CHAPTER 191: [SUCCESS...?]

At first, Eli genuinely thought the serpent was listening to his thoughts.

How else could it know?

’Orion.’

The name that broke his system.

The name that flickered in his head like a glitching memory.

The name somehow tied to Elione Noa Ahn... or whoever he really was before all this.

But now—

With the serpent sitting in front of him like some oversized, electrified puppy...with no danger in his gut, no instinct screaming run, no system alarms blaring...

Eli wasn’t so sure anymore.

The serpent’s huge blue eyes stared down at him with an expression so... derpy, so bizarrely sincere, Eli almost forgot this thing could flatten a building.

’It’s... actually being honest?’

It felt insane to even think that — but there it was.A monster, crackling with latent electricity, looking at him like he had just asked it a very difficult math question.

’Can monsters even look genuine?’

His mind spiraled.

He remembered the single surviving ogre back in the city — the way it cried over its fallen leader. The way its grief had been so raw, so painfully real it haunted Eli at night.

He remembered thinking monsters are just animals.Predators acting on instinct. Driven by hunger and survival.

Not capable of human-like emotion.

Not capable of looking at him the way this serpent was looking at him now.

Understanding him.

Responding to him.

Trying to communicate.

Eli swallowed hard. "...Does Orion mean anything to you?" he asked again.

This time, he spoke slowly — cautiously — as if afraid the serpent might stop making sense if he pushed too hard.

The serpent’s response was immediate.

It let out a long, low exhale — a sound almost like a sigh. Eli didn’t even know serpents could sigh.

Then it moved.

A heavy slither, the ground trembling beneath its weight. It circled slightly, positioning itself closer to the old building — the lab.

And then...

Its tail lifted.

Not threatening.

Not attacking.

Pointing.

Straight at the ruin.

"O...ri...on..."A broken hiss followed, static snapping along its throat.

Eli’s eyes widened. "The building?" he asked. "The lab — is it called Orion?"

The serpent shook its head.

Slow. Firm.

Eli took a step forward, heart hammering.

"Is..." He swallowed. "Is the owner of the building... called Orion?"

The serpent turned to him.

Its massive head dipped in a slow, unmistakable nod.

Eli’s breath hitched.

"Oh."

So Orion wasn’t a place.

It wasn’t just a word to the serpent.

It was a person.

Just like for Eli, and to whoever the man was he was hearing in his dreams.

In Elione’s memories.

A cold tremor ran down Eli’s spine because—just for a moment—he realized something terrifying.

’What if all of this... is connected?’

The thought hit him harder than any shock the serpent had given him.

The system — glitching every time the name Orion appeared.

Elione Noa Ahn — a boy whose fragmented memories whispered that same name inside Eli’s skull.And now the serpent — an SS-Class dungeon monster — claiming it knew a human called Orion.

A human who owned a lab in the middle of a dungeon.

It didn’t make sense.

Not separately.

But together?

Together it was worse.

’How? How are they connected? How can they even be connected?’

The system.

Elione.

The serpent.

Three pieces that had no business touching each other.

Elione Noa Ahn—the spoiled, depressed influencer with zero interest in dungeons, who nearly died after a breakup and lived off brand deals.

The serpent—an ancient, massive monster capable of leveling a forest, yet somehow understanding Eli’s words like a trained animal.

The system—a glitching entity that could open gates, alter reality, and manipulate his body like some omniscient puppeteer.

Nothing about them matched.

Nothing aligned.

And yet...

Here he was.

Standing in a dungeon lab that shouldn’t exist, being stared at by a monster who mourned a person named Orion.

Eli swallowed hard. No matter how chaotic the questions in his head were, he could only focus on the one thing in front of him.

The serpent.

"Do you know Orion...?" he asked softly. His voice shook. "Is Orion just like me? Is he... human?"

The serpent nodded.

A slow, solemn nod that sent a chill through Eli’s body.

His breath hitched. "Have you been looking for him?"

Another nod.

Tighter this time.

More desperate.

Eli exhaled shakily as the pieces clicked into place. "So that’s why you didn’t hurt me. That’s why you brought me here. I... I mentioned his name."

The serpent lowered its head, the glow of its eyes dimming into something Eli never thought a monster could feel—

Sadness.

Deep, aching sadness.

Eli hesitated, then whispered, "Has he... been gone long?"

The serpent nodded again.

This time, its eyes softened even further, the mournfulness in them unmistakable.

Eli’s chest tightened painfully.

The state of the building... the lab overrun with vines... the abandoned equipment... the cracked floors...

Whoever Orion was—

He had been gone for a very, very long time.

’This is no help at all.’

Eli’s mind spun in tight, frantic circles, looping back on themselves until his chest tightened painfully.

He needed information.

He needed answers.

He needed something.

Because everything — the serpent, the lab, the system glitching, the name Orion — felt connected now. Like invisible threads were all pulling toward one center point he couldn’t see yet.

’This creature knows things. It knows more than I do. I have to ask. I have to ask everything.’

Eli pressed a trembling hand to his forehead, trying to steady his breathing, trying not to drown in the questions piling up inside him.

"What else... what else should I even ask...?" he murmured aloud. "Who Orion was? Why he had a lab here? Why a dungeon monster knows him? Why—"

A sudden tug on his arm cut his words off.

Eli jolted, nearly falling back. "W–Wait—!"

But the serpent wasn’t attacking.

It wasn’t even gripping him tightly.

Its tail had curled loosely around his forearm—gentle, careful, like it was touching something fragile.

Eli froze, staring at the warm, bioluminescent scales against his skin.

"...What? What is it?" he whispered, voice soft. He didn’t pull away this time.

The serpent slowly lowered its head, eyes steady and intent. It uncurled its tail... then tapped the ground once.

Then pointed.

At Eli.

Its tail lifted again, touched his chest—right above where he’d tucked the photo frame—and then hovered there, trembling slightly.

Another tap of its tail.

Then a soft, static-laced hiss:

"Or...ion..."

The sound dragged through the air like a broken radio signal.

Eli’s breath caught.

"...Me?" he whispered. "You’re... asking me?"

The serpent blinked.

Then nodded.

A clear, desperate nod.

Eli’s stomach dropped.

"You’re asking if I know where Orion is," he breathed.

The serpent nodded again—this time more urgently, its eyes widening with something painfully close to hope.

Eli’s throat tightened. "I don’t," he said softly. "I—I really don’t..."

The words tasted awful coming out, sour with guilt.

He swallowed, voice trembling as he went on. "...And I want to know more. I want to know everything about him too."

The serpent stilled completely.

Its pupils widened... then dimmed, like a light slowly going out. Its enormous head bowed toward the ground until its snout brushed the grass.

A low hiss vibrated from its chest — soft, quiet, and heart-wrenchingly defeated.

Not angry.

Not hostile.

Just... disappointed.

Deeply.

Painfully.

Eli felt a sharp ache twist in his chest. He took one small step closer, voice barely above a whisper.

"Hey... I’m sorry," he murmured. "I really am. If I knew where he was... or who he was... I’d tell you."

The serpent didn’t lift its head.

Its cracked scales pulsed faintly with fading light, like an exhausted creature that had waited too long for someone who never returned.

Eli swallowed hard. ’God... it’s been waiting for him.’

Slowly—so slowly it almost looked hesitant—the serpent’s tail lifted again.

Not high.

Not threatening.

Just a gentle sway from side to side.

Eli blinked, confused for a moment... then the meaning hit him.

"...Are you telling me it’s okay?" he whispered.

The tail flicked again.

And the serpent gave a small, fragile nod.

"That’s... great," Eli said awkwardly, voice thin. At this point, he had no idea what to say—or what he should say.

He and the serpent simply stood there, facing each other in a silence that was strangely... peaceful.

More peaceful than anything he’d felt since stepping foot inside this dungeon.

The wind brushed against his skin, cool and gentle, lifting the ends of his damp hair. A chill ran along his arms, but not from fear this time.

’What now...? Do I ask it to take me back? To help me escape? Would it even understand?’

For the first time since he arrived, he didn’t see the serpent as a threat at all.If anything, it felt... almost protective.

He opened his mouth—

Ding.

Eli blinked. "Huh?"

But what made his breath catch wasn’t the notification.

It was that the serpent froze too—its massive head turning slightly, eyes glancing at the faint blue screen flickering beside him.

Eli stared. "Wait... you—you can see the—"

He didn’t get to finish.

Because the system window expanded, stabilizing longer than before. The corrupted symbols didn’t flicker this time.

It displayed one line, bright and unmistakable:

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]Mission Progress:Task: [Make Target [KAIRO] and Target [CAELEN] work together to save you.]SUCCESS.

Eli’s breath stalled in his throat.

"...Success—?"

The word barely left his mouth when—

"PULSE BURST!"