My SSS-Rank Clone Talent: I Level Up Endlessly!-Chapter 76: Despair!

Anomaly!

This was the unique term given to a terrifying and exceptional kind of gate.

Normally, Awakeners could freely enter and exit gates. However, Anomaly gates were different, once they formed, no one could enter or leave.

No retreat. No reinforcements.

That alone was terrifying, but it didn’t stop there. The difficulty of the gate increased as well.

For example, if the gate was originally classified as B-rank, it would rise by one level, becoming an A-rank gate.

A single step increase in a gate’s rank was nothing short of terrifying.

Rolf, staring at the Anomaly gate, was overcome with horror. His face turned pale, and he collapsed to the ground, muttering to himself:

"It’s over... it’s all over..."

Seeing Rolf’s reaction, everyone fell silent.

"What are you hiding from us, Rolf?"

Randolf’s voice was sharp with irritation.

"You don’t understand what you’ve done, Randolf... Tyler..."

Rolf stood up, his face completely blank. "If that man dies, then the two of you will be the sinners of our great land."

Despite his expressionless face, the air grew heavy. Silence fell over the group as Rolf suddenly dropped to his knees and began slamming his head against the ground, over and over, crying with all his heart.

With each thud, the tension inside the camp deepened.

He sobbed uncontrollably, snot running from his nose as he wailed:

"It’s all my fault... I should’ve never let him go... I just wanted to witness the miracle of a Newly Awakened man clearing such a high-ranking dungeon..."

Blood dripped from Rolf’s forehead as his vision blurred. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ground, the tiles beneath him shattering.

But still, he didn’t stop. He kept slamming his head against the floor, over and over in a relentless rhythm.

Tyler swallowed hard, his throat dry, lips barely able to form the words:

"Is he... an S-Rank Awakener?"

"He is an SSS-Rank Awakener," Rolf whispered hoarsely.

Though barely audible, those few words hit like a thunderclap.

Everyone who heard them paled instantly. Their bodies trembled instinctively.

Their eyes slowly turned toward Tyler and Randolf, no longer with anger, but with pity.

Pity for the two poor souls who would soon face their liberation.

An SSS-Rank Awakener... In this age, they weren’t just powerful, they were the embodiment of a nation’s strength, the very face of its might.

Any attack on an SSS-Rank Awakener during their growth phase was treated as an attack on the entire nation itself, worse than treason.

And even though Randolf and Tyler hadn’t directly provoked him, indirect involvement was still involvement.

Even if Eryke had made the choice himself...

Who would be the scapegoat if he died in that dungeon?

Randolf and Tyler collapsed to the ground, eyes wide with terror.

The others didn’t look much better. Even if they somehow escaped official punishment, their Guild’s reputation would be in shambles. They could be branded traitors, outcasts. Their social lives, their careers, everything could be destroyed.

Just then, Geneva burst into the room, panic in her eyes.

"Sir Rolf, we have a problem."

"Did the previous ranking of the dungeon come out?"

Rolf felt a flicker of life surge back into him. ’If the dungeon was originally C-Rank, then Eryke might still make it out... Even if it was B-Rank, there’s still a chance. I’ve seen his records, he’s entered a gate before. He knows the risks.’

Even before Geneva could respond, Rolf’s mind was racing, calculating, praying, clinging to hope with all his heart and soul.

’He must survive. Please... let it be C-Rank. Or even B-Rank. Anything but—’

"The gate was evaluated as A-Rank!" Geneva shouted.

Rolf’s heart sank.

Whatever strength he had left drained from his body, and he collapsed to the ground.

Tyler and Randolf didn’t wait. Without a word, they turned and fled, leaving only their shadows behind.

Silence followed.

"...They really ran."

"Serves them right for running their mouths. Hah."

"But Randolf might actually survive... even if Eryke dies."

"Don’t you know?"

"Know what?"

"He’s the illegitimate son of the only S-Rank Awakener of this city. That might just save his life."

"Lucky bastard..." The old man from the Blue Serpent Circle let out a bitter laugh. "How the hell did I not know that as the Circle Leader?"

"Because you’re too old and senile, old man," a beautiful woman in flowing purple garments said with a teasing chuckle.

"You damned witch from the Golden Eagle Alliance..." the old man growled.

It felt like a fight could break out at any moment, but even so, the heavy atmosphere lingered, pressing down on everyone like a stormcloud.

Despite the bickering, an unspoken truth remained: everyone here was quietly terrified for their own lives.

***

Meanwhile, in a realm where water was nonexistent and the sun bore down without mercy...

Where heat hung thick in the air, trapped in a prison of endless desolation...

A lone man walked forward.

He had long golden hair and piercing blue eyes. His back was straight, his gaze sharp. Though he walked alone, he carried himself with pride, tall, unwavering, unafraid.

He spat on the ground—

Hiss.

The saliva evaporated the instant it touched the scorched earth.

"..."

The air was literally boiling. The heat warped the horizon, and his brow twitched violently.

"This is going to be a pain..."

Eryke muttered bitterly.

That’s right, this man was the very cause of the chaos unfolding outside. The source of fear. The reason tensions were about to explode into violence.

But here he was, walking alone through this endless desert.

"Where the hell am I!?"

His voice echoed across the cracked, dry plains. It had already been an hour since he arrived in this infernal place and nothing had happened.

No monsters. No traps. No structures. Just endless heat and silence.

Eryke sighed heavily. If there had been monsters, at least he could have done something. But this... this was just boring.

"Is this gate trying to kill an Awakener by hunger and thirst now?"

Eryke scoffed, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Hmm... not a bad tactic, honestly. Too bad I can’t enter a gate without my main body. If I could, I wouldn’t even be risking my life right now."

He sighed. Despite his ability to send clones across the world, entering a dungeon required his real body and that made everything far more troublesome than it needed to be.

As he mulled over his predicament.

A massive shadow stretched across the sands of the desert.

The creature moved slowly, deliberately gliding across the sands, closing the distance like a hunter to its predator.

The sand erupted into the air, swirling violently but Eryke just stood there, giggling like a fool, talking to himself.

Cracks began to spread beneath his feet.

Then, with a thunderous crack, a massive black maw tore open the desert floor. A deep, primal growl echoed across the empty wasteland.

Eryke glanced down. No fear. Just a sharp, cocky grin.

"So the little rat finally crawled out."

A monstrous jaw of a Dragon lunged from the abyss, wide enough to swallow him whole.

But Eryke didn’t flinch.

He simply raised his fist, starlight glitter, black haze swirling and condensing around his arm. The black haze gathered shaping itself into the silhouette of a sword.

"Aura Spell: Aura Projection."

In a flash, he leapt into the air.

As the creature’s mouth snapped shut beneath him, Eryke flipped mid-air and brought his arm down in a sweeping arc, the sword shaped black mass slicing through the air like a wheel of destruction.