With a thud of his boots, Simon charged toward the fragnted Dungeon Lord. Nirti, her mind clouded by rage, knew she had to stop him at all costs and dragged her unstable, colossal body forward.
Nirti reacted instantly.
In an instant, the area was plunged into shadow as a giant arm, wailing with the voices of a thousand chiras, descended upon him.
[Not a chance!] Prince yelled, leaping into the air and pulling back his fist.
A Hidden Card Punch landed squarely on Nirti’s chest with a deafening crack. With a trendous boom, her massive body collapsed to the ground.
’Nice one, Prince!’
While Prince bought him ti, Simon safely reached the Dungeon Lord. Despite its immortality, it still hadn’t regenerated due to Akemus’s curse. Marveling once again at Akemus’s efficiency, Simon powerfully plunged the Sword of Ruin into the Dungeon Lord’s chest. With a sickening squelch, the greatsword pierced its core.
’Kal!’ Simon’s eyes shot open. ’I’m counting on you!’
With a low hiss, an ethereal, dog-like form shot out from the greatsword and began to ravenously devour the Dungeon Lord. As it rapidly consud the creature, the Sword of Ruin emitted a vivid green light. While Simon focused on the absorption, Prince and Kajan tenaciously kept Nirti’s attention.
He saw Prince get blasted by Nirti’s fist, embedding him in the wall with a sickening crunch. His Advent state shattered, and he reverted to an ordinary zombie.
Kajan leaped into the air, arching his body backward before snapping forward, slashing down with both arms to leave massive claw marks on the chira’s body. Ignoring the wound, Nirti extended her leg and kicked Kajan away.
"My power is infinite!" Nirti roared, her massive chira body lumbering forward. "No matter how you struggle, you cannot defeat in this dungeon!"
"That might be true," Simon replied, finally finishing the absorption. He pointed his greatsword toward the floor.
"That’s why I’m getting rid of your ho-field advantage right now."
Simon’s greatsword stabbed into the dungeon floor with a solid thud. Nerve-like tendrils, reminiscent of blood vessels, spread from the sword across the ground. It was Kal’s second authority—the power the mysterious ’Order’ had coveted so desperately. It was the power to devour a Dungeon Lord and seize control of the dungeon itself.
’─────────!’
An endless stream of data flooded his mind. Simon clutched his forehead and staggered, enduring the overwhelming influx of information. It felt similar to the first ti he had used ’Compellonia’—data completely alien to human language, yet he understood it perfectly. This was his power now.
Gripping his greatsword, Simon took a deep breath and willingly threw himself into the unknown sea of information. He swam through the data, tracing the vessels of knowledge until, finally, he found it.
’Immortality.’
His mind burned hot.
’I will completely eliminate this function from my dungeon.’
With that thought, he severed the ’vessel’ corresponding to the power of immortality.
"Ah, ahhhhhhhhhh!" Nirti shrieked.
The effect was imdiate. When Simon opened his eyes, the chiras that made up Nirti’s body were disintegrating, scattering like dust. They vanished as if they were things that should have disappeared long ago, finally being erased from existence.
Simon pulled his greatsword from the floor, a weary smile on his face.
"I can hardly believe my eyes..." Kajan muttered, dumbfounded as he ca to Simon’s side. "What did you do?"
"It’s simple," Simon explained, lifting his head. "I seized control of this dungeon with Kal’s power and eliminated the immortality attribute. They could only create such extre chiras because they all possessed that power. I figured it would be simple if I just neutralized it."
The entire chamber filled with scattering dust and fragnts. Soon, all the chiras had vanished, leaving only Nirti in the center, futilely waving her arms as if trying to grasp the fading motes of dust. The shoulder and right arm struck by the Sword of Ruin were gone, and one of her legs was a mangled pulp. For the chief researcher of the ’Order’ who had commanded such a monstrous body, it was a pathetic end.
"Admit it, Nirti," Simon said, slinging the greatsword over his shoulder as he walked toward her. "You’ve lost."
She moved her unfocused eyes to look at him, her will to fight completely extinguished.
"I just wanted to make them all understand..." she muttered blankly. "Tarados drove to ruin, and this disgusting world, full of contempt, never once offered a hand. I wanted them to feel even a fraction of the pain I suffered." Her eyes rolled. "Are you going to lecture now, Kizen’s Student Council President?"
Simon closed his eyes and touched his own neck.
"No lectures. But the mont your anger lost its way and overflowed, a catastrophe like this was inevitable, whether it was who stopped you or soone else."
Nirti remained silent.
"The people who killed your parents were blinded by rage. You, who turned Tarados into a hell, were blinded by rage." Simon’s voice was low and steady. "What’s the fundantal difference between you?"
A sharp intensity flared in her eyes. Her eyelids trembled, and then a resigned smile touched her lips.
"Well..."
With a soft hiss, her body began to scatter. Immortality. She hadn’t just used it on her test subjects; she had implanted it in her own body. If she was disappearing now, there was only one reason: her life force had long been depleted, and she too had been sustained only by that stolen power.
"Confess, one last ti, Nirti," Simon said, crouching down to et her gaze. "If you have even a shred of human guilt left in your final monts, tell about the terrible plan the Order was preparing."
She grinned, then moved her lips and quietly said sothing.
And with a final whisper of dissipating energy, her body completely scattered and vanished into nothing.
---
After Simon seized control of the dungeon, the immortal army swarming throughout it disappeared. The people Serne had rescued and the test subjects who had not yet beco undead were all able to escape their cells. However, they couldn’t imdiately flee the dungeon.
A low growl echoed from outside. Magnus’s Legion’s Ancient Undead, ’Alaje’, and the colossal undead he led were still fighting. The military tents were burning, and the ground was a ruined, cracked ss. The Ganes Guild and the regular soldiers who had been fighting Alaje were mostly incapacitated. At this point, the Gold Mine Dungeon under Simon’s control was the safer place.
[Lorraine Archbold. Exceeds imagination. Allied casualties, devastating,] Alaje muttered to itself. [5th Legion’s top forces. Ten Gremore units. Eight of them eliminated by her alone.]
As Alaje spoke, only the lower halves of the giant undead remained around him, kneeling on the ground where they had been cleanly severed. Only two Gremore units were left.
[Nevertheless, operation comnces. Forcibly proceed with Kal retrieval,] Alaje declared.
The two remaining Gremore units walked past the burning tents and toward the Gold Mine Dungeon, their steps echoing with heavy thuds.
"They’re coming! We have to get out of here!"
"Everyone, get to the upper levels!"
The residents who had been trapped, along with the soldiers and thieves who survived the battle, had hastily taken refuge inside the dungeon. Lorraine and General Armin were among them.
"Hah... hah..." Lorraine panted, clutching a red dagger.
’How foolish. I failed to pace myself because I was trying to protect everyone.’ She gasped for breath and lifted her head.
Armin, who was supporting her, spoke earnestly.
"Lady Lorraine! We must retreat to the upper levels now!"
"No," she insisted. "I can still fight. If they get past , the people...!"
Just then, a single feather fluttered down from the ceiling and landed on her shoulder.
[Stand down,] Serne’s voice echoed from it. [Simon says he will face them himself.]
A mix of surprise and doubt crossed Lorraine’s face.
"Simon? He shouldn’t have any strength left after his battle with Nirti."
[Hehe. He must have a plan.]
Finally, the two colossal Gremore and Alaje entered the Gold Mine Dungeon. The cavern was empty.
[The Beast of Disease, Kal. Find it. Down to the third basent level. Begin search.]
"It’s been a while, 5th Legion."
A voice cut through the silence. A boy wearing Pier’s skull and holding a greatsword walked toward them from the dungeon’s darkness.
Alaje’s eyes glinted. [7th Legion Commander, Simon Polentia.]
"You’re an Ancient Undead of the 5th Legion, right?" Simon asked casually. "Are you perhaps looking for our Kal?" He raised his greatsword. "He’s right here."
A green light flickered on the blade, and smoke flowed out, forming the shape of a dog. The expression of Alaje, perched on a Gremore’s shoulder, beca glacial.
[Retrieval has failed. The Ancient Undead Kal is confird annihilated. The mission is a failure.]
"You catch on quick," Simon said with a faint smile, lowering his sword. "So, will you back down now?"
[By my judgnt, the operation is changing.]
A murderous jet-black energy erupted from the bodies of the two Gremore.
[Simon Polentia. Capture him. Comnce operation to retrieve all 7th Legion Ancient Undead, including Kal.]
The colossal undead began to lumber forward.
"I figured as much," Simon muttered, and plunged his greatsword into the floor. "You’re making a mistake."
As the greatsword stabbed into the dungeon floor, nerve-like tendrils shot out with a ripping sound across the ground and walls, reaching all the way to the ceiling.
"This is my ho now."
Suddenly, the dungeon’s floor and walls began to twist and distort with a series of deafening booms, like a living labyrinth. The Gremore hastily stopped.
"Capture," Simon commanded, extending his arm.
The dungeon’s walls and floor rose up, wrapping around the Gremore’s bodies like massive stone serpents.
[What?!]
Simon clenched his fist.
"I can use all of this dungeon’s functions."
The distorted space of the dungeon began to crush the Gremore with a sickening crunch and crack of bone and stone. From the walls, the dungeon’s native monsters erged, biting and gnawing at the trapped giants. It was as if the entire dungeon had co alive to kill the intruders.
[Impossible. This phenonon is impossible!] Alaje shrieked.
Simon tightened his clenched fist.
"Nothing is impossible, Ancient Undead."
The flesh of the two Gremore units disintegrated into a complete pulp, splattering against the constricting walls. When Simon opened his palm, a mass of aty liquid that could no longer be called undead dripped to the floor below.
[Alaje. Escape.]
The creature, who had been riding on its summon’s shoulder, tried to flee, but Simon was faster. The dungeon ceiling descended and wrapped around Alaje’s body, forming a prison of rock.
"You’re very cautious," Simon observed. "This is just a clone too, isn’t it?"
Simon tapped the floor twice, and the ground rose up like a pillar with a series of heavy thumps, stopping in front of Alaje’s prison.
"Give your Legion Commander, Magnus, a ssage," Simon said, leaning in toward Alaje with a smile. "Tell him to stop ddling in other people’s business. We should have a proper fight between our legions soon."
He snapped his fingers. The prison collapsed, crushing Alaje’s clone. Now that he possessed the power of Kal, there was nothing left to fear.
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