Chapter 249: Race Against Time
Morning settled over Mythal, and the city felt noticeably different than it had even a month earlier. Hunters moved through the streets with purpose, merchant caravans unloaded fresh monster materials at every corner, and new weapon stalls had sprung up along roads that used to sit half-empty.
A cluster of young hunters stood near one of the stalls, hunched over a printed guide, arguing excitedly among themselves.
"...That’s exactly what happened in my dungeon yesterday," one said, pointing at a diagram.
Another nodded, practically vibrating. "I told you these guides work."
Sera smiled, watching them pass. "...Looks like all the work paid off."
Kai nodded quietly. "They’re getting stronger." He glanced at the group still arguing over the guide. "Not because of me. Because of everyone."
The research center was just as alive when they arrived, researchers moving between relic tables, mana engineers testing small relay prototypes at one end of the room, apprentices carefully cataloging the materials Kai had brought back the day before.
Lily emerged from the back carrying three thick folders. "...Good. You’re here."
Kai smiled. "I get the feeling you were waiting."
"I’ve been waiting since breakfast."
Sera laughed. "You’ve definitely been working."
Lily glanced down at the papers in her arms. "...I forgot to eat."
Kai and Sera exchanged a look.
"...Again."
...
Mira arrived next, immediately reorganizing Lily’s paperwork before it could bury her entirely.
"...You really should organize these."
"They are organized," Lily said.
"...No."
"They’re stacked."
Kai chuckled at that.
Raze walked in a moment later, a plate of food balanced in one hand.
Lily pointed immediately. "...You’re eating again."
Raze shrugged. "I skipped dinner."
"You said that yesterday."
"I skipped yesterday’s dinner too."
Sera burst out laughing. Kai shook his head. "...How are you still alive?"
"Barely," Raze admitted, sitting down anyway.
The room livened up fast after that, everyone settling around the large planning table with the easy comfort of people who’d been doing this together for a long time now.
...
Mira opened the newest Association report, laying it flat at the center of the table.
"...We received another update this morning."
Everyone leaned in.
Kai’s eyes caught one number first. 44.
"...B-Rank Dungeons?" he asked quietly.
Mira nodded. "Cleared across Mythal so far."
Silence.
Lily crossed her arms, doing the math out loud. "Forty-four completed." She tapped the report. "Which means fifty-six remain."
The room went noticeably quieter.
Raze whistled softly. "...That sounded like a much bigger number yesterday."
Kai studied the report a moment longer. "We’re almost halfway."
Nobody said anything for a while. The countdown suddenly felt a lot more real than it had ten minutes earlier.
...
Raze finally broke the silence. "...So. What’s the plan?"
Everyone looked toward Kai.
He didn’t answer right away. Lily beat him to it instead.
"I think Kai needs to stop clearing B-Ranks with only one other person."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "...Explain."
She started sketching numbers on a spare sheet. "One B-Rank. Three hunters instead of two. Three people gain experience instead of two." She drew another line beneath it. "If only Kai clears it, only Kai grows."
Mira caught on immediately. "So every B-Rank becomes an investment instead of just a level for one person."
"Exactly," Lily said. "We don’t have enough remaining dungeons left to waste experience on inefficient parties."
Kai smiled. "...Efficient."
"And safer," Sera added.
Everyone nodded around the table.
...
Kai stood in front of the city map pinned to the wall. "...Let’s divide the work."
He pointed toward the northern districts. "B-Rank Team. Kai, Sera, Elden." He glanced back at the group. "We clear every remaining B-Rank together whenever possible. Not just for leveling. For relic materials too."
Kai smiled. "And Elden keeps solving puzzles before I accidentally punch through one."
Elden adjusted his glasses. "...That’s happened twice now."
"Exactly."
Sera laughed.
Kai moved his hand to another section of the map. "C-Rank Teams. Raze, Mira, and the rest of the Abyssal Watchers. Mission is to raise the city’s average strength. Help the guilds. Guide the newer hunters. Reduce casualties across the board."
Raze grinned. "So I finally get to beat people up professionally."
"...Training," Kai said flatly.
"Same thing."
Everyone laughed.
Lily pointed at herself. "I’ll stay here." She gestured at the mountain of relics stacked across the room. "Research. Prototype testing. Simulation updates."
Kai nodded. "Perfect."
...
The room quieted again as Kai studied the map a moment longer.
"...We’re racing two things at once."
"Our levels," Sera said first.
"...And the countdown," Mira finished quietly.
Silence. Nobody needed it explained further.
Every B-Rank cleared from here on meant progress.
And one step closer to Disaster arriving whether they were ready or not.
Kai smiled anyway. "Then let’s make every single one count."
Everyone nodded together.
...
That afternoon, Kai, Sera, and Elden arrived outside another Gate near the northern district, and several Association hunters already gathered nearby noticed them immediately.
One muttered, "...Three of them?"
Another whistled low. "...Poor dungeon."
Kai signed the clearance papers at the registration table without comment.
The receptionist smiled up at him. "...Good luck."
Kai chuckled. "I think the dungeon needs it more than we do."
Even the receptionist laughed at that one.
...
The Gate rippled as the three of them stepped through together.
[Dungeon Found.]
[Hall of Reflections — B Rank.]
Then, crossing the threshold:
[B-Rank Dungeon: Active.]
Silence greeted them on the other side. The dungeon itself was breathtaking, mirror-like crystal walls stretching endlessly in every direction, the floor reflecting everything with perfect, unsettling clarity. Floating crystal shards drifted lazily through the air, catching soft blue light and scattering it across every surface.
Sera whistled quietly. "...Pretty."
Kai nodded slowly. "...Suspiciously pretty."
Elden dropped to one knee almost immediately. "...Don’t move."
Both of them froze.
Kai looked down at the mirrored floor beneath his boots. Their reflections weren’t matching their movements.
Half a second behind, every time.
Sera said quietly, "...That’s disturbing."
Elden smiled, clearly delighted despite himself. "...Very."
Kai glanced sideways at him. "...You actually like this."
"It’s fascinating."
Sera laughed under her breath. "Definitely an Elden dungeon."
...
They started walking, and the reflections gradually stopped matching them entirely. Kai raised his sword to test it.
His reflection didn’t move.
Instead, it smiled.
Sera’s grip tightened on her weapon instantly. "...Nope."
Kai chuckled despite the unease crawling up his spine. "That’s definitely the enemy."
Crystal ripples spread outward across the mirrored walls, and three figures stepped free from the reflective surface entirely.
[Crystal Mimic – Level 60.]
They didn’t attack right away. Instead they copied every stance perfectly, Kai’s posture, Sera’s grip, Elden’s careful, measured stillness.
Kai smiled. "...Interesting."
Elden studied the mimics closely. "...They’re observing us."
Kai glanced at him. "So are you."
"...Correct."
The fight that followed wasn’t won through strength. Kai deliberately shifted his stance mid-approach, feinting toward Sera’s mimic before pivoting hard toward his own copy, catching it half a beat behind its own delayed reaction. Sera baited hers into overcommitting to a mirrored strike that left it open on the follow-through. Elden barely moved at all, letting his own mimic exhaust itself trying to predict a pattern that never repeated the same way twice.
One mimic shattered, then another, glass scattering across the reflective floor in a spray of light.
[Distortion Applied.]
[Drop Quality: Optimized.]
Kai gathered the drops by hand as the last mimic dissolved.
Then the mirrored corridor around them shifted all at once, one hallway splitting into ten identical branches, then fifty, every direction looking exactly the same as the last.
The reflections in each one had started moving independently now, out of sync with each other as much as with the three of them.
Sera exhaled slowly. "...I officially don’t like this place."
Kai grinned. "I do."
Elden peered down the nearest branching corridor, eyes bright with genuine interest. "...This dungeon isn’t testing strength."
A pause.
"It’s testing judgment."
Kai smiled, stepping toward the nearest corridor without hesitation. "Good."
"...Let’s see what it’s hiding."
Behind them, every mirror shifted again in perfect unison, as if the dungeon itself had already decided how it wanted to play with its newest visitors.