The dungeon of the Shadow Nartheis was more than thirty kilometers wide in both directions, where the only thing visible after traveling through the entire place was an endless void. The whole area of that dungeon would be dark if it weren't for the light produced by some torches and floating light cores.
"What a weird place."
"Weird? To me, it's scary."
"So you're going to be a coward, Caelan?"
"First of all, I'm not a coward, and second, I'm not a monster like you, Enrico."
The inside looked truly dreadful, as if it were a mix between a dark forest and caverns filled with bodies — both human-like and monstrous — a place where it seemed a massacre happened every day.
"Even with a sky above, it's completely dark, not a flicker of light or anything similar."
Even the sky of that dungeon was pitch black, not resembling the sky of their world at all. Looking far to the left, Enrico saw a small light where there was a tower and immediately knew what to do.
"Everyone, let's head to that place."
"A light? That's great, I can barely see anything here."
After resting the day before, he had trained and reviewed everything about that dungeon he had seen in the story, even knowing how they were thrown into it without warning. As soon as all participants entered the Queen's grand hall, they were tossed in here without a single word or explanation about what the Nartheis were like inside.
"The first thing we need to do is find light."
Yumeha, beside him, summoned Hitodama to illuminate the path ahead. Enrico had already told her about this dungeon the night before, so she knew exactly what it was like thanks to what he had seen in the "future."
'As always, master is amazing, he knows so many things.'
[You know, your excuse about coming from the future is so good and convenient it's almost annoying.]
'That's exactly why I made it up, because having to come up with a different explanation for every single one of my actions to them would be exhausting.'
[You're right, but I have to say, I'm surprised we haven't seen either the Queen or the director today.]
'It's probably because they're in the meeting of Kings. Since yesterday, the King of Floravita finally arrived, so they're likely discussing some matters about me.'
That Empress of Tianlong was probably there as well, receiving information about him, so he had to be careful — if she had already been keeping an eye on him after what he said to their spy, it was hard to tell what might happen now.
'Actually, not just her. The other Kings as well...'
Walking down the path toward that light, he took the lead, guiding his companions. Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, in a meeting room, eight people of the highest authority were seated around a large table, with three others standing before them showing the reproduction of Enrico's future memories — those three being Virelle, Hao, and Angela.
"I can't believe it. If this is fake, I swear..."
"If you want, you can analyze this magic deeply, sir Dom."
Dom Bonifácio, King of Floravita, was considered the second strongest in his territory and perhaps the closest to reaching the ninth circle at the moment. He was about thirty years old, with short black hair down to his shoulders and deep brown eyes. His skin was fair, and his eyes looked as though he hadn't slept in a while.
"I will certainly analyze it, and if it's true... I'll help, because dealing with the Nartheis in my land is already bad enough — imagining those evil gods is worse."
He sighed in exhaustion, which made sense given that he had to manage such a difficult territory — not only because of the Nartheis, but also because people there had become divided due to the harsh conditions, forming different groups just to survive.
"You must be tired, Dom."
"Of course I am. Before, I could at least keep people united, but now things have gotten much worse."
"If you need help, just ask. My lands can offer plenty of strength."
"Sure, that would be great, but I'm certain you'd want something in return, Lady Wu."
Xuelan Wu, the Empress of Tianlong — also called the Orchid of the White Dragon's Ice — had long, slightly wavy, blue-black hair tied with frozen flower ornaments. Her eyes were grayish-violet, cold and deep, with skin as white as snow.
"Maybe just a small portion of your lands."
"If that's the case, you can offer your help to someone else."
"What a shame. I really wanted to help you with all my strength."
'Liar.'
No one in that room believed her, as this woman was known to be quite cynical most of the time — and rightly so, since she wanted those lands to conduct experiments on Nartheis, trying to discover why they evolved so much only in Floravita.
"Anyway, I already knew about this, since he's my son-in-law."
"Wait, what do you mean you knew? Tsk, I'll have to talk with my— I mean, with Enrico later."
Virelle crossed her arms, glaring at Akirama no Renzo for knowing about Enrico before she did. In truth, both Hao and King Alaric were also wondering why he hadn't told them sooner.
"Why the surprise? Did you forget he's not from Sanos by any chance?"
Now that he mentioned it, it made sense — Enrico had parents from two different territories and lived between them: Floravita and Vesparello. That made the two Kings' eyes light up, especially Sofia's, who was quite curious about the future.
'I have to talk to Matteo later in the VIP room.'
'I'll have a chat with Titanza... from what I know, his whole family must be watching this competition from the VIP room.'
'So that means those two will have an advantage? Now that I know the boy knows about the future, I can't let someone with knowledge of the elixir slip through my fingers.'
Xuelan had her own thoughts and even considered capturing him but immediately abandoned the idea — capturing someone everyone was interested in was the same as asking to be killed.
'What can I do to bring him to my side?'
'Maybe I should speed up my plan to make him stay close to my daughter.'
Alaric considered moving some things ahead of schedule and hoped that during the dungeon challenge, that girl would at least try to get closer to Enrico, as he had instructed her to.
'I hope that girl manages to bring the two of them closer... I don't want to force my daughter into a marriage.'
While the four were plotting, Renzo was completely at ease, since Enrico was already his son-in-law. He was tempted to rub it in the other Kings' faces but decided to wait — for now, he needed to hear the opinions of the other three Kings.
"And what about you three? I'd really like to know the opinions of the Kings from the other continent."
The three figures shifted slightly as they looked at the future disaster being projected in that magic sphere created by Hao, all of them sharing a single thought.
"We accept this temporary alliance."