Chapter 76
I left my teammates behind and stepped into the cave.
Unlike the outside, the cave was pitch-black, allowing not even a speck of light.
I didn’t bother to turn on any light.
Lighting a fire here would’ve been no different from suicide.
After descending a long flight of stairs for quite a while, I eventually sensed that the steps had co to an end.
It was definitely uncomfortable not being able to see anything.
Even after about five minutes of walking down, my eyes didn’t adjust to the darkness.
It must’ve been so kind of rule applied to the dungeon itself.
When I operated the Asura Divine Art and unfolded my domain, only then did I begin to grasp the things around .
The inside of the Hidden Dungeon wasn’t much different from the structure outside.
A long corridor stretched endlessly ahead.
As I slowly walked through it, I recalled the information about this Hidden Dungeon.
This place was The Chamber of Gu Poison.
In the ga, it was a massive dungeon created by a certain dark sorcerer to give birth to the strongest living creature.
I had no idea why such a place existed inside the Academy’s mock dungeon, though.
Maybe that dark sorcerer had once belonged to the Academy?
The basic principle was no different from the gu poison we commonly knew.
Countless species and monsters were thrown together into the pitch darkness, and you waited until only one remained.
That was why the thod to clear this dungeon was simple and straightforward.
Kill every monster that existed here—and be the only one left alive.
The difficulty was similar to The Naless One’s Mansion.
Tap.
At that mont, I sensed movent from sowhere.
Instinctively, I turned my head toward the source of the sound.
But within a radius of about three ters, I could sense nothing.
Judging from the sound, it seed to be so distance away.
I released my domain and spread my sensory perception.
Soon, sothing was caught within the waves of mana spreading out.
Not a monster— a person?
My first thought was of the teammates I had left outside the entrance of the Hidden Dungeon, but it wasn’t them.
Because only one person was being detected.
Then who could it be?
In the ga, no one else ever appeared in this dungeon.
Don’t tell ... the clear conditions had changed again?
Could it be that the dark sorcerer was actually still hiding sowhere in here?
Tch. This was about to get troubleso.
Silently, I concealed my presence and moved toward the source of the sound.
The other person remained motionless, simply waiting for in place.
Once I got close enough, I expanded my domain and struck at the target.
Tak, papat, puk!
The attacks I unleashed to suppress the opponent bounced off as if deflected.
At the sa ti, a counterattack ca flying in.
A sharp killing intent aid right at my neck.
But the opponent was already within my domain!
Following the flow, I caught the incoming strike, seized the wrist, and drove my fist forward.
However, instead of resisting, the opponent threw their body toward , dodging the attack and using that montum to tackle .
“Hup!”
I instantly leapt backward, gathering mana in my hand and firing it to block the flurry of incoming blows.
Kang!
With the sharp clang of tal, the dagger in the opponent’s hand flew off into the distance.
Good. The weapon’s gone—this should end it—
That was when a thin voice rang out.
“I surrender!”
My hand froze at the sound.
The voice felt strangely familiar, and I frowned.
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t noticed during the fight, but the wrist I’d grabbed felt slender.
“Joo Sarang…?”
“Hi!”
“Why are you here?”
“I followed my leader.”
Her unnecessarily confident tone made sigh automatically.
Of all places to follow , it had to be here.
I wanted to scold her, but suddenly, an indescribable rush of emotions welled up from within , making my chest ache.
Emotions that weren’t mine.
Damn it.
My body was reacting to feelings that didn’t belong to .
This was seriously unpleasant—
It felt as if I were being mind-controlled.
“Do you have any idea where you’ve followed to!?”
My voice ca out harsher than I intended, stiff with irritation born from the situation.
Her body flinched.
I hadn’t ant to sound that angry.
An awkward silence fell between us.
Then, breaking it, Joo Sarang suddenly shouted at .
“You’re the one who kept avoiding , you bastard!”
…Wait, wasn’t I the one who was supposed to be angry right now?
“That’s…”
“Every ti I try to talk, you ignore or run away! I co to your class and you hide in the bathroom! And when I try to contact you, you block ! Are you kidding right now?!”
Fuming, she grabbed by the collar.
Her eyes turned red, glowing faintly.
Even in the pitch-black dungeon, that crimson light shone vividly.
It was a light that reflected her fury.
Uh… yeah. I guess I was in the wrong.
Honestly, she was right—I had been avoiding her.
But I couldn’t help it.
Just like how my heart had reacted the instant I saw her just now, whenever I t Joo Sarang, emotions that weren’t mine would surge up uncontrollably.
I was already exhausted dealing with Berid and the others; I didn’t have the ntal strength to manage this on top of everything else.
Even earlier, when I’d lashed out at her—it wasn’t really her fault.
Sure, eting Joo Sarang here had been shocking, but it wasn’t sothing to get angry over.
Yet when I realized she had entered The Chamber of Gu Poison, rage had boiled up inside .
And the reason for that anger—was worry for her.
Because this dungeon could only be cleared when one person remained alive.
So, before I knew it, my voice had risen without control.
Ha… what a ss.
Joo Sarang still didn’t seem to have cald down.
The energy surrounding her was growing violent.
“Why did you disappear without a word back then? Do you even know what we went through?”
At so point, Joo Sarang retrieved the dagger that had fallen to the ground and swung it at .
The dagger sliced through the air.
It wasn’t an attack ant to kill, but one intended to subdue.
I slightly tilted my body to avoid the blade grazing my nose bridge—and in that fleeting mont, Joo Sarang swept my leg out from under .
Although I could clearly perceive her movents within my domain, I didn’t block or dodge.
To be exact, my body simply didn’t move as I intended.
She pinned down and glared at from above.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“After you abandoned us… I—no, we waited for you. All this ti…!”
Seeing her tears brought back a flood of old, worn-out mories.
mories that weren’t mine.
Cruel training and torture carried out in a room where not a sliver of light reached.
Human experintation so brutal it was unspeakable.
Children who leaned on one another to survive in that hellish environnt…
Even as tears stread down her cheeks, Joo Sarang continued speaking.
“After you left, so much happened. Jiwoo… she couldn’t endure the training and died. Dongwook was beaten to death by a Demon, just like that…”
“Stop.”
“Do you know? Of all the kids who were there, I’m the only one who survived. Do you know why?”
“Stop.”
“They made us do it on the last day… told us to kill each other. Said only the last one standing could beco a true Demon.”
Once again, emotions that weren’t mine surged up violently.
My face twisted from the disgust of it.
“So I killed them all. The kids who were like family to , with my own hands…”
“I said stop!”
With a burst of rage, the Infernal Fla of Asura Divine Art ignited.
The explosion of mana sent Joo Sarang flying off .
Bang!
Gritting my teeth, I glared at her.
Damn it.
Yeah, I knew. I knew how pitiful you all were.
But in the end, you were still Demons—nothing more than Berid’s pawns.
I had no desire to hear about your past.
I knew well enough that the feelings she held for weren’t re affection.
Not when she looked at with those eyes.
I would’ve been an idiot not to notice.
They were children who had endured all kinds of torture and human experintation to beco elite Demons.
There was no way their minds could’ve remained intact after that.
I took a slow, deep breath.
The cold, damp air helped cool the heat that had risen in my chest.
“So what do you want to do? You didn’t co all the way here just to tell how miserable you are.”
“Bastard…”
She cursed at .
Her voice was thick with a tangle of emotions.
“Fine, miserable. Then what—an interrogation? Or do you want to vent your resentnt? I was curious, you know. That’s why I wanted to hear it. So answer . Why did you abandon us? Why didn’t you co back for us?”
“……”
“You really want to know? Why I disappeared?”
You already know—because you pried into Yoo Seongwoo’s mories.
Joo Sarang t my gaze and nodded without hesitation.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. The reason I had to leave you all?”
I summoned the Power of the Demon.
Darkness rose from my shadow, covering my body before transforming into black armor.
When I extended my hand, demonic energy ford into a longsword, and as I poured more power into it, the pitch-black blade began to burn with crimson light.
Joo Sarang’s eyes widened in shock.
“This damn body was chosen to beco the vessel for the descent of the Lord of the Archdemons! That’s why I left! To offer my soul and body to so demon bastard I didn’t even know!”
As I spoke, the emotions within boiled over.
For once, I didn’t suppress them.
Fine—let it all out.
Maybe if I expelled these feelings, I could finally regain my composure.
After all, the person she wanted to talk to wasn’t , but Yoo Seongwoo.
“Why did I disappear without a word? Why didn’t I co find you even after becoming the Devil Knight? Because I couldn’t! Those damn watchers and the cursed Demons kept from doing anything! You think I didn’t want to see you again?!”
“Then why did you avoid at the Academy?!”
“Do you think pretending to know you at the Academy would change anything? Berid’s been watching like a hawk! Don’t act spoiled! I’m still a vessel ant to offer everything to the Demon, and…!”
At so point, I stopped shouting.
Joo Sarang said nothing, only letting tears stream down her sorrowful face.
As a Demon herself, she surely understood better than anyone what this situation ant.
Seeing her like that made the pain in my chest worse.
Then, sothing entered the range of my perception.
Not one—many.
Multiple presences were converging through the labyrinth’s corridors.
That was when I rembered the Infernal Fla that had erupted earlier.
“Damn it all.”
This was exactly why I hated this.
Getting swept up in emotions that weren’t even mine, and ending up trolling like this.
“Stop crying and pull yourself together. This isn’t the ti.”
“What now?!”
Joo Sarang snapped back irritably, but soon her expression shifted as she realized the seriousness of the situation.
“What’s happening all of a sudden?”
“The explosion from earlier drew aggro. Big ti.”
“Wasn’t this supposed to be an Academy mock exam zone?”
“You seriously ca here without a single thought, didn’t you?”
No light of any kind could be used in this dungeon.
Just like its na—The Chamber of Gu Poison—the monsters here had been deprived of light and left to starve for ages.
In such conditions, any trace of light would be mistaken for the exit, drawing them in droves.
When I’d played this part in the ga, I’d thought the detail was impressive—
but facing it in reality, it was nothing short of grim.
Soon, the presence of the beasts approached right before our eyes.
We stood back to back, drawing up our power.
User Comments
0 comments from readers