Dungeon Conquest (5)
Once the lava-like liquid barring the middle of the path had been fully cleared away, I changed into the spare clothes Ren had hurriedly brought me.
The new outfit was even lighter than the lightweight armor most adventurers wore. It was a spare set Ross had packed — gear focused more on utility than defense. That hardly mattered to me. I had always gone around in little more than a scrap of cloth anyway. Fortunately, Ross was close enough to my build that it worked.
We passed the first gate and followed the gradually descending slope toward the next floor. There, just as my senses had already told me, a vast plaza stretched open before us.
The air was hotter than on the first floor, though cooler than when the beast guarding the first gate had spewed lava. We could keep moving — so long as we were willing to endure a fair amount of pain.
The plaza was enormous. Traps littered the ground, and flames jutted up in places you couldn't simply ignore and walk past. How fire could just sit there burning on its own, I had no idea.
I didn't tear through it alone at overwhelming speed the way I had the first passage. There was no reason to anymore. The adventurers' gazes had already shifted — as if they were looking at something alien.
With the help of the water-flow magic cast by the Deep Night Clan's mages, we slowly smothered the flames, while I used my sixth sense to detect and avoid the traps ahead of time, carving a path forward bit by bit.
If I hadn't broken through the third wall — the realm of Will — I don't think I could have cleared this dungeon so leisurely. I probably wouldn't even have forced my way through the first passage that cleanly. That was how difficult this place was.
But did that mean the current raid party — these adventurers, excluding me — couldn't have conquered this dungeon? No. They might not have punched a path open by dropping dungeon beasts with a single fist the way I did, but they would have advanced steadily through sheer numbers.
Looking at it that way, a rough comparison of strength became possible. A warrior before the third wall, and a raid party that included a top-tier elite clan — one of the best among adventurers. If those two forces were roughly equal… then what about a Special Class Warrior? Couldn't one match the Empire's military power itself?
Of course, the Empire had more than just soldiers. Centuries of accumulated weapons, magic, and strategic assets would tip the scales — but even so, a Special Class Warrior was clearly beyond the level of a Calamity. Thinking of it that way, I still couldn't wrap my head around what kind of absurd kingdom my homeland must be, to have so many of them.
I felt I needed to rethink my casual attitude about meeting the Empress. On the surface we were the same humans. Some kind of mutant, maybe… or so I'd told myself, that we were just a little different. No — that had been closer to wishful thinking. I was well aware of how alien my existence was. To the people here, my homeland might as well be an apocalypse-class dungeon.
That thought only grew stronger as I looked at the beasts in the Entrance of Hellfire. You couldn't call them human, but they had a similar appearance. Whether they had been born naturally in this dungeon or were humans who had changed, I couldn't tell. It was a situation you could almost compare to my own.
I needed to prepare before meeting the Empress. At the very least, I had to hold something that would let me seize the initiative in conversation. Even if my power was overwhelming, I couldn't rule out the possibility that an empress might already know something and have prepared for it. This country couldn't even properly respond to the phenomenon called a Dungeon Break — but you never know.
While I sorted through my thoughts, we advanced toward the far end of the plaza. The deeper we went, the higher the heat climbed. Before long, a signal came from the party that it was time to take the medicine.
But I had another idea, and I stopped them for a moment. I drew up my Will. In an instant, a blue light condensed at my fingertips — a power that felt clear and cold.
"It's not dangerous, so just stay still."
I reached out over the head of Ren, who was closest. His dark blue hair was already soaked with sweat and disheveled. This was Cheong-ui — Pure Will — a branch of Will that carried the power of purification.
In truth, this wasn't a technique I had awakened on my own. Warrior seniors who had once fought swarms of contaminated beasts had taught it to me. I hadn't used it much back then, but fighting venom-tainted monsters in the Forbidden Zone had drilled it into my hands by necessity.
The blue aura I laid over Ren's head slowly spread through his entire body. As the heat-toxin that had seeped into his skin washed away as if rinsed clean, Ren stared at me with startled eyes.
"The heat… it's gone."
His voice, once he'd caught his breath, held surprise — and a strange, languid quality beneath it.
"It should last about as long as the medicine would."
I answered briefly and looked around. Now that I'd already revealed my killing intent, there was nothing left to hide. I decided to boldly apply Cheong-ui to every member of the raid party.
Some people flinched on instinct whenever I drew near, but no one refused my hand. Whether that was from fear or because they'd already seen Ren's reaction, I couldn't say.
I understood Will as something closer to mental strength than physical stamina. Using it was like drawing water from a well — the more you used, the more your spirit was gradually drained. I'd learned that the hard way fighting venomous monsters in the Forbidden Zone. When I unleashed killing intent recklessly, my head would spin and my vision would blur as if I were about to pass out. Coating the entire raid party — well over a hundred people — with Cheong-ui was definitely going to take a heavy toll on my mental strength.
"Feels like I'm being baptized."
"Is he really the son of a god or something?"
"That's blasphemy…"
"Shh, he can hear you."
I pretended not to hear the voices around me — less reverence than half-joking awe — and finally approached Bedeia. She was already drenched in sweat as well. As I drew near, Bedeia visibly flinched and went rigid. She'd been stealing glances at me ever since we passed the first gate. I knew full well she couldn't help but wonder what I was. She'd never seen anything like me before. If even she, who rarely showed emotion, reacted like that, what about everyone else? That was why I pretended not to hear the voices around me.
"…If you'd rather not, you can just take the medicine."
"No. I would be grateful if you would. However…"
"Where did I learn it?"
"Yes. More precisely, I wish to know the nature of that power."
"I don't think this is a suitable place to explain that."
"I concede the point."
After that brief exchange, I quietly reached out and laid Cheong-ui over Bedeia as well. Watching her rigid shoulders ease, if only slightly, I stepped forward again.
If a boss was waiting on the remaining floors after we cleared the second, what I'd just done would be a waste of energy. But in an uncertain situation, it was better to hold off on medicine that came with side effects.
Cutting down Pyro-species one by one, we finally reached the far edge of the plaza. Guarding the way ahead was a beast not much different from the Pyro-species — a humanoid shape.
I couldn't help but stop short when I saw it. A believer? No — a priest, maybe?
Skin that looked charred black. A rough, raised outer shell as hard as volcanic rock. Over a body no different from a Pyro-species's, a robe covered in unreadable patterns was wrapped tight. Not real cloth — more like blackened biological tissue that had burned and fused into place. The sleeves and hems around the forearms and ankles hung loose, while the rest clung to the body… The overall impression was of a priest who had stepped out mid-ritual, then burned and frozen solid in that exact pose.
Across its chest, a twisted crimson pattern was carved like a heart — a shape that looked like a giant eye one moment, and like a mouth about to open and spew something the next. I'd already been wondering if there might be human-shaped beasts here, and now a priest-like one had appeared right in front of me. I hadn't expected a monster to mimic a priest this blatantly.
The beast slowly raised its hand. With a faint vibration of heat at its fingertips, something like a circular magic circle formed in the air above its head. From the center of that circle, a massive fireball erupted — a seething mass of orange flame. Surging with heat, the fireball shot toward us at blinding speed.
I wrapped Su-ui around my hand in an instant. Black energy sheathed my fist as I stepped forward and smashed the fireball aside with the back of my hand.
Boom!
With a heavy impact, the fireball veered off course and slammed into one corner of the plaza. Its heat was similar to the liquid the beast at the first gate had spewed. Where it struck the ground, the fireball flared up and kept burning without going out.
I turned my head, searching for the clan's chief mage, Pria. She had already stepped forward with several other mages after seeing the magic the priest had used.
"Can you even call that magic? Is that really something a person would cast?"
Pria hesitated a moment before answering.
"…I'd need a precise analysis to know the structure for certain, but the energy I sense is similar to mana."
Her gaze wandered past my shoulder. I had a pretty good idea why she couldn't meet my eyes — but I decided to pretend I didn't. That wasn't what mattered right now.