—whoooosh!—

Just as Hansoo arrived—

—chaos occurred beneath.

"Who are you?

"

—tatatatak!—

A few people quickly approached them and asked.

And Hansoo replied:

"John Stone sent us. To see the progress.

"

There was no need to fight unnecessary fights.

He only needed to figure out the situation down here.

And more than anything else…

'Feels like I shouldn't fight in there.'

—sssss—

Hansoo thought as he looked at the strange darkness.

He didn't know if it was because of the controller or because of something else, but it was hard to see inside the darkness.

He would be able to check after he went in there but causing a wreck here didn't seem like the best option.

Hansoo decided to trust in his instincts from his years in the Abyss and just scout things out.

"Let's hurry up and go down. We need to check on the crystal.

"

"...Sure?

"

The doubtful expressions on the other people remained as they started to move downwards.

"Come.

"

—whoooosh!—

Hansoo and a few other Transcendents started to make their way down.

But they didn't go all the way down.

—tatatak!—

The Transcendents stopped part way through to tie themselves onto their original posts, cutting away at the darkness again. They said:

"We'll remain here and finish up our job, so go down and speak to Ban Gipson. The crystal is under his jurisdiction.

"

And with those words—

—whoooosh!—

—Hansoo and Kiriel quickly descended away from the others.

While dropping down, they passed by quite a large number of Transcendents.

Every single one of them had tied themselves onto a part of the wall and were cutting away at the darkness.

—clang!—

—kacha!—

Not a single normal adventurer was among them.

All these Transcendents were using their respective reinforcements and skills to cut away the darkness.

But the darkness was so durable and strong that they barely made a dent despite the countless attacks.

"Damn…'

One Transcendent gathered his strength and slammed down onto a long strand of darkness.

—boom!—

The thin strand of darkness snapped.

—kuooooong!—

The strand of darkness made a strange sound as it squirmed violently.

Not only the snapped strand, but every single bit of darkness around it as well.

And every time that strand moved, the darkness that squirmed along with it threatened the light around them.

The expressions of the the Transcendents turned dark.

It was a sight that was hard to get used to no matter how many times they witnessed it.

These damned strands were already hard to cut off, but even after being cut, they still caused a scene like this.

But they could not stop.

Since they all knew how John Stone would treat them if they stopped.

John Stone was a good leader, but once angered, it was very hard to restrain him.

'Ugh, I hope he doesn't get angry.'

A few people trembled at this thought and continued to cut away at the darkness.

And Kiriel looked at these people with an uncomfortable expression.

"This… This place feels a bit murky, right?

"

The darkness around them was crying out in alarm.

The 1 and 2-Star Transcendents didn't seem like they could feel it, but…

She, a 3-Star Transcendent, could feel it clearly.

Something that seeped out from the dark depths—something that made her feel uncomfortable.

'I don't really want to touch any of this.'

Kiriel debated whether to put her hand into the darkness, but realized that they were quickly approaching the floor and prepared to land.

—tatak!—

Hansoo and Kiriel landed lightly on the floor.

And before their eyes—

—booom!—

—they saw a few people in the middle of working, all letting out an aura that was countless times stronger than that of the people they had seen on the way down.

—tonk! tonk!—

The strands of darkness that 1 and 2-Star Transcendents took countless hits to snap—the people were cutting them away with each swing of their weapons.

Of course, they weren't cutting away multiple strands per swing but thinking about how strong the strands were, they were significantly faster.

But their eyes were clearly drawn to something else.

A tiny crystal.

The tiny crystal that was shining brightly amidst the darkness drew Kiriel's attention.

'The strands… They're all attracted to this place, right?'

The strands of darkness were all gathering onto the crystal.

And this is what Clementine and Sangjin had probably seen.

The item that Hansoo was also looking for.

'Well, this was easier than I expected.'

He looked around at the people working calmly and then started to walk in.

He felt like he needed to check the crystal first before looking at the darkness around it.

But at that moment—

"A cockroach crawled in.

"

—a man chuckled as he looked at Kiriel and Hansoo.

Hansoo looked at the man and said:

"John Stone sent us. We've confirmed it above already.

"

The man continued to chuckle.

"That's so you guys won't run away, you dumb bastards.

"

The ones above hadn't sent them in because they were stupid.

They already knew that these people were trespassers.

But there was a reason why they had let these two pass.

So that they wouldn't run away.

'Heheheh.'

He didn't know everyone under John Stone.

But he knew one thing.

The people who could come down here were a limited few.

John Stone made it hard for anyone he didn't trust to even approach that precious item.

This had caused this project to slow down quite a bit, but it did have a lot of advantages as well.

Since they would know the moment someone tried to trespass.

"There's always people like you. Curious for what's going on inside and crawling inside… Well, it's good for us.

"

He was used to this.

There were always countless cockroaches around.

They actually liked those kinds of people.

This was one of the few methods of stress relief for those who spent all day digging these mysterious strands of darkness.

"Let's start by… beating you halfway to death first.

"

As the man mumbled—

—boooom!—

—countless skills started flying towards the two from the darkness.

............…

—boooom!—

—boom!—

The darkness started to brighten up from the countless skills.

And Kiriel frowned as she blocked away the attacks with her fang.

'Easy.'

Every single one of them were Transcendents.

Most were 1-Stars or 2-Stars, but there were some who stood out more than the others.

They were either slightly weaker than her or even on the same level as her.

Meaning that they were at the 3-Star level.

—rumble!—

Although they aimed most of their attacks at Hansoo, there were a few flying her way as well.

'Look at that bastard.'

—tonk!—

Kiriel deflected an attack that flung her back, grasping her injured wrist as she looked at the man sending skills flying her way.

A man who smiled maniacally as he focused all his attacks on her.

He was only aiming for her, all while scanning her face and body.

Ignoring Hansoo completely.

Kiriel frowned as she swung her fang.

—whooosh!—

Red clouds started pouring out from Hansoo's body.

'End this quickly.'

The red clouds covered the dark area and expanded at a tremendous speed.

"Ahh… uaaaahhh! What is this?!

"

"Kuaaaap!

"

Screams echoed out from all directions.

'Wha—what the hell is this!?'

The man, Ban Gipson, screamed inwardly as he looked at the red clouds that was gnawing away at his body.

Reinforcement, mana, and weapon.

The red smoke devoured everything.

And the ones who rolled around the floor screaming only lasted for a bit before they fell silent.

The only ones remaining were himself and four other 3-Star Transcendents.

And towards them—

—whoooosh!—

—the terrifying sound of something approaching echoed forth.

'F***!'

Even before Ban Gipson could fully respond—

—boooom!—

—a large hammer flew and slammed into Ban Gipson.

"Kuaa…aaaap!

"

—boom!—

The Transcendents looked at Ban Gipson who had been sent flying and flinched.

Ban Gipson was their leader.

Although there was only a tiny gap of difference in terms of strength, he was still the strongest out of all of them.

And for such a person to be sent away from a single strike.

'Even John Stone isn't that strong…'

But one of the men looked at Hansoo as his expression turned into one of disbelief.

A very familiar face was visible between the blue armor.

"What the… Kang Hansoo!

"

And everyone else flinched as they heard the man's shout.

Why bring up that name here?

Hansoo ignored them as he continued to walk forwards, saying to Kiriel.

"This doesn't feel quite right. I'll deal with them so read the memories here.

"

Kiriel nodded.

As they started fighting, the darkness started to tremble.

As if something was trying to wake up from the external stimulus they were causing.

"Dammit… Arrgh!

"

"Haa!

"

Leaving the three Transcendents and Hansoo behind, she quickly started to read the memories.

And soon—

—the memories of the area around the crystal swiftly entered her mind.

From the moment Clementine's forces found the crystal.

To when Sangjin had entered here.

And from when John Stone started to work on this place and reached this point.

Soon—

"Damn…

"

—Kiriel gulped as she looked around.

At the darkness surrounding her.

'It's not that they chose not to take it, it's just that… they couldn't.'

It was weird indeed.

If people like Sangjin and John Stone were to create their own forces.

Then Clementine's forces, who should've been waiting for such people, should be extremely busy instead.

Since that was the only way for them to become stronger while being hidden from the eyes of Clementine.

Which meant that there was something that could distract Clementine's forces.

She had been confused because the land above looked way too peaceful, but it seems the answer was here.

'They're all… sleeping here.'

The darkness around her.

It was an Abyssal race.

The real culprit that had forced Clementine's forces to leave this place and go up.

'Crazy bastards… They're waking up a monster that's sleeping in peace.'

Kiriel thought of John Stone's forces that were cutting away the sleeping monster's tentacles, her expression utterly horrified.