SSS Rank: Spellcraft Sovereign
Chapter 126: Exit

Chapter 126: Exit

Varik landed beside him with a splash and a thud.

Lucen added, "Okay. That was stupid."

Varik wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his wrist.

"Yeah. But effective."

Lucen looked at the corpse.

Then up at Varik.

Then down at his soaked coat.

Then up again.

"...I’m not dragging it out."

Varik nodded once.

"Wouldn’t make you."

Lucen exhaled.

’System better be generous after that.’

And as if on cue—

[EXP GAINED: 14,280 (Boss Clear — Rift Core Node: Leviathan)]

[LEVEL UP: 20 → 22]

[Trait Progression: +1 Unknown Flag Registered]

[Quest Flag: Rift Integrity Collapse In 4:02]

Lucen stared at the countdown.

"Four minutes until what?"

Varik turned, already stepping over the body.

"Until the lake explodes. Move."

Lucen followed.

Fast.

Because of course the damn thing had a detonation timer.

—

Lucen ran behind Varik, boots slapping against wet stone, soaked to the thighs and still catching his breath.

"Left tunnel or right?" he called.

Varik didn’t slow. "Right. Fewer glyph echoes."

Lucen glanced back. The leviathan’s corpse hadn’t moved, but the lake? It was rising. Slowly. Unnaturally. Not water flowing in, just... swelling. The ripples weren’t moving out. They were pulling in.

’Yeah, okay. That’s bad.’

"System," Lucen muttered, "ping exit routes."

[No Fixed Exit Detected]

[Search Radius: 200 meters]

[Result: 0 active pathways. 1 unstable rift]

Lucen blinked. "Unstable? That means—"

"It’s collapsing," Varik said without turning around.

"Why does that not sound like a safe exit?"

"It’s not."

They rounded a sharp bend, passed through a crooked doorway with shattered arch markings. A second hallway opened up, wider, rougher, more natural cave than dungeon.

A wind pushed past them.

It wasn’t warm. It wasn’t cold. It was just... wrong.

Lucen hissed through his teeth. "Tell me that’s the exit."

Varik finally slowed. Just slightly.

Then pointed. "Up there."

A jagged crack in the stone wall. Faint white light pulsed around it like someone stuck a strobe inside a blender.

Lucen muttered, "Looks like it hates us already."

Varik checked the rift. "It’ll hold for sixty seconds. Maybe."

Lucen tilted his head. "Maybe?"

Varik looked him in the eye for the first time in a while. "Just jump when I say."

Lucen didn’t ask more. He just started moving.

They climbed, fast and sloppy, slipping over slick rock, half-running, half-scrambling. Lucen grabbed an old root, used it to haul himself up one ledge. Varik took the slope in two strides, barely touching ground.

The lake behind them made a new noise.

Not an explosion.

Not yet.

But a hum.

High-pitched. Like metal shearing in ten directions.

Lucen’s system blinked.

[RIFT CORE DESTABILIZATION: 0:45]

"Forty-five seconds!" Lucen shouted.

Varik reached the top. The light from the rift was pulsing faster now, distorting the edge like heat haze.

Lucen hauled himself up beside him. Breathing heavy. Soaked.

Varik stepped up to the edge, braced himself.

"You first," he said.

Lucen narrowed his eyes. "No hero crap."

"Not a hero," Varik muttered. "Just not fast enough if I’m behind you."

Lucen opened his mouth to argue.

Then said nothing.

’If I die, I’ll haunt his fridge.’

He jumped.

The rift sucked him in sideways, like falling into a twisting elevator shaft with the lights going out mid-fall.

Air bent. His stomach dropped.

And then—

Impact.

He hit solid stone. Rolled. Cursed. Skidded to a stop in a narrow side chamber.

Behind him, the portal pulsed again.

Varik dropped through like a meteor.

The rift snapped closed.

No blast.

No collapse.

Just silence.

Lucen sat up. Still breathing fast. Still soaked.

Then said, "Okay. Okay. That sucked."

Varik wiped a streak of blood off his neck. "You’re welcome."

Lucen laid back on the cold stone.

"No more lakes," he muttered.

Varik leaned against the wall, finally letting himself breathe.

"Agreed."

Lucen stared at the ceiling.

Then, quieter, "We’re still in the rift, aren’t we?"

Varik nodded once.

Lucen closed his eyes.

"...Great."

—

The room didn’t look like a final stage.

It looked... empty.

No runes. No marks. No blood-slick tiles or ambient battle music trying to sell tension. Just cracked stone, old torch sconces, and that weird stillness dungeons always had at the end, like even the air was exhausted.

Lucen sat up slowly.

Boots scraped dust as he stood.

"Please tell me this is it."

Varik didn’t answer right away. He stepped forward instead, squinted at the far wall, where faint silver light filtered through a seam in the stone.

Then, without turning, he said, "It’s the exit."

Lucen raised both hands in mock prayer. "Thank the devs."

Then the wall shimmered.

Not the seam, the whole thing.

And out of it stepped the NPC.

Same one as before.

Same too-white robes, same blank smile, same softly humming presence that made Lucen’s skin crawl like his mana was trying to exit through his ears.

"Congratulations," the NPC said, voice just a little too smooth. "You have completed Trial Sequence: Variant Path. Compensation will be applied upon system sync."

Lucen tilted his head. "You again."

Varik’s expression didn’t change, but his hand shifted subtly toward his belt. Just in case.

The NPC clasped its hands behind its back.

"This variant route has not been accessed in recorded cycles. Data log updated. Survival odds calculated: less than three percent."

Lucen muttered, "’Cool. We’re statistics now.’"

"Your performance exceeds threshold values. Class progress noted. System flags updated. Unique progression path confirmed."

Lucen rolled his shoulder. "How much of that actually matters?"

Varik spoke softly. "Depends what it triggers."

The NPC continued, unbothered.

"You may now exit the rift."

The silver seam began to widen, light spilling out like peeled foil.

But the NPC didn’t move.

Lucen narrowed his eyes. "Aren’t you leaving too?"

It tilted its head. "I do not leave."

"Okay," Lucen said, stepping past him. "Creepy."

Varik didn’t follow immediately. He paused, watching the entity a moment longer.

Lucen glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, okay, I’m leaving now."

He walked through the light.

It hit like warm mist. Gentle static. Mana-flavored wind.

Then—

Real air.

Smog-filtered. City-gray. Just outside the Rift Gate arch that hung between two government buildings on the edge of the lower district.