Chapter 601 Dungeon Core
[So, we have to fight this other person, and then the Seventh Finger?]
When Kayla asked this, Evan looked at her with an incredulous gaze, as if he had just heard the most absurd thing in the universe.
"Kethryllia is an Epic Level existence; someone even stronger than Dominik Velak at his peak."
He placed a hand on his chin for a moment with a pensive look on his face before asking.
"Did you guys hear about the news from last year? Where one of the Elven Princesses fought some 'powerful monster' that resulted in the destruction of the Dalburn Forest on the Beta Continent?"
They all nodded when they heard his words, as the news of Abigail's fight really blew up. For months, people speculated what kind of monster Abigail had fought, and just how strong was it that the fight destroyed more than half of that massive forest that could swallow entire cities.
"It wasn't any 'powerful monster'. It was Kethryllia.
If not for Zestari Herrera's presence, then I fear to think about the outcome of that battle. Kethryllia is an intermediate-stage Epic, after all."
"Then what are we going to do? There's no Epic Level currently in Lacertilia."
Eliza questioned in a voice filled with concern, while Pride sunk into her thoughts momentarily before asking.
"You said the Beast Kingdom's Princess is nearby, right?"
"She is, with a Living Legend. However, the Demonic Hand has changed things up so even a Living Legend can't do anything to the barrier.
One of Aidos' Sovereigns is gonna have to come here."
The Beast Kingdom had multiple Sovereign Realm existences within their borders, but most of them were subordinates of the Beast King Kolvar.
If one wanted to move them, then either Kolvar had to give the order, or a member of the Royal Family did so.
Hence, the reason Evan wanted Princess Malaya to call for one, otherwise, they'd be trapped inside the World Isolation barrier with Kethryllia and Thagol.
Given the speed of Sovereign level existences, it wasn't going to be hard for them to get to Lacertilia from wherever they were.
"So if Princess Malaya brings a Sovereign, they can break the barrier?"
"Bingo."
"And kill Kethryllia too?"
"…"
Evan answered Eliza's first question normally but went silent after the second.
At that moment, all of his companions turned their gazes towards him with narrowed eyes. Even Kuro who was half asleep on the floor also woke up to look at him.
Eliza got up from his lap and turned around, placing her arms on both sides of his body, effectively trapping him in his seat as she spoke with a flat voice.
"Evan, explain."
Seeing this, Evan let out an exasperated sigh, momentarily thinking it'd have been better for him to have just lied to them.
"No matter what happens today, no matter how much of the Demonic Hand's plans we wreck, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of monsters get slaughtered.
Kethryllia Keasatra will NOT die today."
He spoke with so much conviction, as if it was a done deal.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. It is impossible for us to ensure Kethryllia's death, even if a Beast Kingdom Sovereign-level existence came here."
"And why is that?"
When Pride asked this, Evan turned his gaze to her and asked her a question that was seemingly totally unrelated to the current situation.
"You're the oldest of the Seven, right?"
"Yes. What does that have to do with this?"
Evan didn't answer her question and instead asked another.
"Who's the youngest?"
"…"
The demon went silent for a moment, but after looking right at Evan's eyes, she answered.
"Lust."
"Good. So imagine if Lust was an Epic Level existence, in a situation where she could have a—"
**DING!
"Huh?"
A sound rang out in Evan's head, cutting him off mid-speech. Simultaneously, he felt something tugging at his connection to the World, making his Mystic's Eyes react strangely.
He pushed Eliza away and held his hand up to his chest.
"… What…was that?"
An expression of genuine confusion appeared on the boy's face, and before he could even say anything else, he felt the strange tug on him again.
This time, he was able to identify the supposed source of the feeling, getting up and moving towards the wall of the Boss Room, behind the Altar that Bhak was on originally.
He ignored his companions calling out to him and held his palm out, pressing it on the wall while his mind scanned through the system archive.
Unfortunately, he did not find anything like what he was looking for, a frown coming onto his face as he changed his approach.
This time, he delved 'into' his Hero Title, at its connection to Aidos with his eyes closed.
He went silent for a moment, reopening his eyes after and muttering softly.
"Activate Hero Authority."
A series of Crimson Gold lines manifested on his outstretched hands, forming a pattern that simultaneously looked like a circuit and a system of veins.
Evan's golden energy mixed with the Destructive Energy Circuit's crimson red flowed into the wall, causing a line of light to appear in the middle of the wall.
The line traced the outline of a simple door, opening up to reveal a room behind the wall.
When he looked inside said room, there was a massive orb of energy floating in the middle, with a network of fleshy 'wires' that looked to be 'alive' connecting it to the ground and ceiling.
They pulsated with energy, releasing a rhythmic thumping sound like the beating of a heart.
Evan walked up to the orb in the centre, and the strange feeling he had intensified the closer he got.
'Is it this…'
He reached out a hand to touch it, but just when he was merely a few centimetres away, Artemisia's direct voice rang out in his head.
[I wouldn't do that if I were you.]
Hearing her voice snapped Evan back to reality, and he quickly moved his hand away from the orb.
[If you wish your brain to be overloaded with all the information contained in the existential records of every single monster IN and FROM this dungeon, then go ahead.]
Evan felt cold sweat run down his back when he heard that.
Though there were over a hundred thousand monsters outside, Evan knew that number wasn't even up to half of the monsters in the dungeon.
"No, thank you."
"Evan, what the heck is this?"
Hearing Eliza's question, the boy put aside the strange tug he felt from the dungeon core for a moment in favour of answering her.
"It's the dungeon core. Touching it, however, would—"
"—overload your brain with so much information it'd liquefy and flow out from your ears."
Pride completed his answer as she looked at the structure in front of her with familiarity. Only she knew just how many times she had destroyed similar structures in the past, and the chaos that ensued with their destruction.
Dungeons were glorified monster traps, and If the trap's core was destroyed…the results were mostly the undesirable kind.
As for Evan, he looked back at the Dungeon Core with narrowed eyes, wondering just what on Aidos was trying to pull him towards it.
It was a strange feeling that he could not understand fully, and when he asked Artemisia about it, the goddess reacted with confusion as she did not understand what he was talking about.
"Is something wrong, Evan?"
"Well, I would not say something isn't, but I can't find what is."
Evan shook his head as he replied to Eliza, before suggesting that they leave the room and prepare to return to the surface.
However, just as he was about to leave, Evan's hand brushed against one of the tube-like wires.
[…not time yet…]
An indistinct image of someone with white hair flashed through his mind, together with that unfamiliar voice.
He turned around immediately and looked around, but he neither saw nor sensed anyone in the area.
And what's more, the strange feeling he was having had ceased completely like it was never there.
"Okay, this place is giving me horror movie vibes."
With that statement, Evan quickly left the room and let the door close back up.
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