Chapter 6

Inside Tunnel 972, it was extremely dark.

The light from the lamp on Zeon's helmet wasn't nearly enough to fully illuminate the tunnel.

Zeon stood facing the wall at the dead end of the passage.

The marks of pickaxe strikes were still clearly etched into the rock.

They were traces left by someone who had come before him.

It was easy to imagine a miner, deep underground without a single ray of sunlight, swinging a pickaxe with all their strength in search of magic stones.

And four such miners had died here.

"Why?"

They couldn't have died for no reason.

There had to be something here that led them to their deaths.

There was no such thing as an effect without a cause.

Zeon leaned his pickaxe against the wall and began carefully examining the tunnel.

"The mana here is dense…"

A large amount of mana had accumulated inside the tunnel.

If he hadn't awakened, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Why is mana gathering only here?"

He had heard that prolonged exposure to mana caused side effects in ordinary people.

Cell necrosis due to mana oversaturation, rapid aging of organs, and countless other complications.

If what he sensed was correct, the miners had likely died because of the mana here.

Park Manho was also an awakened one—if he had entered this place, he would have noticed the excessive concentration of mana. But he had long stopped coming into the tunnels himself, being too absorbed in gambling, so he must have missed it.

The real question was why mana had gathered so densely only in this spot.

Zeon stared at the tunnel wall.

For now, that was the only suspicious place.

He picked up his pickaxe and swung it at the inner wall.

Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew as the pickaxe struck.

Each time he brought it down, chunks of rock crumbled away.

Thud!

At one point, the pickaxe sank unusually deep.

"What…?"

Frowning, Zeon swung again with all his strength.

Boom!

With a loud crash, the wall collapsed.

In its place, an oval-shaped space flickered into view.

It was unnaturally dark—like the throat of some beast.

Zeon's eyes widened.

"What the—"

Swoosh!

At that moment, a powerful force pulled him in.

Before he could resist, Zeon was sucked into the black space.

"Ghk!"

The moment he entered, an immense pressure crushed him.

It felt as if his entire body was being shattered.

His mind went blank, overwhelmed by pain, unable to think.

There was only one thought—get out of this.

Fortunately, it didn't last long.

Thump!

The black space spat him out.

Zeon rolled across the ground a few times before quickly getting to his feet.

"What… is this hellish place?"

Just moments ago, he had been deep underground in a tunnel.

Now, an entirely different landscape stretched before his eyes.

In the distance, a massive mountain loomed.

The pitch-black mountain spewed black smoke and glowing red lava. The sky was choked with volcanic ash, and rivers of lava flowed across the land.

All plant life had burned to ash, and the air reeked of sulfur.

Heat radiated intensely from the hardened lava fields—far beyond anything the desert could compare to.

In an instant, Zeon's face flushed red, and sweat poured down like rain.

His clothes were soaked through.

"A dungeon…?"

Zeon turned to look at the entrance that had spat him out.

The dungeon entrance was closing rapidly, as if its purpose had been fulfilled.

"Damn it! No—!"

By the time he ran toward it, it had completely vanished without a trace.

"This is insane…"

Zeon ran a hand through his hair.

Entering a dungeon was one thing—but being dragged in like this, completely unprepared, was beyond ridiculous.

Even in Neo Seoul, dungeon raids required thorough preparation.

They estimated the dungeon's rank based on its scale and formed a team of awakened ones suited to it.

Even then, casualties were inevitable.

And now he had been dropped into one alone, without any preparation at all.

"Seriously… what a perfectly unlucky day. How can someone be this unlucky?"

It was beyond absurd.

From being cheated out of his magic stone by Old Man Clexi, to his clash with Park Manho, to being suddenly dragged into a dungeon—

Everything lined up too perfectly.

It was almost as if some god controlling fate had orchestrated it all.

Zeon pulled the hourglass from his pocket and looked at it.

"This is the only thing I gained, huh?"

As he turned it in his hand, he felt himself calm down slightly.

Only then could he think clearly again.

"First, I need to check if my ability works inside the dungeon."

He crouched and brushed the ground with his hand.

Black particles stuck to his palm.

Volcanic ash.

Zeon focused his control.

The ash in his hand slowly began to rise into the air.

Fortunately, just like sand, volcanic ash seemed to fall under his control.

Zeon felt relieved.

If his greatest weapon—his sand manipulation—didn't work here, he would've been in serious trouble.

The dungeon was filled with volcanic ash.

In other words, weapons were everywhere.

Zeon let out a sigh of relief.

At the very least, it didn't seem like he would die helplessly.

Next, he checked his backpack.

Fortunately, it still contained several days' worth of food. It hadn't been damaged when he passed through the dungeon entrance.

"This should last me a few days."

With food secured, the only thing left was to find the dungeon's exit.

The problem was that there was no way to tell where the dungeon's exit was in this vast space.

In a situation like this, there was only one option—

Search it on foot.

"Most likely… it's near the volcano."

Anyone could see that the center of this dungeon was the volcano.

If so, there had to be a clue to escaping somewhere around it.

"Hoo…"

Zeon took a deep breath.

His throat stung.

The volcanic ash floating in the air was irritating his airway.

If he didn't get out quickly, his lungs would surely be ruined.

He took out a piece of cloth from his backpack.

It was something miners used as a makeshift mask to prevent inhaling rock dust while mining magic stones.

After covering his mouth and nose, the pain in his throat eased a little.

"Let's go."

Zeon began moving toward the volcano.

＊＊＊

The more he looked, the more unbelievable it felt.

He knew dungeons were places beyond human logic, but he never imagined something this incomprehensible.

The massive volcano in the distance was no illusion.

It was real—spewing lava and fire.

The scorching air and burning ground proved it.

Sweat poured down like rain.

Even with his awakening, this was overwhelming.

An ordinary person would've died long ago if dragged into a place like this.

"Can I even get out of here…?"

Zeon prided himself on being tough, but even he couldn't help but feel intimidated by such a harsh environment.

Still, there was no choice but to keep moving forward.

"Hmm?"

Zeon stopped.

A massive river of lava blocked his path.

Even from a distance, the intense heat felt like it would burn his entire body.

The river was dozens of meters wide.

Jumping across it in one go was impossible for him right now.

So Zeon began searching for a narrower section.

After moving upstream for a while, he found a spot where the width was around ten meters.

It was at least within jumping range.

"Hoo…"

He paused and took a deep breath.

In his current physical state, he might be able to make the jump.

But if he slipped or lost balance midair even slightly, he would fall straight into the lava.

And then, not even a trace of him would remain.

Even so, he had no choice.

After staring at the lava river for a moment, Zeon sprinted forward with all his strength.

"Hyaaah!"

At the edge, he leapt with all his might.

His body soared through the air like a bird.

Just as he reached the peak—

Splash!

Something suddenly burst out of the lava toward him.

"What the—?!"

Startled, Zeon looked down.

A massive gaping maw.

Rough, flame-coated skin.

A long, serpentine body with four short legs.

It was a crocodile.

A giant crocodile lurking in the lava, waiting for prey.

Each tooth was as thick as a human arm, packed densely together.

If caught by those jaws, his body would be torn apart instantly.

He had nowhere to dodge midair.

He tried to use Sand Blaster, but the sand was too far away. He would die before he could gather it.

Even so, Zeon twisted his body in midair while pulling sand toward him.

Snap!

The crocodile's jaws closed just a fraction too late, biting empty air before plunging back into the lava.

But Zeon's situation was no better.

Though he had narrowly avoided the attack, he had lost his balance and was now falling toward the lava river.

Below, the crocodile was already waiting with its jaws wide open.

If he couldn't stop his fall, he would be devoured.

At that moment, Zeon saw sand floating nearby—

the sand he had just gathered.

Instinctively, he imagined something.

A foothold made of sand beneath his feet.

That imagination became reality.

A platform of sand formed under him as he fell.

Tap!

Without hesitation, Zeon kicked off the sand platform and launched himself forward.

The sand scattered instantly after serving its purpose, but it was enough.

Zeon barely made it to the other side—though he landed on his back instead of his feet.

"Ugh!"

He groaned as the impact rattled his entire body.

But he didn't even have time to feel the pain.

ROOOAR!

The giant crocodile crawled out of the lava and approached him.

Molten lava dripped from its massive body.

"Damn it! What kind of monster is this—?!"

Zeon hurriedly retreated, but the crocodile was faster.

Its legs might've looked short compared to its body, but they were still thicker and larger than tree trunks.

Naturally, it moved incredibly fast.

"Sand Blaster!"

Zeon fired his attack.

But the high-pressure stream of sand did nothing.

Instead, it melted before even reaching the creature.

The crocodile emitted heat as intense as lava itself.

The sand melted instantly before making contact.

"Impossible…"

Zeon's eyes widened.

He hadn't expected his attack to be rendered completely useless.

The crocodile lunged at him with terrifying speed, jaws wide open.

Faced with it, Zeon couldn't react at all.

At that moment—

"You use sand… interesting ability you've got there."

A rough, gravelly voice suddenly echoed through the air.

Zeon instinctively turned toward the sound.

Someone was descending through the volcanic ash from above.

Like a bird folding its wings, the figure plummeted at terrifying speed—

a massive sword gripped in hand.

Leading with the blade, he collided head-on with the giant crocodile.

BOOOOM!

A deafening explosion erupted, like a meteor striking the ground.

A powerful shockwave swept across the area.

The lava that had been flowing calmly splashed violently in all directions.

"What…?"

Zeon covered his ears in disbelief.

The terrifying crocodile was crushed like tofu.

Standing atop its mangled remains was an enormous old man.

His eyes gleamed with a ferocity that could hardly be called human.

The old man looked at Zeon and asked,

"What is your name?"

The voice, rumbling from deep within his chest, was even more terrifying than the crocodile itself.