Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Hero Finally Arrives at the Dungeon
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The dungeon bosses' questions dragged on endlessly.
But as time passed, some answers began to emerge.
"The entrance administrator might not be inside the dungeon, but outside. Or maybe the champion is connected to the administrator somehow."
"Those possibilities seem most likely."
Before the Abyss Pit opened.
A manager with powerful authority over the first floor must have tampered with the equipment Balak possessed.
Rather than wandering the dungeon using some alien power, they might have exited through the "entrance" to the outside world.
Or perhaps the abnormally powerful Balak right now was the entrance administrator himself.
"If it's one of those two cases, then the chain of events lines up somewhat. But if the champion is the administrator, why get ostracized by the others?"
"Honestly, there's a huge chance he just got swept up when the champion was rampaging early on."
"That's... I don't know either."
"Lich, we only have limited information in the end, so that's impressive enough."
"Yeah, the trail's gone cold, so there's nothing we can do. Even if we consider other angles, it'll just lead to pointless speculation."
With so many anomalies inside the dungeon right now, the number of unnecessary possibilities was exploding.
Preparing for every single one would waste the precious time Balak had unintentionally provided them.
"Then our next step is clear. Let's investigate all the anomalous spots inside that our director worked hard to research and report."
"Ella, don't call me that."
"What's wrong with it~? Honestly, Alterion, don't you secretly like it? Our girls call you 'Director~' in those cute, pretty voices."
"Getting hit on by witches several times my age is a bit much."
"...Alterion, was that an insult?"
"Just stating facts."
Afterward, Alterion drew sharp glares from the women.
But including the great witch Ella, the age gap with some of the witches really was that wide, so he quickly earned sympathy from the men and the moment passed.
Anyway, the dungeon bosses were now splitting up to handle their respective tasks.
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Inside the dungeon, Alterion had successfully escaped the women's piercing stares.
Balak was fusing sword energy with other techniques.
What about outside?
Beren had finally arrived in Leiter.
Of course, the situation inside the city right now was—
"We get that this is Her Holiness's final destination..."
"But when can we go home?"
"Yeah... when was the last time I even saw my house?"
In the freezing weather, countless beings waiting for Beren were slumped over in exhaustion, unable to return home.
And to enter the Abyss Pit, you had to submit some kind of qualification at the entrance.
So first, Beren used the item he'd received from Lumien before parting ways with her at the Papal Court, altering his appearance and aura as he began wandering Leiter.
Beren soon marveled at the cityscape that had become the world's hottest spot.
With an enormous transient population, shops were selling goods nonstop.
Inns were nearly fully booked, making it the empire's most booming city right now.
Of course, a city this prosperous would have equally strong shadows lurking.
"You blasphemous scum!!!"
"""Gaaahhh!"""
Thanks to the church faction's strong presence in the city, paladins were personally purging criminal organizations.
"Kieeec!"
"Ugh... my head. Did he escape from the asylum or what?"
"More beastfolk causing trouble..."
"When are the guards showing up?"
The city's power players had already pooled their strength to maintain order, so public safety inside was quite stable.
As Beren toured the city where everyone hustled diligently, he entered the adventurer's guild in high spirits.
Inside the guild, Beren's eyes fell on a crowd of adventurers gathered together, chatting.
Curiosity piqued, he slipped into the group.
"That new 'Ascension' thing that popped up—it's exactly like what I saw in those ancient scrolls we found, right?"
"No kidding~ Who would've thought that legend was real."
"But would anyone actually go for it? Plenty of people can't even clear the first room these days, and this adds even more debuffs."
"You'd be surprised—way more than you'd think. Since you come back even if you die, people are just trying it out."
Right then, the adventurers were discussing the new "Ascension" system that had appeared in the dungeon.
Surprisingly, there was even a legend that clearing the Abyss Pit's 100th floor long ago would let you "ascend" to godhood!
It was pure coincidence that the terms overlapped.
But to outsiders ignorant of the internal situation, the conclusion was: challenge Balak using the ascension system, and someday you might ascend to godhood?
Anyway, hearing that fired up Beren's competitive spirit even more, and he swiftly qualified as an adventurer, earning entry to the Abyss Pit.
Naturally, the guild's upper echelons sensed something off about this sudden powerhouse.
But with Beren's divine miracle masking his aura and appearance completely differently,
And strong contenders flocking from everywhere to challenge the Abyss Pit right now, they pegged him as one of them.
Now that all preparations were complete, what would Beren do next?
"Sk-s-skydiving!!"
That's right! Leiter's must-do tourist attraction!
He bolted for the sky islands to go skydiving.
**************
Beren headed straight into the newly opened mini-dungeon.
Whiiiiiish!!!
"Hahahaha!!!"
Soon as he hurled himself skyward, a sense of liberation hit like gravity had vanished.
As his fall accelerated, wind clawed at his skin while the world below seemed to suck him in.
Right now, his heart soared toward the distant landscape unfolding below, bursting with exhilaration.
Bouncing like a rubber ball onto the first sky island, Beren was instantly hooked on the sky islands' scenery and skydiving—beyond his wildest dreams.
"That's it! This is exactly what I was after!"
Reminiscing about his youth, Beren skydived dozens more times without tiring.
He even savored liquor from outside, using the sky islands' vistas as appetizers.
Some low-grade spirits approached during this...
"Kkh, that tickles."
"Eeeeek!!"
"Why is he so tough!"
But these kids couldn't inflict a single scratch on him.
Ignoring their adorable complaints, Beren used the Altar of Storms to explore the sky islands and soon spotted an amusing scene.
Crash! Bang! Clatter!!
"Kyarrururuk!"
"Grab it!!!"
"That's mine!!"
"No! Stop interfering!"
A race was underway among various beings trying to catch a low-grade spirit glowing golden.
Why on earth were they chasing that thing?
For now, Beren saved an adventurer who'd exhausted himself chasing the golden spirit and nearly met a gruesome end at the hands of other spirits.
"Th-thank you!"
"I don't even know how to repay you..."
"No big deal. But you were all chasing that golden-glowing spirit—mind telling me why?"
"Ah, you must be new here."
"Here's the deal—"
The adventurers, realizing Beren was a sky islands newbie, spilled everything they knew.
"So... the farther out you go, the stronger the spirits get, and midway there's these golden spirits wandering around. Catch one, and you get massive rewards?"
"There are ruins scattered all over the sky islands too—check 'em out!"
"Yeah! It's tough at first, but the wind orbs dropping there sell like hotcakes lately, makes exploring fun. Apparently, you can even use those orbs to activate some device and descend below."
"Pardon?"
"And moreover—"
Seeing the mini-dungeon packed with content like a feast, Beren was moved.
Fate being what it is,
He teamed up with the adventurers he'd saved to challenge cool ruins.
Battled low-grade spirits led by mid-grade ones.
Farmed local specialties across the sky islands.
Then, for a quick break at a large lake on a spirit-free sky island, he fished, grilled fish, and ate!
Even better, a peddler from outside had set up shop lakeside selling all sorts of goods, so despite the markup, he enjoyed tastier meals.
"But the peddlers are taking spirit stones instead of outside currency?"
"Most common thing to get here, but valuable outside."
"Well... they haul all kinds of stuff to a dangerous place like this, so we let the prices slide, but those merchants are straight-up bandits."
With the mini-dungeon's sun fixed in place, who knew how much time had passed.
Having explored only about 10% of the sky islands, he muttered,
"Ah... there's still so much to do in this dungeon."
"What can you do? Hot dungeons are always like that."
The sky islands, handcrafted with artisan spirit by the Elder Council's bosses, each had unique scenery and layouts.
No wonder Beren felt stuffed to the gills with endless content.
But this wasn't the end!
"You can reach a sea-exploration island from the highest sky island—is that really true?!"
"That's what they say!"
"There's even gear to breathe underwater."
"Iren, was it? Why don't our groups team up and head there? With a powerhouse like you, we could dive deeper into the ocean!"
As Beren—going by Iren—chatted and rested by a campfire with adventurers at the sky island lake,
His group overheard dwarves ascending to investigate the newly opened ocean area in detail and clapped in excitement.
Soon, Beren rose with the group under his alias Iren.
But suddenly, he sensed an enormously powerful presence hurtling down from above.
Wondering what was going on, he glanced around—just as a bell rang from a makeshift watchtower by the lake.
Peddlers scrambled to flee.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
"Th-there!! A light tail's coming!! Vweeeng!"
"The inspectors are hereeeee!!!"
"Air raid alert!! Air raid alert!!"
"What?! That light tail's coming?! Damn it, human! We gotta run!!"
"N-no! My wares!!"
Just as the lakeside crowd said, a comet-like light trail appeared from the distant sky, and soon—
Baaaaang!!!
Bang!
Storm-infused arrows rained down on the peddlers in an instant, turning those who couldn't evacuate into blue dust in a blink.
Of course, a few arrows flew toward Beren's group too.
But he casually deflected them, protecting everyone.
"What in the world..."
"Whoa~ Human! You're incredible!"
"Hahaha! This'll be reliable!"
"Whew~ Saved again thanks to you."
As everyone praised Beren, his curiosity grew: what exactly was that light trail from the sky?
But with his eyes already turned to scuba diving,
He offered condolences for the bandit peddlers' losses and headed with the group to the highest sky island.