The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 213: Chapter 214: Four S-Rank Calamity Bosses

The Chairman remained silent for several seconds after watching the footage.

The image on Ares’s phone showed the eastern region of the dungeon from above, revealing an endless forest covered in enormous webs while countless spiders moved between the trees. The scale alone was difficult to comprehend, but the sight of the Abyssal Broodmother and the enormous network of nests surrounding her had made the two officials realize that the information Ares had given them was not simply an exaggerated description.

Director Han Seung-ho finally broke the silence.

"How did you capture this footage?"

Ares looked at him.

"Isn’t that obvious?"

Seung-ho frowned slightly.

"I would prefer that you explain it."

Ares smiled faintly.

"I was inside the dungeon."

The Chairman’s expression became more serious.

"You entered the S-Rank Gate?"

"Yes."

"Then does that mean you wandered through the entire dungeon alone?"

"Yes."

Ares answered without hesitation, a faint smile remaining on his face.

Seung-ho stared at him for several seconds.

"How were you able to move through an environment of that scale without a support team?"

"I didn’t need one."

Ares’s answer was simple, but his tone remained completely matter-of-fact.

Seung-ho looked toward the footage again.

"Then how did you obtain an aerial view of the eastern region?"

"Of course I flew."

Ares pointed toward the screen.

"It’s fairly obvious from the footage. The camera was positioned above the forest."

Seung-ho’s expression remained serious.

"That is true, but flying through an S-Rank dungeon is not something an ordinary Awakener can accomplish."

He paused before continuing.

"To my knowledge, there are only a handful of S-Rank Awakeners capable of sustained flight without relying on external equipment. There are also specialized abilities that allow certain Summoners to achieve something similar through their summons, such as Yoon Ha-eun’s Astral Summoning."

The Chairman slowly nodded.

"Even then, entering an aerial environment inside an S-Rank Gate would be extremely dangerous."

Seung-ho looked directly at Ares.

"Flying monsters would make aerial movement considerably more dangerous, and if the creatures you described are truly present throughout the dungeon, remaining airborne would not necessarily provide any meaningful advantage."

"That’s true."

Ares nodded.

"Which is why I dealt with them when necessary."

Seung-ho’s expression tightened slightly.

"You dealt with them?"

Ares smiled.

"Yes."

The Chairman remained silent.

There were clearly several questions he wanted to ask, but Ares had already made it clear that he was not interested in discussing every detail of his movements.

Instead, Ares looked back at the phone.

"Well, that’s not important right now."

He calmly swiped across the screen.

"Aren’t you curious about the other bosses?"

Both officials immediately looked toward the phone.

The image changed.

The forest disappeared.

The next photograph showed an enormous landscape of mountains and plains.

At first, the Chairman thought he was looking at a mountain range.

Then he realized that something was moving.

Something enormous.

The photograph zoomed out.

The scale became clearer.

A gigantic creature was lying across the landscape.

Its body resembled an enormous mass of stone, but the closer details revealed thick layers of armor covering its back and limbs. Two enormous horns extended from its skull, while the surrounding mountains appeared almost insignificant beside its body.

The Chairman’s expression changed.

Seung-ho leaned closer to the screen.

"What..."

Ares looked at them.

"This is the second boss."

He swiped again.

"The Calamity Behemoth."

The next image showed the creature from farther away.

The scale was almost impossible to comprehend.

The enormous Behemoth was approximately three hundred meters long and nearly one hundred and eighty meters tall, with a body covered in stone-like armor that appeared to have formed naturally over an immeasurable period of time.

Seung-ho stared at the photograph.

"Three hundred meters..."

His voice was quieter than before.

Ares nodded.

"Approximately three hundred meters in length, and close to one hundred and eighty meters in height."

The Chairman slowly leaned back.

"That is not a creature that can be treated as an ordinary dungeon monster."

"No."

Ares swiped to another image.

The photograph showed the Behemoth standing.

The surrounding landscape looked completely different.

Several enormous mountains were visible behind it, yet the creature still towered above much of the terrain.

"The Behemoth’s physical strength is its primary threat."

Ares continued.

"It doesn’t possess the reproductive capabilities of the Broodmother, nor does it rely on poison or specialized attacks to overwhelm its opponents."

He paused.

"It simply destroys whatever is in front of it."

Seung-ho examined the image carefully.

"What happens when it moves?"

"Seismic mana."

Ares answered.

"Every movement produces a tremendous amount of it."

He swiped to another photograph.

The image showed an enormous section of terrain covered in fractures.

"This was created by one movement."

Seung-ho’s expression hardened.

"One movement?"

"Yes."

The Chairman stared at the photograph.

"If that creature were to become active outside the dungeon..."

Ares nodded.

"Then the surrounding region would suffer catastrophic damage."

Seung-ho remained silent for several seconds.

"The Broodmother could overwhelm an army through numbers."

"Exactly."

"And the Behemoth..."

"Wouldn’t need an army."

Ares looked toward him.

"One of them could destroy a city through physical force alone."

The Chairman’s expression became increasingly serious.

"Then the first two bosses represent completely different forms of destruction."

"That’s right."

Ares swiped again.

"Which brings us to the third."

The photograph changed.

Neither official spoke.

The image showed an enormous swamp.

At first, it appeared to be an ordinary landscape filled with dark water, enormous trees, and thick mist.

Then the photograph zoomed outward.

Something was visible beneath the surface.

A massive curve.

Then another.

And another.

The Chairman’s eyes narrowed.

"What am I looking at?"

Ares didn’t answer immediately.

He swiped again.

The image changed to a wider aerial view.

The shape beneath the swamp became clearer.

It was a serpent.

A colossal serpent.

Its body extended through the swamp so far that the limits of the photograph barely contained it.

Seung-ho stared at the screen.

"How long?"

"Approximately eight hundred meters."

The Director’s expression froze.

"...Eight hundred?"

"Yes."

Ares swiped again.

Another photograph showed the creature emerging partially from the water.

Its body was approximately forty-five meters in diameter.

The image was taken from a considerable distance, yet the serpent still appeared enormous.

Seung-ho slowly stood.

"Forty-five meters in diameter?"

Ares nodded.

"Approximately."

The Chairman looked at the photograph again.

"That means its body alone is wider than many buildings."

"Correct."

Seung-ho’s expression became increasingly troubled.

"And you are telling us that this creature occupies the southern region of the dungeon."

"Yes."

"How much of that region does it control?"

Ares looked at him.

"Most of it."

The Chairman stared at the photograph.

For several seconds, neither official spoke.

Ares swiped again.

This photograph showed the World-Eater Serpent with its enormous jaws open.

Six massive fangs were visible.

The surrounding swamp had been distorted by the pressure generated from its body.

"This is the World-Eater Serpent."

Ares continued calmly.

"It is considerably more dangerous than the previous two."

Seung-ho looked toward him.

"Because of its size?"

"Not only its size."

Ares swiped again.

"It can consume mana."

The next photograph showed a large magical formation being swallowed by the serpent’s mouth.

"The energy disappears directly into its body."

Seung-ho’s eyes narrowed.

"Can it consume magical attacks as well?"

"Yes."

"And regeneration?"

"Severe injuries can be regenerated as long as enough mana remains within its body."

The Chairman folded his hands together.

"So attacking it could actually provide it with additional energy."

"Depending on the attack, yes."

Seung-ho exhaled slowly.

"Then fighting it would become progressively more difficult the longer the battle continued."

Ares nodded.

"Exactly."

The Chairman looked back at the image.

"An eight-hundred-meter creature capable of consuming magical energy, regenerating severe injuries, and moving beneath the ground."

"That’s the one."

Seung-ho remained silent.

Then he spoke carefully.

"If even one of these creatures escaped the dungeon..."

Ares answered before he could finish.

"South Korea would have a serious problem."

The Chairman’s expression hardened.

"Serious is an understatement."

Ares smiled faintly.

"You’re right."

He looked at the photograph.

"If this Gate collapses while the bosses are still inside, the consequences will already be severe."

He paused.

"But if the Gate collapses after the creatures become fully active..."

Ares’s expression became serious.

"Korea would not survive."

The room became completely silent.

Ares swiped through several photographs.

Thousands of monsters filled the images.

Large creatures.

Small creatures.

Flying monsters.

Burrowing monsters.

Aquatic monsters.

Every region contained an enormous number of powerful beings.

"Before you reach the boss, you have to fight through everything living in its territory."

He looked toward the Chairman.

"By the time an S-Rank team reached one of the bosses, they would already have spent a considerable amount of their stamina, mana, and abilities."

Seung-ho’s expression became grim.

"So even if the S-Ranks were capable of fighting the boss individually, they would arrive exhausted."

Ares swiped again.

Another image appeared.

A gigantic serpentine creature was partially visible beneath the swamp.

The scale was almost absurd.

Seung-ho stared.

"How many S-Rank monsters are in that region?"

Ares looked at him.

"I don’t know."

Seung-ho frowned.

"That isn’t a number."

"I don’t have an exact count."

Ares smiled faintly.

"But there are thousands of A- and S-Rank monsters throughout the dungeon."

The Chairman’s expression hardened.

"Thousands?"

"Yes."

He swiped again.

"The S-Rank monsters aren’t concentrated around the bosses."

Another photograph appeared.

They were scattered throughout the landscape.

"They’re part of the ecosystem."

Seung-ho’s eyes remained on the screen.

"Then reaching any of the four bosses would be a military operation by itself."

"Exactly."

The Chairman slowly exhaled.

"Even if we somehow gathered every S-Rank Awakener in Korea, their strength would be gradually depleted before they reached the boss."

Then another image appeared.

The volcanic landscape was gone.

The swamp was gone.

The mountains were gone.

Instead, the screen showed something that immediately made both officials stop speaking.

A massive silhouette stood against a dark volcanic sky.

Two enormous wings stretched across the horizon.

Golden-orange light flowed through cracks across its black body, resembling rivers of molten metal beneath volcanic stone.

Its head was enormous.

Its horns curved backward from its skull.

And its eyes...

Its eyes looked like two burning suns.

Ares said nothing for several seconds.

Neither official spoke.

The image alone was enough to make the atmosphere inside the room change.

Finally, Seung-ho broke the silence.

"Is that..."

He stopped.

His eyes remained fixed on the screen.

Ares looked at him.

"The fourth boss."

The Chairman slowly stood from his chair.

"Another boss?"

Ares nodded.

He swiped across the screen.

The photograph zoomed outward.

The creature became smaller.

Then smaller again.

And again.

Until the full scale of its body became visible.

The enormous creature stretched across an entire volcanic valley, its body so large that the surrounding mountains appeared almost insignificant beside it.

The Chairman stared at the screen.

"...What the hell... is that?"

"The Infernal Emperor Dragon."

Seung-ho’s expression became rigid.

"It’s Several hundred meters."

The Director stared at the photograph.

"Several hundred meters..."

Ares swiped again.

Another image appeared.

The dragon was standing this time.

Its enormous wings were spread across the volcanic sky, casting a shadow over the terrain below. Streams of molten rock flowed around its feet, while the ground beneath its body had been transformed into glowing volcanic stone simply from the heat it emitted.

The mountains surrounding it looked like small hills.

Seung-ho slowly sat down.

"That’s impossible."

Ares looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because something of that size should not be capable of existing inside a dungeon without affecting the entire dimensional structure."

His eyes remained fixed on the image.

"We’ve spent an entire year analyzing the Seoul Gate. We’ve measured its mana output, its dimensional stability, and the rate at which its internal energy changes."

He paused.

"Nothing in those readings suggested that a creature of this magnitude was living inside it."

Ares nodded.

"That’s because you haven’t discovered the area where it resides."

The Chairman’s expression hardened.

"Then how long has it been there?"

"I don’t know."

Ares answered honestly.

"But judging by the surrounding environment, it has probably been there for a very long time."

Seung-ho looked at the photograph again.

"How does something like that survive?"

Ares remained silent for a moment.

"The dungeon provides everything it needs."

"The dungeon?"

"Food. Mana. Territory."

Ares swiped to another image.

The photograph showed enormous volcanic valleys stretching into the distance.

"That region has its own ecosystem."

Seung-ho frowned.

"An ecosystem capable of supporting an SS-Rank creature?"

"Yes."

The Chairman’s expression became increasingly serious.

"Then the question isn’t simply why we failed to detect it."

He looked directly at Ares.

"The question is how the dungeon was able to develop an ecosystem capable of supporting something like this in the first place."

Ares nodded.

"That’s the more important question."

Seung-ho remained silent.

He looked toward the previous photographs.

The Broodmother.

The Behemoth.

The World-Eater Serpent.

Then the dragon.

Four creatures.

Four completely different environments.

Four beings powerful enough to threaten entire nations.

And all of them existed inside the same dungeon.

Seung-ho slowly spoke.

"These creatures weren’t simply placed inside an ordinary dungeon."

Ares looked at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"The environments."

Seung-ho pointed toward the photographs.

"The eastern forest is capable of supporting the Broodmother and an enormous spider population. The western region supports a creature capable of generating seismic mana on a catastrophic scale. The southern region contains an ecosystem capable of supporting an eight-hundred-meter serpent."

He paused.

"And now we’ve seen this."

His eyes returned to the dragon.

"An entire volcanic environment designed to sustain an Infernal Emperor Dragon."

The Chairman’s expression darkened.

"Those environments are too specialized."

Seung-ho nodded.

"Exactly."

He looked toward Ares.

"Are you suggesting the dungeon itself was constructed around these creatures?"

Ares remained silent for a moment.

"I don’t know."

He swiped back toward the photographs.

"But it certainly doesn’t look natural."

The Chairman’s eyes narrowed.

"Then someone created it."

"Perhaps."

Ares’s answer was deliberately vague.

Seung-ho didn’t press him immediately.

Instead, he continued studying the images.

"If these creatures existed naturally inside the dungeon, their presence should have left evidence in the Gate’s historical readings."

He looked toward the Chairman.

"Yet we found nothing."

The Chairman nodded slowly.

"Which means either our measurements were fundamentally wrong..."

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