Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 173: Aftermath [1]

[Eldermere City – Dungeon Hub]

A full day had passed since the Black Gate swallowed Kyle and the others. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

The once-bustling Dungeon Hub had turned cold and quiet.

What was usually a place full of noise. Footsteps. Voices haggling over gear. Now sat under a heavy silence.

Magical scanners hummed dully in the background.

Teams from the Dungeon Association worked non-stop, analyzing the swirling black portal in the center of the hall.

Its surface rippled like dark water, pulsing with unstable energy that none of their tools could make sense of.

But none of that mattered to Aurelia Valemont.

She hadn’t moved.

Her boots were planted in the same spot she’d stood yesterday. He eyes fixed on the Gate.

She hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept. Her hand was clenched so tightly on her shirt that her knuckles had turned bone white.

Her breathing was shallow and quiet. So quiet.

It was like she feared making any noise might make the dungeon disappear altogether... taking her little brother with it.

Nearby. Seraphina Vaelstryx stood like a shadow... calm on the outside, but tired.

Her arms were crossed over her chest. Her eyes half-lidded from a sleepless night. Still, she stayed close. Watching over Aurelia. Waiting.

She finally placed a hand on Aurelia’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

"He’s strong," she said, her voice soft but steady. "He’ll make it out."

Aurelia didn’t reply.

She didn’t even blink.

Seraphina held the silence for a moment longer before looking away. She didn’t say it out loud, but doubt had already begun to creep in.

Kyle was brilliant, but reckless. Always charging ahead, always taking the risk no one else would.

And if the Black Gate was even half as dangerous as they suspected...

She swallowed hard and pushed the thought aside.

Now wasn’t the time for doubt.

Then. The air changed.

Everyone in the hall felt it. A sudden shift, like pressure building before a storm.

Conversations stopped. Footsteps halted. Heads turned. Whispers died.

The crowd parted.

And into the silence walked Anastasia D’Argent.

Crown Princess of Argent Empire.

She wasn’t dressed as a Assistant professor today. She came in dark, sleek armor with the Argent crest over her heart.

Her white cloak swirled behind her like mist, and her crimson eyes burned with quiet fury.

She walked with purpose. Her boots clicking sharply against the marble floor. And every step sent a wave of tension across the room.

She wasn’t here to ask.

She was here to demand answers.

Her gaze locked on the Dungeon Association’s Head Inspector. A balding man with too many badges and not enough spine.

He straightened the moment her eyes found him. But the sweat was already forming on his brow.

"Explain," Anastasia said. Just one word. But the weight of it made him flinch.

"Y-Your Highness, we—"

"How," she cut in, her voice like cold steel, "did a suspicious man walk into a secured hub. Modify a Bronze-ranked dungeon into a Black Gate, and trap five of our top first-years... Without any of you noticing?"

The words echoed across the hall.

"Five students," she continued, eyes narrowed.

"Kyle Valemont. Cedric Valtieri. Cassian Emberfell. Eleanora D’Argent. Serena Blackthorn.

All of them. Children under your protection, are now fighting for their lives in a dungeon that shouldn’t even exist."

Her fingers twitched at her side, like she was holding herself back from drawing her sword.

The official’s voice shook. "We’re investigating, Y-Your Highness, but—"

"Investigate faster," Anastasia snapped.

He shrank back, nodding furiously. "Y-Yes, of course..."

But before he could speak another word...

The air split.

A shimmering crack tore through space beside the Black Gate. Magic swirled like stardust, cold and silvery.

Then, from that rift. She stepped through.

Seris Voidcrest.

The Void Empress.

Vice Principal of Solvayne Academy.

Her arrival didn’t come with fanfare or words. Just presence. Cold, commanding, absolute.

Her long silvery white hair flowed behind her like falling moonlight. Her piercing golden eyes scanned the chamber with razor precision.

Even Anastasia paused, just briefly, as Seris appeared beside her.

Not out of fear.

But respect.

"Report," Seris said, her voice even, calm, and utterly in control.

The officials scrambled. Stumbling over each other to explain everything they knew.

The Gate had appeared yesterday morning. Without warning.

No records of any dungeon showing abnormal signs before activation.

No irregular mana readings. It was classified Bronze until the moment of distortion.

Then he arrived.

A man dressed as a Dungeon Association official.

He carried Dungeon Inspector credentials. But they were forged. He used some kind of illusions to bypass the screening wards.

The security mages didn’t detect anything until it was already too late.

He had walked right up to the Gate, touched it... and it changed.

It pulsed. Expanded. Turned black.

And swallowed the students before anyone could react.

Seris’ expression darkened.

"Lucian wanted to come himself," she said coldly, referring to the Academy’s Headmaster.

"But with the demon assaults at the eastern border, he’s needed elsewhere."

Her eyes moved to Aurelia and Seraphina.

She didn’t say it. But the disappointment was there. They should have protected the students. Should have seen something coming.

But as she looked at Aurelia’s frozen posture, her trembling grip. Seris’ lips pressed into a thin line.

She forced the anger down.

This wasn’t the time.

"Describe the man," she said at last. "Any detail. Voice. Aura. Magic type. Anything."

No one responded.

Then, suddenly. A young association mage burst through the crowd.

"V-Vice Principal!"

He was panting, his eyes wide with panic. "The dungeon—"

"What about it?" Seris asked, turning slowly.

The young man looked like he wanted to disappear.

"It’s not... it’s not Silver-ranked like we thought," he stammered.

A beat of silence followed.

Everyone stared.

Anastasia’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Seraphina tensed beside her.

Even Aurelia’s fingers twitched slightly.

Seris didn’t blink. "Then what is it?"

The man swallowed.

His voice was barely a whisper.

"...Gold."

A collective breath was sucked in. The tension in the room shifted. Like air thinned, leaving everyone breathless.

Aurelia’s grip tightened until her fingers ached.

Gold-rank.

The word hung in the air like a verdict.

A death sentence.

Even seasoned adventurers with years of experience would think twice before stepping into a Gold-ranked dungeon.

And Kyle... Kyle and the others had been inside for a full day.

A full day.

Seris cursed under her breath, sharp and bitter.

’First the train attack. Now this.’

Two high-level incidents within a month. Two near disasters.

And both had two names in common.

Eleanora D’Argent.

Kyle Valemont.

Seris’ eyes narrowed.

’Coincidence?’

She didn’t believe in those.

Her mind spun, digging through every piece of information they’d gathered.

The man who activated the dungeon, cloaked and hidden... his escape had left no traces of spatial magic.

No runes. No broken circles. No teleportation spell.

’Then how did he vanish?’

An ability, maybe?

Before she could think further...

A pulse.

The Black Gate shuddered.

The runes etched along its obsidian frame sparked violently, flickering like dying stars. Then...

Boom.

A shockwave of mana burst outward. It knocked back everyone who stood too close.

Then came the light.

Blinding. Black. Light.

It tore through the clearing, swallowing color, silencing sound.

Some fell to their knees, others turned away. Shielding their eyes with trembling arms.

The ground beneath them vibrated, humming with deep, resonant energy. A sound like thunder... but deeper. Like something ancient, awakening.

Seris forced her eyes open, staring directly into the chaos.

The gate... it was collapsing.

"The gate... it’s collapsing!"

Her voice was lost to the wind. But Aurelia heard it. She stood frozen in place. Horror dawning across her face.

If the gate collapsed while they were still inside...

Then suddenly...

Like a beast rejecting something it couldn’t consume. The Black Gate convulsed.

Mana burst outward again, wild and untamed.

Then...

Bodies.

Five of them. Flung through the air, like ragdolls thrown by the force of a god.

They crashed onto the stone platform near the base of the gate, limbs twisted, armor cracked, blood staining the ground beneath them.

Cedric.

Cassian.

Eleanora.

Serena.

And Kyle.

Broken.

Bleeding.

Barely breathing.

Aurelia didn’t remember moving.

One moment she was watching, paralyzed.

The next. She was on her knees, skidding across the cold stone floor beside Kyle’s motionless body.

Her hands hovered above him, shaking. Unsure where to even touch. His chest, his shoulder, his face. Everything was battered, bruised, torn open.

His skin was cold. Pale. His lips were tinged blue.

His hair... what was once dark, now white as snow.

But it was the breathing that scared her the most.

Too shallow.

Too weak.

"Kyle—" Her voice cracked. "Kyle, say something. Please."

Behind her. The rest of the platform erupted into action.

Seraphina was already calling for every healer nearby. Her usually calm voice sharp and commanding.

Anastasia dropped beside Eleanora, hands fumbling as she checked for a pulse, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. Eyes that never cried.

Cassian groaned softly, coughing blood.

Serena didn’t move.

And Kyle...

Kyle was still.

Until—

His eyes snapped open.

Electric blue.

Glowing.

For one, terrifying second. The air crackled.

A burst of lightning spiked around his body, sizzling through the air.

Seris stepped forward. Her gaze locked on him.

She could feel it.

The mana around him was unstable.

Unnatural.

Like a storm barely caged inside a human shell.

Kyle’s chest heaved once.

Then...

His eyes rolled back.

And he went still.

———

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