The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 216: Chapter 217: The Man Beyond S-Rank

The meeting eventually came to an end.

After the contract had been finalized and the necessary documents had been signed, Ares left the Administration building alongside Ji Won, while Chairman Kang and Director Han remained behind to deal with the arrangements concerning the Seoul S-Rank Gate.

The moment they stepped outside, the atmosphere became considerably more relaxed.

Ji Won released a quiet breath as he adjusted the strap of his bag.

"That was quite a meeting."

Ares glanced at him.

"It was."

The two began walking down the street toward the apartment.

The evening air was cool, and the streets were still relatively busy despite the late hour. Cars moved through the intersections, pedestrians continued making their way home, and the countless lights of Seoul illuminated the buildings surrounding them.

Ares walked with his hands casually in his pockets.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

’It seems they haven’t noticed anything.’

He glanced back toward the Administration building.

’As expected, rewriting their memories was the correct decision.’

Ares had altered the memories of everyone who had been present during the private meeting.

Not everything.

That would have been unnecessary.

He had simply removed the portions concerning what he had actually revealed about the dungeon.

In their memories, the meeting had remained nothing more than a negotiation concerning the future management of the Seoul S-Rank Gate.

They remembered agreeing to allow Ares to enter the dungeon.

They remembered discussing the risks.

They remembered signing an agreement.

But they no longer remembered the things that could expose the true extent of his power.

’To be honest, I could have cleared the S-Rank dungeon without telling them anything.’

Ares continued walking.

’I could have simply entered the Gate, eliminated everything inside, collected whatever I wanted, and left before anyone outside even realized what had happened.’

His smile became slightly wider.

’But now that they already know what I’m capable of, keeping the entire dungeon for myself—including every monster, magic stone, crystal, rare material, and anything else I can obtain from it—would be far too profitable to simply ignore.’

He glanced toward Ji Won.

The young man was walking quietly beside him, apparently unaware of the thoughts occupying Ares’s mind.

’Besides, they have already reached the point where they can’t do anything with that dungeon themselves.’

’The four bosses are far beyond what the people of this world can handle, and even if they gathered every S-Rank Awakener in South Korea, they would still have essentially no chance of clearing the entire dungeon.’

’So why shouldn’t I take advantage of the situation?’

Ares almost laughed.

The arrangement was absurdly favorable to him.

The Association would no longer have to worry about the dungeon collapsing.

They wouldn’t have to spend enormous resources preparing another failed expedition.

They wouldn’t have to risk the lives of their strongest Awakeners.

And in exchange, Ares would receive complete ownership of everything inside.

’The Eclipse Order will benefit considerably from this.’

His thoughts immediately turned toward Starlight.

’The materials alone should be enough to supply the research division for years.’

’The magic crystals can be used for energy production, magical devices, defensive formations, transportation systems, and countless other projects.’

’The monster materials can be processed into weapons, armor, tools, and various forms of equipment.’

’And if some of the rarer materials can be reproduced or processed properly, Starlight could probably develop entirely new products.’

Ares’s smile deepened.

’It really was a good deal.’

Beside him, Ji Won finally spoke.

"Tae Ho."

"Hm?"

Ji Won glanced toward him.

"You seem unusually happy."

Ares looked at him.

"Do I?"

"Yes."

Ji Won gave him a curious expression.

"You’ve been smiling ever since we left the building."

Ares shrugged.

"I suppose the meeting went better than I expected."

Ji Won nodded.

"I thought it was going to become much more complicated."

"It could have."

Ares looked ahead.

"But fortunately, everything was settled without any major problems."

Ji Won smiled faintly.

"That’s good."

The two continued walking.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The room remained silent after Ares and Ji Won disappeared from sight.

Chairman Kang Dong-wook continued staring at the closed door for several seconds, his expression unusually difficult to read. Director Han Seung-ho remained near the opposite side of the table, his attention still fixed on the documents that had been left behind.

The four S-Rank bosses they had witnessed were still fresh in their minds.

Each one possessed enough power to threaten an entire nation.

Yet the most unsettling part wasn’t simply their strength.

Dong-wook finally leaned back in his chair.

"Director Han."

"Yes, Chairman?"

"What exactly did we just agree to?"

Dong-wook exhaled slowly.

"I never thought I would see the day when the Association would voluntarily hand an S-Rank Gate to a single individual."

Seung-ho’s expression remained serious.

"Neither did I."

Dong-wook looked toward the empty space where Ares had been standing earlier.

"And yet, after what we witnessed, I don’t believe we had another reasonable choice."

Seung-ho nodded.

"If we retained the dungeon, we would still have to deal with the same problem."

"The four bosses."

"Yes."

Seung-ho opened the report again.

"The Broodmother alone is beyond what our current forces can realistically handle. The Behemoth is even more dangerous, the World-Eater Serpent possesses abilities that could make conventional containment almost impossible, and the Infernal Emperor Dragon..."

He paused.

"That creature is on another level entirely."

Dong-wook’s expression became grim.

"He said it was stronger than the others."

Seung-ho looked toward the report.

"Even among the four, the dragon’s presence was fundamentally different."

Dong-wook remained silent.

He remembered the moment they had appeared before it.

The enormous body sleeping within the volcanic region.

And most importantly, the moment its eyes had opened.

Even though they had been impossibly far away, the creature had noticed Ares.

Dong-wook slowly rubbed his forehead.

"How many S-Rank Awakeners would we need to defeat something like that?"

Seung-ho didn’t answer immediately.

Then he shook his head.

"That isn’t the right question."

Dong-wook looked toward him.

"Because I don’t believe the number matters."

Seung-ho’s voice remained calm.

"We could gather every S-Rank Awakener in South Korea, combine them with every A-Rank combatant available, and commit the entire country’s high-level forces to that dungeon."

He paused.

"I still don’t believe we would have a realistic chance of clearing it."

Dong-wook slowly nodded.

"That’s what I was thinking."

Seung-ho looked toward the documents again.

"And that assumes we could even reach the bosses."

Dong-wook’s eyes narrowed.

"The ordinary monsters."

"Yes."

"The S-Rank monsters wandering throughout the dungeon."

"Exactly."

Seung-ho closed the report.

"We aren’t dealing with a dungeon where the strongest creature simply waits at the bottom while weaker monsters protect it."

His expression became more serious.

"The entire ecosystem is dangerous."

Dong-wook remained silent.

The scale of the problem was finally becoming clear.

The Association had spent a year believing they were dealing with an exceptionally dangerous S-Rank Gate.

In reality, they had been looking at only the entrance to something far larger.

And the person who had just taken responsibility for it had walked through that nightmare as though it were his own private territory.

Dong-wook finally spoke.

"Do you believe he was telling the truth?"

Seung-ho looked at him.

Seung-ho was silent for a moment.

"After what we witnessed today, I have no reason to doubt him."

Dong-wook raised an eyebrow.

"You were skeptical earlier."

"I still am."

Seung-ho’s answer was immediate.

"I don’t trust him simply because he demonstrated overwhelming power."

He looked toward the door.

"I trust the evidence we personally witnessed."

Dong-wook nodded.

"That’s reasonable."

Seung-ho continued.

"The question is no longer whether the four bosses exist."

"Then what is the question?"

Seung-ho’s expression became heavier.

"The question is why someone like him is capable of dealing with them."

The room fell silent again.

Dong-wook slowly leaned back.

"Yes."

He looked down at his hands.

"We’ve spent years establishing the Awakener ranking system."

Seung-ho nodded.

"E-Rank through S-Rank."

"We know the approximate limits of each classification."

"Even the strongest S-Rank Awakeners have measurable limitations."

Seung-ho remained silent.

Dong-wook looked toward him.

"But that man..."

He paused.

"There was nothing measurable about him."

Seung-ho’s expression tightened slightly.

"I thought about that too."

Dong-wook looked toward the documents again.

"Did you notice how he moved between the regions?"

"Teleportation."

"Not ordinary teleportation."

Seung-ho nodded.

"He crossed dimensional distances without using any visible Gate or established transportation system."

Dong-wook’s expression became thoughtful.

"And whatever ability allowed him to manipulate those bosses."

Dong-wook remained silent.

There was one conclusion neither of them particularly wanted to reach.

Ares was not an ordinary S-Rank Awakener.

He might not even belong within the existing Awakener classification system.

Dong-wook finally sighed.

"I’ve seen the National Awakener rankings."

"The strongest person in this country is Kang Ji-hoon."

Seung-ho nodded.

Dong-wook looked toward him.

"And yet even he couldn’t do what we just witnessed."

Seung-ho’s answer was quiet.

"Not even close."

Dong-wook’s expression became serious.

"That’s what concerns me."

Seung-ho understood immediately.

"If someone possesses power beyond the strongest known Awakener in the country..."

"Then the Association needs to know what kind of person he is."

"Yes."

Dong-wook stared toward the closed door.

"Not because we intend to control him."

Seung-ho nodded.

"Because we need to know whether we can trust him."

Dong-wook slowly exhaled.

"Perhaps that’s the best outcome we could have hoped for."

"Because he intends to clear it instead of us."

Dong-wook gave a faint, tired smile.

"If he’s truly capable of doing what he claims, then we’ve just transferred our greatest national security problem to someone who can actually solve it."

Seung-ho nodded.

"But if he’s not..."

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