Chapter 105: The Thing That Sleeps

Chapter 105: The Thing That Sleeps

"I don’t think it has been asleep for a few years."

Chloe said it quietly, as if speaking too loudly would prove her wrong. Her visor was still locked on the massive energy reading below. It wasn’t spiking. It was breathing.

Sky’s expression hardened. He looked from her visor to the abyss and back again.

"How long? Give me a real number. Not a guess."

"Possibly decades," she said. "Maybe longer. The energy around it has crystallized. That only happens when a high-rank beast or entity stays dormant for a very long time. Twenty, thirty years at least."

Vesper looked toward the ancient ruins, toward the broken temples and fallen towers that had been there even longer than the sleeper.

"Then why hasn’t anyone awakened it? If it’s been here that long, someone must have found this place before us."

Chloe slowly looked at the enormous gate behind them. The three circles were still glowing faintly, their light reflecting off the black material.

"Maybe they did," she said. "Maybe that’s exactly what happened."

Sky turned sharply. The thought immediately clicked in his mind, connecting all the pieces they had found.

The previous Awakened. The forgotten camp with the untouched supplies. The warning carved into stone.

If anyone finds this camp, don’t follow us.

It wasn’t a warning about the labyrinth. It was a warning about what was beyond the gate.

Sky looked back into the underground ruins, at the city of the dead that housed something even deader, but not quite.

"Maybe this is why they never came back," he said. "They opened the gate. Just like we did."

A sudden tremor shook the entire chamber. It came from far below, but it was strong enough to shake their platform.

BOOM. The sound was deep and heavy.

A distant structure collapsed somewhere in the darkness. They heard it crumble, stone hitting stone, echoing through the underground world like a distant thunderclap.

Sky’s eyes widened. He instinctively grabbed the edge of the platform to steady himself.

"Was that us? Did we do that? Did the gate closing cause it?"

Chloe’s visor flashed red as she scanned for the source of the tremor.

"No. That came from below. It wasn’t structural. It was movement."

Another tremor hit. This one was stronger and lasted longer.

BOOM. The platform under their feet actually shifted a few centimeters.

A massive cloud of dust rose from somewhere far below, near the central ruins where the energy concentration was highest.

Something shifted down there. Not enough to stand, not enough to fully awaken. Just enough to turn over in its sleep.

Just enough to remind them that it was still alive and that it knew its door had been opened.

Vesper immediately lowered her weapon. Her holy light, which had been flaring, dimmed as she suppressed her energy completely.

"We leave," she said. It wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order. "Right now."

Sky nodded instantly. There was no debate, no plan to study it further. Some things you don’t study.

For once, there was no argument between them. All three turned away from the underground ruins at the same time.

But Chloe suddenly stopped. She wasn’t looking at the gate anymore. She was looking to the side. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Wait," she said, raising a hand.

Sky looked back, annoyed and anxious to go.

"What? What now? We need to go, Chloe."

She pointed toward the far side of the chamber, past the edge of their platform. Through the gloom, something was visible.

"There. Look."

A narrow passage was visible between two ancient structures that clung to the side of the cliff. It was almost hidden by fallen stone.

Unlike the rest of the ruins, which were swallowed in that unnatural darkness, it contained something strange.

Light. Very faint, but not the blue or gold of the gate.

But unmistakable. It was flickering, natural.

Sky narrowed his eyes, activating his own enhanced vision to cut through the dust.

"Another route," he said. "Not back through the camp. A different way."

Chloe nodded, her visor finally getting a stable reading now that it was pointed away from the sleeper.

"It appears to lead upward. The angle is steep, but it’s going up. And the light signature matches sunlight, not Array light."

Vesper examined it from where she stood, judging the distance and the danger.

"Can we reach it without descending? I am not going down there, even one level."

"Yes," Chloe said, tracing the path. "Look."

A broken bridge extended from their platform toward the passage. It was made of the same black material, but it was ancient and damaged.

But a large section had collapsed in the middle, leaving a gap of open air over the abyss.

Sky looked at the gap, estimating it. The darkness below made it look worse than it was.

"How far? How big is the jump?"

"Approximately twelve meters," Chloe said. "A little more if you count the broken edge."

Sky smiled faintly for the first time since the gate opened. Twelve meters was a lot for a normal person. For them, it was manageable.

"That’s nothing. I’ve jumped further with the Blood Dash."

He summoned a Soul Clone. The dark figure appeared beside him, more solid now after absorbing some of the gate’s energy.

Sky pointed toward the other side, toward the solid part of the bridge near the passage.

"Go. Check it."

The clone immediately stepped forward without hesitation. It didn’t jump. It phased through the broken section, turning semi-transparent, and appeared on the opposite platform in an instant.

Chloe’s eyes widened slightly, even though she had seen it dozens of times.

"That ability continues to be ridiculous. It breaks every law of spatial movement."

Sky smirked, watching his clone scan the other side.

"Useful, though. Very useful. Especially when someone builds a bridge with a hole in it."

The clone disappeared and returned moments later, merging back into Sky. The information flowed through.

Sky received the information through their connection. He saw what the clone saw.

The passage was safe. No creatures nesting inside, no Array traps left behind.

No traps. The stone was stable, if old.

And most importantly—

It went upward. Steeply upward, winding toward that light.

"We’re leaving," Sky said. "Now, before the sleeper decides it doesn’t like visitors."

Vesper nodded and moved first, taking a running start.

They carefully crossed the broken bridge. It was more tense than Sky had made it look. The bridge creaked under their weight.

Chloe used her equipment to stabilize the remaining section while Sky sent his Soul Clones ahead to scout, one after another, making sure the path ahead stayed clear.

The passage gradually became narrower as they left the massive chamber behind. The black material gave way to older, more normal stone.

The further they went, the weaker the tremors became. The breathing faded until they could only feel it as a faint vibration in the floor, then not at all.

Eventually, the ancient stone beneath their feet changed completely. The walls became rougher, less perfect.

Natural rock replaced the perfectly constructed ruins. Moss began to appear in the cracks.

Then Sky noticed something that made his heart stop.

Light. Real sunlight. Not the fake blue glow of the Array, not the gold of holy energy.

He stopped so fast that Vesper almost bumped into him.

"Is that... is that what I think it is?"

Chloe pushed past him, eager to see. Her visor immediately adjusted, dimming to compensate for the brightness ahead.

"Natural light. Full spectrum sunlight. It’s an exit. It’s a real exit."

Vesper’s expression softened slightly for the first time in hours. A small, tired smile appeared.

"An exit," she repeated. "We found a way out."

Sky stared ahead at the growing light at the end of the tunnel. It was getting brighter with every step.

After everything they had endured, the forgotten expedition, the sealed gate, the sleeping dungeon... they were finally going back to the surface.

But before they could celebrate, before they could even run toward it—

A final tremor shook the passage behind them. It was distant, but powerful.

BOOM. Dust fell from the rough natural ceiling.

Sky looked back over his shoulder. The distant underground ruins remained silent and dark behind them.

Whatever was sleeping down there had not awakened. It had just shifted again, reminding them it was there.

Not yet. It was still sleeping. For now.

He turned toward the light, his decision made. He didn’t want to be here when it finally woke up.

"Let’s go before it changes its mind," he said, his voice urgent. "Move, now."

They hurried forward, no longer careful, no longer stealthy. They ran toward the light.

The light grew brighter and brighter until it was blinding.

The air became warmer, no longer cold and stale. The smell of ancient stone slowly disappeared, replaced by earth and leaves and wind.

And after what felt like an eternity trapped beneath the labyrinth, after days of darkness and breathing that wasn’t their own...

Sky took his first step toward the surface, shielding his eyes.

None of them knew what waited outside. They didn’t know if it was day or night, or what forest they would emerge in.

But whatever it was out there, whatever world awaited them beyond the dungeon...

It couldn’t possibly be worse than what they had just left behind.

Could it?