They left the birch forest and headed for an old mansion owned by the Europae Guild. Unlike in Korea, where the winter was harsh, the inside of the mansion was as warm as spring. Do Deungsoo entered the reception room first, waiting for Grace to get ready.
In one corner of the reception room, a fireplace crackled softly, and in front of the fireplace, someone in a wheelchair was warming themselves. She, too, was wearing the Europae Guild robe. She was the first to speak to Do Deungsoo, in English.
"Vice Guild Master of Seokyoung, I presume. How have you been?"
"Hunter La Bijina."
Do Deungsoo bowed his head in greeting. La Bijina nodded slightly and pressed a button on her wheelchair to approach.
La Bijina, one of the surviving Revengers who had made it out of the Great Dungeon alive.
An S-rank awakened with powerful attack skills, La Bijina had suffered from mental breakdowns after returning from the Great Dungeon and had cut her own Achilles tendons. Since she was found long after the healer's treatment window had passed, she ended up relying on a wheelchair. However, thanks to her superior self-healing ability as an S-rank, her Achilles tendons healed in six months, but then La Bijina severed both her ankles this time.
La Bijina was battling various mental illnesses, including depression, panic disorder, paranoia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. With two surviving Revengers already committed suicide due to mental illnesses, the Europae Guild was particularly attentive, fearing she might follow in their footsteps. Perhaps because of their efforts, although her mental state remained unstable, she hadn't self-harmed again since that day. She merely sat in her wheelchair, rejecting prosthetic legs, observing the world with an expressionless face.
"Have you found Seo Chaeyoon?"
Judging by her firm tone, La Bijina seemed to be in a mentally stable state today. Since it was difficult to hold a proper conversation when the timing was off, this was a fortunate moment.
"What do you think?"
"Judging by your face, it seems you haven't found him."
"Why ask when you already know?"
Do Deungsoo picked up the teapot on the table, poured tea for La Bijina, and then poured tea into his own cup as well.
"Still can't find him in that small country? Seokyoung isn't much help, it seems."
"He might have left South Korea. And if Hunter La Bijina, who knows his face, would help, we could find him faster."
"As I said, I'm bound by a contract, so I can't talk about that."
La Bijina's blue eyes met his gaze directly, without avoiding it.
"If there were no contract, would you have told us?"
"Well, who knows."
"Aren't you the least bit sorry for those working hard to protect world peace?"
When Do Deungsoo asked with resentment, La Bijina curled her lips. Just as she was about to say something, the door to the reception room opened, and Grace entered. The Europae Guild master, still pale, walked in with unsteady steps and sat between La Bijina and Do Deungsoo.
Earlier, Do Deungsoo had thought that the prophecy Grace received this year wouldn't be as bad as last year's, but now, looking at her face, he wondered if it was even worse. Grace took a sip of tea slowly. After waiting a few minutes, Do Deungsoo finally broke the silence.
"Guild Master Grace, please tell us. What did the gods say?"
"The gods…."
The gods who bestowed their grace upon Grace were the God of Compassion, the God of Light, the God of Hope, and the God of the Lake. Among them, the god who frequently delivered prophecies was the God of Compassion, and both the prophecy from two years ago and the one just now had come from that god.
"The gods' message hasn't changed from last year."
"This can't be…."
Do Deungsoo's face twisted.
Two years ago, Grace received a prophecy while floating leisurely in the lake under the moonlight.
'The Great Dungeon will reappear.'
It was a prophecy foretelling that the Great Dungeon, which had terrorized everyone during the apocalypse and claimed countless Revengers' lives, would reoccur within the next two years.
At the same time, a horrifying scene appeared before her.
A sky tainted black, corpses of people piled like mountains, and a completely ruined Earth.
Considering the severity of this prophecy, Grace did not immediately disclose it to the world but informed only a few individuals. Presidents of various countries, the heads of hunter associations, and some guild masters. Among them, Yoo Juncheol, the leader of Seokyoung Guild, ranked first in the world, was the first to be informed after she received the prophecy.
Upon meeting Grace and confirming the authenticity of her words, Yoo Juncheol acted swiftly. He formed an elite team to counter the Great Dungeon and a search team to track down Seo Chaeyoon, hoping to obtain a strategy for the dungeon.
La Bijina was not in a condition to enter the dungeon, and her mental state remained unstable. Occasionally, when her mind returned, she would record information about the Great Dungeon, but even that could not be fully trusted.
'It took 300 years to conquer the Great Dungeon….'
She would say such things. In truth, Seo Chaeyoon was the only one who truly knew how to conquer the Great Dungeon.
Moreover, even now, long after his disappearance, Seo Chaeyoon was still considered, aside from Kwon Jihan, the world's strongest hunter. He was a formidable force who could potentially save the Earth from the brink of destruction.
Thus, after two years of assembling an elite team and making every effort, Do Deungsoo felt disheartened upon hearing that the prophecy had not changed.
Was all that effort in vain?
Just as he was about to succumb to despair and frustration, Grace spoke.
"But the scenery I saw was different."
"Pardon?"
"The scene I witnessed before was of Earth being devoured by monsters, but what I saw today was not Earth…."
Grace explained in her clear voice.
A sky darkened to pitch black, mountains of monsters and human corpses, a stifling smell, and air that clung stickily to the skin.
At first, she thought it was the same devastated Earth she had seen before, but upon closer inspection, she noticed something different. Two moons were hanging in the sky.
It was inside the Great Dungeon.
In that dungeon, where it seemed that all beings, whether human or monster, had perished, Grace discovered a massive, pitch-black entity. At first, she thought it might be an exit portal, but its color was too dark, making it clear it was not an exit. While Grace was wondering what it might be, someone entered the black entity.
Without hesitation, as if they had been waiting for that moment. They didn't even glance back once.
The black entity swallowed that person and then vanished.
That was the end of the prophecy.
"What on earth…."
Hearing the explanation, Do Deungsoo's expression turned bewildered. He furrowed his brow and remained speechless, prompting Grace to continue.
"Two things appeared in today's prophecy that didn't show up in the last one. The black entity and the person entering it. I suspect that black thing might be a portal."
"A black portal, you say…."
Despair slowly spread across Do Deungsoo's face.
The portal color of the Great Dungeon was red-black. A mixture of black and red. Since no portal with such a color has appeared in the past 10 years except for the Great Dungeon, it continued to be called the Great Dungeon instead of a red-black dungeon.
But now, it is said that a pitch-black portal will appear.
And that too, inside the Great Dungeon.
It was impossible not to despair.
"My future foresight skill shows the most probable scenario if the current situation continues. Until recently, the highest probability was Earth's destruction without the black portal appearing, but now the highest probability is that the black portal will open."
"If there's another dungeon inside the Great Dungeon, it could mean that previously, humanity failed to clear the Great Dungeon and couldn't open that portal before Earth's destruction. Now, the Great Dungeon has been cleared, and the next stage is progressing…. Only one hunter has entered that portal."
"Exactly."
But if the conqueror of an S-rank black dungeon is only one person, the conclusion would still be Earth's destruction….
Do Deungsoo looked at Grace with trembling eyes, like a candle flickering in a storm. His gaze begged for comforting words, but Grace simply closed her mouth, her experience keeping her silent. Do Deungsoo then turned to La Bijina.
"Hunter La Bijina, ten years ago, when the Great Dungeon was cleared, did a black portal appear?"
La Bijina blinked slowly.
"Ah…. Now that you mention it, I remember…."
Though her expression didn't change as dramatically as Do Deungsoo's, she also seemed surprised.
"Yes… That's right. I must not be in my right mind. How could I forget something like that…. After defeating the Great Dungeon boss, a black portal appeared… and then… it disappeared before our eyes."
"Disappeared?"
"Yes. I didn't see it myself, but they said a message appeared just before it vanished…. Something about… lacking certain conditions. I can't remember beyond that…."
La Bijina furrowed her brow as if in pain.
"Don't try to remember more."
Grace quickly stopped her, worried La Bijina might fall back into her unstable state. La Bijina sipped the tea Grace handed her, pressing her aching head with her fingers. Watching her with concern, Do Deungsoo cautiously asked:
"Hunter La Bijina, how long did it take to clear the Great Dungeon?"
"Three hundred years…. It was a long, long time…."
Do Deungsoo narrowed his eyes.
How much trust could be placed in someone who spoke such words? He had to find Seo Chaeyoon at all costs.
"First, I'll share this information with Guild Master Yoo Juncheol and Hunter Kwon Jihan. If anyone survives the Great Dungeon and enters the dungeon within, it would be Kwon Jihan."
"Yes, I agree."
Do Deungsoo let out a deep sigh, feeling as though he were facing an impossibly tangled web of threads.
Humanity still knew little about the Gaia System. It was an unknown system that had only appeared twelve years ago. As shocking as this dungeon-within-a-dungeon was now, who's to say there wouldn't be a dungeon within a dungeon within a dungeon in the future?
Humanity had no choice but to solve the tasks given to them.