Chapter 84

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 84

Chapter Title: Sub Quest

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"Grr... guaak...."

"Boring."

Erzsebet kicked the pinned Belze once with her foot. His limbs were shattered all over his body, and his translucent wings were torn to shreds. Without hesitation, she headed deeper into the dungeon. She desperately wanted to punish this insolent bug a little more for threatening her master, but the power she was using now had limits, so she had to hurry.

The blood of the incubus who protected the virgin, Rio's blood which had risen to an strangely high level, the high elf's blood, and even a bit of the dryad avatar's blood she'd secretly sipped without her master's knowledge.

All of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that blood was ridiculously high-grade, so she'd regained her lost power for a while. But in proportion, it was being consumed at a rapid rate.

'And for some reason.... I'm getting sleepy.'

The rapid blood consumption was a problem, but strangely, ever since she'd drawn out her original power, the burning motivation had quickly faded. The desire to punish her master's enemies in his place, to excite her beloved master—it was gradually disappearing. Instead, a urge rose that everything was meaningless, and she just wanted to lie down and sleep right there.

Feeling like she'd really collapse and fall asleep on the ground if she kept going like this, Erzsebet hurriedly entered deeper into the dungeon. Since she was already in another being's dungeon, she planned to see that 'dungeon core' with her own two eyes.

'My master never shows it to me....'

It might be because he'd lost his memories, but at least according to the knowledge she possessed, a 'dungeon core' didn't exist. The 'holy relics' humans used were the same.

Both were things that defied her existing common sense. She'd heard explanations from the demons, but she wanted to confirm their existence with her own eyes, so Erzsebet headed to the dungeon's deepest part.

And there, she could find it.

-Thump! Thump! Thump!...

"....Is that the core?"

She'd imagined a smooth form like the cores in golems or slimes for a dungeon core, but what appeared before her eyes was very different from her expectations.

Something blackish-red, like sticky mucus mixed with living flesh, clumped into a round mass. A suspicious object pulsating thump-thump as if it were alive.

"What is this feeling....?"

As she gazed at that core, Erzsebet felt extreme disgust and a familiar familiarity at the same time. Like reuniting with someone she hadn't seen in a long time, but in a wretched, ruined form.

-Step.

At first, she'd planned to just grasp the core's essence and ask her master about its treatment later, but absentmindedly, Erzsebet approached the core. And she placed her hand on the pulsating core.

-Thump!!

"Ah... ah.....!!"

The moment she touched the core, suddenly Erzsebet shed tears. She didn't know why tears were suddenly flowing.

But.... it was just sad. The moment she touched the core, an unbearable sorrow flooded in. A deep sorrow that instantly blew away the drowsiness dominating her mind.

The moment Erzsebet endlessly shed tears, unable to endure the sadness, jet-black light burst from the pulsating dungeon core.

-Drip drip drop...

And as the light erupted, the blackish-red material covering the dungeon core crumbled and fell away. Through the gaps where the blackish-red something had fallen, a spotless, clear jet-black sphere faintly gleamed.

Like a jewel covered in horrific filth finally regaining its shine.

-Flash!!!

And as if a small light burst out, the blackish-red object covering the core and whatever was inside it vanished simultaneously.

"Sigh.... I hope she's okay."

I'd permitted it because Erzsebet had pushed so strongly, but I was still trembling with anxiety.

'I ended up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠allowing it like I was entranced....'

Unlike her usual languid demeanor, Erzsebet's expression had been incredibly serious. And backed by that ominous aura supporting her attitude, I'd been pushed into allowing her to go alone. But now regret came flooding in late.

This won't do. Even if it's late, I need to send reinforcements...

".....Huh?"

....What? Did the system glitch? Why suddenly 10,000p...

"What is this?"

I hadn't been cleaning or using the [Decompose] function, yet suddenly 10,000 points—a huge sum—came in, followed by a system message I'd never seen before.

Sub... quest?

"......????."

What the heck is this.

"Damn.... damn... damn! Why isn't the command getting through!"

Dungeon 'Garden of Curses.'

Among the curse soldiers with hazy, unfocused eyes that lacked any ferocity, a man whose twisted body was hidden under a baggy robe scratched his head irritably and muttered.

"Was the output of that curse soldier stronger than expected? No, even so, my magic should still be connected... why is the connection itself severed...."

The hybrid curse soldier, which had displayed far superior power than any others he'd made, even unfinished. To complete her, he'd sent her along with the other riffraff from the alliance toward the dungeon ruled by that mongrel demon hybrid as master. But suddenly, the connection to that curse soldier had been cut.

The bond between them connected through the 'curse' should have been stickier than most magic...

"Humans? Did a human priest show up and exorcise it or something...."

Aleph thought of humans who could exorcise curses with holy power and considered the possibility, but shook his head. Humans hated hybrids even more than demons did. Especially the priests who borrowed power called holy force from their god.

There was no way a priest who knew exorcism would suddenly appear there, nor would they exorcise a curse on a mere hybrid. And even if such a human existed by some chance, the curse on his curse soldier wasn't something a half-baked priest could exorcise easily.

"The resources I've poured into completing that girl so far... Hm?"

As Aleph was diligently analyzing why the connection to his curse soldier had been severed, a small noise reached his ears. A grating sound coming from far away... the direction of the dungeon's entrance.

Puzzled, Aleph paused his work and tried to listen carefully. At that moment, a horrific sensation overwhelmed him.

-Snap!!

"Guhk?!"

A sensation as if the major organs inside his body were rupturing. As if not just one or two, but several important things connected to him were severed at once.

"Kuh... w-what! Why are the curse soldiers....!"

Even as he struggled to regain his senses from the onslaught of pain, Aleph hurriedly tried to check the status of the curse soldiers connected to him. The sensation he'd just felt was the forced severance of a connection... the sensation of a curse soldier being destroyed.

But before he could fully collect himself, another wave of horrific pain from severed connections to curse soldiers hit him.

"Gaaaaah!!!"

It wouldn't cause this level of backlash if just one or two curse soldiers were taken out. But with dozens stationed from the entrance onward all shattering at once, and the sensation of those connections hitting him simultaneously, Aleph couldn't keep his wits.

Feeling like his head was exploding, Aleph rolled on the floor in agony until he bumped into something and stopped.

"A fitting sight for you."

"....!!"

Realizing what he'd bumped into was someone's leg, Aleph clutched his aching head and hastily stood. There, a white-haired woman gazed down at him loftily with chilling, bored eyes.

'M-monster...!'

The intruder he'd encountered upon sensing his curse soldiers shattering en masse. The moment he looked at that existence, Aleph swallowed hard and suppressed the urge to scream. Just from the speed at which his curse soldiers had been destroyed and the intruder's pristine appearance without a speck of dust, he grasped the gap between them.

"W-who are you?"

Discarding his usual arrogant tone, Aleph politely inquired about the intruder's identity in a voice full of deference. Then, wondering if it might be someone he knew who had come, he urgently scanned her appearance.

-Drip. Drip....

And seeing something—no, someone—held in the intruder's hand, he observed for a moment before nearly fainting in shock.

"Groooan...."

'T-Tabula?'

The master of another alliance dungeon, 'Beast's Field.' A sturdy werewolf whose physical prowess ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no southern demon could match. A belligerent being who, right after the alliance formed, openly revealed ambitions to conquer the south.

There were even rumors that the one who proposed the alliance's creation wasn't scared of the hero, but had aimed to swallow the south from the start.

That being was now half his fur plucked out, his prized fangs broken, turned into a bloody mess, and dragged by the hand of an unfamiliar woman.

"You've done something boring."

-Thud.

With an expression like she might yawn at any moment, her face still marked by tear tracks for some reason, Erzsebet set down Tabula as she whispered while fixing her gaze on Aleph.

'B-boring deed? What does she mean? No, wait. She went out of her way to subdue Tabula and bring him before me...'

In this dizzying moment where he sensed mortal danger, Aleph's mind spun more sharply than ever. And he quickly deduced the intruder's identity and asked.

"C-could you be from that newborn dungeon...?"

"Quick on the uptake."

The only connection between Tabula and himself was their alliance affiliation. Linking it to the alliance's recent movements made it easy enough to infer the opponent's identity.

'Belze. That filthy fly bastard!'

And inwardly, Aleph cursed the Fly Queen who had lured him. Belze had said the newborn dungeon's master was just a mongrel hybrid, the dungeon's forces laughably weak, but they had bad matchup against blood demons, so they needed help.

Recalling Belze boasting that aside from the dungeon master, they were filled with nothing but nobodies, Aleph spat curses inwardly but now did his utmost to humor Erzsebet.

"I-if you've come to question the alliance army we formed to attack your dungeon, I apologize. It wasn't my idea; it was that blood demon Belze, a fellow alliance member, who pushed strongly. As a member of the alliance, I couldn't refuse her opinion..."

"No need to explain. I've already been to that woman's dungeon."

".......Huh?"

-Thud.

With those words, Erzsebet placed something else she held in her other hand right before Aleph's eyes. Seeing it, Aleph barely held back the urge to vomit.

'B-Belze too....!'

Over half severed, a repulsive face with compound eyes belonging to a blood demon. But even so, he could identify the head's owner.

Grasping that this was an existence he couldn't possibly resist, Aleph prostrated himself even flatter.

"I-I'm sorry. Please spare my life, and I'll offer all the treasures in my dungeon..."

"Apologies are fine, but the 'boring thing' I mentioned is something else."

"...Pardon?"

Aleph, who had assumed this being—who'd killed even Belze and Tabula—had come to settle the score for attacking the newborn dungeon, was secretly forming hand seals to prepare a curse. But Erzsebet spoke coldly, as if she couldn't care less.

"Curse soldiers. The horrific curse and sorcery my great master has forbidden."

"....Pardon? Your master forbade it—what do you..."

"The fate of those who used that curse is already decided."

-Thump!

As Erzsebet, spouting incomprehensible words, reached out her hand, dark red blood slowly began to rise ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the space where she and Aleph stood side by side. Extremely cold and fishy dark red blood.

"....You foolish bitch! The reason I was meekly bowing my head was...!"

And Aleph, who had been pretending to apologize while prostrated and waiting for an opening, realized the situation was turning dire and cast his curse.

The dungeon interior was his own domain. Filled with curse barriers to block backlash, and plenty of materials to serve as mediums for curses.

He didn't know what kind of being this intruder was or how she'd reduced Tabula and Belze to that state, but with his curses...

-Splash!!

"......Wha—what?"

Aleph, who had shouted confidently, suddenly stopped mid-sentence. And for good reason—something rose from the blood filling the surroundings.

'Curse soldiers...?'

Their form closely resembled the curse soldiers he'd afflicted with curses and completed through kin-slaying. Puppets that obeyed his words, tasked with guarding his dungeon.

The one difference: unlike those that faithfully obeyed only his words, these ones dripping blood from their entire bodies, staring at him with chilling eyes.

"W-what are you staring at! Your enemy is that woman ahead! Obey me right now...!"

Feeling a chill, Aleph tried issuing commands to them as usual, but they ignored his words and slowly approached him.

"Don't worry."

And ignoring that spectacle, as she passed by him toward the core's power felt deeper in this dungeon, Erzsebet lightly muttered as she walked by.

"The deaths you've created so far. Roughly twenty thousand deaths should suffice."

"What....?"

-Crunch!!

Aleph, dazedly about to question Erzsebet's words, heard a horrifying tearing sound and turned his head forward again.

-Crunch crunch...!!

"Gu.... gaaaah! You lowly scum!!"

His finger. The finger he'd been pointing at Erzsebet with—it was gone. And the curse soldier that had approached close was gnashing its mouth, chewing on something.

-Splash!!

"Guuh....?"

Then, the dark red blood scattered around clung to him, and a grotesquely formed finger regrew from the severed stump.

-Crunch! Crunch crunch!!

"Gaaaaah...!!!"

And without waiting a moment, the other soldiers lunged at him en masse and began devouring him.

Aleph screamed nonstop, but each time parts of his body were severed, grotesque blood clots regrew from the wounds, and the vivid pain from them made him scream.

And those screams were soon swallowed by the waves of blood.