Chapter 29

Dungeon POV:

The Dungeon's ceaseless machinations come to a sudden halt as surprise courses through its inorganic essence. An Intruder, a mere Invader, has callously sent an Agressor into its depths. This transgressor is now condemned, sucked down into the abyss to meet its demise.

For a fleeting moment, the Dungeon ceases its usual spawn of monsters, paralyzed in analysis of this unexpected affront. It processes the event, overfocusing on the intrusion into its sanctum. 

But the respite is brief, shattered as the Intruder delivers a powerful blow.

In pain, the Dungeon wails in its own way, its form quivering as it endures the assault. The Intruder, or rather, the Aggressor, has dared to strike at her external structural layer. 

And in this moment, the Dungeon's connection to Ouranos, the Aggressor who pleaded for mercy, severs. There is no mercy now.

A Sentinel is summoned, loyal and fierce, to confront the Aggressor. But this is no ordinary challenge. An Apostle, a herald of doom, should also be dispatched, for the Dungeon recognizes the gravity of the situation. And the Guardian also must be recalled.

All must be set into motion to protect her domain.

Her actions, hasty and uncalculated, result in the merging of the Guardian, the Sentinel and the Apostle into a new and perplexing entity—a mutated Sentinel Guardian Apostle—and the Dungeon's inherent curiosity takes over as it begins to analyze this unforeseen creation.

As time passes, the Dungeon senses that the mutated Sentinel Guardian Apostle is faltering in its battle against the Aggressor. 

A sense of unease takes hold. How could this be? Apostles were meant to be immune to the powers of Agressors. She grapples with the truth that there is more to this Aggressor than it initially perceived.

In an unexpected turn of events, the mutated Sentinel Guardian Apostle retreats from the Aggressor. 

The Dungeon recoils at this violation of its understanding, for Apostles should stand firm against their foes. What, then, is this Aggressor? Is it truly an Agressor or something altogether different? She is resolute in its determination to eliminate the enemy that dared to attack her defenses.

With unyielding resolve, the Dungeon collapses the upper defensive layer, and the bottom defensive layer where the Stranger resides, pulling the absorbed defenses back into its inorganic form. 

The Stranger, against all logic, remains alive, seemingly defying the absence of a foothold.

Her desire to understand this foreign virus, the Stranger, intensifies. It recognizes that a direct intervention is needed to unravel the enigma. In a surge of otherworldly determination, she commands its very essence to pump up, to surge forth and directly confront and analyze the Stranger. The stage is set for a profound encounter.

o-O-o

Shalltear POV:

The Dungeon's floors had seemingly collapsed from the 25th floor down to the 27th, and then even the 28th safe floor gave way. Shalltear found herself in absolute darkness within the Dungeon, relying on her vampire wings to keep her aloft. Her dark vision allowed her to perceive the entire cavern, once a serene blue, was now a hellish, barren red rock.

Then she saw it, appearing radiating a red light.

A huge orange 'flower' with a red nucleus, more bigger than the Juggernaut. It looked like layers and layers of a 'star polygon'. They pulsated like a heartbeat expanding and contracting, rotating over a central axis. And between the petals of the flower there were wavy rays of light that extended from the flower—no, they were pulsating purple 'arteries'—and from them steam rised into the air, as if they were too hot.

Completely dumbfounded and unable to comprehend what she was witnessing, Shalltear could only mutter in confusion, "wat".

The cavern seemed to shake from the position of the 'eye of the Dungeon' and vibrate around, carrying with it an reddish orange wave like a wind, as if it were a forcefield.

A pregnant pause and another quake rumbled in the Dungeon carrying another alien wave—as if trying to communicate.

Unfortunately, the YGGDRASIL's translator incorporated into Shalltear only worked with voice and not with any other channel of communication.

Then, silence descended once more.

Her eyes widened in sudden surprise as something approached her at supernatural speed. Reacting swiftly, she was forced to deploy her pair of white wings and took to the air to avoid the oncoming threat. The object resembled the tip of a lance, with an unnaturally perfect and simultaneously simplistic structure.

Perplexed and slightly alarmed, Shalltear started to mutter "What the f–?" before she instinctively struck the spike with her hand in an attempt to destroy it. To her surprise, the object was incredibly hard but not impervious, and her powerful blow caused a substantial shake in the vicinity.

"Oww," she exclaimed, nursing her sore hand. She hadn't anticipated the spike's resilience. Upon closer examination, the spike's tip revealed a construction of lustrous steely blue cubes — Adamantite. From the injury she had inflicted, a steaming purple serum began to flow between the spaces of the cubes, dripping to the ground and crystallizing like a magic stone.

Suddenly, another spike was launched toward Shalltear, and she skillfully evaded it. The barrage of spikes continued relentlessly, forcing her to maintain her full speed as she ascended upwards, her target set on reaching the 24th floor. The once-familiar cavern had transformed into a perilous trap, and she was determined to escape its confines.

Shalltear, determined to escape, attempted to leave the area. However, the Dungeon responded swiftly by spawning numerous spikes in a circle, effectively closing off her exit.

Sensing the impending danger, she quickly decided to transform into her mist form to evade them as more flew toward her. 

This skill transmuted the body into mist, and it was quite a flavourful skill for vampires. However, it did not transform the body into the physical phenomenon called mist, but instead phased the body into the astral plane. Thus she could use it to completely avoid attacks in the physical world.

Swiftly, she soared through the tunnel leading to the 24th floor—the Large Tree Labyrinth. As soon as she had the opportunity, Shalltear cast a Gate spell, creating a portal that would take her out of the Dungeon.

Through the teleportation Gate, she emerged in the astral form high above Orario, which was shrouded in the darkness of night. 

She was positioned even higher than the towering Babel tower, which boasted over 50 floors above ground, and Ishtar's ziggurat, the Floating Garden, which stood at 40 stories tall. From this vantage point, Orario's eight Main Streets were illuminated by the warm glow of torches and magic lamps. 

However, Shalltear's astral form revealed something unusual. She noticed a golden light emanating from behind her.

Quickly turning her attention towards this unexpected source, she first appeared startled, her eyes wide. But as she recognized the origin of the light, her expression shifted from surprise to alleviation and finally to irritation.

She muttered with annoyance, "Stupid kill sat! Almost gave me a heart attack..." As she looked behind her, she saw a golden divine halo hovering over a golden eye, which in turn contained another iris within another iris, and finally a vertical pupil. This peculiar eye gazed at her with evident curiosity.

The golden divine eye that hovered in the atmosphere was created by the deusdea and it had two main purposes.

The first is to create and launch Spirits and Fairies to the lower world. While nowadays that didn't occur anymore, during the Age of Heroes many of the spirits were sent into the Dungeon, into old Orario, the main source of the monsters, which was how the labyrinthine epic—the Dungeon Oratoria—came into being. 

Naturally the Spirits and Fairies were thrown in weapon form, like a killing satelite throwing a projectile from orbit. In fact the corrupted demi-spirit that was consumed by a monster was created here originally. 

The second, was being of service in the descent of the deusdea into this plane to play their 'game'.

Currently the divine eye rested phased out of reality, so people cannot see it hovering over Babel in the atmosphere. And it had only been activated from the heavens, Tenkai.

As Shalltear hovered above Orario in her astral form, her thoughts drifted back to the bizarre events that had transpired in the Dungeon. Puzzled, she muttered to herself, "What the hell happened? Did it try to trap me?" The unusual occurrences left her perplexed.

She sighed and continued, voice laced with a sense of guilt and regret, "...Haa...Haa...Did I hurt the Dungeon so much with the spell that got her attention then?..."

Inwardly, she reflected on her own actions and the emotional turmoil she had experienced.

What the hell was with that?

She recognized that her instinctive, sadistic tendencies had momentarily taken control. This realization troubled her, and she muttered, sighing, "This is...problematic..."

Frustrated with herself, she ran her hands through her hair and said, "I really messed up big time...Better not use any divine spell again...ever..."

Having reached a decision, Shalltear transformed back from her mist form to return from the astral plane to the physical world. She then chanted the spell "Perfect Unknowable," rendering herself invisible. 

With her newfound invisibility, she resumed her flight, heading back to the cheap wooden inn. Her plan was to enter through a window before the night came to an end, ensuring she remained hidden from the prying eyes of Orario.