Chapter 40: THE GREAT CHASAM

Aaron’s eyes narrowed slightly.

No matter how powerful you two become, I’m not going to let this slide.

He wasn’t someone who enjoyed holding grudges, but there were limits to how much he could tolerate.

And this?

This was something he wasn’t going to forgive so easily.

I’ll make you pay for it.

However, despite everything, all hope wasn’t lost.

He might not share his former friends’ obsession with power, but that didn’t mean he had no reason to become stronger.

There were still plenty of things he needed to accomplish.

He needed to survive.

He needed to catch up to Velma.

He needed to remain alive for his mother.

He needed to live up to his father’s expectations.

And most importantly, he needed to become strong enough to protect his sister.

There were still people who mattered to him.

Ambitions worth pursuing.

Goals worth achieving.

His second life wasn’t over just because two people had decided he wasn’t worth their time.

Far from it.

He still had a long way to go.

With that thought, Aaron finally began turning around, ready to step into the portal.

But before he could take a step, someone suddenly grabbed him by the wrist.

He paused and glanced to his side.

It was Natasha.

Her long black hair was a complete mess, whipping wildly in the violent wind. She had one arm raised directly in front of her face, shielding her eyes from the dust and debris swirling around them.

Despite the difficulty of keeping her eyes open, she managed to fix her gaze on him.

"What are you still waiting for? Let’s go!"

Her voice was hurried, almost drowned out by the howling wind.

Aaron blinked.

Huh?

He stared at her for a moment, seemingly caught off guard.

’I’d almost forgotten about this one.’

He had assumed she had already entered the portal with the others.

Before he could even formulate a response, Natasha tightened her grip around his wrist.

"Come on!"

Without waiting for his permission, she pulled him forward.

Aaron barely had time to react before she dragged him along with her, charging towards the mysterious portal alongside the remaining students.

And in the next instant...

The two of them plunged into the portal.

For a moment, everything went dark.

Aaron couldn’t see a thing. He couldn’t feel anything either. It was as though his entire body had been detached from the world, leaving him suspended in an endless void.

Natasha was no longer beside him.

The warmth of her hand, which had been firmly wrapped around his wrist just moments ago, had completely vanished.

He was alone.

In the vast, echoing darkness, a familiar booming voice suddenly resounded.

[Welcome to the Dungeon of the Underlords, Aaron!]

Zagadat Sorcery.

Before he could process the announcement, he felt his body begin to float.

For a brief moment, he remained suspended in the void, weightless and completely disoriented.

Then—

WHOOSH!

His body suddenly plummeted downward at an incomprehensible speed.

The sensation was almost surreal. There was no wind against his face, no visible surroundings, and nothing he could use to determine how fast he was falling.

Yet, he could feel it.

He was descending at an absurd speed.

Amidst the strange sensation, the voice of the Sorcery echoed once again, this time in a much quieter tone, almost like a whisper directly inside his ears.

[Your Trial shall now Begin.]

Less than a second later—

BAM!

A sharp, agonizing pain shot through his ribs as his body slammed against a solid surface.

His descent came to an abrupt end.

Aaron instinctively tried to spring back to his feet, but his body refused to cooperate. His arms trembled beneath his weight, and the moment he attempted to push himself up, a fresh wave of pain surged through his chest.

"Urgh..."

A pained groan escaped his lips.

He gave up on standing and remained sprawled on the ground for a while, struggling to recover from the impact.

Eventually, he managed to roll onto his side and slowly lift his upper body.

Taking a deep breath, he sat upright on the rough, blackened ground.

His gaze wandered across his surroundings.

Nothing.

There was no one around.

Aaron frowned.

That was strange.

He was supposed to be with Natasha. She had been holding his wrist when they jumped into the portal. He was certain of that.

Yet, somehow, she was nowhere to be seen.

Had they been separated during the transfer?

He couldn’t think of another explanation.

With a low grunt, Aaron placed his palms against the ground and gradually forced himself to his feet. His ribs still throbbed painfully, but he ignored the discomfort and began examining his surroundings more carefully.

It was dark.

Not completely dark, to the point where he couldn’t see anything, but certainly dark enough to make navigating the area difficult.

His vision was limited, and the faint illumination around him did little to improve the situation.

He squinted, trying to make out the distant structures around him.

Then, he raised his head.

Far above him, he could barely make out a stretch of rough, rocky stones extending across the darkness.

Aaron stared at it for a moment.

’I’ve watched my friends play Zagadat Sorcery countless times. I should know exactly where I am, no matter how difficult the situation seems.’

He had a general understanding of the dungeon’s layout. Even if he couldn’t remember every single detail, he was familiar enough with the game to recognize its major locations.

But as he examined his surroundings, something felt terribly wrong.

He glanced around.

All he could see were narrow, crooked formations of rock stretching in different directions.

The structures were irregular and horribly disorganized. There was no apparent pattern to their arrangement, and they stood so close together that moving between them was difficult.

They didn’t resemble ordinary dungeon walls.

If anything, they looked more like enormous rocky obstacles scattered randomly across the area.

Aaron’s eyes widened slightly.

’Wait... Obstacles?’

He narrowed his gaze.

What if they’re not walls?

His expression gradually changed. He wasn’t in a place he recognized.

Looking up again, he studied the enormous rocky formation stretching hundreds of metres above him.

Then It suddenly occurred to him that he might not be inside an ordinary dungeon chamber at all.

This place looked more like the depths of an enormous mountain.

And those structures surrounding him?

They weren’t walls. They were hills.

Large, irregular, stony hills scattered across the area, their enormous sizes and crooked formations making them easy to mistake for walls in the darkness.

’But they’re not walls.’