Chapter 150: Light At the End of the Tunnel
’So this must be where the real ending of this dungeon is! Though this doesn’t exactly give me a good feeling.’
While walking through the curtain of luminescent moss covering the hidden cave entrance, Rohan quickly found himself in complete darkness after barely fitting his body through the gap and making his way through.
He couldn’t tell because of the darkness, as there was no more moss inside to light the place up for him, but he felt like this place was actually taking him further underground, rather than an endless straight line like the dungeon’s cave interior had been so far.
He traversed, walked endlessly, but as he already knew, no wolves or enemies of any kind were to be found in this place.
All he saw was the same dark, damp cave he’d been in for days already. He was draped in complete darkness by this point as not a single mote of light made its way into his eyes, leading to a foreboding feeling to develop and grow heavier and heavier the further down he travelled.
It reached a point where he no longer felt safe without having his molten-stone skin permanently activated and using its lava to generate enough light to see his surroundings.
But even that only extended a few metres or so ahead. Rohan was even beginning to think that turning around and heading back might be a decent idea, as although he had mostly recovered from the constant slaughter of the previous day, he wasn’t quite at 100%
At best he was maybe three quarters of his peak.
But his brain kept telling him to continue onwards regardless. ’The Origin Realm itself confirmed that the wolves were completely cleared of this cave. So where does this ominous feeling come from?’
’Was this place even meant to be discovered? It was covered up by a wall of moss, after all. If it weren’t for a complete lack of literally anything else in this place, I wouldn’t have even checked this area.’
After all, this place was unique in the fact that it was hidden away from the rest of the dungeon, but even beyond that, the fact that it was the first time since entering this place that he was actually moving vertically rather than horizontally only further added to it’s mystery.
And if there was one thing Rohan had learned from his time in the dungeon, it was that unique and mysterious places like this might lead to something equally exciting at the end. ’Perhaps another treasure chest?’ Rohan mused.
He’d already found one, so it wasn’t impossible that another might show up somewhere.
At this moment, his eyes suddenly lit up. ’That reminds me, I found that treasure chest after choosing one of the two available paths after the dungeon split — maybe there’s another treasure chest waiting to be opened down the other one!’
He made a note to remind himself to go and check the other tunnel after he was done in this place, changing his plans. Before this he had no regards for turning back down the other direction.
’If I don’t take risks, then there’ll be no reward.’ Rohan kept reminding himself as he walked further down the hidden cave.
After 30 more minutes constantly moving downwards, Rohan was reminded of just how boring this dungeon exploration was when there were no more beasts left to fight.
However, just as he took his last step, he suddenly lost all sense of self, even becoming weightless. As if he had suddenly been transported to another space.
When he opened his eyes back up again out of reflex, he quickly squinted and covered them with his hands — a sudden outburst of light greeted him, and after spending so long in darkness, it took him a few moments to adjust.
’What the... heck is this place?’
He looked around himself, out of sorts. This new place looked almost like an oasis crafted from an old, even ancient temple that had been reclaimed by nature long, long ago.
His surroundings were strewn with shattered stones and broken pillars covered in moss and vines for as far as his eyes could see. Beyond that lay a thick wall of fog that his eyes couldn’t penetrate even an inch.
’I think this is a separate space; and that wall of fog must be its boundary.’ Rohan quickly came to grips with his situation after adjusting quickly.
The only intact part of the temple was the big dome structure at its centre. In contrast to the rest of this place, this part didn’t have a speck of nature to it. No moss, vines or any signs of weathering reached the parts of the temple that were still intact, as if some mechanism kept it pristine after all these years.
Rohan instinctively went to summon his spear in his right hand, but for some odd reason, there was no reaction from the genetic armament. Rohan felt a sense of dread start to well up inside him — he quickly realised that he couldn’t even feel any Origin Energy coursing through his body at all.
Looking down at his hands, they were the same pale colour they’d always been from birth — except for the fact that they weren’t meant to be. His molten-stone skin was supposed to be active.
Rohan really started to panic at this point. Without his gene, without his genetic armament, he had no real way to defend himself against any threats. All he had in this situation was his base strength as an Awakened, which seemed couldn’t be taken away from him like his other abilities had been.
Out of desperation, he went and tried to open up his status, hoping that it might provide him some answers to what was happening to him.
[???: Rohan Roy]
[???: ?]
[???: ???ion Ge?? (Normal(?) - 0%, Elite(?) - 24%)]
[Ge??es: Molten-stone Skin (? rank - Elite)]
[Gen? Ar????: ? ??? Horned Rab??bit Spear (???)]
————
[Status]
[Titles: Rabid Wolf Slayer I]
[Rank: — ]
[Class: — ]
[Attributes: — ]
Rohan stared at the absolute broken mess of his status screen for far longer than he should have.
Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Is everything he sees even real right now? ’Maybe the sudden shift from darkness to light messed with my focus or something...?’
No, he knew that wasn’t the truth.
The text remained exactly the same no matter how many times he blinked, rubbed his eyes, or refocused his gaze.
Which meant that he was seeing things correctly. His normal status had somehow become scrambled, nearly illegible. If it weren’t for the fact he already knew what it looked like, he would have no idea what he was looking at.
Meanwhile, the lower half of his status had done the complete opposite.
That strange second section that appeared when he earned his title had now expanded out far beyond what it had shown before — completely baffling Rohan.
What the hell was he supposed to make out of this??
His throat tightened in reflex.
While opening his status didn’t outright tell him anything, it did allow him to deduce what was happening to him right now.
His abilities as an Awakened didn’t work in this place as it was completely void of any Origin Energy, which should normally be impossible, but looking at his status practically confirmed this. ’Just what kind of space is this... Not even the Origin Realm can connect with me... I thought it was an omnipotent entity before, does this mean its power is actually limited?’
The thought sat heavily in his stomach. Although nobody actually spoke it aloud, many people in the Federation even considered the Origin Realm to be a sort of godly entity, perhaps even the work of god itself.
To witness actual proof that there were places not even the Origin Realm could spread its reach... Rohan didn’t know whether to feel relief or dread.
How was a simple dungeon able to do this?
’Though, at this point, I guess there’s nothing simple about it.’
Rohan forced himself to breathe more steadily after coming to his own conclusions. Panic wouldn’t help him out in this situation.
Standing in the middle of this impossible place with his status half corrupted and his strongest abilities unusable, there was only one thing to do.
Move.
Because really, what else could he do?
Turn around?
Where? Behind him was that same infinite wall of fog that surrounded this whole temple-oasis.
Shifting his attention back to his surroundings, he began looking for a direction to begin. But the most obvious answer was right in front of him.
’This temple is the last thing still standing and even untouched by the nature surrounding it, it’s practically calling me to enter inside.’
Rohan climbed the steps inside slowly. Every nerve in his body reminded him again and again that he was entering this place basically unarmed and extremely vulnerable — so he remained extra cautious.
He soon stepped through the grand door at the entrance and inside the temple.
He stopped immediately.
At the centre of the grand hall inside stood a statue. A statue of the most mesmerising figure he had ever witnessed.
Underneath, in a language he didn’t recognise but could somehow understand, was a single statement.
"Our beloved Goddess..."
