Ethan gave the scroll a quick spin between his fingers, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. Without wasting another second, he broke into a run toward the dungeon.
The last time he had stepped into "Myriad Lands Cave", he had been a newcomer—barely seventy stars of combat power. Back then, he had been forced to keep his wits sharp just to stay alive.
But now? Things were different. His combat power had soared past seven hundred stars. Even if the Nightmare difficulty multiplied the danger fivefold, he felt no pressure at all.
After a short registration process, Ethan stood at the dungeon's massive stone gate. In his hand, the one-turn scroll almost hummed with energy. Without hesitation, he crushed it.
The parchment dissolved instantly, breaking into a cascade of glowing motes. Before his eyes, the usual silver-etched entrance was replaced by a new, black gateway—a yawning mouth of darkness that pulsed with ominous energy.
Ethan blinked in surprise. So it doesn't overwrite the original dungeon—it creates an entirely new entrance. That made things far simpler. No risk of disrupting any professionals already inside.
Compared to the old entrance, this Nightmare-level portal was far more intimidating. It looked less like a doorway and more like a hungry abyss. Just staring into it made the air feel heavy, as if it might swallow you whole.
Any ordinary professional might have hesitated… or run away altogether.
Ethan didn't. Without even a moment's pause, he stepped forward and vanished into the darkness.
The guard on duty nearby froze mid-step, jaw slack. In all his years stationed here, he had never seen someone take on this dungeon's one-turn mission—much less on Nightmare difficulty.
Professional instinct took over. He quickly moved to block the entrance from any more would-be participants. Rules were rules—once someone activated a Nightmare one-turn dungeon, no one else was allowed in until it was over.
"That kid's got guts," one guard muttered. "But can he really clear it at level twenty?"
Another shrugged. "It's gonna be rough. But if he's confident enough to go in without hesitation, maybe he'll last longer than we think."
"Hopefully he brought a Portal Scroll. No shame in escaping alive."
They gave the dark entrance a wary glance. To most of them, it was a mystery they'd never dared touch. After all, the guards here were average professionals, tasked only with security. Entering was for higher-caliber fighters. To them, anyone without a completed one-turn who entered on Nightmare difficulty was basically signing their own death warrant.
From the corner, Lao Wang—an old acquaintance of Ethan's—arrived just in time to see him disappear inside. He sighed heavily. Chasing after him was pointless; he'd only have to wait. But even standing near that abyss made him feel uneasy.
What kind of summoned beast did Ethan raise, he wondered, to give him that kind of courage?
---
Just then, two newcomers approached—a fat man shaped almost perfectly like a sphere, and a stick-thin man whose narrow face seemed to stretch even longer under the sunlight. They stopped, staring at the twin dungeon entrances in confusion.
The fat one waddled closer. "Uh, hey… which of these is the 'Myriad Lands Cave'?"
"Both," a guard replied flatly.
"...Huh?"
The guard gave them a sharp once-over. "You two professionals?"
"Of course," the fat man said quickly.
"Then you should know this. That black one? It's a mission dungeon created by a one-turn scroll. Someone's in there right now doing their advancement test."
"Ohhh," the fat man nodded slowly. "Got it."
Off to the side, Lao Wang eyed them with suspicion. Something about their mismatched proportions didn't sit right with him. But the world was full of strange-looking professionals; he let it go and returned to sorting his notes on the Grey Mist Secret Realm.
The fat and thin pair moved away, speaking in hushed tones.
"What's a one-turn scroll?" the fat man whispered.
"How would I know? I wasn't a professional before," the thin man replied. Then he glanced at the black entrance and smirked. "Looks powerful though, doesn't it?"
"So… which one do we splash the 'Liquid of Chaos' on?"
"The most dangerous-looking one, obviously. The stronger the dungeon, the more our master will praise us."
"You sure?"
"Of course. Now go do it."
The fat man instantly shook his head. "No way, you do it. You'll get all the credit."
With a scowl, the thin man snatched the vial. "Fine. I'll do it. Just be ready to run when I'm done."
---
He crept toward the black entrance, vial in hand. But before he could reach it—
Chi—
A brand-new private car, still without a license plate, screeched into the plaza and drifted to a stop so hard it nearly rolled. The driver, a bearded man radiating authority, flung open the door.
"Hey, you!" he shouted. "Skinny guy—come here!"
The thin man froze, then bolted toward the dungeon instead.
The guards sensed danger immediately and moved to intercept, but they barely had time to draw breath before the thin man's figure blurred—
Boom!
It was like a truck had hit them. Both guards were hurled through the air, smashing into the ground in crumpled heaps. Their heavy armor bent and twisted under the impact. When they landed, they didn't move again.
Kacha—
The vial shattered in the thin man's hand, spilling gray, oily liquid onto the dungeon's black entrance. It hissed and bubbled ominously.
The bearded man's vest snapped against his broad shoulders as his killing intent flared. "Damn you!"
He had been on his way here the moment he received word of trouble, but he'd waited—just in case confronting the pair too soon exposed his identity. That hesitation had cost the lives of two good guards, and his fury boiled over.
The thin man turned to flee… only to find the fat man had vanished. In his place was a rapidly approaching fist, growing larger by the second.
BAM!
If the guards had been hit by a truck, this was like being struck by a fighter jet at twice the speed of sound. The thin man's body didn't just fall—it exploded into a crimson mist, scattering to the wind.
Lao Wang, who had been watching from the side, went pale. Speed fighters were the bane of mages like him. This one had killed two heavily armored guards in seconds. Their armor was as tough as the finest silver-tier defense gear, maintained at gold-tier expense—yet it had been crushed bare-handed.
High agility, monstrous strength… what kind of class was that?
Before he could process it, the impossible happened—the "invincible" thin man was gone in a single punch.
The bearded man turned his gaze on Lao Wang.
"I didn't do anything," Lao Wang blurted, hands up.
"I know. You're with the Job Transfer Temple," the man said evenly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm… waiting for Ethan to come out of the dungeon," Lao Wang admitted.
Recognition flickered in the man's eyes. "Ethan, huh… right. I remember now."
With the man showing no intent to harm him, Lao Wang's tension eased—until he glanced back at the dungeon entrance and saw the bubbling gray stain where the liquid had been poured.
His face drained of color. "I'm such an idiot… what happened to the dungeon?!"
---
Important events in this chapter:
Ethan activates the Nightmare one-turn dungeon for "Myriad Lands Cave" without hesitation.
Two mysterious men arrive with the "Liquid of Chaos," targeting the dungeon entrance.
A bearded master arrives, but hesitates, leading to the death of two guards.
The thin man splashes the gray liquid onto the dungeon entrance.
The bearded master kills the thin man with a single devastating punch.
Lao Wang realizes something terrible may have happened to the dungeon after the sabotage.
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