Chapter 126: ZONE THREE.

Chapter 126: 126: ZONE THREE.

June and his team slowly approached them from a distance, acting as though they were beneath them.

Luther smiled as he stared at the portal. "I guess in the end... even the F-ranks who got some power boosts still couldn’t stand a chance against us..."

Karen glared at them. "You couldn’t even find the portal before us. That just shows how low your abilities are!"

Ryan shook his head as he said, "Too bad for us then..."

"Why waste time speaking with them?" Jason snapped. "Let’s get into the damn portal and get that damn core." He was already exhausted from everything that had happened.

With malicious smiles of victory, the Elite 5 turned and made their way toward the portal, confident that they had finally won against them.

But immediately after they stepped into the portal, a series of lightning bolts and electric shocks erupted.

The five of them stood frozen at the entrance as purple lightning completely consumed their bodies. They vibrated endlessly as the electric currents ran from head to toe, their skeletons briefly visible beneath the violent flashes.

"..."

June and the rest stood at a distance, watching in shock.

"What the hell...?" June blinked. "So that would have been us if we..." Shivers immediately ran down his spine.

"What the hell is that...?" Simon asked.

Ryan smiled. "Thought as much." He folded his arms. "I knew they wouldn’t just let us through the last gate like that. This is another random trick meant to weaken anyone trying to enter the final zone."

"And since they’re already weak to begin with..." Ryan smiled. "It’s over for them."

June nodded with a smile. "Good. Good show."

The electrification lasted for over two minutes. When it finally stopped, the five of them instantly collapsed onto the floor, unable to properly move as they muttered inaudible words.

June and his team then approached them, with June and Ryan smiling as they stared down at the fallen Elite 5. Even then, they could still see their vicious eyes glaring back at them.

"Thanks for protecting your juniors from danger. We’ll always remember your kindness," June said with a wink as the six of them walked past.

"Excuse me..."

June casually wiped his shoes against Rayder’s body before happily stepping through the portal.

The moment they were safely inside, a purple blast erupted behind them and threw the Elite 5 into the distance like discarded trash.

Immediately afterward, Evelyn woke up from June’s control. She slowly turned around and stared at the others in confusion.

"Huh? What happened...? Why are we here...? Did we win?"

---

[Welcome to the Final Zone.]

The system’s voice echoed through the space.

[To win this round, retrieve the Dungeon Core right before you.]

The space they entered was surprisingly simple. They stood inside what looked like a massive purple orb, spherical in shape, with purple stars and flickering lights floating throughout the space.

It felt as though they were standing inside a giant purple aquarium filled with constellations. For a while, they simply admired the strange atmosphere before finally lowering their gazes toward the small, pearl-shaped purple light glowing in the middle.

"That’s the Dungeon Core...?" June asked as Ryan nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Oh, so how do we take it?" June tilted his head. "Maybe we should just go and grab it? I mean, that’s it, right? Or is it much more complicated?"

Ryan immediately shook his head.

"No. We should never do that."

June turned to him, and their eyes met as Ryan continued.

"We should never just walk over and take the core like that..."

June casually tilted his head. "Huh? Is that so? And why is that?"

Ryan sighed. "It’s dangerous. Going over and taking the core just like that would automatically make us lose."

"Huh? How?" June asked curiously.

"If we randomly walk over and try to take it, we’ll be teleported out of here and sent back to Zone One again. All of us. It’s basically another trick planted here to send people back to square one, so we can never just walk up and take it."

June slowly nodded, running a hand over his chin. "That actually makes so much sense. And that would give the Elite 5 a chance to have their way..." He shook his head. "No, we can’t do that."

Ryan nodded with his arms folded. "Exactly. So we have to find a way around it." He looked around the strange space. "There should be some kind of tactic to help us, or maybe a task we have to complete before getting the core. It can’t possibly be that simple..."

Finn stood quietly beside them, listening and thinking.

At that moment, he knew what he had to do.

And he knew he had to do it quickly.

Immediately, he smiled and stepped forward. "I’ve read a lot of books about this dungeon, and I don’t think that’s true at all." He began walking toward the core. "I mean, there’s no such thing as that. We just have to go and grab the core and—"

His intention was simple.

He wanted to send them all back to square one, sabotage their team, and give the Elite 5 another opportunity to win.

But the moment he got close to the glowing orb, he suddenly felt a powerful magnetic force slam into him.

"Ah!"

Finn let out a sharp cry as pain rushed through his veins and forced him down onto his knees.

He was stuck.

He couldn’t move at all.

Like someone had pinned and frozen him in place, Finn remained on his knees, struggling desperately while pain spread throughout his entire body.

"Ah... What...?"

At that moment, he realized what had happened.

Slowly, he struggled to look up at June and Ryan, who were standing there with their arms folded as they calmly stared back at him.

Ryan and June shook their heads at the same time. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..."

June sighed. "Took you long enough."

Ryan nodded. "Long enough indeed."

Finn gasped as he stared at them. "It was a trap...?"

Ryan smiled. "I mean, it was never charity to begin with."