After this period of development and expansion, the results were obvious.
Needless to say, Yami Tsukishiro himself had grown stronger. His personal guards and the entire monster army had undergone a qualitative transformation as well.
The monsters' ranks were steadily rising, their numbers increasing, and their overall quality improving with each passing day.
The army was now organized, with a clear hierarchy of strength. The shortage of troops that once plagued the dungeon was a thing of the past.
Because of that, the underground city's layout needed to be redesigned from the ground up to ensure smooth operation.
Once a proper standard was established, it could serve as a permanent framework for all future dungeon development.
With his military strength secured, there was no longer any need for the overly intricate and cautious designs he had relied on in the past.
With that in mind, Yami Tsukishiro began re-planning the monster placement on the first level.
The number of undead monsters required adjustment. Instead of a fixed fivefold ratio per adventurer, the range would expand to five to fifteen times the number of challengers. Their levels would scale accordingly.
Floors one through three would be populated entirely by first-level monsters. On the first floor, the number of monsters would reach up to five times the number of adventurers. On the second floor, it would rise to ten times. On the third floor, it would peak at fifteen times.
Floors four through six would contain second-level monsters, while floors seven through nine would feature third-level monsters. The same quantity pattern would repeat in three-floor intervals.
The intent was simple: reduce the individual difficulty of each monster while increasing their numbers. Time was not a limiting factor inside the dungeon. Adventurers only needed patience to navigate the maze and methodically eliminate every enemy.
The tenth floor would serve as a cross-level boss chamber.
Here, specially assigned fourth-level undead monsters would appear. The number of bosses would adjust according to party size.
A solo adventurer would face a single randomly selected level-four monster.
A two-person team would confront one level-four monster together.
A four-person party would battle two level-four monsters.
A six-person party would fight three.
An eight-person party would challenge four.
And a full ten-person team would unite against five level-four monsters.
As for floors eleven through twenty—the second-tier Ancient Battlefield zone—the current design would include monsters ranging from levels three to five.
Floors eleven to thirteen would be filled with third-level beast-type monsters. Their numbers would scale to ten, twenty, and thirty times the number of adventurers respectively.
Floors fourteen through nineteen would contain fourth-level beast monsters, with scaling multipliers of ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, and thirty-five times the adventurer count.
The most significant change to the dungeon system, however, was structural.
Each floor would no longer remain static.
There would now be a chance for a Mutation Dungeon to appear.
A Mutation Dungeon functioned as a hidden high-difficulty variant. Powerful elite monsters might emerge, the conditions for clearing the floor could change unpredictably, or the monster count could multiply several times over.
The probability of triggering a Mutation Dungeon was tied directly to the adventurers themselves. The longer they lingered on a single floor—or the higher their overall rank—the greater the chance of mutation.
It was an effective measure to prevent stagnation and exploitation.
For adventurers, it would be a brutal trial.
But danger always came with opportunity.
Magic stone rewards inside Mutation Dungeons would increase tenfold, with the bonus personally funded by Yami Tsukishiro.
As for the third-tier dungeon, he had no plans to design it yet. For now, only the first twenty floors were complete.
Soon, the incoming wave of adventurers would experience a dungeon that was constantly shifting and evolving.
After finishing these arrangements, only one task remained.
"Initiate dungeon summons."
Summon the adventurers of the new world.
While the summoning sequence began, Yami Tsukishiro had no intention of lingering. He turned toward Celestine and Lilith and spoke with quiet authority.
"Take care of the three of them. Especially before they wake—monitor the first three levels at all times."
As he spoke, Ella and the other two lay nearby beneath the radiant aura of the Divine Tree of Life. Their expressions were calm and peaceful, almost blissful.
"Understood, Master," Celestine replied without hesitation.
After Yami Tsukishiro departed the dungeon, Lilith folded her arms across her chest, her icy gaze settling on Celestine.
"I despise the natural elf aura clinging to you," she said coldly. "But since it is our master's command, I will tolerate your presence."
Her eyes narrowed with open warning.
"Do not flaunt that so-called pure and charming body of yours to tempt him."
Celestine met the accusation without agitation.
"I'm sorry, Lilith. You know as well as I do that we exist because our master created us. As queens of our respective elves, our duty is the same."
She clasped her hands together like a nun in prayer.
"If pleasing our master brings him happiness, then I will offer everything I have without hesitation."
"Hmph."
Lilith snorted in open disgust and turned away.
"So nauseatingly pure. I hate how you nature elves dress your hypocrisy in false nobility."
With that, she stormed off without another glance.
Back in reality, Yami Tsukishiro had witnessed the exchange.
A faint crease formed between his brows as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"The rift between dark elves and nature elves runs deeper than I thought…"
Internal division was never a good sign for any race. Even if both were absolutely loyal to him, the tension could not be ignored.
He would need a solution.
Perhaps… at the right moment, he could act as a bridge between the two races. Open communication. Shared experiences. Close cooperation.
Maybe even skin-to-skin diplomacy.
Yes. That would surely be an effective method.
It absolutely wasn't because he wanted an excuse to try it.
--
In another world, the sky was veiled in a dull gray haze, casting a bleak shadow over everything below.
This was the Tokyo Area—
one of the few cities still standing after the devastation brought by the gastrea virus.
"Rentaro, what are you doing here?"
A girl in a neat black sailor uniform stepped inside. It was Tendō Kisara. The moment she entered, she noticed a young man already waiting.
Satomi Rentaro, his short blue-black hair slightly tousled, gave a small nod.
"Today's the day they assign Initiators," he said with a faint smile.
"Oh… right."
Only then did Kisara remember. Today was the day his partner would be assigned.
Just as the realization settled in—
Vrrrm!
The low roar of an engine cut through the air.
A black car rolled to a stop in front of the building. The door opened, and two uniformed staff members stepped out, escorting a young girl between them.
The girl's eyes were unfocused, her expression hollow. Guided gently forward, she was brought to stand before Satomi Rentaro.
"Mr. Satomi Rentaro, from this moment on, you will serve as this young lady's Promoter. Next, we'll go over the relevant procedures…"
The staff member began explaining the details.
The girl never raised her head.
The world around her might as well not exist. She was sealed inside a quiet, numb shell, untouched by the voices surrounding her.
Kisara watched the scene with practiced familiarity.
The so-called Initiators—
were children capable of synchronizing with the Cursed Children, girls born from mothers infected by the gastrea virus. Their bodies carried fragments of gastrea genes, granting them extraordinary power.
But that power came at a terrible price.
Every time they used it, the virus eroded them a little further. If pushed too far, they would inevitably lose themselves and transform into gastrea.
In the end, humanity was using these children as living weapons.
[Do you wish to live in the light?]
Silence.
Not the tense quiet before a storm—
just the stillness of a girl who had long since stopped reacting to the world.
Aihara Enju didn't respond at first. It was as if she hadn't heard the voice at all.
Only after several seconds did she slowly lift her head.
The glowing prompt still hovered before her eyes.
She reached out instinctively. Her fingers passed through the words without resistance, touching nothing.
For the first time, a ripple disturbed the emptiness in her gaze.
A pebble had been thrown into a stagnant lake.
Her dry lips trembled slightly.
"…Mm."
Satomi Rentaro and the staff both noticed the faint sound at nearly the same moment.
"?"
Before they could react—
the two figures beside her vanished.
No flash. No noise. They simply disappeared, as if erased from existence.
"Ms. Kisara?"
Rentaro spun around in confusion, searching the empty room.
What he didn't know was that Tendō Kisara—someone he secretly cherished—was no longer part of this world.
After hearing the incomprehensible voice, she had evaporated without a trace.
[Ding. Do you wish to complete your revenge?
Yes / Yes]
In Yami Tsukishiro's world—
he felt the shift in his power with crystal clarity.
With a single thought, he could overlook the entire planet as if gazing from the heavens. Every shadow, every hidden corner lay within his awareness.
Nothing could escape his domain.
"Feels good," he murmured.
The sensation of absolute control was intoxicating.
His gaze drifted across the training grounds.
Yumiko and the others were still pushing themselves, sweat pouring as they trained relentlessly. Nearby, inside a massive structure, Kana Kojima worked alone beneath a glass canopy.
"So Kaguya and the shadow soldiers finished building that greenhouse…"
Kana must have realized the unique properties of the plants she could create. She'd begun focusing on large-scale cultivation, using seeds Haruno had gathered for her.
Inside the bright greenhouse, life flourished like a painted landscape.
"Haah…"
Kana exhaled softly.
A gentle green radiance flowed from her hands, bathing a fragile seedling that had just broken through the soil. The plant pulsed with renewed vitality and surged upward, its young branches unfurling in seconds.
Kana wiped the sweat from her brow.
This wasn't just routine labor.
It was training.
Each cycle of growth sharpened her control and deepened her power. By repeating the process over and over, she was tempering her abilities at remarkable speed.
And under Yami Tsukishiro's watchful gaze, the world continued to move toward its next transformation.
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