CHAPTER 152: ENTERING THE DUNGEON

Ye Qingxue’s brow furrowed. "And if it doesn’t work?"

Ling Yu’s lips curved faintly. "Then we’ll know where the limits are."

Her team exchanged glances. It was reckless, but it was her. The woman who destroyed a Divine Anchor single-handedly and survived. The one who led them through the West’s worst nightmare.

And so, one by one, they nodded.

Song sighed, shaking his head in mock resignation. "You’re going to get us killed one day, Captain."

She smiled slightly. "If I do, at least it’ll be memorable."

***

The gate loomed before them by dusk.

It was located just beyond the city’s outer barrier, an enormous rift, suspended in midair like a wound in space itself. Black mist curled outward from it, distorting the air, making the surrounding trees bend unnaturally as if bowing to some unseen presence.

Blue energy flickered at its edges, forming patterns like veins that pulsed in time with a deep, otherworldly heartbeat.

Ling Yu adjusted her gloves, glancing at her team. "Check your systems. Once we’re in, communications might get cut off."

Song twirled his blade. "Wouldn’t be the first time."

Nie Ziyu double-checked his scanner. "Energy density reads stable... for now."

Xian Yu looked nervous but determined. "I’ll anchor the healing field as soon as we breach."

Ye Qingxue’s eyes darted across her interface. "Recording’s active. If this works, Command will want data."

Ling Yu gave a brief nod. "Good. Let’s go."

Fluffy perched on her shoulder, tail flicking. He chirped softly, sensing the distortion. Ling Yu stroked his head once before stepping forward.

The closer they came, the more distorted reality felt like walking through layers of glass, each one slightly off from the last. The gate shimmered, humming louder, and then—

Swoosh.

They were gone.

.

.

.

Light.

Warm, soft light filtered through emerald leaves, scattering across the mossy ground like spilled jewels. Birds sang above, their melodies weaving through the whisper of wind and leaves.

Ling Yu blinked, her eyes adjusting. For a long moment, she didn’t move.

This... wasn’t what she expected.

Gone was the usual chaos, the smog-choked ruins, the burnt-out wastelands, or the echoing caverns crawling with monsters. Instead, the dungeon spread before them like a dream.

A forest.

Lush and alive, and impossibly peaceful.

The air smelled of pine and dew, carrying the faint scent of wildflowers. A river murmured nearby, clear enough to see pebbles glinting at the bottom. Rays of light broke through the canopy, painting everything gold and green.

Ling Yu crouched, touching the grass. It felt really warm, soft, pulsing faintly with mana.

"...A living biome," she murmured. "It’s been centuries since I’ve seen one like this."

Ye Qingxue knelt beside her, running a scan. "Energy signature’s stable. It’s... nature-type mana, not corrupted."

Nie Ziyu looked around warily. "Then where’s the catch?"

As if on cue, a faint shimmer passed through the air, a boundary ripple, confirming that they were inside a closed domain. This wasn’t just a forest. It was a world.

Fluffy, however, seemed delighted. He leaped off Ling Yu’s shoulder to chase after a floating dandelion seed, cooing happily as it bobbed through the air.

Ling Yu smiled faintly, but her expression didn’t relax. Dungeons didn’t form like this by accident.

"Stay alert," she ordered softly. "We’ll explore the perimeter first—"

"Captain!" Ye Qingxue’s voice suddenly cut through the air. "Where’s Song and Nie Ziyu?"

Ling Yu froze. She turned immediately.

They were gone.

...

Her system pinged sharply.

[Error: Two linked party members not detected within the same spatial zone.]

[Connection link: severed.]

She immediately opened the team interface. Song and Nie Ziyu’s indicators blinked red, their signals hovering outside the entry threshold.

"

"They didn’t make it through," Xian Yu said, disbelief flooding his face. "But that’s impossible! The gate was stable!"

Ye Qingxue’s eyes darted frantically over her data panel. "Their mana signatures reached the barrier, then just... stopped. Like something blocked them."

Ling Yu’s brows furrowed deeply. "Blocked them?"

"Yeah," Ye Qingxue muttered, half to herself. "The gate rejected them. That’s what it looks like."

"Rejected..." Ling Yu murmured, her voice dropping to a whisper.

That shouldn’t have been possible. Dungeon gates didn’t discriminate between entrants, not unless the dungeon itself was sentient.

Which meant this one wasn’t a random rift.

Xian Yu’s voice trembled slightly. "Captain... could it be a divine-type dungeon?"

Ling Yu’s gaze flickered. Divine-type dungeons, remnants of old gods, sentient worlds that shaped their own rules. She’d read about them. They were rare and deadly.

She turned toward the surrounding forest, eyes narrowing.

"Stay together. Don’t trust anything you see."

Ye Qingxue swallowed. "So... what’s our plan?"

Ling Yu looked toward the shimmering path ahead, the faint outline of a village emerging through the trees. Wooden rooftops, smoke curling from chimneys, figures moving gracefully among the leaves.

"Elves," she murmured, remembering the past by juggling her memories.

Her mind flashed back to the old archives she’d seen, records of the Elven Dungeons. Forest sanctuaries left behind by the Ancients. The kind that tested intruders not with brute force, but with temptation, illusion, and choice.

She took a breath. "We go forward."

The deeper they went, the more alive the forest became.

Vines draped from high branches like emerald silk. Streams glittered like liquid glass. And through the sun-dappled clearing ahead, the village came into full view, houses built in harmony with trees, their roofs interwoven with branches and flowers.

And then, from between the trees, they appeared.

Elves.

They were breathtaking, tall, ethereal, skin pale as moonlight, hair like spun gold or silver, and eyes that shimmered like gems. They moved with such grace that it was almost hypnotic, their steps leaving faint trails of light in the grass.

One of them, clad in silver-green robes, approached with a gentle smile.

"Welcome, wanderers," she said, her voice melodic, like wind chimes in a summer breeze.

"You have entered the Sanctuary of Ysilra. You must be tired. Come, rest among us."

Xian Yu looked both awed and wary. "They... don’t seem hostile."