“The core?!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing…
Just like how magecraft spellforms have a main axiom that dictates the aning of the spell, a dungeon has its own core. There are five main labyrinths in Yarian—The Avalon Ruins, The Inverted Forest, The Tower of Sin, Estuary of the Stars, and the most elusive of them all—The Hidden Isles.
However, outside the main five, countless smaller dungeons exist scattered across the continent. Many of them claid by shadow guilds and other unknown organizations.
These dungeons all share a single quality—the Labyrinth’s Shroud. A strange miasma that seems to be a Mystery on its own. Outside of its ability to corrode the minds of explorers, it was also known to be the main force of maintenance in the dungeon. The walls and structures within tend to repair themselves thanks to this strange phenona and its power was known to originate from the dungeon’s core.
Most studies into how the Dungeon Cores work have mainly resulted in failure. The chanisms that power these strange and ancient structures remain practically unknown to most scholars today. However, that doesn’t an that they were completely clueless.
By now, it has been widely understood that the Dungeon Cores can be controlled. That was how many secret organizations thrived—by capturing a dungeon and turning into their hos. With control over the Dungeon Core, that organization would have the power to alter the labyrinth in any way they want. In fact, they could also utilize the Labyrinth Shroud to target only the enemies who dare to step inside their territory.
And here lies the problem.
The Avalon Ruins… It was a legendary labyrinth that’s said to date back to the First Age of Fantasia. Obviously, many factions would desire to have it for themselves. And out of the main competitors, the two biggest ones were the Staterra and Aelloran Kingdoms. Because the dungeon runs beneath both nations, both desire to have full control over its vast resources and land.
Thankfully, the dungeon core of one of the five main labyrinths of the continent was not an easy thing to find. It has lasted four ages of fantasia by now, and yet, not a single person has discovered its traces.
Until now…
“M-mistress….” Soren’s voice was easy to read. Sienna shook her head.
“No, don’t worry. No one else besides us knows about this… I made sure to hide its discovery. With tensions already high due to the Whispering Dream’s actions, announcing that would result in the worst outco…”
Soren nodded. “I agree…”
“However,” Sienna continued, “What’s important isn’t the dungeon core itself, but the nacing gate that blocked access inside…”
“The gate?” He furrowed his brows. “Why would the gate matter?...”
Sienna sighed. “That gate… It is impossible to open.”
“What?”
She nodded, “embedded into the surface are two engravings that seem to be slots of so kind. Nicholas and I speculated that it was the locking chanism, and that so kind of tablet needs to fit inside there for it to activate. You might not know this but, Nicholas possesses the Wards affinity, so he tried to understand the inner formation powering the gate…”
“And he failed?” Soren crossed his arms.
She chuckled, “More than failed. The dungeon sensed what we were trying to do and caused the Labyrinth Shroud to intensify. Luckily, I was around to teleport everyone to a safer distance before the insanity corroded us.”
It can do that?... Soren frowned. He rembered when he first passed through Dungeon Door #1. At the ti, he tried using [Eyes of the Fairy] to uncover more information about it but obtained nothing at all…
You could be reading stolen content. Head to for the genuine story.
If that door was also rigged with such a trap, I would have been done for… He took a ntal note of this—never pry into the chanisms of dungeons without ample preparations…
Sienna sighed, “However not even this is the important part…”
“Huh?” Soren’s frown deepened. “What do you an…”
She glanced up at the false night sky for a mont then looked back at him. Her lips muttered in a low voice:
“The Naless Mist… Its residuals could be felt at the scene.”
Soren’s eyes widened. “You an…”
Sienna nodded. “The Whispering Dream… He must have obtained the Naless Mist from there…”
The silence was deafening. All Soren could do was recall his every interaction with that enigmatic saint… And one interaction stood out.
It was when he and Tina were walking down a street in Yadria. They had spotted a mysterious man cloaked in black breaking what looks to be a stone above an Unblessed Yadrian child…
And what seeped from that stone was an ocean of black… An ocean that engulfs the very existence of living beings… Erasing them from history…
“Could it be…” His lips quivered. “The tablet… Is he in possession of it?!”
Sienna looked at him silently for a mont. She was unable to answer his question.
Soren rubbed his temples. “No, this doesn’t even make sense. If had the key that allows him to enter the Dungeon’s Core, why would he not try to control it for himself? Why leave with only the tablet and use its power in such a strange manner…”
Sienna shook her head. “Taking control of the Avalon Ruins is impossible. Even if he had the key, the Labyrinth’s Guardian would likely be impossible for him to defeat.”
“The Guardian?”
Sienna nodded. “Yes. Usually it's a Spirit Beast or a Living Hex with unfathomable power. The Guardians also have the authority to control all other creatures in the dungeon, which ans they have an entire army at their disposal at all tis.
“Smaller 3rd tier dungeons that are seen across the continent tend to have a Guardian at the Mystic Grade at most. However, the dungeon we are talking about now is one of the main five—The Avalon Ruins… Its Guardian would most likely be in the Ascended grade…”
Soren quickly recalled the rankings for Phantasms. Those in possession of a Tier 1 through Tier 3 Soul Weapon are usually denoted as Spirit Grade while those who have forged theirs into Tier 4 through Tier 6 are known as Mystic Grade Phantasms.
So for the Guardian to be equivalent to an Ascended Grade would an… Their power rivals those in possession of a Tier 7 Soul Weapon and beyond.
“Insanity…” Here he was struggling to even find another Abstract Rune to rge with so that his Soul Weapon could reach Tier 2. anwhile, there were entities out there who had rged with seven unique Abstract Runes…
It was important to ntion that the rankings of those in the Ascended Grade were further divided into three—Saints (Tier 7), Monarchs (Tier 8) and Empyreans (Tier 9).
However, not all ‘Saints’ are the sa. The nine saints of Yadria for example, only possessed that title due to cultural reasons. Luvin and the others didn’t really possess Soul Weapons at the 7th Tier.
And a similar situation arises when understanding the rankings of Spirits… Tazzith for example was a Sovereign, which was equivalent to a Monarch in power.
“So then,” Soren broke the silence, “doesn’t this an that whoever captures the Whispering Dream will obtain the ability to enter the Dungeon Core and challenge the Guardian inside? Last ti I heard there was an active manhunt for his capture…”
Sienna sighed. “Indeed. It seems Noctharn and his disciple have also joined in on it. Tyrel and him are heading toward the Eclipse Moor where he was last seen.”
Soren glanced down at the floor. His thoughts were in complete disarray.
“The scroll’s information… It showed depictions of the War of Swords… Now that you have absorbed the pain, you should have seen it also, right?”
Sienna nodded. “Indeed… That is why I decided to use that approach—I needed to see for myself what it was that Guntharion had been hiding from for the past twenty years…”
“Then you must know then,” Soren looked up at her—their eyes locking, “the unforgivable sin that was committed during that fateful day. Yasini’s Demise—it was orchestrated by soone.”
Silence lood over them both, until Soren leaned back and sighed. His lips parting into a smile.
“That bastard Guntharion… He split this scroll in half… We still don’t know who was behind that Divine Accord and the disgusting sin I witnessed within that Crimson Eye…”
Sienna chuckled. “Then you must have realized where the other half is, right?”
Soren couldn’t help but laugh. “Mount Tolarion’s peak… The Estuary of the Stars.”
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