Chapter 144

When light passes through a prism, a continuous band of colors appears.

The Spectrum Prison is a dungeon created using this very principle.

It divides each section using light split by a prism, and activates different traps in each zone.

Among them is a prison made from the seven visible colors of light.

That is why it is called the Spectrum Prison, or sometimes the Rainbow Prison.

Each color possesses its own unique wavelength, properties, and even a kind of “will.”

The Spectrum Prison is a dungeon that utilizes these characteristics.

The seven zones—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—are completely isolated, and instead of reality, spaces formed of light greet any intruder.

A space that transcends the physical world—thus, it is called a metaphysical space.

***

The outermost red metaphysical space constantly stimulates human fear and anxiety, whispering until its victims destroy themselves.

The place Zeon was trapped in now was precisely that red metaphysical space.

Everything visible was an unreal landscape dyed entirely in red.

A red metaphysical space with no boundaries, no distinctions.
It felt as though he were floating alone in a red universe with zero gravity.

“First time I’ve seen a trap like this.”

Zeon muttered as he looked around.

The sensation of this red space—something that should never exist in reality—was grotesque.

“Did they recreate a dungeon? If so, the dungeon core must be intact, and it would need a stable supply of mana…”

Zeon had cleared countless dungeons before.
Some of them completely defied human logic.

Just like this Spectrum Prison.

That was why he didn’t panic, even in a situation he was experiencing for the first time.

“Where’s the sand?”

Zeon searched for his greatest weapon—sand.

But in this red space, he couldn’t feel any trace of it.

“So it really is completely cut off from the outside.”

If there were even a small passage or gap, he would have sensed sand.

That confirmed this was a perfectly isolated space.

***

Zeon began walking through the red metaphysical space.

His body felt weightless, as if in zero gravity. Even the slightest loss of balance sent him drifting.

This must be what it feels like to float in space.

The biggest problem was that no matter how much he walked, he couldn’t pick up any speed.

Suddenly, anger surged within him.

From deep inside, fury began to boil over.

The feeling that he could never escape this place made the anger grow even stronger.

“Why am I even bothering to walk? I should just destroy it…”

Zeon opened his subspace.
A mountain of sand poured out.

Before long, the sand formed a sea beneath his feet.

“Sand Blaster!”

With a swing of his hand, dozens of streams of sand shot out in all directions.

But not a single one inflicted any damage on the red space.

“So that’s how it is?”

Unable to calm his anger, Zeon kept swinging his hand.

Shu-shu-shu!

Sand Blaster fired repeatedly.

Even after unleashing this many attacks, there was no impact—no feedback at all.

Only then did Zeon realize something was wrong.

His uncontrollable anger was strange.
And this space that remained unaffected by his attacks was also strange.

Zeon wasn’t someone who easily lost his temper.

Maybe he had been like that as a child, but after wandering the world for eight years, he had learned to control his mind.

Never once since then had he lost his reason.

Yet now he couldn’t control his emotions?

This was definitely not normal.

“...Hoo.”

He let out a breath and forced his anger down.

Only then did things he hadn’t noticed before become clear.

The red space, which had seemed static, was actually pulsing subtly—like it was breathing.

Each time it pulsed, red energy was being inhaled through Zeon’s nose and mouth.

Zeon immediately stopped his breathing and covered his body with mana.

That’s when he felt a foreign energy inside him.

It was the same red energy filling the space.

Without realizing it, he had inhaled a significant amount.

The red energy had gathered especially around his central nervous system.
It stimulated and seized control of it—that was why his anger had exploded.

Zeon focused his mind and forced the foreign energy out of his body.

“Huu…”

Only then did his mind clear, allowing him to calmly assess the situation.

“This red energy provokes emotion and draws out hostility. Once consumed by it, you lose your reason, rampage, and eventually collapse from exhaustion… Clever. That’s why it’s hard to notice.”

Zeon found the space quite ingenious.

It was only because of his composure that he had realized the problem.
Anyone else would have been consumed by hostility and gone berserk.

***

From the beginning,Damian had no intention of overpowering Zeon with brute force.

He knew Zeon could manipulate sand, and understood that if Zeon fought seriously, he couldn’t be stopped.

So instead, he recreated a dungeon like this—

To make Zeon exhaust himself in a frenzy.

But Zeon was far more calm and rational thanDamian had anticipated.

“This red space is a metaphysical space isolated from reality. Walking out of it is impossible. The only way… is to destroy the space itself.”

He had already confirmed that Sand Blaster alone wasn’t enough.

He needed something far more powerful.

Fortunately, Zeon had such a skill.

Rumble—!

The sand beneath his feet began to spin and rise.

A sandstorm formed around him.

Demian had assumed that since there was no sand in the metaphysical space, Zeon’s abilities would be limited.
But he hadn’t known Zeon carried vast amounts of sand in his subspace.

KWA-KWA-KWA!

The sandstorm quickly grew larger.

A massive amount of sand spun violently, generating fierce winds.

The storm shook the entire red metaphysical space.

The space trembled violently—yet endured stubbornly without breaking.

That meant the interior of this space was vast.

There wasn’t enough sand to completely destroy it.

But Zeon had a way to compensate.

“It’s been a while since I used this… Exion!”

In that instant, a black energy burst from his body.

It was Exion, the finest sand particles in existence, stored within every pore of his body.

Exion was powerful on its own—but when combined with sand, its destructive force multiplied.

Zeon infused Exion into the raging sandstorm.

The storm’s power surged even further.

KOO-KWAAAA!

Under the overwhelming force of the storm, the metaphysical space shook violently.

Zeon intensified the storm even more—

And cracks began to appear throughout the space.

Crack! Craaack!

The fractures spread, and soon fissures opened everywhere.

Through those cracks—

He could see the outside.

A vast desert, filled endlessly with sand, came into Zeon’s view.

A smile spread across Zeon’s lips.

“Good!”

He drew in the sand from outside.

Like a tidal wave, the desert sand surged through the cracks and flooded the metaphysical space.

With that immense amount of sand added, the sandstorm swelled to a scale incomparable to before.

Before its overwhelming force, the metaphysical space was torn to pieces.

Craaaash!

With a tremendous shattering sound, the red energy surrounding Zeon vanished without a trace.

As the metaphysical space itself was destroyed, it dissipated completely.

“Whew!”

Only then did Zeon let out a breath and shake his head.

Using such intense power in an instant left him drained. But he quickly steadied himself and looked around.

His brow furrowed deeply.

The surroundings were utterly horrific.

Bodies with severed limbs and spilled entrails were scattered everywhere.

Some looked as though they had killed each other.

Given how many different groups had attacked, it wasn’t strange that they would end up killing one another.

The problem was that some of the ones who had killed each other were wearing the same uniforms.

They were clearly Awakened from the same faction.

Under normal circumstances, comrades would have no reason to kill each other.

“So it wasn’t a normal situation.”

He himself had nearly died in the red metaphysical space.

The red energy had stimulated his hostility and driven him into a frenzy.

That meant the other colors likely had the power to stimulate different emotions as well.

Zeon examined the corpses.

“The wounds have already dried… That means quite some time has passed. Does time flow differently inside these spaces?”

His expression hardened.

From his perspective, he had only been inside the metaphysical space for three or four hours.

But the bodies he touched looked as though they had died at least a day ago.

Time clearly flowed differently in each metaphysical space.

Zeon sighed and looked toward the fortress.

As if confirming his suspicion, the fortress was far more destroyed than before.

More than a day had truly passed outside.

“Demian… how did you let things escalate this far?”

Letting out a heated sigh, Zeon began walking toward the fortress.

Six more lights were still waiting for him.

***

Craaack!

With a sound like shattering glass, cracks appeared in midair, and a group emerged.

They were wounded and exhausted—the elves who had charged boldly toward the fortress.

“To pull something like this… I will never forgive you, human!”

The elf grinding her teeth was Mariel, leader of the Thorn Assault Unit.

The Thorn Assault Unit and the elves had been suddenly trapped in the Spectrum Prison when they rushed the fortress.

The place they were trapped in was the blue metaphysical space.

Sky, ground—everything was blue.

It felt so fresh and vibrant that it made the elves tremble, as if they had arrived in the legendary Kurayan.

Most elves had been born and raised in Neo Seoul.

All they had ever seen were barren deserts and developed cities.

They had never even glimpsed a green meadow.

So this blue metaphysical space reminded them of their unseen homeland, Kurayan.

Some elves were so moved that they shed tears of joy.

Even Mariel’s heart was shaken.

She had never realized that being surrounded by blue could make one’s spirit feel so enriched.

Only then did she understand why the elf queen, Serian, longed for Kurayan so deeply.

Elves were meant to grow up in such abundant environments.

That was why they had come to Earth.

But due to the side effects of terraforming, Earth had become desolate, and they had never been given the chance to experience green lands.

That made it all the more infuriating.

All their sacrifices had become meaningless.

“If we obtain the Spirit King’s Crown, we can rebuild the elves’ homeland. Not live mixed with filthy humans—but create a paradise for elves alone.”

Mariel hated humans.

More precisely, she hated the humans who rejected elves.

She also despised the fact that they lived like tenants in cities built by humans.

That was why she did not like Serian, who had decided to coexist with humans.

And it was why she followed Eli, the second-in-command.

Mariel steeled herself and urged the elves forward.

“We must escape this place. Hurry!”

But the elves ignored her orders.

The blue space had captivated their hearts.

They didn’t want to leave. Her commands sounded like nagging to them.

Only then did Mariel realize something was wrong.

Just as Zeon had felt intense hostility in the red space, this blue space gave the elves comfort—and made them forget.

It would have been better to fight enemies or monsters.

Inside the Spectrum Prison, the true enemy was oneself.

The elves forgot why they needed to fight and grew complacent in the comfort of the blue space.

That was the terrifying nature of the Spectrum Prison.

Each of the seven lights emitted different wavelengths, and these wavelengths influenced the human mind.

The most frightening part was that even while their minds were being taken over, they couldn’t realize it.

To awaken those whose minds had been consumed, extreme shock therapy was required.

Drip… drip…

Blood trickled down Mariel’s sword.

It was elven blood.

To awaken the elves whose minds had been consumed by the blue metaphysical space, she had resorted to a drastic measure—

She killed several of her own subordinates as an example.

The elves, including the Thorn Assault Unit, were like siblings to her.

Killing them inflicted a deep wound on her own heart.

But she had no choice.

It was impossible to escape the blue metaphysical space alone.

In the end, the elves, shocked back to their senses, joined forces and escaped the Spectrum Prison.

Mariel glared at the fortress with bloodshot eyes.

“Wretched humans… to use such vile methods. I will never forgive you.”