Chapter 252: Visitors from the North
A Level 62 monster burst from the crystal wall without warning. Its body looked like a giant panther carved from black ice, six bladed legs digging into the floor as it lunged straight toward Kai.
Too fast.
Too close.
Its claws were already inches from his throat.
CLANG!!
A golden shield slammed into its side with enough force to bend the creature completely sideways. The monster spun through the air, crashing across the crystal floor before it could even land.
Sera caught her returning shield without looking. "Left side."
"I know."
Kai didn’t even glance toward her and he had never intended to. The instant the monster hit the ground, his Fractured Blade flashed.
One strike.
Its head separated cleanly from its body. The corpse slid another ten meters before finally collapsing into blue particles.
[Distortion Applied.]
[Drop Quality: Optimized.]
A glowing crystal rolled across the floor. Kai casually caught it. "Thanks."
Sera smiled. "You were already swinging."
"You were already blocking."
Neither said another word.
They didn’t need to.
The dungeon answered immediately. The walls exploded outward. Six. Then twelve. Then over twenty monsters poured into the corridor together.
Crystal Wolves. Mirror Knights. Ice Fang Stalkers.
Every direction filled at once.
Kai grinned. "Now we’re talking."
Tempest Fang appeared in his hand, lightning exploding around the blade.
BOOOOOOM!!
One swing unleashed a compressed shockwave that flattened the first wave of Wolves, sending shattered crystal flying through the corridor. Before the fragments even touched the floor, Mirror Knights stepped straight through them.
Kai swapped weapons to Rootbreaker and the enormous greatsword crashed downward.
CRAAAAASH!!
The entire floor caved inward.
Three Knights disappeared beneath the collapsing stone. Two more survived. Bloodthorn shot past Kai’s shoulder like a crimson comet, piercing both through the chest before circling back around him.
The remaining monsters hesitated.
Only for a second and then they charged again. Meanwhile, three Level 63 monsters surrounded Elden from different directions.
One above.
One behind.
One directly ahead.
None of them reached him. Stone erupted beneath all three at once, massive pillars launching them into the air. Before gravity could pull them back down, golden runes flashed beneath their feet.
Gravity doubled and then tripled.
BOOOOOOM!!
All three slammed into the floor hard enough to crack the crystal beneath them.
Elden calmly pointed his staff. "Kai."
Kai smiled. "Perfect."
Air Step.
He vanished, appearing directly between the three stunned monsters. One horizontal swing before the ring-shaped shockwave exploded outward, and the monsters shattered simultaneously, crystal fragments raining throughout the chamber.
Sera jogged over while wiping crystal dust from her armor. "Did you two actually practice that?"
Elden lowered his staff. "No. We’ve simply survived enough disasters together."
Kai laughed. "I think that’s basically practice."
The deeper they pushed, the harder the dungeon fought back. Mirror Archers appeared high above, hundreds of glowing arrows darkening the cavern ceiling.
"They’re targeting everyone," Elden warned.
Sera stepped forward. "I’ve got it."
Golden light erupted around her.
Dozens.
Then hundreds of radiant swords appeared behind her, and every floating blade launched upward simultaneously. The air became a storm of golden streaks. Arrow collided against sword, explosion after explosion echoing across the cavern. Not one projectile reached the ground.
Kai looked upward. "Show-off."
Sera smirked. "I learned from you."
A deafening roar interrupted them. The entire dungeon trembled, and the crystal floor split apart as an enormous beast climbed from beneath the cavern. Its body resembled a gigantic crystal lion, mirrored armor covering every inch of its body. Its level appeared immediately.
[Mirror Sovereign.]
[Level 65.]
It didn’t hesitate.
The beast charged, each step shattering the crystal beneath its paws.
Kai met it head-on.
BOOOOOOOM!!
His sword struck first but the monster barely moved. "Strong."
It answered by swinging one massive claw. Kai crossed Tempest Fang, and the impact launched him backward through two crystal pillars before he regained his footing.
Sera was already moving. She Position Swapped above the beast, her shield smashing into its skull. Golden Light Wave followed immediately afterward. The monster staggered. Only slightly.
Elden calmly raised his staff. "Move."
Kai and Sera instantly jumped away. Every prepared magic circle throughout the chamber activated simultaneously.
Arc Lances.
Gravity Fields.
Stone Spears.
Chains of condensed mana.
The entire battlefield erupted, and the Mirror Sovereign disappeared beneath overlapping explosions.
Silence.
Then, ROOOOAR!! The beast burst through the smoke. Injured. But alive.
Kai grinned. "There it is." The real fight.
The boss suddenly turned. Instead of attacking, it ran, straight toward the deeper chambers.
Kai’s eyes narrowed. "It’s trying to reach something." He pointed. "Left."
Sera vanished before he even finished speaking. Golden light flashed, and she Position Swapped directly into the tunnel ahead of the fleeing Sovereign. The beast skidded to a stop. Blocked. It spun around, only to find Elden already waiting, three massive magic circles rotating beneath the monster’s feet.
"Too late."
Arc Lances descended from every direction.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
The barrage forced the creature backward. Only one escape remained. Exactly where Kai stood waiting.
He slowly dismissed Tempest Fang. Darkness gathered around his hand. Null Fang appeared, the black blade absorbing every reflection surrounding it.
Even the crystal walls seemed darker.
The Mirror Sovereign roared but Kai stepped forward once and the blade passed silently across its neck.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
No resistance.
The monster froze. A thin black line appeared across its body. Then the entire creature split cleanly in two.
Silence filled the dungeon. The System chimed.
[Boss Defeated.]
[B-Rank Dungeon Cleared.]
[Distortion Applied.]
[Drop Quality: Optimized.]
The shattered remains dissolved into dozens of treasures scattered across the crystal floor.
Kai crouched first.
An Adaptive Crystal pulsed softly in his hand. Beside it rested a flawless Mirror Fragment. Then his eyes landed on a crystal orb humming with layered spatial mana.
Elden immediately picked it up. His eyes widened. "Interesting."
Kai looked over. "What?"
Elden slowly rotated the crystal. "The frequency... It matches the relay network Lily has been building."
Sera laughed as she filled another storage pouch with materials. "Great. Lily’s going to disappear into the laboratory for another week."
Kai smiled. "If this works, she’ll probably stay in there for two."
Association staff greeted them the moment they stepped back through the Gate, one of the younger hunters staring at the completion timestamp with open disbelief. "...Already?"
Another laughed beside him. "I swear they clear these faster every single week."
Kai signed the completion report without any particular flourish, just routine at this point. No arrogance in it, just the quiet efficiency of people who did this often enough that it stopped feeling remarkable to them personally, even if it clearly still did to everyone watching.
The walk back through the city felt alive the same way it had for weeks now. New hunters ran drills together in an open courtyard. A mentor corrected a rookie’s stance patiently a few streets over. A weapon shop window displayed prices that would’ve seemed impossible a few months earlier.
A group of young hunters spotted Kai passing and lit up immediately. "Leader Kai!"
Kai smiled and gave a small wave without breaking stride.
Sera nudged him once they’d passed. "You’re getting popular."
Kai sighed. "I liked it better when nobody knew me."
Elden smiled faintly. "I don’t think that’s possible anymore."
Back at the research center, Lily spotted the materials the moment they walked in and nearly dropped the folder she’d been carrying. "You found another Resonance Core?"
Kai tossed it to her underhand. She caught it with both hands, cradling it like it might shatter. "This is perfect." She hurried it over to a table already crowded with relic prototypes. "The relay chain might finally smooth out that lag we’ve been fighting all week."
She was already comparing mana signatures before anyone could respond further.
Mira laughed quietly. "She’s gone."
"We’ve lost her again," Raze agreed, shaking his head.
Lily didn’t respond to either of them. She was already sketching, pen moving faster than her own thoughts seemed to be forming.
Kai smiled. "Exactly what I expected."
Then the room brightened all at once. Not mana. Not sunlight through the windows. Golden light, pouring in from nowhere in particular.
Everyone froze. Researchers backed away from the center of the room where a massive magic circle had begun spreading across the floor, unlike anything Kai had seen before, elegant and ancient at once, silver runes rotating slowly along its outer edge while golden symbols bloomed inward toward the center.
The air itself felt different. Heavier, somehow, in a way that didn’t feel threatening so much as reverent.
Raze was already on his feet, weapon materializing in hand. "Who’s there?"
Mira drew her own weapon quietly beside him.
Mayor Ko, who happened to be visiting that afternoon, stepped between the researchers and the forming circle, his expression hardening into something far more serious than his usual composure.
Kai moved beside Sera on instinct. Elden raised his staff, ready.
Nobody spoke as the circle finished forming, light erupting upward in a controlled column.
Several figures emerged slowly from the light, dressed in white robes trimmed with silver embroidery, golden emblems stitched across their chests. Their movements were calm and disciplined, nothing rushed about any of it.
At the front stood a young woman with long golden hair and silver eyes, a gentle smile already settled on her face. She radiated confidence rather than hostility, and something about her posture made the whole room ease, just slightly, without anyone consciously deciding to relax.
She inclined her head. "Greetings. My name is Gabriel."
Silence.
Her eyes swept the laboratory once before settling on Kai. "We’ve come from the continent of Nexus."
The room went completely still.
Mayor Ko spoke first, brow furrowing. "Nexus?" He studied her closely. "Why would people from the northern continent travel all the way to Mythal?"
Gabriel smiled. "Because news travels surprisingly fast."
Kai stayed quiet, his thoughts already racing. The System had appeared across the entire world, not just Mythal. Every continent should have been dealing with the exact same chaos he’d watched unfold here.
He pictured the world map from memory. Nexus to the north. Luna to the south. Everglade to the east. Every one of them should have been consumed with their own survival.
So why were they standing in this room right now?
Kai studied Gabriel carefully. "Your continent should be busy. Let alone whatever city you’re actually from."
"It is," Gabriel agreed simply.
"Then why come here?"
She smiled warmly. "Because no city has progressed faster than yours."
Silence.
"When reports reached Nexus that one city had become the first to discover B-Rank Gates," she continued, "we paid attention." A pause. "When we learned that same city had already cleared more than fifty B-Rank Dungeons," she laughed softly, almost fond, "I insisted on coming personally."
Everyone exchanged glances around the room.
Mira murmured, "We’ve become famous."
Raze scratched the back of his head. "...Across continents?"
Even Lily finally looked up from her relic table. "...Apparently."
Gabriel folded her hands in front of her, gaze settling directly on Kai.
Her smile stayed gentle. "We aren’t here to interfere. We’re here because we believe Mythal may become humanity’s first city to face Disaster."
The room fell into complete silence. Kai didn’t interrupt.
"There are things your city needs to know," Gabriel continued. A pause. "And there are things we believe may help you survive it." She bowed her head slightly. "The Astral Church wishes to speak with you."
Kai glanced toward Mayor Ko.
Mayor Ko nodded slowly, expression unreadable.
Kai turned back to Gabriel. "Then let’s talk."