"Lost Dungeon."
Varian's eyes lost focus and his shoulders slumped.
Dungeons appeared in the solar system in 300 YAB. They were only low Dungeons.
Humanity found ways to keep the magic beasts in the Dungeon from breaking out and raided them instead.
However, there was one thing humans never mastered.
Vanishing of Dungeons.
The first vanish happened many years after 300 YAB. It was treated as a hoax. Many questioned whether it was the job of a supernatural entity or the return of the Shadow Nation.
Despite the eeriness, humans still flocked to the dungeons.
A few more dungeons vanished. If it was public, then the economy that was just boosted by the dungeons would be in shambles.
So the government, as always, was quick to suppress the news.
The incidents were few and far, so the issue was swept under the rug.
Until a similar incident happened in 422.
This time, it could not be shelved. The only son of a Level 9 was also in the dungeon.
It was dubbed as the 'Star child incident.'
Then, resources were directed to researching the dungeon and humans found out the truth.
These dungeons simply didn't just vanish. They slipped into the Inner space and stayed there for a long period.
How did they go? It was unknown.
Why did they go?
"Aura." Varian felt the thick aura in the air and sighed.
Aura came from Inner Space to Outer Space. So Inner Space had a much denser aura.
The hypothesis was that Dungeons replenished themselves with the aura from Inner space.
In this process, a low dungeon would become a mid dungeon, a mid would become a high dungeon.
The reverse was also true. Due to continuous exploitation by humans who only take away the precious material of Dungeons, the aura of dungeon drops until it degrades to mid dungeon and finally a low Dungeon.
It was a cyclical process.
That meant—
Varian stood up and clutched his head. "Tell me this is false."
He pulled his hair and gritted his teeth. "It's a Lie!"
"LIE!" He yelled and collapsed to his knees.
'I am… trapped.' Varian shook his head and looked around. He hoped it was just a bad dream.
That he was yet to wake up after saving Sarah. But...
Nothing changed. The white barrier was still behind him and the grasslands were in front.
"Why?" Varian's eyes reddened.
The first Lost Dungeon reappeared 100 years after its disappearance as a high dungeon.
Almost every lost dungeon took equal, if not greater years.
"After the Star child incident, detectors were built. Now everyone knows which dungeon is going to vanish." Varian tried to think straight.
"The Virgin Dungeon reports showed no vanish warning. That means…" He took a deep breath.
"I somehow ended up inside a Lost Dungeon in inner space." He looked at his injured body and gawked at the truth.
"Staying here for a 100 years…" Varian felt like someone knocked out the air out of his lungs.
He couldn't utter a word.
"Maybe this is the dungeon's last year? Maybe I still have a chance?" Varian sat up all of a sudden. His eyes held hope.
'No. The magic beasts in the outer zone are still 3.' The truth rang in his mind.
'When the dungeon reappears, the outer zone magic bests are level 7.'
'Level 3 to level 7 takes a lot of time. In fact, the majority of the time. Maybe 80 years.'
Varian slumped onto the ground and looked at the grey sky.
'80 years...what the fuck?' He tried to smile, but his body continued to shake.
It was more scary and terrible than being jailed for 80 years.
Varian closed his eyes and cursed himself. Inside him were two debates.
'Why did you have to play the hero?'
'I want to save them.'
'You don't owe them anything.'
'I just did what I thought was right.'
"Stop it!" His face twisted in irritation and he cursed.
'No one can escape lost dungeons.' The voice inside his head kept saying.
Indeed. Not even a Sovereign could escape. Much less him.
Varian stood up and glanced at the white barrier.
A normal mission that normally would've given him points. It turned into a game of life and death.
A rescue that most likely would have gone normally. Now, he was paying the price.
Boom!
He punched the ground and his fist dug deep in.
With bloodshot eyes, he yelled inside 'System, I fucking hate you.'
[When you give you, you fail.]
It reminded him that there was a possibility of survival.
In fact, every danger Varian faced and overcame had little odds of surviving.
But he was successful every single time.
At normal times, he'd have listened. But now, he had no mood.
'Stop your BS! I can survive, but I don't want to be trapped in this goddamn place for 80 years. If this is your balance, then fuck you!' His breath ragged and he cursed.
[Your actions shapes your future.] The system said and went silent.
"Tch." Varian was still angry when…
"Roarr"
"Roarr"
"Roarr"
In the distance, a dozen rats the same as previous one rushed at him. They used a semi-circular formation and with the white barrier to his back, Varin was essentially blocked.
'Did they catch me by my blood traces?' He wondered and instinctively wanted to teleport out.
'There's no teleportation to jump distance.' Varian didn't know exactly why teleportation didn't work, but he had to deal with it.
'I must live so that I—' He was still unaccustomed to his new strength.
As the red-scaled rats approached, Varian felt their heavy auras.
They were larger than the previous red-scaled rate, their dimensions resembled that of a car.
Each of them were stronger than his previous opponent by a significant margin.
Varian waited and —
"Roaar"
A group of rats leapt at him.
Boom!
Varian's feet kicked the ground and with he jumped forward, below the red-scaled rats in the air.
The huge rats in the air could do nothing and things would've been fine.
According to his estimates, he should have escaped.
But despite advancing, his injuries were still not healed. Especially the injury on the back. This took a heavy toll on his performance.
Couple that with the fact that every rat was stronger than him based on stats alone, things took turn for the worse.
"What?!"
The rats on the ground closed the distance between him and them in the blink of an eye and attacked him.
The paws of one rat reached his back in the blink of an eye. Followed by another. And another.
"Damn!" Varian dodged most of the attacks but there were too many.
Boom!
Boom!
The air blasted as the paws were about to descend on him.
Varian used his space powers. He concentrated the space power around the rat paws that were about to pounce on him.
Creak!
Creak!
The new level 2 space binding was instantly broken.
All his efforts boiled down to facing two paws.
Varian didn't hold back. While solidifying the space around the rat's paws again, he punched out.
Boom!
Boom!
"Argh." Varian felt his insides twist.
Crack!
Crack!
His bones creaked as they threatened to break.
The next few minutes was the worst fight Varian had in the past year.
His will seemed to be sapped away.
One by one, his injuries, old and new, aggravated.
Boom!
Crack!
The red-scaled rats were faster and stronger than him.
'I will lose...even if I win, there is no hope of getting out of this dungeon alive.'
The voice inside his head repeated.
"I—"
Boom!
The most basic rule of battles was to focus on them completely. However, Varian broke it.
And paid the price.
"Argh!" He clutched his stomach as he felt the deep cut.
It was not possible anymore.
'I lost. No one can get out of Lost dungeons. No one.'
When all hope was lost, Varian saw the world go dark.
Then it turned white and he heard the crying voice of young Sia.
"We will die."
It was followed by his young voice, one filled with determination.
"We'll survive. Remember, never lose hope."