Chapter 14
In the middle of their gathering, a stone pillar floated.
Carved roughly in one of its sides, it read:
The key to the world lies in the key of creation.
The north was frost and the south was fire.
Their eternal joining was interrupted by the void.
When these combined, the seed of origin proliferated.
When the seed exploded, its progeny was devastated.
The keyhole shall be the cranium of the progenitor.
Face the Jotun.
…
Rion woke up. He unclasped his terrible grip from his sword and stretched his tired fingers.
His body was still extremely tired and his heart beat slowly, hibernating in preparation for the destined hardship. His heart rate began speeding up at a slow pace as he recounted the events that had just occurred.
The fire in his lungs had died down and now what he felt instead was the headache and exhaustion induced by mana depletion.
While his entire surroundings were burnt, the only burn he suffered was on his missing right arm whose stub had been cauterized.
Dragging the heavy sword around, the soil made crunches and cracks from the weight of the sharp end. Despite missing an arm, Rion could not leave his weapon behind… it was their key to going back home alive, after all.
Sensing movement behind him, he quickly lunged forward and turned around to face his attacker. Aware that he was now missing half of his striking power, Rion instinctively gathered momentum with his shoulder through circular motions.
The ghost suddenly bent and struck, and Rion slammed his greatsword on its head, cleaving it into two ghostly pieces. They fizzled out from existence and became air. He couldn't help but reminisce how just a few days ago he complained about the weight of the sword and now he was forced to swing it with one hand.
(These ghosts don't just spawn out of nowhere… they're being sent out again? The team will likely stay together in these conditions and they should be moving towards me.)
With an empty gaze, he prodded on in the direction of the base. Rion decided he could not stay still in one spot as he would eventually be overwhelmed by ghosts.
[Ymir]
A soft voice blew into his ear, crawling deep into his ear canal and massaging his inner tingles with a sweetness and slight timber.
He flinched away from the left, where he had heard the voice and saw nothing but the vast expanse of doom with the long line of sticks that used to be trees.
-...Might I be going crazy?- Rion couldn't help but think he was, considering he suddenly heard the soft voice of a woman.
[Plunge your key into the seed of origin…]
The ethereal voice once again ringed in Rion's left ear but this time he did not flinch. He stared at the floor, pondering if the voice was a hostile ghost or a key he had been given.
"Who are you?" He spoke out loud. The voice did not return.
"Why are you helping me?"
"What is the purpose of this mission?"
Seeing this silence, he made a quick and firm decision. His experience told him acting swiftly was the key to victory, and this had never failed him.
Rion would not meet back up at base. He would head to the giant and plunge his sword into it.
He had effectively taken the soft woman's words as a hint and deduced that the key was the sword he was holding, as it had been the only tool capable of breaking the giant's defense with no resistance.
His steps crunched against the dried soil and headed towards the mighty mountain-like corpse looming over the hills.
…
…
…
— The hunters are having a terrible time right now! Look at the scenery and the terrible landscape that was instantly decimated after the explosion of that giant!
The commentator's voice struck like thunder.
Si-Eun couldn't help but hold her chest in sorrow, anxiety, and a simmering hope. The national television was on full display showing the dungeon cameramen's perspective.
The recording was not live and she wondered why the government and guild had allowed such a terrible scene to be broadcasted to the entire nation.
An obvious thought came into her mind that she vehemently desired to refuse: Rion was dead.
But she refused to believe so. His strong body had surely protected him from the blast that was decently far away…
She had so many questions and worries at this moment.
Si-Eun solemnly looked out her window and saw the skyline of the city from her small and minimalist apartment. Confusion tainted her sorrow as she wondered why she held these stubborn feelings for Rion, but the thought disappeared. She was not ashamed of her affection and thought it only natural.
Quiet like this early morning, she closed her eyes and prayed while holding the leaf-shaped necklace her mother had left for her.
A message from her father came in:
Father: [Have you seen the news?]
You: [Yes.]
Father: [We'll be preparing the funeral procession soon for all hunters that have died. Be ready.]
You: [You already know the entire list?]
She was left on read.
Heat constricted her throat from all sides and a pressure from her startlingly quickening heartbeat pressed on her chest. She felt sweat and chills down her back as her fingers trembled.
You: [Is Rion dead?]
Si-eun hesitantly sent the message.
She stared at her father's cold 'online' status for 40 seconds before finally receiving a reply.
The typing felt like hours and she wondered if her internet had failed or if her father was debating what to tell her.
Father: [Missing.]
Though disappointed, slight hope glimmered in her heart. A small root of doubt wiggled its way into her thoughts, wondering why her father seemed so detached from these deaths…
…
…
…
Around the world, the entirety of humanity waited. They anxiously waited for the news that the dungeon with multiple layers would be cleared. The countdown ran 19 hours now since the start of the subjugation.
Boys, men, girls, women watched short videos and compilations of the battles that occurred in the dungeon.
The tragedy of these deaths had not yet hit them because many were not acquainted with hunters and were only names in an unfortunate list.
Veterans of the dungeon profession felt sympathy and sorrow for the deaths that just occurred.
Family members prepared funerals, with pride and mourning for the contributions of their heroic relative.
In the city, cameras and crews and spectators remained near the parking lot that housed the dungeon. Each person anxiously waited for signs from the portal while cameras remained zoomed and focused on the setting.
As the closed portal of the dungeon swirled and swished, a deeper look into the mana constructed gate would reveal intricate, complex, and repeated patterns intertwining into a single shape.
This single shape revealed the form of a ball, a perfectly spherical shape with no blemishes or imperfections. It was covered by the mana flow of the dungeon portal, however, no one would've known what it was were it uncovered to the eye.
Mana slowly fed into it, bolstering its power and existence at a very slow pace. The portal glimmered slightly, as if purposefully hiding the existence of this magical item.
For now, the only purpose and goal of the hunters was to clear the dungeon and come back home to rest, analyze, and request backup for the next layer of the dungeon. On the contrary, Earth would be overrun by monsters and human life would cease to exist in a world reigned by beasts.