NOVEL NEXT Chapter 299.1
Chapter 299.1. Revelation
Tia glares at Amano Sakimori and Shizuku while keeping an eye on her surroundings.
The opulent throne room. Honestly, she never expected Amano Sakimori and his group to make it this far, but she had still gone all out with her tastes, creating an interior fit for a Demon King. It wasn’t some creepy decor with flesh clinging to the walls or piles of bones in the corners.
A blue crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the flags adorning the walls were made of magical fabric, generously embroidered with gold and silver threads. A deep red carpet stretched all the way to the throne, where Orichalcum Armor Knights were supposed to stand in rows, wielding Adamantite Halberds to intimidate visitors.
Tia was supposed to sit gracefully on a throne made of priceless rare metals. This throne room was her masterpiece, designed to force visitors to understand, whether they liked it or not, that she was a being of immense power and luxury.
But now, for some reason, Amano Sakimori sat there in jet-black combat gear, a cold smile on his face. And frustratingly, he looked more suited to the throne than she ever did.
“Relax, Tia. It’s just me and Shizuku here. Yukihana and the others are downstairs dealing with the monsters.”
Leaning casually on his cheek and swaying slightly, Amano Sakimori spoke as if he knew exactly what Tia was wary of.
Of course. She didn’t believe for a second that only the two of them were here. It wouldn’t be strange if others were hiding, waiting to strike her down. But even using her highest-level presence detection, she couldn’t sense any other fairies. It seemed he wasn’t lying.
“………How did you get here? Did you find some secret passage or something?”
Tia pressed him, convinced that was the only way they could have reached the throne room so quickly. But Amano Sakimori just waved his hand dismissively, a faint smile on his lips.
“Not at all. We didn’t have time to search, and we had to deal with the monsters.”
“So we destroyed the ceiling and climbed up. With all our strength, we broke through and pushed forward. A few weapons got destroyed, though.”
Shizuku puffed out her flat chest proudly and pointed to a corner of the room. There was a hole large enough for a person to pass through. It seemed they had come from there.
It was only possible because the walls were so dilapidated. If they had been intact, even using all their mana, they could only have destroyed one wall. But in this crumbling dungeon, Shizuku’s power was more than enough.
“Thanks to that, we reached the throne before you. Not good, huh? The Demon King was away.”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen! How did you even activate the dungeon? That’s impossible!”
Tia screamed at Amano Sakimori, her plans completely ruined. The dungeon had activated imperfectly, and everything had gone wrong. No, it wasn’t just imperfect—it was on the verge of collapse, weakened to the point of death.
“We were searching for it. The dungeon core. We knew how to activate it. We’ve been scouring the area around the town. You said it yourself, right? That you’d activate the dungeon around the town. Seems you had one prepared in the town too.”
“……It’s impossible to detect a dungeon before it activates. It might emit faint mana, but……”
Even she couldn’t sense it. How much area did they think they had to search? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“That’s why it was so hard. We trained our detection skills using heat-retention magic tools while searching. The faint mana from those tools was good training for our familiars.”
Tia gasped at the casual explanation. That magic tool. So that’s what it was for. She had thought they were selling heat-retention tools by releasing familiars into the town. But no. The dungeon had been their goal from the start. It was all a setup, and she hadn’t noticed at all.
“Once we found it, the rest was easy. We just needed to pour in enough corrupted energy—human will—to revive it. [Dark World] is amazing, even among divine-tier spells. It can grant dark blessings to its target. It took three days, even for a divine-tier spell, but the effect was worth it.”
“We woke it up with a cock-a-doodle-doo. Sakimori-san covered the world in darkness, then blessed the dungeon we found to activate it.”
“Seems it had a rough awakening. The blessing was dispelled the moment it woke up. No wonder it’s on the verge of death. Most of the power that formed its body was drained. Poor thing.”
“The Demon King created a world of darkness, but the monsters, who thought they’d been strengthened, had their blessings stripped away immediately. Of course they’d die. That’s a bit too underhanded.”
Though Tia voiced her complaints, the essence of the matter lay elsewhere. She bit her lip bitterly.
“Even weakened, the monsters have a maxed-out stat cap of 50,000. By design, the monsters here are far superior to Amano Sakimori and his group. You used [Adversity Growth] to raise your stats to 50,000, didn’t you? Cheaters!”
Even weakened, the monsters had a stat cap of 50,000. With [Adversity Growth], it was no surprise they had gained a mountain of stat points.
“You’ve got it right. We maxed out our stats. There were plenty of monsters in that huge tower. We left familiars and Yukihana on each floor, and before we knew it, our stats shot up. Thanks for the bonus stage. We’re grateful.”
Amano Sakimori’s eyes glowed with a dark, terrifying light as he answered.
“Amano Sakimori……… Do you realize what you’re doing? You’re the villain—no, the final boss! Covering the world in darkness and all that!”
“The effect only lasts a day. They can endure that much. And I’ll become the world’s savior! Heh, how’s that? Suits me, doesn’t it?”