Chapter 117: [A VERY DIFFICULT SITUATION]

Eli’s eyes widened. His throat locked.

He could still feel it—the phantom hand choking him, nails digging into his skin, the voice whispering sorry over and over, drilling into him like a curse.

He hadn’t seen anything, not clearly. But he had felt it.

Too much.

“I… didn’t see anything,” Eli rasped, his voice raw.

Kairo’s brow furrowed, his black eyes narrowing. “It seemed like you did. When you were under, you weren’t still—you were flailing, grabbing at something. Grabbing at me.”

His voice stayed level, but the weight in it pressed like stone. “All I heard were voices. Familiar ones. People that shouldn’t be here.”

“Same.” Mio’s jaw ticked, his eyes flicking away. “I heard my parents… old friends… voices I thought I’d never hear again. It felt real.”

“I heard things too,” Eli admitted, his voice shaking. “But I—I also felt…” He trailed off, his chest tightening. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

What he felt hadn’t been his. It was Elione’s. A memory buried in the body he now carried, too raw to be just a nightmare.

“You felt what—” Kairo began, his tone sharpened with intent.

But then—

Eli’s pulse spiked.

Danger.

It surged hot under his skin, setting every nerve alight. His breath caught, his body turning on instinct, snapping toward the water before thought could follow.

And then—

“…sorry…”

“…I love you…”

The same voice. The same broken murmur from the nightmare, crawling back into his skull like ice.

’Shit—!’

Eli jolted, grabbing Kairo’s arm with both hands. His fingers dug into hard muscle, trembling violently.

His yellow eyes went wide with terror. “Kairo—the water!” he shouted, his voice cracking. His hand shot out, pointing at the surface below.

Kairo didn’t even hesitate. His gaze dropped, black eyes flashing.

The water rippled. A faint glow swam up from the dark. Pale blue eyes blinked open beneath the surface, staring straight at them.

Kairo’s sword cut down in the same instant.

SHNK!

The obsidian blade tore through the phantom’s face, its form splitting into ribbons of smoke.

A shriek erupted, high and piercing, echoing through the cavern walls until the sound dissolved into silence. The body scattered like ash in water, gone in seconds.

Eli gasped hard, clutching at his chest, his breaths shallow and ragged. He forced air back into his lungs, his heartbeat racing, trying to ground himself as the last of the phantom’s mist faded.

The phantom was gone—for now.

Kairo lifted his blade from the water, crimson droplets running off its edge. His voice was steady, but edged with warning. “We have to move. These phantoms… they’re targeting Eli.”

Eli’s stomach dropped. ’They’re targeting me?’

His hands clenched at his sides, cold spreading through him worse than the water.

Mio’s voice broke the silence, harsh and skeptical. “What do you mean by that, Captain? They pulled all of us under. Why do you think they’re targeting Eli specifically?”

He adjusted Zaira and Mel in his grip, the silver threads binding them shifting as he stepped closer. The drone lights hummed overhead, casting jagged shadows across the black water.

“I am not a hundred percent certain,” Kairo said at last, his voice low but carrying through the cavern.

His gaze stayed locked on Eli, and for a moment, it felt like those black eyes were pinning him in place.

Eli swallowed, meeting that look. “What do you mean…?”

Kairo shifted his sword, droplets running off its obsidian edge. “When I went to you, there were more phantoms on you than the others. By the time I was pulling you up, and Mio was dragging both Mel and Zaira…” His jaw tightened.

Slowly, his gaze lowered to the water.

“They all focused on you.” His voice grew sharper, colder. “And right now—” He exhaled through his nose, steady but tense. “Now that I’m looking clearly, I can feel the phantoms circling you.”

Eli’s breath hitched. His eyes snapped down to the black water, where the faintest ripple broke the surface.

A cold shiver shot down his spine, making his entire body tense. ’But… I don’t feel danger. Not right now. Not anymore.’ His thoughts scrambled. ’Why? Why can’t I sense them if they’re circling me?’

Mio’s voice cut through, tight with confusion. “But… why? If monsters target anyone, shouldn’t they come for us first? S-Class hunters?”

“Maybe…” Eli’s voice cracked, but he forced the words out. “Maybe because I’m the weakest.”

Mio’s head whipped toward him. “You’re not—”

But Eli shook his head quickly, his damp hair clinging to his cheek. “No. Statistically… I am. If this really mutated into an SS-Class dungeon, then even if I have a decent ability, I’m still B-Class. I’m the smallest, the weakest here. It wouldn’t be surprising if I was the easiest target.”

His chest tightened as the words left him, because it wasn’t just about the dungeon. It was true everywhere. ’The weakest always gets picked off first. Always.’

And if the phantoms really could peer into memories, if they had even glimpsed Elione’s past, then maybe that was why they latched onto him so violently.

But that part—he couldn’t tell them. Not yet.

Mio cursed under his breath, his frustration leaking into the air. “Then what do we do now? Those things…”

Mio shifted Zaira and Mel higher against him, silver threads wrapping tighter around their limp forms, binding them like a cocoon.

His jaw clenched as his voice dropped low.

“…those phantoms were maybe A-Class at best. The leeches too—low to mid-tier. But if the dungeon mutated up…” He stopped himself, his expression hardening. The words hung heavy, unfinished.

His knuckles flexed white around his weapon, threads twitching with strain.

Finally, he forced the rest out. “…that means there are still high-tier monsters here. Ones strong enough to rival the S-Class bosses we’ve fought before. And beyond them…” He swallowed, his throat bobbing. “…an SS-Class boss.”

The cavern seemed to sink with the weight of it. Silence pressed down like a suffocating blanket.

The water itself shivered, faint ripples breaking the surface—as if the dungeon was listening, responding to the acknowledgment of its truth.

Eli’s throat ran dry. He turned toward Kairo instinctively, desperate for direction. ’An SS-Class boss… can we even survive that?’ His pulse thudded against his ears, louder than the faint hum of the drones above.

But Kairo didn’t answer. Not right away. His blade lifted instead, black-red obsidian gleaming faintly under the light.

Blood swirled at his calves, tightening into a shifting current of chains and spikes. His black eyes stayed locked on the water, unblinking, waiting.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost a growl. “We also don’t know if the dungeon’s time limit has changed.” His grip on the weapon shifted, the leather creaking.

For the first time, the edge of frustration cut into his tone.

Eli’s stomach twisted. ’It’s understandable,’ he thought. ’Anyone would snap under this. A dungeon mutating into SS-Class—it’s unheard of. The only one who’d call this fun is Caelen, because he’s insane.’

His lips twitched in a grimace, though the thought gave no comfort.

But still… beneath the terror, Eli felt a thread of relief that it wasn’t Caelen here.

Not this time. Kairo’s blood surged like a shield around them, pulsing with every beat of his heart.

If anything happened—if the phantoms struck again, if something worse rose from the depths—Kairo’s ability was the one thing that could hold the line.

Because in this place, Caelen’s pain-fueled ability would’ve been hard to use on leeches and phantoms.

Eli’s breath came shallow as the water stirred again, faint ripples trailing outward.

There was a tense silence as both Eli and Mio waited for Kairo to speak.

’Even I can’t think of a plan right now.’ Eli’s chest tightened. The uncertainty was the worst part—not knowing what lay ahead, what would come for them next.

’God… am I actually going to just die here? In a dungeon? Again?’ His throat went dry at the thought. He wanted to trust Kairo, wanted to believe in the strength of this team, but two of its members lay unconscious over what was supposed to be low-tier monsters.

If it hadn’t been for Kairo, most of them would’ve drowned in the phantoms’ illusions. And those things were only mid-tier. Now they were gone, but they had left behind something worse: the lingering dread that they were targeting him.

Eli’s gaze flicked toward Kairo. His skin was pale, a faint sheen of blood swirling at his calves as it clung like armor. ’He’s pushing himself. He must’ve used too much.’

Eli sighed softly, though the sound was swallowed by the cavern’s silence. He knew Mio was thinking the same thing—both of them stewing in the same heavy realization. So neither spoke.

Kairo broke the silence first. His voice, calm and even, cut through like a blade.

“Nothing good will come from staying here.”

He adjusted his grip on the sword, blood rippling faintly around his legs. “For now, we move. We find the boss and hope one of them”—his eyes flicked to Zaira and Mel, limp in Mio’s threads—”wakes up along the way.”

Then, his gaze locked onto Eli.

Without warning, Kairo crouched, his free hand reaching out. “I’ll carry you. The leeches still won’t touch me, but I’ll need you to keep your eyes on Mio—make sure none latch onto him.”

Eli stiffened, his mouth parting. “Is that really—” He faltered. The thought clawed at him. ’Is that really a good idea?’

But Kairo didn’t give him room to argue. His tone was flat, practical. “You said earlier there were no leeches on me despite walking as much as the three of them, correct? It must be my ability. My blood isn’t the same as a normal human’s. To them, I’m not food.”

Oh.

That made sense. Eli hadn’t even thought about it—that Kairo’s blood wasn’t just something he used. It was his weapon. Different. Deadly. Unnatural.

Mio’s jaw flexed, his grip on Zaira and Mel tightening as though to steady his own unease. His voice was sharp when he finally spoke. “Fine. But we’d better pray one of them wakes up soon.”

His gaze cut to Kairo, then to Eli. His next words landed heavy as stone. “Because if we run into something S-Class before that…”

He didn’t need to finish.

’It would be dangerous. Too dangerous.’ Eli swallowed hard, the weight of it pressing into his bones.

Kairo’s answer came calmly. Too calmly.

“Then Eli and I will just have to beat it ourselves.”

Eli froze.

Ha.

’Was he… joking?’

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