Chapter 121: An Invitation from the Dungeon

At the first glimmer of dawn, Roland bid farewell to Hestia and stepped out the door with Est. The goddess had originally intended to ask her divine friends to forge suitable equipment for Roland, but after he demonstrated his financial resources and his vision for the future of the familia, she was forced to abandon that idea for the time being.

Although it was not yet time for most adventurers to begin their activities, Roland paid little mind as he walked along the street. He had already obtained the basic information from the Guild yesterday, but compared to the monsters themselves, the architecture—which changed drastically with every passing level—impressed him far more.

"Still, Orario truly lives up to its name as the center of the world," Roland remarked, looking at the stone lamps lining the street, many of which had yet to be extinguished.

The Dungeon was simultaneously an unstoppable disaster for the Lower World and a treasure trove. After gaining the power to resist through the Falna, the world’s technology had become deeply reliant on the Dungeon.

Roland had noted yesterday that while the surrounding architecture maintained a European medieval style, daily life was already quite modernized. If one were willing to pay, one could enjoy a very convenient life because this place possessed a much more accessible energy source.

The Magic Stones born from within monsters had significant versatility. They served as energy for electric lamps and ignition devices for cooking. Because of the Dungeon’s inexhaustible nature, even commoners could utilize these Magic Stone products, and technology in this field was constantly being developed and applied.

As the world’s only labyrinth city, Orario made a fortune by relying on Magic Stone resources. It was precisely because of this that the Guild could afford the public expenses required to support the many deities residing there. They also used this to monopolize the acquisition of Magic Stones; every harvest an adventurer gathered in the Dungeon had to be exchanged for currency at the Guild.

"By that calculation, if they work diligently, ordinary people might live even better lives than some Level 1 adventurers," Roland yawned, still unaccustomed to rising so early. After the Holy Grail War, he had indulged himself quite a bit for a time.

However, considering what needed to be done next, he could not afford to be so slothful.

Because Babel, the entrance and exit to the labyrinth, stood at the center of Orario, one could reach the heart of the tower via eight main routes regardless of which district they were in. Without much effort, Roland arrived at the center of Babel.

In the early morning, there were not many adventurers wandering about. After all, for most, while it was called adventuring, fighting in the Dungeon felt more like punching a clock.

To this day, after generations of exploration, intelligence on the labyrinth was quite clear. It was categorized by floor and difficulty: the Upper Floors (1-12), the Middle Floors (13-24), and the Lower Floors (25-36), with the Deep Floors lying beneath them. Each stage brought a significant spike in difficulty.

While individual explorers might still exist in the Upper Floors, team-based exploration became a pressing necessity thereafter; otherwise, one's life could not be guaranteed, and even then, danger was ever-present.

Currently, the explored area of the Dungeon reached the 58th floor. The intensity of the first 37 floors was enough to encompass adventurers of Level 4 and below. As for the deeper sections, even top-tier adventurers like Ais would not easily venture forward without teammates. Waiting for the familia to launch an expedition and following a large group was the safest approach.

With Roland’s current physical constitution, even without unleashing the Yang-side, he was undoubtedly a top-tier adventurer when paired with Est. After compensating for his lack of combat experience and mastery of power through the Falna, there should be nothing in this Dungeon capable of stopping him.

But when it came to the Spirit of Contract, one could never be too careful. The Soul of the Great Demon could, out of pure instinct, conjure the Twelve Talismans in a way that completely exceeded Roland’s expectations; the same could be true for an unknown place like the Dungeon.

What kind of host would that Spirit choose to inhabit, and what would its state be? Would it be passive to the point of being unable to use its abilities, like the Great Demon and Shinji Matou, or had it already caused some unforeseen influence?

These were questions Roland could not ignore. If possible, it would be best to find some cannon fodder to scout for specific intelligence first.

The situation unfolded exactly as Roland had expected. Even though there were few adventurers at Babel, many gazes of awe were cast his way once he arrived, clearly recognizing this legendary figure. In fact, according to Hestia, a craze for idolizing heroes had already swept across all of Orario.

"But it’s not enough... most are merely curious, and they still harbor a certain wariness toward me," Roland’s eyes flickered with a deep red light, sensing the emotions contained within the many gazes cast upon him. "It has not yet reached the level of fanatical worship or reverence. If things continue like this, I will at most hold the title of the strongest, but I will lack the charisma to summon a response from the masses. I need to become even more famous."

The mere fact of defeating the Sword Princess held weight, but it was not enough to shake the many familia who stayed on the sidelines. After all, they were risking their lives in the Dungeon, not like the gods who were merely hedonists unafraid of failure or death.

But once they saw the honor and profit behind the hero, someone would inevitably walk into his trap. When that time came, using a disaster that swept through the entire city as a catalyst, people would place the shining hope upon a pedestal.

Roland’s lips curled upward. Looking at Est, who was curiously examining Babel, he walked into the tower amidst the complex gazes of other adventurers.

***

Although it was called an underground labyrinth, it was more like another world than the dim, lightless place one might imagine. Each floor was a spectacle: some were winding and complex, some were full of vitality, and some were as magnificent as caverns filled with jewels.

After randomly finding an empty passage and walking for a while, Roland encountered the first monster of his adventuring career.

Before him, several Goblins, common in Western fantasy, were slowly "birthed" from the walls of the Dungeon. While emitting hideous roars, they lunged at Roland. He couldn't even be bothered to lift a finger; with a mere narrowing of his eyes, blinding electrical light pierced through the monsters' bodies, turning them into corpses.

Immediately after death, the monsters’ bodies rapidly lost their luster, turned into ash, and finally dissipated into powder, leaving behind only a small Magic Stone. Then, from the shadows on the ground, gray, thin arms reached out to retrieve the loot belonging to Roland.

"It really is alive..." Roland wore a subtle expression as he walked up to the wall, which had returned to normal, and scanned the surroundings.

The area was quite empty, and there were no other monsters. After all, it was the first floor; adventurers coming and going had to pass through here, making it difficult for monsters to exist for long.

However, after experiencing it firsthand, Roland could understand why forming parties was the mainstream approach. The living Dungeon had no teleporters or similar devices; to reach the next level, one had to walk down step by step.

The Upper Floors were manageable, but in the deeper regions, a round trip could take several weeks. Furthermore, because the Dungeon itself was a living creature, it would not spawn monsters only in fixed areas or at fixed times. Monsters would suddenly refresh and join the fight when you were locked in a desperate struggle or injured. Doing it alone was simply too troublesome.

Roland glanced at the other passages, sensing the faint sounds emanating from within, and without hesitation, he continued to descend.

There was not even a reason to use Est to train here. Moreover, even though he could feel that the location of the Spirit of Contract was somewhere in this area, the Key of All Spirits had yet to provide any information.

Roland advanced with an almost overwhelming speed. In any case, his goal today was not to train himself, but to confirm certain things.

"The difficulty is starting to rise from the tenth floor..."

With a display of extravagant firepower, Roland bypassed the cavern he had left in ruins and arrived before the stairs leading to the thirteenth floor. He did this not out of a desire for destruction, but simply to save time.

The Dungeon possessed life and would gestate monsters. Different floors were like its organs; once damaged, they would repair themselves. This duty took precedence over its instinct as a monster nest. During the repair phase, the frequency of monster appearances would drop significantly. Thanks to this, Roland didn't have to worry about exposing anything, and under such terrifying firepower, his speed far surpassed that of others.

By continuing to explore at this pace, it wouldn't take long for his progress today to catch up with Orario’s first-tier teams.

Yet, at this moment, the expression on his face was not relaxed or indifferent, but grave.

The Key of All Spirits still had no signal.

He was about to enter the Middle Floors, yet he had still not received a clear prompt about the Spirit of Contract. If it weren't for the fact that after contracting Izuru Kamukura, his elevated authority had granted him a sublimated intuition that allowed him to vaguely sense the approximate whereabouts of the Spirit, he would have suspected he was in the wrong place entirely.

It must be known that the range covered by the Key of All Spirits currently encompassed the entire Fuyuki City. If he couldn't detect it in the Middle Floors, it could only mean one thing.

"Deep in the lower levels... or perhaps, an area that even the front-line exploration teams and the expedition parties have never reached?"

Roland sighed, prompting Est to take his hand and rub her head against it. This was the reward Roland gave her when he was happy, and Est wanted to use the same method to comfort him. She looked at Roland with an expressionless face and spoke.

"Est is the Master's sword. No matter what lies ahead, I will face it together with the Master."

Looking into Est's beautiful eyes, Roland subconsciously stroked her silver hair, which felt as smooth as silk.

"Of course. That is our contract. Est will always be my sword."

Est’s eyes flickered slightly. She said nothing, merely closing her eyes, a hint of enjoyment appearing on her expressionless, pretty face.

"In any case, it's only the first day, and the situation hasn't even unfolded yet. No need to be impatient. Besides, no matter what, I intend to explore all the known areas, even if it's just to expand the map for the Shadow Legion."

The power of the Shadow Kingdom allowed Roland to travel freely through shadows, but it was not omnipotent. Without specific clues or a previously known location, the Shadow Legion could only search like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Roland didn't linger further and entered the thirteenth floor with Est. Upon entering, he felt a surge of spirit. Although it was a traditional cavernous terrain with endless stone paths, the air was filled with a pleasant scent of fire.

As the first hurdle of the Middle Floors, the monsters here were officially classified by the Guild as Level 2, and among them were those capable of using magic.

At this early hour, the passage was empty, which was exactly what Roland wanted.

"Then, let the experiment begin."

Roland stretched and proactively pressed his hand against the wall of the Dungeon. "Let’s see if this Dungeon hates the gods themselves, or simply the nature of their existence."

Scorching energy poured from his palm, causing terrifying cracks to appear in the surrounding walls, from which lava flowed like blood.

It was a well-known fact that gods could not enter the Dungeon, for if they did, it would provoke a frantic retaliation from the Dungeon. Every established commandment was born from a painful lesson. The current situation, where the Dungeon no longer erupted in monster tides against the surface and the gods did not enter the Dungeon, was the result of those past events.

But this rule was not absolute. If a god whose divine power was sealed was not afraid of death and did not actively unleash their power, they could dance along the red line of this rule.

Was the same true for powers of a similar nature?

Roland watched as the wall began to melt like ice cream, his eyes full of anticipation. Before long, the earth all around split open, and the terrain of the corridor began to shift as if it had life, frantically intertwining with the scorching fire.

Until it finally extinguished, a fissure appeared abruptly in the debris of the wall. Following that, a Magic Stone so large it was almost as tall as Roland himself fell out, its surface bearing strange, fiery patterns.

What was this... a peace offering?

He had damaged the Dungeon with his own power, yet the anticipated monsters did not appear. Instead, the Dungeon he had "beaten up" had proactively converted that power into a Magic Stone and offered it to him.

Roland slowly walked forward, touching the strange Magic Stone and sensing the energy and faint consciousness hidden within. It was a chaotic sense of intimacy.

This Dungeon was extending an invitation to Roland.

It invited him to become one of its own, to become its strongest child. It whispered of a beautiful future where he would possess a body stronger than the legendary Black Dragon, an inexhaustible source of power, and enough strength to burn everything on the surface to ash with fire.

This Magic Stone was a prototype born from the combination of his own power and the Dungeon's.

"Heh," Roland chuckled softly, his gaze turning cold. The mark of the Dragon Talisman flashed in his eyes, and he breathed fire from his mouth, reducing the Magic Stone, along with that consciousness, to ash.

"Do you think you are half of the world too?"