Chapter 118: [STOPPED APPEARING]

’How long has it been?’

The cavern stretched on like a throat swallowing them whole.

Every step sounded the same—boots sloshing in ankle-deep water, drone lights buzzing faintly overhead, droplets dripping from jagged stone.

The silence was worse than the noise, thick and heavy, pressing against Eli’s ribs until each breath hurt.

It hadn’t been forever. Just an hour. An hour since the gate vanished. An hour since they’d almost drowned.

An hour for Kairo and Mio.

For Eli, it felt like years.

’I feel bad.’ His lips pressed into a tight line. ’Kairo’s bleeding himself dry, and he hasn’t slowed down once. Mio’s carrying two unconscious people. And then there’s me…I can’t even sense danger right now. I’m just dead weight.’

Kairo didn’t complain. He never did. His stride stayed steady, his shoulder hard against Eli’s stomach as he carried him like he weighed nothing.

His obsidian sword hung low, always ready, the faint red glimmer of the drones flashing across its edge.

Every time a leech dared attach itself to Mio, a needle of blood shot out from Kairo’s boots—sharp, fast, merciless.

One strike, one kill.

The parasites fell into sludge before they ever had a chance to feed.

He made it look effortless.

Mio didn’t.

Silver threads still bound Zaira and Mel tightly against him, suspending their bodies so they wouldn’t drag him under, but each step made his shoulders sag lower.

His sharp eyes—usually glinting with confidence—looked dull under the red drone light. His breathing was ragged, each exhale rough.

Finally, his voice cracked out, hoarse and strained. “Captain… I’m exhausted.”

Eli twisted his head slightly from where he was slung, catching the slump in Mio’s movements.

The exhaustion wasn’t just on his face. It was in his whole frame—his gait slower, his threads trembling as they held Zaira and Mel.

But what unsettled Eli more wasn’t Mio’s fatigue.

It was the silence.

It was the phantoms.

They hadn’t attacked again. Not since dragging them under. Not since Eli had woken choking on water.

But they hadn’t left either.

Eli could feel them. Watching. Waiting.

Sometimes, if he dared look long enough, faint pale-blue eyes blinked up from the black water beneath them. Dozens. Maybe more. Always just out of reach.

They weren’t lunging. They weren’t clawing. They were circling.

Watching.

And every time Eli’s gaze brushed theirs, his stomach twisted tighter, his throat clenching. They weren’t interested in Kairo.

They weren’t interested in Mio—an exhausted hunter dragging two others.

They were only interested in him.

’But why?’ His chest tightened, the question biting deep. ’Why me? At first, they pulled all of us under. Now… it’s like they don’t care about the others anymore. No attacks. No attempts to drag them down. Just me.’

The thought hollowed him out.

They just… followed.

To make matters worse, the system hadn’t made things any easier.

Three times now, that glowing blue window had flickered into his vision.

Each time, the same reminder:

[System Notice: Task Pending – Kiss TARGET [KAIRO]’s cheek.]

And each time, bile had risen in Eli’s throat.

Not just because the system was heartless enough to throw a task like that in the middle of this, but because Eli was still—against his will—trying to think of how. Possible moments, possible scenarios.

Because at the end of the day, it wasn’t just a task. It was tied to his mother. To survival. To doing whatever it took to get back to his own body.

That weight pressed on him harder than the dungeon itself.

And he wished that was the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

No, something worse clawed at him with every passing step.

Eli pressed his lips together until they hurt, his heartbeat climbing faster, each thud heavy in his ears.

Panic threaded its way through his chest, tight and unrelenting. Every drone hum. Every ripple in the black water. Every echo of their boots. All of it screamed louder and louder in his head.

’Something’s coming. I know it is.’

For ten minutes now, he’d been feeling it—the same twisting gut-deep instinct that had saved him before. Unlike last time, he didn’t wait. He couldn’t.

“Kairo… Mio…” Eli’s voice was thin but urgent. “We need to be careful. I… I think something big is coming. Soon.”

Mio’s head turned, sweat running down his temple. He was panting, silver threads tightening around the unconscious hunters on his back. “Something big? Is this just a gut feeling, or are you sensing danger? Because if it’s danger, you’re way too calm about it. But if it’s just a feeling—”

“Rest.”

Kairo’s flat tone cut through Mio’s words like a blade. His black eyes didn’t even shift—they stayed on the water, unblinking, as if daring something to rise.

“You’re getting tense, Mio,” he said simply.

Mio’s jaw worked, but he didn’t argue. His grip adjusted around Zaira and Mel instead, his threads twitching faintly in the red drone light.

Eli’s throat felt dry. ’He’s tired, so naturally he’s frustrated. Two teammates down. An SS-Class dungeon closing around us. And the one person who’s supposed to sense danger… can’t even do it properly.’

He couldn’t blame Mio.

Not really.

Kairo shifted his grip on Eli, adjusting him higher against his side.

His black eyes flicked down briefly, sharp as ever. “What exactly are you feeling, Eli?” His voice stayed calm, but the weight in it pressed like stone. “Be clear.”

Eli wet his lips, forcing the words out. “Ahead… it’s weird, I know. But it’s the same thing I felt at the start of this dungeon. Before the leeches.” His voice wavered. “And I was right then. Too late, but right.”

Kairo’s expression didn’t change, but the faint tilt of his head said he was listening.

“I-I feel like something big is ahead,” Eli pushed on. “I can’t explain it. It’s not my ability, not the usual warning… it’s just me. My gut.”

That was what scared him most.

Normally, his ability had rules. He could sense intent—the drive to harm, to kill—and predict from there.

It always came with a sharp pain in his head, the intensity of it telling him how bad the threat was.

A blade drawn at his back would stab like a pinprick. A monster lunging for his throat would split his skull with pain.

But this wasn’t that.

This was different.

There was no stabbing pain. No clean signal. Only a heaviness in his gut, like a thousand butterflies trapped and thrashing against his ribs.

Each frantic wingbeat screamed the same warning: something is waiting ahead. Something bad.

The longer they walked, the stronger it grew. The air felt heavier, the silence thicker, as though the dungeon itself was holding its breath.

Kairo’s stare lingered on Eli for a moment, sharp and unreadable, before—for once—it broke sooner than expected.

Without a word, Kairo bent and set Eli down onto the slick stone floor.

Eli’s eyes widened in confusion, boots splashing against the shallow water as his balance wobbled. Mio, who had propped himself against a jagged rock with Zaira and Mel laid carefully on top of it, frowned sharply.

“Captain, what are you doing?” Mio asked, his voice strained but alert.

Kairo straightened, sword angled at his side, droplets of blood still swirling faintly around his calves. His tone was flat, decisive. “I’ll walk ahead to check if there’s danger. Stay here with those two.”

Eli stiffened. His chest clenched as his voice broke free before he could stop it. “Wait, Kairo—!”

’That doesn’t seem like a good idea at all!’

Mio’s voice overlapped, sharp and clipped. “Captain, let’s not be hasty. I know I voiced my doubts, but splitting up here—this is still—”

Kairo cut them both off with a low rumble. “Eli stays here too. I will only check. There is no harm in checking. And if Eli is right… if there’s something ahead… then Mel and Zaira would only be dead weight in a fight.”

His eyes flicked to Mio, steady and unyielding. “If I call, I’ll need you as backup. That means Eli stays here, guarding them.”

“But the phantoms,” Mio shot back quickly, threads twitching faintly around his hands. His gaze shifted to Eli. “Aren’t they following us because of him?”

That’s right.

Eli could be pulled down the moment Kairo leaves.

’Is he…just giving up on protecting me?’

Well, again, Eli couldn’t blame him.

Eli was too weak.

The silence that followed was sharp. For a moment, Eli thought Kairo wouldn’t answer. But then the S-Class hunter’s black eyes lowered.

“The reason I think Eli is correct.”

Kairo’s boot shifted, splashing the water deliberately. The ripples spread outward, sliding across the black surface. Eli followed his gaze down—

And froze.

His pulse spiked.

The water… was empty.

No faint glimmer of pale blue eyes. No shadowy figures hovering at the edges of their light.

For the first time since they had been pulled under, the phantoms were gone.

Eli’s stomach turned cold. ’I didn’t even notice…’

Kairo’s grip on his sword tightened, the obsidian blade humming faintly in the red drone light. His voice was low, but the words weighed heavy.

“They stopped appearing the moment we stopped here.”

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