Chapter 175: The Dungeons Are Connected
Liam remained awake for most of the night.
Lydia slept beside him, completely at peace.
One of her hands rested on her belly as she breathed slowly.
Liam watched her for a few seconds.
’She doesn’t know anything...’
He remembered Pix’s words, his conversation with James, and the message that had appeared before his eyes that afternoon.
[ A dimensional alteration has been detected. ]
[ The connection between dimensions has strengthened. ]
Liam hadn’t received any more messages after that.
He had tried calling Pix several times.
Nothing.
’Where the hell did she go?’
Liam sighed and got out of bed.
He went out onto the terrace and closed the door behind him.
The night was quiet.
The city lights illuminated the streets while a few vehicles still drove by.
Liam rested both hands on the railing.
"Pix."
Nothing happened.
"Pix, I need to talk to you."
Silence.
"I know you’re listening to me."
A small spark appeared in front of him.
Poof.
Pix appeared, floating in the air.
"So persistent."
Liam crossed his arms.
"Where were you?"
"Working."
"On what?"
Pix adjusted her glasses.
"On what you asked me to do."
Liam frowned.
"Did you find anything?"
Pix let out a sigh.
"Yes."
Liam stepped closer.
"Talk."
Pix looked toward the city.
"I’ve been analyzing the alterations in the latest dungeons."
"And?"
"They aren’t independent."
Liam felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
"The dungeons that are evolving are connected."
Liam immediately remembered the message.
"How?"
Pix shook her head.
"I don’t know yet."
"Then what exactly did you discover?"
Pix raised a hand.
"Wait."
A small screen appeared in front of her.
Several glowing points could be seen on it.
"These are some of the dungeons that have evolved."
Liam studied the map.
The points were scattered across different parts of the world.
"Now watch."
Pix moved her hand.
Lines of energy began appearing between the points.
Liam’s eyes widened.
"What...?"
"The lines aren’t physical..."
Pix explained.
"They represent dimensional connections."
"So those dungeons are communicating with each other."
"Exactly."
Liam felt his concern growing.
"And the three that are accumulating energy?"
Pix pointed to three points.
The lines around them were much brighter.
"These are different."
"Why?"
"Because they’re receiving energy from the other dungeons."
Liam fell silent.
’So they’re not accumulating energy on their own...’
’They’re receiving it.’
"For what purpose?"
Pix shook her head.
"I don’t know."
"Could it be to evolve?"
Pix took a few seconds to answer.
"It’s a possibility."
Liam clenched his fists.
"That doesn’t reassure me."
"I wasn’t trying to reassure you."
"I know, Pix. I know."
Pix remained silent.
Then she added:
"But there’s something else."
Liam looked at her.
"What?"
Pix zoomed in on the map.
One of the lines disappeared.
Then another.
And another.
"The connections are changing."
"Changing?"
"Yes."
"In what way?"
Pix pointed to a completely empty area.
"There are dimensions that are trying to connect to our world."
Liam felt his heart skip a beat.
"Other dimensions?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don’t know."
"Are they dangerous?"
Pix looked directly at him.
"I can’t know that."
Liam ran a hand through his hair.
’First, the dungeons.’
’Then, the dimensions.’
’And now it seems like the dimensions want to come to us.’
"Pix."
"Yes?"
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
Pix remained silent.
Liam noticed something strange in her expression.
She looked worried.
"No..."
she finally replied.
Liam felt a chill.
If even Pix was worried...
The situation had to be far worse than he imagined.
◇◆◇
The next morning, Liam arrived at the guild early.
He found Lydia waiting for him at the entrance.
"Good morning, darling."
"Good morning, love."
Lydia smiled.
"You didn’t sleep much."
"How do you know?"
"Because you have that look. Liam’s look when he spends all night thinking."
Liam let out a small laugh.
"I’m fine."
Lydia watched him for a few seconds.
"You’re not telling me something."
Liam felt a small knot in his stomach.
"It’s nothing important."
Lydia stepped closer and took his hand.
"If you’re worried, you can talk to me."
Liam looked into her eyes.
’I can’t tell you this.’
Not yet.
"I know."
Lydia smiled.
"Then let’s go."
They walked down the hallway together.
At that moment, a figure came running from the other end.
"Boss!"
Zayn.
Liam immediately braced himself.
"Zayn, stop!"
Zayn tried to stop.
His feet slipped.
"I can’t!"
"Duck!"
Zayn sped past them and ended up crashing into a wall.
BOOM!
Lydia covered her mouth with one hand.
"Is he okay?"
Zayn gave them a thumbs-up.
"Perfectly fine."
Liam closed his eyes.
"We have a lot of work to do on that."
"I’m practicing."
"Then practice more slowly."
Zayn got back up.
"Understood, Boss."
Lydia began laughing.
"At least he’s getting better."
"Getting better?"
Liam asked.
"Yesterday he almost destroyed a wall."
"But today he only hit one."
Liam looked at her.
"Good point."
The three of them continued walking.
◇◆◇
Meanwhile, James was reviewing several reports in his laboratory.
Documents from different dungeons were scattered across his desk.
James picked one up.
Then another.
And finally, he stared at a map.
Three points were marked with circles.
"This doesn’t make sense..."
A screen displayed the energy records.
The amount was slowly increasing.
But it wasn’t increasing uniformly.
Every time one of the three dungeons increased its energy...
The other two responded.
James frowned.
"They’re synchronized."
He picked up the phone.
"I need to talk to Armstrong."
Before he could dial, the door opened.
Liam appeared alongside Lydia.
"James."
James looked up.
"I was just thinking about calling you."
Liam stepped closer.
"Did you find anything?"
James pointed at the screen.
"The three dungeons are reacting to each other."
Liam fell silent.
Lydia tilted her head.
"Is that bad?"
James hesitated.
"We don’t know."
Liam looked at the records.
"Are they sharing energy?"
James looked up.
"How do you know that?"
Liam froze for a moment.
’Pix...’
"It’s a theory."
James continued staring at him.
"It’s exactly what it looks like."
Lydia looked at Liam.
"You already knew something?"
Liam smiled slightly.
"I was just thinking about what they told us yesterday."
James looked back at the screen.
"If they’re really sharing energy..."
"What could happen?" Liam asked.
James took a deep breath.
"I don’t know."
Lydia crossed her arms.
"Everyone’s been saying that lately."
James let out a small laugh.
"Believe me, I’d like to have more answers."
Liam stepped closer to the monitor.
"How much time do we have?"
James shook his head.
"Impossible to know."
Liam watched the numbers.
The energy continued to rise.
"Then we have to prepare."
James nodded.
"I agree."
Lydia looked at them both.
"And me?"
Liam immediately turned toward her.
"You’re not doing anything dangerous."
"Liam..."
"No."
"I haven’t even finished talking."
"I know that look."
Lydia puffed out her cheeks.
"I was just going to say that I want to help."
Liam softened his expression.
"I know."
He stepped closer to her and took her hand.
"But right now, I need you to rest."
Lydia lowered her gaze to her belly.
"Okay."
James silently watched the scene.
He knew perfectly well why Liam was acting this way.
And he also knew they still couldn’t tell Lydia the whole truth.
◇◆◇
That same afternoon, the six sub-captains received an urgent call.
Armstrong appeared on the screen.
"Everyone, listen."
Liam watched Amber, Wayne, Don Rouch, Timothy, and Jane.
"We’ve just received an update,"
Armstrong continued.
"The energy levels of the three dungeons have increased again."
Amber frowned.
Wayne stopped smiling.
"That doesn’t sound good."
Armstrong nodded.
"And there’s something else."
An image appeared on the screen.
It was a photograph taken from a satellite.
A massive area of violet light could be seen above one of the dungeons.
"What is that?" Jane asked.
Armstrong replied:
"We don’t know."
Liam felt a chill.
The image changed.
Another photograph.
Then another.
The same phenomenon appeared in all three.
Three pillars of violet light.
Three connected points.
Liam remembered Pix’s words.
’The dungeons are connected.’
Armstrong spoke again.
"Effective immediately, all exploration operations are suspended until further notice."
Timothy nodded.
"And the response teams?"
"On standby."
Don Rouch looked at the screen.
"So all we can do is observe."
"For now."
Liam remained silent.
Suddenly, the image of one of the dungeons began to distort.
The signal was lost for a few seconds.
When it returned...
The pillar of light had disappeared.
In its place was a massive crack suspended above the dungeon.
Jane stood up.
"That wasn’t there before."
Armstrong stared at the image with concern.
"No."
A system message appeared before Liam’s eyes.
[Pix: Liam.]
Another message appeared immediately afterward.
[Pix: It has begun.]
Liam felt his body go cold.
[Pix: One of the dungeons has opened a direct connection to another dimension.]
Liam slowly raised his gaze.
The image still showed that massive crack.
And then...
Something began to emerge from it.