[5★ Mother of Misfortune, Karne, is watching you.]
In Disaster Order, every 5-star calamity had their own dedicated quest.
Just like Selene and Mirien, Karne, the Mother of Misfortune, also had her own exclusive quest.
She joins the base with a debuff in tow.
A debuff known as the “Curse of Misfortune,” which restricts skill acquisition.
Unless you give her a unique item to lift the debuff, Karne will be limited to using only her unique skills instead of common ones.
This is a significant drawback for Karne, whose versatility is her greatest strength.
The quest requires a 5-star equipment, the “Essence of Life.”
However, the Karne I faced in reality did not possess that equipment.
No, that’s not entirely accurate.
[5☆ Twisted Essence of Life (Corrupted)]
The equipment I had gifted her, the Essence of Life, was now corrupted and nestled in Karne’s embrace.
In other words, just like Asteria, the Queen Who Swallowed the Stars, Karne had personally destroyed the item I had given her.
Just from this fact alone, it was easy to see the resentment Karne held toward me.
“Karne.”
When I quietly called her name, she lifted her head to look at me.
Golden eyes with vertically slit pupils.
In the dark night sky, only her two eyes shone eerily bright.
“Actor, you must have many questions for me.”
Karne responded with a bitter smile.
Fortunately, unlike Mirien, she seemed to retain enough rationality to converse with me.
Karne spread her black wings wide and continued.
“Why did you abandon your immortal body and degrade yourself to a mortal existence? What was the reason for moving your residence to this higher dimension? Where did you leave the divine land within the existing rift? I have so many… so many questions.”
Karne, who once referred to herself as a mother, paused and suddenly shook her head.
“But… All of that is just trivial small talk. There’s only one thing I truly want to ask.”
Karne looked straight into my eyes and spoke.
“Why did you abandon me?”
Whoosh—
A cold sweat trickled down my spine.
Each of Karne’s words was laced with a chilling emotion.
“…Karne, it’s all a misunderstanding.”
As expected, Karne believed she had been abandoned.
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
After all, I had dismissed Selene, Mirien, and Asteria with my own hands.
From what I heard, their memories of being dismissed were still vividly clear.
Selene was in despair, Mirien denied reality, and Karne resented me.
“I didn’t abandon you. It was an unavoidable situation.”
Despite the overwhelming pressure that felt like it could make me faint at any moment, I spoke the words I needed to say.
“There were reasons for everything. Selene and Mirien both understood. I can’t explain in detail, but I simply…”
“Simply?”
Karne cut me off, leaning forward.
The darkness surrounding her rippled, and her black wings twitched.
In the silence, the cawing of crows slowly echoed.
“Actor, my precious child. There’s no need to lie to me.”
“…I’m not lying…”
“I’ve already been betrayed twice. Once by the world, and once by someone more precious to me than the world.”
It was unnecessary to explain who the latter was.
“I am, truly, a selfish being. Once abandoned… I can no longer trust.”
The fact that we could converse was not an advantage.
Karne resented me more rationally than anyone else.
Continuing this conversation would only backfire.
“Actor, you’re planning to hurt me deeply again, aren’t you?”
“….”
“At first, I planned to ask why you abandoned me, with resentment in my voice. But… now that I’ve faced you directly… it seems like it’s all my fault.”
Karne smiled bitterly and hugged herself.
“Once, I was the creator of all life. I gave birth, nurtured, and loved.”
“That’s why…”
“But I was abandoned. In the worst way possible, miserably, wretchedly. My heart was pierced, my wings torn off, and in a single day, I went from a sacred deity to a filthy wretch.”
Caw—!
Countless black wings flapped.
The familiars born from her embrace continued to wail.
As if empathizing with their mother’s sorrow.
“Actor, I don’t resent you. But being betrayed twice and falling into the abyss… it must mean there’s something wrong with me.”
Karne berated herself.
She tightly gripped the Essence of Life hanging from her chest.
The equipment, which should have emitted pure energy, now dripped with ominous red liquid.
“My lord.”
Selene, who had been silently listening, tilted her flaming spear.
Perhaps sensing something ominous.
Sure enough, Karne spread her arms with a sneer.
“So… this inadequate mother won’t blame her child.”
“Karne, just listen to me—!”
“It’s alright, Actor. I can understand everything. So…”
[The Mother of Misfortune, Karne, sings of destruction.]
“Fear the night.”
[Fear the night.]
Simultaneously, thick darkness scattered around Karne.
As I was enveloped in the pitch-black void, a system message appeared before my eyes.
[Entering the dungeon ‘Karne’s Nest’.]
[Subdue the dungeon’s master and claim ownership.]
“…Crazy.”
[＊Warning＊ The dungeon ‘Karne’s Nest’ is a 5-star dungeon!]
It wasn’t that there was no nest.
Karne herself was the nest.
*
Ten minutes later, the Chinese Awakener Alliance and Yoo Junseo arrived at the first refugee shelter.
Though it was called a refugee shelter, it was more like a prison—a massive structure built layer upon layer, resembling a human tower.
Yoo Junseo was horrified.
“…These crazy Chinese bastards.”
Truthfully, Yoo Junseo didn’t care what China was doing.
He had been forced to come here, and he had no intention of risking his life to fight for China.
“That bastard Nam Jooyeon… where the hell did he go?”
Yoo Junseo shook his head to suppress the rising panic.
Nam Jooyeon had disappeared on the back of the Storm Dragon.
At first, Yoo Junseo thought he had fled like a ninja. But then he reconsidered.
There was no way the great Flame Emperor, an S-rank awakener, would abandon him and run away!
“…Right?”
Yoo Junseo was unsure but chose to comfort himself with that thought.
“Yoo Junseo, sir, the wave is expected to arrive soon.”
“…Hmm.”
A Chinese awakener of overseas descent was looking at him with expectant eyes.
It wasn’t just her.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of expectant gazes were piercing Yoo Junseo’s back.
After all, within the Chinese Awakener Alliance, Lei Fu was the only S-rank awakener.
Since Yoo Junseo was also classified as S-rank, they were eagerly anticipating his performance.
“Let’s go!”
Someone shouted in Chinese.
In response, a cheer erupted in unison.
Chinese truly was a cursed language.
It didn’t sound like the language of a civilized species but more like the cries of primates.
Whether it was “Zhao” or “Zhao Zhao,” Yoo Junseo was on the verge of losing his mind.
“Hmph, hmph. Well then… I guess I’ll show off a bit.”
However, Yoo Junseo wasn’t strong enough to no-show in front of so many expectant people.
“They’re coming!”
Yoo Junseo looked up after hearing the briefing.
The sky was filled with an overwhelming number of calamities.
Instead of the expected hundreds of thousands, there were at least several million.
“…This is insane, really.”
With a grimace, Yoo Junseo summoned the Guardian of Crimson Flame.
This calamity, with its immensely enhanced tanking abilities, would serve as a sturdy shield for the Chinese Awakener Alliance.
If the defense line showed even the slightest sign of faltering, Yoo Junseo planned to abandon everyone and flee.
But he never got the chance to act on that thought.
“Ugh!”
The awakeners groaned.
Yoo Junseo was no exception.
A nauseating sensation, as if his insides were being turned inside out.
Yoo Junseo had felt this before.
When hunting the Storm Dragon Tempest, and when entering the tower in Yeouido.
This sensation was…
[Entering the dungeon ‘Karne’s Nest’.]
[Subdue the dungeon’s master and claim ownership.]
In an instant, everything turned pitch black.
The impenetrable darkness amplified the sense of terror.
Ding.
[＊Warning＊ The dungeon ‘Karne’s Nest’ is a 5-star dungeon! It does not match the level of the ruler, Yoo Junseo!]
[It is strongly advised to evacuate immediately!]
The warning message that appeared before their eyes was enough to throw the Chinese awakeners into panic.
Screams erupted.
Though Yoo Junseo couldn’t understand the details due to the language barrier, he could roughly summarize the gist of it.
‘We’re screwed!’
Yoo Junseo couldn’t help but think that as he panicked.
His teeth chattered.
Having faced the Great Calamity, Selene the Scorched Saint, twice before, Yoo Junseo knew one thing for certain.
A 5-star calamity is unbeatable.
He had to run.
Yoo Junseo tried to turn and flee, but an invisible barrier bounced him back.
“Damn it!”
Once inside the dungeon, it seemed impossible to escape unscathed.
Was he going to die here?
As Yoo Junseo thought this, a vertical white line appeared before his eyes.
But it wasn’t a line.
It was a crack that had formed on the dungeon’s outer wall.
The crack soon spread horizontally, revealing the outside scenery.
Light seeped through the gap.
“…N-Nam Jooyeon! I didn’t believe in you!”
Yoo Junseo shouted, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes, but it wasn’t Nam Jooyeon who entered through the gap.
A woman with black hair tinged with blue and bright blue eyes.
Her beauty was so striking that anyone would gasp.
But Yoo Junseo couldn’t calmly admire her face.
[5★ Storm of the North Sea, Mirien]
Because of the text floating above her head.
As Yoo Junseo slumped to the ground, the Great Calamity, Mirien, glanced at him.
Mirien’s face was contorted with barely contained anger.
She spoke to Yoo Junseo.
“Where is that bitch?”
“…T-that… bitch?”
“Never mind.”
Mirien no longer paid attention to Yoo Junseo.
She took a step forward.
[5★ Storm of the North Sea, Mirien, activates the skill ‘Spatial Leap’.]
In an instant, she disappeared from sight.
“….”
At that moment, Yoo Junseo could no longer hold back.
“Ah, ahhh… damn it…”
The panic attack he had been suppressing finally overwhelmed him.