Chapter 82: Double Dungeon Incident (2)

The moment Neville finished announcing the first group, Eden’s confident expression froze.

To make his current Predicament even worse, his teammates were a bunch of random unimpressive looking People.

The four unfamiliar Awakeneds stepped forward from the crowd.

All four were D-Rank.

Eden stared at them for several seconds.

Then he slowly looked toward the man who was assigned to supervise them.

An older man with short gray hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and a weathered face stepped forward. He carried himself with the quiet confidence of someone who had spent decades fighting inside Gates.

And around his finger was a white ring.

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

’No.’

The ring was unmistakable.

White metal.

Simple design.

A faint, almost imperceptible glow of Essence.

Lord’s Mercy.

The counterpart to Lord’s Wrath.

The exact same ring Eden remembered from his previous life.

The same ring worn by the B-Rank Association Awakened who had led the first group into the double dungeon.

And the same man who had died inside it.

Eden’s expression darkened.

’You’ve got to be fucking kidding me."

He looked at the four D-Ranks.

Then at the old man.

Then at the blue Warp Gate.

His gaze lingered there for a moment.

’I should leave.’

There was no reason to stay.

He had already obtained his Awakened license through Round One. He didn’t particularly care about his ranking anymore, and the rewards for passing this round weren’t worth dying over.

More importantly, he knew what happened here.

He knew that the first group would discover a second Gate.

He knew that the second Gate was actually an A+ Rank dungeon disguised as something far weaker.

And he knew every single person who entered would die.

Including the old man.

Including the four D-Ranks.

Including himself, if he followed them.

’I can just walk away.’

The thought was surprisingly tempting.

He could tell Neville he wasn’t feeling well.

He could simply leave.

Sure, it would raise some eyebrows.

But it was better than dying.

Eden took one step backward.

The gray-haired supervisor glanced at him.

"You alright, kid?"

Eden stared at him.

The old man smiled faintly.

"You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

’Poor bastard.’

’He has no idea.’

Eden sighed internally.

Maybe he really should leave.

He turned around.

A hand landed firmly on his shoulder before he could take another step.

"Come on."

The old man started dragging him toward the Warp Gate.

Eden blinked.

"Wait."

"Round Two’s starting."

"I know."

"Then let’s go."

"I was actually thinking—"

"Thinking about what?"

"I’m not feeling—"

The old man laughed.

"No need to be nervous."

Then, he gave Eden another push.

Eden stumbled forward.

’This bitch.’

He glanced over his shoulder at the other four D-Ranks.

They were already following.

One of them, a young woman with short brown hair, smiled awkwardly.

"Guess we’re first."

A muscular man beside her nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Let’s do our best."

Another D-Rank adjusted the straps of his equipment.

"With a B-Rank supervisor, we should be fine."

The fourth simply nodded.

Eden stared at them.

’No. You really aren’t.’

The blue light swallowed all five of them.

’We’re all going to die miserable Deaths.’

And the world changed.

The cavern looked like a wide cavern.

Jagged stone walls.

Dim blue crystals embedded throughout the ceiling.

The faint smell of damp earth.

Nothing unusual.

Nothing immediately threatening.

The supervisor stepped forward and looked around.

"Alright. Same rules as before. Stay together, communicate, and don’t take unnecessary risks."

The four D-Ranks nodded.

Eden said nothing.

The old man glanced at him.

"You too."

"...Sure."

Eden began walking.

The group moved deeper into the dungeon.

For the first few minutes, everything went perfectly.

Almost too perfectly.

The four D-Ranks displayed surprisingly good teamwork.

One specialized in defense and kept himself at the front.

Another used a bow and picked off weaker monsters from a distance.

The woman used some sort of enhancement skill, strengthening the others whenever they encountered larger creatures.

The final member fought with a spear and coordinated surprisingly well with the shield user.

They weren’t individually impressive.

But together?

They were competent.

Very competent.

Eden watched them clear several groups of Abyss Creatures without needing much help from the supervisor.

"Nice work!" the supervisor shouted after another creature fell.

The D-Ranks smiled.

"That went pretty smoothly."

"Yeah."

"We’re doing better than I expected."

Eden walked several meters behind them.

He barely paid attention to the monsters.

His mind was somewhere else.

’Where could it be?’

The only way to avoid the double dungeon was to find out it’s location and deliberately lead the others away from it.

But unfortunately, Eden was not allowed to leave formation.

More importantly, there was a chance the group would find the dungeon on their own before he did.

So either way, Eden found himself in a situation that left him utterly powerless.

’I need to come up with something.’

He couldn’t simply announce that he knew there was a second dungeon.

That would immediately raise questions.

How would a newly awakened B-Rank know something that even the Association doesn’t?

Eden frowned.

Maybe he could manipulate their route.

Lead them somewhere else.

Or—

His thoughts were interrupted when the cave suddenly opened into a massive chamber.

Five paths branched out before them.

Eden stopped.

’...!’

His expression became serious.

’One of those probably leads to the double dungeon.’

The four D-Ranks looked around curiously.

"Which way?" one of them asked.

The supervisor studied the paths.

"Hmm."

Eden stared.

Five possibilities.

One led to the second Gate.

The others didn’t.

There was no way to tell for sure, so Eden had no choice but to take a risk.

’Damn it.’

The supervisor pointed toward the center.

"We’ll take—"

"Nah."

Everyone looked at Eden.

"I’m going this way!"

Eden immediately sprinted into the tunnel on the right.

"What the—?!"

The supervisor cursed and chased after him.

"Hey! Don’t run ahead!"

The four D-Ranks exchanged confused glances before following.

Eden ran.

’Come on.’

’It’s risky, but I’ll just have to trust my luck.’

’Things should be fine if this path avoids the double dungeon.’

Another branching corridor.

He took another turn.

Behind him, the others were struggling to keep up.

"Eden!"

"Slow down!"

"Where are you going?!"

He ignored them.

’Just let me get lucky once.’

He took another random turn.

Then another.

The supervisor was beginning to sound genuinely irritated.

"You can’t just sprint through a dungeon like this!"

Eden gritted his teeth.

’I’m trying to save your lives, old man.’

He turned one final corner.

And stopped.

The others nearly crashed into him.

The supervisor caught his breath.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Eden stared ahead.

His stomach sank.

At the end of the tunnel was a massive stone chamber.

And in its center stood a blue Gate.

Eden closed his eyes.

’...’

’...My luck is fucking terrible.’