36 Dealer Spirit

"Dianthe, are you detecting anything?"

In response, the spirit shook her head left to right.

'What would cause Jin-kyung's ability to not work?' Aria frowned, finding it unbelievable that Jin-kyung's magic, which was considerably powerful, could be interrupted.

They sat down in confusion. The long-awaited boss battle was nowhere to be seen.

Aria tried to search for magical interference, but there was none.

It was a plain room.

Even after they gained sufficient rest and were able to look around the room, it was the same.

No Earthen fragments, no monsters, no bosses.

"What.." Aria bit her thumb.

By the side, Jin-kyung was desperately trying to help using her ability.

'What could be the reason..'

Aria racked her brains.

For several minutes, she couldn't figure it out.

Then, one solution hit her. A strange one.

'What if the dungeon itself was the Boss?' Aria thought.

There was a possibility. An absurd assumption, but it was still possible.

With the uncertain changes inside the dungeons, lack of any special qualities inside the terrains, it was possible.

It would also explain Jin-kyung's inability to find out about the truth.

The truth was already in front of them, the very surface they were standing on.

There was only one question left.

'Why wouldn't it attack us in other times?'

Clearly, even from the first battle, this entity had the power to move the dungeon to its will.

Why hadn't it dealt any other dangerous advances other than the moving walls?

Why was it constrained to just that?

Regardless of the reason, she wanted to try out the theory.

If the boss was truly the dungeon itself, then she could find a way to hurt it from inside.

"Dianthe, help me out," Aria prepared herself to use magic.

All incidents that she went through had a similarity. The use of Earthen magic.

The Earth element. In Aria's mind, the boss in question was most likely going to be an Earth spirit.

If so, she could break the dungeon's balance altogether.

By injecting Dianthe's element.

She borrowed Dianthe's Water element, focusing it all on her blade. An enormous amount of mana was put in into the strike.

"Water Blade!"

With a loud chant, she stabbed [Halvargg] into the ground.

Immediately, the ground started to shake. Sounds of thundering rumbles appeared.

"The Boss wasn't leading the goblins... It was taking energy from them," Aria watched as the ground was reverted to its original state: a Spirit.

'Bingo.'

This was a spirit's mischief. An Earth spirit.

The disappearing corpses, the moving walls, the fact that everything dissolved back into the ground after being destroyed, everything made sense now.

They were facing the Boss the whole time. To be precise, they were standing on top of the boss.

A wicked boss who became the dungeon itself.

"Pain... Humans! Why... why.." The spirit bellowed.

Its anguish could be felt just by standing around the spirit.

Dianthe, who naturally had a sensitive psyche towards fellow spirits cowered in fear. The dungeon Boss was stronger than her, and the unnatural change in emotions influenced her own.

"Dianthe, go back!" Aria hurriedly commanded Dianthe to stay inside her summoning space until the chaos resided.

The dungeon Boss continued to wail in pain. Its roars was earthshaking, bringing turmoil into your own heart.

Jin-kyung was already crying. Spirits were highly connected with nature and life itself, and whatever it felt was shared throughout the environment. The Spirit's wrath shook her own emotions.

Aria was used to handling wrathful spirits, so she wasn't as affected as the girl. However, due to her declining power, the cries still bothered her.

Forcing herself to push through the maniacal spirit's agony, Aria stepped forward.

With each step, the dungeon platform broke down. The sturdy land began to form massive crevices.

In the first place, the dungeon was part of the spirit. And the only reason why it was able to maintain such a large room was because the goblins fed the spirit with life force.

Now that the supply was cut, the balance broke.

Each second, a part of the dungeon collapsed.

Aria knew that she had to hurry and settle down the matter.

With each step, she had to bear excruciating pain from the spirit's fluctuating emotions.

She stretched out her hands to grab the spirit. Crushing it in her palms , she begun the battle of control.

The spirit resisted Aria's attack, but ended up being unable to move after a long and arduous work.

"Piii!" The spirit turned into a small, radish-like form.

It kept crying, trying its best to struggle out of Aria's grip.

"...It's safe now, Dianthe," Aria notified the water spirit, who then went out of her summoning space and into the world.

Dianthe looked at the spirit with curious eyes. Her large blue eyes blinked repeatedly.

She began poking the radish spirit, making the other party elicit an annoyed cry.

"Dianthe, stop that,"

Dianthe obeyed and put her hands back in the right place.

"So... a Dealer Spirit, is it?"

"Y-you know me?! How... Weren't the humans..?" The spirit mumbled.

"You're not the one asking questions, I am. Explain, or else... I might use too much power accidentally," Aria tightened her grip.

The spirit moaned in pain, struggling as it repeatedly told Aria to stop.

"The Creator made me meet with the goblins! They wanted a home, so I granted the wish!! Intruder, you are being unreasonable!" A rich and supple voice echoed, crying out for unfairness.

"Wait, you responded to me?! Can you understand me?!" The spirit added, being even more confused.

Aria tilted her head at the sudden change.

She continued imprisoning the stray spirit with the help of Dianthe.

The spirit's current form is called the 'Light Form'. It is when the spirit runs out of energy and becomes to weak to maintain their strongest, most advanced form. It was no longer a threat to them.

After she was done, she asked for details. The whole story of why and how this dungeon came to life.

The Boss started to narrate the story.