Episode 6
The inside of Tunnel No. 972 was extremely dark.
The light from the lamp attached to his cap was not enough to completely illuminate the tunnel’s darkness.
Jeon stood facing the wall at the dead end.
Marks from pickaxing remained intact on the wall.
They were traces left by someone who had entered before him.
He could almost see the sight of a miner who had entered this sunless underground to mine demon essence stones, swinging a pickaxe with all his might.
Four such miners had died here.
“Why?”
The miners would not have died without reason.
Something that had led those miners to death definitely existed here.
Results without causes did not exist.
Jeon propped the pickaxe against the wall and began to examine the tunnel carefully.
“The mana is dense, but….”
A great deal of mana had pooled inside the tunnel.
If Jeon had not Awakened, he would not have noticed it either.
“Why is mana gathering only in this place?”
He had heard that ordinary people exposed to mana for long periods suffered side effects.
Cell death due to mana oversaturation, the sudden aging of organs, and countless other side effects.
If what he sensed was true, the miners had clearly died because of the mana here.
Bak Manho was an Awakened as well, so if he had come inside, he would have definitely sensed the excessively concentrated mana. But he had been so engrossed in gambling that he had not personally entered the tunnel in a long time. Clearly, that was why he had failed to notice.
The problem was why mana was pooled only in this place.
Jeon looked at the tunnel wall.
For now, that wall was the only place worth suspecting.
Jeon picked up the pickaxe. And struck the inner wall.
Clang! Kang!
Sparks flew in all directions as the pickaxe struck.
Each time he swung, the rock crumbled helplessly.
Thwack!
He felt the pickaxe sink unusually deep.
“What?”
With a puzzled expression, Jeon swung the pickaxe with all his might again.
Kwaaang!
With a thunderous roar, the wall collapsed with a rumble.
In the place where the wall had fallen, an oval space was wavering.
Jeon’s eyes widened in shock at the appearance of an unnaturally black and alien space, like the throat of a beast.
“What?”
Swoosh!
In that instant, a powerful force pulled at Jeon.
Jeon was sucked into the black space without any chance to resist.
“Keuk!”
The moment he entered, he felt tremendous pressure.
Pain as if his entire body were being crushed swept over him.
His mind went blank, and the surging agony made it impossible to string together a thought.
He only wanted to escape this moment as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, that moment passed quickly.
Thwump!
The black space spat Jeon out.
Jeon rolled across the ground a few times and quickly sprang to his feet.
“What? This hellish landscape….”
Just moments ago, he had definitely been deep underground in the tunnel. But now, a completely different sight was spread before his eyes.
A giant mountain was visible in the distance.
The mountain, black as pitch, was spewing black smoke and crimson lava. The sky was filled with volcanic ash, and lava flowed in rivers across the earth.
All vegetation had burned to ash, and the air was thick with the smell of sulfur.
Intense heat rose from the ground where lava had solidified. It was an overwhelming heat that the desert could not hope to compare to.
In an instant, Jeon’s face flushed crimson, and sweat poured down like rain.
His clothes were already soaked through with sweat.
“Is this a dungeon?”
Jeon looked at the dungeon entrance that had spat him out.
The dungeon entrance was closing rapidly, as if it had fulfilled its role.
“Damn it! No!”
By the time Jeon ran over, it had shut completely without leaving a trace.
“I’m going crazy!”
Jeon scratched his head furiously.
He did not mind having entered a dungeon, but he had truly not expected to enter so defenselessly.
Even back in Neo Seoul, raiding dungeons required thorough preparation.
They estimated the rank by the dungeon’s scale and formed a raid party of suitable Awakened.
Even with such thorough preparation, dungeons were places that produced enormous casualties. Having fallen into such a dungeon utterly unprepared, he could not help but be bewildered.
“What a perfectly unlucky day. How can someone be this unlucky?”
It was beyond absurd; it was utterly dumbfounding.
Starting from having demon essence stones robbed from him for a pittance by Elder Clexi, to his ill-fated tie to Bak Manho, and now being suddenly dragged into a dungeon.
Everything was perfect.
As if a god who orchestrated fate were personally directing the situation.
Jeon took out the hourglass he had kept in his pocket and looked at it.
“Is this the only thing I managed to save?”
Fiddling with the hourglass calmed his mind slightly.
Only then could he think clearly.
“First, I need to check if my abilities work inside the dungeon.”
Jeon bent down and swept his hand across the ground.
Black grains stuck to his hand.
It was volcanic ash.
Jeon raised his dominion. Then the sand in his hand slowly floated into the air.
Fortunately, it seemed volcanic ash was also subject to his dominion, just like sand.
Jeon thought it fortunate.
Because it would have been troublesome if his sand dominion, his greatest weapon, did not work.
The dungeon was filled with volcanic ash.
Weapons for him to use were scattered everywhere.
Jeon let out a sigh of relief.
At the very least, he did not feel like he would die helplessly.
The next thing Jeon did was check his backpack.
Fortunately, it contained several days’ worth of rations. That they had not spoiled or broken while passing through the dungeon entrance was a relief.
“With this much, I can last a few days.”
Having confirmed there was no problem with food, what remained was finding the dungeon’s exit.
The problem was that he had no idea where the exit might be in this vast space.
In this case, there was only one method.
To walk around and check for himself.
“Chances are it’ll be near the volcano, right?”
Anyone could see that the center of this dungeon was the volcano.
If so, there would definitely be clues to escaping the dungeon there.
“Hoo!”
Jeon took a deep breath.
His throat stung.
The volcanic ash floating in the air was irritating his airway.
If he did not get out quickly, his lungs would surely be ruined by the ash.
Jeon took out a scrap of cloth from his backpack.
It was cloth used as a makeshift mask to prevent inhaling rock dust when mining demon essence stones.
Covering his mouth and nose with the cloth eased the pain in his airway somewhat.
“Let’s go!”
Jeon moved toward the volcano.
＊＊＊
The more he saw, the more amazing it was.
He knew dungeons were spaces where human common sense did not apply, but he had not known they could be this incomprehensible.
The giant volcano visible in the distance was definitely no illusion or hallucination.
It was a real volcano spewing lava and flames.
The scorching air and earth testified that all of this was real.
Sweat flowed like rain.
Even though he had Awakened, it was this bad; an ordinary person sucked into the dungeon would clearly not have lasted long before dying.
“I can get out, right?”
Jeon prided himself on being quite tenacious, but he could not help shrinking before this harsh environment he was seeing for the first time in his life.
Even so, he had no choice but to press forward now.
“Ugh!”
Jeon stopped.
Because a giant river of lava was blocking his path.
Even though a considerable distance remained, the intense heat felt as though it would burn his entire body.
The river of lava was several dozen meters wide.
Jumping across in one bound was too much for Jeon in his current state.
Jeon moved to find where the width narrowed.
Going up against the current for a while, he found a place where the width was about ten meters. It was at least a distance worth attempting.
“Hoo!”
Jeon stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.
He felt he could make the jump in his current physical condition. But if he missed his footing or lost his balance in the air, he would fall straight into the river of lava.
If that happened, not a single bone fragment would remain before he melted away.
Nevertheless, Jeon had no choice but to prepare to jump.
After glaring at the river of lava for a moment, Jeon sprinted with all his might.
“Chaa!”
Right in front of the river of lava, he leaped with all his strength.
Jeon’s body flew through the air like a bird.
It was when Jeon reached the apex.
Fwoosh!
Something suddenly burst through the lava and surged up toward him.
“What?”
Jeon looked down in fright.
A massive maw split wide open.
Bumpy skin harboring flames.
Four short legs attached to a serpentine body.
It was a crocodile.
A giant crocodile lurking in the river of lava, stalking prey.
Each of its teeth was the size of a human forearm.
Countless such teeth were packed densely inside.
If caught by those teeth, Jeon’s body would clearly be ripped apart in an instant.
There was nowhere to evade in mid-air.
He tried to unleash a Sand Blaster, but the sand was too far away. He would clearly lose his life before he could gather it.
Jeon twisted his body in mid-air while pulling sand toward him.
Thwack!
By a hair’s breadth, the crocodile snapped at empty air and splashed back into the river of lava. But Jeon’s situation was no better.
He had escaped the crocodile’s attack by a hair’s breadth, but in exchange, he had lost his balance and was falling toward the river of lava.
In the river of lava, that same crocodile was waiting with its massive mouth gaping wide.
If he could not stop his fall, he would be devoured by the crocodile.
At that moment, Jeon saw sand floating in the air.
It was the sand he had gathered moments ago.
Jeon instinctively visualized.
He pictured a foothold made of the floating sand before his eyes.
Imagination became reality.
A foothold of sand formed beneath his falling feet.
Pat!
Without further thought, Jeon kicked off the sand foothold and launched his body.
The sand, having served its purpose, scattered instantly, but thanks to it, Jeon barely reached the other side. Though he landed on his back rather than his feet.
“Keuk!”
Jeon groaned at the impact that felt as if his entire body were shattering. But he did not even have the leisure to feel pain.
Kwaaah!
The giant crocodile was climbing out of the river of lava and approaching him.
Thick lava dribbled down the crocodile’s massive body, drop by drop.
“Damn it! A monster like this….”
Jeon hurriedly backed away. But the crocodile closed the distance faster than him.
Its legs were only short relative to its massive body; they were thicker and larger than average logs.
Naturally, its walking speed was very fast.
“Sand Blaster.”
Jeon unleashed the Sand Blaster. But the stream of sand fired at high pressure failed to inflict any damage on the giant crocodile and instead melted away.
The giant crocodile was emitting heat as intense as the lava itself. Because of that, the sand melted instantly before it could even touch the crocodile.
“Crazy!”
Jeon’s eyes widened.
He had truly not expected his attack to be blocked so futilely.
The crocodile launched its body at an unbelievable speed and snapped at Jeon.
Staring at the gaping giant maw, Jeon could not react.
It was then.
“To use sand… you’ve got an interesting ability, kid.”
Suddenly, a rough, hoarse voice rang from the air.
Jeon unconsciously looked in the direction of the voice.
Someone was plummeting through the air, piercing the volcanic ash.
In the hand of the person falling at terrifying speed, like a bird with folded wings, was a massive sword.
He charged straight at the giant crocodile with the massive sword leading.
Kwaaang!
An explosion burst forth as if meteors had collided, and an enormous shockwave swept across the area.
The shockwave sent the quietly flowing lava splashing in all directions.
“What?”
Jeon covered both ears with his hands, his face a mask of disbelief.
The giant crocodile, which had been so threatening, was crushed like tofu. Standing atop the crushed giant crocodile was an old man of enormous build.
Terrifying eyes that could hardly be called human gleamed from the old man’s face.
The old man asked Jeon.
“What is your name?”
That voice, rumbling and resonating from deep within his belly, was more frightening than the giant crocodile.