secret – 1
‘… … done.’
I gently caressed the newly appeared tattoo on the back of my hand. With this, all the conditions for the god-forsaken creature boss battle were met. All that remains is to progress the story.
‘The upper part must have been cleaned up too, right?’
Since I had finished my task, I left behind the rune tombstone that had lost its light and was crumbly, and looked up blankly at the ceiling of the boss room, waiting for the magic circle leading to the dungeon entrance to open.
As an element to tease the players who happily returned to the ground after obtaining the rune, as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the dungeon, a mid-boss attacked. Even behind the player.
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Most of the first-time users beat Lucia and acquired the rune at the end of a fierce struggle, then went up to the ground in a magic circle, got hit in the back of the head by him, and died in a daze.
However, now there was no need to worry about that.
‘They have to be able to lose.’
Even the military power above them is the four knight commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights who once served the emperor, the Heretic Inquisitor, one of the twin wagons of the Holy Kingdom’s armed forces, and a double-digit number of combat nuns.
It was even weirder to lose to at least one mid-boss. Even if the knight commanders attack one-on-one right away, you can easily apply it within 30 seconds and spend the rest of the time relaxing.
Before long, a green magic circle was drawn on the place where the rune stone had been placed. It was a magic circle that led straight to the ground. I got on top of the magic circle, and soon began to be transported somewhere.
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My vision went dark for a moment, but when I returned, my body was on top of a bridge that had gone down a little from the entrance of the dungeon. I put strength into my wobbly legs and regained my balance.
The much clearer and warmer sunlight greeted me. When I first entered the Rune Dungeon, there was a clear difference from the gloomy black sunlight.
I walked right up to the middle of the bridge. Taking care not to slip as much as possible, I jumped up to the upper leg, grabbed the tip, and climbed up.
“Ah, Delta!”
Rize, who was looking down from the outside of the dungeon, met her eyes. When Rize saw me, she smiled wide and waved her arms. Because of that, the large breasts wrapped in the white sleeveless swayed from side to side.
Judging by the fact that he was not wearing armor, it seemed that he had subdued the middle boss a long time ago. I explained that since there was only one monster that would come out, it would be okay to take off the armor after defeating it.
Rize crossed over to the middle of the bridge at once, and lifted me who was struggling from below with only one arm, and tidied up the messy clothes.
“Did you handle it well?”
Without saying a word, I raised the back of my left hand.
Rize smiled brightly when she saw the more complex tattoos with the addition of the ‘rest in the abyss’ rune obtained from this dungeon to the vitality boost rune she had learned together the other day.
I stroked her hair a couple of times. A pleasant sound of breathing flowed from between her cherry-colored lips. After I finished stroking it, I walked forward, and Rize followed me behind me.
I felt at ease when I finally set foot on proper ground. The bottom of the dungeon is full of black liquid, and the top of the bridge is dirty and slippery.
The combat nuns looked at me with dazed eyes, and Selene looked expressionless at first glance, but her jewel-like eyes trembled in amazement.
“… … I’m glad you returned safely, my honored guest.”
“Are you very surprised?”
“Of course it has to be. How can we not be surprised that our kingdom has destroyed a place where we failed to subjugate several times, single-handedly in less than an hour, even though we sacrificed countless times?”
“You said you would. I just kept my word. Wasn’t everything upstairs?”
I looked around. The dark and somber landscape at the time of first entering was nowhere to be found, only the clear, clean sky and green vegetation were spread out wide.
Suddenly, in a corner of my field of vision, the corpse of a monster that had been thoroughly smashed to the point that it was not enough to say that it was gruesome came into view. A bitter laugh came out inside. It was just what I expected.
“Yes. Except for the appearance of that monster, nothing happened.”
“Then, now that we’re done here, let’s go back. What are you guys going to do?”
“We’ve been following you, Delta. What else can I do here?”
At Rize’s words, the other knight commanders nodded in affirmation. In fact, taking off the armor itself meant that there was nothing more to do here.
“All right. Then, I will go back now, so please bring your weapons. Everyone, come back.”
Selene gave orders to the battle nuns. The battle nuns moved in perfect order and surrounded us from all sides as if they were enveloping us. Although there are no more monsters to appear anyway.
The knight commanders put their armor on their bodies. Originally, full plate armor was quite inconvenient to put on and take off, but the knight commanders wore it as if they were wearing casual clothes.
Selene, who was at the forefront, moved first, followed by us. The battle nuns surrounded us and moved at a distance.
“yes? Delta, what is that on your waist?”
Rize tilted her head when she saw the divine catalyst tied behind my waist. At those words, Selene’s eyes glanced this way, but the angle was obscured by my body, so I couldn’t tell what exactly she was talking about.
What Rize saw was the divine catalyst Lucia used. The Lucia event ends only when you deliver this to the Inquisitor.
The catalyst used to apply the blessing enchantment to the sword was left behind. It wasn’t even an event item anyway, and later I was able to get a divine spell that was no different from a higher compatibility from the Pope.
Because of the blessing enchantment he got from the pope, he thought of visiting the Holy Land at least once. It’s because the order got messed up a lot because of the sudden arrival of Stella.
“It’s a divine catalyst, I picked it up from down there.”
“okay?”
It was a short answer, but Rize backed off meekly. He didn’t even bother to ask how he picked it up or why he picked it up. Selene seemed to have had the same thought and soon turned her head.
I had no idea what kind of reaction the Heretic Questioner would react if he saw Lucia’s divine catalyst. Even in the game, there was no option to show the Divine Catalyst to the Heretic Questioner.
Because this was an event related to the Heretic Inquisitor, not an event related to the Heretic Inquisitor.
Since I no longer had to be wary of my surroundings, my walking speed was much faster. Naturally, the time to reach the crack in the barrier was shortened. After a while, a golden halo appeared.
“My honored guest, could you spare some time after leaving the barrier?”
“It doesn’t matter because the only thing left anyway is time, but why?”
“I would like to hear an explanation about what happened inside the rune dungeon and the effect of the rune.”
“If that’s the case, you should do it. I knew. Can I go out and follow you right away?”
I came up with an answer that I knew meekly. Originally, he was telling the Heretic Judge, but if he confided in Selene, there wouldn’t be too much trouble.
Because the person who gave permission to enter Rune Dungeon immediately changed.
“Yes. Thank you for the favor.”
Selene, who bowed slightly to me in gratitude, led the battle nuns to take positions on either side of the rift.
“Get out first. I will follow.”
Unlike the inside of the rift that was visible from the outside, the outside of the rift was not visible from the inside. Only a golden halo was visible. That’s why I wondered if it was a barrier or not.
We followed Selene’s words and pushed ourselves into the rift.
“Why are the distinguished guests coming out of the barrier that blocked the Rune Dungeon?”
As soon as we came out, we found Stella staring at us with her arms crossed under her chest with a sullen look on her face.
Behind them, battle nuns stood in a row. Originally, the Paladins who were guarding this place were nowhere to be seen.
Neither the heretic judge nor the combat nuns were holding weapons in their hands. Stella’s expression was also close to light dissatisfaction rather than anger. At first, it seemed that there was nothing to do here.
“Well, isn’t it what you see?”
“… … You said you entered the Rune Dungeon?”
“That is the correct answer.”
Stella cupped her forehead. The deep sigh was mixed with a heartfelt lament.
“Princess. Although His Holiness the Pope has declared that he will welcome you as valuable guests, however, going into the Rune Dungeon on your own without permission is—”
“I gave permission.”
At that moment, Selene stepped out of the rift.
“I gave permission to enter the Rune Dungeon, so the distinguished guests have never trespassed without permission.”
“… … Heretic Questioner, you?”
“Yes that’s right.”
“What are you thinking? If they were seriously injured or even killed—”
“Don’t you, the Heretic Inquisitor, know better about the skills that a distinguished guest possesses?”
Having been stabbed to the point, Stella’s face flushed slightly, and she cleared her throat slightly as if to change the subject. It must have reminded me of the incident in Dalian where I was horribly shattered without being able to hit me once.
Stella seemed strange to look at, but the knight commanders’ eyes were fixed on her. I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a helmet, but it was obvious what kind of face he was wearing.
“Kuhm, great. I see. Skills are like that. So, what was the result? Did you give up subjugation and just come back?”
“Now you can release the barrier.”
“… … uh? Really?”
“I am not lying about this, Inquisitor. I’ll call the paladins back later. I ordered you to stay far away just in case.”
“No, I don’t mean lies… … It seems like it hasn’t been long since I entered, but I was surprised to hear that I had already cleared the dungeon.”
Stella’s gaze turned to mine. I took advantage of this gap and quickly opened my mouth.
“Come to think of it, I have something to pass on to the Heretic Judge.”
“yes? to me?”
“yes. To the Heretic Judge.”
The green eyes at me opened in bewilderment. It was a face that seemed to have heard something completely unexpected.
“What is it? Isn’t it like the head of the monster in Rune Dungeon?”
Stella giggled. I quietly picked up the divine catalyst tied to my waist and held it out to Stella.
“… … .”
Seeing that divine catalyst, Stella stopped laughing.