Lucien stumbled as he raced toward the dome's entrance, searching for Zephyr's figure while shouting inwardly in panic.
'Why?'
'Why did this dungeon appear so soon?!'
'Wasn't it supposed to appear five years later, when Erick used a powerful skill to battle a group of evil Espers who attacked the Association building and triggered it?'
He pushed through the crowd, calling out Zephyr's name and asking anyone nearby if they had seen a tall, handsome blind man. When no one could give him an answer, he realized Zephyr was still inside the dome.
Lucien felt like laughing at the irony—he knew he would die today if he didn't leave this place quickly and get far, far away—when he saw an A-rank Esper shouting for someone to alert the Association, saying Monica couldn't determine the dungeon's rank. The mana analyzer—a compass-like device used to measure a dungeon's mana levels—had exploded. Yet he—like an idiot—still ran toward the dome to find Zephyr.
Even though he was aware that—unlike dungeons ranked from the lowest F to the highest S according to their energy levels—this dungeon was different. It was a dormant dungeon that only activated when it sensed a large amount of mana nearby. It was the very dungeon that had wiped out half of City M in the novel, later classified by the entire world as the first Disaster-Level dungeon.
If not for Erick, maybe the entire Eastern Continent would have been annihilated.
Lucien dodged an Esper who tried to stop him and charged in as numerous horrified Espers pursued him, trying to catch him.
Shouts erupted all behind him:
"Stop! Why are you going in there?!"
"There are still newcomers trapped inside, and there aren't enough flying Espers! Can't you grasp the severity of the situation?!"
"I said, retreat, whoever you are!"
"Damn it, that Lucien—Lucien O'Connell! Does he really want to die that badly?!"
Those following him cursed under their breath. They were still trying to evacuate those stuck inside—especially the Guides—as the situation worsened by the second, yet this fool was actively seeking death!
Lucien clenched his fists, terrified, as he finally stepped into the dome and laid eyes on the collapsing terrain inside, muttering.
"I swear, if you die… I'm going to hate you more than the author who sent me here!"
Perhaps Lucien's threat had power, for he spotted the man in the very next second.
Zephyr stood next to a group of people on the far side of the ground, collapsing into a pit of darkness and crackling electricity, still waiting to be rescued. Two older instructors were calming the panicked Guides opposite him, while a group of flying Espers helped evacuate a few at a time from the dome.
However, before Lucien could even sigh in relief or figure out how to get Zephyr out of the dome before it was too late, he caught sight of Nana behind the man, wearing an icy smile, and finally lost his composure.
"You bitch! Don't you dare touch him!"
His curse cut through the noise so sharply that it startled everyone present. Even the Espers who had chased him there froze.
Monica and a few other Espers scattered around the pit turned their heads toward him with strange expressions. Across the dome, Zephyr shifted his stance at the sound of his voice, his lips parting as he called out softly.
"Cien?"
When everyone noticed him, their gazes naturally shifted to the person he cursed.
Nana's face lost all color for a second as many eyes fixed on her, but she quickly regained her composure—after all, she still hadn't raised her hands to push. She was… just thinking how tragic it would be if this blind man fell into the collapsing ground.
Of course, she would never actually do something so cruel, so evil, to anyone.
But she had accidentally let her thoughts slip. Who would have thought that Lucien, that bastard, would notice it and instantly call her out in front of so many people?
She shot a displeased frown at Lucien, whispering about how he could never be serious, even in a dangerous situation like this, before hurriedly moving to the back of the group with a look of exasperation.
Seeing this, the Espers glanced at Lucien with disapproval, thinking he was creating trouble even in the middle of an emergency.
Monica gestured to one of her teammates, silently signaling the man to quickly drag Lucien away and confine him to his room.
Amid the sudden distraction, everyone failed to notice the dark purple tentacles emerging from the pit, snaking toward the still-intact areas inside the dome. These tentacles were silent and undetectable.
Perhaps it was fate, or maybe simply pure bad luck. But when Zephyr heard Lucien's voice earlier, he had unconsciously taken a step in the voice's direction. Similar to him, Lucien was standing closest to the edge of the crumbling ground on the other side.
As a result, the two were the first to have their balance thrown off as their legs were seized by the tentacles. Zephyr hissed, but his eyes darkened when he heard a scream tear from Lucien as they were both dragged into the pit with lightning speed, prompting those nearby to cry out as they scrambled backward. Monica shouted immediately:
"Attack! Help them! It's a monster!"
But before she and the Espers around her, who had unleashed their weapons, could even attack the tentacles, the dark purple creature had already vanished into the pit.
It retreated so fast that no one could grasp just how big it was. All they could make out were many pairs of crimson eyes, glowing in the pit, that sent chills down their spines.
Silence.
For a split second, utter silence enveloped the entire dome as everyone stared at the pit in shock, still unable to comprehend what the hell had just unfolded before their eyes.
Even Nana was dumbfounded. She really couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the two annoying people she had wanted to get rid of had just fallen to their demises on their own. It had happened too abruptly.
She had indeed wanted to be rid of Lucien and Zephyr and had even devised several malicious schemes—but... not like this. Her fists clenched, and she averted her gaze.
As Erick's teammate, she had witnessed many deaths, so this wasn't a big deal.
In a way, she should be relieved.
The two annoyances were gone.
Now, she wouldn't have to dirty her own hands. Hopefully, they wouldn't survive.
At that moment, Monica's commanding voice thundered throughout the dome as she charged toward the pit with her team.
"All A-rank Espers present, follow me into the dungeon to save the two in danger! The rest, evacuate and call for reinforcements! This dungeon is definitely a high-rank one!"