Chapter 156
Chapter 156
Ch. 156 .｡.:✧ Near Miss (5) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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This was completely unexpected. I knew dungeons could be cursed, but I didn’t think anyone else would do something so reckless. It simply wasn’t cost-effective.
Back then, even with all of Sogong’s demonic energy, I could only apply a weak curse to a single dungeon. The effect was so negligible, I thought it was useless.
‘Right. The main heroines have practically infinite energy…’
What I hadn’t anticipated was that the main heroines didn’t care about efficiency.
They could expend the equivalent of an ordinary mage’s lifetime supply of magical power in a single spell. And this curse was surprisingly efficient, only activating when I entered a dungeon, drastically reducing the amount of demonic energy consumed.
They were clever.
‘But why?’
I couldn’t understand their intentions.
Yerina… well, she was still unstable, having not mastered her mental cultivation technique, so her actions were somewhat understandable. But I had believed Yulia and Jill wouldn’t resort to such extreme measures.
I had seen them change for the better with my own eyes. Why would they suddenly try to hinder me like this?
‘Are they competing…?’
Had they realized they all shared memories of past loops, and their past relationships with me?
A chill ran down my spine.
If that was true, and they were competing to capture me…
It would be a disaster. A three-way war would erupt, a repeat of the Papal Office’s invasion of Petenburg from a previous loop. My life would become a living hell.
‘Blocking dungeons… are they trying to cut off my income source?’
A sense of crisis washed over me.
I had expected the time limit to be triggered by the Heavenly Kings, but I hadn’t anticipated being pursued by the heroines again. Should I run? Where to? Should I escape to the sea fortress, as originally planned?
But I couldn’t stay there forever. Eventually, I would have to return, and I could clearly picture men in black suits waiting to apprehend me the moment I set foot on land.
If the three of them were truly serious, there would be nowhere for me to hide in this world.
‘This is bad…’
I couldn’t see a way out. My only escape was to defeat Draken and reach the ending. But without access to dungeons, defeating Draken was a pipe dream.
He would regenerate infinitely as long as he received energy from the dungeons. And I hadn’t gathered enough strength to face him yet.
I was trapped. I had three options.
First, be captured by Jill.
Second, be captured by Yulia.
Third, be captured by Yerina.
My only other option was ‘be captured while running away.’ And the least worst option was ‘be captured by Yerina.’
At least with her, there was no risk of her affection level reaching 100%.
The problem was, I didn’t know what the Yerina from the twelfth loop, who knew about all my affairs, would do to me. But she wouldn’t kill me, right?
I would just be imprisoned for life.
“If I don’t want that… then there’s only one option… a direct confrontation…”
And the final, hidden option.
Confess to all three of them and avoid the worst-case scenario of imprisonment.
If I was unlucky, their affection levels would increase, triggering an ending. If I was lucky, it might actually decrease their affection. It was a high-risk, low-reward gamble, but with nowhere else to turn, I had to grasp at straws.
“Alright. Let’s go get beaten up.”
As I stood up, I felt a tug on my sleeve.
I turned around and saw Nameless pulling on my clothes with her tiny mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
“Woo…!”
She pointed at my bag with her leg. She was talking about Kali’s True Soul.
“This won’t work. Kali’s True Soul can only absorb demonic energy, not the effects of curses. The source of the curse is elsewhere, this can’t stop it.”
“Woo!”
“That’s not what you mean? Then what?”
Nameless shook her head frantically, then tugged on my sleeve again, leading me somewhere.
“…Follow… me.”
“How can you even understand her?”
“…I don’t know. Just…”
It seemed there wasn’t some kind of monster telepathy. But Nameless was unusually insistent. She had always been passive, clinging to my clothes wherever I went, never expressing her own opinions.
Did she have a plan?
“Woo!”
“I told you it’s useless. It’s a curse affecting all dungeons. They must have interfered with the other world through the dungeon cores… huh?”
My thoughts shifted to the other world, and I noticed something strange. It was odd. Very odd. The same curse was affecting all dungeons. They couldn’t have cursed every single dungeon in Gallia individually.
They must have successfully interfered with the other world through the dungeon cores. But that shouldn’t be possible. Draken’s power should have prevented it. Then how did they access the other world…?
Ah.
“Draken’s power has been withdrawn?”
Everything clicked into place.
The cataclysm from a few days ago, the change that had affected all monsters and Linda… it was Draken withdrawing his power.
That’s why the slightly empowered monsters had become weaker, and the security of the dungeon core network had weakened, allowing for outside access.
“Let’s go. I have something to try.”
This was an opportunity. An opportunity to access the other world and learn about Draken’s plans. If I was lucky, I might even discover his weaknesses.
I rushed back to the dungeon.
[The monsters in this dungeon have been empowered by Saintess Jill’s blessing.]
[The monsters in this dungeon have gained a weak poison effect due to Witch Yulia’s curse.]
[The temperature in this dungeon has decreased due to Frost Duchess Yerina’s resentment.]
The dungeon instantly transformed into a frozen wasteland. The monsters were noticeably stronger. Since it was a Red Star dungeon without a boss, I quickly reached the core.
“Let’s do this…”
I touched the dungeon core, sensing the flow of magical power and demonic energy within it. I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of information.
‘I don’t understand this at all…’
Even without any obstacles, I didn’t know how to access the other world. I had thought I could use the dungeon core like a crystal ball to observe the other world, but the patterns seemed random, impossible to decipher.
Meanwhile, Yerina’s chill was seeping into my bones. My lips were chapped, and my eyes were dry. I had to leave, or I would die.
But I wanted to try a little longer. Just as I was about to give up…
“Here.”
A small hand touched mine.
“…?”
It was Nameless.
She had transformed back into a human and was pulling on my hand. She adjusted my posture and whispered,
“I’ll show you.”
Whoosh!
The flow of magical power and demonic energy aligned, and my vision shifted. The meaningless signals transformed into electrical impulses, flowing directly into my brain.
It wasn’t sight or sound, but a combination of all senses, a chaotic mix of information, yet my mind processed it effortlessly.
Perhaps Nameless was translating the otherworldly vision into a form I could understand.
“Ah…”
I trembled as I saw what Nameless was showing me.
How could I describe it? It was like a cosmic landscape, too vast for human comprehension, forcibly compressed and simplified. But even this limited view provided valuable information.
The other world had completely stopped receiving energy from the dungeons.
Draken had recalled his power, rendering the monsters and dungeons, his energy subcontractors, unemployed.
Then what was he doing with that power? The answer was simple.
He wasn’t descending upon our world, he was pulling our world into his. He was using a powerful force to merge the two worlds. And the process wasn’t slow.
We couldn’t perceive it, since it was a dimensional shift, but within ten years, at most, the two worlds would become one.
“Ah…!”
The world’s end, which was supposed to happen in a thousand years… had been moved up to ten years.
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