Chapter 382: Avarice
[Third Person View]
The brief chat between Ren and Vexa came to an end when Falco indicated it was time to move forward—or somewhere else, since the chamber they were in had already changed.
Nobody had sensed anything different, and they were quite unaware of the fact that it was now impossible to retrace their path from where they had entered. While the ceiling of the sky hung above them the same as before, the walls of the chamber seemed nonexistent—or simply too far away for even Ren to sense them with his heightened vision. It was as if he couldn’t pierce through the veil of murky smoke that slithered across the floor.
"So, it’s about to start." Falco looked around, searching for something in every direction.
It took him a few seconds before he pointed behind Ren.
"There." The young dragon indicated a tiny speck of dim golden light. From afar, it looked like a firefly, hovering mindlessly in the distance, yet still visible through the murky smoke that permeated the area.
"If one of you—at least one—can go and touch that speck, then this phase of the dungeon will be complete, and we can move on to the next one." Falco sighed as he sat down cross-legged.
Silence befell the cohort. Adam cleared his throat before speaking. "Is that all? We just have to... touch it? Not all of us—just one would suffice? That easy?"
Falco thought for a few seconds before adding, "Yes and no. Of course, it’s a simple task, but not an easy one. Stay vigilant... and make sure you don’t die."
With that, the aloof dragon simply closed his eyes, as if meditating.
That... wasn’t creepy at all, huh? Blaze chimed in inside Ren’s mind, his tone laced with suspicion. He wasn’t the only one doubting the supposed simplicity of the challenge.
It was true they had yet to face anything truly worthy of breaking a sweat since entering this so-called Deepest Dungeon on the face of the world—but that didn’t mean they had just been breezing through rows of monsters without effort.
That’s exactly what y’all did, though, Blaze nudged him mentally.
Well... I do think Falco underestimated the combined prowess of the people he brought here. Ren wanted to believe it, but deep down he knew he was wrong. Not because Falco had misjudged them, but because this cohort walked a razor’s edge—one mistake and they would all fall into their doom.
"Is that all?" Ren asked aloud, his words drawing everyone’s eyes toward him. But his gaze was fixed on Falco’s unreadable expression.
Still keeping his eyes shut, Falco parted his lips, as though weighing his next words carefully. "Brace your body with mana essence before getting hit."
That seemed to mark the end of their brief exchange. Ren turned around, and Blaze nestled inside his coat.
He took a step forward, and his surroundings shifted—subtly, but enough to be noticed. Wisps of smoke curled toward him as if obeying his will.
Ren turned around. "Just as suspected."
There was no one behind him. He had half-expected this. Not only that, but now the chamber itself seemed infinite—or worse.
When he looked up at the sky, it no longer felt like he was confined within the lower depths of Ellora’s Veil. Instead, it was as though he stood in an entirely different realm... another plane of existence.
"How troublesome..." He sighed, eyes sweeping across the hazy void as he resumed his slow walk, searching for the tiny speck of light.
It wasn’t as if he needed to find it first for the trial to end, anyway. Deep down, he wanted to wander a bit. It wasn’t every day he found himself so utterly... alone.
I’m still here, princess, Blaze muttered, crawling out from Ren’s jacket and settling on his shoulder.
"...I wish you weren’t," Ren grumbled, keeping his leisurely pace as he continued forward in a straight line.
---
Hours slipped by.
Ren was beginning to feel unsettled. Whatever sorcery had warped this space was far beyond his comprehension. He hadn’t glimpsed the hovering speck of light once, and despite walking straight for more than two hours—covering at least a dozen kilometers by his pace—there was no end in sight. The chamber only seemed to stretch further, expanding as if it had no limits.
Nor had he seen a single trace of his cohort. Which could only mean one thing— they were scattered, lost just as he was.
---
Eventually, the world began to change. At first, it was subtle, almost unnoticeable. The starless, void-like sky above slowly bloomed with pinpricks of starlight. Sparse at first... then gradually multiplying until the inky heavens were filled with constellations.
The next shift came beneath his feet.
The smoke thickened, rising higher with every step, until it reached his knees. And then—
His leg sank.
"—Fuck!"
The cobbled stone floor had vanished, replaced by something soft and unsteady. Sand.
"Huh?"
Ren crouched, scooping a handful. Letting a flicker of flame dance across his palm, he studied it in the light.
The grains were mostly fine, slipping easily through his fingers. But mingled within the reddish sand were other things: ground stone, shards of bone, and tiny kaleidoscopic fragments of glass that gave the mixture a coarse, unsettling texture.
And then, scattered among it all, glinted something else.
"...Gold?"
Yeah, it was gold—the same kind people hoarded, killed for, and died for. The same thing.
Ren frowned, letting the flame in his hand swell brighter, its crimson glow casting jagged shadows as he lifted it higher to study the sand.
Under the fire’s light, the grains shimmered, dazzling with a brilliance that rivaled the starlit sky above.
Ren did not feel like he was in danger, but neither did he feel safe. To be specific... it was the sand that unsettled him.
Brushing the grains from his hands, he straightened and gazed into the distance. The horizon stretched endlessly, a desert painted in dunes of the same gold-flecked sand.
Beneath the starlit sky, the crimson desert was breathtaking—its beauty strange, almost otherworldly, impossible to capture in mere words.
"The Forgotten Land of Gold."