Chapter 412: What Will the Future Dungeon Be Like? (Patreon)

"Hey, Riveria, did you guys clear that Black Wind Mountain thing?"

"Mm… That Black Bear Guai really was something. It could turn into black wind whenever it wanted, and I have no idea what that even was. Not even Ais could interrupt it…"

It had made even her strongest barrage miss.

Isagi had been right. The scenes and Monsters the Dungeon built were broadly the same as the boy's memories, but they had definitely been strengthened. It wasn't only Speed and Strength, either. There were all sorts of absurd abilities on top of that.

Take the Black Bear Guai. In Isagi's memory, it could turn into black wind and blast in as a single gust, and you had to dodge it. In the actual fight, though, it could turn any part of its body into black wind at any time, anywhere. Long-range magic barrages, and even some of the melee attacks from Ais and Tiona, were bound to miss.

Illusion and substance, substance and illusion. The sky-scorching blaze, carried on the black wind, spread in every direction. It was one hell of a brutal fight.

Winning did drop something good, though. It was a "demon core," wrapped in the same black wind and giving off waves of warm golden light. Just holding it brought a calm to the heart, as if every worry in the world had nothing to do with you.

Since it was a final boss drop, it was surely good material for a Tier-Zero Armament. Riveria figured it was most likely some excellent magic gem. She planned to have it appraised, then use it for her still-unfinished mage robe.

Her staff had been forged at considerable cost back in the day. It couldn't match a Tier-Zero Armament, but it was still one of the so-called Five Supreme Staves and perfectly usable for now. So Riveria decided her Tier-Zero Armament would be the robe.

In the tavern, the racket of adventurers nearly drowned out everything else. Riveria downed her glass in one go. After an expedition, nothing beat drinking ice-cold beer with your companions.

It was already deep into the night. Riveria, Ais, Tiona, Finn, Gareth, a certain Queen, Lefiya, Heith, Haruhime, Ryuu… Everyone except the Freya Familia lot was crowded around the table. They had all just finished an adventure inside Isagi's "memories."

As for the boy, right after leaving the Dungeon, Ryuu had used an Eye Crystal to contact Goddess Astraea at the Familia's base. Isagi had come back too. He was asleep now and looked utterly exhausted, so nobody had called him over.

"You guys have no idea—"

Past Black Wind Mountain lay Yellow Wind Ridge. If not for Isagi's guide, which had them take the so-called "back door" from the start, they might have been riddled with arrows by those rat yaoguai.

Tiona remembered it well. Ais had tried the front gate of that Sandgate Village, and the rain of flaming arrows never let up. It was even scarier than what they'd faced at the foot of Black Wind Mountain!

Still, Riveria's group had gotten off easy. The others seemed to have had it far worse, Finn most of all. The Pallum Braver was knocking back drink after drink, because he simply could not figure out how to get into that place called Stormveil Castle with so many soldiers at the front gate.

Could it really be as Isagi said, that the only way in was to circle around to the back door? Finn kept replaying it in his head over and over, trying to pin down the final plan.

The loudest one at the table was probably that certain Queen. She and Lefiya had ended up somewhere that looked like the Far East, a land in the middle of war, where everything seemed to be blood and fire. She'd also spotted a colossal white snake beneath a cliff!

Compared with the others, the Queen was clearly having a much better time, especially since she'd just taken down a boss on horseback who looked plenty tough. That fight had been exhilarating. She probably wouldn't forget that guy for days. Tch.

Even now, she was drinking and savoring the fight all over again.

The tavern stayed noisy until the dead of night, and Riveria's group drank right up until now. As they were leaving, someone suddenly said:

"Come to think of it, that Game has an ending, right?"

Everyone's adventures now took place in the "game worlds" Isagi talked about, and of course games come to an end. Some have a lot of content and some have little. You could tell just from the guides Isagi had given them. The Far East-like game world where the Queen and Lefiya had gone, for one, was very short, with fewer maps and fewer bosses than the others.

Ah, and there was also the place Ottar had gone, the one called the "Doll World."

"So what happens after it ends?"

Everyone had actually been preparing for the coming Black Dragon subjugation for a while. Besides, Isagi's several trips to Dragon Valley had already laid bare every piece of intel on the last of the Three Great Quests. Now there was no sense of Mystery left.

The Black Dragon was strong, a real, tangible threat. You needed to be at least Lv.9, maybe even Lv.10, to go there. Everyone was Lv.8 now, which meant at least one more level was needed.

Would they level up after this adventure? Or would they be going to Isagi's place?

After all, the boy himself had said that where he came from was so vast it was almost unbelievable, as if it had no end at all. Maybe they could keep adventuring in there forever, or maybe…

The group parted ways in front of the gate on North Main Street. The Loki Familia's Twilight Manor stood on one side of the main street, against the city wall. The Astraea Familia's base, the Court of Stars, lay far down the street's other side, deep in the back alleys.

Riveria stopped Ais, who was trying to tag along with Lefiya and the others again, and marched her "own little girl" home with an exasperated sigh.

The night was very quiet. The Loki Familia's base was huge and full of people, but by now most of them had surely been asleep for a long time.

Ever since she and Finn and the others had started following Isagi into the Dungeon, the second-line squads had gone down there less often. Instead, they were more often sent out of the city on Guild commissions, to deal with Visiting Dragon incidents and local Monster seals.

Perhaps this would become the norm from now on.

Sometimes Riveria wondered what the Dungeon would become. Would it stay the way it always had been? Or would it turn into something none of them could believe—

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