Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The outside had been chaotic.

The inside of the Incarnation’s mouth was far worse.

Acidic fluid strong enough to melt through a crocodile’s thick hide in moments sprayed violently everywhere.

Even Deep Ones could not survive inside safely.

Yohan escaped the darkness together with the Incarnation and reached the next floor, the final section of the tutorial.

He sat on top of the monster and quietly waited for her to finish digesting everything.

The Authority was called D’harn’s Attraction.

Less than a year after making their contract, she had used that Authority in a paradise filled with magic beasts.

Her body resembled a strange mixture.

The slime and skin of a cephalopod.

A body shape similar to a sandworm.

Countless unknown tentacles covering her face and mouth.

That had been the first time Yohan saw her naked form.

Afterward, she appeared before him in many different forms.

Among them, this particular Incarnation was one of the forms he saw most often.

The effect of the Authority was simple.

When she opened that horrifying maw wide, everything in the surrounding area was dragged into her mouth.

It was overwhelming attraction.

However, the more important ability was that she could choose her targets to some extent.

According to her, she could adjust the strength of the attraction using around twenty different conditions.

In practice, they rarely used more than five.

During this battle, Yohan had chosen the conditions Mental Corruption and Fanaticism.

Every Deep One, symbols of fanaticism, would be targeted.

The Spiked Swamp Crocodiles whose minds had been corrupted by those Deep Ones would also be targeted.

Even so, it remained the Authority of an Inner God.

Using exactly the desired amount of strength and then stopping perfectly was impossible.

Because of that, a few expedition members had also been dragged in and killed.

But considering the massive range of the Authority, losing only a handful of people was almost miraculous.

Not that Yohan had used the power while worrying about such things.

[…! …!]

After finishing her meal, the Incarnation raised her blasphemous body high.

She sprayed liquid in every direction and shuddered in satisfaction.

Over several minutes, her form slowly sank back into Yohan’s shadow.

Only then did Yohan return to the dry ground and stand at eye level with the survivors.

Ke, kek…

Grrraaaagh…!

Unlike the useless creature from Karaam that had only become a Deep One at the final moment, these beings had been Deep Ones for a long time.

Every one of them possessed immense combat ability.

Although they had been caught in D’harn’s Attraction, some had survived inside and barely escaped.

Three of them.

Hundreds of swamp crocodiles and seven Deep Ones had been killed.

Yet three still survived.

Yohan found that fairly impressive.

“I thought the standard had fallen greatly compared to the past… Apparently not.”

Even so, the battle situation had been completely reversed.

To survive the chaos, those creatures had spent nearly all of their powerful vitality.

Now they were clearly incapable of fighting.

Yohan could probably kill all three simply by reaching out.

The Deep Ones had to know that.

Yet they still screamed at him, spitting everywhere.

“Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!”

“This is the land of the believers! You were not given permission! Leave immediately!”

“Leave! Leave! Leave!”

They shouted so loudly it sounded as if dozens of creatures were yelling together.

Yohan had never planned to show them mercy.

He reached out and pulled all the blood soaked into his clothes together.

It formed a long Blood Spear.

SHWAAAK!

The spear crossed the swamp.

It pierced all three Deep Ones deeply in a single attack.

Each collapsed with a different death cry.

“You’ll never stop me. Not now, and not for the rest of your lives.”

The spear did not stop there.

Spikes erupted from every side and completely pierced their bodies.

Then the spear absorbed their remaining mana and blood.

Their dried bodies collapsed.

Their huge eyes continued glaring at Yohan until the very end.

“The great King of the Sea… will remember you… You… your death…!”

“…May Dagon bless your journey to Yansreye.”

“Uaaa aaau! Ai! Ai! Aaaa!”

“Ei! Ei! Dagon k’fayak bulgtm, bugtraghn bulgtm!”

With blasphemous cries praising the Old Ones, the three Deep Ones sank into the swamp.

They became food for the swamp crocodiles.

After watching the entire process, Yohan sensed that all hostility directed at him had disappeared.

He lowered his head.

“…I’m dizzy.”

The price of using such a powerful Authority had finally arrived.

[I didn’t expect much because those things looked completely tasteless, but maybe because they struggled so hard, they were surprisingly good! Their screams gave them a nice clean flavor. Though I basically filled my stomach with crocodile meat. Hehehehehe.]

The goddess had returned to Yohan’s shoulder.

For some reason, her skin looked much smoother and healthier than before.

She seemed refreshed.

[Living in this tiny body is extremely uncomfortable for me… but getting to examine our handsome Yohan’s face this closely is definitely an advantage. Hehe.]

“That’s enough food reviewing. We’re not finished yet.”

[Awww. Big Sister helped you while showing even her embarrassing naked body, and you’re still so cold? Come on, give me a reunion kiss. Hurry! Hurry!]

Yohan lightly pushed down her face as she stretched out her lips.

Then he headed into the swamp.

Perhaps most of the Spiked Swamp Crocodiles had gathered on the ninth floor.

There were not many magic beasts left inside.

A few strange fish, including Harpoon Fish, attacked him.

Other than those, he encountered no major obstacles.

Yohan pushed through the muddy water for more than thirty minutes.

After roughly an hour of diving, he reached a point where the entrance became visible.

The moment he saw the monster blocking more than half of the huge passage, Yohan became speechless.

After a long silence, he emerged from the swamp and muttered with a low groan.

“Calling this increased difficulty caused by Dagon’s personal hatred would be too simple. That gatekeeper is far too powerful to appear on only the tenth floor.”

Even from the edge of the swamp, its enormous shadow was clearly visible.

A Dhole.

A gigantic worm like creature at least four hundred meters long.

Among native Dungeon residents, it was also called an Olgoi Khorkhoi.

Its entire body was always covered in pale slime matching the color of its skin.

Mana and Aura mixed into the slime circulated at incredible speed.

Because of that, ordinary attacks could not leave even a scratch.

Its mouth was less protected.

However, the creature was unbelievably agile for its size.

Hundreds of huge teeth could also deflect incoming attacks.

Overall, it was considered nearly impossible to assault.

Its only weakness was light.

But light did not melt or weaken it.

The creature simply disliked brightness.

Unless light was used to draw its attention, the weakness had little practical meaning.

With such overwhelming combat power, Dholes did not appear just anywhere.

Normally they were found around the fiftieth floor.

Or inside the Dreamlands after the sixtieth floor.

“A Nightgaunt shouldn’t have summoned it… So why is a Dhole on the tenth floor?”

[Maybe it’s coincidence? The gatekeeper on the tenth floor changes every time, doesn’t it?]

“Even if it’s random, something this strong shouldn’t appear. At most, we should see an ancient rare species or a highest rank giant magic beast.”

Ruska, the gatekeeper from the eighth floor, had been such a case.

If the Deep Ones had not reduced Ruska to pulp, that battle would probably have been the climax of the Dark Cave.

[So, what are you going to do?]

The intention behind the question was obvious.

The goddess moved her arms around excitedly.

[You’re going to kill it, right? You and I can do it. We could enter that crazy mouth and tear its body apart from the inside. Or I could make an even larger mouth and swallow the whole thing. We have plenty of options.]

“It hasn’t even been three hours since you used your Authority.”

[I’ve already recovered. And there’s no one watching us right now. If it’s only you and that creature, there’s no need to control my power either.]

“…We can kill it. But I’d rather know who sent it first.”

At Yohan’s indirect refusal, the goddess tilted her head and pressed against his neck.

[What? Don’t tell me… you’re scared.]

“Am I not allowed to be?”

[Of course not! Our Yohan isn’t afraid of anything in the world. You can’t be scared of a creature like that, okay?]

“Then call it caution. There’s nothing wrong with being careful.”

If the creature had simply drifted here by coincidence, then there was no problem.

Every powerful creature had some method of defeating it.

And even if none existed, Yohan had hidden trump cards.

But if someone had deliberately placed the Dhole here, then he needed to be careful.

Even inside this enormous Dungeon, only a handful of beings had enough power to bring a Dhole to this place.

Every one of them controlled an extremely powerful faction.

There was no reason to deliberately become enemies with them.

Not yet.

That was where the true problem began.

Killing the Dhole would already be difficult.

Defeating it without killing it would be even harder.

Its enormous body blocked the entrance.

They could not enter at all while it remained there.

First, Yohan needed to draw it out of the swamp or toward the outer area.

However, ordinary methods would not even gain its attention.

Its intelligence was not very high.

But it followed orders with unnatural loyalty.

Even if he distracted it and lured it away for a moment, it would quickly try returning to the passage.

Assuming its order is to guard the passage against anyone heading to the eleventh floor…

Fortunately, the creature simply followed orders.

It did not possess any special hatred or desire to kill its targets.

Most Old Ones governing the floors before the late twenties followed that kind of attitude.

From their perspective, it could even be considered kindness.

Either way, Yohan first needed to determine the exact order the creature had received.

Only then could he find a path forward.

“…Let’s test it.”

Yohan jumped back into the swamp.

He had already identified the likely location of the passage, so reaching it was easy.

But the moment he approached,

the Dhole released acidic slime from its skin.

The entire area turned dark and muddy.

At that moment, Yohan cut his wrist with his sword and released blood.

The blood formed a huge suit of armor around his body.

Protected by Aura and Blood Armor, Yohan broke through the acidic slime and charged straight toward the passage.

But the creature was not easy to fool.

SHWAAAAAK!

Its tail moved through the thick swamp at a speed difficult to believe.

It blocked Yohan’s path.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The tail struck him.

Yohan’s body flew all the way out of the swamp.

He rolled several times across dry land before finally stopping.

“……”

He could feel that every rib had broken.

The bones immediately moved back into place and forcibly reconnected themselves.

But that did not give him any reason to underestimate the creature’s attack power.

Yohan slowly stood.

He released a long breath.

“Phew…”

At least one thing was now almost certain.

The Dhole had received an order to act as the gatekeeper of the tenth floor.

The identity of whoever had given that order remained unknown.

“…Now I need to see whether it can be drawn away with bait.”

That was when powerful gusts of wind appeared around him.

One by one, the expedition members from the ninth floor emerged beside Yohan.