t immediately determine its full boundaries.

Ji Won noticed his silence.

"Tae Ho..."

Ares looked at him.

"How far do you think this place goes?"

Ares looked around once more.

"I don’t know."

That answer only made Ji Won more nervous.

He took several breaths before continuing.

"The important thing is that the Gate is gone."

Ares turned around.

The place where the Gate should have been was nothing but open volcanic terrain.

There wasn’t even a trace of the entrance they had used.

Ji Won’s face became completely pale.

"That’s the final stage."

He clenched his fists.

"When the Dungeon Shift reaches its final stage, the original entrance disappears."

His voice trembled.

"And everyone inside becomes trapped."

Ares remained silent.

Ji Won continued.

"The only way to escape is to defeat the boss."

He looked toward the enormous landscape.

"If the reports are correct, the boss should be somewhere in this environment."

Ares nodded slightly.

Ji Won took another shaky breath.

"But that’s the problem."

He turned toward Ares.

"The dungeon isn’t D-Rank anymore."

Ares looked at him.

"The mana density..."

Ji Won looked around.

"It’s completely different."

He swallowed.

"This place is at least A-Rank."

Ares’s eyes moved across the landscape.

Ji Won continued explaining.

"And the monsters inside should have changed too."

He looked toward the distant mountains.

"They’ll probably be at least C-A-Rank."

Ares remained silent.

Ji Won’s hands began trembling.

"And if this really is an A-Rank dungeon..."

His voice became quieter.

"The boss should be S-Rank."

Ares finally spoke.

"S-Rank?"

Ji Won nodded.

"Yes."

He lowered his head.

"That’s why I’m scared."

For several seconds, Ji Won said nothing.

The wind carried the smell of ash across the volcanic landscape.

Far away, something enormous roared.

The sound echoed across the mountains.

Ji Won’s body stiffened.

"There..."

He looked toward the direction of the roar.

"That’s probably one of them."

Ares calmly looked in the same direction.

Ji Won remained silent for several seconds.

His eyes stayed fixed on the endless volcanic landscape ahead of them, as though he were desperately trying to find something familiar in a place that no longer had anything familiar left.

Then he spoke again.

"An A-Rank dungeon isn’t something two people can clear."

His voice was quieter than before.

"Normally, when an A-Rank Gate is discovered, the Association doesn’t even consider sending a small party inside. They prepare a proper subjugation operation."

Ares listened without interrupting.

Ji Won continued.

"At least one S-Rank Awakener would be assigned to lead the operation. Then they’d bring several A-Rank Awakeners to handle the strongest monsters, along with a much larger number of B-Rank Awakeners for support."

He glanced toward Ares.

"And that’s only the combat team."

Ji Won looked back toward the mountains.

"They’d also need healers, support Awakeners, scouts, communication personnel, people responsible for supplies, and enough backup forces to deal with an emergency if something goes wrong."

His fingers tightened around the strap of his equipment.

"Even with all of that, people can still die."

Ares remained quiet.

Ji Won took another breath.

"That’s what an A-Rank dungeon requires when everything goes according to plan."

His voice became increasingly strained.

"But we’re not in a normal A-Rank dungeon."

Ares looked at him.

Ji Won shook his head.

"We don’t know where we are. We don’t know how large this place is. We don’t know what kind of monsters are here, how many there are, or where the boss is."

He looked toward the distant mountains.

"And we don’t even know if the boss is really the only thing we have to worry about."

Ares said nothing.

Ji Won’s breathing gradually became heavier.

"There’s no S-Rank here."

He looked down at his hands.

"No A-Rank party."

His fingers began trembling.

"No support team."

He swallowed hard.

"No healer, no scout, no backup..."

His voice almost broke.

"There’s just you and me."

Ares watched him carefully.

Ji Won lowered his head.

"Even if you’re really as strong as I think you are, Tae Ho, that doesn’t change what this place is."

He wiped his palms against his pants, but they were still trembling.

"You’re strong enough to defeat monsters that should be impossible for an E-Rank Awakener, and maybe you’re even strong enough to fight an A-Rank monster alone..."

He hesitated.

"But an S-Rank boss?"

Ji Won shook his head.

"There’s no way."

The words came out quietly, but there was absolute certainty behind them.

"We can’t do this."

Ares remained silent.

Ji Won looked toward the volcanic landscape again.

The distant mountains were enormous, their peaks disappearing into the crimson haze, while rivers of lava continued flowing through the valleys far beyond them.

The sheer scale of the place seemed to crush whatever remaining confidence he had.

"We’re trapped."

His voice became strained.

"The Gate is gone, and the only way out is to defeat something that we don’t even know how strong it is."

He took another breath.

"And even if we somehow find the boss, what if it’s stronger than an ordinary S-Rank?"

Ares listened.

Ji Won’s eyes slowly lowered.

"My father..."

The word came out almost as a whisper.

For a moment, he couldn’t continue.

Then he clenched his fists.

"I can’t die here."

His voice trembled.

"I just can’t."

Ares watched him.

Ji Won swallowed hard.

"Who’s going to take care of him if I’m gone?"

He looked down at his hands again.

"He’s already lying in a hospital bed. He can’t take care of himself, and there’s nobody else."

His breathing became uneven.

"I’ve spent years working because he’s the only family I have left."

He wiped his eyes quickly, clearly embarrassed that he had begun showing so much fear.

"If I die here, he’ll be alone."

Ares didn’t interrupt.

Ji Won shook his head.

"I don’t want to die."

His voice was barely audible now.

"Not here."

He looked toward the endless landscape.

"Not when I finally had a chance to help him."

For several seconds, there was nothing but the distant rumbling of the volcanic terrain.

Ares finally stepped closer.

"Ji Won."

Ji Won slowly looked up.

Ares placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Look at me."

Ji Won met his eyes.

Ares’s expression remained calm.

"We’re getting out of here."

Ji Won stared at him.

"But..."

"We just need to find the boss and defeat it."

Ares spoke as though he were explaining something simple.

"We’ve already dealt with worse situations than this."

Ji Won’s expression tightened.

"You don’t understand."

Ares remained calm.

"I understand that you’re scared."

He glanced toward the enormous landscape.

"But being scared doesn’t mean we’ve already lost."

Ji Won lowered his gaze.

"Even if you’re strong, Tae Ho, an S-Rank boss is..."

"I know."

Ares interrupted gently this time, now that Ji Won had finished explaining everything.

He gave Ji Won’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"And I’m not saying it will be easy."

Ji Won looked at him again.

"I’m saying we’ll figure it out."

Ares looked toward the distant mountains.

"We’ll find the boss."

His voice remained steady.

"We’ll defeat it."

Ji Won stared at him for several seconds.

"And then?"

Ares looked back at him.

"Then we go home."

Ji Won’s lips parted slightly.

Ares gave him a faint smile.

"Both of us."

Ji Won remained silent.

His breathing was still uneven, and the fear hadn’t disappeared completely, but the panic in his eyes had begun to settle.

After a few seconds, he nodded.

"...Okay."

He took another deep breath.

"Okay."

Ares released his shoulder.

"Good."

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