Chapter 387: Door (Patreon)

"It's no use."

Golden Arcanum gathered against the Empress's tender wheat-brown skin, only to scatter and fade — never once forming the crest of Astrea Familia on her back: the scales, the wings, and the sword.

Let alone leaving behind the status window that Falna was supposed to grant.

"She can't become an adventurer."

Curious, Goddess Demeter tried it herself, and got exactly the same result.

Falna simply could not give the Empress a status window.

Naturally.

Which meant she could not become an adventurer either.

In the thousand years since the gods descended to the lower world, nothing like this had ever happened.

Isagi felt something was off.

By rights, back in the Age of Heroes a thousand years ago — before the gods came down and began granting Falna — there must already have existed a group of [Heroes], or those close to becoming one.

Had none of them ever been able to receive Falna and become adventurers either?

Even Demeter, who had come to the lower world quite early, couldn't say for certain. Perhaps only Ouranos would know.

Though if it simply didn't work, asking probably wouldn't yield a clear answer anyway.

It really did seem you couldn't have it both ways.

An adventurer who had received a god's Falna — even at Lv.1, even with every Stat at zero — was worlds apart in combat strength from who they'd been before becoming an adventurer.

It was as if they'd become an entirely different person in an instant.

That was because a god's Falna acted like a key, unlocking the "door" hidden within a mortal body of the lower world.

What the gods often called the "vessel."

Even a Lv.1 adventurer's "vessel" already far surpassed what they'd possessed as an ordinary person.

Now, looking at the Empress before them, Astrea and Demeter could only conclude that as a [Hero] from a thousand years ago, she had, through some means — talent, training, combat, or perhaps all three — already raised her own "vessel" to some terrifying degree.

Naturally.

There was no longer any need for the power of Falna to unlock anything further.

But if that were the case, how could Ais's situation be explained?

As before, the answer was clear — the Empress herself proved it. Back then, a thousand years ago, little Ais, though far weaker than her, had still been a formidable presence, one with limitless potential — so much so that people called her "the second Albert Waldstein."

Even at around eight years old, Ais had already been a remarkably powerful [Hero].

And yet she had been able to receive Loki's Falna and become an adventurer.

The goddesses had no idea why, but Isagi's guess was that it had something to do with the magic once created by the Elf saint Celdia — the hidden floor known as the [Thousand-Azure Ice Garden], located between the 60th and 61st floors of the Dungeon.

That was a magic powerful enough to freeze time itself.

Perhaps it carried other properties too — perhaps it had even returned Ais's body to its original state.

The state before she'd ever become a Hero — her most "pure" self.

As for why.

Of course, no one knew. In truth, no one even knew why the [Thousand-Azure Ice Garden] existed at all. Albert Waldstein and the others had presumably been fighting the newly-born [Black Dragon] in the deepest part of the Dungeon at the time — could it be that this was a last resort born of failure?

No one knew. Perhaps continuing to explore deeper into the Dungeon would yield some answers.

As for joining their exploration party.

The Empress, having just wolfed down five or six hamburgers in one sitting, naturally had no objections at all. When she learned that many members of the team were as strong as she and Ais were, her eyes practically lit up — giving off the distinct impression that there was no chance of chasing her away now even if they tried.

Well.

So, after arranging a room for her as well, Isagi began earnestly preparing for the next expedition.

"This is a bit much..."

The first time she descended into the deep-layer [White Blood Cathedral], faced with the impossibly vast and intricate complex of buildings before her, the Empress once again let out a heartfelt sigh.

She never could have dreamed the Dungeon would end up looking like this.

Though.

In these past few days she'd already learned that, in truth, the Dungeon hadn't changed nearly this drastically over a thousand years — everything before her was the result of Isagi's unique Skill. Even so, it was still absurd.

And besides.

This was also her first time truly setting foot in the "deep layers."

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The woman felt strangely detached from it all.

Even earlier, riding the Elevator from the city, passing through the Artificial Labyrinth, arriving in Rivira — she'd felt somewhat dazed the whole way.

And after passing through the upper floors, all the way to the safe floor on the 28th level, the [Elf Garden]—

seeing the fledgling new village that Ganesha Familia and the Xenos were tending together, she felt even greater astonishment.

Monsters that could talk?!

Kind ones, ones you could actually communicate with as companions?!

The Empress found it utterly incomprehensible!

Even so.

They pressed onward, all the way into the deep layers.

Riveria and Ottar's group split off from them, as usual.

Speaking of which.

Their own party had grown steadily larger — Lefiya, Tiona, Ais, Ryuu, and now Heith and Haruhime as well, with the Empress added on top of that.

In both numbers and raw strength, they now far outstripped Loki and Freya Familia's side.

Not that it mattered, though.

More people meant faster progress, and the Empress was genuinely strong — especially now that she wielded the [Zeroth-Class Armament] Cecil had forged for her. Isagi couldn't shake the feeling that she was, in truth, quite a bit stronger than either him or Ais.

After all, even though she was probably around Lv.8 herself, her combat experience at that level surely dwarfed both his and the girl's.

As a result, the ordinary Lv.6 and Lv.7 Monsters they encountered now were nothing more than easy prey before the Empress — cut down without the slightest effort.

It really was almost too simple.

Combined with their accumulated experience, they made swift progress, following the intricate map in hand.

For the first time, in the truest sense, Isagi and the girls around him were closing in on that impossibly towering gate far ahead — one that seemed to sit at the very edge of the ceiling itself.

Amid this sprawl of castles woven from pure white and blood red.

Countless corridors wove through the space, and the deeper they went, the more labyrinthine it all became.

Only that single gate, standing beneath the dome, remained unchanging — like a bright guiding star showing the way forward.

But.

As they drew closer.

An unbearably oppressive atmosphere began to seep in. Both Isagi and the girls could clearly see now that the gate itself, and the "pedestal" beneath it, were made entirely of pale, ashen corpses.

No hair, no faces — as though melted and fused together like wax, leaving only the vague outlines of human shapes.

Hands, feet, bodies, heads...

Countless "people" piled together like this — for some reason, it made Ais and Lefiya think back to the scene when they'd fought the Corrupted Spirits.

Back then.

The place where the Corrupted Spirits had gathered had held something similar — an altar-like mass made of countless intertwined Spirit corpses.