Chapter 41: Archon Conquest (3)

I briefly worried—what if that blast wasn’t enough?

But clearly, it was just my imagination.
The modified Ice Bone had crumbled to pieces and lay in shattered chunks across the floor.

“Where’s the path?”

The passage to the next floor.

Normally, defeating the field boss opens the way automatically.

But for some reason, the dungeon was dead quiet.

No sign of a path. No changes. Just… silence.

I even let myself hope—Could this be the end of the dungeon?—and let that fantasy run for a bit.
But no way.

I’ve cleared this dungeon well over a dozen times.

And not once has the designated field boss ever been replaced.

Now I was certain.

For some reason—whatever it might be—the field boss is still alive.

But Ice Bone should’ve been vaporized by Rune Detonation, no?

Did the boss… change?

That’s where my thoughts naturally landed.

As absurd as it sounds, it’s the only explanation that fits what I’m seeing.

That Ice Bone was definitely modified through Arcon’s Authority.

But there’s a crucial detail to consider—
What if, during that modification process, the field boss designation itself got overwritten?

In Eterna Online, Authority is the only force that can override system logic.

If it was a system-breaking authority, then overwriting the dungeon’s boss conditions wouldn’t be impossible at all.

Then who’s the field boss now…?

If Ice Bone really was stripped of its boss status due to Arcon’s Authority, then suddenly everything makes sense.

But the uncertainty still lingered.

There’s no such thing as a dungeon without a field boss.

If Ice Bone was removed from the role, someone else inside the dungeon must have inherited it.

How do I know that?

Honestly, I don’t.

I’m just speculating. A gut feeling.

But what if… what if the field boss was removed entirely?

Then the result is obvious.

In a dungeon where you can’t escape until you clear all five floors—
I’d be permanently trapped on the second.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

My scalp itched from the creeping pressure.
The likelihood of a boss disappearing was slim, but the anxiety was steadily eroding my rationality.

“Well? You gonna show yourself or not?”

I snapped in irritation, yelling into the empty air.

For a second, I regretted not just giving up on this dungeon.
But what was the point of that regret now?

Leaving Arcon alone would only create a bigger mess later.

“Haaah…”

Then, something caught my eye.

It wasn’t conscious—more like a spinal reflex.

Suspicious floating text had been drifting in the air for a while now.

---

[Lv 73 / Rookie]

---

The reason a level marker was floating in an empty space?

Obvious.

Someone was hiding with Stealth, observing this place.

Level 73. Name: Rookie.

Just two clues—but that was enough to piece things together.

“Recon Unit Rookie.”

At the sound of my murmur, the floating text flinched noticeably.

Guess I hit the mark.

No telling how long he’d been hiding and watching me.

If not for that visible level marker, I wouldn’t have even noticed him.

He could’ve taken me out clean.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

His level marker—

It was bright red, and bolded.

The distinct formatting reserved for boss monsters.

Gulp—

My throat bobbed with tension.

Of all people, why did it have to be Rookie?

Even at full strength, we were about even.

But right now, with my mana completely drained?

I didn’t stand a chance.

“……”

My face twisted at the sheer absurdity of it all.

No choice now.

I’d have to put all my trust in Sleepwalking.

To buy time, I spoke first.
My voice dripping with arrogance, more than ever before.

“When are you planning to come out of hiding?”

Talk. Stall for time.

And while he’s distracted—

I inhale a deep breath of sleeping powder.

My plan?

Absolutely flawless.

[Lv 73 / Rookie]

The figure stood there, unmoving.

Still cloaked in Stealth, only the floating text remained suspended in the air.

Even so, I didn’t avert my gaze.

I kept my expression carefully neutral—a perfect poker face.

Maybe it worked.

Maybe my provocation had gotten under their skin, because the figure—who had been motionless until now—finally began approaching me.

They wouldn’t dare go for a sneak attack, right?

After all, I’d made it pretty obvious that I already knew where they were.

And then—

Vwooooom—

With a gentle breeze and a flicker of violet mana, a woman in a slightly revealing, casual outfit emerged from thin air.

“……”

“……”

An eerie silence crushed the atmosphere around us.

Her pupils began to tremble—like an earthquake had struck her very soul.

I tilted my head in confusion, and in the next instant, she dropped to her knees on the ground and shouted with conviction:

“I greet the Great One!”

“…?”

The fck is this chick on about?*

---

---

---

Rookie had been patrolling the lower levels of the dungeon to investigate the anomalies that had begun surfacing.

Rookie of the Recon Unit.

True to her role, she had the ability to open dungeon passages at will.
That meant she could travel freely between floors whenever she pleased.

“Hehe~”

Of course, Rookie’s naturally optimistic personality meant she rarely felt any real sense of danger.

Besides, she already had a grasp on the root cause of the current problem.

“That bastard Arcon…”

The dungeon, Elemental Zone, comprised five floors.

Each floor had its own unique ecosystem.
To Rookie, it was practically paradise.

So what had corrupted that paradise to its current dysfunctional state?

The answer: a single demon who had recently invaded the dungeon—Arcon.

“Tch…”

In terms of raw combat ability, Arcon was clearly inferior to Rookie.

But somehow, one by one, the monsters dwelling in the dungeon had begun falling under Arcon’s control.

And Rookie had zero tolerance for the weak pretending to be strong.

A demon weaker than her, pulling strings and acting like a big shot?

Absolutely unforgivable.

So she was carefully planning the perfect time to assassinate him.

But then… a problem occurred.

The Ice Bone—who had been serving as the second floor’s gatekeeper—suddenly went completely off the rails.

If it were just a few glitches, she might’ve ignored it.

But before she knew it, Ice Bone had become one of Arcon’s slaves.

A monster like that could no longer fulfill the role of a floor guardian.

“This is all that bastard’s fault.”

Demon Arcon.

No idea what kind of stunt he pulled, but everything started falling apart the moment he stepped into this dungeon.

Still, there was a complication.

While Arcon himself was weak, the army he commanded had grown dangerously powerful.

Worse, he seemed to be eyeing her—hoping for a chance to use his shady abilities on her, too.

Which is why Rookie had retreated to the lower floors—both to scout and to lay low.

As usual, she was on the second floor today, observing Ice Bone’s deteriorated condition…

When suddenly—

“Huh…?”

A man wandering through the dungeon.

From the outside, clearly human.

But Rookie knew.
She instinctively knew.

This man rampaging through the second floor was no ordinary human.

“Wooow~”

The casting speed—too fast to follow with the naked eye.
The spell precision—without even a sliver of error.
The completeness of his spell formations—virtually flawless.

If you looked only at the level of his magic, there wasn’t anything especially remarkable.

But Rookie thought otherwise.

Even if the individual spells weren’t high-ranking, that man was wielding 6- to 7-star level magic as effortlessly as someone casting 1-star beginner spells.

There’s no way a human’s cognitive processing could handle spellwork like that.

Perplexed, Rookie unconsciously kept her distance while tailing him.

The man’s movements were smooth and efficient.

With just a few casual gestures, he cast spells that knocked down waves of low-grade monsters like they were nothing.

Then, as she continued observing him in silence—

RUMBLEEEEE—!

The ground quaked violently, and the deranged Ice Bone emerged.

The man squared off against it for a long moment…

…and then smirked.

He cast a single spell.

And that spell—
It belonged in myths, in the realm of legend.

‘Holy sht.’*

Magic that transcended rank.

The forgotten tongue of ancient dragons.

A spell that bent causality itself—feared and revered by all mages.

There was no mistaking it.

That was Rune magic.

‘That’s impossible!!’

There’s no way someone could wield Rune Magic with just tiered spells.

Which meant there was only one conclusion.

‘He’s… he’s a dragon?!’

The man before her—was a dragon.

Thump-thump!

Rookie’s heart pounded like mad.

For someone who despised the weak more than anyone, Rookie also revered the truly powerful more than anyone.

‘Aah…!’

Forget Arcon.

Rookie’s mind was now completely occupied by the man standing before her, calmly casting Runes as if it were nothing.

Then—

His lips parted slightly.

“Die.”

BOOOOOOM—!!

The Ice Bone, reinforced by Arcon’s Authority, was obliterated in an instant—no trace left behind.

And as Rookie stood there, stunned by what she’d witnessed—

“When are you coming out?”

The man’s head turned.

“Rookie of the Recon Unit.”

And then he looked straight in her direction.

His voice—icy, with a venomous edge.

‘Wait… he’s talking about me?’

Rookie had never once been detected while in Stealth.

Which made this all the more shocking.

It meant he had sensed her presence at this distance.

But… how?

How did he know her name?

Frozen with confusion, Rookie suddenly realized the answer.

‘Dragon’s Eye…!’

She’d heard of it before—how a dragon’s gaze could pierce through the soul itself.

Of course.
The man before her really was a dragon.

Barely holding onto her sanity, Rookie watched the scene unfold.

Escape?

Impossible.

If she ran, she’d be dead on the spot.

“When are you coming out of hiding?”

A being like that… was now threatening her life if she didn’t reveal herself.

Rookie swallowed hard and finally forced her heavy legs to move.

Her skin prickled with goosebumps, and even breathing was difficult.

But she moved.

That wasn’t courage.
It was pure, primal survival instinct.

“……”

Rookie cautiously released her Stealth.

Her face was blank, distant—an aura of sloth and disinterest hung around her.

Don’t provoke him.

That was the only rule.

Which meant she had only one choice.

“I greet the Great One!”

Complete submission.

It was the only path to survival.