System Mission: Seduce the Strongest S-Class Hunters or Die Trying! Chapter 118: [STOPPED APPEARING]

’How long has it been?’

The cavern stretched on like a throat swallowing them whole.

Every step sounded the sa—boots sloshing in ankle-deep water, drone lights buzzing faintly overhead, droplets dripping from jagged stone.

The silence was worse than the noise, thick and heavy, pressing against Eli’s ribs until each breath hurt.

It hadn’t been forever. Just an hour. An hour since the gate vanished. An hour since they’d almost drowned.

An hour for Kairo and Mio.

For Eli, it felt like years.

’I feel bad.’ His lips pressed into a tight line. ’Kairo’s bleeding himself dry, and he hasn’t slowed down once. Mio’s carrying two unconscious people. And then there’s ...I can’t even sense danger right now. I’m just dead weight.’

Kairo didn’t complain. He never did. His stride stayed steady, his shoulder hard against Eli’s stomach as he carried him like he weighed nothing.

His obsidian sword hung low, always ready, the faint red glimr of the drones flashing across its edge.

Every ti a leech dared attach itself to Mio, a needle of blood shot out from Kairo’s boots—sharp, fast, rciless.

One strike, one kill.

The parasites fell into sludge before they ever had a chance to feed.

He made it look effortless.

Mio didn’t.

Silver threads still bound Zaira and l tightly against him, suspending their bodies so they wouldn’t drag him under, but each step made his shoulders sag lower.

His sharp eyes—usually glinting with confidence—looked dull under the red drone light. His breathing was ragged, each exhale rough.

Finally, his voice cracked out, hoarse and strained. "Captain... I’m exhausted."

Eli twisted his head slightly from where he was slung, catching the slump in Mio’s movents.

The exhaustion wasn’t just on his face. It was in his whole fra—his gait slower, his threads trembling as they held Zaira and l.

But what unsettled Eli more wasn’t Mio’s fatigue.

It was the silence.

It was the phantoms.

They hadn’t attacked again. Not since dragging them under. Not since Eli had woken choking on water.

But they hadn’t left either.

Eli could feel them. Watching. Waiting.

Sotis, if he dared look long enough, faint pale-blue eyes blinked up from the black water beneath them. Dozens. Maybe more. Always just out of reach.

They weren’t lunging. They weren’t clawing. They were circling.

Watching.

And every ti Eli’s gaze brushed theirs, his stomach twisted tighter, his throat clenching. They weren’t interested in Kairo.

They weren’t interested in Mio—an exhausted hunter dragging two others.

They were only interested in him.

’But why?’ His chest tightened, the question biting deep. ’Why ? At first, they pulled all of us under. Now... it’s like they don’t care about the others anymore. No attacks. No attempts to drag them down. Just .’

The thought hollowed him out.

They just... followed.

To make matters worse, the system hadn’t made things any easier.

Three tis now, that glowing blue window had flickered into his vision.

Each ti, the sa reminder:

[System Notice: Task Pending – Kiss TARGET [KAIRO]’s cheek.]

And each ti, bile had risen in Eli’s throat.

Not just because the system was heartless enough to throw a task like that in the middle of this, but because Eli was still—against his will—trying to think of how. Possible monts, possible scenarios.

Because at the end of the day, it wasn’t just a task. It was tied to his mother. To survival. To doing whatever it took to get back to his own body.

That weight pressed on him harder than the dungeon itself.

And he wished that was the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

No, sothing worse clawed at him with every passing step.

Eli pressed his lips together until they hurt, his heartbeat climbing faster, each thud heavy in his ears.

Panic threaded its way through his chest, tight and unrelenting. Every drone hum. Every ripple in the black water. Every echo of their boots. All of it scread louder and louder in his head.

’Sothing’s coming. I know it is.’

For ten minutes now, he’d been feeling it—the sa twisting gut-deep instinct that had saved him before. Unlike last ti, he didn’t wait. He couldn’t.

"Kairo... Mio..." Eli’s voice was thin but urgent. "We need to be careful. I... I think sothing big is coming. Soon."

Mio’s head turned, sweat running down his temple. He was panting, silver threads tightening around the unconscious hunters on his back. "Sothing big? Is this just a gut feeling, or are you sensing danger? Because if it’s danger, you’re way too calm about it. But if it’s just a feeling—"

"Rest."

Kairo’s flat tone cut through Mio’s words like a blade. His black eyes didn’t even shift—they stayed on the water, unblinking, as if daring sothing to rise.

"You’re getting tense, Mio," he said simply.

Mio’s jaw worked, but he didn’t argue. His grip adjusted around Zaira and l instead, his threads twitching faintly in the red drone light.

Eli’s throat felt dry. ’He’s tired, so naturally he’s frustrated. Two teammates down. An SS-Class dungeon closing around us. And the one person who’s supposed to sense danger... can’t even do it properly.’

He couldn’t bla Mio.

Not really.

Kairo shifted his grip on Eli, adjusting him higher against his side.

His black eyes flicked down briefly, sharp as ever. "What exactly are you feeling, Eli?" His voice stayed calm, but the weight in it pressed like stone. "Be clear."

Eli wet his lips, forcing the words out. "Ahead... it’s weird, I know. But it’s the sa thing I felt at the start of this dungeon. Before the leeches." His voice wavered. "And I was right then. Too late, but right."

Kairo’s expression didn’t change, but the faint tilt of his head said he was listening.

"I-I feel like sothing big is ahead," Eli pushed on. "I can’t explain it. It’s not my ability, not the usual warning... it’s just . My gut."

That was what scared him most.

Normally, his ability had rules. He could sense intent—the drive to harm, to kill—and predict from there.

It always ca with a sharp pain in his head, the intensity of it telling him how bad the threat was.

A blade drawn at his back would stab like a pinprick. A monster lunging for his throat would split his skull with pain.

But this wasn’t that.

This was different.

There was no stabbing pain. No clean signal. Only a heaviness in his gut, like a thousand butterflies trapped and thrashing against his ribs.

Each frantic wingbeat scread the sa warning: sothing is waiting ahead. Sothing bad.

The longer they walked, the stronger it grew. The air felt heavier, the silence thicker, as though the dungeon itself was holding its breath.

Kairo’s stare lingered on Eli for a mont, sharp and unreadable, before—for once—it broke sooner than expected.

Without a word, Kairo bent and set Eli down onto the slick stone floor.

Eli’s eyes widened in confusion, boots splashing against the shallow water as his balance wobbled. Mio, who had propped himself against a jagged rock with Zaira and l laid carefully on top of it, frowned sharply.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Mio asked, his voice strained but alert.

Kairo straightened, sword angled at his side, droplets of blood still swirling faintly around his calves. His tone was flat, decisive. "I’ll walk ahead to check if there’s danger. Stay here with those two."

Eli stiffened. His chest clenched as his voice broke free before he could stop it. "Wait, Kairo—!"

’That doesn’t seem like a good idea at all!’

Mio’s voice overlapped, sharp and clipped. "Captain, let’s not be hasty. I know I voiced my doubts, but splitting up here—this is still—"

Kairo cut them both off with a low rumble. "Eli stays here too. I will only check. There is no harm in checking. And if Eli is right... if there’s sothing ahead... then l and Zaira would only be dead weight in a fight."

His eyes flicked to Mio, steady and unyielding. "If I call, I’ll need you as backup. That ans Eli stays here, guarding them."

"But the phantoms," Mio shot back quickly, threads twitching faintly around his hands. His gaze shifted to Eli. "Aren’t they following us because of him?"

That’s right.

Eli could be pulled down the mont Kairo leaves.

’Is he...just giving up on protecting ?’

Well, again, Eli couldn’t bla him.

Eli was too weak.

The silence that followed was sharp. For a mont, Eli thought Kairo wouldn’t answer. But then the S-Class hunter’s black eyes lowered.

"The reason I think Eli is correct."

Kairo’s boot shifted, splashing the water deliberately. The ripples spread outward, sliding across the black surface. Eli followed his gaze down—

And froze.

His pulse spiked.

The water... was empty.

No faint glimr of pale blue eyes. No shadowy figures hovering at the edges of their light.

For the first ti since they had been pulled under, the phantoms were gone.

Eli’s stomach turned cold. ’I didn’t even notice...’

Kairo’s grip on his sword tightened, the obsidian blade humming faintly in the red drone light. His voice was low, but the words weighed heavy.

"They stopped appearing the mont we stopped here."