Chapter 95

The passage was dark. But to Zeon, it looked as bright as broad daylight.

His eyes missed nothing—not the scratches on the wall, not even a single dent in the ground.

Crunch!

Something beneath his foot crumbled weakly.

Zeon reached down and picked up the shattered object.

“Larval shell? Looks like some of them have already molted.”

As with any magical beast, ghost dragonflies became more dangerous the closer they were to adulthood.

The ground was covered with larval shells.

It was clear that many of them had already molted.

“This is too fast.”

Zeon frowned.

All living things in nature follow a timeline.

Humans are born, grow into adults, and eventually age.

Though races and DNA may differ, the pace of growth and aging is largely similar.

The same applied to magical beasts.

While it varies by species, individuals of the same kind tend to share nearly identical timelines.

Ghost dragonflies were no exception.

From egg to larva, and from larva to adult—the duration was always consistent.

Naturally, the size of the larvae at molting was also similar.

But the shells scattered across the ground varied in size.

That meant they were born at different times.

And yet, they had all molted around the same period.

That was something that could never happen naturally.

“Something must have forcibly accelerated their molting.”

It was a conclusion only someone well-versed in the biology of magical beasts, like Zeon, could reach.

Stepping over the larval shells, Zeon continued forward.

The deeper he went, the larger the cave became.

Both its width and height expanded noticeably.

Something that should never occur naturally.

But Zeon wasn’t surprised.

That was simply the nature of dungeons.

The remnants of Kurayan, left behind after a failed terraforming attempt, had turned into a dungeon.

Ghosts trapped within a rift between dimensions—neither fully alive nor dead.

Some dungeons even changed unpredictably, like living organisms.

That was the kind of place Zeon knew dungeons to be.

So even when a vast open space suddenly appeared, it didn’t faze him.

Just like now.

Moments ago, he had been in a cramped cave.

Now, he stood on a wide expanse of land with the sky visible above.

The space had shifted in an instant.

Wooooong!

What greeted Zeon were countless ghost dragonflies.

A swarm filled the sky, turning it pitch black.

Even Zeon had never seen such a massive group before.

“Well, would you look at that.”

His eyes gleamed coldly.

What caught his attention were their eyes and wings as they hovered in place.

Their eyes were blood-red, and strange, incomprehensible patterns glowed on their transparent wings.

“Artificial frenzy. Just as I thought—someone’s been meddling.”

He had felt something off from the moment he entered the dungeon.

The old man Clexi being captured by hell moles…

And the coexistence of two species that should never share the same habitat.

Everything had been unnatural.

Then—

Whoooosh!

The hovering ghost dragonflies all charged at Zeon at once.

Like a meteor shower, the swarm rained down upon him.

Zeon used Sand Step to evade their assault.

BOOOOM!

The spot where he had just been exploded like it had been struck by a bomb.

A suicide attack.

Ghost dragonflies were living creatures.

Naturally, they valued their lives.

But there was only one reason they would recklessly throw them away like this—

“The queen must be in trouble.”

Wooooong!

As if answering him, the ghost dragonflies launched another wave of attacks.

They poured down like rain.

The sound of their wings alone was enough to instill terror.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions erupted in succession.

Zeon narrowly avoided them all.

Flames surged like a tidal wave, and immense pressure bore down on his entire body.

Yet even amidst all that danger, his expression didn’t change in the slightest.

No matter how many ghost dragonflies there were, they were still fewer than the grains of sand scattered across a desert.

And this dungeon had plenty of sand.

“Claymore!”

The moment Zeon spoke, the sand around him exploded.

Like the old anti-personnel weapon—Claymore mines—the sand burst outward.

Each tiny grain carried destructive power comparable to steel pellets.

Countless grains of sand collided with countless ghost dragonflies.

Pababababak!

The sand pierced through their wings, punched through their massive eyes and bodies.

The ghost dragonflies were shattered, torn apart, dismantled.

A massive hole opened in the air where the explosion had occurred.

The swarm that once filled that space had been completely erased.

If another Awakener had witnessed this, they would have been too stunned to close their gaping mouth.

It was that overwhelming.

Boom! Boom!

Zeon unleashed Claymore again and again.

Each time, another cluster of ghost dragonflies vanished from existence.

Claymore consumed an enormous amount of mana.

Yet Zeon cast it repeatedly without hesitation.

Wings shredded, bodies torn apart, the ghost dragonflies fell from the sky.

Their powerless descent looked almost pitiful.

But Zeon didn’t spare them a glance as they fell.

He simply kept walking forward.

There were no longer any ghost dragonflies blocking his path.

Zeon passed through their remains and arrived at his destination.

There, a particularly विशाल ghost dragonfly stood out.

A monstrous ghost dragonfly, nearly twenty meters long from head to tail.

“Queen.”

The monster was the queen.

But its condition was horrific.

Its once beautiful, translucent wings were gone, as if they had been forcibly torn off, and its long, elegant tail was snapped in half and lay twisted on the ground.

Semi-transparent shells were scattered everywhere.

The queen ghost dragonfly was on the verge of death.

Its legs trembled as it gasped for breath.

Zeon approached it. That was when he noticed seven spikes embedded in its back.

They were arranged like the Big Dipper.

Zeon pulled one of the spikes out.

Even so, the queen couldn’t resist.

It had already exhausted all its strength.

Zeon examined the spike closely.

A magic circle was engraved on its surface—it was clearly an item.

“A trace of mana… This is the work of a tamer. They forcibly accelerated the molting.”

Insect-type magical beasts molt several times throughout their lives.

Each time, they grow larger and gain greater power.

But molting doesn’t happen arbitrarily.

Only when enough mana accumulates and both body and mind are fully matured can they advance to the next stage.

From Zeon’s perspective, the queen ghost dragonfly wasn’t due to molt yet.

But an unknown tamer had forcibly triggered its molting.

“A reason to force it… the wings?”

Zeon recalled what Brielle had said.

The wings of a newly molted queen ghost dragonfly were unaffected by gravity.

If a tamer coveted those wings, this would be a logical course of action.

A powerful enough tamer would certainly have the ability to force such a transformation.

“But is this something a tamer could accomplish alone?”

Zeon looked around.

This was a double dungeon—with two bosses.

No matter how powerful, a single tamer couldn’t possibly subdue and control all these magical beasts.

There had to be an accomplice.

The question was whether it was an individual—or an organization.

“Most likely an organization.”

They had discovered a dungeon in the desert and infiltrated it while avoiding the watchers.

That wasn’t something a lone individual could do.

Zeon shook his head slightly and waved his hand.

A massive blaze erupted, engulfing the queen ghost dragonfly.

In an instant, it was reduced to a handful of ash.

***

Meanwhile, in the deserted desert, a man and a woman were walking side by side.

The woman wore a loose robe, and the man wore similarly wide-fitting outerwear.

Both had their faces hidden beneath low-pulled hoods.

“….”

The woman suddenly stopped and looked up.

The man beside her spoke.

“What is it?”

“The queen is dead.”

“I see. So it finally died.”

“It wasn’t supposed to die yet…”

She tilted her head.

Everything had been calculated precisely.

She had forcibly induced molting and torn off the wings, but she believed it would recover over time.

Yet, contrary to her expectations, the queen had died.

“An unexpected variable must have appeared.”

“That happens.”

The man nodded, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned.

His mission was to protect the woman—the tamer.

Once they entered Neo Seoul, his job would be finished.

He disliked involving himself in matters outside his assignment.

The woman briefly frowned at his indifferent attitude, then relaxed.

Well, this isn’t my concern anymore. I completed the job safely.

She was a B-rank tamer.

But being a tamer didn’t mean she could control all magical beasts.

If that were the case, she—not the beasts—would rule the desert.

The number of creatures she could tame was extremely limited.

And taming beasts above her rank was impossible.

Especially dungeon bosses.

Regardless of rank, bosses couldn’t be tamed.

They possessed a strong sense of self.

And magical beasts with such strong egos instinctively resisted submission to humans.

The queen ghost dragonfly was no different.

As the apex of its swarm, it had a powerful will—far beyond her ability to dominate.

The only reason she had been able to control it and force its molting…

…was entirely due to an item.

The jeweled necklace around her neck.

The gem embedded at its center emitted seven colors in all directions.

A gemstone known as the Rainbow Gem.

Thus, the necklace was called the Rainbow Pendant.

S-rank item…

Her hand trembled as she touched it.

It wasn’t hers.

The man beside her had only lent it to her temporarily.

The power of an S-rank item was overwhelming.

It had temporarily elevated her B-rank abilities to S-rank.

Thanks to that, she was able to subdue the queen and its entire swarm.

And forcibly accelerate their growth and molting.

All for the sake of obtaining the queen’s wings.

Along the way, an unexpected raid party had entered, forcing her to lure them toward the hell moles.

But thanks to the man supporting her, everything had been resolved smoothly.

Who is he, really?

She didn’t know his identity.

He had never once removed his hood.

But one thing was certain—

He was incredibly powerful.

From what he had shown inside the dungeon, if he wished, she would be reduced to a lump of flesh in an instant.

Before long, they arrived at Neo Seoul.

They reached the entrance that led directly into the city, not the slums.

At the gate, the man spoke.

“Let’s part ways here.”

He held out his hand.

It meant he wanted the Rainbow Pendant back.

The woman bit her lip.

She didn’t want to return it.

But she had no choice.

Reluctantly, she removed the necklace and handed it over.

The man stored both the pendant and the queen’s wings into a subspace and said:

“We’ll meet again on the next assignment, Claire.”

“When will that be?”

“I’ll inform you when the time comes. Until then, get some rest.”

“Yes!”

The woman called Claire replied with a trembling voice.

After entering Neo Seoul, they went their separate ways.

Passing through the bustling district, the man headed toward the tallest building in the city—City Hall.

An Awakener guarding the entrance greeted him respectfully.

“Welcome. The mayor is waiting for you.”