Chương 57: Sealed Realm

Ch 57 - Sealed Realm This was arguably one of the worst days of Hyo-ri's life. It had started badly enough with her being forced to work alongside her cousin for this mission. She had hoped they could clear the dungeon as quickly as possible and go their separate ways. Then they had been dragged into a second dungeon. Double Dungeons were rare.

Only a handful had ever been recorded in Nova Terra's history, and even the official guidelines for trapped Awakeners amounted to little more than one piece of advice: survive for as long as possible. If those outside managed to reopen the entrance, reinforcements might arrive. Whether they could even reopen it, or whether the government would deem it worthwhile to risk more high-ranking Awakeners on something as dangerous as a Double Dungeon, was another matter entirely.

Crouching behind a cluster of towering rock formations, she scanned the jagged karst peaks surrounding her. Fierce winds howled through the narrow gaps between the mountains. Below stretched an endless blanket of swirling clouds, so dense that she couldn't tell whether there was even ground beneath them. Above, the sky was an equally featureless void, devoid of stars or even a moon to offer the slightest sense of direction. She didn't dare switch on her flashlight.

The last thing she wanted was to advertise her location when she had no idea what monsters lurked within this second dungeon. Well... she knew of at least one. A massive creature flew through the narrow passes, its serpentine body vanishing into the darkness and making it impossible to make out every detail. But there was no mistaking what it was. A dragon. A damned dragon. No matter how one looked at it, dragons weren't monsters anyone could casually defeat.

Even the weakest among them was far beyond what a lone A-rank Awakener could hope to overcome. The priority was obvious. She had to reunite with her friends, who had been scattered throughout the dungeon when they arrived. The problem was that she had no idea where any of them were, and blindly combing through such a vast landscape risked drawing the monster's attention. For now, the safest course of action was to observe its movements and identify a patrol pattern before planning a route.

After some more observation, Hyo-ri concluded that the monster spent most of its time soaring through the passes. However, she remembered seeing it emerge from somewhere below shortly after she had arrived. Could there be a nest hidden beneath the clouds? She could only hope it wasn't home to a brood of hatchlings. After several more minutes of hiding, Hyo-ri decided to make her way through the treacherous terrain.

The jagged cliffs and unstable footing would have made traversing the area nearly impossible for most people, but her telekinesis allowed her to glide from one high point to another. Whenever the dragon passed too close, she slipped behind the nearest rock formations or concealed herself beneath the dense canopy of trees. She stretched her senses as far as she could, hoping her ears would pick up the sounds of her friends when her eyes could not. Sssrk!

Hyo-ri turned toward the sound, hoping to see one of her companions. Instead, she found Reid standing atop a tree branch, waving at her with a smile. Her face twisted into a scowl.

"You're alive."

"I am." Hyo-ri was about to say more when she noticed something strange about Reid's left eye. The iris glowed an intense blue, while the pupil had narrowed into a slit.

"What happened to your eye?" Reid touched the skin beneath his mutated eye.

"Oh, this? It's part of a Quest."

"A Quest?" The word nearly made Hyo-ri gape for a moment before she composed herself. Quests were so rare and valuable that Awakeners would go to extraordinary lengths to obtain one. Yet they were trapped inside a Double Dungeon, so something this extraordinary wasn't entirely unexpected.

"How did you get it?"

"I was teleported somewhere else," Reid explained.

"I ended up in what I believe was a dragon palace. There, I met an intelligent, non-hostile dragon who asked me to help steal the Dragon Pearl from the monster imprisoned within this space."

"I see," Hyo-ri replied.

"I assume you want our help. But first, we'll need to find our companions. Unless you happened to meet them in this dragon palace?" Reid shook his head.

"No. According to Lord Shizunagi, everyone except me was sent into the Sealed Realm." So they had all been scattered into this place while Reid had been the only one to arrive at the correct location to trigger the Quest. Hyo-ri almost cursed aloud, years of discipline barely keeping the words from escaping.

"Then we should find the others as soon as possible," she said.

"I don't think the two of us can complete this Quest by ourselves." Suppressing her reluctance, Hyo-ri used her telekinesis to lift him into the air before carrying them both across the mountain range. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Does your new eye do anything besides change your appearance?" she asked.

"It allows me to communicate with Lord Shizunagi." Reid tilted his head slightly, as if listening to someone unseen.

"He says that if we get close enough to our companions, he'll be able to sense them." At least something was finally going their way. With a clear objective in mind, Hyo-ri increased her speed while keeping an eye out for the monster circling overhead. They traveled for what felt like hours, taking cover whenever the dragon passed above before resuming their journey once it was gone. Despite covering a great distance, they found no sign of their companions, and Hyo-ri's frown deepened with every passing minute.

She couldn't believe they were all dead. Vasia, Aiden, and Adalynn weren't inexperienced rookies but seasoned Awakeners who had survived countless missions together, some nearly as dangerous as this one. There was no way a Double Dungeon could have wiped them all out so easily.

"I think we should go lower," Reid said, his gaze fixed on something in the distance. Hyo-ri had no idea what he was seeing or whether Lord Shizunagi was guiding him, but with no better option to suggest, she did as he asked. Using her telekinesis, she guided them down into the thick, roiling clouds. Visibility was even worse than before, the dense vapor reducing the world to little more than vague silhouettes.

Yet Reid continued guiding her with unwavering certainty, seemingly unaffected by the haze obscuring his vision. They descended until the white expanse began to thin, revealing an opening below where the surrounding mist ended. Braziers encircled the clearing, their flames illuminating a magic circle carved into the ground. Dozens of Ghost Fires stood around it, and among them were their three missing companions, perfectly still.

"Va—" Hyo-ri had barely begun to call out when Reid clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Hold on," he whispered.

"Don't you think there's something off about them?" Hyo-ri shoved his hand away with an annoyed glare before channeling mana into her eyes to sharpen her vision. Only then did she notice the vacant expressions on Vasia, Aiden, and Adalynn's faces. They stood perfectly still, staring blankly ahead, unaware of their surroundings.

"Lord Shizunagi believes the monster has them under some kind of spell," Reid said.

"It's highly likely they'll attack us on sight."

"You mean they're being mind-controlled?" Hyo-ri frowned.

"Can your healing magic remove it?"

"I think so, but..." Reid's words died in his throat as an overwhelming presence washed over them. Hyo-ri grabbed him and pulled them both behind a rock formation, where they disappeared into the shadows. Moments later, the dragon emerged. Its serpentine body stretched nearly a hundred meters in length. Once-brilliant blue scales now appeared dull and weathered, marred by dark, vein-like cracks that spread across its entire body.

Deep wounds and jagged gashes scarred its hide, while its black eyes, each marked by a crimson slit pupil, radiated an unsettling madness. Yet despite its battered appearance, the monster seemed indifferent to its injuries. It descended into the clearing and coiled around the magic circle. A deep, guttural chant echoed through the valley. The dragon's mouth moved with each word, yet its voice seemed to reverberate inside Hyo-ri's mind.

She couldn't understand the language, but every syllable sent a sharp pain through her skull. She clutched her temples as the throbbing pain intensified, only for a hand to settle on her shoulder. Warmth coursed through her body, soothing the pain, and when she looked up, she found Reid watching the monster with a grave expression.

"We need to stop it," he said.

"It's trying to complete the ritual."

"What ritual?"

"That dragon is trying to escape the Sealed Realm. It's using not only our three Awakeners as sacrifices but the Ghost Fires as well to fuel the ritual." His expression hardened.

"We can't let that happen." Hyo-ri's face paled.

"What do we do?"

"I need you to act as bait," Reid said.

"I believe it searched the Sealed Realm for more sacrifices, but after finding none, it decided to begin the ritual anyway. If you reveal yourself, I'm sure it'll come after you. Draw it away from the ritual circle, and I'll do everything I can to disrupt it."

"And then what?" Hyo-ri asked.

"Even if we break the ritual circle, there's no way the two of us can defeat that thing. And I doubt I can keep it occupied long enough for you to fix whatever's wrong with Vasia, Aiden, and Adalynn." Reid shook his head.

"No. We don't need to defeat the monster. We only need to steal the Dragon Pearl at the center." He pointed toward the small pearl resting within the ritual circle.

"The Quest says that once we accomplish that objective, Lord Shizunagi will be freed to kill the dragon in our stead." Hyo-ri considered his words. They didn't have to defeat the boss themselves, which made the plan far more realistic. She studied Reid's face for a moment, wondering whether he was leading her into a trap so he could complete the Quest without her. But his expression held nothing but sincerity, and she dismissed the suspicion.

"Alright," she said.

"How much time do you need?"

"Three minutes at most," Reid replied.

"Buy me that much time, and I promise we'll both make it out alive."

"Don't be an idiot. You're just a Healer," Hyo-ri scoffed, though her expression soon turned serious.

"Are you sure you'll be alright down there? You said our companions might attack you."

"Don't worry." Reid smiled.

"I can handle myself." Hyo-ri remained unconvinced, but there was little point arguing further. The dragon's chanting had grown louder and increasingly unsettling, while the magic circle beneath it pulsed with an ever-brightening light.

"Then let's go." Launching herself into the air, she used her telekinesis to wrench a boulder from a nearby cliff and hurl it straight at the monster. The dragon twisted aside, its crimson eyes locking onto her.

"Leave my friends alone, you oversized lizard!" She launched another boulder, but the dragon evaded it just as easily before surging toward her with terrifying speed. Hyo-ri fled in the opposite direction, pushing her telekinesis to its limit as she lured the monster farther and farther from the ritual site. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Reid slipping from their hiding place and sprinting toward the glowing magic circle. She could only hope their plan would work.