Chapter 135: A Strange New S-Rank Dungeon Appeared

Kei stood facing Moon So-Yeon, his hands unconsciously intertwined. He had wanted to bring this up the moment she rushed into the shop, but for reasons unknown, he had only managed to find his voice just now.

"Moon So-Yeon..."

He hesitated slightly.

"About Kang Ian... hasn’t he returned yet?"

Kei had tried sending Kang Ian messages since last night, but the man hadn’t replied at all. It was likely he was trapped inside some Dungeon yet again.

Moon So-Yeon looked at Kei’s expression, instantly understanding who he was asking about. She let out a soft sigh and took a seat on the sofa.

"Not yet."

Kei’s fingers tightened instinctively.

"How long has he been gone?"

Moon So-Yeon placed a hand against her forehead, a clear look of exhaustion washing over her features.

"As for that... first, you need to listen to what I have to say."

Kei and Kim Sora both turned their gaze toward her.

Moon So-Yeon fell silent for a few seconds, as though trying to organize the chaotic web of information in her mind.

"Recently, a new S-rank Dungeon surfaced in the southern sector of the city. The moment the Dungeon gate stabilized, the Crying Ghost Guild dispatched a reconnaissance team inside."

"The initial team consisted of one S-rank hunter and two A-rank hunters."

Kim Sora sat down beside Kei, asking with a hint of curiosity, "Did they run into powerful monsters?"

"That is precisely the issue." Moon So-Yeon looked straight at her. "They didn’t encounter a single monster."

Sora blinked in bewilderment.

"Not a single one? I thought Dungeons were supposed to be crawling with monsters?"

"Indeed," Moon So-Yeon nodded gently. "It wasn’t that they failed to meet powerful monsters, nor was it a matter of taking a wrong turn. They literally did not lay eyes upon a single living creature throughout the entire scouting mission."

Kei frowned.

A Dungeon devoid of monsters was already an anomaly in itself. Yet compared to what Moon So-Yeon was about to reveal, that probably wasn’t even the most terrifying part.

"Inside that Dungeon is a forest," Moon So-Yeon continued. "A dense jungle so vast its boundaries couldn’t be seen."

She recalled the S-rank female hunter’s debriefing, her voice slowing down.

"Trees grew tightly packed together. There were trunks so towering their crowns vanished into the mists overhead. Vines choked the ground, while massive roots jutted out like giant serpents."

Kim Sora shivered slightly. "Were those plants special in some way?"

"They resembled no flora ever discovered in previous Dungeons." Moon So-Yeon cast her gaze out the window. "The leaves possessed bizarre coloration, emitting a faint glow from their stems. Just standing close to them was enough to feel the abundant energy pulsing within."

"Consequently, the scouting team dug up a few plant specimens to bring back for research."

Kei propped his chin on his hand. "Did they run into monsters afterward?"

"No." Moon So-Yeon shook her head. "They pushed three hours deep into the forest. Three hours, at the speed of a high-rank hunting team, that’s enough to cover a massive distance. Yet despite inspecting every single bush and rock crevice, they found not a single beast."

"That forest contained no ambient animal noises, no droppings, no crawling reptiles, only plant life was capable of surviving in there."

The room grew progressively quiet.

Moon So-Yeon clasped her hands tightly together over her knees. "A forest brimming with energy, yet utterly devoid of any living creatures save for flora. That unsettling realization prompted the S-rank female hunter to turn back immediately after harvesting a few samples."

Kei asked, "Were the specimens brought back intact?"

Moon So-Yeon didn’t answer right away, fixing him with a grave look.

"The strangest phenomenon occurred the moment they stepped out of the Dungeon gate. The plant specimens withered instantly."

Kim Sora blinked. "Withered?"

"Yes. Not because of dehydration. They withered right before their eyes, as though their energy had been entirely sucked dry."

Moon So-Yeon raised a hand, slowly acting out the scene. "The glowing leaves turned black in an instant. The stems shrank, fracturing into brittle, dry fragments. Within seconds, every single sample had disintegrated into a pile of powder."

Kei felt a heavy weight settle in his chest. "What about the items stored inside spatial rings?"

"No exception," Moon So-Yeon replied immediately. "Even when stored inside spatial rings, they withered right alongside the external samples."

Kim Sora and Kei exchanged glances.

Spatial rings possessed the ability to isolate internal items from the outside world. If the plants still withered despite being stowed inside, the root cause certainly wasn’t as simple as ambient temperature or a lack of water.

"It’s possible that the energy indigenous to that Dungeon cannot exist outside of it," Kei reasoned.

"We came to the same conclusion," Moon So-Yeon nodded. "Though we have yet to verify if that’s the true cause."

"Then why did Kang Ian go in there?" Kei’s voice dropped low.

A bizarre Dungeon of this nature demanded an investigation. Since Kang Ian suddenly went radio silent last night, he had undoubtedly been the one to lead the team inside.

Moon So-Yeon let out a soft sigh. "Because we needed to understand what on earth was transpiring inside that Dungeon."

She looked down at her hands. "The initial scouting team only went in to map the terrain. They didn’t dare push too deep because the deeper they went, the heavier the sense of dread became. But if there are no monsters and no obvious traps, there has to be another reason for that Dungeon’s existence."

"That is why Kang Ian personally led a second team inside, just in case."

Ever since the surge of high-tier Dungeons popping up across the city, anomalous occurrences in Dong-San City had become a regular fixture.

First came the monsters bearing potent crowd-control effects that triggered widespread potion shortages, followed immediately by this Dungeon filled entirely with bizarre flora.

The Crying Ghost Guild could hardly afford to brush these anomalies aside.

Kei fell silent.

He knew Kang Ian was an SS-rank hunter and the Guild Leader of Crying Ghost. If even the initial scouting squad failed to uncover anything, Kang Ian was likely seeking to unearth the secrets buried deep within that forest himself.

"Is he currently inside it?"

"Yes," Moon So-Yeon nodded. "Barring any unforeseen complications, they were supposed to return by this afternoon and report their findings."

Kei gazed out the window.

The sky over Dong-San City remained clear and serene, sunlight bathing the rooftops and streets outside. Everything looked unfathomably normal.

A newly emerged S-rank Dungeon, a monster-less forest, and vegetation that rotted the second it left the gate.

Kei instinctively clenched his fists; he loathed this sensation. It always felt like he was being shoved headfirst into a whirlwind of chaos, entirely unable to predict what would strike next.

Right at that instant, the shop door burst wide open.

A young hunter stumbled inside. His face was drained of color, his hair disheveled, and his combat armor caked in mud. It looked as though he had sprinted straight from the Dungeon sector here without pausing for a single breath of rest.

Moon So-Yeon snapped to her feet, asking in a panic, "What happened?!"

The hunter planted both hands on his knees, panting heavily. He tried desperately to suck in several lungfuls of air, yet his chest continued to heave violently.

"Th-This is bad, So-Yeon-nim..."

"Calm down and speak." Moon So-Yeon stepped forward to steady his arm. "Where is the Captain? Where are the others?"

The hunter raised his head. His eyes were swimming with stark terror.

"The Guild Leader..."

His voice trembled so violently it was barely intelligible.

"The Guild Leader is still trapped inside the Dungeon!"

Moon So-Yeon froze. "Did something happen to Kang Ian?"

The hunter swallowed hard, then blurted out in a cry:

"It’s bad, So-Yeon-nim! The Guild Leader fell into a deep sleep inside the Dungeon and refuses to wake up!"