Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Undead Dungeon (4)
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“They’ve closed the door.”
The man in black, wearing a mask without eye holes, muttered to himself.
His subordinate, a hulking figure draped in black robes like a cape, stepped forward from behind him.
Black hair, drowsy eyes. Every time the giant, covered head to toe in scars, moved, his muscles rippled.
The giant snorted derisively.
“Is that a problem?”
The giant’s name was Klimud Raju.
One of the bishops of the Tartarus Cult, holding the seat of “Chariot.”
As the black-clad man had said, he had just come from sealing the door to the Undead Dungeon.
By shutting it right before Alicia Cyrus’s soldiers could enter, he had isolated the variable the cult was monitoring inside the dungeon.
“We could kill them easily right now.”
Klimud clenched his fist, veins bulging on his forearm.
The interior of the Undead Dungeon was currently cut off from the world.
If he used his secret arts to enter now and confronted the variable with his servants, he could surely eliminate them.
“Stand down.”
But the black-clad man blocked Klimud’s proposal.
“Didn’t you say before that we had to exclude him?”
“That was then.”
“What’s different now? Another comrade has fallen in the meantime, and another stronghold has crumbled. Shouldn’t we uproot them as quickly as possible?”
He was particularly close to Elevaire among the cult members.
She had headed to a branch on the black-clad man’s orders, only to be eliminated by the variable, and never returned.
Because of that, Klimud was on edge.
“Our goal as a cult isn’t to summon our god as soon as possible and sweep this world clean?”
The great plan’s variable, Haribal Belder.
During the Doll Dungeon conquest, the black-clad man had been the one advocating to exclude Haribal.
He had even shared his power with the servants for that purpose.
Yet Haribal had broken through even that.
Afterward, for some reason, the black-clad man had shown only a lukewarm attitude.
No, hadn’t he actually weakened the cult by sending Elevaire and allowed the variable to grow?
Klimud was anxious.
About the fact that the variable they had let loose freely might one day bare its fangs at them.
“Better to eliminate it than let it run wild.”
“Indeed, he’s growing beyond our expectations on his own.”
The eyeless mask turned toward Klimud.
“But we don’t call it a variable if it can’t be controlled.”
“We’re not controlling it now, are we?”
“I have countermeasures in place for him. In about two months, they’ll bear meaningful fruit.”
As the black-clad man waved his hand, an image of a massive altar appeared in the air.
Dozens of boys and girls’s corpses lined up in a pool of blood. Among them stood a blond boy with glazed eyes, gripping a sword.
The black-clad man muttered.
“The one who should have been there originally was someone else.”
“Who?”
When no answer came, Klimud narrowed his eyes.
‘Then don’t bring it up in the first place.’
Resigned, he followed the black-clad man’s lead and examined the boy more closely.
Eyes devoid of any light.
A sign that the cult’s brainwashing was nearing completion.
‘Sixteen… no, about seventeen. What do they plan to use him for?’
Hoo. Klimud sighed.
“…So, you’re saying you’ll control the variable with something like that?”
“It’ll be enough to time it right.”
“Time it? Not stop it?”
The black-clad man fell silent once more.
Staring only at the boy in the image.
Klimud knew.
That this man, the Tartarus Cult’s First Bishop, wouldn’t say more in such moments.
“Annoying. Holding power yet acting so frustratingly.”
Klimud turned roughly.
“Then, what if I don’t step in myself and just use the dungeon’s power to take down the variable? Will you block that too?”
“If it comes to that, then so be it—fate.”
“Ku. Consider that approval.”
It meant he wouldn’t interfere even if the dungeon itself was used, as long as he didn’t act personally.
In that case, he was confident.
No, the preparations were already complete.
He had gathered all the wraiths that should have been scattered in the early stages into the final gateway, and even set up devices to specifically weaken the variables’ forces.
The other gateways had weakened relatively as a result, but it didn’t matter.
As long as the variable could be reliably eliminated, he could concede a day or two of victories.
‘If things go as planned, they’ll arrive in two days. That’ll be your grave.’
Klimud added one last remark as he crossed the threshold.
“It’s been over five years since I joined the cult… but watching you, it doesn’t seem like you have any intention of stopping the dungeon from being conquered.”
After Klimud left, the black-clad man stood motionless for a long while.
“Chariot. You’re right. It might look that way.”
A smile crept beneath the mask.
“But what can be done? Even for me, this reversal of offense and defense is a first.”
He gazed silently beyond the image, at the distant sun emblem of the Cyrus Empire.
⁎⁎⁎
My turn.
‘Doesn’t work, huh.’
I had tried to land a hit on contact and enter combat.
Unfortunately, Negalrone easily blocked my attack.
‘Yeah. This bastard’s always been like this.’
I had expected the trick not to work.
Negalrone was one of the shittiest bosses in the academy, alongside Shukarit.
Unlike Alain, whose armor was his flesh, Negalrone’s was literally just armor.
You had to break that armor first for real damage to go through, so parties focused on physical DPS saw the difficulty skyrocket exponentially.
And despite its size, as a humanoid boss, its movements were nimble, making core-bashing tough.
So I tried for an easy win, but no dice.
But unlike the opener strike, now that combat had started, it couldn’t block my attacks anymore.
I spun my body midair.
“Corner Slash.”
Slash!
My blade, blocked by its greatsword, slid sideways, carving a gash into Negalrone’s armor.
[Weak!]
Confirming the weak point marked, I immediately retreated and began charging Desperation, Reverse.
Woooom.
Negalrone’s turn.
Its hollow eyes blazed with fury toward me, the one who had scratched its body.
Its waist twisted grotesquely again.
Preparing to unleash its finisher, Space Slash.
But right in front of me, Logia—loaded with Mine’s AI—perfectly intercepted it.
“I won’t let you get to Haribal!”
A fact we’d learned repeating fights with the duo and the dungeon.
Raphael’s summons were treated as a kind of technique, partially exempt from turn constraints.
They could move between turns according to Mine’s will, like now.
Unlike the original where it only did damage and heals, the current tanking Logia was basically a cheat for me.
Knowing I was charging and defenseless, she had sent Logia straight away.
Negalrone’s aggro shifted from me to Logia.
Slaaash!
The slash that rent space struck Logia head-on.
A diagonal gash crossed Logia’s torso, spurting not blood but pure white fluid.
“Logia!!”
“Mine! It’s just a summon! Focus on your role now!”
One change since Raphael took Logia’s form instead of the paper angel from the original.
As a humanoid summon, it didn’t auto-heal when injured.
Even resummoning Raphael would leave the previous wounds.
In truth, Logia was identical to Mine in appearance, just with a slightly different vibe—like twins.
That’s why Mine grew attached every time she summoned her.
Seeing that being hurt hardened her expression with rage.
Mine’s turn.
“Holy…!”
“Wait, Mine. Heal the armor! Holy Enchant next!”
“……Got it!”
I never planned to break that tough armor myself.
We had Mine.
“Heal!”
Crackle. Crackle.
The moment the pure white light touched the weak point I’d marked, spiderweb cracks spread across the armor’s surface.
Boom!
[Weak!]
With an explosion, the armor shattered, revealing the skeletal true body beneath.
“Huh! Even armor takes healing damage?”
“I suspected, and it worked. Looks like the armor counts as undead too.”
I knew it already.
That armor was a cursed relic soaked in demonic energy alongside Negalrone’s flesh.
Not flesh, but still treated as undead all the same.
Mine stared blankly at her hands.
The being that had driven her precious people to death, neutralized with a single gesture.
Her eyes blazed with resolve.
‘Morale boost is good, but.’
“Mine!”
“Got it!”
Time to use the extra turn.
“Holy Enchant!”
With Mine’s prayer, my blade glowed white.
Alicia’s turn.
“Naked at last, specter of the past! Flowers bloom for but eleven days!”
Red petals enveloped me and Mine.
My turn again.
I immediately unleashed the pent-up sword energy straight ahead.
Desperation, Reverse.
Whiiiir!
The ashen sword beam gained red fighting spirit and white holy power.
The tri-colored beam plunged straight into Negalrone’s exposed core.
- Roooar!
Boom!
Struck by the blow, the skeletal giant screamed and flew back, crashing into one wall of the training ground.
Clang!
With a dull thud, Logia’s mace smashed Negalrone’s skull.
A red gem blinked above its head, but from the impact, it couldn’t rise for a while.
“We did it! Haribal!”
“Kuhuhu! It’s just a mid-boss! We’d be in trouble if we couldn’t handle this!”
I was satisfied with the result too.
One-shot the armor and landed a solid hit.
We could wrap it up in two or three turns at latest.
But that moment.
‘…Why’s it this easy?’
A sense of unease flashed through my mind.
No matter the combo, strategy, and buffs, this was too easy.
Weaker than Alain by far.
All thanks to Alicia?
‘No. One whole pattern got skipped.’
Negalrone’s infamy as a mid-boss came not just from the armor or nimble moves, but its shitty dodge pattern.
Wraith Wave.
It scattered circular wraith zones everywhere, inflicting massive damage and binds on hits.
Followed by Space Slash—that was a one-way ticket to a party wipe.
But the Negalrone we fought only used Space Slash twice, skipping Wraith Wave entirely.
Whether it couldn’t or didn’t, Mine’s earlier words lingered oddly.
No wraith-type mobs since entering the dungeon.
‘…Something’s up.’
Then, Negalrone, embedded in the wall, slowly rose with a clatter.
Right. Whatever it was, beating this guy ends today—that fact hadn’t changed.
“Everyone, stay alert. It’s coming.”
Instead of us, Negalrone turned toward the blazing braziers atop the walls.
It raised its greatsword and slashed at the first brazier.
Boom!
Instantly, half the training ground plunged into darkness.
Then the opposite one.
Boom!
The entire training ground sank into complete darkness.
“This is…!”
In the dark, its empty eyes gleamed eerily.
That’s when.
Fwoosh!
The right brazier reignited immediately.
Only one person could do that.
Aren’s group had been waiting by the braziers.
If they managed it, they took no damage.
“It’s Aren!”
“G-Good! You’re safe!”
With half the darkness lifted, Negalrone’s body looked half-swallowed by shadow, half by light.
In that moment, I was certain.
It hadn’t taken any damage up to stripping the armor.
The extinguished brazier relit promptly, restoring half the light.
‘We won’t lose this fight. Absolutely.’
But another certainty crossed my mind too.
‘Then… what about the final boss?’
Not the mid-boss Negalrone.
But Necredin, the Tomb King, master of this dungeon.
Negalrone shattered my thoughts.
Crack!
It snapped the greatsword in half with bare hands.
Two swords, one in each hand.
‘It’s splitting.’
Phase 2 had begun.