Chapter 117 - Two Days Inside the Sealed Dungeon
Day two of dungeon isolation.
Having mostly regained their composure, the group split into teams and began thoroughly scouring the now-sealed BeyWorld.
Their first priority was to find an exit.
There was no such thing as a dungeon without a way out—they believed, without question, that there had to be a door or passage somewhere that would lead them back.
With that belief in mind, they searched every inch from the underground to the top of BeyTower. But even after climbing all the way to the highest floors, they found nothing of significance.
"No signal. Phones are out of service."
"Everything outside of BeyWorld is marked as a restricted zone."
"...There’s no way out."
Complete isolation.
Even trying to forcibly walk beyond BeyWorld led nowhere. The black void surrounding them didn’t allow a single step forward.
A system-restricted zone. It was like a firewall, barring their passage.
Millie spoke in a hollow voice.
"How... how can this be happening?"
"...Because it’s a bug. This is literally a space abandoned by the system."
That was why it was called a "Lost Dungeon."
A dungeon so named because any player trapped in such a place had never returned to town, and no record existed of a lost dungeon ever being restored to normal.
Adonis, clenching his fist, pounded it uselessly against the pitch-black system-restricted wall.
"I remember seeing posts about how Exodia 1 lost a ton of accounts in Lost Dungeons. People said it didn’t matter if you had three lives left... you just couldn’t log back in."
"Then what do we do? Are we really stuck in here forever?"
"Well..."
"I won’t accept that."
Millie activated her Burned Blood and aimed her weapon at the wall of darkness. The concentratedPower bullets she had gathered surged forth with terrifying force and smashed into the barrier.
BOOM!
An explosion followed—but when the smoke cleared, the same dark emptiness remained. Nothing had changed.
She fired several more times, but the outcome was the same.
"It’s pointless. There’s no way you can destroy something controlled by the system with a skill."
"So you’re giving up too, Mr. Jhin?"
She raised her gun again. Jhin gently lowered her weapon and spoke calmly.
"No, I’m not saying we should give up. I’m saying the method is wrong."
"...What?"
"This place is a dungeon that’s been abandoned by the system. A space born from a bug."
As Jhin brought the topic up, Adonis leaned in closer, listening intently.
"Do you... think there’s a way?"
Jhin nodded.
"There’s a clear difference between what happened in Exodia 1 and what we’re experiencing now."
"A difference?"
"Yes. Back then, players got forcibly logged out."
In the past, when players were trapped in Lost Dungeons in Exodia 1, the game would forcibly log them out. After that, they’d be unable to log back in—just error messages and dead accounts.
But what they were experiencing now was the opposite—not a failure to log in, but an inability to log out.
And if they were still in the game, still active within a dungeon, that meant one thing: a possibility remained.
Adonis’s eyes lit up with interest.
"Can you explain a bit more?"
"I’m not sure it’ll work. But if this place is still technically a ’game’ and a ’dungeon,’ then it’s worth trying."
Jhin paused.
Everyone’s attention was fixed on him. Waiting for him to say the words.
He didn’t make them wait.
"We’ll trigger a Dungeon Break."
Jhin looked around at the group and declared it with absolute certainty.
"We’ll force the dungeon open with a break."
Fortunately, during their exploration of BeyWorld, they encountered the backup support team that had entered the dungeon later.
"Captain Michael made it all the way to the front?"
"Yes, sir. But he fell back when the earthquake hit while approaching."
"So he and his team didn’t get trapped inside?"
"No, they’re still outside."
It was unfortunate for Captain Michael ’s team that they were unfairly cut off from them—but the supplies they brought were a godsend.
No one knew how long they’d be stuck in this dungeon.
Then something unexpected happened.
"Uwahh!"
With a loud crash, someone toppled over and spilled all their belongings in a spectacular mess. Everyone turned to look at the commotion. The embarrassed member of the support team bowed his head awkwardly.
"S-sorry..."
"It’s fine. What happened?"
"I just... opened my inventory. Like this..."
The items scattered around the man included all sorts of miscellaneous things—food, gear, personal belongings, even the supplies they brought.
But that wasn’t the only issue.
"Huh? What’s going on here?"
"...Wait. Is your inventory not closing?"
"You knew?"
Jhin sighed and looked around at the group, his expression firm.
"From now on, don’t open your inventory unless it’s absolutely necessary. There’s a chance you won’t be able to close it again."
"What do you mean, we can’t close it?"
"This place was abandoned by the system. The usual in-game functions might not work properly anymore."
That explained why, upon opening the inventory, the items just spilled out randomly. A malfunctioning system would make it impossible to put them back in.
"It’s real. The bug made it unusable. What do we do?"
"For now, let’s divide up the items and carry them manually. We were going to distribute supplies anyway, weren’t we?"
With the matter handled, Jhin unfolded the BeyWorld guidebook and studied the map. There were still a few areas left they hadn’t thoroughly checked.
"I’m sure the Company is hiding somewhere in here. There’s no way they would’ve just escaped this place."
"..."
"We just need to find a trace of them. Once we do, we’ll find a way out."
He was speaking softly, but he noticed Adonis still watching him silently.
"...Is something wrong?"
"Mr. Kyle. If inventories are malfunctioning, it could mean that any in-game system won’t work here."
Jhin instantly understood what he meant.
A Dungeon Break was still a system-generated function.
If it didn’t work—like the inventories didn’t—then everything about their plan was flawed from the start.