It’s Not Night - Chapter 176.2

Before Dustin could finish speaking, Andra urged him on. She tightly grasped his hand and began to lead him somewhere urgently.

“Hurry! This place is going to collapse soon.”

“Here…?”

Only then did Dustin realize he had entered a dungeon, which was now collapsing. The ground where they had been standing was crumbling, with hot lava swallowing everything. Dustin obediently followed Andra out of the place.

After passing through a long corridor, which he didn’t know he had passed through, the temple they reached resembled the one he had seen in Aslan Dungeon. On the altar, he noticed a dragon’s egg and a red stone laid out. At that moment, he realized something was terribly strange.

The dungeon crumbling around them, the dragon’s egg and fire that Dean had taken, and Andra looking unusually in a hurry.

“Andra.”

Dustin stopped and called out to Andra. As she continued moving without looking back, Dustin began to feel increasingly anxious.

“Where exactly is Dean?”

“…Dean is… he’s dead. We need to keep moving. Please, Dustin.”

“…No, don’t you think it’s strange?”

Dustin stood his ground, refusing to budge despite Andra’s urging. His instincts told him she was lying. She was hiding something. It made no sense for her to avoid looking at him..

“What are you hiding?”

“….”

“Tell me, Andra.”

If Dean was indeed dead, why did the dungeon continue to collapse? Why was the egg unharmed? Dustin watched her closely. Her back suddenly trembled slightly.

Because of the anxiety, Dustin grabbed Andra, and turned her to face him.

“Andra…”

She was crying inconsolably. Her sobs filled with sorrow deeper than he had ever seen. Finally, through her tears, Andra spoke in a shaky voice.

“I’d rather just leave it all behind. It doesn’t matter if the world ends. I can’t do it, I can’t… Just do as I say. We need to leave this place. Follow me, as if nothing happened…”

“Andra, what are you talking about?”

“I can’t lose you. Please, Dustin. Let’s just get out of here. Let’s be together. It’s my plea… We need to move now. We don’t have time for this.”

Her words were incoherent, tears streaming down her face, unable to meet Dustin’s gaze. Yet, the force with which she tried to pull him forward was intense. She was desperately trying to take him somewhere. Desperately.

“Dustin, please!”

Despite her cries, Dustin remained still. An uneasy feeling crept over him.

Finally, he realized what Dean might have done to him. Somehow, despite everything, his body, that had felt broken, felt too intact, too whole. He looked down at Andra, who was now weeping.

“What did Dean do to me? I can’t remember anything.”

“Forget it! You don’t need to! Don’t think about anything. Just… let me handle everything. Don’t try to remember, don’t try to recall anything! Dustin, we don’t have time for this. Please, we need to move. This place is going to collapse soon. We need to escape quickly!”

With Andra’s desperate words, Dustin grasped her forearms tightly. He tried to meet her gaze. Her blue eyes, brimming with tears, were deeply immersed in sorrow.

“Tell me, Andra.”

“…I can’t.”

“Andra!”

Andra burst into tears once more. She began to plead with him almost like begging.

“You promised you’d as I said. You said you would do anything for me. Please, Dustin. Let’s not do this. Let’s just get out of here…”

Dustin shook off Andra who was reluctant to be honest and turned toward the altar. It was a simple structure with a concave center filled with water, where the egg and the dragon’s fire were submerged.

He remembered his last conversation with the dragon before coming here. The dragon had told him to break the egg in an emergency.

Dustin looked around, the dungeon continued to collapse around him. He picked up the red stone and started striking the egg fiercely. However, no matter how hard he hit, the egg remained intact, not even a crack forming.

A condition hadn’t been met.

This realization flashed through Dustin’s mind. He turned to see Andra rushing to stop him.

“Be honest, Andra. Please… What condition did we not fulfill? What did Dean do to me!”

Andra continued to cry, shaking her head frantically.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Even if the world ends… I can’t do it. Let’s not do this. Let’s just die together. Both of us…”

Seeing Andra collapsed to the ground, Dustin felt he was beginning to understand why Dean was nowhere to be seen, why the egg hadn’t cracked, and why Andra was crying so sadly just for him.

As he gazed at the woman’s tear-stained face, his eyes shifted to the rising lava. It was only a matter of time before it would overflow and reach their location.

“Andra.”

He called her name gently as he approached. He reached out to caress her tear-drenched cheek.

“It’s okay if you don’t love me. I can love enough for the both of us.”

At that moment, Dustin felt it would be alright if Andra confessed she didn’t actually love him. He smoothed her disheveled hair with his other hand. Andra looked up at him with a pale face.

“What are you talking about, Dustin?”