Chapter 30

For four days, we thoroughly scoured the Shia Kalt Mountain Range.

We checked every ice cave and rock crevice, but there was no sign of the rumored flower.

The knights’ faces were clearly fatigued.

‘Where on earth…’

I led the way, splitting through the wind.

I endured the cold with the swordsmanship of the Haind family and continued the search, but it was all for naught.

There wasn’t even a trace of that flower we’d only ever heard rumors of.

“Does this make any sense?”

Rowen gritted his teeth.

His red aura grew stronger.

It was due to his inability to accept failure.

“The fact that the saint and the hero obtained something here… was it all just an illusion?”

His cry of anger echoed through the mountain range.

The knights could only look at each other.

We had braved this immense cold, but we were now in a situation where we might freeze to death without any results.

‘If big brother were here… What would he have discovered in this place?’

I suddenly thought about this.

Seven years ago, did big brother also face a moment like this despair?

No… If he did, he would have found another way.

I remembered his words about how brute force isn’t always the solution.

At that moment, Rowen’s gaze turned toward the distant towering ice wall.

The entrance to the Shia Kalt Great Dungeon.

“There.”

His voice rang out sharply.

‘Of course…’

I exhaled deeply.

I had foreseen that we would eventually head here.

But I didn’t expect this moment to come so soon.

“The knight order will head to the Great Dungeon.”

Rowen’s declaration caused the knights’ faces to pale.

The survivors of the Snowstorm Ridge already had experienced its terror.

The Great Dungeon would surely harbor even greater dangers.

“Director, please wait a moment.”

One of the knights mustered the courage to speak up.

He suggested gathering information from the village below the mountain range.

However, Rowen’s response was cold.

“What could such commoners possibly know? Where is your pride as a noble?”

I lowered my head at his words.

Pride of the nobility.

Could this be what has pushed us to this point?

Big brother abandoned that pride and left.

And I… I’m here trying to preserve it.

“Advance.”

Rowen’s command came down.

No one dared to object.

We all knew.

This was our last chance.

The steps toward the Great Dungeon were heavy.

The giant ice-covered entrance loomed over us as if it sought to swallow us whole.

It wasn’t adorned; it wasn’t even like a door — just a massive hollow gap.

‘This is… the Shia Kalt Great Dungeon.’

Once inside, the cold became even more intense.

But it was strange.

This cold was not ordinary.

It felt like… someone was watching us.

The wind blew.

A strange resonance was mixed within the cold air currents.

Was it a warning? Or a welcome?

I firmly gripped my sword.

There was no turning back now.

We must… find the truth.

And we did.

We stepped into the icy labyrinth.

The night in the upper level passed under an uneasy calm.

The frost flowers frozen into the ice walls emitted a faint glow, and the icy crystals on the ceiling scattered moonlight.

“Isn’t this strange?”

A knight on night watch said this.

He was examining the ice wall.

“What do you mean?”

“There are no traces. No monster traces. It’s almost like…”

“Almost like?”

“It’s as if someone has thoroughly cleaned it.”

His words were true.

This place was too clean.

It was more like an ice palace than a dungeon.

Even though this is the upper layer, it’s the Shia Kalt Great Dungeon.

There should be at least some monsters present normally.

The next day, we made our way to the middle layer.

The narrowed tunnels twisted like a maze, and the icicles on the walls grew sharper.

“This is the same.”

Rowen checked the ice on the floor.

The traces of the creatures were present, but we could not see their forms.

‘Someone is maintaining this place.’

I instinctively understood this.

This wasn’t mere coincidence.

‘Someone is…’

A chill ran down my spine.

An unseen gaze followed us.

No matter how much we turned our heads or looked into the shadows, we couldn’t see anything.

But they were definitely there.

That night, we made camp in a spacious area of the middle layer.

The area, found through narrow tunnels, resembled a circular plaza.

“To think such a place existed…”

The knights marveled, but I felt uneasy.

The ceiling stretched too high to see the end, and on the walls, incomprehensible patterns were carved.

And that mysterious gaze was still felt…

On the third day, it took time to find the way to the lower level.

The maze-like tunnels became increasingly complex, and the carvings on the walls grew stranger.

“Do you see that?”

A knight pointed to the wall.

Trapped within the ice were faces.

They wore expressions of screaming.

“Pay it no mind.”

Though Rowen’s tone was firm, his voice wavered.

The night on the lower level was even more unsettling.

Amongst the ice pillars that emitted a bluish light, shadows flickered.

The unseen gaze became even more persistent.

“Who’s there!”

The knights called out every night, but there was no response.

It just felt like countless eyes were watching us from the darkness.

On the fourth day, we finally found the entrance leading to the abyssal layer.

A deep-sea-like expanse of navy ice.

A faint bluish light was the only thing piercing the darkness.

“Let us rest here for a moment.”

At Rowen’s word, everyone collapsed in exhaustion.

Four days passed in this journey.

There weren’t any fights against monsters, yet the ceaseless tension wore us out.

‘Why is it so silent?’

The answer was clear.

Someone was managing this place.

And that someone…

is aware of our intrusion.

“Let’s go.”

Rowen’s voice trembled.

No one pointed out his unease.

Because we all felt the same anxiety.

The passage down to the abyssal layer stretched endlessly.

The ice walls gradually turned navy, and the icicles hanging from the ceiling grew sharper.

Only our footsteps echoed in the vast emptiness.

‘There’s nothing here either.’

This should be the abyssal layer, where powerful monsters should reside.

But all we found were the imprints in the ice, as if someone had already cleaned everything up, as though they were waiting for us.

“Halt.”

Rowen suddenly raised his hand.

The passage ahead split into several paths.

Each path led into its own darkness.

“Which way…”

Before anyone could finish their thought, it was sensed.

A scent blowing from one tunnel.

Sweet, mysterious, as if it were calling us.

“Is this…?”

The knights’ eyes wavered.

Perhaps what we sought, the rumored flower, is just up there.

But why?

I felt an odd danger in the fragrance.

Like… a predator luring its prey.

It was then.

Something passed through the darkness.

Too fast to see clearly, but…

Small figures, countless small figures watching us.

A chill ran down my spine.

We shouldn’t be here.

That instinctual realization gripped me entire.

“Advance.”

Rowen ordered.

He had already started walking towards the sweet-smelling path.

But I… couldn’t move.

Every cell in my body screamed.

Suddenly my brother’s voice echoed in my ears.

“Edgar, fear is the signal your body sends.”

In my childhood, whenever I was scared, my big brother would hold my hand, and I remembered that warm touch vividly now.

‘Big brother… have I made a mistake?’

In the darkness, unseen eyes watched our final moments.

*

My chest constricted strangely.

I sighed, leaning against the inn’s window.

I felt as though someone was calling me.

And suddenly, I remembered.

The figure of my younger brother, who used to follow me closely since I was five years old.

“Edgar…”

When he was little, he always wanted to hold my hand,

Whenever he was scared, whenever he was anxious.

By now, he must certainly be walking his own path.

The path of a noble.

“Bryan, you don’t look well,” Kevin said, concerned. Usually, his tone would be full of jest, but today it was unusually serious.

“Is there somewhere you’re hurting?” Marianne also asked worriedly from beside.

“No, it’s nothing,” I answered lightly, though a lot had happened recently.

The mysterious flower we encountered in the mountains, Lycoris and her astonishing power; meeting the Silver Knight and the Holy Lady, and then… Him.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

Prostia, the true ruler of Shia Kalt.

That existence, appearing first as a colossal ice dragon and then as a silvery-haired woman, the overwhelming aura I felt then is still vivid.

It was the greatest fear one could possibly experience as a human being, or even as a living creature.

It feels miraculous that I survived meeting such a presence.

‘Too caught up in great events…’

For us C-Class adventurers, all of this is too overwhelming.

We barely managed to fend off the Troll and Goblin attacks, yet here we are lingering in this village as if we’re the guardians of some sacred flower.

Not to mention, we’ve even witnessed a legendary entity.

“Alright…”

I muttered to myself, yet Edgar’s face kept appearing in my mind.

The final look we exchanged, filled with anger and contempt.

Outside the window, the Shia Kalt Mountain Range lay shrouded faintly in clouds.

Seven years ago, I walked towards those mountains.

I left behind the path of the nobility, seeking the true path of a knight.

‘What about the path you walk now…’

A sudden ominous feeling gripped my chest.

This unease was new.

I hadn’t felt this even while fighting the trolls, encountering Lycoris, or even standing before Prostia.

“Bryan?”

Kevin’s voice jolted me back.

“Are you really okay? You’ve been sighing a lot… Haven’t there been too many events recently?”

“Don’t worry. It’s just… I remembered some old thoughts.”

But deep inside, my heart continuously called out for Edgar.

It was as if far somewhere, my younger brother was also looking for me, quite desperately.