Reverse Dungeon Chapter 173

Keith closed his eyes.

The mont they were alone, his master shoved him against the wall and kissed him.

A purifying warmth flowed through those soft lips and into his body. The malicious energy coursing through his veins gradually cald. As the fever clouding his mind subsided, a pleasant heat spread through the rest of him instead.

His lower abdon tightened heavily.

Sothing hard pressed insistently against his thighs.

Keith was not surprised by the reaction.

The curse tornting him existed to provoke desire. At first, it had felt strange for purification itself to arouse him, but after thinking about it, there was nothing unnatural about it at all.

What did it an to receive grace?

Was it not a struggle between the blessing bestowed by his master and the corrupt desire left behind by demons? Of course the remnants of that desire would stimulate his body.

But there was sothing else Keith wanted to know.

Taking advantage of the brief mont their lips parted, he spoke softly.

“Lord Ian.”

“Stay still. Isn’t this dangerous?” Ian narrowed his eyes.

“Yes...”

“...If you have sothing to say, then say it. What is it?”

His master could never abandon a wandering lamb.

Warmth spread quietly through Keith’s chest, though no smile reached his face.

“May I ask you sothing?”

“What is it?”

“Does this also comfort you?”

“...What are you talking about?”

The kiss halted.

Keith did not show his disappointnt.

Ian looked up at him with a grim expression. For the first ti in a long while, Keith felt as though their eyes had truly t.

Ian had been strange ever since the battle ended.

It had been a brutal fight that cost many lives. It was easy to imagine how exhausted Ian must be.

As the servant who spent the most ti at his side, Keith had noticed it imdiately. Since the battle’s conclusion, Ian spoke only when necessary.

Even after the funeral ended, he remained silent.

Keith wanted to know what weighed on his mind.

Was he mourning the dead?

If Keith could offer him even the smallest comfort, there could be no greater honor than that.

“The grace you grant brings peace and warms my heart. I wondered if this act ans the sa to you.”

Ian was purifying Keith, yes.

But the grace Ian bestowed upon him had never been limited to that alone.

Ian was Keith’s lighthouse.

If the body lost its way, one could consult a map.

But what if the mind lost its path?

Then one had to seek guidance from a higher being.

Yet Keith was only a weak and foolish human, soone fragile enough to doubt even the existence of such a being.

Whenever he wavered, it was Ian who helped him find his place again.

And now, seeing Ian himself lost...

It felt as though the ground beneath Keith’s feet had beco unstable too.

“Be quiet.”

Ian answered curtly as he seized Keith by the collar and pulled him closer, as if dismissing the entire question with a single gesture.

That was the Ian Keith knew.

The soul that had seed so distant monts ago finally felt present again.

Though Ian often appeared cold, the way he pressed against Keith was unexpectedly gentle.

Their lips t once more.

A small tongue brushed against Keith’s lips like cool water extinguishing flas.

The careful movent tickled.

Grace flowed into him again.

Keith swallowed everything Ian gave him. He accepted even what was not openly offered and held it close.

And all the while, he never looked away from Ian.

The tension between Ian’s brows slowly eased.

Without his usual frown, his face looked almost innocent.

Almost childlike.

Keith worried for him, yet in the end, he was the one receiving comfort.

Ian never faltered.

Even those around him beca steady beneath his presence.

‘A strong person.’

Admiration.

Respect.

A love too overwhelming to define with a single word.

The ecstasy of facing sothing divine consud Keith completely.

With a heart overflowing with reverence, he kissed Ian again and slowly lowered his lips to the pale curve of his neck, yearning to receive even more of that endless grace.

Then—

Thud!

“Lord Ian! Are you inside? Lord Ian!”

“What is it?”

Ian imdiately pushed Keith away, straightened his clothes, and opened the door.

An empty feeling lingered behind.

Keith quietly composed himself and turned toward the entrance.

An ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) elf dressed in ranger attire stood there.

‘An elf.’

Keith held no hostility toward other races.

Originally, the elves had fought alongside humanity in wars against the demon tribes. Keith had never hated them, but now even the instinctive discomfort he once felt toward non-human races had disappeared completely.

They, too, were Ian’s people.

Following their lord’s commands, the elves had perford brilliantly during the defensive battle and willingly beca guardians of the forest. They established outposts not only within their assigned territories but throughout the regions surrounding the dungeon as well.

Ian had never ordered them to do so.

They acted of their own accord to repay the grace they had received.

Keith’s narrow world had broadened.

Not every other race was selfish or ignorant of the divine.

The elf who had co to repay that grace spoke in a trembling voice.

“Lo-Lord Ian... Sothing strange... I don’t know how to explain it... It’s impossible... No, not —my elental saw it...”

“What is it? Calm down and tell what you saw.” Ian frowned at the elf’s panicked stamring.

“The forest is moving!”

“...What?”

“The forest—the Dark Forest—it’s moving as though it has legs!”

“Where is your elental?”

The elf clasped his hands together.

A flower bud blood in his palms, and an elental erged.

But sothing was terribly wrong with it.

Blood stread from its eyes and nose.

“No!” the elf scread.

Keith knew little about elentals, but even he understood one basic truth.

Beings from the elental realm did not suffer physical damage from ordinary attacks.

That was why knights targeted the summoner rather than the elental itself.

“Lord Ian! Please save this creature—no, it can’t die—”

“Get a hold of yourself!”

“Ghk—!”

“If you can’t calm down, then at least repeat what your elental is saying!”

Ian grabbed the elf by the collar.

Tears poured down the elf’s face, but he obeyed the command of the hero he revered.

His eyes turned the sa vivid green as the elental’s.

“Everything alive in the forest... fleeing...”

“The Demon Realm is coming.”

“All living things... die.”

“Let Moritz return to nature.”

Blood trickled from the elf’s face just as it did from the elental’s.

Then, with empty eyes fixed upon Ian, he whispered:

“Hero.”

Thud.

The elf collapsed unconscious.

Silence followed.

‘The Demon Realm is coming.’

Keith knew exactly what those words ant.

A place where beings of the Middle Realm could not survive.

A land of death.

A domain that belonged entirely to demons.

The Vatican called such places Demon Realms.

The Dark Forest had always been considered land close to one, but neither the Vatican nor its leaders had ever truly called it a Demon Realm.

Because anyone who had seen a real Demon Realm knew the difference.

As long as living creatures could still breathe there, it was not one.

A true Demon Realm was hell itself.

Keith had once crossed through one while carrying out the Pope’s orders.

A horrifying wasteland thick with the stench of rotting corpses.

A plain haunted by wandering spirits left behind by those who had died in the great war without ever finding peace.

Traveling through it would have shortened their route considerably, yet not a single knight had suggested doing so.

Instinct alone told them it was a place humanity was never ant to enter.

Even from afar, the demonic energy suffocated them.

Keith had not expected the other knights to endure it.

‘The Demon Realm is coming.’

What exactly did that an?

Keith imdiately asked, “Who is Moritz?”

“The elf standing in front of you.”

The elental had begged for its contractor to be allowed to return to nature.

Keith knew that was how elves referred to death.

He also knew elves believed those devoured by monsters could never return to nature at all.

Were monsters approaching?

Then they needed to prepare for battle.

Keith organized his thoughts and spoke without hesitation.

“Lord Ian. Your orders.”

“...Wait.”

Keith turned toward Ian.

His master’s face had gone deathly pale, as though he might collapse at any mont.

“Lord Ian?”

“No...”

Ian stared blankly into empty space.

He was reading sothing only he could see.

Keith carefully wrapped an arm around Ian’s shoulders—

—and froze.

‘Sweat...’

“Lord Ian.”

“No... if this happens...”

Ian murmured faintly.

ssages filled his vision.

Ding!

[Main Quest: Exposed]

All demons have detected the existence of the dungeon.

Ding!

[Title Penalty]

Due to the ‘Hero’ effect, all demons are now hostile toward you.

Ding!

[Main Quest: Dungeon Defense]

Survive the approaching forces of evil.

The map turned crimson.

Rippling circles spread outward around the dungeon, countless arrows converging from every direction.

Enemies.

Gathering.

Everything beyond the Dark Forest had turned red.

The ga’s final main quest—

[Dungeon Defense]

—had begun.

But the dungeon was not ready yet.

‘How many have I killed?’

No.

That was the character.

...Wasn’t it?

Ian’s eyes t Keith’s.

Blue eyes filled with worry looked back at him.

It was the first ti soone had ever looked at Ian that way.

His chest hurt.

Strength left his legs, and Ian collapsed into Keith’s arms.

“Lord Ian!”

Cold sweat poured from him.

The map continued emitting harsh warning sounds while fists pounded against the door outside. Voices called desperately for Ian.

Ian was not ready to lose them yet.

[Reverse Dungeon] Part One End.