"What the heck are you talking about?"
Kal shouted in concern.
"Does it mean that there is something that is killing people in huge numbers?"
Ashoka nodded.
Then he pointed his finger outside the window.
"Look at that cave outside the castle. That's a dungeon. The Dungeon of Nirvana."
Robert scratched his head.
"Dungeon? Liza, you told me about it," he declared.
"Yes, but it was just a glimpse of that thing. I don't know much about it,"
Liza replied in concern.
"Dungeons are cursed caves that contain cursed objects,"
Ashoka clarified.
"If this cave is in front of the castle, then how come you didn't notice it for years?"
Kal frowned, furrowing his brow.
"Because the dungeons are not stable. They change their locations every time someone enters them,"
Ashoka clarified.
"If that's true, then we need to check it as soon as possible. It is closest to us,"
Kal advised.
Ashoka stared at the ceiling, silently.
"I have already done it. The biggest mistake of my life, which eventually caused the downfall of the Enomy association."
Ashoka sighed, tears in his eyes.
Kal blinked, the words sinking in like cold water.
"What happened there?"
"Grandpa, what happened there?"
Liza asked him, hugging him to calm him.
"When I ordered Chief Commander Zumo and his fleet to the expedition…"
Ashoka replied.
Robert's eyes were filled with mistrust.
"He had a fleet? So, there were a lot of Enomy?" Robert asked.
"Umm, when they left, they were a pack of 60 Enomy, but when they returned, there was just one. A half-dead man."
Kal's voice trembled, yet ideas flickered.
Ashoka's hand started shaking as if he had seen a ghost.
"The last one surviving from that breach told me one thing."
Ashoka paused.
"They were attacked by a creature that killed a dungeon. It was as huge as an elephant, as strong as a lion, and as fast as a cheetah,"
Ashoka added.
"It was a cursed beast."
"What's a cursed beast?" Kal frowned.
"Cursed beasts are ordinary creatures that were cursed by cursed tools," Ashoka explained.
"But Grandpa, as Mama told me, Commander Zumo was one of the strongest Enomy at that time. So how could he be killed by a cursed beast?" Liza shouted in confusion.
Ashoka took a deep breath.
"Because the cursed tool was as powerful as anything," Ashoka continued.
"A corrupted being who is cursed by a cursed tool and guided by it becomes as strong as the tool's power. It becomes a cursed object itself."
"Looking at the power of the beast, it's clear that the tool must have ultimate power and couldn't be broken," Liza shouted.
"Sir, do you have any idea which cursed tool has that kind of power?"
Kal inquired.
Ashoka took a deep breath.
"Yes, I have a clue," Ashoka sighed.
"The Book of Nirvana. The counterpart of the Book of Vasuki."
Robert stepped forward.
"What do you mean by 'counterpart'?"
Ashoka sat on a chair.
"Look, every coin has two sides. If there's good, there must be evil. It's just like that—every divine tool has a counterpart, or a counter-curse tool."
"But what is the Book of Nirvana?"
Liza frowned.
Ashoka stood and stepped toward the closest shelf and brought a book.
"Liza, can you read page number 22 for me?" he said.
Liza nodded her head.
"Oh, Grandpa, I'll read it," Liza replied while taking the book.
Encyclopedia
Section – B (Cursed Tools)
Tool Name – The Book of Nirvana
Counterpart of – The Book of Vasuki
Looks →
It's a book with infinite pages.
The cover is made of donkey's skin and embroidered with a snake pattern.
Power →
It contains the knowledge of the universe.
It can reveal the secrets of the universe.
Even the future can't hide from it.
"Now it should be clear to all of you,"
"Why this mountain is hidden from the world—because of this curse," Ashoka explained.
"But if this dungeon always changes its place, then why does this mountain keep it sealed?" Kal inquired.
"Because it doesn't leave the range of this mountain without a reason,"
Ashoka clarified.
At that moment,
Robert felt something.
Suddenly,
as if someone had broken the sky—
There was an explosion.
It wasn't thunder. It wasn't a blast.
It was something else.
Something that tore silence apart.
Robert, Kal, and Liza fell.
Thrown to the ground—
Dust and blood covered them like a blanket of pain.
Robert was bleeding.
His vision blurred.
But then—
He looked up.
A figure stood 20 feet away.
Eyes like hollow death.
And in his grip...
Ashoka's neck.
He dragged him forward like a warning.
The man—no, the monster—spoke:
"You are now dead. And the warriors carry the burden of killing Arunakreon."