In his past life, Greg had played plenty of Soulslike games. He knew very well that the most crucial element in a boss battle was information—especially the boss's attack patterns.
The dungeons in the original game were essentially extra Soulslike challenge stages tacked onto a Galgame world.
Back then, he could use countless lives to test a boss's moves, dying and restarting over and over again until every single movement was etched into his muscle memory.
But things were different now.
This was reality. He only had one shot at his challenge plan. If he died, he was dead for good.
So, when he learned that even Nightmare knew absolutely nothing about this layer's Floor Boss, Greg found himself in a tight spot.
Information on a Floor Boss's attack patterns was the most critical intelligence.
With that information in hand, back when he and Vivian faced the frenzy of the Thirsting Maw on the second layer of the Academy Dungeon, the two of them had been able to completely suppress it despite only being in their thirties.
But now, the situation was the exact opposite. Without knowing what moves the enemy would pull, even with Allie's level seventy-one combat power, defeating this layer's boss wouldn't be easy.
“I didn't expect the dungeon to have a place like this.”
Allie stopped in front of the ancient temple and flicked the blood off her sword.
Around her feet and on both sides of the path lay over a dozen monster corpses, all of which she had casually cleared out along the way.
She looked up at the dilapidated yet still majestic building before them, a rare hint of wonder in her voice.
Greg stepped forward and smiled.
“There are still many things in this world you don't know about. I'll do my best to show you more in the future, so you don't act like a country bumpkin maid all the time.”
Thinking about how Greg had left her behind to enter this mysterious world first, Allie pouted slightly.
“If I'm a country bumpkin maid, then you're a country bumpkin idiot young master.”
Greg heard her but didn't argue. To someone who had been so ignorant of all this, he really did seem like a country bumpkin idiot young master.
The two of them then walked side-by-side to the half-open stone door. Each placing a hand on the cold stone, they pushed inward together.
The decaying doors let out a heavy, groaning creak as they slowly swung open, revealing the scene inside.
The moment they stepped into the temple, both of them froze.
“This is...”
The temple's interior stood in stark contrast to its exterior.
Outside, the walls were covered in vines and the stone doors were rotting, looking as if they could collapse at any moment. Inside, however, everything was pristine, as if it had only just been built.
The floor was paved with white stone slabs so polished they reflected like mirrors, each piece fitting together seamlessly.
Exquisite relief carvings adorned the walls, depicting the movements of hourglasses, gears, and stars with smooth, beautiful lines.
A massive crystal chandelier hung from the domed ceiling, casting a soft, milky-white glow that illuminated the entire space as if it were broad daylight.
A faint, lavender-like fragrance drifted through the air, bringing a sense of peace to the mind.
Allie looked around, deeply confused. “Do maids come down to the dungeon to clean regularly?”
Greg was asking himself the exact same question.
Hajimi, what's going on here? he asked Nightmare in his mind. Haven't these dungeons existed for hundreds of years? Why does this place look so new?
Nightmare replied:
“This should be related to the Authority of the Mother of Clepsydras, just like the time-deceleration traps from before. The flow of time inside this temple might be different from the outside. Or rather, the time of this temple has been wound backward.”
Greg nodded thoughtfully, then explained the gist of it to Allie in terms she could understand.
Having already witnessed Greg's bizarre mana and knowing that other deities existed in this world besides the Goddess of Light, Allie wasn't too surprised. She simply tilted her head and commented:
“Sounds like someone really strong. I hope I get the chance to fight Her once.”
...
Greg wasn't nearly as optimistic as his foolish maid.
He knew that if a deity truly manifested before them in their full glory, this world would probably be on the brink of destruction.
The two continued deeper into the temple.
Passing through a long corridor, crystal lamps casting a pale blue glow were embedded in the walls every few steps, stretching their shadows long.
At the end of the corridor was another door. Pushing it open, they entered an even vaster space.
This was a massive anteroom. In the center stood a circular fountain pool, its water crystal clear and bubbling, as if someone had just been drawing water from it moments ago.
Beautiful reliefs were carved into the base of the fountain, depicting a sacrificial ritual—people surrounding a blindfolded woman, offering her hourglasses and gear-shaped tributes.
Rows of empty bookshelves lined the sides of the anteroom. A few ancient-looking scrolls and books still rested on them. Though the pages were yellowed with age, there wasn't a single trace of mold or insect damage.
Allie walked over to a bookshelf, casually pulled out a scroll, unrolled it to take a look, and then put it back. “I forgot I can't read.”
Greg stifled a laugh.
She turned her head to look at Greg. “Can you read it then?”
Greg adopted a serious expression, pulled out a scroll, and examined it. The writing was all in ancient script.
Although he had the Ancient Language LV1 skill and could understand some of it, he couldn't read it completely.
While he could ask Nightmare to translate it for him, the scrolls left out here surely weren't anything important, so there was no need to waste time.
Greg replied, “I can, but it's nothing important. Let's go, let's not waste time.”
Allie gave him a suspicious glare before slowly catching up to his pace.
Two of them crossed the anteroom, passed through a shorter hallway, and finally stopped before a set of massive double doors.
The doors stood about thirty feet high and twenty feet wide, cast entirely from a metal that shimmered with a dark-gold luster. A giant hourglass pattern was carved onto them; the top half of the hourglass was already empty, while the bottom half was piled high with fine grains of sand.
A faint sliver of light leaked through the gap between the doors, as if something behind them was waiting for their arrival.
Greg carefully observed the surrounding layout, and a sense of understanding gradually dawned on him.
Although the interior of this temple was worlds apart from the Shattered Temple in the Academy Dungeon—one being a ruined Gothic church and the other a pristine classical temple—the overall structural layout was actually quite similar.
Following this pattern, the Floor Boss of this layer should be right behind these doors.
Rate on N.U.
