Chapter 163: Entrance to Suran Generation Zero

Terrence brushed a speck of dust off his tattered sleeve, his eyes adjusting instantly to the damp darkness.

The air down here was heavy, thick with the damp smell of stagnant water and the sharp, metallic tang of raw mana. Ancient stone arches spanned overhead, holding up the massive weight of the surface streets above. Far down the main corridor, a faint blue light pulsed from magical security lanterns, casting long, eerie shadows against the wet brickwork.

Noir silently slithered back into Terrence’s shadow, transmitting a swift ping of spatial awareness.

Two armed sentries were stationed at the iron gate at the end of the sewer duct, oblivious to his sudden arrival. They were lazily leaning against their rifle-equipped spears, chatting about their shift rotation under the new administrator.

Terrence didn’t even slow his pace. He took a single step forward, his boots making no sound against the wet stone as he rounded the sharp corner toward the main subterranean thoroughfare.

Back on the surface, Filmos frantically scanned the empty plaza, his hands trembling as he reached for his communication badge.

"He’s gone, Trillo! He vanished into thin air!" Filmos stammered, his voice laced with pure panic. "He’s already inside! We have to report this right now before the whole underground cell gets wiped out!"

Trillo gritted his teeth, swallowing hard as he stared at the faint cracks left on the cobblestone steps. The bravado in his stance was completely gone, replaced by a cold, sinking knot in his stomach.

"Dammit..." Trillo muttered, pulling out his own device with shaking fingers. "Send the signal to Deputy Commander Nair. Tell them the target has breached the subterranean sector. This is bad... another person discovered the subterranean sector."

Filmos, who didn’t know about it and had simply heard about the underground cell in the central citadel, reached out and grabbed Trillo, who was clearly losing his composure.

"Hey, snap out of it! What’s wrong? What is this subterranean sector you are talking about?"

Trillo hesitated, his fingers tightening around his communication device until his knuckles turned pale. He looked around nervously, ensuring no nearby guards or citizens were eavesdropping before leaning in close to Filmos.

"You really don’t know?" Trillo whispered, his breath coming out short and uneven. "The subterranean sector isn’t just some standard basement dungeon or prison vault built beneath the citadel. It’s... it’s a completely different world underneath the surface."

Filmos frowned, a look of skepticism washing over his face as he shook his head. "What are you talking about? It’s just sewage tunnels and holding cells under the city streets! You’re making it sound like an urban myth!"

"Listen to me!" Trillo hissed, shaking Filmos’s shoulder with sudden intensity. "I’m not making this up! It’s classified information taught only to senior operatives in the commander’s program!"

Filmos blinked at Trillo’s dead-serious expression, the skepticism in his chest slowly giving way to a cold, unsettling knot of dread.

"Every major city with an ancient history has one," Trillo explained in a rushed, low murmur. "It’s called the ’Generation Zero’ layer of the city. Centuries ago, when the ancient civilizations faced catastrophic beast wars or structural collapses, they didn’t just rebuild—they buried the entire original city under tons of earth and stone to start completely from scratch on top."

Filmos stared at him, his mouth slightly agape as he listened.

"But those ancient sectors were never destroyed or erased," Trillo continued, his eyes wide. "The regional authorities kept them sealed off for dark, obvious reasons. They used those sprawling underground ruins as hidden laboratories for deep, dangerous experimentation on Taming Talents—taboo genetic splicing and beast breeding that could never see the light of day. It’s where the forgotten ancestors lived, and where generations of unrecorded casualties were buried."

Trillo swallowed hard, pointing a shaking finger straight down at the cracked cobblestones beneath their boots.

"Basically, subterranean sectors are entire forgotten cities buried beneath our feet, a whole other dark world existing right under the surface city sectors. And if a monster like Terrence just walked down there with lethal intent, he isn’t just going to break into a cell block... he’s going to trigger a catastrophe down in the Generation Zero layer that could collapse the whole city above us!"

Filmos felt the blood drain completely from his face. Looking down at the silent, stone floor beneath them, he finally believed every single word.

...

Back underground, Terrence was navigating the dense, pitch-black stretch of path before him. The labyrinth was so convoluted and messy that even with Noir’s spatial scouting earlier, he couldn’t seem to get any closer to where Stan was being held.

Unbeknownst to him, however, someone had already noticed his entry into the subterranean sector, someone whose sole duty was guarding the primary gateway between this hidden underworld and the surface above.

’Hm... who is this?’ the mysterious individual muttered silently, his slumber abruptly disrupted by the intrusion.

Two glowing yellow eyes opened in the deep shadows, scanning through the gloom with sharp precision.

’Are they surface dwellers again? Hm... Is he alone? What is he doing down here? Don’t tell me he’s here to reclaim their payment! Tsk! I can’t believe I was fooled by those surface dwellers. Alright... I’ll let him taste a bit of his own medicine.’

A sudden wave of goosebumps broke out across Terrence’s arms. It felt as though a cold, unseen pair of eyes was pinning him down from afar.

Even though Terrence was deeply adapted to dark places, he was still unfamiliar with the bizarre, unnatural layout of this underground world. As proficient as he was in low-light environments, he wasn’t a complete master of this specific terrain yet. Within this sprawling, ancient network, even with Noir’s assistance, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where this sinister presence was lurking.

Terrence scanned the surrounding arches once more, but found nothing. That alone proved the entity watching him was far from simple.

He let out a quiet sigh and loosely stretched his arms and shoulders, bracing his body for an imminent impact as he sensed a sudden spike of intent closing in rapidly.

A kilometer away, a dense mass of wild energy erupted, darting straight toward him at blinding speed. It navigated the tight twists and sharp, jagged turns of the complex subterranean roads with unbelievable fluidity.

Terrence’s sharp instincts locked onto the incoming threat instantly. Despite the dim, crackling yellowish thunderlight that surged around the projectile, he managed to catch a quick glimpse of its condensed form in a split second.

’Hm... There’s a formidable person down here?’

Terrence’s lips curled into a cold, dangerous smirk. He knew right then and there that this foe wouldn’t be simple.