195. Seventh Floor Anomaly

I had obtained two souls.

The souls of Chungin Nihil and Alaune En.

These two were already tightly bound by soul chains, becoming my slaves, and through them, I was able to uncover several facts.

“You’re saying you’re subordinates of a Demon King?”

-Yes. Every word is the truth.

Lying was impossible from the start. Once bound by the soul chains, they were structurally incapable of deceiving me.

“Helena, assuming what these guys say is true, have you ever heard of a Demon King named Erphin?”

“Not at all. I can’t even begin to guess. It seems a whole slew of Demon Kings have emerged in the decade since I died.”

“En, do you know when your master Erphin was born?”

-I think it was quite a long time ago. Just 10 years? No. That’s not it. At least 50 years have passed. Honestly, you people know nothing about the 7th Floor. There are hundreds who call themselves Demon Kings there, and even the true Demon Kings number in the dozens.

There are that many Demon Kings?

At that point, it’s hard to consider them real Demon Kings.

I’d bet even tribal chiefs or village elders are running around calling themselves Demon Kings.

-Though Cheon Oe Cheon is a separate matter.

“What the hell is Cheon Oe Cheon?”

-They are the mightiest among Demon Kings. The true calamities of the 7th Floor, existing long before other Demon Kings emerged. To my knowledge, they are the only ones the Labyrinth recognizes as true Demon Kings. The rest are just fools borrowing the title.

“Even your former master, Erphin?”

-Compared to them, Master Erphin was nothing more than a weak heteromorphic being.

What the hell kind of creatures are these?

I couldn’t even begin to guess.

“Helena, did you know about this?”

“No? This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“What’s going on? Hey, this doesn’t add up. Helena says she doesn’t know anything about it.”

-I’m only speaking the truth.

The narrative of the Demon Kings En spoke of-their golden age and the present-felt like it belonged to a different era from the 7th Floor Helena described.

According to En, her master Erphin had been born a long time ago, yet Helena had never even heard of a Demon King named Erphin.

“Something’s definitely off here. If this child isn’t lying, then the 7th Floor I know and the one she’s describing are different.”

“It’s like they’re talking about entirely different time periods. Even if 10 years have passed, the 7th Floor En describes feels like it’s been decades.”

“Perhaps… the rules of the 7th Floor changed due to the Cataclysm.”

“The rules of the 7th Floor changed?”

“Yes. Has anyone properly explored the 7th Floor since the Cataclysm?”

“Uh… there was someone who got stranded on the 7th Floor after being caught in the Cataclysm.”

“Do you know who that was?”

“Well… it was that Demon King who briefly came up to the underground city last time.”

“…”

A fellow dimensional pouch owner and the monster the Saintess had sacrificed her life to send back to the 7th Floor.

The Wandering Demon King Raika. He had originally been exploring the 7th Floor. From what I knew, he descended there before I was transferred to this world, but when he reappeared six months later, he was a completely different person.

“There hasn’t been a proper explorer.”

“True. Maybe time flows faster on the 7th Floor compared to other floors.”

“That might be it. If time flows differently inside and outside, the pieces start to fit.”

Assuming time flows differently, the discrepancies in their stories begin to make sense.

The 7th Floor Helena knew and the current 7th Floor are entirely different places.

Moreover, there are countless Demon Kings, and among them, 108 are called the Demon Kings of the Abyss.

And above them, there are said to be four true Demon Kings.

“What’s this about an 8th Floor conquest?”

-It happened before I was born. From what I know…

This time, it wasn’t En but Nihil who spoke.

Long ago, the 108 Demon Kings once descended to the 8th Floor. Their goals varied, but all they found there was despair.

“According to Helena, the 8th Floor was just endless darkness, right?”

“That’s right. We didn’t even dare attempt the 9th Floor. The 8th Floor was an abyss-a place best described as a sea of darkness.”

-The Demon Kings said they needed a ship. They also claimed the 8th Floor was a place that required navigation.

“So the 8th Floor is an abyssal sea. Scattered across it are islands-paradises created by the Roas. To reach the 9th Floor, you’d have to use those islands as stepping stones to descend even deeper.”

“And to even enter the 8th Floor, you must defeat the 7th Floor’s Gatekeeper. To reliably take it down, you’d need to restore the World Tree, but the World Tree has become the playground of the 108 Demon Kings.”

“And above those 108 Demon Kings, there are four even stronger ones?”

This is some insane bullshit.

The power scaling is completely out of control. What is this, DraXball?

You beat one strong guy, and an even stronger one shows up, and then an even stronger one after that.

This needs to be normalized.

No, seriously, this is insane.

“It seems like things might get easier once we break through the 7th Floor.”

“The problem is that breaking through the 7th Floor is nearly impossible.”

There’s no clear answer in sight.

Is this even a problem I can solve before I die?

I feel like throwing up.

The Labyrinth is on the verge of collapsing any moment, and the conquest is absurdly difficult.

-Hey, I don’t think you need to worry that much.

“What do you mean, ‘don’t worry’? Is this not your problem or something? Do you want to be permanently erased?”

-No! That’s not what I meant! Out of the 108 Demon Kings, aside from the top 10, the rest are basically just fodder!

“Fodder? How strong are we talking?”

-The 108th is, honestly, just a bit stronger than me? Up to the 50th, they’re all manageable if humans band together. Beyond that, you’d need those you call Platinum Ranks mobilized. The top 20 would be… well, a bit tough, but not impossible.

“Really? Do you know all the information on the 108?”

-I remember most of it. I know some of their weaknesses too. Honestly, those below the top 20 are more like the top 10’s familiars than true Demon Kings.

“So you guys have some kind of society, huh?”

-The 108 Demon Kings are essentially a coalition of intelligent monsters who rejected the Labyrinth’s will. To survive the horrors of the 7th Floor, we banded together.

They’re called the 108 Demon Kings, but in reality, they’re more like a heteromorphic alliance on the 7th Floor.

“So they’re not even real Demon Kings. These guys are just the 7th Floor’s heteromorphic alliance. The true Demon Kings are the four you’re all afraid of. Add Raika to that, and there are really only five Demon Kings, right?”

-The top 10 are genuinely strong.

“Got it. If we’re judging by strength, the real deal is just fifteen.”

-You could say that.

This clears things up.

The ten elders of this alliance, managing and controlling the heteromorphic races.

The four Demon Kings, recognized by the Labyrinth as the true rulers of the 7th Floor.

And finally, the recently added human-turned-Demon King, Raika.

“The dangerous ones are these fifteen.”

-Add the 8th Floor’s Gatekeeper to that.

“Right, you said we’d have to defeat him to descend to the 8th Floor.”

-He’s like a law of the Labyrinth. To go to the 8th Floor, you must defeat him, and once defeated, he periodically revives.

I now had a rough understanding of the 7th Floor’s state.

The ten elders had claimed the World Tree as their base, using the heteromorphic alliance to build a city on the 7th Floor.

The four true Demon Kings rarely left their domains.

“Objectively speaking, how far could I go solo right now?”

-You could probably take down up to the 80th by yourself. As you said, the real monsters are the top 10. The rest, you could manage one way or another.

“Good. I just got a new goal.”

To dominate the 7th Floor, I’d eventually have to hunt down the top 10 Demon Kings.

They must be insanely strong, right?

“Just how powerful are their bodies?”

-Don’t tell me…

“Those Demon Kings are tempting, aren’t they? Right, Helena?”

“If we could successfully hunt even one of the top 10 and claim its body…”

“It’d be game over.”

Bind their souls with chains and enslave them.

If that fails, beat them to near death, shatter their minds, extract their souls, and replace them with a slave.

That way, I could have a Demon King of the 7th Floor as my subordinate.

“The 7th Floor might just be a treasure trove…”

“Don’t get too arrogant, Shion. You have a tendency to be impatient. When things go well, your confidence soars, and when they don’t, you get depressed too quickly.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. You rush things too much. Nothing ever goes perfectly smoothly, so don’t set your expectations too high. You know this-the Labyrinth never gives anything for free.”

Helena was right. Nothing comes easy here. They’ll definitely screw me over somehow.

“You’re right. Talking to you always clears my head, Helena.”

“It’s nothing. Just doing my part.”

And she does it well.

Without Helena, I’d have died long ago.

“So, we’ve got most of the info on the Demon Kings. Now, how did you fuse Kairan’s soul with Gorgon’s body?”

-Huh? Kairan? Who’s that?

“The female hunter.”

-Female hunter? Who? That Inquisitor?

“No, the one wearing a hood. You don’t know her? Seriously, never saw her?”

-No idea. The only humans we encountered were you guys.

Another inconsistency.

They weren’t the ones who fused Kairan’s soul with Gorgon and broke her?

Then who…

‘Don’t tell me…’

Did Kairan remove the chains herself and merge with Gorgon?

How is that even possible?

Weren’t the chains absolute?

-Nothing in this world is absolute. The same goes for abilities. If you believe too blindly, you’ll get hurt.

As I froze in shock, Pria, who had been napping inside the bracelet, warned me.

Absolute power doesn’t exist-every ability has a flaw.

“If Pria’s telling the truth…”

Then Kairan broke free of my soul chains on her own and tried to escape.

‘Which means Gorgon might have been Kairan all along.’

I don’t know why she betrayed me, but it couldn’t have been for a good reason.

I need to be more careful. I should always remember that soul chains can be broken.

“Shion, what are you doing?! Let’s go to bed already! Everyone’s waiting!”

“Ah! Got it…! Hold on! Yuria, let me just put this down first…!”

While I was lost in thought, Yuria opened the balcony door and yanked me inside.

My wives were already in their pajamas, waiting for me. Seeing them, I pushed my worries aside for now-surviving tonight was the priority.

Yuria, Lady Leah, and even Rozie.

All three had hungry looks in their eyes.