I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER-Chapter 75: The Cathedral of Chains.
"Agh! You two can fight later! We’re here because we need to save Arven, and Hana— and the three Ursa Canis remember?!"
His whisper bounced weakly off the stone, swallowed almost immediately by the sheer depth of the tunnel ahead.
Well the two windows hovering in front of him did not stop.
「Primary authority maintains combat logistics, threat detection, and structural awareness.」
「Mimi maintain survival better. Mimi phase one only, imagine later.ᕙ( : ˘ ∧ ˘ : )ᕗ」
The blue window flickered.
「That statement increases concern.」
Si Hon stepped out from behind the rock fully and finally let himself look.
"Agh, you to can Do that, but... shit. Isn’t this too huge..."
The hallway stretched forward in unnerving symmetry.
The walls were not natural cave formations anymore— they were carved, shaped with intention, but not with tools.
Long, horizontal abrasions ran along the stone like something massive had brushed against it for years.
Pillars weren’t decorative, they were load-bearing ribs, left deliberately in place to hold up a ceiling that rose higher than any underground structure should allow.
The air felt older the deeper it went— dry, mineral-heavy, faintly metallic.
And every few feet—
A torch.
Perfectly spaced.
White flame.
No smoke.
No warmth.
Just cold illumination.
The corridor split.
Left.
Right.
Both identical.
He picked one randomly.
Then another split.
And another.
The lair wasn’t random.
It was designed to funnel inward.
Every branching path curved ever so slightly downward, so gradually that only after several minutes did Si Hon realize his calves were straining from the descent.
The floor wasn’t rough— it had been compressed smooth, almost polished, as though enormous weight had passed repeatedly over the same routes for decades.
Yet—
No Munches.
Not one.
The only three he’d seen were at the entrance.
Inside?
Silence.
No patrols.
No distant breathing.
No shifting claws.
Just empty corridors and the soft echo of his own footsteps.
The arguing windows followed him like a glowing parasites.
「Stat allocation optimization would be higher if external interference ceased.」
「Mimi read manual. System didn’t.」
「There is no manual.」
「Page three say reposition follow mental vector clarity.」
「That documentation does not exist.」
「Mimi exist. So manual exist.」
Si Hon rubbed his face and kept walking.
Then—
A sound.
Faint.
Distant.
A shout.
A human
He froze.
It echoed strangely through the maze of corridors, warped by distance but unmistakable. It wasn’t a monster. It wasn’t a growl.
It was someone calling out.
"...You heard that."
「Audio confirmation: humanoid distress detected.」
Mimi’s projection turned sharply toward the sound, spoon glowing faintly, her playful expression dimming for once.
Another shout followed.
Weaker.
Still alive.
Si Hon swallowed.
"I should check... I don’t know if this is a good choice but I should."
He moved faster now.
Boots striking stone louder than he liked.
The torches began to grow closer together the deeper he went.
The ceiling climbed higher. The corridor widened gradually, no longer a tight passage but something closer to an underground avenue.
The air felt different here— less stagnant, more open, like the tunnel was preparing to empty into something vast.
Still no Munches.
Not one.
The absence pressed against his nerves.
A lair this massive should be crawling.
Unless this wasn’t their sleeping grounds.
Unless this was the approach to something else.
Something central.
Something important.
The floor dipped more noticeably now.
The walls smoothed further, the abrasions becoming less random and more circular, as if something had once coiled or rested along these passages.
The arguing windows had lowered their volume unconsciously.
Even they felt it.
Then—
He saw it.
Far ahead.
A glow.
Not torchlight.
Brighter.
Whiter.
Steadier.
It spilled from the end of the corridor like liquid light, illuminating the stone in a wide pale wash.
The hallway ahead no longer split.
It led straight.
Directly toward that glow.
Si Hon’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.
The damp stick felt insultingly fragile in his grip.
Mimi floated slightly closer to him.
The System window dimmed just a fraction.
The light pulsed faintly.
Once.
Twice.
As if breathing.
Si Hon inhaled slowly.
"...Okay."
And then—
He ran toward it... like a dumb fuck— and then stopped so abruptly his boots scraped against stone.
Why?
There was no pathway.
The corridor simply ended in a open air.
Before him stretched a cylindrical abyss so vast it felt less like a cavern and more like a hollowed world. The walls weren’t raw stone anymore— they were engineered.
The inner walls of the cavern were carved into a wide platforms that circled downward like giant steps wrapping around the abyss.
Massive pillars rose from the rock itself, holding up hanging structures that looked both ancient and incomplete, as if construction had stopped halfway through.
Far below, rivers of lava flowed through the depths, their orange glow lighting the cavern from underneath in slow, steady pulses.
(Is... is that the reason why... it’s warm in here?) Si Hon thought to himself.
And in the center—
A raised circular platform surrounded by jagged black spires curved inward like a crown.
From its core erupted a vertical column of green-bluish light, steady and humming, reaching all the way up into darkness.
But that wasn’t what made his breath stall.
It was the chains.
Five of them.
Each one as thick as a fortress tower.
They stretched from one side of the abyss to the other, fixed into the carved stone walls like bridges— except... yea, they dipped slightly in the middle under their own weight.
And they were covered.
Thousands of Munches clung to them.
Not hanging wildly.
Not chaotic.
They sat.
Knees bent, arms resting on the iron links, balanced with eerie discipline as if these chains were their designated seats in a cathedral.
The first two chains were packed tightly with the familiar gray-white Munches— the same kind Si Hon had always encountered.
Like... the one who pressed themselves on the invisible wall outside the tower, the ones that chased him and Hana relentlessly while he rode on Sixxy’s back.
Thousands of them. Their fur looked dull under the lava’s glow, their bodies thick and heavy, their posture slightly hunched as they sat along the chains.
They murmured among themselves in low, synchronized breaths.
The third chain was different.
Black fur.
Fewer in number— perhaps hundreds... but that doesn’t mean it’s not scary, well they’re noticeably broader in frame. Their posture was straighter. Their eyes sharper.
They did not murmur.
They watched.
The fourth chain made Si Hon’s skin prickle.
Mixed white, gray, and black Munches— but larger.
Shoulders armored in crude but intentional plating. Iron bands around wrists. Chest guards made of layered bone and metal. These weren’t common beasts.
They were soldiers.
Elite.
Their stillness wasn’t ritual.
It was readiness.
And then—
The fifth chain.
Farther back.
Higher.
Fourteen figures.
Not Munches.
Instead... all of them were Humans.
Si Hon leaned slightly from behind the rock, squinting.
They were seated evenly spaced along the chain, backs straight, unmoving. Some wore tattered cloaks. Others wore something unfamiliar to him.
One— specific tall silhouette, held a staff crowned with what looked like a bleached animal skull, its hollow eyes facing the green beam below.
Si Hon tried to look at the others.
But his vision pulled away.
Because at the center platform—
The White Munch stood.
It was enormous, almost twice the size of the black Munches.
Its pale fur seemed to glow faintly, catching the lava’s orange light and the green beam at the same time. Even without moving, its sheer size and stillness made it feel like the center of everything.
Behind it rose a structure carved from stone and chain— not quite a throne, but shaped like one. Heavy links draped downward like ceremonial decoration rather than restraint.
It lifted one arm.
The entire abyss quieted.
The murmurs died instantly.
Even the lava seemed softer.
Then it spoke.
Its voice was high.
Almost childish.
But the grammar was precise.
"Today, we stand beneath Ascension Light."
Its pronunciation was stiff, but deliberate.
"Gray feed body. Black feed mind. Armored guard law. Human... guide door."
The way it said "human" was careful.
Like a word practiced.
Si Hon swallowed.
The White King continued, walking slowly in a circle around the raised platform where the green light was shining.
"Cycle soon finish. Vessel soon choose. Order remain strong."
Its tone carried authority, but there was something disturbingly innocent about its cadence— like a child repeating scripture taught too well.
Then—
Mid-sentence—
It turned its head.
Directly toward Si Hon’s ledge.
Their eyes met.
Across the abyss.
For a split second, Si Hon felt exposed down to bone.
Then—
The King simply looked away.
Ignored him.
Continued speaking.
As if he had already been accounted for.
Si Hon slowly exhaled and ducked slightly behind the rock again.
(Why didn’t it react?) He thought. (Why didn’t I get attacked?)
His gaze darted back to the fifth chain.
Fourteen humans.
A staff with a bone.
A ritual hierarchy.
A green beam labeled "Ascension Light."
But Hana—
Arven—
The three Ursa Canis—
They weren’t there.
Fortunately.
Not on the chains.
Not on the terraces.
Not among the armored guards.
Nowhere in the abyss.
Which meant one thing.
This wasn’t the holding chamber.
This was something else.
Something bigger.
And whatever Hana and the others were part of— It hadn’t started yet.
Or it had already moved beyond this stage.
Below, the green beam pulsed once.
The White King lifted both arms.
And every Munch on every chain leaned forward in unison.
The sound that followed wasn’t chanting.
It was anticipation.
