Chapter 349. The End (3)
From its birth, the dungeon was deeply tied to Sherafina and undoubtedly belonged to her. It was Sherafina who chose what monsters appeared on the dungeon’s floors.
That said, there was one rule she couldn’t violate. The dungeon had a clear end and she couldn’t increase or decrease the number of floors as she wanted. As the dragon and the Death Lord showed, she couldn’t control all aspects of the dungeon either.
Thinking about it closely, the dungeon actually had many flaws. For example, the escape of a single administrative guild master could halt the dungeon’s operations.
Sherafina surely had the ability to interfere, but she maintained an eerie silence. Because of it, I felt even more rushed.
Not to mention, the 96th floor was too big. Even if I could ignore magic spells, mechanical traps, and monsters that lied in it, it still took me a long time to break through.
Having spent five minutes to rush through the 96th floor, I headed up to the 97th floor while gritting my teeth.
Even though I strongly told Ciara not to become an explorer, she went into the dungeon when she was ‘selected’. It was vexing to no end. When Ciara couldn’t be located at the time Kuneē activated, I should have known something happened.
Sherafina was right. I told Ciara not to enter the dungeon because I didn’t want her power to be nullified by worlds’ enemies. That was a lie. The truth was I didn’t want her to be exposed to Sherafina.
Her innate Evil Eyes were already surprising, but carrying countless abilities in her body and creating new ability users, that was something even Sherafina couldn’t do. Like mine, this authority of hers was an absolute power that had never existed before.
Though Ciara herself might not be aware of it, she was deeply tied to me. There certainly was a reason that she was born in the same world as me.
Sherafina said that I was connected to Ciara. Was it because Ciara had part of the world’s power of Earth? Perhaps, but that was unlikely to be the only reason. A Hero with the power to concentrate all powers into one. A Saintess that appeared on Earth only. Though I didn’t want to admit it, her existence had to have been prepared for me.
Not by Sherafina, but by someone else.
I broke through the 97th floor and immediately went up to the 98th floor. 13 minutes had passed since I completely conquered Beyond.
“From now on, it’ll only be a matter of seconds…”
I murmured impatiently. I did everything I could and that made me more impatient, as it meant I couldn’t do anything more than that. Sherafina was an enemy in a league of her own, and I couldn’t easily estimate the limits of her power.
At that moment, the dungeon stopped. The monsters appearing here and there all disappeared, and the traps activating endlessly also ceased their function. This could only mean one thing.
“It’s as I thought.”
Sherafina was absorbing Ciara. Ciara’s authority was truly powerful. Sherafina, who didn’t have the ability to concentrate all powers into one, couldn’t control the dungeon and absorb Ciara’s authority at the same time.
If that was possible, Sherafina would not have needed me. Thus, the dungeon was bound to stop the moment Ciara entered the dungeon.
There was no need to hesitate. I charged through the silent dungeon as if my life was on the line. With no monsters or traps to get in my way, it became much easier to break through each floor. 98th floor… 99th floor… I hoped Sherafina wouldn’t finish absorbing Ciara by the time I reached her, but it was fine even if she did.
I arrived.
“…”
For a moment, I stood still without a word. The 99th Floor Shop. Looking at the empty storefront, my worry for Loretta grew. I didn’t think she was in any danger with what Sherafina said, but without seeing her with my own eyes, I couldn’t feel at ease.
“… See you in a bit, Loretta.”
Beyond the storefront was the staircase to the 100th floor. Wasting time here would only benefit Sherafina. Throwing off the remaining worry and hesitation, I climbed the final staircase.
A place I had visited before was waiting for me.
The place I had visited from Fairy Garden with Loretta. As the dungeon’s challenger, I had entered Sherafina’s realm.
“You’re here.”
She turned towards me. It was definitely Sherafina, the one I remembered meeting before. However, what she said next made me freeze in place.
“Hero-nim.”
“… What?”
I rebutted with a frown.
“Sherafina, I would rather you not imitate Ciara.”
Sherafina, who became my enemy, was imitating Ciara who I originally hated. Consequently, I was feeling more uncomfortable.
Hearing my words, she widened her eyes before suddenly breaking out into a joyous smile.
“Oh my, my apologies. I’m still in this form.”
Then, she changed into Ciara’s appearance. At a loss for words, I asked.
“I know you have a transformation ability. What’s the point of doing this?”
“Sorry, Hero-nim. I just forgot to change back to my appearance after checking out this new body. Don’t be so angry.”
At that moment, I realized that the girl in front of me was the real Ciara Kenex.
I couldn’t tell with the energy I could feel from her. Ciara’s energy was incomparably lacking compared to Sherafina’s. However, my intuition, which became strengthened to a level of absolute correctness after obtaining the halo, suggested that the existence in front of me was closer to Ciara than Sherafina.
“… How did you survive?”
I asked in a dumbfounded voice.
“Did you think I would get eaten or something?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Of course not. We’re in a completely different League. An old hag who could not even embrace worlds’ powers and at best move them among Heroes. Me who can distribute abilities among people. It’s obvious who’s superior!”
Indeed, Ciara had the power to distribute her power to people who weren’t Heroes. However, the scale of the power they wielded was too different.
But Ciara said this imposingly.
“Hero-nim, a stream wanted to devour an ocean and ended up becoming one with it. Then should this stream now be called a stream? Or an ocean?”
“What… Are you saying Sherafina is the stream? Someone who had such boundless mana and lofty League?”
“The amount of mana one has means nothing. Even if Hero-nim has no mana, Hero-nim will still be a Hero.”
She spoke as though it was the most obvious matter of fact.
“It’s the same for me. Even if I have no mana, I am a Saintess. A Saintess, whose task is to support Hero-nim by his side and eliminate all who dares to get in his way. Although my League is shabby compared to Hero-nim’s lofty League, I still wouldn’t lose to a mere Irregular.”
If what Ciara was saying was true, everything Sherafina had done was in vain. Even if she managed to defeat me, she would have failed in absorbing me. I would have just absorbed her back. But of course, there was no way to test this hypothesis at this point.
No matter how absurd this situation seemed, I couldn’t say it didn’t happen. The girl in front of me was certainly Ciara Kenex and she certainly had Sherafina’s power in her body.
I didn’t expect this at all. Really, I didn’t think Ciara would be the one waiting for me here. What I expected was Sherafina who obtained Ciara’s power, that was it.
I couldn’t stay silent forever. From what she explained to me just now, I picked out the phrase that weighed the most on my mind.
“Did you say Irregular?”
“Yes. She suddenly barged into my and Hero-nim’s plan. What else would I call her?”
“Plan?”
At my follow-up question, she answered with a confident smile.
“Didn’t I say it from the start? That Hero-nim will be the one to rule everything in the end! The plan is to ensure that happens! The plan to concentrate all worlds’ powers into Hero-nim alone!”
“What…”
Whenever I heard her say this, I thought she was simply being a kid.
“No, wait, isn’t that strange? Sherafina created this plan over 4,000 years ago. What do you mean she barged into ‘our’ plan?”
“What are you talking about, Hero-nim. It’s only been 4,000 years ago! Hasn’t Earth existed for billions of years?”
Ciara said as she tilted her head.
“That woman only realized that the number of worlds’ powers were decreasing and tried to snatch them. She’s a bug that shamelessly flew in the middle of our plan. Without her, our plan would have gone much smoother.”
“You, just how much do you know?”
“Well, of course, I know everything there is to know about Earth!”
She answered as though it was a simple question.
“I wasn’t like this at first, but Hero-nim helped me open my eyes! Literally! Uhuhu, I still can’t forget the moment when I first opened my eyes. To me who only knew the reason for existing, you gave both power and direction. With these eyes, I came to know everything that happened on Earth and everything that will happen on Earth in the future!”
“You tricked me.”
“It was for Hero-nim.”
She spoke without batting an eye.
“Hero-nim is too kind. You care for even the tiniest insects that have no value. That will only delay our goal. Do you remember, Hero-nim? What happened in Antelope Canyon. I was really shocked. I only did what I did for Hero-nim…”
“Ha.”
When I sighed at a loss for words, I suddenly remembered something. It was because she mentioned Antelope Canyon.
Not too long ago, something similar had happened, except on a completely different scale.
“Land transmittance.”
“Huhu, that’s right. I knew everything, of course. But if I stopped it, all of humanity wouldn’t be worshipping Hero-nim like they are doing now.”
2.3 billion people had died. If Ciara really knew what would happen, everything she told me and showed me had just been for show.
“I, I knew Hero-nim would give me a kiss if I did that!”
“…”
I thought Ciara had changed. That she was narrow-minded because she was young and grew up in a sheltered environment. I believed she could change as she spent more time with us.
But I was wrong. She hadn’t changed at all. She was the same.
Now, I knew.
When 2.3 billion people died from land transmittances, all resentment was centered on Revival. But strangely, none of the resentment was directed at me, Revival’s leader. Instead, I was treated as a messiah who would solve everything. Frankly, it was too unnatural. But now I knew why.
“It was you.”
Someone had designed it to happen. That someone was in front of me.