Chapter 113: The Abyss Enigma

The atmosphere on the top floor of the Dragon Sovereign Guild headquarters could no longer be described as merely oppressive.

It was a mixture of anger, humiliation, and a trace of fear that even the guild’s highest-ranking members were unwilling to acknowledge.

Abyss had crushed the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s records in all three major dungeons. The difference in clear times was especially humiliating, with Abyss averaging nearly twelve minutes faster per dungeon.

It felt like three consecutive slaps across the face of the entire guild.

The meeting room was so quiet that a pin could have been heard hitting the floor. The only movement came from the central holographic projection, which displayed fragmented footage and reports from the recent clashes.

Some clips showed blurry afterimages captured by distant informants as Abyss hunted Dragon Sovereign members in the wilderness. Others showed the chaotic scenes outside the three major dungeons, where players had gathered to watch the records being shattered and discuss the implications.

Garrett’s forehead was covered in bulging veins. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked, and it looked as though he might smash the table in front of him at any moment.

Seraphine’s delicate brows were tightly furrowed. Her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the moonstone embedded in her staff, while worry was plainly visible in her eyes.

The other elite squad leaders looked equally grim. Some had pale faces, while others avoided meeting one another’s eyes.

Only Damien, seated at the head of the table, remained unusually calm.

He leaned back in his high-backed chair, his hands clasped beneath his chin as he stared at the holographic projection.

His expression revealed nothing.

But those who knew Damien understood that this kind of extreme calm was often more frightening than anger.

"Selene."

His voice finally broke the silence.

"You are in charge of intelligence analysis. Tell me what you think."

His eyes remained fixed on the projection.

"About Abyss Squad."

A brief pause.

"And about Reaper."

Every gaze in the room immediately shifted toward the intelligence officer.

Selene stood.

She was still dressed in her fitted black combat armor, which emphasized her upright posture and composed, almost aloof demeanor.

She didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she walked to the central console and brought up a series of detailed reports, combat records, market charts, and analytical models.

"Sir. Everyone."

Her voice was calm and precise, carrying the detached quality expected of an intelligence officer.

"Over the past seventy-two hours, I’ve compiled all available information concerning Abyss Squad. That includes their movements, battlefield records, attacks against our personnel, dungeon performances, and the economic disruption they’ve caused."

The holographic projection changed.

A dense timeline appeared, filled with dozens of interconnected events.

"This is my preliminary assessment."

Selene pointed toward the earliest entry.

"First, their operational pattern."

The timeline expanded.

"Reaper first entered our attention after soloing the City Hall raid dungeon."

She paused briefly.

"Pay attention to when this happened. It was during the earliest stage of the Eclipse Online fusion, when most players were still struggling to understand the new system and many were barely willing to enter dangerous areas."

A recording of the City Hall dungeon appeared.

"He didn’t merely clear it alone. He cleared it extremely quickly."

Selene’s finger moved across the timeline.

"That shouldn’t have been possible for someone operating without prior knowledge."

The image changed to a map of the dungeon.

"Unless he already knew the dungeon’s mechanics, monster distribution, trap locations, and optimal route."

The room remained silent.

Selene continued.

"After that, the pattern became even more obvious."

Several points appeared across a regional map of Ashford City.

"Reaper repeatedly appeared in locations where our elite members were leveling, gathering resources, or carrying out missions. The timing was precise. The selected locations were precise. Even their retreat routes were consistently optimal."

She highlighted several encounters.

"It was as if he knew our personnel’s activity patterns in advance."

Her expression became slightly more serious.

"Not only that. He often appeared to anticipate our reactions."

The projection changed again.

This time, it displayed the raw-material market.

"Then came the economic attack."

A series of market graphs appeared.

"Five days before we urgently needed several specific materials, an unknown buyer began purchasing them through multiple accounts and markets. The purchases were dispersed enough to avoid immediate detection, but the total volume was enormous."

The material prices began rising on the graph.

"They didn’t simply manipulate the market."

Selene looked around the room.

"They specifically targeted the materials required for our upcoming development plans."

Her voice remained calm.

"That means the attacker needed an unusually detailed understanding of our potion formulas, enchanting requirements, production plans, and future priorities."

The screen changed one final time.

Three dungeon leaderboards appeared.

"And finally, the strongest evidence we have—the three major dungeon records."

Selene’s voice remained controlled, but there was a faint change in her tone.

"Our elite teams didn’t establish those records casually. Each one required repeated route optimization, resource allocation, coordination, and multiple rounds of refinement."

The three records were highlighted.

"Yet three members of Abyss Squad, despite having fewer players and lower average levels than our teams, increased their clear efficiency by approximately forty to fifty percent."

Several simulated dungeon routes appeared.

"Based on eyewitness accounts and the energy signatures left behind during their runs, they avoided almost every unnecessary battle."

The routes highlighted themselves.

"They selected optimal paths with almost no wasted movement. They bypassed troublesome mechanics that most players don’t even know how to avoid. And when they encountered bosses, their methods were extremely precise."

Selene paused.

"It was as if they had already practiced each dungeon dozens of times."

The room became increasingly silent.

Selene closed the dungeon data.

Then she turned toward the assembled guild leaders.

"Taking all of this into account, I have reached a conclusion."

Her eyes settled on Damien.

"After eliminating the explanations that don’t fit the evidence, the remaining possibility is difficult to believe, but it explains nearly every anomaly."

She took a slow breath.

"Reaper—or an intelligence source operating behind him—possesses knowledge of Eclipse Online and the changes caused by its fusion with reality that far exceeds anything currently available to other players."

Her gaze sharpened.

"Knowledge that borders on precognition."

"Precognition?"

Garrett could no longer hold back.

He slammed his palm against the table.

"How is that supposed to be possible?!"

"From a scientific perspective, it is extremely difficult to explain."

Selene remained calm.

"But it’s currently the only explanation that connects all the anomalies."

She brought up another series of records.

"Reaper is too accurate."

The image of Aiden’s previous movements appeared.

"He doesn’t behave like someone exploring an unknown world."

Selene’s eyes narrowed.

"He behaves like someone following a map."

The room fell silent again.

The conclusion was absurd.

Yet no one could immediately refute it.

The more they recalled Abyss’s actions, the more unsettling it became.

They had found hidden opportunities before anyone else.

They had appeared at exactly the right locations.

They had avoided danger with unnatural consistency.

They had targeted the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s weaknesses before those weaknesses had even become apparent.

It was difficult to explain.

But it was even more difficult to ignore.

"Now, regarding their current combat strength."

Selene continued.

The projection changed again.

Three silhouettes appeared.

"First, Silas the Bulwark."

A series of combat recordings played.

"His defensive capability is extraordinary. Based on the damage records we’ve collected, he likely possesses powerful damage reduction, blocking, or defensive talents."

Several calculations appeared.

"More importantly, his ability to withstand prolonged combat is abnormal. His growth rate is also considerably higher than expected."

The next silhouette appeared.

"Purple Lily."

Selene’s expression became noticeably more serious.

"This is the most concerning development."

Combat footage of Luna appeared.

"According to the latest battle records, she possesses powerful elemental offensive capabilities. But that’s not the most important part."

The footage shifted to Luna’s use of Minor Misfortune and Minor Good Luck.

"She also appears capable of influencing probability or combat conditions through an ability we don’t currently understand."

The room grew quieter.

"What’s more, she previously displayed no evidence of possessing significant elemental abilities. Yet within a very short period, she suddenly demonstrated extremely high Elemental Affinity and exceptional control."

Selene paused.

"I suspect she may not be a conventional single-class holder."

She brought up an image of the Stormbringer Cloak.

"Her class may have undergone some form of mutation or advancement we don’t understand. Combined with that cloak, which we have reason to believe is Legendary-grade, her actual threat level may be significantly higher than our previous estimates."

Finally, the third silhouette appeared.

Reaper.

The footage was almost useless.

Most of the recordings showed nothing more than blurred afterimages.

"And Reaper himself..."

Selene’s expression became solemn.

"His speed, strength, and ability to exploit openings have reached an abnormal level."

She enlarged one of the attack sequences.

"Every strike is efficient. There is almost no wasted movement. He consistently targets vital points and weak areas."

Another clip appeared.

"More importantly, we still can’t identify the structure of his core class or determine the full extent of his abilities."

The image distorted around Aiden’s silhouette.

"He’s a blind spot."

Selene closed the combat data.

Then she delivered her final assessment.

"Based on everything we’ve gathered, Abyss Squad currently possesses three major advantages."

She raised one finger.

"First, an information advantage that borders on precognition."

A second.

"Second, an abnormal rate of growth."

A third.

"And third, several special abilities that we still cannot properly identify or counter."

She looked directly at Damien.

"As a result, their actual combat power has already surpassed that of every individual elite team currently under the Dragon Sovereign Guild."

The room stirred.

One of the elite squad leaders couldn’t help speaking.

"Surpassed every elite team?"

His expression was filled with disbelief.

Selene didn’t change her expression.

The man clenched his fists.

"Are you saying our Dragon Sovereign Guild has been reduced to this?"

His voice trembled with anger.

"Crushed by three people?"

Selene didn’t answer.

She simply stood there.

Because the battlefield data had already provided the answer.

Damien finally moved.

He slowly straightened in his chair.

His eyes swept across the room, taking in every expression before finally settling on Selene.

"What do you recommend?"

His voice remained calm.

Selene took a deep breath.

She knew what she was about to say might anger him.

But she was an intelligence officer.

Her responsibility wasn’t to protect the guild’s pride.

It was to give the most rational assessment possible.

"My recommendation..."

She paused.

"Is that we temporarily stop pursuing them."

Garrett’s chair scraped sharply against the floor.

"What?!"

He shot to his feet.

"Selene, have you lost your mind?"

His voice echoed through the room.

"You want us to bow our heads to those three?"

Selene ignored him.

"The enemy currently holds overwhelming information superiority and tactical initiative."

The projection displayed a map of the previous encounters.

"If we continue committing large numbers of resources to areas where they already have an information advantage—wilderness hunting, dungeon competition, and resource acquisition—we will continue suffering exactly what we’ve suffered so far."

She highlighted the casualty reports.

"Constant losses."

Then the dungeon records.

"Constant humiliation."

Then the market data.

"And constant resource depletion."

Selene looked around the room.

"Yet we gain nothing substantial in return."

No one interrupted her.

"We should temporarily consolidate our defenses."

She continued.

"Secure the territory we already control. Reduce unnecessary exposure. Focus our resources on strengthening the guild rather than chasing an opponent who appears to know our movements before we make them."

Then her tone became colder.

"At the same time, we need to activate every hidden intelligence channel available to us."

The projection changed.

"We need to identify the real-world identities of the three members of Abyss Squad."

A pause.

"And locate them."

Several people exchanged glances.

Selene continued.

"Only by obtaining information superiority in the real world can we hope to reverse the situation."

Her eyes hardened.

"Otherwise, we’re fighting blind against an opponent who appears to know where we’ll be before we even arrive."

Her words landed like a bucket of ice water.

The anger in the room didn’t disappear.

But it was no longer alone.

For the first time, some of the guild’s senior members felt something far more uncomfortable.

Powerlessness.

What was the point of continuing the hunt?

Find Abyss once?

Get counterattacked.

Challenge them in another dungeon?

Lose the record.

Try to develop the guild?

Discover that the required resources had already been bought up.

Every avenue they pursued seemed to have been anticipated.

And the worst part was that Abyss wasn’t merely surviving.

They were growing stronger.

The room became quiet once again.

From Selene’s perspective, Abyss Squad was an unusually dangerous combination: an enemy that appeared to have access to a complete guide to the world, possessed an information network capable of tracking the guild’s movements, and was already frighteningly powerful in direct combat.

Facing such an opponent didn’t inspire simple anger.

It inspired uncertainty.

And uncertainty, when sustained long enough, could become fear.

Only Damien remained completely still.

The room was filled with nothing but heavy breathing and the steady sound of his fingers tapping against the table.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Every person present stared toward the head of the table.

The fate of the Dragon Sovereign Guild now rested on a single decision.

Would Damien accept Selene’s cold, rational recommendation?

Or would his pride refuse to retreat before the three people who had humiliated his guild?