[You have entered a dungeon that has been fully opened.]
[Dungeon <????? Laboratory>]
[No description available
Estimated Rank: ?
Reward: ???]
[You have entered Channel #6Eusb1. Current number of spectators: 6]
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[Additionally, ‘One Who Weaves Euphoria’ has entered… Current number of spectators: 4,341]
Amazingly, this single room was what people referred to as a dungeon. It wasn’t connected to another world, nor was there anything distinctly different about it. It was just a single room in a laboratory—and yet, the world had named it a dungeon.
“There are kids in here!”
Yoo Ji-won, yanking away the sheet covering something that resembled a prison cell, shouted urgently. Just as he said, inside lay around ten children who had collapsed—used as test subjects for Mana Stone experiments. Oh Kwon-hyuk ripped open the bars, and Yoo Ji-won and Aquila carried the children out in their arms.
“What do we do?”
“Let’s lay them over here for now.”
Oh Kwon-hyuk took off his coat and spread it on the floor. Aquila gently placed the children down on it.
They were all emaciated, their faces drawn and lifeless. A visceral hatred and revulsion for Angrboda surged within me, uncontrollably. I bowed my head, teeth clenched so tightly they ground together.
Afterward, we slowly examined the Mana Stone. It felt as though it possessed an overwhelming power, its refinement so immaculate and pure that it seemed almost divine. If I could sense this much, then for the Constellations, the impression must be on an entirely different level.
[CH.#6Eusb1/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: A concentrated embodiment of madness and delusion.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: There’s no other way to describe it.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: So? How does it make you feel?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Free Wind: How do you think?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Free Wind: It’s the kind of thing that makes you realize—if this goes wrong, the world really could be annihilated.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Weaves Euphoria: Shouldn’t we inform Father…?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Eyes of the Owl: If it’s this atrocious, then Father must already know.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Eyes of the Owl: The others are probably aware, too.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: And yet, no one’s touched it, right? You all know why.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: No one wants to risk getting wiped out, that’s why!]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Goddess Who Protects Maidens: Do not insult Father, Ares.]
But Ares scoffed, his unease and irreverence dripping from his words. It seemed he was dissatisfied with everything. Was it that I had made it here at all?
Or was it that the fate of all things rested in the hands of mere humans like us?
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: Am I wrong? You’re all the same.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: Afraid of disappearing, afraid of making the wrong move. Haven’t you just been watching this foolhardy, laughable adventure of a pint-sized Constellation?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: ……]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: Especially you, Apollo. You were the closest one to that Constellation’s life, weren’t you?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bloodsoaked Murderer: So how does it feel? Watching him struggle, clawing his way here with everything he had?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Guides the Dead: Apollo.]
Anubis called out to Apollo.
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Guides the Dead: Pay him no mind.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Guides the Dead: That one knows nothing. It’s only because he knows nothing that he can speak that way.]
I looked up at the Mana Stone. It had crossed a line that no human should be able to breach—something that could easily be called divine. While we all silently stared at it, the Constellations quarreled amongst themselves.
[CH.#6Eusb1/Horseback Herald: Is this the thing that led my brother to corruption?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Will Burn the World: Perhaps your brother chose corruption of his own accord.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Horseback Herald: Don’t be ridiculous!]
[CH.#6Eusb1/One Who Will Burn the World: Why do you find that idea absurd? It’s natural for countless Constellations, weary of stagnation, to seek new stories.]
“What… should we do now?”
Lee Myung-won spoke with a trembling voice, pushing up his glasses. He looked like the pressure of this situation was closing in on him. Not that he was alone—we all felt it.
Messages filled Yoo Ji-won’s phone screen, a cascade of worried chatter flowing in the chat window. I glanced at it briefly, then took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“We destroy it.”
[CH.#6Eusb1/Mocking Slaughterer: Don’t be foolish, little Constellation. Do you know what this is capable of?]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Mocking Slaughterer: With this, you could rule the world. Make all beings kneel before you.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Gnawing Wolf: Destroy it? Hahaha. Hahahaha. Spoken like someone who knows nothing.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Gnawing Wolf: So you’re going to trample over all those lives? Do you even understand how many sacrifices were made to create this?]
Whisper whisper.
It was like a devil murmuring in my ear. The tongue of a snake toying with me. There was power in the words—so much so that it truly sounded like something I should not do. As if it weren’t a choice I was even allowed to make.
My vision wavered. But I forced my eyes shut and took another deep breath.
That’s when Baek Tae-beom gripped my hand tightly.
I couldn’t stop the tremble that ran through my fingers. But instead of letting go, Baek Tae-beom only squeezed tighter, forcing me to look at him. His gaze was unwavering, fixed solely on me.
“If that’s what you say, hyung… then that’s what I’ll do.”
So don’t worry about anything. Baek Tae-beom spoke with calm resolve. I nodded, gave his hand a firm squeeze in return, and then placed my hand atop the Mana Stone.
Yeah. If I destroy this…
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bringer of Sorrow: No. You mustn’t do that.]
Sluuurp—something inside the Mana Stone suddenly yanked at my hand. I had no chance to react as I was dragged in helplessly. It happened so fast that I stupidly lifted my head, only to lock eyes with everyone staring back at me in shock.
Thump.
When I slapped my palm against the wall, it bounced off. That’s when I realized—I was completely trapped inside the Mana Stone.
“……!”
And standing directly in front of me—blocking my path—
A blue giant.
Thick, pitch-black sludge-like slime dripped from its body and pooled onto the floor. From its back stretched long, spider-like limbs that scraped and clawed at the ground. It bore a massive cocoon upon its back.
The giant, as if switching places with me, crawled out of the Mana Stone and now faced my companions.
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bringer of Sorrow: Look at this pitiful struggle.]
[CH.#6Eusb1/Bringer of Sorrow: You fear me.]
Angrboda.
“Ah, I suppose if I speak like this, you all can hear me better.”
Angrboda chuckled, a creepy heh-heh-heh slipping from her lips.
“But it seems you’re not in the mood to listen.”
Once I gathered myself, I turned to look at my companions. I scratched desperately at the wall of the Mana Stone with my fingernails and shouted their names.
Maybe it was the sheer pressure and terror pouring from Angrboda’s manifested form, but everyone’s faces had gone pale—most of them looked as if they could barely stay standing. Only Oh Kwon-hyuk and Baek Tae-beom managed to maintain a semblance of composure, though it was clearly unlike their usual selves.
“Hyung…”
“No, don’t worry, little human. I cannot harm this tiny god. Because the world itself wills him to exist.”
Angrboda’s form swayed, then stood upright. Her figure remained colossal, her presence so overwhelming it made my skin crawl.
“One who twisted fate… One who seeks to defy it. Yes, you’ve come this far. Or rather… it was inevitable, wasn’t it?”
“Let me out. Right now!”
I pounded on the wall and shouted. But the Mana Stone didn’t so much as flinch. Angrboda only laughed with a shrug and tilted her head up.
“Why does one born from the end of the world now try to prevent its ruin?”
“What did you say?”
“How pitiful. You don’t even know your own destiny. Very well—I’ll be kind and tell you…”
Angrboda placed her hand on the surface of the Mana Stone.
The world before my eyes turned black.
No—what was in front of me was…
Me?
It was myself. Younger than now, with nothing in my hands. Dressed in ragged clothes, eyes full of tears, knees scraped—perhaps from falling somewhere.
I couldn’t even scoff at it. All I could do was stare.
Angrboda gently wrapped her arms around the child—around me—and whispered with mock compassion.
“Do you know your parents?”
“What kind of—”
“Do you know why you were born?”
She spoke slowly, deliberately.
“Do you know why you live? Why you exist?”
She stroked the child’s head. Her eyes narrowed into a smile—a twisted grin soaked in repulsiveness. And yet the child—I—clung to her, as if her arms were those of a mother.
“You are a being born from Destruction.”
My heart dropped with a heavy thud.
