Ch.228[Chapter 228] Dungeon Clear

With a click, the secret door to the Massacre King’s room opened.

That must be the end of this dungeon, where the sword that can change the past is located.

Sir Dominic gazed at the finally revealed secret space, then unconsciously looked at the Massacre King.

The Massacre King remained completely motionless, staring at the brightly smiling Mary.

It seems the Massacre King has lost all will to fight.

The opening of the secret door must be related to that vanished will.

“What is this…”

It wasn’t just the secret door that had opened.

Suddenly the dungeon began to rumble, and stone fragments and dust started falling from the ceiling.

The dungeon screamed as if it would collapse at any moment.

“This is the dungeon clear judgment.”

Mary said to Sir Dominic.

“The secret room opens after defeating the final boss of the first basement floor, the Massacre King. And defeating the Massacre King means you’ve cleared this dungeon.”

Mary continued calmly despite the chaos.

“Soon this dungeon will collapse and return to its original form.”

“It’s cheaper that way,” she muttered incomprehensibly, then pointed to the secret passage and said to Sir Dominic:

“Now go in there. You’ll find the sword that changes the past. That’s why you came here, right?”

“What will happen to you?”

Sir Dominic asked, barely maintaining his balance on the increasingly shaking floor.

“If the dungeon collapses, you won’t be safe either.”

“Death doesn’t mean anything in GachaLand anyway.”

“Ah.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Mary’s words.

Though he had adapted quite well to GachaLand, he occasionally forgot certain facts like this.

“Anyway, hurry up and clear it. Just clearing it is more helpful to me than hesitating about what to do.”

With those words, Mary pushed Sir Dominic into the secret space.

Caught off guard by the sudden push and the shaking floor, Sir Dominic lost his balance and tumbled into the secret space.

From beyond the door, Sir Dominic looked back at the cracking and collapsing dungeon.

“Goodbye. I probably won’t see you here again—”

Mary smiled at Sir Dominic.

There seemed to be a few more words after that, but due to the noise of the collapsing dungeon and the rocks and dust separating them, Sir Dominic couldn’t hear the rest.

With a thud, something closed.

And Sir Dominic was trapped in darkness.

…

Sir Dominic looked around in the darkness.

This place felt similar to the black area covered with boards he had seen on the third floor or the warehouse on the second floor.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, suddenly a light flashed and illuminated one spot.

Sir Dominic squinted as his eyes, which had just adapted to the darkness, were disoriented by the sudden light.

Once his vision adjusted to the light again, Sir Dominic could see the object under the illumination.

It was a sword with the handle and blade reversed, and anyone could tell it was the sword that could change the past.

Sir Dominic approached the sword as if in a daze.

When he picked up the sword, a system window appeared.

[Do you want to change the past? Y/N]

A system window with just that explanation and nothing more.

Sir Dominic briefly turned around while holding the sword.

It was probably the direction of the door through which he had entered this secret space, but Sir Dominic’s gaze seemed to be looking at someone beyond that door.

After staring in that direction for a while, Sir Dominic turned back to the system window.

And without any hesitation, he pressed Y.

Without cause or effect, a blunt sword blade was thrust into Sir Dominic’s heart.

Without any pain or wound, Sir Dominic disappeared from that spot.

The sword remained unused, lying carelessly in the darkness.

…

“Hey, you know.”

In the half-collapsed basement of the dungeon, Mary spoke to the Massacre King who was standing in a daze.

“…What.”

The Massacre King seemed to barely regain his senses at Mary’s words.

Showing no attachment to the collapsing dungeon, the Massacre King sat down, being hit by falling rocks.

“I’m sorry for saying you were disgusting earlier.”

Mary apologized to the Massacre King.

Then she slowly got up and began carefully examining the portraits that were still intact.

“This is my first time here.”

Mary looked at a portrait from when she was human.

It seemed to be from when she was about 12 years old, even before her debutante.

The child in the portrait was angelically cute.

Though it wasn’t something she should say about herself, it was truly so.

Mary looked at the next portrait.

This time it was Mary in spider form, probably from the early days of the curse.

The Mary in that portrait was smiling brightly, but the paint had peeled off due to the dungeon’s shaking.

The brightly smiling face soon became an expression of screaming and despair.

Mary frowned and said to the Massacre King:

“No, I take it back. I feel bad. You’re disgusting. Filthy.”

“That’s a misunderstanding.”

The Massacre King opened his mouth to make an excuse but closed it again, not knowing how to explain.

He couldn’t bring himself to say that he had painted over it because he couldn’t bear to see Mary’s sad appearance.

Mary continued to look at various portraits and dolls.

For a moment, small stone dust fell on her head, but Mary realized at some point that no more dust and rocks were falling.

When Mary looked up, the Massacre King was there.

Holding up his dragon leather cape to shield Mary’s head.

“…What are you doing.”

Mary continued to express disgust as if she was thoroughly repulsed.

To Mary, the Massacre King was—

The Massacre King was—

Mary suddenly forgot what was supposed to come next.

Why did I hate the Massacre King?

Mary stared blankly at the Massacre King.

Come to think of it, Mary had no reason to hate the Massacre King.

The kidnapping?

It was intended to save Mary from the end of the world.

The curse?

It happened when coming to GachaLand and had nothing to do with the Massacre King.

Instinctive hatred?

That was just a setting arbitrarily determined by the shackles of the old dimension.

A buggy shackle that no longer worked in GachaLand.

Having reached that thought, Mary finally realized.

She no longer hated the Massacre King.

No, in fact, her hatred for the Massacre King had disappeared long ago.

It was just a new shackle created by Mary’s subconscious trying to maintain her identity during this boring time, bringing back past hatred.

Mary looked at the Massacre King again.

He seemed unexpectedly handsome.

Of course, his face was completely hidden by the helmet, but Mary felt that way based on the atmosphere.

“Why are you staring so intently?”

The Massacre King looked questioningly at Mary’s gaze.

Mary hurriedly shifted her eyes toward the portrait.

A portrait painted in soft pastel tones, half spider and half human.

It was a bright-looking painting with a flower crown on the head.

With a thud, a large rock fell from the ceiling, hitting the Massacre King’s shoulder armor before hitting the wall.

Some of the portraits that had been hanging until just now were torn by the rock and could no longer be recognized.

“…What a shame. That was quite a well-painted picture.”

Mary sighed regretfully.

“It’s fine. Everything is in my head.”

“Oh my god.”

Mary vigorously rubbed her thin arms as if getting goosebumps at the Massacre King’s words.

Then suddenly, she realized that she truly knew very little about the Massacre King.

His face, his age, his personality, all of it.

And as if making an excuse, she said to the Massacre King:

“I realize I don’t know much about you, Massacre King.”

“What?”

The Massacre King asked Mary.

In fact, Mary didn’t know because she was under the Massacre King’s cape, but the dungeon had already almost collapsed, with debris piled dozens of meters above the Massacre King.

“Never mind.”

Mary smiled brightly and said to the Massacre King:

“In the next cycle, I think I’ll try to learn more about you.”

“That’s—”

A falling rock with a thud cut off everything.

The dungeon had completely collapsed.

And… it began to regenerate.

Exactly as it was when Sir Dominic first came to this dungeon.

…

What happened to the magician who was on the sixth floor when the dungeon began to collapse?

“P-please save me…”

The magician was horribly sprawled on the ground, gushing black blood from her entire body.

Her body, already ruined from summoning demons from an external dimension, was severely damaged by the backlash when the demon was banished.

The magician, injured too severely to heal herself, was now pinned down by a sharp rock fragment that fell as the dungeon began to collapse.

“T-this can’t be… Me, one of the top powers in Mountain Bridge Marsh… dying in such a miserable way…”

The magician barely gathered strength to mutter a healing spell, but the dungeon’s shaking continuously interrupted her casting.

“No… I must live… at any cost…”

The magician burned with the desire to live.

One might wonder why she was so attached to life in GachaLand, but the magician was from Mountain Bridge Marsh and was a witch who had committed not only all crimes specified by law but also atrocities too terrible to mention, see, or hear.

Of course, while alive, she had hidden her sins as well as her thick makeup, but if the central system saw her logs after death, she would be immediately expelled.

That’s why the magician couldn’t die.

She couldn’t give up all the illegal wealth and honor she had accumulated in GachaLand.

That’s when it happened.

A system window appeared before the magician’s eyes.

[Part of the dungeon’s storyline has become a mess!]

[We’re creating a temporary scenario with 17 writers!]

[Here’s a good alternative! The forever-single writers who were considering changing the dungeon genre from roguelike to romance are relieved!]

[You are… a criminal. Well, that’s expected in a dungeon?]

[Anyway, we’ll make you an offer. Because we’re humanitarian.]

[Are you willing to be bound to this time? [Y/N]]

The magician realized that the window appearing before her was becoming increasingly blurry.

As if having made up her mind, the magician raised her arm that could barely be lifted and placed her finger on the system window.

One sinner’s sins were forgiven.

And a new sinner took that place.