CHAPTER 71 - Dungeon "Destiny". Part 1.
The dungeon "Destiny," known as the most dangerous A-class dungeon, and the only reason it is not an S-class dungeon is because it does have safe areas and exits every 10 floors. S-class dungeons have no exits or safe places to rest. Once you enter one, you can only leave by conquering it. Even someone like Sei Molfer didn't dare enter one until she was 29 years old, when she considered she had minimal chances of survival.
But if you compare the quality of the monsters that inhabit that place, it is not so different from an S-class one. Floors where there is only snow, desert, jungle, swamps, and even an enormous artificial ocean whose dimensions are identical to a real ocean. Each floor challenged them with extreme climates and dangers in every centimeter they traveled, and without exaggeration, they had to escape hundreds of times using [Teleportation]. Escape—a word that the Molfer family utterly despises with their entire being—but Kei did it without hesitation. That was how dangerous every floor was. And finally, after exactly 378 days, they at last reached floor… 60. There were two days left until the Queen's party, and they had barely managed to reach floor 60 alive.
Everyone, except the dark elves Mio and Nem, appeared on a white platform in the middle of an empty village, under a dark sky, where in the distance a huge castle could be seen, gigantic, almost the size of a city like New York. It was clearly floating in the sky, and given its enormous dimensions, it would definitely take them months to explore the entire thing.
They arrived naked and with their guts hanging out, literally speaking. So destroyed both physically and mentally. Limbs bitten off, eyes swollen to the point of exploding, bald from the acid they had received, skin melting like wax. They all looked as if they had come straight out of hell itself, but they were still barely alive thanks to Kei and Drin's healing magic and all the healing potions they drank and drank desperately.
The first to recover was Kei, and after making sure everyone was still alive and recovering, he raised his gaze to observe the great castle, or rather, floor number 61. To clear a floor, you must defeat a boss, which is almost always hidden so that they are forced to explore a large part of the place. Upon seeing the great castle, Kei realized he had slightly underestimated the difficulty of this dungeon. At the beginning he had thought he could clear it in 8 months, but it had taken him a whole year to reach floor 60, and every floor would become more difficult. Those 8 months, upon seeing the colossal castle, had turned into approximately 3-4 years.
Kei let out a big sigh and dropped to the ground to rest, while the others continued recovering little by little. The little rest he had was so satisfying that he even fell asleep instantly. Nirfei emerged from his body and observed the state of the others. She had suffered no damage since she was made of practically magical energy and had no physical body that could be harmed (and also because she had been inside Kei the entire time; he was the one who received all the damage). And upon seeing them bald and with their skin melted, she began to laugh so hard that she woke Kei up. But no, he didn't wake up from the noise; what woke him was feeling a huge wave of negative emotions heading toward Nirfei, and since he and she were connected, it was as if all the girls' bloodlust had also been directed at him. By instinct he jumped to his feet and went on the defensive, and upon seeing that Nirfei was mocking them, he realized there was no danger and went back to sleeping while standing.
"They look like those hairless cats! What were they called…? They look like sphinx cats! Hahahahahaha!"
She climbed onto Eris's head and took the shape of hair. Nirfei's personality is like that of a little girl, which makes her somewhat unbearable for the others. And since Nirfei is very important to Kei as she is indispensable for defeating Fravi, they can't do anything about it to stop her. Kei had already tried before and Nirfei refused to help him until he allowed her to do whatever she wanted. Yes, it is true that Kei is her master, but she has total freedom; that was one of the conditions she set when she agreed to help Zius in the past. They can't force her to do anything, much less force her to change her personality. And ever since they tried to stop her, she had become even more unbearable than before, just to annoy them, mainly Eris, since she is the one who gets angry most easily. Mio and Drin ignore her, Terkiana and Nerka tolerate her because they think she's cute, Nem is not bothered by Nirfei because even she finds her adorable, Mia is used to working under stress, and the dark elves are not bothered either because… Well, she hasn't given public reasons; for some reason she wants to hide it, and only Kei knows the truth, but he hasn't said anything about it either. Kei prefers to avoid keeping secrets from the girls, but he guards Nirfei's secret with great caution. Is that the reason he has so much faith in the dark elves? Possibly.
"Your race changed to sphinx, cat. Your tail is naked! Hahahahahaha!"
"Get off me, nya!"
"I curse with all my being the acidic jelly sharks!!" Nerka shouted, quickly fixing her newly regenerated hair.
Floor number 59 consisted of a great ocean of boiling water, where nothing could be seen beyond a meter because of the steam that surrounded the entire place. It took them 35 days to clear it, and only a certain group of them could do it. The dark elves and Nem were not yet used to the pain; a couple of seconds on that floor would have been enough to kill them. Mio is personally training them to improve their resistance. Yes, doing that is delaying Mio's progress; she doesn't advance at the same pace as the others, but Kei convinced her to do it. After all, if Kei says so, he must have his reasons for continuing to place his trust in the dark elves, who have not shown significant progress since they arrived.
"It took us a year to reach this place," Kei said, waking up.
It had taken them a year, yes, but they had only been inside for a couple of hours, and then they left when they felt someone was about to die. It was impossible for them to advance continuously, so they dedicated between two and five hours a day to training here.
"And what we still have left… 6 years?"
"Possibly between 4 and 5, darling, although that amount of time could decrease if we manage to obtain more objects that God Zius left you. Maybe one of those objects will manage to increase our power."
Kei nodded in agreement, because what sense would the mission of obtaining wives make if the powerful one was only him? Those objects would definitely also improve the power of the entire group. For the moment, Nirfei only increases the power of Kei's fire attribute and makes him almost immune to fire attacks, but possibly later she could do the same with the others. Nirfei is only linked with Kei, but she herself has said that she only needs to obtain more points to level up and manage to increase the number of possible links. Kei is the first; the second will be… the one she wants, the one she feels most connected to. For the moment, there are three possible candidates to be the second possessor of Nirfei: Nem and the dark elves.
Nirfei can indeed be of help to the others and, in fact, is helping them right now, but her help is minimal compared to what she can do with Kei.
"Approximately 4 years left until the demon attack…"
"Same, between 4 and 5. Originally it was 5, but with everything that has happened, they might delay it a bit more."
"Or advance it, considering the death of a hero, nya," Eris said, licking her forearm.
Drin and Kei's skin crawled and both looked at Eris with fear and strangeness. Fear because they had not thought of that possibility. They had always believed that the power Kei had shown in the fight against Commander Nero had scared them so much that they would definitely delay their plans, but now the idea also appeared that they might advance them thanks to the death of a hero. And strangeness because Eris had said it. Yes, it is true that Eris is a very intelligent woman despite her personality and behavior, but she is so extroverted and childish that even they had forgotten that part of her.
"Nya?" Eris said, now licking her lips and cheeks with her long tongue.
"Advance it, huh…? How possible would that be, Drin?"
Drin stayed thinking about the answer for more than five hours, and while she thought and reflected on the possible consequences that previous actions could have on the future, the others continued training. Drin never wants to give Kei a quick answer using only assumptions, so she decided to take her time.
The others were training specific areas of improvement. Terkiana belongs to the elf race, those with perfect aim, but not for nothing did she obtain the special magic of strength, because she specializes more in close-range attacks; she never liked attacking from a distance, so she specifically trains long-range/physical attacks, or as she called it: "Pam-Pam." What does it consist of? Basically it consists of a long-range attack of any type, whether the classic arrow or a magical attack, whatever causes considerable damage upon reaching the target, and that would be the first "Pam." Of course, like any attack, the enemy will almost always want to dodge it, and that is when the second "Pam" appears. It consists of an immediate physical attack after launching the first Pam, trying to guess how the enemy will dodge the attack.
"Once more, grandma!"
And Nerka, for her part, has terrible physical resistance, at least compared to the others, which is why she mainly focuses on improving her physical and magical resistance. How? Serving as a punching bag for her grandmother while using her magical power to reduce the damage received. An extremely basic training; even Kei suggested she train in another way, but she insists on training like this. Why? According to her, it's a surprise, and not even her grandmother knows what she is planning, but she trusts her granddaughter, so she decided to accept her way of training. If Nerka says her surprise will yield great results, they can only trust her words.
Terkiana created a magical bow and instantly shot an arrow toward her granddaughter's right eye, and the moment it touched it, the arrow disintegrated. Terkiana's doing? Nope, Nerka did it. She had learned to eliminate foreign spells that were in contact with her own body, although that is only limited to spells that share her own magical attributes. And she doesn't escape the damage either; her bleeding eye is proof of that. She still can't eliminate them instantly; it takes her fractions of a second—enough time to cause damage.
Kei looks at her with genuine admiration, because even for him it had taken years to be able to minimize and destroy spells (that is why they mainly attack him with physical attacks; magical ones wouldn't have as much effect on him). It had taken her a year to learn it. Elves, those loved by nature, and magic is a natural force that surrounds everything.
Nerka, upon seeing Kei smiling at her, filled with joy and was about to blow him a kiss, but a certain fist in her face interrupted her. The second Pam. The moment she launched the arrow, Terkiana ran toward Nerka, and almost half a second after the arrow's elimination, she attacked Nerka with a powerful punch to the face that sent her rolling across the ground for more than 100 meters until she crashed into a water well, destroying it and falling into the dirty waters full of decomposing corpses of adventurers who had died on floor 61 and ended up here. Why is it known they died on floor 61? Because of the clear fang marks on their necks, made by the boss of floor 61, a vampire.
"Ugh!! How disgusting!!"
"A vampire, huh?" Mia said, analyzing the marks.
Vampires, a race in danger of extinction in the world. Unlike traditional vampires, the vampires of this world cannot transform others into vampires; they reproduce sexually, and that is why they are in danger of extinction. No one in the world wants to get involved with a vampire, and the few vampires in the world try to reproduce constantly, almost always without success because they are a race that can live more than 10,000 years, which is why their species cannot reproduce as easily as the others.
Vampires are one of the three species hated for having helped the demons in the past, and the only reason they were not exterminated for treason is because Fravi, for some reason, forbade it. Vampires, Gargoyles and… unknown. The third race is not remembered by anyone, nor is it even mentioned in ancient manuscripts. It is theorized that they are the sirens, being the only race whose appearances can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but nothing official.
"A boss-level vampire. A Count Dracula. Or rather, a Countess Erzsébet Báthory. Did I say it right?" Kei said, floating above the well with Nirfei's help.
Before, Kei flew using his fairy and wind magic, but now he can control his flight thanks to Nirfei, saving more than 90% of magical energy. Large fairy fire wings adorn his back as he observes the great castle above him.
"You know, because it's a world of powerful women and all that. The greatest serial killer in the history of humanity in my world."
A flame in the shape of a tentacle extended from his wings, grabbing Nerka and pulling her out of the dirty well while he continued observing the castle.
The final boss of floor 59 was a Gelacid Mito-Shark, one of the most dangerous marine monsters on record, which fortunately only inhabit certain regions of the world in the depths of the ocean and only surface once every two years. Why? No one knows. It attacks every human it detects, which makes research impossible. It has two very distinctive nicknames: "The Infinite Divider" and the "Shark of a Thousand Mouths." Why is it known that way? Because of its ability.
The Gelacid Mito-Shark is a 100-meter-long leviathan whose flesh is not organic tissue but a gelatinous and translucent mass composed entirely of hyper-corrosive acid. Its shape resembles a giant great white shark, but deformed. It has no traditional internal organs; its entire being is a single living sack of acid that pulses with a phosphorescent glow.
Every time it receives any kind of mortal damage, its body enters forced mitosis: it divides into two identical specimens, each exactly half the size and double the speed. The process is instantaneous and violent: the creature "tears" down the center, and the two halves separate ready to attack.
Base statistics. Size: Adults average 100 meters in length. Speed: 80 km/h in water (doubles with each division). Contact damage: Extreme corrosion (melts steel in seconds, dissolves flesh and bone instantly). Resistance: Extremely high to direct attacks (division acts as "regeneration by multiplication"). Number of vital cores: 1 (only appears in the final phase).
Special abilities. Mitotic Division: Activates with every mortal attack it receives. Size: ÷2. Speed and agility: ×2. After 13-14 divisions per lineage, size reaches 1.2 cm and the core appears. Total number of entities in final phase: approximately 8,192-16,384 tiny sharks, depending on size, as it can vary.
Acid Aura: The water around it becomes toxic in a radius proportional to its size. Small versions create clouds of acidic vapor that can be inhaled or accidentally touched.
Adaptive Speed: Medium forms are fast. Tiny ones (1.2 cm) reach almost impossible speeds to follow with the naked eye and can pierce armor like liquid needles.
Gelatinous Bite: Its teeth are solidified acid spikes. When it bites, it injects acid directly into the wound and leaves fragments that continue to dissolve the target from within.
Unique weakness and way to defeat it. The Mito-Shark has no core while it is large. Only when an individual specimen reaches exactly 1.2 cm in length does a small crystalline and bright orb appear in its center. Destroying that core causes only that specific specimen to disintegrate completely in an explosion of neutralized acid. The other copies remain alive and intact.
Was a monster like that defeated by Kei and his companions? Yes, it took them 35 days to adapt to the floor and be able to defeat it. And how did they manage it? 9 days of exploration, searching for the boss. 10 more days to get used to the environment. And another 16 days to defeat the monster. The dungeon does not regenerate the monster's life until it kills its enemies, so every time Kei and the others managed to get far enough away to use [Teleportation] (since it cannot be used in the middle of a fight unless the enemy loses sight of you), they could return home and recover from the damage, while the monster could not; it cannot recover from the damage until it kills its enemies.
During those 16 days, they returned and attacked the monster with all their power, forcing it to divide. Its speed increased with each division, its attacks became impossible to dodge, they pierced their heads, lungs, stomachs; almost everything in their bodies was pierced and destroyed… except their hearts.
No matter how many times that monster attacked them in the heart, it was never able to damage it. Why? Because their hearts were not in their bodies.
"Kei, aren't you forgetting something? I'm running out of energy!" Nirfei said.
"Well, well. That's true."
From his [Magic Storage] he took out the latent hearts of everyone. Yes, literally speaking, he took out their beating hearts. Everything inside [Magic Storage] does not age, as if time stopped for everything inside, so hearts that continue to function can indeed be stored.
Why did he do that? Without a heart, magic cannot be used, and if the heart is destroyed, no matter how much healing magic is used, it can never be regenerated. Knowing that, Nirfei created artificial hearts for them, which allowed them to stay alive and be able to use the magical energy that was still inside them, but it cannot generate energy for them. The original heart is the only one that can generate that energy. Nirfei only helps them use what they already have without the risk of suffering damage.
Small Nirfeis emerged from all of them and took the girls' hearts to implant them back into them. Kei opened his own chest and put his heart back in, letting Nirfei do the rest.
"As I said before, we must find another way to do this. The heart is sacred; tricking the body this way could bring us negative consequences," Nirfei said.
"There is no evidence that anything bad happens. If it couldn't be done, we wouldn't have succeeded."
"At least let me give you another equally functional alternative."
Kei stared at her and only nodded. He found no flaws in this strategy; what Nirfei thought were only religious beliefs, but in order to make her feel less worried, he agreed to learn another alternative.
The heart, the organ that carries the most important and valuable magical point. Is getting rid of that magical point temporarily so bad? Well…
"Of course it's something bad," said the Supreme God, standing on Drin's head, who remained motionless, thinking.
No one could see him, but he was there, and his expression was one of concern.
"The heart protects the soul and purifies the vessel, and a body without a soul is easy to manipulate and absorb. They are filling themselves with negative energy that the heart can no longer cleanse. Although…"
His expression, previously worrisome, now had a long smile.
"It is also possible 'that.' Or don't you think the same, pirate version?"
The Supreme God jumped to the ground and directed his gaze to a squirrel that kept staring at him fixedly.
"Aren't you planning to act yet?"
The squirrel ran off, leaving the Supreme God very anxious.
"What objective are they seeking? If they don't act, it's because that objective has not yet been created."
He began to walk, smiling very satisfied.
"Their own universe. They really are ambitious," he said, disappearing from the place.