At the entrance to the first layer of the Empire Dungeon.
Greg crawled out from a hidden passage. He lightly patted the dust off his robes, then looked up and took a deep breath of the dungeon air.
The air was thick with a faint scent of minerals and the fragrance of earth, mingled with a wave of mana unique to dungeons.
This scent caused the power surging within him—thanks to his dungeon talents—to leap joyfully, as if every single cell in his body were cheering.
“Finally, back home!”
He stretched his limbs comfortably, feeling as though everything was absolutely wonderful.
Nightmare's voice rang out in his mind, carrying a hint of sarcasm:
“I still prefer how defiant you used to be. Back then, you wouldn't have waxed so poetic just from entering a dungeon.”
Greg replied, “That's perfectly normal. Sometimes, humans can't even empathize with who they were a single second ago.”
“But you are a Demigod now.”
“So what if I'm a Demigod? Does being a Demigod mean I should lose touch with the common folk? I think you completely underestimate the power of the 'never say never' rule.”
After their banter, Greg finally began to inspect his surroundings closely.
The entrance area of this dungeon was a spacious, natural cavern. The ceiling rose several dozen feet high, and a few crystal lamps emitting a faint blue light were embedded in the stone walls, illuminating the entire space as bright as day.
But Greg quickly noticed that the entire entrance area was completely empty. Aside from himself, there was not a soul in sight.
He paused, then called out tentatively, “Allie? Are you here?”
...
There was no response.
Only his own echo reverberated through the empty hall a few times before fading into the depths of the passage.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Greg's heart.
That idiot maid didn't actually go deep into the dungeon all by herself, did she?
He raised his voice and shouted again, “Allie! If you don't come out right now, I'm going to confess my love to Vivian!”
...
Still, there was no response.
Greg's expression froze.
This is really bad.
Without another word, he immediately sprinted deeper into the dungeon.
“Hajimi, quick, tell me everything about this dungeon!”
He called out in his mind while running at full speed.
When playing the original game, he had only cleared the first two layers of the Academy Dungeon out of pure novelty. Once the novelty wore off, he never touched the dungeons again.
As a result, he knew almost nothing about this Empire Dungeon. The blueprint in his mind only marked the structure of the labyrinth and its hidden passages, without any information regarding the interior of the dungeon itself.
Nightmare remarked, “You seemed so experienced when conquering the dungeon before. I thought this one wouldn't pose a challenge to you either.”
“That was then, this is now! I need your help right now!”
Greg leaped over a collapsed section of the ground, rolling to absorb the impact as he landed, and continued his forward sprint.
“Tell me if there are any shortcuts nearby, and which Outer God this dungeon is related to!”
Though she usually called him names, Nightmare always took dungeon-related matters seriously. Thus, she stopped teasing Greg.
“Go all the way down the second passage on the left. You will see a wall carved with an hourglass pattern. That wall is an illusion. Passing through it will allow you to bypass most of the first layer and lead you directly to the deep area.”
Nightmare paused before continuing, “As for this dungeon—it is related to the Mother of Clepsydras. She is a highly troublesome entity whose Laws are related to time.”
Greg's footsteps faltered slightly, his pupils contracting sharply.
It was bad enough that the Academy Dungeon had an entity capable of shattering space, but this dungeon actually manipulates time?!
He grit his teeth and quickened his pace.
Although Allie was Level 71, she would likely suffer if she encountered anything related to the Laws of Time.
Following the shortcut Nightmare pointed out, he passed through the illusory wall. Sure enough, he bypassed a massive portion of the first layer and entered the deep area directly.
Not long after entering the deep area of the first layer, Greg saw a path lined with the corpses of monsters on both sides.
Those corpses all shared a common trait—every single one had been killed in a single strike. The wounds were clean and precise, without any superfluous marks.
Some monsters had been slain while still in mid-pounce, without even the time to react.
He knew this was undoubtedly Allie's handiwork.
Following this trail of corpses, Greg quickly reached the Floor Boss room of the first layer.
The massive monster already lay dead on the ground, a sword wound tearing straight through its chest and abdomen. Its blood pooled on the floor, forming a dark red puddle.
Nightmare's voice carried a hint of admiration. “It seems your maid is quite capable. Is there really any need for you to be so worried?”
“Of course there is!”
Greg looked toward the passage leading to the second layer. Without giving himself a single moment to catch his breath, he charged straight in.
“Because she's just an idiot maid!”
The environment of the second layer was completely different from the first.
The air carried a faint scent of dust. The walls were covered in reliefs related to time, and ruined hourglasses and gear debris were scattered everywhere.
But Greg had no peace of mind to observe any of this.
He simply continued to run in the direction of the monster corpses, his footsteps echoing urgently in the empty passages.
He had no idea how long he had been running. Even though his constitution had become exceptionally strong after his prior training, his lungs still burned like fire, and every breath tasted of copper.
Aside from a ringing in his ears, he could no longer hear anything else.
His vision gradually blurred, and the scene before him began to double.
Just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed by exhaustion, he saw a sudden burst of light flare up from a building ahead.
Instinct told him that Allie must be inside.
Ignoring the burning sensation in his lungs, he took a deep breath and accelerated once more, bursting into the building almost entirely on instinct.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw Allie in the passage ahead. Her body was suspended in mid-air, moving at an excruciatingly slow pace as if submerged in a viscous liquid.
Around her, three monsters covered in mechanical parts were closing in at an extremely rapid pace, their sharp metal claws raised high, aimed straight at her throat.
Greg's pupils shrank violently.
Before he could even think, his body reacted ahead of his consciousness.
He raised his right hand, palm facing the three monsters, and channeled the dark mana within him to its absolute limit—
Boom!
A torrent of pitch-black fire swept out from his palm like a raging wave, precisely engulfing the bodies of the three monsters. It instantly drained the mana supporting their movements, causing them to collapse into a heap of parts on the ground.
The effect of the time-deceleration trap was also engulfed and devoured by the black flames.
Her mobility restored, Allie spun around and looked in the direction the black flames had come from.
She saw Greg standing at the entrance of the passage, one hand still extended forward, with a wisp of lingering black flame dancing on his fingertips.
Greg lowered his hand and dragged his heavy steps over to Allie.
His face was pale, his breathing ragged, and his forehead was covered in a fine sweat.
He looked up at the idiot maid who had caused him to sprint to the point of near-collapse. Opening his mouth, he used the last of his strength to utter:
“You... idiot maid.”
Then, his body went limp, and he collapsed forward, falling straight into Allie's arms as he lost consciousness.
Rate on N.U.
